Alice becomes Queen Alice in the climax to Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
CHRISTMAS Day is still more than a month away but the season of festive exhibitions, installations and trails is up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
30,000 baubles and counting: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025
FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: C S Lewis’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.
After a two-week installation, the stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
The Nunnington Hall staircase decorated for Christmas. Picture: Rebecca Hughes
Christmas Through The Ages: Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near York, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, November 22 to December 15, 10.30am to 4pm, last admission at 3.15pm
OGLE at a Tudor feast fit for a King, step into the opulence of the Georgian era, savour the splendour of the Victorian golden age or relive the exuberant parties of the 1980s. Envision Christmas as it might have been celebrated by the families who once called Nunnington Hall their home.
On Sundays, Ryedale choirs will sing Christmas carols in the Oak Hall. Normal admission applies, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives. To book tickets, go to: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/christmas-at-nunnington-hall.
York artist MarcoLooks working on one of his Nutcrackers for the Christmas Around The World Nutcracker Trail
Christmas Around The World Nutcracker Trail with York artist MarcoLooks, York city centre, until January 1 2025
PRESENTED by York BID, this season’s Nutcracker Trail takes a festive journey with a global twist, created in collaboration with MarcoLooks, alias York illustrator, printmaker and erstwhile CBeebies animator Marc Godfrey-Murphy.
Christmas Around the World brings ten beautifully designed Nutcracker sculptures to life, each representing a different country with colours from the national flag and landmarks that reflect York’s diverse, vibrant communities.
To start this festive adventure, pick up a map at the Visit York Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street. Use clues on each Nutcracker to match it to the correct country, recording answers on the map. Completed entries can be submitted at the Visitor Information Centre or Santa’s Post Box in Museum Gardens for a chance to win a £250 York Gift Card.
Green Father Christmas and Ebenezer Scrooge: Tales to tell on the Kirkgate street at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions
Father Christmas goes back to green: Christmas At York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York, until January 5 2025
THE cobbles of York Castle Museum’s Victorian street, Kirkgate, are covered in snow to herald the festive season featuring a traditional Green Father Christmas; Ebenezer Scrooge’s account of A Christmas Carol; Victorian carol singers; roving musical miscreants The Ran Tanners; Storycraft Theatre’s Christmas stories; Tales From The Trail’s fun stories and family drop-in Christmas decorations. Lino-printing Christmas card, Christmas wreath making and lino-printing Christmas wrapping paper workshops for adults carry an extra charge. Full details, including dates of events, can be found at yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.
In addition to these immersive experiences, Kirkgate’s shops are wreathed in festive greenery, displaying seasonal objects from the museum’s collection.
Part of the display in Princess Victoria’s Room, inspired by recently unearthed love letters penned by a valet at Treasurer’s House
Green Christmas celebrations: An Inspired Christmas, Treasurer’s House, Minster Yard, York, open Saturday to Wednesday, until December 18
AN Inspired Christmas shares stories of Mr Frank Green, the last private owner of Treasurer’s House, and the people around him. As Christmas returns to the National Trust property, staff and volunteers have given rooms merry makeovers, with many of the decorations handcrafted by volunteers.
Look out for artist Megan Barnett’s bespoke glass ornaments in the Blue Drawing Room, inspired by ecclesiastical architect Temple Lushington Moore; an unusual tree in the Court Room, inspired by the changing fortunes of house maid Ivy Cliff, and a display in Princess Victoria’s Room, inspired by recently unearthed love letters penned by a valet. To plan a visit, go to: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/treasurers-house-york.
Daylight robbery: The Highwayman mouse in the Fairfax House exhibition with a detective challenge, A Christmas Mousetery
It’s Christmouse time: A Christmas Mousetery, The Case Of The Missing Ruby, Fairfax House, York, until January 5 2025
THE Fairfax Townmice are back and this time a crime must be solved in a festive family caper. These are the Fairfax facts: On Christmas morning, the family has awoken to discover the famous Fairfax Ruby has been stolen by the dastardly Highway Mouse, but he did not act alone.
Visitors must play detective to recover this precious jewel and work out who the accomplice was. Throughout the Georgian house they will meet myriad mousey suspects, whose dubious alibis will need forensic examination to nail the inside mouse. En route, they will encounter 400 whiskered guests, causing Christmas chaos as they swing from ceilings, burst out of drawers, even smoke a long pipe. Pre-booking is advised but walk-ins are welcome. Tickets: fairfaxhouse.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-mousetery; free admission for age 16 and under.
Wrapping up for the York chill: A Winter Wonderland at Jorvik Viking Centre. Picture: Charlotte Graham
First snowfall in 40 years for Viking-age Coppergate: A Winter Adventure, Jorvik Viking Centre, York, until February 22 2025
WINTER has set in at Jorvik Viking Centre for a new experience that explores what conditions 10th century York might have faced during the cold, dark months. Since opening in 1984, Jorvik has presented Coppergate as a moment frozen in time in the spring, but an archaeological find – ice skates made of bone – has inspired the deep mid-winter make-over with residents now wrapped up in hats, woollens and furs.
The Time Sleigh ride takes visitors on a trip to a winter morning in York in AD 96 and a Viking Skald tells winter-themed tales of gods and monsters and discusses the kit needed to counter elements. Pre-booking is essential as no tickets are available on the door. Timeslots can be booked at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.
A cornucopia of animals and birds by York printmaker Gerard Hobson
Nature’s gifts: Gerard Hobson Christmas Exhibition, 51 Water Lane, York, YO30 6PW, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm; Sunday, 2pm to 5pm
YORK printmaker Gerard Hobson has been busy in his garden studio preparing for his annual Open House Christmas Show. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” says the York Open Studios regular participant. “Can’t wait to see you there!”
Gerard, who specialises in animals, birds and latterly toadstools, will be exhibiting limited-edition hand-painted lino prints, cut-outs and one-off collages, all for sale along with festive cards.
Brushing up on her art: Lindsey Tyson, one of the Wednesday Four exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, York
FROM the Wednesday Four to the sold-out Barbican four, a Sondheim musical to John Godber making history, Charles Hutchinson puts the ‘yes’ into November’s calendar.
Last chance to see: The Wednesday Four, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today and Monday, 10am to 5pm
THE Wednesday Four, a group of four artist friends who gather in Scarborough each week – busy schedules permitting – are exhibiting together for the first time in York.
Shirley Vauvelle (ceramic sculpture and paintings), Gillian Martin (paintings and prints), Katie Braida (ceramics) and Lindsey Tyson (paintings) have been meeting for three years but have known each other much longer.
Tarot: Performing sketches in nighties in Shuffle at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: PBJ Management
Sketch show of the week: Tarot: Shuffle, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
“THEY (our parents, partners, children) say ‘sketch is dead’, but if it’s dead then where’s all our money going?” ask Tarot, a sketch troupe featuring members of Gein’s Family Giftshop and Goose, Adam Drake, Ed Easton and Kath Hughes.
What lies in store in Shuffle? “Joyously silly and uproariously live and in-the-room, we would call it ‘improv’ but we’ve got some self-respect: this is sketch in nighties. Come watch a new tour of big, daft and, above all, live comedy being conjured up in front of your very eyes.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Rise Up To Empower Women: Fundraiser for York charity IDAS at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Fundraiser of the week: Rise Up To Empower Women, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
YORK and Leeds performers come together to “raise the roof to end gender-based violence”, sharing inspiring and moving stories of female survivors of abuse in a night of musical theatre organised by Hannah Winbolt-Lewis. Proceeds will go to IDAS, the Blossom Street, York-based domestic abuse and sexual violence support charity, and to aid the recovery of Leanne Lucas, a survivor of July’s Southport stabbings.
Performing arts student Daisy Winbolt-Robertson
Performing arts students Kate Lohan, Daisy Winbolt-Robertson, Sara Belal, Rose Scott, Chloe Amelie Lightfoot, Erin Childs, Annie Dunbar, Jasmine Lowe, Declan Childs and Oliver Lawery will sing songs from shows that depict survivors’ stories: Heathers, Spring Awakening, Waitress, The Color Purple, SIX The Musical and the newly premiered SuperYou. Donations can be made via idas.co.uk. Box office: O1904 501935, josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or bit.ly/RiseUpToEmpowerWomen.
Simon Brodkin: Ripping into celebrity culture, social media, the police, Putin, Prince Andrew and God in Screwed Up
Comedy gig of the week: Simon Brodkin, Screwed Up, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 8pm
SIMON Brodkin, world-famous prankster, Lee Nelson creator and most-watched British stand-up comedian on TikTok, brings his outrageous stand-up show back to York.
