Category: Exhibitions

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 30, from Gazette & Herald

Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House, York

TOM Jones on the coast, Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.

Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, tonight and tomorrow, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm

STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.

Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Lou Bass’s artworks for Bring Me Sunshine at Helmsley Arts Centre

Exhibition of the week: Bring Me Sunshine, Paintings by Lou Bass and Adam King, Helmsley Arts Centre, until September 4

SCARBOROUGH artists Lou Bass and Adam King have teamed up for a joint exhibition, Bring Me Sunshine. A regular North Yorkshire Open Studios participant at Beeforth’s Hive, Lou’s vibrant paintings are brought to life with help from playful and poignant characters, such as Donkey, Crow, Angry Man, Bandit Cat, Dog and Fox, as she explores emotions and situations through simple narratives.

Painter and printmaker Adam has been painting for more than 35 years, holding exhibitions and doing residencies throughout Yorkshire. Educated at Leeds Met, York St John and Huddersfield, he led the Foundation Art and Fine Art degree courses when lecturing at Harrogate College before painting full time. His work is marked by a fresh approach to image making, combining simplicity with sophistication and a sureness of composition.

Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday. Picture: Andrew O’Neill

Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Dylan Howells in Forget About Me (Work In Progress), tonight, 7.30pm; Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), tomorrow, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, Friday, 8pm

IN a remote, northeast village, something lurks in the bathroom: something Dylan struggles to remember, which even his dad’s deadly DIY skills can’t fix, as designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won’t stay still.

Part magic show, part ghost story, tonight’s show Forget About Me isn’t your typical conjuring act: mind-bending mentalism and spine-tingling effects blur the line between reality and fiction in a twisted tale designed to get under your skin.

DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava tomorrow. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change. 

HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill on Friday in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jorja Cartwright’s German flight attendant Gretchen in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing

Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm

MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”

He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Welsh pop legend Tom Jones: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, An Evening with James Taylor and His All-Star Band, Friday; Tom Jones, with Stone Foundation, Saturday; gates open at 6pm

MASSACHUSETTS singer, songwriter and guitarist, Laurel Canyon folk luminary, six-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame inductee James Taylor, 78, draws on six decades of songs, from his self-titled 1968 debut to 2021’s 19th studio album, American Standard, on Friday night.

Tom Jones, or Sir Tom Jones since 2006, to be more formal, returns to Scarborough this weekend at 85 to perform such favourites as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Green, Green Grass Of Home, A Boy From Nowhere, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not To Come and Sex Bomb. Joining Sir Tom will be the eight-piece soul collective Stone Foundation. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Holly Taymar: Performing Eva Cassidy’s songbook at Helmsley Arts Centre

Tribute show of the week: Holly Taymar Sings Eva Cassidy, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK singer-songwriter Holly Taymar delivers a warm, authentic performance that blends Eva Cassidy’s folk, jazz and blues material in renditions of Fields Of Gold, Songbird, Over The Rainbow and Autumn Leaves.

In a show of appreciation for Eva’s life and career, rather than imitation, Taymar combines intimate guitar accompaniment, mesmerising stage presence, melody and emotional truth. Singer-songwriter David Swann supports. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Craig David: TS5 DJ set after Friday evening’s race card at York Racecourse

Race day concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, Friday, and Tom Grennan, Saturday

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.

Tom Grennan: Saturday live set at York Racecourse

BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

York tenor Ashley Stillburn: Making his York Proms debut on Sunday

Picnic concert of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, Sunday 5.30pm

RUN by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman and now in its ninth year, York Proms features music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs. Increasing the orchestra size this summer will enable the inclusion of iconic John Williams cinema compositions.

The soloists are York-born tenor and West End musical actor Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut and British/Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, making her third appearance. Tickets update: Still available at yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2026.

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Seascapes and fossils combine in Carolyn Coles & Mike Marshall’s Beyond The Nab event at St Mary’s Church, Sandsend

York artist Carolyn Coles enjoying painting in plein air at Sandsend

ARTISTS and fossil collectors Carolyn Coles and Mike Marshall share their love of the north east coastline in Beyond The Nab at St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby, on July 24 to 27.

Held at this beautiful church located at the end of the Sandsend Valley at the bottom of Lythe Bank, the special four-day event takes place in one of Yorkshire’s prettiest valleys, noted for its picturesque, high-end stone cottages, rich local history, tied to the Mulgrave Estate, and ancient woodlands leading to the ruins of Mulgrave Castle.

On show and sale will be contemporary paintings with a traditional twist, sculptured fossils, evocative photography, jet jewellery, cards and prints, with both York seascape artist Carolyn Coles and East Coast fossil legend Mike Marshall on hand to guide you through the works.

South Bank Studios artist Carolyn will be demonstrating painting techniques while Mike, who runs Yorkshire Coast Fossils, will be glad to identify any fossil you bring along. A pop-up cafe will serve light refreshment in aid of the church, championed by volunteer Helen Lloyd.

Mike Marshall looking out to sea

Carolyn explains the idea behind the event as a “brilliant medley of art and heritage, combining contemporary art and sculpture with traditional techniques”. “We talked about coming together professionally as our work is a perfect compliment and we have such a shared love of the area,” she says.

Carolyn has had a busy 2026, joining wildlife sculptor Karen Fawcett and PICA Studios ceramicist Emily Stubbs in The Sky’s The Limit exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York, from January 24 to mid-March and taking part in York Open Studios on April 18, 19, 25 and 26.

“My dream is to open a studio and gallery and live by the coast, so this event is a huge pleasure to hold,” she says.

Carolyn Coles and Mike Marshall, Beyond The Nab, St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby, July 24 to 27, 10am to 5pm. A preview event will be held on June 24, 5pm to 7pm. “You will be very welcome to come along and  join us in celebrating this very special part of Yorkshire,” says Carolyn.

Carolyn Coles’s studio at South Bank Studios, York

Carolyn Coles: back story

AFTER studying art and illustration in the early 1990s, Carolyn has exhibited artwork in York, Leeds, London, Derby, Manchester and Hereford in solo and shared shows, selling work internationally too.

She has worked in the creative industry for more than 30 years within adult education, graphic design and illustration and now paints full time from her studio with a group of 19 artists at South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Sandsend, by Carolyn Coles, from her Beyond The Nab exhibition

Described by Pyramid Gallery curator Terry Brett as “a painter of gorgeous seas and skies”, Carolyn has chosen seascapes as her primary subject matter and likes to capture atmosphere, usually with a leaning towards dark and moody, and generally on a larger scale.

Carolyn’s love of the seaside and nature in general is reflected in her painting. Utilising a range of styles, her latest work is mostly impressionistic: “This allows the viewer to interpret their own story and pull their own memories back into play,” she says.

“I’m interested in recreating a feeling, an essence. I love being by the sea or in the hills. It’s a tonic. The noise, everything, just soaks into me. I like to be playful, bold and subtle in my work, which is mostly acrylic on stretched canvasses.”

