Category: Festivals

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 17, from Gazette & Herald

Gary Oldman in reflective mood in the dressing room as he returns to York Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, now into its week of press shows. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

YORK International Shakespeare Festival’s tenth anniversary programme is among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as April blossoms.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979,  to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1987.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘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’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Katy Stephens’ White Witch and Aslan the lion in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Ellie Kurttz

Touring show of the week: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

STEP through the wardrobe into the kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to Mr Tumnus, the talking Faun (Alfie Richards), Aslan, the Lion (Stanton Wright), and the coldest, cruellest White Witch (Katy Stephens). 

Directed by Michael Fentiman, this breathtaking stage adaptation brings magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and stellar puppets to CS Lewis’s allegorical novel. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Philipp Sommer: Delivering his riposte to Shakespeare’s hatchet job on Richard III in Re-Lording Richard 3.0

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, until May 4

YORK International Shakespeare Festival is marking its tenth anniversary with a programme incorporating artists from the Netherlands for the first time; Croatia for Marin Drzic Day; Ukrainian artists from Ivano Frankisk and Bulgaria.

Among the highlights will be Berlin actor Philipp Sommer’s riposte to Shakespeare’s hatchet job on York’s own Richard III, Re-Lording Richard 3.0 (tomorrow); Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello (Friday); York company Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief with Team Titania and Team Oberon (Saturday); Stillington writer/actor/director Alexander Wright’s immersive, existential Hamlet Show (April 28 to 30); Ridiculusmus’s Alas! Poor Yorick (April 29) and the Shakespeare’s Speakeasy play in a day (May 2). For the full programme and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

George Young’s Henry VI in York Shakespeare Project’s Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3. Picture: John Saunders

Condensed play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, “I Am Myself Alone”, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

UNIVERSITY of California Santa Barbara theatre professor Irwin Appel, artistic director of Naked Shakes, directs York Shakespeare Project in his condensed, physical theatre version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy.

A bare space, a crown and a throne meet an ensemble cast in a powerful show of “actor-generated theatricality and transformation”, wherein they tell a cautionary tale of power and greed that charts how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Pip Cook, left, Josie Morley and Keeley Lane in Badapple Theatre Company’s revival of Kate Bramley’s The Thankful Village, playing York Theatre Royal Studio from today

Wartime memorial of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in The Thankful Village, York Theatre Royal Studio, today to Saturday, 7pm plus 2.30pm matinees, today and Saturday

IN a new departure for Green Hammerton touring company Badapple Theatre, writer and artistic director Kate Bramley will be playing a live score for the first time to accompany her poignant First World War comedy-drama The Thankful Village.

A story of hope, humour and humanity is seen through the eyes of three Yorkshire women from the same rural household, below and above stairs. Left behind to cope after their men-folk march off to Flanders, Pip Cook’s Edie, Keeley Lane’s Victoria and Josie Morley’s Nellie each face up to the challenges in their own way as they wait anxiously for news of their loved ones far away. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Matt Goss: Tipping his hat to The Hits & More at York Barbican on Friday. Picture: Paul Harris

Pop concert of the week: Matt Goss, The Hits & More, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

MATT Goss, the Bros pop pin-up-turned-Las Vegas showman, says: “Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year.”

Now living in central London after many years of blue skies in America, Goss, 56, will be celebrating all he has achieved in his music career and beyond in a rock’n’roll show, but still with a horn section (featured previously in the Matt Goss Experience show with the MG Big Band and the Royal Philharmonic at York Barbican in April 2023). Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Clayton Jones, Dawn Bailey and Chris Brooker, Milton, Rooms, Malton, Friday. 8pm

HEADLINER Clayton Jones,  the 2017 Last Minute Comedy Comedian of the Year winner, covers everyday topics of marriage, children, being mixed race, school life and growing up in London in his observational comedy.

Newly turned 50, affable Dawn Bailey views life as a mum through happy specs and giddy knickers (in her own words). Host Chris Brooker combines infectious energy with original material and inspired improvisation. Box office:  01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Josienne Clarke: Performing the songs of Sandy Denny with full folk-rock band at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Across The Evening Sky: Josienne Clarke Sings The Songs Of Sandy Denny, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

MELANCHOLIC  singer, songwriter and interpreter of traditional song Josienne Clarke leads a full folk-rock band – guitar, piano, bass and drums – in a new show dedicated to Sandy Denny, whose songs are her “north star – a constant guiding light”.