In Screwed Up, Brodkin rips into celebrity culture, social media, the police, Putin, Prince Andrew and God. Nothing is off limits, from his own mental health and family to his five arrests and how he once found himself at an underground sex party. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Irish Christmas celebrations in song and dance in Fairytale Of New York
What? Christmas in old York already : Fairytale Of New York – The Ultimate Irish-Inspired Christmas Concert, Grand Opera House, York, November 11, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Seven Drunken Nights – The Story Of The Dubliners comes a rich tapestry of Irish singers, musicians and dancers performing Driving Home For Christmas, Step Into Christmas, Oh Holy Night, Fairytale Of New York and Irish sing-along favourites The Galway Girl, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town and The Black Velvet Band. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sarah Millican: “Lots of stuff about dinners and lady gardens” at York Barbican
Recommended but sold out alas: next week’s shows at York Barbican
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don kicks off a particularly busy week at York Barbican when he shares his passion for gardens and the role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing on Monday night (7.30pm). Jazz pianist, songwriter and BBC Radio 2 presenter Jamie Cullum will be supported by Northampton pianist and singer Billy Lockett on Tuesday (doors 7pm).
On Thursday (8pm), in her Late Bloomer show, South Shields comedian Sarah Millican mulls over her transition from being quiet at school with not many friends and an inability to say boo to a goose to being loud with good friends and goose-booing outbursts aplenty, “plus lots of stuff about dinners and lady gardens,” she says. On Friday (doors 7pm), in her Rockin’ On show, queen of rock’n’roll Suzi Quatro rolls out Can The Can, Devil Gate Drive, Stumblin’ In, 48 Crash, The Wild One et al. “It’s my 60th year in the business and it still feels like I’ve just started,” she says.
The York Stage poster for their “new version” of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s American musical comedy Company
Musical of the week: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 13 to 16, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married? Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold , sophisticated and insightful revolutionary musical comedy follows Bobby as he navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily (and unhappily) married friends as he explores the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind.
Nik Briggs directs a York Stage cast featuring Gerard Savva as Bobby, Florence Poskitt, Julia Anne Smith, Alexandra Mather, Joanne Theaker, Dan Crawfurd-Porter and Jack Hooper, among others. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Highwayman cast of Dylan Allcock, left, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Matheea Ellerby and Jo Patmore in John Godber’s new historical play. Picture: Ian Hodgson
New play of the week: John Godber Company in The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, November 14 to 16, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday, sold out
AFTER more than 70 plays reflecting on modern life, John Godber goes back in history for the first time in The Highwayman. “It’s 1769 and Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull is thriving, and the Spa towns are full,” he says.
“Everyone is flocking north. Yorkshire is the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation is great.” Enter the highwayman, John Swift and his partner, Molly May. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In focus: Paterson Joseph, Sancho & Me, York Theatre Royal, November 14, 7.30pm, with post-show discussion
Paterson Joseph and Charles Ignatius Sancho: Storyteller and subject in Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal
CHARLES Ignatius Sancho, born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729, became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected man of letters in 18th century London – the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain.
Actor, author and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University Paterson Joseph tells his story, accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park, built around Joseph’s book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho.
Joseph explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with his own story of growing up Black and British
Joseph says: “Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) had a most extraordinary life. Born of enslaved African parents, he rose to a position of great influence in British society. A polymath with a talent for music, his vote in 1774 and 1780 made him the first person of African descent to vote in a British Parliamentary election.
“I first came across Charles Ignatius Sancho in 1999. Born and raised in London, by my mid-thirties I had no idea there were thousands of Black Britons in the UK long before the famous ‘Windrush Generation’ who arrived in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. I cannot overstate the powerful sense of belonging this knowledge brought me.
“My desire is to spread that sense of rootedness through spreading the word far and wide: Britain has always been a multi-ethnic country and Black people have been a major part of that story.”
The show incorporates Sancho’s compositions and original music by composer and musician Ben Park. In the words of Sancho: “Friendship is a plant of slow growth, and, like our English oak, spreads, is more majestically beautiful, and increases in shade, strength and riches, as it increases in years.”
Paterson Joseph: the back story
Born: Willesden, London on June 22 1964 to parents from St Lucia. Educated at Cardinal Hinsley RC High School. Worked briefly as catering assistant. Trained at Studio ’68 of Theatre Arts, London (South Kensington Library), from 1983 to 1985, later attending London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
Theatre roles: Oswald in King Lear, Dumaine in Love’s Labours Lost and Marquis de Mota in The Last Days Of Don Juan, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990. Title role in Othello, Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2002. Lead roles in The Royal Hunt Of The Sun and The Emperor Jones, Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London, 2006. Brutus, in Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar, set in Africa, 2012. Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Old Vic Theatre, London, 2019 into 2020.
Undertook documentary project My Shakespeare, filmed for Channel 4 in 2004, directing version of Romeo & Juliet that used 20 young non-actors from deprived Harlesden area of London.
On television: Mark Grace in Casualty (1997–1998); Alan Johnson in Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show (2003–2015); Lyndon Jones in Green Wing (2004–2006); Greg Preston in Survivors (2008–2010); DI Wes Layton in Law And Order: UK (2013–2014); “Holy Wayne” Gilchrest in The Leftovers (2014–2015); DCI Mark Maxwell in Safe House (2015–2017); Connor Mason in Timeless (2016–2018); Home Secretary, then Prime Minister Kamal Hadley in Noughts + Crosses (2020-2022); Commander Neil Newsome in Vigil (2021); Samuel Wells in Boat Story (2023).
Films include: Benbay in In The Name Of The Father (1993); Keaty in The Beach (2000); Greenfingers (2001), Giroux in Æon Flux (2005), The Other Man (2009) and Arthur Slugworth in Wonka (2023).
His debut play as a writer, Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance, was first co-produced and performed at Oxford Playhouse in 2015, then twice toured United States of America, including Kennedy Center in Washington and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Performed by Joseph in London in 2018 at Wilton’s Music Hall; published by Bloomsbury.
Debut novel The Secret Diaries Of Charles Ignatius Sancho was published in 2022 by Dialogue Books in UK and Henry Holt in USA, charting Sancho’s life through fictionalised diary entries, letters and commentary. Nominated for six literary awards, winning Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize and Historical Writers Association Debut Novel Prize in 2023.
First book, Julius Caesar And Me: Exploring Shakespeare’s African Play, published by Bloomsbury.
Appointed Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University in 2022. Installed in May 2023.
Paterson Joseph, Me & Sancho, York Theatre Royal, November 14, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ghosts After Dark: Lighting up York Museum Gardens for four nights
EXPERIENCE Ghosts in the Garden like never before! So reads the York BID and York Museums Trust invitation to the first ever Ghosts After Dark at York Museum Gardens,
Showcasing York’s rich tapestry of historical figures with light, sound and storytellers for four nights only, this exclusive event runs from today (7/11/2024) to Sunday from 6.30pm to 9.30pm nightly with last entry at 8.30pm.
Tickets are selling out fast, so prompt booking is advised. Once booked, ticket holders will receive an information pack with a map to help them to plan their night.
Ghost garden visitors can choose their own path to explore the ghostly sculptures, hidden around the gardens, each lit dynamically against an atmospheric background of smoke and sound.
Ghosts After Dark will feature an exclusive new ghost sculpture, a medieval pig, “celebrating the city’s history that can still be felt today”. The sculpture is an homage to Finkle Street, once known colloquially as Mucky Pig Lane, on account of being used as a through passage to move pigs to the Thursday Market, held in St Sampson’s Square, and the Swinegate Markets.
Mad Alice: Telling gruesome tales by the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in York Museum Gardens
York storytellers and ghost walkers will share a mix of much-loved classics and previously unheard stories every 15 minutes. For lovers of all things gruesome, Mad Alice, of the Bloody Tour of York, will share the grisly truth about the Archbishop, Executioner, Bear and Stone Mason at the Ruins.
Lady Brigante, of the Polite Tourist, will uncover the criminal past of the hidden stories of the Victorian Lady and Gentleman, Artist and Merchant at the Hideaway. The Wild Man of the Woods will explore the lore around the Cat, Fox, Pig and Falcon in the Woodland Clearing.
The York Dungeon’s Dick Turpin will recount how he met his infamous end at Palmer’s Corner while the Dungeon’s Guy Fawkes will share his ill-fated past at the Plot.
For those brave enough, Dr Dorian Deathly, of the Deathly Dark Tours, will lead visitors on a lantern-lit tour of St Olave’s Church, sharing a story made exclusively for Ghosts After Dark. “You will have to wear Bluetooth headphones for this one, with atmospheric music as he walks you through the churchyard with his spooky stories of monks and nuns,” says Carl.
Ghosts After Dark is the new companion piece to Ghosts In The Garden, which began four years ago with ten ghosts installations in York Museum Gardens. “It started as a spooky offering for Halloween but we quickly decided it wasn’t really about that,” says York BID operations manager Carl Alsop. “Year two and three we spread our wings and now it gets more exciting and challenging each year, with 45 sculptures this year.
“Like acknowledging Yorkshire’s oldest working observatory being in the Museum Gardens. We thought, ’let’s put a Georgian astrologer in there’. Or the Bear, because there was a menagerie here in the late 1800s that used to escape and chase the gardener around. Or the Mill, which now stands outside the Castle Museum, that used to be a working mill on the Moors.