Mike Marshall’s photograph of the sea at Sandsend with Whitby in the distance. Picture: Yorkshire Coast Fossils

Mike Marshall: back story

MIKE works with locally sourced fossils and Whitby Jet, sculpting and polishing the fossils into natural pieces of art. Fossils are used in the process of producing hand-crafted pieces of Whitby Jet jewellery too. Photography has become part of Mike’s life too, capturing the landscape and wildlife that he encounters on the Yorkshire coast.

Yorkshire Coast Fossils: back story

SITUATED close to the historic port of Whitby on the North Yorkshire Heritage Coast, Yorkshire Coast Fossils has been supplying customers with high-quality fossil specimens, Whitby Jet jewellery and photography since 1989.

The majority of the fossils offered are from the upper lias shales of the Lower Jurassic. Specimens range from the relatively abundant ammonites Dactylioceras and Hildoceras to rarer collectors pieces, such as remains of marine reptiles, including Ichthyosaur, Plesiosaur and marine crocodile, as well as occasional fish and crinoid specimen.

Yorkshire Coast Fossils also offers a range of polished fossil gifts, such as sectioned and polished ammonites, as well as other unusual cut and polished fossil material.

Also available is a range of handmade Whitby Jet jewellery, some being inlaid with local ammonites, Baltic Amber, Mammoth ivory and other semi-precious stones. Bespoke pieces of jewellery can be commissioned and made according to a customer’s requirements.

Storms End, by Carolyn Coles, from her Beyond The Nab exhibition

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 29, from The York Press

Danger, danger for a ranger at close quarters with a dinosaur’s teeth in Dinosaur Adventure Live: Danger On T-Rex Mountain at York Theatre Royal

DINOSAUR adventures and Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.

Children’s show of the week: Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, today, 2.30pm

SIXTY-FIVE million years in the making, Dinosaur Adventure Live brings a fusion of family-friendly storytelling, puppetry and roarsome science to the stage as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares.

From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed (carefully!), Mike Newman’s show blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning into an interactive stage experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Liz Foster: Exhibiting her abstract artworks in Arnup Studios’ first collective show at Pyramid Gallery

Exhibition launch of the week: Arnup Studios at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today, 11am to 2pm, then running until September 27

CERAMICIST Hannah Arnup, landscape and natural world artist Michelle Galloway, abstract artist Liz Foster, plein-air and studio artist Kate Pettitt, British wildlife ceramicist Penny Phillips and handmade jewellery designer Emma Welsh will be on hand at today’s opening of Holtby-based Arnup Studios’ first collective exhibition at Pyramid Gallery. Gallery opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Justine Warner with exhibits from today’s showcase of experimental textiles and mixed media at Laburnum Cottage, Sheriff Hutton 

Art showcase of the week: Experimental Textiles and Mixed Media, Laburnum Cottage Art Studio, West End, Sheriff Hutton, near York, today, 10am to 5pm

NORTH Yorkshire Open Studios textile and mixed-media artist, Landscape Artist Of The Year 2022 contestant, teacher and workshop tutor Justine Warner plays host to an exhibition of one year of student work, showcasing skills, workbooks and final pieces based on a wide range of experimental textile techniques that employ exciting and unusual materials in creative ways.

Look at how Bondaweb, Lutradur, soluble fabrics, metal, foils, gel printing, transfer printing, batik, tetra pack printing, block printing and heat-shrink can be used and  speak with some of the students who experimented with them.

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted office worker Thomas struggling with his bothersome briefcase in Skedaddle Theatre’s A Brief Case Of Crazy

Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm & 7pm

INSPIRED by the timeless genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mr Bean,Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Samuel Cunningham and Lennie Longworth’s physical comedy A Brief Case Of Crazy is a silent love story with a very loud heart, told through slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry.

Meet Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Daisy. His quest for love must contend with a boisterous boss named Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover that what’s on the inside counts most? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.

Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of his myriad roles in Twice Nightly

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. Box office: York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

CMAT: Songs of identity, grief and beauty standards at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight 

Coastal gig of the week: CMAT, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today, gates 6pm

CMAT, alias Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, burst on to the music scene six years ago with her debut single Another Day (KFC). The Dublin-born, County Meath-raised singer and songwriter has since released three bitingly humorous, emotionally honest albums, 2022’s If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, 2023’s Crazymad, For Me and 2025’s  Mercury Prize-nominated Euro-Country, her exploration of identity, grief and beauty standards, exemplified by Take A Sexy Picture Of Me. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk.

Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House next week. Picture: David Freeman 

Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, July 20 to 25, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm

STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter on The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.

Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Lenny Pearce: Techno for toddlers at York Barbican 

Techno dance moves for children: Lenny Pearce, Toddler Rave World Tour Part 2, York Barbican, July22, 3.30pm

LENNY Pearce is a force in family entertainment, captivating a global audience as the pioneer of Toddler Techno. Driven from his passion as a father, and his strong commitment to his home life, Lenny makes songs and videos and performs live shows where he spins children’s favourites, remixed into modern hits that keep young ones and parents alike dazzled. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Andrew O’Neill 

Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), July 23, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, July 24, 8pm

DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student, and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change. 

HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Airline hostesses at the treble: Bethan Olliver as Gloria, left, Val Debenedetti as Gabriella Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen in Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing 

Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 23 to 25, 7.30pm

MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”

He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Craig David: TS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next Friday

Outdoor concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, July 24, and Tom Grennan, July 25

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.

Bedford singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

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Arnup Studios artists to hold collective exhibition at Pyramid Gallery for first time

Hannah Arnup: Exhibiting tripod ceramic vessels at Pyramid Gallery from Saturday

ARTISTS Hannah Arnup, Michelle Galloway, Liz Foster, Kate Pettitt, Penny Phillips and Emma Welsh will be on hand at Saturday’s opening of Arnup Studios’ exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, from 11am to 2pm.

“We are delighted to show a collection of works made at Arnup Studios, Holtby,” says gallery owner and curator Terry Brett. “Having worked with many of these artists and craftspeople individually, it’s a real honour to have them here as a collective for the first time.”

Liz Foster in her studio

Running until September 27, the exhibition in the 15th century building features landscape and abstract paintings, ceramic wildlife sculpture, stoneware pottery and handmade jewellery, showcasing the diverse range of artists that works at the studios near York.

The connection between Arnup Studios and Pyramid Gallery goes back to the 1990s when the gallery first exhibited work by Hannah’s parents, renowned sculptors Mick and Sally Arnup, alongside sons Ben and Tobias and daughter Hannah.

Kate Pettitt at work in her studio. Picture: The Resilient Wanderer

After inheriting the studios, Hannah redesigned the buildings to create individual studios for artists and craftspeople.

She is proud to continue the artistic legacy of her parents: “Today, the studios are shared by five other artists and craftswomen, each working independently while benefiting from the camaraderie and support of the wider Arnup Studios community,” she says. “It is a truly special place.”

Gallery opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Michelle Galloway

Immersed In Nature, by Michelle Galloway, at Pyramid Gallery

Who will be exhibiting?