“If I can take one young fan of mine and introduce them to Sandy, in a context that they can grab hold of,” she says. “If they like my music, they will love Sandy. And that would be the whole concept sorted. To pass it on, so that these songs can go on forever.” Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

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York International Shakespeare Festival is more global than ever on tenth anniversary

Olga Annenko: World premiere of Ukrainian writer-director’s new play Codename Othello at York International Shakespeare Festival tomorrow

YORK International Shakespeare Festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a dynamic, diverse and bold programme that champions international voices, inclusive storytelling and the urgent themes of our time.

Run in partnership with main sponsor York St John University, a University of Sanctuary, the festival features world and British premieres, storytelling in schools and libraries, workshops, lectures, exhibitions and even Shakespearean dance lessons.

While this year’s events focus primarily on the present, the festival also reflects a decade of global partnerships, welcoming performers from the Netherlands (Gijsbreght van Aemstel, European Reading in Performance, York St John University Theatre 1, May 2, 5.30pm) and renewing the creative collaboration with Croatia for Marin Držić Day (European Readings in Performance, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, May 4, 3pm).

Drzic was an approximate contemporary of Shakespeare and is regarded as the father of Croatian theatre. Festival-goers in York will be the first in more than 400 years to see two of his sparkling comedies, Pinch Hoard (3.30pm) and Venus And Adonis (5.15pm), performed in English.

Festival director Philip Parr, born in New York, brought up in Australia and based here, says: “Our programme of performances, premieres and collaborations showcase Shakespeare as the world’s playwright with a voice that transcends borders, cultures and centuries.

“These are certainly strange times. War, corruption, moral dilemma. We might wonder what Shakespeare would have written about it, but we only have to read his plays to understand that he knew these problems only too well.

“The responsibility of theatre makers in our times is no different from that of Shakespeare: to tell the stories of the time and place, and to reflect the world around us. Shakespeare belongs to the world, and this year, that global conversation feels more vital than ever.” 

Philip Parr: Director of York International Shakespeare Festival and chair of the European Shakespeare Festival Network

In particular, the festival will shine a spotlight on new work from Ukraine, exploring the impact of war through the lens of Shakespeare, led by tomorrow’s (April 25) 6pm world premiere of Codename Othello: European Reading in Performance, a new play by Ukrainian writer and director Olga Annenko, translated into English by Daria Moskvitina, at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello, Annenko explores the psychological aftershocks of war, identity, and trauma in a work she completed with encouragement from the festival’s international adviser, Professor Nicoleta Cinpoeş, after he discovered it in its earliest stages. Now it will be performed by York actors, including Livy Potter and members of York’s Ukrainian community. 

Annenko says: “The Othello project is an opportunity to talk about war and some of its hidden manifestations, such as psychological disorders. All this, and the complexity of the ordinary world with its tricks, makes the life of a person who has returned from war impossible and unhappy.”

On Saturday at 7.30pm, the same venue will play host to D:Space, York’s Ukrainian theatre group led by Dara Klymenko, presenting There’s No Clock In The Forest, a gentle collision of the Ukrainian classic Mavka (The Forest Song) with Shakespeare’s nature writing, reflecting on exile, mythology and environmental change.

The new piece builds on a creative partnership that began at last year’s festival with the Working Title collaboration between British and Ukrainian performers. Once again, D:Space actors will perform alongside actors from the York community this weekend.

Central to the festival’s ethos is the Pass It On ticket initiative, launched in 2023 to offer free tickets to refugees and asylum seekers. The programme began by enabling Ukrainian refugees in York to attend a Kyiv production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has since expanded to welcome people from a variety of backgrounds.

Now in its third year, Pass It On continues to grow with tickets distributed through Refugee Action York, ensuring that this year’s international works are accessible to those who might not otherwise have the chance to attend.

There’s No Clock In The Forest: Staged by York’s Ukrainian theatre group, D:Space, on Saturday night

Dr Saffron Vickers Walking, senior lecturer in English Literature at York St John University and York International ShakespeareFestivaladviser, enthuses: “Our public lectures and workshops with leading experts offer new ways to understand  Shakespeare’s works.