Dr Dorian Deathly: Leading visitors on a lantern-lit tour of St Olave’s Church
“There’s a ‘long duck’ too because we do have ducks in the Museum Gardens but people can interpret it as attribute to a certain Long Boi at the University of York.”
The wire mesh sculptures are created by York company Unconventional Designs. “We have used them since the start,” says Carl. “We give them a character and an idea about the character and they come back with the design.
“The low aperture wire mesh is the gift that keeps on giving after I had this crazy idea! People might say why would you use chicken wire but the way you look at each sculpture changes depending on the time of day. Some of them appear, some of them disappear, in the changing light, because of the way they are set up!”
The York Bid and York Museums Trust has been keen to “keep growing this event, not just increasing the number of sculptures and locations, from the rail signaller at the railway station to a female stonemason at Holy Trinity Church, a taylor at Merchant Taylors Hall to a beekeeper in St Olave’s Grove,” says Carl.
“Now we’ve added this ticketed event, Ghosts After Dark, for the first time as we want to bring business into the city in what can be a quieter time of the year, coming to the city not only for the ghost sculptures but also to enjoy York’s evening economy. The ghosts will be lit up with different colours after we did a dress rehearsal to trial colours with fog and background music.”
Ghosts After Dark, York Museum Gardens, Museum Street, York, tonight to Sunday. Box office: yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk. Tickets cost £7.50 for adults and just £1 for under-16s.
Lindsey Tyson: Switched from textile designer to full-time painter
THE Wednesday Four, a group of four artist friends who gather in Scarborough each week – busy schedules permitting – are exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until November 11.
Shirley Vauvelle (ceramic sculpture and paintings), Gillian Martin (paintings and prints), Katie Braida (ceramics) and Lindsey Tyson (paintings) have been meeting for three years but have known each other much longer.
“Our aim is to discuss art in progress, offer constructive criticism and encouragement, exchange ideas and generally share art inspiration whilst having a good catch-up,” they say in their artist statement.
“It is a great privilege to be amongst such supportive artist friends. This is the first time the four of us have exhibited together.”
Stones Throw, by Shirley Vauvelle
Shirley has made things since childhood, sewing dolls clothes or making pieces from found natural forms such as sea shells. She has been a designer, educator, gallery owner and, over the past decade, a maker and artist, showing work in galleries around the UUK.
“I feel painting and ceramics overlap in the way I treat the surfaces and that search for depth and a sense of self,” says Shirley. “My practice has tended to produce playful component pieces combined with found materials, assemblages inspired by creatures, birds and plants. It is now developing into larger-scale, semi-abstract, hand-built sculptural ceramic forms and paintings.
Shirley’s art education background and initial design career was in textile/surface decoration, studying at Chester College on a foundation course and Leicester Polytechnic for a BA Hons, graduating in 1987.
Self taught in ceramics, she works from a light-filled studio in her home, situated near the seaside town of Filey and featured in publications.
Fish Cairn, ceramic, by Shirley Vauvelle
“An important part of my surroundings is the coast and my garden, which is continuously being developed and evolving, full of many interesting plants selected for form, texture rather than prettiness, many of them being used within my work,” says Shirley.
“The work has evolved over a long period of time, in the background of my more commercial work. After the experience of lockdown, with more time to experiment and freedom to think about ideas, this has led to hand-built sculptures and assemblages in stoneware clay, with found materials.
“With the luxury of more time to appreciate peace and nature, allowing thinking space to the stages of development, it is very much reflected in how the pieces have evolved.”
The work is now moving forward with more personal expression, still taking inspiration from her surroundings, focusing on shape, form, colour and moods.
The poster for The Wednesday Four’s first group exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York
“I’m exploring surfaces, playing with found materials, different clays and paint, all with the emphasis on looking at the different relationships of form and shapes,” says Shirley. “I’m also thinking about the wider context of nature on our planet, the strength and fragility of nature.”
Shirley’s art is in private collections in the UK, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and Germany. Her work has been selected regularly to show at Oxford and York Ceramic Fair with the Craft Potters Association.
In April this year, she was invited to exhibit alongside studio work by John Maltby at the Yew Tree Gallery on the west coast of Cornwall, at Keigwin, between St Ives and St Just. in April. In September, she was selected to show at the 20th anniversary Brighton Art Fair.
Gillian Martin has worked professionally as an illustrator and designer for many years, originally in London while working at the Tate Gallery too. She now lives in Scarborough.
Contemplation, painting, by Gillian Martin
She has collaborated with a wide range of clients, publishers and design agencies, with her work appearing in many publications, on licensed products and also sold as prints.
Clients include Sony, Universal Records, Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, BBC Books, Macmillan and many others.
Alongside her illustrations, Gillian is an abstract artist, taking inspiration from modernism and colour field painting.
“My illustrations and paintings are primarily rooted in my love of mid-century art and design,” she says. “My paintings focus on the drama between line, shape and colour and aim to create a pleasing balance between these elements.”
Katie Braida: maker of sculptural vessels
She is delighted to have had a painting included in the Ferens Art Gallery 2024 Open Exhibition in Hull.
Katie Braida makes sculptural vessels and forms using a variety of hand-building techniques. Working with soft clay coils and slabs and allowing the material to move and suggest direction for development, the forms grow during this process.
“Once the forms are refined, the surfaces can be layered with pattern and texture inspired by discovering the rhythms and patterns within the natural and man-made environment,” says Katie. “The development of texture and pattern helps to create an invitingly tactile surface to the work.”
Having started pottery at school, Katie studied ceramics as part of her degree and became a teacher specialising in ceramics in secondary education. She has taken part in national ceramics fairs and her work features in private collections.
Drifting, oil painting, by Lindsey Tyson
Lindsey Tyson draws inspiration from her upbringing in rural North Yorkshire by the coast, where she developed a deep connection to the dramatic weather and elemental energy of her surroundings.
After more than 30 years as a textile designer, Lindsey has transitioned into a full-time painter. Last year, she won the Women in Art/ Hampstead School of Art Abstract Painting Prize, marking a significant milestone in her burgeoning career.
“Driven by intuition and a desire to create something original, a limited palette guides my work – delighting in muted, unsaturated colours, punctuated by strategic bursts of brightness,” says Lindsey. “Process, mark-making and the mixing of media are essential to my art, where I create numerous layers and seductive surfaces, drawing you in to take a closer look.”
The Wednesday Four, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until November 11. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Livy Potter as Katy, left, and Alice Rose Palmer, as mum Natalie, in Louise Beech’s How To Be Brave at Gilling East Village Hall and Helmsley Arts Centre
FROM a devilish yet dotty canine musical to comedians having their moment, a film festival to glowing ghosts, Charles Hutchinson spots plenty to light up dark days ahead.
Touring play of the week: Other Lives Productions in How To Be Brave, Gilling East Village Hall, tomorrow, 7.30pm, and Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
IN 1943, Merchant Seaman Colin Armitage’s cargo ship was torpedoed by an Italian Navy submarine in the South Atlantic. He scrambled aboard a life raft. Fifty days later, HMS Rapid rescued him.
Colin was the grandfather of How To Be Brave playwright Louise Beech. Sixty-four years after his ordeal, Louise’s daughter, Katy, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to distract her during insulin injections Louise began to tell the story of Colin’s bravery and determination to survive.
Scenes in this resulting play alternate between the life raft and a house in Hull as York actors Jacob Ward and Livy Potter take the lead roles in Kate Veysey’s production. Box office: Gilling East, gillinjgeastevents@hotmail.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700.
Man of The Moment: Ali Woods, playing York Barbican on his debut stand-up tour
Comedy men of The Moment: Mo Gilligan, In The Moment, York Barbican, tomorrow,8pm; Ali Woods, At The Moment, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
THE moment has arrived for two comedy tour dates with similar show titles, first up the host of Channel 4’s The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan, Londoner Mo Gilligan, on his In The Moment World Tour 2024.
The following night, half-English, half-Scottish comedian, podcaster and content creator Ali Woods plays York on his debut stand-up tour. At 30, this viral online sketch sensation has finally fallen in love with an amazing lady. “Come on an embarrassing and cathartic journey of teenage angst, relationship fails and learning how to live in the moment,” he says. Tickets update: available for both shows, whereas An Audience With Monty Don (November 11), Jamie Cullum (November 12), Sarah Millican: Late Bloomer (November 14) and Suzi Quatro ( November 15) have sold out already. Box office: yortkbarbican.co.uk.
Artist CJP with his work The Majestic Oak at Art Of Protest Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week: From Little Acorns Grow Mighty Hopes: An Exhibition of Hand-drawn Natural Wonders, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, until November 16
ART Of Protest is the first gallery to show CJP’s work The Majesty Oak in an exhibition of original and rare limited-edition artwork. Look out for the Art Of Protest York Special Edition, only available to be ordered until November 16, featuring the River Ouse-dwelling Tansy Beetle, an elusive insect featured on a resplendent mural near York railway station.
“This is an amazing opportunity to own a truly unique celebration of British fauna with a very special York twist,” says gallery owner Craig Humble. “CJP will add a Tansy Beetle to each piece, along with the gold leafing of the branches.”