Hannah Arnup: Studied Fine Art Sculpture at Kingston School of Art and Post-Graduate Ceramics at Goldsmiths College. Exhibiting a range of tripod ceramic vessels influenced by the balance, beauty and intricate detail of early Chinese ritual bronze vessels and her ongoing fascination with antiquity.

Liz Foster: Studied painting at Glasgow School of Art. Exhibiting a selection of her contemporary colour-led abstract oil paintings exploring bold colour, form and gestural mark-making.

Wolf Head, by Penny Phillips, from the Pyramid Gallery exhibition. Picture: Dawn McNamara

Kate Pettitt: Studied fine art, illustration and graphic design in both Exeter and York. Exhibiting a selection of plein air and studio paintings.

Michelle Galloway: Exhibiting a selection of landscapes and closely observed paintings of the natural world.

Penny Phillips in her Arnup Studios studio. Picture: Dawn McNamara

Penny Phillips: Exhibiting a series of textural ceramic sculptures inspired by her love of British wildlife.

Emma Welsh: Traditionally trained goldsmith exhibiting a selection of her unique jewellery designs.

Studio website: arnupstudios.weebly.com.

Collector’s Locket, by Emma Welsh, from the Pyramid Gallery exhibition

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AcombFest street art festival drew 12,000 over three days. Next year’s plans to be announced at PaintJam art sale on Sept 12

Curtis Hylton’s Owl mural on the Acomb Post Office wall, created at AcombFest

ACOMBFEST, York’s first International street art festival, attracted 12,000 people to Acomb as art and community bonded from July 3 to 5. 

Record numbers were drawn to churches, food vendors, bars and in particular to the four new street murals by Australian photorealist SMUG, Reading wildlife artist Curtis Hylton, Sheffield’s Peachzz and Bristol-based, Acomb-raised SledOne, commissioned by event curators Art Of Protest on the festival theme of Return To Nature.

A PaintJam, curated by RARE Collective’s Sharon McDonagh and Sola at The Carlton Tavern in support of charity partner SASH, York (Safe and Sound Homes), hosted nine live paintings by York and international artists Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Nicolas Dixon, Sola, spAm (Sharon McDonagh) and VYZ. Hundreds bought artwork and prints created by the artists to raise vital funds for SASH. 

Acomb business owner Simon Taylor, of the Post Office/Taylors of Acomb, hosted Reading wildlife muralist Curtis Hylton’s spray-painting of his new owl mural, now resplendent on an external wall.

“We’ve seen a boost in business already, with people coming into the shop to ask about the artwork and in turn buying products from us,” said Simon. “The response from the public has been amazing; we have people gathering outside and sharing their positive views. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Acomb and I hope more events like this can return.” 

Fishponds Wood’s moth “reveal” on the Sunday morning when hundreds of people gathered in the woods to release moths to the accompaniment of a five-piece band. A record-breaking 750 people visited Holgate Mill to view Jim Grant and Ben Grant’s light installation Rock Soil Sky on July 4 and 5: the highest number of visitors at the windmill over a weekend. 

St Stephen’s church turned into a gallery over the weekend, hosting original works by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, complemented by work by Acomb artists.

The Reverend Matt Woodcock said: “People were streaming into church, queuing to get into church. The art exhibition has been a smash hit. I never thought I’d see the day!” 

Creative events and activities were centred on Front Street with free street art workshops. Venues included Bluebird Bakery, The Hand, SoJo, The Crooked Tap, The Sun Inn and The Fox.Each venue had its own bespoke offer: from bush craft and nature art to water art and artist talks. 

Jimmy Hebbron, owner of The Crooked Tap, said: “This weekend has brought local businesses together, world-class art to our walls and put plenty of money behind the bar. Our food vendors on Friday night sold out at record time!

“Hosting workshops made our venue packed out from 11.30 am and the music took us until close. Please leave feedback on the event so that we can secure funding for AcombFest next year!” 

Community activities include a community cinema at Acomb Explore library and spoken word at Books & Bevs. Acomb Methodist Church was packed all weekend with an artist market by That Acomb Arty Thing and activities that kept hundreds of families busy.

On September 12, artworks created at the RARE Collective PaintJam will be auctioned off at an event hosted at the Carlton Tavern in aid of SASH. Plans for next year’s follow-up festival will be revealed. 

The festival was shaped by speaking to more than 1,100 residents that co-produced the important theme around returning to nature. Funding was all provided by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund, Great Acomb Community Forum, City of York Council, York St John University, business and the community.

“The Art Of Protest and AcombFest team would like to say a huge thank-you to all involved,” says Jeff Clark. “No matter how big or small, the support and love for the festival has been truly mind blowing. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.“ 

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View from the frontline of AcombFest. How are the murals progressing as of 4/7/2026?

Australian artist SMUG at work on What Flies Around. All pictures: Celestine Dubruel

AT the heart of Art of Protest is “placemaking”, explains artistic director and AcombFest curator Jeff Clark, whose inaugural international street art festival in York has the theme of ‘Returning to Nature’, bring together art, nature and communities.

“Every day we are changing the world, and our actions create ripples around us, making waves for others in the future,” he says. “I have found that nature has a funny way of connecting and reminding us that whatever we feel (an issue or a stress) can be re-grounded by a returning spring, the simple buzz of a bee and the sound of a tweeting bird.

“Art of Protest have curated the artist briefs, each themed on how nature interacts with us on a day-to-day basis.”

CharlesHutchPress took a stroll through Acomb on Saturday afternoon to gauge how the four principal murals were taking shape.

Curtis Hylton’s What Flies Above Us on Acomb Post Office in Acomb Road for AcombFest

READING muralist Curtis Hylton is skilled in the art of creating large-scale murals using spray paint. His trademark work incorporates a fusion of nature with bird life and can be seen across the UK, Europe and beyond. Find out more at curtis-hylton. com

Doing the can-can: SledOne spray-painting What Walks Amongst Us betwixt Front Street and The Green, Acomb

NOW based in Bristol, but with Acomb roots, SledOne focuses on surreal characters or vibrant murals married with realistic elements.

He often draws from his surroundings and nature and uses animals as a vehicle. While some elements of his work may be humorous, others are created for the sheer joy of his craft. Visit sledone.org to learn more.

Peachzz’s What Walked Amongst Us on Front Street, Acomb

SHEFFIELD street artist and muralist is recognised for her large-scale, vibrant, nature-inspired murals, peppered with hints of realism.

She has painted globally across Europe, the United States of America, Colombia, Mexico and the Middle East, winning accolades including Street Art Cities’ Best Street Art prize in June 2024. Discover more at peachzz.co.uk.

A group of magpies is known as a mischief. How apt for SMUG’s mural What Flies Around Us betwixt Front Street and The Green, Acomb

Australian artist SMUG is known for realistic, large-scale mural installations. He takes inspiration from people and nature, employing a trademark understanding of light and shadow – which he thinks of as “stylised realism” – to explore both the harmonies and juxtapositions, whether inherent or subtle. Take a look at his Instgram site at @smugone.