“Death By Hamlet (York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium and Atrium, April 29, 10am to 5.30pm) is a day of talks, workshops and the opening of an exhibition on Hamlet as you’ve never seen it before. Our annual symposium explores Shakespeare and our Histories – all open to the public and free.

“A key aspect of our festival is its ability to bring people together. This year, with guidance from Refugee Action York, we are launching workshops that explore Shakespeare’s flowers for adults and offer a GCSE-level Macbeth session for displaced young people.  

“Theatre is a place of resilience, expression and hope and we are proud to offer a space where displaced artists and communities can share their voices and stories. We invite you to be a part of this extraordinary event, to witness powerful performances, and to support our mission of inclusivity through the Pass It On scheme.” 

Reflecting on his Australian upbringing and the festival producer, Skylar Mabry, hailing from Colorado, USA, Philip says: “It’s about having an international outlook, and the fact we come from other places and also work in other places, means we see how culture works in other places,” he says.

“The weakness of much Shakespeare performance in the UK is that it’s locked into a very traditional way of presenting the work. In the UK, we have reverence, not respect  for the plays that says ‘it must be done like this’.

“But I know that no matter you do with it, you can’t break it. Take risks. If you ‘drop it on the floor’, it won’t smash, it will bounce back.”

York International Shakespeare Festival runs until May 4. For tickets, full programme details and ways to support the Pass It On scheme, visit: yorkshakes.co.uk/programme-2025.

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REVIEW: York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, I Am Myself Alone, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

George Young as the weakling king Henry VI in York Shakespeare Project’s Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, I Am Myself Alone. Offering support are Jack Downey’s Suffolk, left, Frank Brogan’s Clifford and Nick Jones’s Somerset. Picture: John Saunders

IRWIN Appel, Professor of Theater at University of California Santa Barbara, first saw York Shakespeare Project in Maggie Smales’s all-female Henry V on his European research travels in 2015.

He vowed that one day he would direct YSP, and this spring that day has arrived with his condensed version of Henry VI, shrunk from a trilogy to a “thrillogy” of an action-packed 160 minutes (interval included) as part of the 2025 York International Shakespeare Festival.

Professional actor, director, composer and sound designer to boot, he has previous form for serving up Appel slices of Shakespeare’s History plays in the award-winning The Death Of Kings. To borrow a technique from the kitchen, he knows the power of reduction to strengthen the intensity, and in doing so he lets the full flavour flood out.

Henry VI director Irwin Appel, left, with York Shakespeare Project chair Tony Froud, who plays Humphrey of Gloucester

There is a swaggering confidence, brio rather than braggadocio, to his directorial decisions, matched  by placing his faith in the power of performance by his community cast of 21. They, in turn, have the most collective impact of any YSP company your reviewer has encountered since the project started in 2002.

This is aided by the physical theatre work of his fellow Americans, choreographer and movement director Christina McCarthy and fight choreographer Jeffrey Mills, to complement the mental muscularity of the dialogue, often wittier than you might have expected too, amid the carnage of the ever-rising body count.

Look out for the use of sticks, black face masks and black costumes in the burning of Pearl Mollison’s Joan La Pucells (Joan of Arc] and later Adam Price’s Richard York, with red gloves to denote his decapitation. Bob Fosse would have loved  that choreography, redolent of Chicago.

Eyes on the prize: Adam Price’s Richard York in York Shakespeare Project’s Henry VI. Picture: John Saunders

Appel’s Henry VI starts at the end, with Harry Summers’ glowering Richard Gloucester to the fore, foreshadowing his reign as Richard III (a link further emphasised by Appel concluding his production with Richard delivering his Winter of Discontent opening speech from Richard III, bringing the “Now is” forward to now. Seeing Summers’ incipient, spring version of Richard after the full lumpen winter coat of YSP’s April 2023 production of Richard III is canny casting too.

This is but one of several directorial flourishes by Appel, the best of them being Price’s outstanding Richard York giving a beginner’s guide to the chronology of the warring Houses of York and Lancaster and the followers of Nick Jones’s Somerset and scene-stealing Jodie Mulliah’s mutinous Jack Cade switching indecisively from one side to the other with every new promise that each makes. That scene is worthy of Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian.