Very definitely Pride Of Prejudice * (*Sort Of), sending up Jane Austen affectionately in Isobel McArthur’s play at York Theatre Royal
Theatrical flourish of the week: Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MEN, money and microphones will be fought over in Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), the audacious retelling of a certain Jane Austen novel, where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance but it’s party time, so expect the all-female cast to deliver such emotionally turbulent pop gems as You’re So Vain and Young Hearts Run Free.
Writer Isobel McArthur directs this new production of her West End hit, Olivier Award winner for best comedy. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In the driving seat: Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
Dog show of the week: 101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm today, Thursday and Saturday matinees
KYM Marsh’s Cruella De Vil leads the cast for this musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians. Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is re-imagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
When fashionista Cruella De Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups in a story brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
3 Missing 10 Hours, directed by Fanni Fazakas, showing in the Animation programme at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024
York festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York city centre, today to Sunday, and UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, Guildhall, York, Thursday to Saturday
THE BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival returns for its 14th year under the direction of Cherie Federico, this time integrating the tenth anniversary of York’s designation as Great Britain’s only UNESCO City of Media Arts. Fifteen venues will play host to 300 film screenings in 12 genres, Virtual Realty and Gaming labs, plus 60 panels, workshops and discussions. For the full programme and tickets, head to asff.co.uk.
The UNESCO EXPO will showcase the region’s creative sector, working in film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design, with the chance to try out new projects and speak to creatives. Entry to the Guildhall is free.
Ghosts After Dark: New nocturnal complement to the Ghosts In The Gardens installation in York Museum Gardens
Nocturnal event of the week: Ghosts After Dark, York Museums Gardens, tomorrow to Sunday, 6.30pm to 9.30pm; last entry, 8.30pm
YORK Museums Trust and the York BID present the inaugural Ghosts After Dark, showcasing York’s rich tapestry of historical figures with light, sound and storytellers for four nights only.
Ticketholders will have the exclusive chance to experience York Museum Gardens like never before, by choosing their own path to explore 46 ghostly sculptures, hidden around the gardens and lit dynamically against an atmospheric background of smoke and sound. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/ghosts-after-dark/.
Fishermen’s Friends: Playing York Barbican this week, then returning next October
Gig announcements of the week: Fisherman’s Friends, York Barbican, October 3 2025
IN celebration of performing sea shanties for more than 30 years across the world, Fisherman’s Friends will head out from the Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac to play a British tour split between 2025 and 2026.
York will come early, booked for night number two next October on a 32-date itinerary announced even before they have played their sold-out Barbican gig on Friday this week on their Rock The Boat tour, promoting fifth album All Aboard. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO: A showcase for York’s creative industries
THE inaugural UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO – the first such exhibition in Great Britain – will celebrate the tenth anniversary of York’s global designation in the Guildhall from Thursday to Saturday.
Taking place within this week’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival, the EXPO is a “dynamic marketplace for innovation and cutting-edge ideas, showcasing the region’s thriving and growing creative sector by exhibiting the local organisations who are making a national and international impact.”
York is the only British UNESCO City of Media Arts, providing a global stage for film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design.
The city’s creative industries are a major contributor to the local economy, driving job creation, tourism and investment, as will be highlighted in the EXPO, where entry is free to try out new projects, speak to creatives and see how York is to generating future opportunities in retail, hospitality, transport and services.
Cherie Federico, director of Aesthetica Short Film Festival, says: “The UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO is one of the most exciting and enriching experiences to celebrate the UK’s creative industries.
“In our region, we are working on a global stage and the EXPO celebrates ten years of designation while also looking forward to how York can position itself as a national and international leader in the sector, creating jobs, driving inward investment and developing clear educational pathways.”
Sarah Loftus, managing director of collaboration partner Make It York, says: “The creative arts and culture sectors, along with ten years of UNESCO designation, are some of the many reasons that make York such a wonderful place to both live and visit. To be able to showcase this with the EXPO, in the centre of the city, is very exciting.”
Consider the facts: the creative industries contribute £109 billion pounds to the UK economy annually and employ 2.3 million people. York is a leader in that economy, as emphasised by its status as one of only 26 cities worldwide to be selected by UNESCO as a City of Media Arts, on a par with such influential locations as Austin, Texas, Sapporo, Japan, and Toronto, Canada.
Among York and North Yorkshire’s creative forces attending the EXPO will be Aesthetica; Art of Protest Gallery; Art Is My Career; Ay-Pe; Bright White; factual TV production company Button Down Productions; Creative Business Skills Academy; Last Maps Illustrations; film content production company Orillo Productions, Peel X; Pollen Studios; Pilot Theatre; Revolution Software; The Distance; visual effects specialist Viridian FX and XR Stories.
In addition to connecting filmmakers, developers and screen executives attending this week’s film festival with businesses that deliver the services they need, the EXPO will support the next generation of talent by showcasing educational pathways and career progressions.
Look out for the premiere of the latest commissioned work by Middleton-in-Teesdale environmental artist Steve Messam in the Guildhall courtyard. Known for his large-scale temporary installations that merge architecture and the natural environment – such as his permanent installation in Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery at the National Railway Museum and the Aesthetica Art Prize-nominated Portico on the front of York Art Gallery in 2022 – he has designed Lantern I as an exploration of space and interaction.
Through its intricate play with light, the new work featuring 180 metres of festoon lights will transform the historic Guildhall setting into an immersive and ethereal environment.
The BBC will be filming Messam at the EXPO, in a focus on heritage and contemporary art, ahead of his joint exhibition in China with sculptor Sir Tony Cragg.
Cherie Federico has been the driving force behind the Reignite series of events in York focused on nurturing the future of the city’s creative industries. The sixth edition, Reignite VI: Culture Makes Places, will take place during the festival and EXPO, when York will be full of local, national and international attendees.
Representatives from three UNESCO Cities of Media Arts – Braga (Portugal), Linz (Austria) and Oulu (Finland) – will share how they leverage culture to drive transformative change in their cities.
This forum will be a chance to discover how culture enhances economic development, creates jobs and offers skills and opportunities for young people, “fostering growth and innovation across the urban ecosystem”.
The event will be opened by David Skaith, Mayor of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, and addressed by Cherie. Presentations from each city will explore their unique approaches, followed by a panel discussion.
“I’ve been looking to raise the profile of the creative industries through the series of Reignite events, bringing all the different sectors together,” says Cherie. “We should use this UNESCO designation to elevate all of us, and with this year being the tenth anniversary of that designation we needed to celebrate that landmark and highlight the businesses of the future in York.
“That’s the purpose of the EXPO, where all are welcome to attend for free. To me, we should be focusing not on what there isn’t but what there is in York, and this is an opportunity for creative industries to make transformative changes.”
Cherie brings the positivity of New York – her home before settling in York 20 years ago – to her artistic pursuits. “If you beat yourself down, you’re going to be down. If you approach things with that mentality, you’re stuck in the past, but you have to give the creative industries the chance to rise because that attitude becomes infectious.
“People want things to change. This is a city that had nine million visitors in 2023; a city with history but modern culture too. We need to be living in a city that celebrates not just that cultural impact but the economic impact too because it boosts all sectors.”
Why will admission to the EXPO be free? “We want everyone in the city and beyond to be able to understand what it means to be a UNESCO City of Media Arts,” reasons Cherie. “This is the perfect time to highlight it, during an international film festival, when so many people will be coming to York already.”
For more details of the EXPO, head to: https://mediacityexpo.com/.
Aesthetica director Cherie Federico: Why UNESCO City of Media Arts status “positions York at the forefront of global creative discussions”
Cherie Federico
“YORK’S designation as a UNESCO City of Media Arts has profoundly impacted the city’s cultural and economic landscape, fostering a dynamic ecosystem where creativity, technology and education intersect.
“As an emerging sector, media arts is gaining momentum, creating pathways for future careers and educational opportunities. This designation not only attracts investment and talent but also positions York as a hub for digital innovation and creative industries, which benefits tourism, hospitality, retail and other sectors across the economy.
“Celebrating the tenth anniversary of York’s UNESCO designation marks a significant milestone, symbolising a decade of transformation driven by the media arts. Over these ten years, the designation has strengthened York’s global reputation, supporting local economic growth by driving job creation and developing crucial skills for the creative industries.
“The status encourages collaboration between cultural organisations, educational institutions and businesses, creating an environment where new ideas and projects can thrive. This collaborative culture is vital for retaining graduates and attracting skilled workers, making the city increasingly appealing to young talent and creatives from around the world.
“Additionally, the focus on media arts extends beyond economic impact, enhancing social cohesion and community involvement through cultural programming. Events, festivals and exhibitions celebrate new talent while promoting international collaboration, thus enriching York’s artistic landscape.
“The upcoming UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, part of Reignite VI: Culture Makes Places, exemplifies this commitment to cultural exchange. Held at the Guildhall, the EXPO will showcase cutting-edge exhibits from the creative industries, which celebrates the sector’s potential by exploring how media arts contributes to sustainable urban transformation.