AcombFest continues today. Find the full details at acombfest.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 27, from The York Press

SledOne’s mural, What Walks Amongst Us, taking shape at AcombFest. Picture: Art of Protest

MURALS in Acomb, early music beyond borders, Mystery Plays on waggons, a political swansong and compact Shakespeare keep Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts off the July heatwave.

Art event of the week: AcombFest, Acomb, York, today and tomorrow

CURATED by Art of Protest, York’s first international street art festival continues today and tomorrow with its theme of A Return To Nature, featuring 20 art installations, live murals, RARE Collective’s Paint Jam, spray battles and more than 30 bands, DJs and performers, across 22 venues.

Look out too for interactive family-friendly workshops, an art market, history walks and talks, special events and tastings and a community cinema. Muralists taking part include SMUG, from Australia, Sheffield muralist Peachzz, wildlife artist Curtis Hylton and Acomb’s very own SledOne. For full details, go to: https://acombfest.co.uk/.

Baroque collective Solomon’s Knot: Performing Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns’ St Mark Passion, directed by Jonathan Sells, at The Quire, York Minster, on July 10

50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, until July 11

THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.

The festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Solomon’s Knot and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.

Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents in the York Mystery Plays 2026. Picture: John Saunders

Theatrical outdoor event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow, 10.30am to 4.50pm

THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to yorkmysteryplays.co.uk; tickets, ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

Clive Francis as Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.

Californian co-founders Adam Long,  Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet

Busiest actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe, Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Arts Hub, July 10, 8pm; One  Man Poe world premiere, York Medical Society, July 11, 7.30pm

THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in  two York performances.

Smith also presents four of Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror  works (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven) in Ripon, followed by the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) in York. All six, amounting to 18,000 Poe words, will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.

Musical of the week: Top Hat and Tails Theatre in Little Shop Of Horrors!, Friargate Theatre, York, July 9 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MEEK floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he calls Audrey II, a foul-mouthed carnivore that promises him fame and fortune if he keeps feeding it with blood. Over time, however, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s plans for global domination in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s sci-fi B-movie monster spoof, presented here with a live band and professionally hand-crafted puppets.  Box office: ridinglights.org.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits show at York Museum Gardens on Thursday

Music festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, July 9, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, July 10, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, July 11, gates 4pm

WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts on Thursday with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.

Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are next Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn.  Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home, by Matt Sewell

In Focus: Birds of the week: Matt Sewell exhibition for RARE Collective at WET, Micklegate, York, until mid-July

SHROPSHIRE artist, illustrator and author Matt Sewelll is the latest street art luminary to be showcased in RARE Collective’s collaboration with WET wine bar, in Micklegate, York, in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.

“We’re really chuffed to have Matt return to York with his fabulous Riso prints,” says RARE Collective exhibition organiser Sharon McDonagh. “If you came to the Vandalfest charity street art show last year, you would have seen his cracking bird mural on Floor 3 of the big disused office block in Low Ousegate.

Artist Matt Sewell at work

Sewell is an avid ornithologist, contributing regularly to the Caught By The River website and publishing the books Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds, Our Woodland Birds, Owls, Penguins and A Charm Of Goldfinches And Other Collective Nouns.

He has illustrated for the Guardian, Barbour, V&A Museums, BBC, National Trust, Greenpeace, Big Issue and Levi’s and painted walls for Helly Hansen, Puma and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). He has exhibited in Great Britain, New York, old York, Tokyo and Paris.  

Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo, by Matt Sewell

Under RARE Collective’s partnership with WET, artists and photographers exhibit their work in a six-week solo show.  As well as at WET, work can be bought online both during and after the exhibition run at rarecollective.co.uk.

In addition, a selection of Sewell’s prints is featuring in RARE Collective’s exhibition for AcombFest at The Crooked Tap, on show until August 15 in support of SASH.

Matt Sewell’s wall of bird prints for sale at WET

Exhibiting too are: spAm (Sharon McDonagh), Sola, Alison Jagger, Al Murphy, Anthony Appleyard, Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Michael Dawson, Nicolas Dixon, Slice Of Lino, STATIC and Stephen Bottrill.

“RARE are working in collaboration with the Art of Protest Project, after being invited by AcombFest curator Jeff Clark and the AOP team to curate the live PaintJam at the Carlton Tavern, in Acomb Road, Holgate, today and tomorrow,” says RARE Collective curator Sharon McDonagh.

“This will involve nine artists painting live from 10am to 4pm each day (Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Nicolas Dixon, Sola, spAm and VYZ); live DJ sets by Alilou, Bob Yenz, Conor Rogan, Free Da Karlos and Sola plus guests, audiovisual artists Fred DWolf, Sonas and JohnManBand on a huge screen, cocktails and mixology by Tulum Spirits Collective and street food by El Chappo, all in support of SASH.”

Did you know?

MATT Sewell is also a musician, performing as Sewell &The Gong with Chris Tate and as the deep-cut compiler of the compilation series A Crushing Glow.

Matt Sewell’s work environment

In Focus too: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, July 6 to 8, 7.45pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.

The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour will feature “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”. 

Creative manager James Keegan says: “Michael Flatley has taught me that there are no boundaries in the creative space. When he burst onto the scene in the mid-90s, he took traditional Irish dancing to a place nobody had ever dreamed of, and that has been the key to the show’s success.

“Michael often says in rehearsals that we need to push the boundaries as much as we can, and if it’s too far or doesn’t work, we can always pull it back. That mindset is what keeps Lord Of The Dance evolving.”

Lord Of The Dance on its 30th anniversary tour. Picture: Brian Doherty

Keegan believes that the core elements of Flatley’s visionary production – choreography, music and storytelling – remain timeless while still evolving. “What made Lord Of The Dance famous 30 years ago is still what makes it work today: 40 of the greatest Irish tap dancers in the world performing in one line in perfect sync. It’s a spectacle that never loses its magic,” he says.

Reflecting on Flatley’s impact, Keegan says: “Professional Irish dancing didn’t really exist until Michael created his shows and added a more entertaining twist to the art form.

“He wasn’t just a dancer; he was a highly tuned athlete who could perform at astonishing levels for a full two-hour show, seven days a week. Today, we see young competitive dancers around the world striving to reach the levels he set.”

But beyond the footwork and the spectacle, Keegan reckons Flatley’s greatest legacy is his ability to inspire. “Michael’s motto has always been, ‘Nothing is impossible.’ He took an already intricate dance form and pushed it even further, breaking records like 38 taps per second and incorporating upper body movements that defied tradition,” he says.

Michael Flatley

“I’ve seen it time and time again: a dancer who never thought they could be a lead receives Michael’s encouragement, and before long, they are fulfilling their dream on stage.”

For Keegan, one moment stands out above the rest. “In 1997, I was a ten-year-old competitive Irish dancer in Manchester, struggling with the name-callers and the challenges of being a young male dancer,” he says.

“Then Lord Of The Dance came to town. Watching Michael and the cast that night at the Apollo Theatre changed everything for me. The masculinity, the precision, the energy, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“I met Michael at the stage door, and suddenly, I knew that being an Irish dancer could mean being a superstar. Nineteen years later, I had the honour of sharing his final show with him at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in 2016. It was a full-circle moment I will never forget.”

Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance dancers

As Lord Of The Dance embark on its 30th anniversary tour, Flatley reflects on the journey. “The magic of Lord Of The Dance lives on in the hearts of our audience, and I am thrilled to bring this iconic show back to the UK in 2026,” he says.

“30 Years of Standing Ovations celebrates the incredible journey we’ve shared with fans over the years. It’s a tribute to the enduring power of dreams, the joy of dance and the unwavering support of our audience. This tour is our way of saying thank you for three decades of unforgettable memories.”

Although Flatley, now 67, retired from performing during his final tour in 2016, he has remained at the helm of Lord Of The Dance, guiding its evolution while preserving its timeless magic.

Now, as the production prepares for its biggest celebration yet, fans can look forward to a breathtaking spectacle that honours the past, embraces the present, and inspires the future of Irish dance.

The 30th anniversary tour also visits Hull New Theatre, July 22 to 25, and Sheffield City Hall, August 20 to 23. For full tour dates and ticket information, go to lordofthedance.com. York tickets:  https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.

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AcombFest, York’s first international street art festival, is under way with 90 activities, events and murals across 22 venues

SledOne’s mural, What Walks Amongst Us, taking shape for Acomb Fest. Picture: Art of Protest

ACOMB is hosting AcombFest, York’s first international street art festival for York, from today to Sunday featuring 20 art installations, live mural painting, RARE Collective’s PaintJam and spray battles, plus 30 bands, DJs and performers, across 22 venues.

Look out too at this Return To Nature-themed festival for special events and tastings, community cinema, family-friendly interactive workshops, art market, Acomb history walks and talk, plus shopping opportunities in support of independent businesses.

Featuring more than 90 activities and events, AcombFest is the creative brainchild of Art of Protest, Jeff Clark’s York-based  street and urban art business “dedicated to transforming cities, towns and communities one spray can at a time in artist-led, community-shaped and stakeholder-driven projects”.

Funded by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund, Great Acomb Community Forum and City of York Council and supported by York St John University and York School of Art, AcombFest presents a long weekend of highly visual and participatory events.

The centrepiece will be the painting of four large-scale murals in and around Front Street by renowned international artists. This work will be complemented by a further ten art installation paints featuring York artists with community collaborations, alongside a range of workshops, music and cultural happenings.

“Nothing of this scale will have been seen in York before, never mind in Acomb” says Jeff, Art of Protest creative director and lead curator of AcombFest.

Jeff Clark: Art of Protest creative director and lead curator of AcombFest

“Normally, activities of this scale would be confined to the city centre, but this event is a fantastic example of how to broaden out creative and cultural engagement to the people in the wider city and wards.

“Not only does this inject life into local high streets to make them more vibrant and sustainable, it also does the same for the communities themselves.”

Jeff continues: “The ambition for AcombFest is to be a bi-annual event attracting the best international, national and more local artists from across the region to really put Acomb on the map as ‘the creative quarter’ of York.

“This is something that has been much needed as a way of balancing the city’s reliance on its fantastic heritage. Not only that, it will act as an inspiration and a pathway for young creative people in the Acomb and surrounding communities to develop their skills and start their own creative journeys – hopefully into related jobs and industries.”

The mural artist headliners will be Australian superstar SMUG, known as “the world’s best photorealistic artist”; Sheffield muralist Peachzz, 2024 runner-up for Best Mural in the World; wildlife artist Curtis Hylton and Acomb returnee SledOne.

Only one magpie? Phew, luckily plenty more are being added to SMUG’s mural, What Flies Around Us, at AcombFest. Picture: Art of Protest

Creative events and activities will be centred on Front Street with free street art workshops. Venues include Bluebird Bakery, SoJo, The Crooked Tap and all the way down Acomb Road to The Fox, connecting all the green spaces and parks.

Each venue will have its own bespoke offer – from bush craft and nature art to artist talks – with individual tickets, availability information and listings to be found on the AcombFest website at https://acombfest.co.uk/.

RARE Collective are putting on DJs and nine artists will be showcasing their skills in live spray battles at the Carlton Tavern. The community cinema will run at Acomb Explore library and spoken word events at Books & Bevs. 

A full programme of family-friendly free activities will run at Acomb Methodist Church; That Acomb Arty Thing will play host to an artist market; the Gateway Church will present art exhibitions; Fishponds Wood will run mini-beast trails. Further attractions will be history tours, Jim Grant and Ben Grant’s Rock Soil Sky light installations in Holgate Windmill and pop-up stalls for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and York Civic Trust. 

Specialist food and drink offerings throughout the festival will include Spirit of Yorkshire and an international mixologist.

The festival was shaped by speaking to more than 1,100 residents and nine schools to learn of Acomb’s rich tapestry of history, flora and wildlife, leading to the festival theme of returning to nature. Acomb Alive and Acomb Methodist Church have supported the event too, the church playing host to music therapy sessions, flower arranging with Acomb Flower Guild, drop-in crafts with Crafty Fox and an art fair with Acomb Artists.

The festival map for AcombFest

What’s On at AcombFest

Friday, July 3

Explore Library
9:30am – 12:30pm
Mosaic Workshop
10am & 1pm
Hidden History Walk

Gateway Centre
10am – 6:30pm
Oak Room Art Exhibition and Art Workshops – Exhibitions & creative workshops curated by That Acomb Art Thing.

The Carlton Tavern
2pm – 5:30pm
PaintJam – RARE Collective & Art of Protest setting up PaintJam ready for artists, DJs & mixologist
7pm – 9pm
Live World Cup Mega-Screen 

Acomb Front Street
3pm – 4pm
Art of Protest Street Art Workshops

The Fox
3:30pm – 6pm
Water Art – After-school fun! Join the Fox team in a free-for-all floor art event
4pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
6pm – 8pm
Tri-Starss – Beer garden gig of 1970s-1990s rock

DJ Sola: Leading a bill of live music, dancing and craft beer at The Crooked Tap

The Crooked Tap
All weekend
RARE Collective Urban Art Exhibition
4pm – 10:30pm
DJ Sola & Friends – Live music, craft beer and dancing
6pm – 9pm
Philly’s Woodfired Pizza – Neapolitan wood-fired pizza

SOJO
5:30pm – 8:30pm
Yorkshire Beer & Cheese Tasting – Celebration of Yorkshire produce
8:30pm – 11pm
Live bands – Local bands performing live sets

Bluebird Bakery/Rise
6pm – 7:45pm
AcombFest Talks – Curator Jeff Clark and muralists discuss AcombFest (Whisky-Highball on arrival, tickets required)
7:45pm – 8:30pm
Whisky Tasting – Spirit of Yorkshire + Tulum Spirits (tickets required)
8:30pm – 10:30pm
Flour Power Sound System with Yeastie Boy – Live music (tickets required)

The Hand
8pm – 9:30pm
Josh Pulleyn – Live music

Inn on the Green
8:30pm – 11pm
Live music – Local bands performing live sets

Saturday, July 4

York pianist Karl Mullen: PIaying outside the bakery at Rise@Bluebird Bakery from 1pm to 3pm