The mutual flirting of Jack Downey’s Suffolk with Lily Geering’s hot-blooded Veronese queen Margaret is a delight too, although her later screaming histrionics need more variation in tone.

Pearl Mollison’s feisty Joan La Pucelle, aka Joan of Arc

Theatre@41, Monkgate, is a black box theatre, with the emphasis all the more on the black in Richard Hampton’s end-on set design, where everything is black, from the throne to assorted boxes. This enhances the contrast with every other colour, from the silver crown to the glinting daggers, the white and red roses for York and Lancaster to the myriad shades of bleu for the French (from berets to cloaks in Judith Ireland’s costumes).

Appel uses the “theatre of the absurd” skills of regular YSP music director and pianist Stuart Lindsay to disruptive effect, his score being as jagged as discordant jazz, and percussive too for the sound design as the brutal deaths pile up.

Appel applies sound and fury to signify everything rather than nothing in a world where George Young’s Henry VI is the weakling boy king on crutches that no-one ever hears. Young (they/them) is making their YSP and Shakespeare debut in the title role and is quietly impressive as the essence of being put in the corner.

The Yorks in York: Sonia Di Lorenzo’s George Clarence, left, Katie Flanagan’s Edward IV and Harry Summers’ Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Picture: John Saunders

Philip Massey’s stentorian-voiced Talbot, Maggie Smales’s turncoat Warwick and Yousef Ismail’s vainglorious Charles Dauphin bring eye-catching character  to supporting roles in a production in which bellicose ensemble heft  has equal weight with blunted  individual journeys, where Richard Gloucester is not alone in being “myself alone”.

Adding to the international flavour, American actress Katie Flanagan takes to an English stage for the first time in the role of Edward IV, a late arrival in proceedings but well worth the wait for a supremely assured performance.

Defining Henry VI as “a cautionary tale of power and greed that shows how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society”, Appel has made it feel anything but a History play, but a play for the madness, malevolence and mayhem of today.

Crowning moment for Katie Flanagan’s Edward IV in the courtly company of Maggie Smales’s Warwick, left, Harry Summers’ Richard Gloucester and Sonia Di Lorenzo’s George Clarence. Picture: John Saunders

In the raw, high-energy style of his Naked Shakes productions at UC Santa Barbara, he makes imaginative, impactful, intelligent, instinctive theatre out of “a bare space, a crown and a throne”. It is truly international, but resonant in York too, especially with its image of Richard York’s severed head being stuck on “the gates of York”.

York International Shakespeare Festival presents York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI: I Am Myself Alone, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

A Conversation with Irwin Appel, interviewed by Professor Anne-Marie Evans, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 5pm, admission free; tickets at yorkshakes.co.uk.

“I am myself alone”: The loneliness of George Young’s Henry VI in Irwin Appel’s condensed version of Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3. Picture: John Saunders

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More Things To Do in York, looking in great Shakes over the Easter holidays. Here’s Hutch’s List No.17, from The York Press

Gary Oldman in rehearsal for his return to York Theatre Royal in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, now heading into a week of press shows. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

YORK International Shakespeare Festival’s tenth anniversary programme is among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as April blossoms.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979,  to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1987.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘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’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Counterfeit Sixties: Swinging into Sixties’ recollections at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre tonight

Tribute show of the week: The Counterfeit Sixties Show, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

THE Counterfeit Sixties pay tribute to 25 acts of the Swinging Sixties in a show encompassing everything from that golden pop age, from the clothes to flashbacks of television programmes, adverts and clips from the original bands.

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks and The Monkees all feature in a hit parade performed by musicians who have worked with The Searchers, The Ivy League, The Fortunes and The Tremeloes. Tickets update: Limited availability on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Some Enchanted Evening: Celebrating Rodgers and Hammerstein with the English Musical Theatre Orchestra at the Grand Opera House, York

Show tunes of the week: English Musical Theatre Orchestra presents Some Enchanted Evening, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

 EXPERIENCE the grandeur of Broadway as the English Musical Theatre Orchestra serenades you with show tunes from I Could Have Danced All Night ,People Will Say We’re In Love and You’ll Never Walk Alone to Getting To Know You and My Favourite Things.