“As the event coincides with the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival, it positions York at the forefront of global creative discussions, drawing attention to the city’s evolving cultural scene.
“As a regional city, York recognises the need to operate on a national and international level to maximise the benefits of its UNESCO status. With over eight million visitors annually, the city is well positioned to reach beyond its borders, leveraging its unique offer — a blend of historic charm and modern creativity.”
Underscoring this ambition, Cherie says: “The economic potential of the creative sector on our city is phenomenal, and everyone benefits.
“The tenth anniversary celebrations, including Reignite VI and the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, are pivotal in showcasing how cultural programming can propel York’s ambitions forward, driving growth and innovation while fostering a sense of shared purpose and a forward-thinking city.
“By investing in media arts and embracing its UNESCO designation, York aims not only to maintain its status as a leading cultural destination but also to expand its influence globally, ensuring a prosperous and inclusive future for the city.
“These efforts will help York aspire to more than just a visitor destination, transforming it into a thriving centre for creativity, education and economic development that stands out on the world stage.”
Did you know?
IN 2023, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival welcomed more than 26,000 visitors, bringing a £2 million economic boost to York.
Cherie Federico: Director of Aesthetica Short Film Festival
THE 2024 Aesthetica Short Film Festival takes over 15 venues in York from November 6 to 10, incorporating the UK’s first-ever UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO.
The festival brings together filmmakers, industry leaders and audiences from around the world for screenings and events as York is transformed into a global stage for screen culture, attracting thousands of attendees and participants from more than 60 countries.
“I’m incredibly excited to open the 14th edition of the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York, a city rich in history and culture,” says director Cherie Federico. “The festival supports York’s designation as a UNESCO City of Media Arts. It’s a celebration of film, new technologies, art and creativity, operating on both national and international levels.
“We’re screening an expansive programme of 300 films across 12 genres from 60 countries and opening a Games Lab, VR Lab, countless panels and masterclasses, with some of the world’s leading talent arriving in York for the week. Aesthetica is an inclusive experience that invites everyone to participate, reinforcing York’s standing as a global hub for culture and media arts.”
In addition to the diverse film offerings, this year’s programme will showcase cutting-edge technologies with Virtual Reality (VR) and Gaming Labs, providing immersive experiences for both the curious and the tech-savvy.
“The VR and Gaming Labs are joined up in a new technology hub at the Hospitium, a new venue for this year’s festival in York Museum Gardens,” says New Yorker Cherie, who has lived in York for 20 years.
“Only in York would you put the cutting edge of new technology in a 14th century building, such as a game from Aardman about Wallace and Gromit trying to go on holiday. We’ll also have a VR and gaming Happy Hour in Thor’s Tipi in the gardens.”
The poster for the 2024 Aesthetica Short Film Festival
Throughout the festival, audiences will have the opportunity to learn from top professionals in the film, television and digital media industries. “Guests from renowned organisations such as the New York Times, Tribeca Film Festival, Aardman, BBC Film, Ridley Scott Associates, and Framestore will share their expertise through 60 panels, workshops, and discussions,” says Cherie.
“We’re delighted that the New York Times is coming this year to check out what we’re doing as a festival and that Tribeca Film Festival will be here because they’ve heard that Aesthetica is the festival for finding new British talent.”
In addition, aspiring filmmakers and creatives can engage in practical workshops, including sessions on stop-motion animation, filmmaking, coding and games development for children.”
Sessions are designed to offer insights into the industry’s inner workings, with contributions from prestigious creatives shaping the future of screen culture.
Among those hosting masterclasses will be Julian Foddy, from Industrial Light & Magic, who will highlight how the studio behind Star Wars has crafted iconic cinematic worlds; Nowhere Boy and Back To Black screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh, discussing his approach to storytelling and the art of screenwriting, and Ubisoft, creators of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, exploring the challenges of adapting storytelling for virtual reality platforms.
Abubakar Salim, actor and voice talent from Raised by Wolves and Assassin’s Creed: Origins, will take a deep dive into character development and voice acting and representatives from Ridley Scott Associates, founded by the legendary director of Blade Runner and Alien, will lead a session on documentary filmmaking and practical tips for film development.
A further festival highlight will be Aestheticax Audible’sThe Listening Pitch, a “cinematic exploration of the unheard” that funds documentaries that reveal how listening helps us to understand new points of view.
UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO: Part of the 2024 Aesthetica Short Film Festival
On November 9, at City Screen Picturehouse, the festival will premiere 2024’s winning films, Liberty Smith’s Greensound and Ornella Mutoni’s The Things We Don’t Say, complemented by Old Lesbians and Speed Of Sound, winners from previous years.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of York’s designation as a UNESCO City of Media Arts, a milestone that the film festival will mark with a series of events that highlight the city’s dynamic role in the global creative industries.
The UNESCO EXPO will bring together leading media arts cities from across Europe, including Braga (Portugal), Linz (Austria), and Oulu (Finland), who will showcase how their designation as UNESCO Cities of Media Arts has driven cultural investment and spurred creative opportunities.
“The EXPO promises to be an invaluable platform for cross-cultural exchange, collaboration and innovation in the media arts space,” says Cherie.
“I’ve been looking to raise the profile of the creative industries through a series of Reignite events in York, bringing all the different sectors together. We should use this UNESCO designation to elevate all of us, and with this year being the tenth anniversary of that designation we needed to celebrate that landmark and highlight the businesses of the future in York.
“The question is, how do we establish a thriving creative industry with an educational pathway, and how do we make this a city for a cutting-edge media arts industry? That’s why we’re putting on the EXPO, an exhibition with free entry to highlight York businesses that are operating on a national and international level, to make people aware of the film, visual effects, gaming, VR and experiential design work already going on in the city.
“York’s UNESCO City of Media Arts designation has solidified the city’s position as a national and international leader in the creative industries. Over the past decade, York has become a vibrant hub for digital and media innovation, attracting significant investments and fostering a thriving creative community.”
For the full 2024 festival programme and to book tickets, head to: asff.co.uk.
Skylights: York band headline York Barbican for the first time tonight
FROM Skylights to Ghosts After Dark, a fiesta of film to a musical dog show, Charles Hutchinson spots plenty to light up these November nights.
York gig of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
ANTHEMIC York indie band Skylights play their biggest home-city gig to date this weekend with support from Serotones and Pennine Suite.
Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here. So to headline will be the perfect way to finish a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.” Box office update: Standing tickets still available at ticketmaster.co.uk.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, tonight
Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, Peter Brush, Faizan Shan and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
PEAK District comedian, television regular, Upstart Crow actor and self-help podcaster Rob Rouse, who trained as a geography teacher at the University of Sheffield, makes a rare York appearance with his hyperactive, loveable brand of comedy.
Harrogate Comedian of the Year 2012 Peter Brush combines a slight, bespectacled frame and scruffy hair with quirky one-liners and original material, delivered in an amusingly awkward fashion. Manchester comic Faizan Shah’s material makes light of growing up in an immigrant household with the mental health challenges it brings. Organiser Damion Larkin hosts as ever. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Artist CJP with his work The Majestic Oak at Art Of Protest Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week: From Little Acorns Grow Mighty Hopes: An Exhibition of Hand-drawn Natural Wonders, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, until November 16
ART Of Protest is the first gallery to show CJP’s work The Majestic Oak in an exhibition of original and rare limited-edition artwork. Look out for the Art Of Protest York Special Edition, only available to be ordered until November 16, featuring the River Ouse-dwelling Tansy Beetle, an elusive insect featured on a resplendent mural near York railway station.
“This is an amazing opportunity to own a truly unique celebration of British fauna with a very special York twist,” says gallery owner Craig Humble. “CJP will add a Tansy Beetle to each piece, along with the gold leafing of the branches.”
Pride And Prejudice * (*Sort Of): Making merry mayhem with Jane Austen’s novel at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic
Theatrical high spirits of the week: Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), York Theatre Royal, November 4 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MEN, money and microphones will be fought over in Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), the audacious retelling of a certain Jane Austen novel, where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance but it’s party time, so expect the all-female cast to deliver such emotionally turbulent pop gems as Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.
Writer Isobel McArthur directs this new production of her West End hit, Olivier Award winner for best comedy and Emerging Talent Award winner in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, now featuring University of York alumna Georgia Firth in the cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
On the spot: 101 Dalmatians The Musical takes up canine residence at the Grand Opera House from Tuesday. Picture: Johan Persson
Dog show of the week: 101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 5 to 9, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
KYM Marsh’s Cruella De Vil leads the cast for this musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians. Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is re-imagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
When fashionista Cruella De Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups in a story brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
3 Missing 10 Hours, directed by Fanni Fazakas, showing in the Animation programme at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024
York festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York city centre, November 6 to 10, and UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, Guildhall, York, November 7 to 9
THE BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival returns for its 14th year under the direction of Cherie Federico, this time integrating the tenth anniversary of York’s designation as Great Britain’s only UNESCO City of Media Arts. Fifteen venues will play host to 300 film screenings in 12 genres, Virtual Realty and Gaming labs, plus 60 panels, workshops and discussions. For the full programme and tickets, head to asff.co.uk.