Bluebird Bakery/Rise
9am – 12pm
Wild Bee Flowers – Sustainable florist & flower farm
10am – 3pm
Fresh Bakes – Bluebird’s fresh bakes & goodies
1pm – 3pm
Karl Mullen Live Piano – Busker extraordinaire playing outside bakery
All day
Craft Beer and Speciality Cans – Fridges of craft beers & small brewery cans in regular rotation
7pm – 11pm
Groovetone + The Unknown Stuntman – Jazz, blues, Latin, funk and Ska tunes (tickets required)

The Place
10am – 12pm
Leo Morrey Art Workshops
12:30pm – 2pm
Drummers
12pm – 4pm
Stephen Hodgkins Art Workshops

West Bank Park
10am – 3pm
Trapeze classes

Holgate Windmill
10am – 3:30pm
Wind, Soil, Rock Art Installation – Video, sound and life-size puppet

The Carlton Tavern
10am – 6pm
PaintJam – Watch nine artists begin their paints
10am – 10pm
RARE Collective DJs + Audiovisual – Eclectic mix of DJs and audio visual producers for PaintJam. Decks will be pumping out tunes while the paint dries
10am – 10pm
Tulum Spirits Collective – Flying in from Mexico, mixologist Craig Feather serves up menu of luxury bespoke cocktails from 11am, preceded by non-alcoholic delights from 10am
11am – 8pm
Streetfood

The Crooked Tap
All weekend
RARE Collective Urban Art Exhibition
10:30am – 12pm
The Art of Kokodema Workshop – tickets required
12pm – 8pm
Yuzu East Asian Street Food
12pm – 1:30pm
Charlie Swainton – Live music
2pm – 3:30pm
Amy & Rob – Live music
4pm – 5:30pm
Craig Long – Live music
6pm – 7:30pm
James Scanlan – Live music
8pm – 10pm
Melting Pot – 90s’ Indie, Britpop & dance tribute

Acomb Methodist Church
10:30am – 2pm
Bloom Baby – Fiona Price Baby Classes
11am – 2pm
Music Therapy
12pm – 1pm
Jazzy J’s – Live music
12:30pm – 6pm
Cafe
1pm – 2pm
Ten Thousand Pairs of Hands – Live music
1:30pm – 4:30pm
Acomb Flower Guild – Adult & Child Workshops
3pm – 3:30pm
Acomb Choir
3:45pm – 8:45pm
Acomb Community Cinema

Explore Library
11am – 3pm
Acomb History Group
4pm – 7pm
Open Cinema: Hoppers – Cinema with popcorn (tickets required)

Acomb Front Street
11am – 3pm
Art of Protest Street Art Workshops

Storyteller Lara McClure

Books & Bevs
12:30pm – 3:30pm
Storytelling with Lara McClure

Fishpond Woods
2pm – 3:30pm
Mini Beast Safari

The Fox
12pm – 8:30pm
Posca Doodle Wall
12pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
2pm – 4pm
The Mothers – Live music
4pm – 6pm
Ten Thousand Pairs Of Hands – Live music
6pm – 8pm
Steam Pigeon – Live music
6pm – 8:30pm
Beermat Art Lost Property Collage

Inn on the Green
2pm – 11pm
Open Mic Night

The Sun
3:30pm – 5pm
BBQ
4pm – 8pm
Fireball Rockband

The Hand
8:30pm – 11pm
Pete Hale – Live music

Sunday, July 5

Fishpond Woods
10am – 11am
Moth Reveal

Acomb Methodist Church
10am – 12pm
Interactive Worship
12pm – 6pm
Pop-Up Cafe
1pm – 4:30pm
Crafty Fox Kids Club – Hands-on art & craft activities for two to four-year-olds
1pm – 4pm
Bio-Diversity Collage – Reacting to ecological crisis
6pm – 8pm
Art Speedquiz

West Bank Park
10am – 3pm
Trapeze classes

Freida Nipples: Baps’N’Bingo at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Bluebird Bakery/Rise
10am – 3pm
Bluebird’s Sunday Ritual – Sunday specialties such as Bengali five-spice rolls, spinach & chickpea rolls, plus artisan pastries.
6pm – 8pm
Baps’N’Bingo – Burlesque bingo with Dolly Trolly and Freida Nipples (tickets required)
8pm – 11pm
Guilty Pleasures Disco – Closing party of pop bangers, disco, R&B & power ballads (tickets required)

Holgate Windmill
10am – 4pm
Wind, Soil, Rock Art Installation – Video, sound and life-size puppet

The Crooked Tap
All weekend
RARE Collective Urban Art Exhibition
10:30am – 12pm
Posca Pebble Art
12pm – 8pm
Yuzu East Asian Street Food
12:30pm – 5:30pm
Acomb Artists’ Kids Art Classes
12:30pm – 11pm
Cask Ale Festival
6pm – 10:30pm
AcombFest Closing Party – DJ Sola & Friends of RARE Collective

The Fox
12pm – 4pm
Bush Craft and Nature Art – Session with Tom Rawson of Branch Out
12pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
2pm – 4pm
Bare Brass Band – Live music
4pm – 6pm
V2 – Live music

Inn on the Green
12pm – 5pm
Sunday Roast – OMNI Darts challenge & simulators

The Carlton Tavern
1pm – 6pm
PaintJam – Artwork continues
10am – 10pm
RARE DJ Sets – Live music
10am – 5pm
Tulum Spirits Collective – Flying in from Mexico, mixologist Craig Feather serves up luxury bespoke cocktails from 11am, preceded by non-alcoholic delights from 10am
11am – 8pm
El Chappo – New takes on traditional Mexican from Sheffield, ahead of Mexico v England in the World Cup last 16
12pm – 3:30pm
The Tavern Sunday Roast – Traditional roasts
9pm – 11pm
Live World Cup Mega-Screen

Gateway Church
2pm – 4pm
Little Green Fingers – Plant up container pot to take home

The Sun
4pm – 7pm
BBQ
4pm – 7pm
York Turnpike Trust – Five-piece band’sR&B covers

The Hand
5:30pm – 9pm
The Dunwells – Leeds indie-folk/Americana band

The Dunwells: Plating at The Hand on Sunday

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Fringe show of the week: Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8 and 11

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet. Picture: Amie Barton-Young

AFTER last summer’s sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run, Stephen Smith’s solo show A Montage Of Monet plays York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, on July 8 at 7.30pm and July 11 at 3pm.

Joan Greening’s 55-minute play invites audiences to step beyond Claude Monet’s Impressionist paintings and meet the complicated, passionate and often deeply flawed man behind them.

A Montage Of Monet explores the extraordinary life of Normandy-born Monet, from his turbulent love affairs and artistic rivalries to personal tragedy, financial hardship and the failing eyesight that threatened to end his career.

“While millions recognise his iconic water lilies, few know the remarkable story behind the artist himself,” says actor and Threedumb Theatre artistic director Stephen Smith, whose production holds a special connection with York.