Two star vocalists join the orchestra of 26 musicians, placing the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein centre-stage in renditions of songs from Oklahoma, The Sound Of Music, South Pacific and The King And I. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Full steam ahead: next stop Grand Opera House, York, for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe on 2025 tour

Touring show of the week: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Grand Opera House, York, April 22 to 26, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

STEP through the wardrobe into the kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to Mr Tumnus, the talking Faun (Alfie Richards), Aslan, the Lion (Stanton Wright), and the coldest, cruellest White Witch (Katy Stephens). 

Directed by Michael Fentiman, this breathtaking stage adaptation brings magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and stellar puppets to CS Lewis’s allegorical novel. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Philipp Sommer: Performing Re-Lording Richard 3.0 at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24 at 7.30pm as part of York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, April 22 to May 4

YORK International Shakespeare Festival is marking its tenth anniversary with a programme incorporating artists from the Netherlands for the first time; Croatia for Marin Drzic Day; Ukrainian artists from Ivano Frankisk and Bulgaria.

Among the highlights will be Berlin actor Philipp Sommer’s riposte to Shakespeare’s hatchet job on York’s own Richard III, Re-Lording Richard 3.0 (April 24); Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello (April 25); York company Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief with Team Titania and Team Oberon (April 26); Stillington writer/actor/director Alexander Wright’s immersive, existential Hamlet Show (April 28 to 30); Ridiculusmus’s Alas! Poor Yorick (April 29) and the Shakespeare’s Speakeasy play in a day (May 2). For the full programme and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

York Shakespeare Project in rehearsal for Irwin Appel’s production of Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3 for York International Shakespeare Festival. Picture: John Saunders

Condensed play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, “I Am Myself Alone”, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

UNIVERSITY of California Santa Barbara theatre professor Irwin Appel, artistic director of Naked Shakes, directs York Shakespeare Project in his condensed, physical theatre version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy.

A bare space, a crown and a throne meet an ensemble cast in a powerful show of “actor-generated theatricality and transformation”, wherein they tell a cautionary tale of power and greed that charts how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Matt Goss: Tipping his hat to The Hits & More at York Barbican next Friday. Picture: Paul Harris

Pop concert of the week: Matt Goss, The Hits & More, York Barbican, April 25, 8pm

MATT Goss, the Bros pop pin-up-turned- Las Vegas showman, says: “Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year.”

Now living in central London after many years of blue skies in America, Goss, 56, will be celebrating all he has achieved in his music career and beyond in a rock’n’roll show, but still with a horn section (featured previously in the Matt Goss Experience show with the MG Big Band and the Royal Philharmonic at York Barbican in April 2023). Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

In Focus: Badapple Theatre Company in The Thankful Village, York Theatre Royal Studio, April 24 to 26, 7pm and 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

Pip Cook, left, Josie Morley and Keeley Lane in Badapple Theatre Company’s revival of Kate Bramley’s The Thankful Village, playing York Theatre Royal Studio next week

IN a new departure for Green Hammerton touring company Badapple Theatre, writer and artistic director Kate Bramley will be playing a live score for the first time to accompany her poignant First World War comedy-drama The Thankful Village.

Bramley is an international touring musician, who started her professional music career aged 17, with tours of the USA and UK, but this will be the first time that she has made a musical contribution to a show by her Green Hammerton company, specialists for 27 years in touring “theatre on your doorstep”.

Kate Bramley: Playing a live score in a Badapple Theatre Company production for the first time at York Theatre Royal Studio

“It has been our ambition since the play was created back in 2014 to have a live score accompanying the story,” says Kate. “Thanks to our collaboration with York Theatre Royal, I will appear with the stellar 2025 cast of Pip Cook, Keeley Lane and Josie Morley.

“I’m delighted to be performing at York Theatre Royal this spring. One performance is already sold out, so we’re looking forward to an exciting time at my favourite local theatre.”

Boasting original songs and music by Sony Radio Academy Award winner Jez Lowe, Bramley’s story of hope, humour and humanity is seen through the eyes of three Yorkshire women from the same rural household, below and above stairs.

Badapple Theatre Company in the rehearsal room for The Thankful Village

Left behind to cope after their men-folk march off to Flanders, Pip Cook’s Edie, Keeley Lane’s Victoria and Josie Morley’s Nellie each face up to the challenges in their own way as they wait anxiously for news of their loved ones far away. Box office:  01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Did you know?