The UNESCO EXPO will showcase the region’s creative sector, working in film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design, with the chance to try out new projects and speak to creatives. Entry to the Guildhall is free.
Ghosts After Dark: New nocturnal complement to the Ghosts In The Gardens installation in York Museum Gardens
Nocturnal event of the week: Ghosts After Dark, York Museums Gardens, November 7 to 10, 6.30pm to 9.30pm; last entry, 8.30pm
YORK Museums Trust and the York BID present the inaugural Ghosts After Dark, showcasing York’s rich tapestry of historical figures with light, sound and storytellers for four nights only.
Ticketholders will have the exclusive chance to experience York Museum Gardens like never before, by choosing their own path to explore 46 ghostly sculptures, hidden around the gardens and lit dynamically against an atmospheric background of smoke and sound. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/ghosts-after-dark/.
Rag’n’Bone Man: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer
Gig announcements of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, July 6, and Rag’n’Bone Man, July 11 2025
“I THINK I’ve got the best reggae band in the world,” says UB40 legend Ali Campbell, who last played Scarborough OAT in 2021. “They are all seasoned musicians, who have spent all their lives in professional bands, and I feel so confident with them.” Support acts will be Bitty McLean and Pato Banton.
Triple BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award winner Rag’n’Bone Man, alias Rory Graham, will follow up his 2023 Scarborough OAT show with a return next summer in the wake of his third album, What Do You Believe In? entering the charts at number three last Friday. His special guest will be Elles Bailey. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Show announcement of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17 2025
Gary Oldman reflecting on his first steps in professional theatre in the York Theatre Royal dressing rooms on his March visit
OSCAR winner Gary Oldman will return to York Theatre Royal, where he began his career as a pantomime cat, to direct himself in Krapp’s Last Tape next spring: his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.
The April 14 to May 17 2025 production of Samuel Beckett’s one-act monodrama was set in motion when Slow Horses star Oldman paid a visit to the St Leonard’s Palace theatre in March, when he met chief executive Paul Crewes.
“When Gary visited us at the beginning of the year, it was fascinating hearing him recount stories of his time as a young man, in his first professional role on the York Theatre Royal stage.,” says Paul.
“In that context when we started to explore ideas, we realised Krapp’s Last Tape was the perfect project. I am very happy that audiences will have this unique opportunity to see Gary Oldman return to our stage in this brand new production.”
Making plans: Actor and director Gary Oldman in discussion with York Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewes in the York Theatre Royal main house auditorium
Ticket prices start at £25, with priority booking for the York Theatre Royal Director’s Circle opening on November 6, YTR Members’ priority booking from November 11 and public booking on November 16, all from 1pm. To become a member and access priority booking, head to: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/support-us/.
After graduating from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, Londoner Oldman started out in the repertory ranks at York Theatre Royal in 1979 in such plays as Privates On Parade and She Stoops To Conquer and playing the Cat in Berwick Kaler’s third York pantomime, Dick Whittington, that Christmas.
Dame Berwick later told the Guardian in an interview in 2018: “Gary has gone on to become one of our greatest screen actors but I’m afraid he was a bit of a lightweight when it came to pantomime.
“He kept fainting inside the costume. On at least three occasions I had to turn to the audience and say, ‘Oh dear, boys and girls, I think the poor pussy cat has gone to sleep’!”
Gary Oldman as the Cat with dame Berwick Kaler, centre, in the 1979-1980 York Theatre Royal pantomime Dick Whittington. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Oldman, now 66, posted on Instagram: “My professional public acting debut was on stage at the York Theatre Royal. York, for me, is the completion of a cycle. It is the ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home.
“The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.”
After cutting his teeth in York, New Cross-born Oldman went on to act at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, the Royal Court, London, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He then swapped theatre for film with break-our roles as Sid Vicious in Sid And Nancy (1986), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1992) and Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
He later played Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film franchise and Commissioner Jim Gordon in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, won the 2018 Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and is now starring as obnoxious MI5 boss Jackson Lamb in the latest Apple+ series of British spy thriller Slow Horses.
Gary Oldman (third from the left in hat and glasses) in Privates On Parade at York Theatre Royal in 1979: one of his first professional performances after graduating from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, in Sidcup, Kent, with a BA in Acting. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Oldman has been considering going back to the stage for a long time. “I have never been far from the theatre and, in fact, have been discussing plays and my return to the theatre for nearly 30 years,” he posted.
What happens in Krapp’s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett at his most theatre of the absurd? Each year, on his birthday, Krapp records a new tape reflecting on the year gone by.
On his 69th birthday, Krapp, now a lonely man, is ready with a bottle of wine, a banana and his tape recorder. Listening back to a recording he made as a young man, Krapp must face the hopes of his past self.
The melancholic, tragicomic role was premiered in 1958 by Patrick Magee and has been played by the likes of Albert Finney, Harold Pinter, John Hurt, Stephen Rea and Kenneth Allan Taylor, the long-running Nottingham Playhouse pantomime dame, writer and director, at York Theatre Royal in 2009.
Gary Oldman’s Cat in the 1979-1980 York Theatre Royal pantomime Dick Whittington. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989): the back story
IRISH writer, dramatist and poet, specialising in theatre of the absurd. Wrote in English and French. Principal works for the stage included Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape and Waiting For Godot. Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Gary Oldman: Further screen appearances
TINKER, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Academy Award and BAFTA nominations); Mank (Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations); Oppenheimer; The Book Of Eli; Meantime; The Firm; Prick Up Your Ears; Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead; State Of Grace; Romeo Is Bleeding; True Romance; Leon/The Professional; The Fifth Element; Immortal Beloved and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, among many others.
Worked with directors Stephen Frears, Oliver Stone, Frances Ford Coppola, Luc Besson, Alfonso Curon, Chris Nolan, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher and Paulo Sorrentino.
Did you know?
IN 1995 Gary Oldman and producing partner Douglas Urbanski founded a production company, producing Oldman’s screenwriting and directorial debut, Nil By Mouth, winner of nine majot awards from 17 nominations.
Selected to open the main competition for the 1997 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, where Kathy Burke won Best Actress. The same year, Oldman won Channel Four Director’s Prize at Edinburgh International Film Festival, British Academy Award (shared with Douglas Urbanski) for Best Film and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.
In Focus:Other Lives Productions in How To Be Brave, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm, and on tour
Livy Potter as Katy, left, and Alice Rose Palmer as mum Natalie in Louise Beech’s How To Be Brave
ON March 19 1943, just after midnight, Merchant Seaman Colin Armitage’s cargo ship, the Lulworth Hill, was torpedoed by an Italian Navy submarine in the South Atlantic. He scrambled aboard a life raft. Fifty days later HMS Rapid rescued him.
Colin was the grandfather of How To Be Brave playwright Louise Beech. Sixty-four years after his ordeal, Louise’s daughter, Katy, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to distract her during insulin injections Louise began to tell the story of Colin’s bravery and determination to survive.
The story inspiring ten-year-old Katy to be brave in the face of her diabetes is a true one. She has said that Grandad Colin’s experience made her determined to carry on when she wanted to give up and die: “If Grandad Colin can survive an ordeal like that, I can do anything. I can do these injections,” she said. And she has never faltered.
Director Kate Veysey with Rose’s seagull Gilbert
“We hope that by presenting this story we can inspired audiences in the East Riding and beyond,” says director Kate Veysey, a familiar name from both York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre and Next Door But One productions.
Scenes alternate between the life raft and Katy’s house in Hull as York actors Jacob Ward and Livy Potter take the roles of Colin Armitage and Rose (Katy, given a pseudonym), joined by Lex Stephenson as carpenter Ken Cooke, on the raft, Alice Rose Palmer as Natalie (alias mum Louise) and Alison Shaw as nurse Shelley. Age guidance: ten upwards (the show contains moderate bad language). Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Lex Stephenson, as Ken Cooke, left, and Jacob Ward, as Colin Armitage, in Other Lives Productions’ How To Be Brave
Illustrator Ric Liptrot sketching in the York plein air
YORK artist Ric Liptrot is launching his 2025 calendar, York Past And Present, at the end of October,
Based at PICA Studios, in Grape Lane, York, freelance illustrator Ric is “obsessed with York’s architecture” and is in high demand for projects relating to buildings, shop fronts and grounds in the city.
Next year’s calendar is a “gift of nostalgia”, exploring forgotten shops such as Fossgate Books and Ken Spelman’s Booksellers, Dave Dee’s Banana Warehouse and Bootham Crescent, the former home of York City FC, as well as present-day places, from The Cat’s Whiskers café to the York Nut Centre in Market Street.
Ric has produced work for Bettys Tearoom, St Michael le Belfrey and The Pig & Pastry café, creating drawings, prints and collages for his clients, who include the Guardian and The Big Issue.
Last year’s calendar, his own venture, was a celebration of York’s buildings and was so popular that he decided to launch a 2025 follow-up, but this time focusing more on the hidden past of York’s popular shops.