Actor Stephen Smith stands by Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond on his visit to York Art Gallery in 2024

“While preparing for the original Edinburgh production, I made a pilgrimage to York Art Gallery to see The Water-Lily Pond during the gallery’s hugely successful National Treasures: Monet in York exhibition in 2024.

“Standing in front of one of his most famous paintings while developing the role was an unforgettable experience, and it’s incredibly special to now be bringing the show back to the city.”

Smith’s production combines live performance with carefully curated projections of Monet’s paintings and those of his contemporaries, allowing audiences with little or no prior knowledge of Impressionism to immerse themselves fully in the story.

Writer Joan Greening, whose work has been performed across the UK and internationally, created A Montage of Monet specifically with Stephen Smith in mind after she saw him perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In the frame: Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet. Picture: Picture: Amie Barton-Young

“I immediately thought this brilliant young actor could play Monet,” she says. “It has been an enormous pleasure working with Stephen, who is a dynamic performer with original and clever ideas.”

Produced by four-time OFFIE Award-winning company Threedumb Theatre, A Montage Of Monet continues the London-based company’s reputation for creating bold, imaginative solo theatre that tours nationally and internationally.

Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: 12+.

Stephen Smith’s other Fringe shows of the week: One Man Poe at Ripon Theatre Festival, July 10, 8pm, and York Medical Society, July 11, 7.30pm

Stephen Smith in The Tell-Tale Heart in One Man Poe at Ripon Theatre Festival. Picture: Shay Rowan

THREEDUMB Theatre actor and artistic director Stephen Smith brings his gothic horror phenomenon One Man Poe to North Yorkshire for a special Ripon Theatre Festival performance on July 10 and the world premiere of an entirely new Poe double-bill in York the next night.

One Man Poe had sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 and 2025, winning both the Derek Award for Best Overall Show and the Spookies Award for Best Horror Solo Show.

London-based Smith now returns north with two distinct One Man Poe productions. Ripon’s audience will have the chance to experience the original One Man Poe, featuring Edgar Allan Poe classics The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven, while July 11’s York audience exclusively will receive the first ever public performance of The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar.

Anyone heading for Edinburgh this summer can catch all six stories, presented as three different shows, when Smith returns for another Fringe run.

The Ripon Theatre Festival performance presents the four-story gothic anthology that has toured internationally to Europe, Dubai, Malaysia, New York, Baltimore and beyond, earning acclaim for Smith’s virtuosic solo storytelling and atmospheric theatrical style.

Stephen Smith as The Mesmerist in The Case Of M. Valdemar, from One Man Poe, pictured at St Cuthbert’s Kirkyard graveyard in Edinburgh. Picture: Colin Hattersley Photography

Meanwhile, York becomes the first city in the world to see Smith’s newest Poe adaptations before they transfer to the Edinburgh Fringe later this summer for a 42-show run.

The Business Man concerns a corrupt, bullying American businessman who builds his fortune through ruthless scams and opportunism before deciding the time is right to enter politics.

The Case of M. Valdemar explores one of Poe’s most disturbing concepts: a mesmerist attempting to hypnotise a dying man at the precise moment of death itself.

Smith, who has committed more than 18,000 words of Poe to memory, says: “Every year I deepen the work, and these new stories allow us to explore Poe’s wicked humour and his darkest fascination with mortality. The horror in Poe is never simply monsters – it’s human nature.”

Stephen Smith in One Man Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven, Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Arts Hub, Allhallowgate, Ripon,  July 10, 8pm. Tickets: https://www.ripontheatrefestival.org/event/one-man-poe/. Age guidance: 12 plus.

Stephen Smith as The Politician / Businessman, pictured on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh. Picture: Colin Hattersley

Stephen Smith in One Man Poe, The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar, York premiere, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 11, 7.30pm, with post-show Q&A with performer-director Stephen Smith. Tickets: 01904 623568 or https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/one-man-poe-the-business-man-and-the-case-of-m-valdemar/. Age guidance: 16 plus.

Both shows contain distressing or potentially triggering themes.

For details of One Man Poe at The Fringe see https://www.edfringe.com

Stephen Smith and One Man Poe: back story

A HUGE fan of the late Roger Corman/Vincent Price’s Edgar Allan Poe-cycle when a child, Stephen Smith reignited his love of classical horror stories during the pandemic by creating online renditions of Poe’s work via Facebook Live.

When the theatres reopened, he combined four of Poe’s most popular pieces in a solo show and named the extravaganza One Man Poe. First performed in 2021 at Watford Palace Theatre, the show has had multiple runs in London  and on tour in the UK.

Poe is sometimes referred to as “America’s Shakespeare” and Stephen is thrilled to share the stories to UK theatre audiences. However, the show has toured internationally to Dubai, Malaysia, Off-Broadway in New York and the International Poe Festival in Baltimore, Maryland.

Stephen has had the pleasure of performing the show at the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, Poe’s cottage in the Bronx, New York, and even a special VIP catacomb performance at Poe’s burial site in Baltimore.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 26, from The York Press

Becky Hill: High-energy performance on Knavesmire track

THE York Mystery Plays on waggon wheels, Becky Hill on Knavesmire, Calendar Girls in the round and early music beyond borders promise high summer times for Charles Hutchinson.

Under starter’s orders: Becky Hill, Summer Music Saturday, York Racecourse, today, first race at 1.20pm

BECKY Hill, two-time BRIT Award winner for Best Dance Act, opens the summer of post-racing concerts at York Racecourse, promising a high-energy performance on the “Glastonbury-style stage” after tomorrow’s seven-race card. For her set list, she can pick from such hits as Gecko; Back & Forth; Wish You Well; Lose Control; Better Off Without You; Heaven On My Mind; Remember; My Heart Goes; Run; Crazy What Love Can Do; History and Disconnect. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

Kirkgate at York Castle Museum in full summer bloom with floral displays and new projections. Picture: Gareth Buddo Furmoto Photography

Flower power of the week: Summer at York Castle Museum, in bloom until September 6, open Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm

YORK Castle Museum is capturing the essence of ‘grand days out’ and celebrating iconic summers across two contrasting centuries this summer season.  Drawing on the breadth of the museum’s social history collection, Victorian York Galas and the Swinging ’60s are the programme’s key focus with games, crafts and seasonal decorations providing nostalgia and summer fun for visitors.

Further highlights include Last Stop Before Kirkgate, Novo Theatre’s immersive experience replicating a 19th century coaching inn and arrival into York, and Yorkshire artist Pippa Dyrlaga’s paper-cut hot air balloons, telling the story of balloon rides during the galas. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.  

Richard Ashcroft. Picture: Dean Chalkley

Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Richard Ashcroft, today; Billy Ocean and Marti Pellow, tomorrow, gates open at 6pm

THE Verve frontman, songwriter and producer Richard Ashcroft, two-time Ivor Novello and triple BRIT Award winner, headlines today’s Scarborough bill, joined by DJ Wayne, original Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan and Yorkshire indie rockers Apollo Junction.  