“THE Thankful Villages” were those rare places that lost no men in the Great War because all those who left to serve came home again.

Badapple Theatre Company’s poster for The Thankful Village at York Theatre Royal Studio

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Lottie Adcock to hold Tudor dance workshop at York International Shakespeare Festival on April 27

Tudor dance workshop leader Lottie Adcock

HISTORICAL dance teacher Lottie Adcock will lead a Tudor dance workshop at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on Sunday, April 27 at 2pm as part of York International Shakespeare Festival.

“Enthusiasts and newcomers alike are invited to come and learn dances from the time of Shakespeare,” says Lottie, who teaches regular Dance The Past workshops in York and the surrounding area and has more than 15 years’ experience in this dance form.

Her repertoire spans hundreds of years, from medieval to early 20th century dances. For her three-hour workshop of popular Tudor dances, she takes inspiration from the references to dance in Shakespeare’s writing.

“Come and learn the Scotch Jig, the Cinquepace, the Galliard and maybe even the controversial Lavolta, amongst others,” says Lottie, who will lead participants through dances accompanied by music after relevant quotes are read to set the scene as Shakespeare, the social commentator, gives an insight to the popular entertainment of his time.

“You don’t need prior experience or a partner and there’s no need to dig out your Tudor costume.  Those taking part are just encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and bring water.”

Historic dance was a hobby for Lottie that turned into a passion and now a business. “I love  learning about social history and feel that historic dance is a great way to gain insight into the minds of our ancestors,” she says.

When she is not dancing, Lottie works as a living history interpreter at Murton Park, home of the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, in Murton Lane, York. In her spare time, she loves playing board games, Dungeons & Dragons and travelling whenever possible.

Workshop tickets are on sale at parrabbola.co.uk/booking-calendar/dance-the-past. The full tenth anniversary festival programme can be found at yorkshakes.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 16, from Gazette & Herald

Gary Oldman in rehearsal for Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, now in its preview week at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

GARY Oldman’s return to York Theatre Royal tops the bill of Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations and chocolate is in the air too.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit in York, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1987.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘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’.” Tickets update: New availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Laura Soper’s Noi with the beached Storm Whale in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Narrator Charlotte Benedict looks on. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography

Children’s show of the week: The Storm Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, until Saturday, 10.30am and 1.30pm

YORK writer and director Matt Aston revives his 2019 stage adaptation of Benji Davies’s tales of loneliness, love and courage, The Storm Whale, in a show built on puppetry, original songs and dialogue.

Noi lives with his dad and six cats by the sea. One summer, while dad was busy at work, Noi rescued a little whale, washed up on the beach. A friendship began that changed their lives forever. The following winter, his dad takes one last trip in his fishing boat. Alone once more, Noi longs to see his friend again. Will it take another storm to bring them back together? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Chocolate Festival: City centre will be chock-a-block with chocs and eggs for Easter

Festival of the week: York Chocolate Festival 2025, today to Saturday, 10am to 5pm

YORK Chocolate Festival showcases everything sweet and chocolate from independent businesses in Parliament Street and around the city.

Highlights include the York Chocolate Festival Market; Chocolate Taste Trail; Ashley McCarthy’s Chocolate Sculpture and Family Easter Egg Hunt. Entry to the festival and market is free; some activities and events require tickets. Full programme at: yorkfoodfestival.com/programme.

Showaddywaddy: Rock’n’roll revivalists standing under the moon of love at The Grand Opera House, York

Rock’n’roll nostalgia of the week: Showaddywaddy, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

SHOWADDYWADDY make the bold claim to be “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”, living up to that title for the past five decades, they say.

Formed in 1973 in Leicester, they have sold more than 20 million records. Here come Hey Rock And Roll,  Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon, Pretty Little Angel Eyes et al. Box office: atgtickjets.com/york.

Mark Radcliffe and David Boardman: Two voices, two guitars, original songs and carefully chosen covers at Pocklington Arts Centre

Duo of the week: Mark Radcliffe and David Boardman, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm

MARK Radcliffe and David Boardman are singing, songwriting, strumming and swigging buddies from Knutsford in the Badlands of the Cheshire Plain. BBC radio presenter and author Radcliffe was a member of folk-rock bands The Family Mahone and Galleon Blast and is now one half of electronic duo UNE and drummer and lyricist for Americana band Fine Lines.