“I miss Fossgate Books, with its window packed full of books, and Ken Spelman’s treasure trove of old wooden panels housing all sorts of historic secrets,” says Ric.
Here Ric Liptrot discusses York past and present with CharlesHutchPress
The Banana Warehouse, illustration, by Ric Liptrot. Once home to FT Burley’s wholesale fruit merchants, then to “Dave Dee Shifts Things'” Aladdin’s Cave of second-hand goods, now only the 1925 facade will remain as the 168-bedroom Banana Warehouse Hotel rises in its stead
How would you describe your artistic style, Ric?
“My artistic style is representational, using drawings made from studying buildings in York. I like to create textures using collage and stencils, which I produce using paint rollers. I also use pen and ink for detail.
“I use these techniques to bring out the characterful elements of shop windows, for example, signage and tiles.
“When I decide to create an image, I draw outside and study the windows and the building. Passers-by take an interest and I love to talk about what I’m doing.”
What makes York such a hot spot for artists to represent in paint/street art/whatever?
“I think it’s a mixture of characterful buildings with their wonky rooftops and intricate brickwork, as well as the history. The city is packed full of historic importance and stories. This helps artists to give more life to the artwork.”
In turn, what makes York so ideal to be represented in a calendar?
“We are lucky in York to have so many inspiring scenes to paint and draw. As well as fantastic independent businesses that I believe are very important to the local community and economy. There are not many places like York left in the UK. Cities are changing, York is one of few which still attracts a large number of visitors.”
The cover artwork for Ric Liptrot’s 2025 calendar, York Past & Present
You describe yourself as “obsessed with York’s architecture”. In a city that hosts such events as York Residents Festival and York Unlocked, is one of the joys behind that obsession finding new architectural gems to depict?
“Absolutely! I’m still finding parts of York I’ve never noticed before. I find myself looking up at buildings and noticing the intricate detail, something I encourage others to do. It makes you really appreciate the city.”
Has any other city struck you in the same way?
“I love cities, maybe it’s because I grew up near Liverpool and Manchester. Edinburgh stands out as one of my favourites. It is such a beautiful city with its castle high up on the rock and the grand Georgian buildings of the New Town.”
York is ripe for nostalgia, both ancient and more recent. Discuss…
“There’s a huge amount of history in York, which attracts a lot of tourists year on year. When speaking to people, I hear so many stories of their fond memories of shops and places that no longer exist. The Banana Warehouse, for example, that armoured figure standing outside the door.
“A life-long York City FC fan got in touch with me to ask if I could draw Bootham Crescent before the club moved to their new stadium outside of York city centre [York Community Stadium, Monks Cross, Huntington]. It’s been such a popular illustration of mine as it evokes so many memories for fans. I love hearing their stories and seeing how much it means to them.”
The Perky Peacock cafe, at Barker Tower, North Street, York: Ric Liptrot’s illustration for September in his 2025 calendar
Where were you born? Did it have an impact on your artistic work?
“I was born in Chester and grew up in Runcorn. During my foundation year on the outskirts of Liverpool, we would go and sit outside around the city. It’s where it all began for me, quietly sitting and taking in the cityscape. When I sit and draw outside, I lose myself in the drawing. I find it very calming, unless someone is watching me.”
Why did you move to York?
“I moved to York two years after finishing my illustration degree at UCLAN [University of Central Lancashire] in Preston. My circumstances at the time brought me to the city but I’ve now lived here for 15 years.
“York was the perfect place for me to develop my drawing. I began by drawing a lot of the traditional pubs in York, which developed into drawing the independent shops and cafés too.”
York artist Ric Liptrot with his plywood panels depicting central York, commissioned by York Conservation Trust for the entrance hall to its new offices at De Grey House, York
You are serving as York Conservation Trust’s artist in residence this year. When does the work go on show?
“I was commissioned at the start of 2024. They wanted some artwork to be displayed in the entrance hall of their new offices at De Grey House.
“We met a few times and developed an idea of painting on to five large plywood panels. Each panel depicts a quarter of central York – North, East, South and West – with a fifth concentrating on the central/cultural quarter, Exhibition Square and Museum Gardens.
“Each panel is a montage of the Trust’s buildings alongside other significant and iconic buildings and elements in those areas. I tried to used colour and texture to help represent the different periods of architecture in the city.
“I’ve been working on this exciting piece for six months, totally inspired by the history and stories of York. I’ve noticed so much more detail in the city stone, walls and windows. The King’s Manor has the smallest window in York and that image has entered into this commission.
“The final boards will be hung at the beginning of November 2024 and will be available for the public to see. We’ll be releasing limited-edition prints very soon.”
The Central York North panel from Ric Liptrot’s commission for York Conservation Trust, whose chief executive, Guy Bowyer, says: “We are delighted with the artwork Ric has produced for us. His five panels are an expressive, playful and an accurate take on the colours and textures of York’s historic streetscapes. We are very much looking forward to installing them at De Grey House and will be very pleased to welcome anyone that would like to see them in person”
You have taken part in York Open Studios in the past. Will you be doing so in 2025?
“Unfortunately I haven’t been selected for 2025. However, I will be taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios on June 7, 8, 14 and 15 2025. We’ll be holding our annual festive open studio at PICA Studios [7 Grape Lane, York, YO1 7HU] on November 30 and December 1.”
How did you decide on the triptych of shields, cats and Bars for this year’s Last Drop Inn commission?
“I had never painted such a large mural before, but the landlord was keen for me to give it a go. The brief was to create a blend of York’s iconic buildings.
Ric Liptrot with his central York panels for York Conservation Trust
“The idea came from a map, using the city ‘Bars’ at Bootham, Micklegate and Monk Bar. I then filled in the areas with other buildings and landmarks, including Clifford’s Tower, York Minster and Fairfax House. I wanted to add other elements, such as the crossed keys badge and cat figure, as those on important parts of the city and add character and intrigue. The design was inspired by an illustration of London by Edward Bawden.”
Any more commissions coming up?
“Yes, I have a number of commissions lined up, including Silvarious, a jeweller on Petergate, and Heppni Bakeri on Swinegate.”
Do you have a “day job” too?
“I work part-time on an organic vegetable farm in Strensall, Goodness Growing. I help to plant, weed and hoe the land, as well as harvest vegetables for packing into bags, which are delivered around York.”
Ric Liptrot’s York Past & Present 2025 calendar will be available from www.ricliptrot.bigcartel.com. Pre-order now, to be delivered/ready to collect by mid-end October 2024. “Yorkies can either collect from central York or I can deliver for free,” advises Ric. “Beyond York is £3 p&p.”
King’s Manor, Ric Liptrot’s October illustration for his 2025 calendar
DEL Boy in a musical, a Dungeon murderess, a Greek teen tragedy and a top-Rankin Scottish detective are well worth investigating, advises Charles Hutchinson.
New attraction of the week: The Black Widow, York Dungeon, Clifford Street, York, from today, from 10am
THIS Hallowe’en season’s new show at York Dungeon opens today. Be prepared to encounter the grim tale of Britain’s first female serial killer: Mary Ann Cotton.
A north easterner with a propensity for lacing tea with a drop of arsenic, the Black Widow was convicted of only one murder but is believed to have killed many others, including 11 of her 13 children, and three of her four husbands. Box office: thedungeons.com/york/tickets-passes/. Pre-booking is essential.
Jude Kelly: Striving for a gender-equal world in The WOW Show
The WOW factor: The WOW Show with Jude Kelly, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm
WOMEN of the World founder, chief executive officer and theatre director Jude Kelly CBE was director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, from 1990 to 2002 and London’s Southbank Centre from 2006 to 2018 and set up the WOW Foundation charity in 2010 to achieve a gender-equal world.
In an evening of optimism, determination and laughter, she explores “our often exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity, covering everything from money, sex, race, food, and ageing”. Expect personal anecdotes, guests and big ideas. “The message is: If you are a woman or you know a woman, please show up!” says Jude. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Sam Lupton: Playing Del Boy in Only Fools And Horses The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York
“Plonker” musical of the week: Only Fools And Horses The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, October 14 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BASED on John Sullivan’s long-running BBC One series, his son Jim Sullivan and comedy treasure Paul Whitehouse’s West End hit, Only Fools And Horses The Musical, combines 20 songs with an ingenious script.
“Join us as we take a trip back in time to 1989, where it’s all kicking off in Peckham,” reads the 2024-25 tour invitation. “While the yuppie invasion of London is in full swing, love is in the air as Del Boy sets out on the rocky road to find his soul mate, Rodney and Cassandra prepare to say ‘I do’, and even Trigger is gearing up for a date (with a person!). Meanwhile, Boycie and Marlene give parenthood one final shot and Grandad takes stock of his life and decides the time has finally arrived to get his piles sorted.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Gray O’Brien in the role of Inspector John Rebus in Rebus: A Game Called Malice at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Nobby Clark
Thriller of the week: Rebus: A Game Called Malice, York Theatre Royal, October 15 to 19, 7.30pm; 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday
SCOTTISH crime writer Ian Rankin’s much-loved detective, John Rebus, takes to the stage in a new storyco-written with Simon Reade. Gray O’Brien, from Coronation Street, Casualty and Peak Practice, plays Rebus in a cast also featuring Abigail Thaw and Billy Hartman.