Trinidadian-British soul singer Billy Ocean (real name Leslie Sebastian Charles, by the way) takes top spot tomorrow, airing such hits as Red Light Spells Danger, Love Really Hurts Without You, Caribbean Queen and When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going. His very special guest is former Wet Wet Wet singer and musicals star Marti Pellow; Katie Owen supports too. Box office: scarbroughopenairtheatre.com.

Christina Meehan’s Annie, left, and Karen Holmes’s Chris in Calendar Girls The Musical at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Make a date with: Calendar Girls The Musical, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today until July 25

AS director Paul Robinson reveals: “Our new in-the-round staging of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls brings the audience into the heart of the Rylstone Women’s Institute, making this true story of friendship and determination feel more personal and immediate.

“This intimate production will create a unique, shared experience, reminiscent of gathering around a community hall or a close friend’s living room, allowing for a deeper connection to the characters and creating a collective, communal atmosphere that fully immerses everyone in the moving story of these ‘ordinary women’ doing something quite extraordinary.” Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Cathy Sara’s Villeyn and Thomas Frere’s Jongleur in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Mistero Buffo. Picture: John Shepherdson

2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, York, today, tomorrow, then July 1 to 4, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on July 3 & 4

TWO wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe to tell tales destined to turn the city upside down. Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, Paul Birch’s two-hander production for York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.

Written by Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo, translated by Ed Emery and performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara, this 1969 take on the Mystery Plays will appeal to Fringe theatregoers with a taste for subversive and unapologetic comedy with bite. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.

Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents. Picture: John Saunders

Theatrical event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow and July 5, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset in the Shambles Market, June 30 and July 1, 7.45pm  

THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.

Special midsummer performances of five plays will be held in Shambles Market on June 30 and July 1, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the End of Days in the interactive show Doomsday. These shows begin at 7.45pm and end as the dusk is deepening before 10pm. Tickets: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

The Choir Of Man: “The best trip to your local you’ll ever have” at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: The Other Richard

Foot-stomping musical celebration of the week: The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, June 30 to July 2, 7.30pm; July 3, 4pm and 8pm; July 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

SET in the The Jungle pub on stage, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.

The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardisas Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross,Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, AviciiandKaty Perry hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Solomon’s Knot: Performing at York Early Music Festival on July 10

50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, July 3 to 11

THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.

Opening with Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, presented by I Fagiolini, and closing with Solomon’s Knot’s rendition of Bruhns’s St Mark Passion, the festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.

In Focus: Ripon Theatre Festival, July 5 to 12

Maybe You Like It in Down To Chance: Playing Ripon Theatre Festival at Ripon Arts Hub on July 11 at 8pm

RIPON Theatre Festival 2026 celebrates five years of culture, colour and community spirit from July 5 to 12 with eight days and nights of performances focused on theatre in all its forms, from storytelling and puppetry to cabaret, Shakespeare and circus.

Top talent from Edinburgh & beyond

THE festival welcomes hit shows from the Edinburgh Fringe at Ripon Arts Hub,  including Stephen Smith’s One Man Poe on July 10 at 8pm, fast-paced thriller Down To Chance on July 11 at 8pm The Poetical Life Of Philomena McGuinness on July 12 at 2.30pm.

Quirky & unique

RIPON Theatre Festival makes the most of the city’s venues and open spaces with pop-up events showcasing theatre everywhere. A knitting cabaret from Canada, a one-man show about British pub life, walkabout acts, Pop-up Puppetry and Poetry for Breakfast are among the acts that will appear in friendly cafes, pubs and independent shops. Look out too for a show performed inside a vintage bus.

The Big Weekend for families

SUPPORTED by Arts Council England through the National Lottery for a second year, the Big Weekend of free family entertainment on July 11 and 12 will feature street arts and circus theatre from across the four nations and beyond. Highlights include dance-circus troupe Circo Rumbaba and comedy, cooking and circus with Do What Ya Mamma Told Ya.

Reaching out to all the community

IN the weeks leading up to the festival, activities in care homes, “making and creating” sessions with learning-disabled adults and intergenerational music sessions ensure the event reaches all corners of the community.

This includes a schools’ programme featuring Opera North’s Little Listeners and the madcap Rubbish Shakespeare Company.

Supporting new writing & regional talent

ESTABLISHED  regional artists, such as Victoria Firth and Kathryn Hanke, from Huddersfield, in Batty! at Ripon Arts Hub on July 9 at 8pm, feature alongside up-and-coming artists such as Constance Peel, from Boston Spa, performing the new play Service Please at The Water Rat on July 6 at 6.30pm.

Providing a platform for locally-inspired works-in-progress, the festival offers audiences the first chance to experience York’s Out Of Character Theatre Company in Outcast’s exploration of life in medieval Ripon and Imogen Wood’s work-in-progress, Jord, whose starting point is the petrifying powers of Mother Shipton in a union of live music, poetry and storytelling that challenges the fascination and obsession with women staying young and delaying ageing.

Summer season finale

RIPON Theatre Festival stretches beyond July 12 for a post-festival open-air Shakespeare finale at Ripon Raceourse on July 24, when The Duke’s Theatre Company presents Romeo & Juliet at 7pm (preceded by North Yorkshire Council-supported performances at Prince of Wales Terrace, Scarborough, on July 22 and Valley Gardens, Harrogate, on July 23). Box office: thedukestheatrecompany.co.uk.

Festival director Katie Scott says: “Ripon Theatre Festival is celebrating a five-year milestone birthday and we are proud of all that we have achieved so far.

“Community led, but showcasing some of the best professional touring work alongside an inclusive and lively outdoor and family programme, the festival is hugely valued for its variety and originality. We can’t wait to share our 2026 offering and bring the joy of live performance to an even wider audience.”

For the full programme and tickets, go to: ripontheatrefestival.org.

Amber Topaz in Red, Ripon Arts Hub, July 8, 7.30pm

Amber Topaz in Red

YORKSHIRE-BORN international cabaret and burlesque siren Amber Topaz celebrates redheaded musical theatre stars of stage and screen in her classy, sassy, fabulous musical revue Red.

Her delicious cocktail of Old Hollywood glamour and West End and Broadway classics is “full to the brim with iconic show-stopping numbers, honouring these formidable flame-haired trailblazers that have shaped musical theatre herstory”.

From the golden era of Hollywood to the bright lights of Las Vegas, Red embodyies legendary artists such as Rita Hayworth, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Shirley MacLaine, Gwen Verdon and many more.

As a teenager, Amber left her Yorkshire roots to move to London and enter the world of cabaret and burlesque, since when she has travelled widely with her combination of frivolous and thought-provoking cabaret.

Fladam, Astro Norma, Ripon Library, July 11, 10.30am and 12 noon

Fladam’s Florence Poskitt & Adam Sowter in Astro Norma

YORK duo Fladam, Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter, present their out-of-this-world musical comedy Astro Norma at Ripon Library, where they invite audiences aged three to ten to blast off on a madcap 45-minute quest to find Grandpa’s lost star, but beware, the sneaky Silencer is hot on her trail , ready to silence the tunes.

Packed with awesome aliens, rib tickling robots and interplanetary puppets, this joyful space odyssey will have young theatregoers reaching for the stars.