Guitarist, guitar teacher and visual artist Boardman cut his teeth on the rock circuit with Darktown Jubilee. On board with Radcliffe, they deliver two voices, two guitars, original songs, carefully chosen covers and the occasional rambling anecdote. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Patrick Monahan: The Talkinator fights back against AI at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan: The Talkinator, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 8pm

IN 2024, amid much talk of about AI taking over humans, only one man can out-talk the chat-bots and robots. Step forward Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan for one hour of stand-up comedy written by a human, performed by a human. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Alfie Richards’ Mr Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Touring show of the week: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Grand Opera House, York, April 22 to 26, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

STEP through the wardrobe into the kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to Mr Tumnus, the talking Faun (Alfie Richards), Aslan, the Lion (Stanton Wright), and the coldest, cruellest White Witch (Katy Stephens). 

Directed by Michael Fentiman, this breathtaking stage adaptation brings magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and stellar puppets to CS Lewis’s allegorical novel. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Alex Hamilton: Playing the blues with his trio at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Alex Hamilton Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 24, 8pm

ALEX Hamilton (formerly Lewis Hamilton) has been part of the British blues rock scene for more than ten years, touring Great Britain and Europe. First making his mark as a young guitarist with skills beyond his age, he has matured and developed a technique redolent of Robben Ford and Matt Scofield.

Hamilton’s debut album aged 18 won the Scottish New Music Award in 2011 and his subsequent albums have been nominated for the British Blues Awards. He tours in a trio with his father Nick on bass and Ian Beestin on drums. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

In Focus: 1812 Theatre Company in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 23 to 26, 7.30pm

Jean Sheridan’s Miss Marple, left, and Jeanette Hambidge’s Cherry Baker in rehearsal for Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. Picture: Joe Coughlan

HELMSLEY Arts Centre’s resident troupe, the 1812 Theatre Company, present Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, a story of revenge and dark secrets set in late-summer 1962 England, when the wind of change blowing through the land reaches sleepy St Mary Mead.

A new housing estate, The Development, is making villagers fearful of changing times. Stranger still, a glamorous Hollywood movie star has bought the manor house, Gossington Hall, throwing the village into a frenzy.

Meanwhile, Miss Jane Marple (played by Jean Sheridan) has injured her ankle, a temporary impairment that confines her to a chair, making her question if life has passed her by. Enter Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Craddock (Richard Bannister), the son of a very dear friend of the spinster sleuth, after the vicious murder of a woman, poisoned at a party held by film star Marina Gregg (Lucy Wilshaw). Now Miss Marple must unravel a web of lies, tragedy and danger.

All the party guests are suspect; as ever, everyone’s version of events is different. Who would have guessed that a famous poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson would provide the key to the mystery?

Wagstaff’s play is an adaptation of Christie’s 1962 novel The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side, first toured in 2019 with a cast led by Susie Blake as Miss Marple and Simon Shepherd as Chief Inspector Craddock. Blake reprised the role on tour at York Theatre Royal in October 2022.

Lucy Wilshaw rehearsing her role as American film star Marina Gregg. Picture: Joe Coughlan

“The title of the novel, and the shortened version for the play, is taken from the moment when the mirror of ‘The Lady of Shalott’ (from the Tennyson poem) cracks and the curse she’d feared now befalls her,” says director Julie Lomas.

“The novel’s plot was undoubtedly inspired by Agatha Christie’s reflections on a mother’s feelings for a child born with disabilities, and it is thought that she was influenced by happenings in the life of beautiful real-life actress Gene Eliza Tierney.

“There are several themes running through the novel, and the play, covering some of the changes in social history since the Second World War, including the class structure, racism and ageism.”

The novel was made into a film in 1980, with a multitude of star names, includimg Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Gregg and Edward Fox as Chief Inspector Craddock.

All the Miss Marple’novels were adapted for a BBC TV series shown in the 1990s, starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

For tickets, ring 01439 771700 or book at helmsleyarts.co.uk.  

Who’s in the cast?