When a splendid Edinburgh mansion dinner party concludes with a murder mystery game, suddenly a murder needs to be solved. However, guests have secrets of their own. Among them is Inspector John Rebus, but is he Is playing an alternative game, one to which only he knows the rules? Rankin will attend the October 18 post-show discussion with the cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Chris Mooney and Helen Spencer: Playing lovers with opposite takes on their relationship in The Last Five Years at the NCEM, York. Picture: Simon Trow
Debut of the week: Wharfemede Productions & Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 17 to 19, 7.45pm
HELEN Spencer and Nick Sephton launch their new York company, Wharfemede Productions, in tandem with Black Sheep Theatre Productions, by staging The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown’s musical story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.
Combining only two cast members, York Theatre scene luminaries Chris Mooney and Spencer, with a small band, expect an intimate and emotive evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.
Alexander Flanagan-Wright in Helios, a modern take on an Ancient Greek myth, performed under the Great Hall dome at Castle Howard
Theatrical event of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, The Great Hall, Castle Howard, near York, October 17, 5pm and 7.30pm
A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. In a play about the son of the god of the sun, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound round the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.
“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” says writer-performer Alexander Flanagan-Wright, who presents his delicate tale with a tape-player beneath the Great Hall dome’s mural, painted by 18th century Venetian painter Antonio Pelligrini, whose depiction of the Fall of Phaeton was the thematic inspiration behind Helios. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
Squeeze: 50th anniversary celebrations at York Barbican
Recommended but sold out already: Squeeze, York Barbican, October 18, doors 7pm
DEPTFORD’S answer to The Beatles mark their 50th anniversary as Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook manage to Squeeze in hit after hit, like pulling musses from a shell. Don’t miss the support act, one Badly Drawn Boy.
Strictly between us: Husband-and-wife dancers Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara look forward to A Night To Remember at York Barbican next June
Show announcement of the week: Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara: A Night To Remember, York Barbican, June 1 2025
STRICTLY Come Dancing favourites Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara – married since 2017 – will be touring next year with A Night To Remember, featuring an ensemble of “some of the UK’s very best dancers and singers”.
Aljaž, partnering Tasha Ghouri in the 2024 series, and It takes Two presenter Janette will “perform stunning routines to an eclectic array of music”, spanning the Great American songbook through to modern-day classics, backed by their own big band, fronted by boogie- woogie star Tom Seal. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/aljaz-and-janette-a-night-to-remember.
In Focus: Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Oct 15 to 19
Superintendent Curry (Chris Pomfrett) and DI Daisy (Adam Sowter) are pushed to the edge by The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood), when they are surprised in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. Picture: John Saunders
BENT police and politics come under fire in York company Black Treacle Theatre’s provocative production of Dario Fo’s uproarious farce Accidental Death Of An Anarchist next week.
In a new adaptation by Tom Basden, creator of Plebs and Here We Go, the setting is updated to the rotten state of present-day Britain.
The satirical play is set in a police station where a suspect has “accidentally” fallen to his death, but did he jump or was he pushed? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter (the Maniac) is arrested and brought in for questioning.
Seizing the chance to put on a show, he leads the officers in an ever-more ridiculous reconstruction of their official account, exposing their cover-ups, corruption and (in)competence.
The original 1970 Italian farce by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo and Franca Rame was based on the real-life case of an anarchist suspected of a bombing, who plunged to his death from a Milan police station in suspicious circumstances and was later exonerated. Now comes the British re-boot.
The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood) peruses the Anarchist’s case file as Inspector Burton (Paul Osborne) interrupts him
Director Jim Paterson says: “I’m really excited to bring this new adaptation of one of my favourite plays to York. Dario Fo was a master of using comedy to talk about the social and political issues of the day – particularly state corruption and hypocrisy.
“What Tom Basden’s version does brilliantly is bring the plot bang up to date in both setting and references, taking in police scandals and political issues of recent years – as well as packing it full of hilariousjokes! It’s fast, furious and funny, and I can’t wait for opening night.”
Lead actor Andrew Isherwood says: “Playing the Maniac, I get the opportunity to play multiple roles, with a variety of voices, which is always fun for me as I really enjoy getting the chance to play around, have some fun and indulge a little bit, which I don’t normally get to express in the same show.
“I think audiences will get a real kick out of the bizarre nature of this show, with all its twists and turns and bitingly satirical elements woven in, all performed by a brilliantly talented cast!”
PC Joseph (Guy Wilson) attempts to keep a record of the increasingly complex story being spun in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. Picture: John Saunders
Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist,Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 15 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee.Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. Running time: Two hours 15 minutes, including interval.
In the cast will be: The Maniac – Andrew Isherwood; Inspector Burton – Paul Osborne; DI Daisy – Adam Sowter; PC Joseph – Guy Wilson; Superintendent – Chris Pomfrett; Fi Phelan/PC Jackson – Jess Murray.
Production team: Director, Jim Paterson; lighting designer, Adam Kirkwood; set designer, Richard Hampton; costume/props, Maggie Smales.
Did you know?
Black Treacle Theatre’s past productions were: Constellations (March 2022), Iphigenia In Splott (March 2023) and White Rabbit, Red Rabbit (November 2023), all at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.
Last Chance To See: Jack Ashton starring in Little Women at York Theatre Royal, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Jack Ashton as Professor Bhaer in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlotte Graham
STARRING in a much-loved television series can be a boon or a bother for an actor who becomes identified with a particular character. Directors may be reluctant to offer different sorts of role.
Happily, Jack Ashton, best known as the Reverend Tom Hereward in BBC One’s Sunday night staple Call The Midwife, has escaped being typecast. So much so that in York Theatre Royal’s production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age classic Little Women, he is playing not one but two very contrasting characters.
The link is that both are suitors of the titular Little Women – John Brooke and Professor Bhaer, the love interests for Meg and Jo March. Not that Jack downplays the problems of leaving Call The Midwife after five years as the vicar of Poplar in the series set in an East End Anglican convent in the late 1950s and 1960s.
“It was difficult, more difficult than I thought,” he admits. “It was hard for a few years for my agent to get me seen for something. If you’re known as a particular character, it can be hard to do something that’s opposite to that and challenge yourself, which is what you want to be as an actor.”
In the past Jack has said that Call The Midwife changed his life, a reference to becoming a father – of Wren, six, and Lark, two – through his relationship with co-star Helen George. “It was a lovely time in my life,” he says. So much so that the last time he acted in York, in Strangers On the Train at the Grand Opera House in March 2018, newly-born Wren came on tour with them.
Jack Ashton’s John Brooke and Ainy Medina’s Meg March in Little Women, adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlotte Graham
Juliet Forster’s production of Little Women at York Theatre Royal, where he has performed since his early days as an actor, certainly offers the chance to do something different: two different characters in one show.
One of them, Professor Bhaer, requires a German accent, necessitating Jack to work with a voice coach.
He has not read Little Women, although he has seen Great Gerwig’s 2019 film version, and coincidentally has just finished working with Saoirse Ronan, who played burgeoning writer Jo March in the American movie.
While he has not worked previously with any of the Little Women cast members, he has done so with director Juliet Forster, York Theatre Royal’s creative director.
She directed him in productions that have punctuate his life, going from a young man fresh out of drama school in 2006 to present-day leading man, appearing in Twelfth Night and the Studio double bill of Escaping Alice and End Of Desire, as well as The Guinea Pig Club and The Homecoming under former artistic director Damain Cruden’s direction.
Jack Ashton rehearsing the role of Professor Bhaer in Little Women. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
York remains one of his favourite places. “It’s such a great city. I love coming back, it’s a no-brainer when that kind of offer, like Little Women, comes along,” says Jack.
“I have really good friends in York and I’ve befriended Rita and Paul, the original people on the digs list. I got so lucky because I stayed with them the first time and have continued to stay with them every time since.”
He is realistic about the pitfalls of being an actor. “Sometimes people think an actor’s life is quite glamorous. We just audition and audition, and sometimes people say ‘yes, we want you’. Most of the time they say, ‘no thank you very much’.”
He has several projects waiting to be seen, including Jonatan Etzler’s satirical comedy Bad Apples – the one with Saoirse Ronan – and a small role in Lockerbie, a Sky drama series about one man’s battle to learn the truth about the Pan Am Flight 103 bomb explosion over the Scottish town on December 21 1988. He continues to play Harry Chilcott in BBC Radio 4’s long-running series The Archers too.
Returning to the topic of Little Women, does he have any sisters? “Two older sisters,” he replies. “I can definitely relate to not being able to get a word in edgeways.”
Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“We just audition and audition, and sometimes people say ‘yes, we want you’. Most of the time they say, ‘no thank you very much’,” says actor Jack Ashton