Becca Magson’s Lola Brewster and Richard Bannister’s Chief Inspector Craddock in the rehearsal room. Picture: Joe Coughlan

THE Mirror Crack’d was scheduled to be staged by 1812 Theatre Company in 2024, but that old enemy Covid intervened. After a few cast changes under new director Julie Lomas, the production is ready for next week’s run.

Miss Jane Marple: Jean Sheridan

Marina Gregg: Lucy Wilshaw

Cherry Baker: Jeanette Hambidge

Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock: Richard Bannister

Heather Leigh: Michele Hopley

Cyril Leigh: Steven Lonsdale

Jason Rudd: Beaj Johnson

Giuseppe Renzo: Barry Whitaker

Dolly Bantry: Lynn Goslin

Ella Zielinski: Linda Tester

Lola Brewster: Becca Magson

Who’s in the production team?

Jean Sheridan’s Miss Marple, left, and Lynn Goslin’s Dolly Bantry on the phone in rehearsal for 1812 Theatre Company’s production. Picture: Joe Coughlan

Director: Julie Lomas

Production assistant: Julie Wilson

Stage manager/properties: Anna Hare; Marcie Hughes

Technical director: James Bentley

Set design: Julie Lomas; Sue Elm

Set construction: Michael Goslin; Peter Ives; Russell Smith

Set painting: Pauline Noakes; Heather Linley; Denise Kitchin; Liz Ives; John Lomas

Sound design: Julie Lomas; John Lomas

Lighting design: Julie Lomas

1812 Theatre Company’s poster for next week’s production of Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d

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More Things To Do in York and beyond Gary Oldman as chocolate hits the sweet spot. Hutch’s List No. 16, from The York Press

Gary Oldman in rehearsal for Krapp’s Last Tape, opening at York Theatre Royal on April 14. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

GARY Oldman’s return to York Theatre Royal tops the bill of Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations. Chocolate is in the air too.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit in York, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘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’.” Tickets update: New availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Margaret Beech: Making “paper magic” for York Open Studios in Oaken Grove, Haxby, York

Art event of the week: York Open Studios, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK Open Studios showcases 163 artists and makers at 116 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.

Wrongsemble: Performing Three Little Vikings, a tale of cooperation, bravery and making your voice heard, at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale children’s show of the week: Wrongsemble in Three Little Vikings, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm

LEEDS company Wrongsemble present a bold and funny adventure story for little rebels by Bethan Woollvin, creator of Little Red and I Can Catch A Monster.  

Once upon a time in a Viking village, everything seems to be going wrong. Chickens are disappearing, trees are falling down. When the silly Chieftain won’t listen, can the three littlest Vikings figure out how to save the day in a 50-minute tale of cooperation, bravery and making your voice heard. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Mark Stratford in Macready! Dickens Theatrical Friend, on tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Dickens of a good show of the week: Mark Stratford in Macready! Dickens’ Theatrical Friend, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

WRITER-PERFORMER Mark Stratford’s solo play tells the story of Macready, the Victorian actor-manager to whom Charles Dickens dedicated his novel Nicholas Nickleby. Capturing the joy, graft and tribulations of a life lived in theatre with passion, humour, emotion and multiple characters, Stratford journeys through the fascinating world of Victorian theatre and the extraordinary, conflicted life of Macready, from his first tentative steps on stage in a tatty country theatre to his final Drury Lane performance. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Daniele Coombe, left, Rebecca Wheatley, Maureen Nolan and Carli Norris in Menopause The Musical 2 – Cruising Through The Menopause at the Grand Opera House

Musical of the week: Menopause The Musical 2 – Cruising Through The Menopause!, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 6pm

CARLI Norris, from Doctors, Hollyoaks and EastEnders, Maureen Nolan, of The Nolans, Rebecca Wheatley, from Casualty, and West End actress Daniele Coombe star in the final UK tour of this menopausal sequel.

Fast forward five years as the same characters set off on the high seas in this heartfelt, reassuring look at the “joys” of the menopause. Cue hot flushes, mood swings, memory lapses and weight gain on a bumpy trip of self-discovery, love and friendship, backed by a soundtrack of parodied hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Storm Whale: Returning to York Theatre Royal next week after its first plunge in 2019. Picture: Northedge Photography

Revival of the week: The Storm Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, April 15 to 19, 10.30am and 1.30pm

YORK writer and director Matt Aston revives his 2019 stage adaptation of Benji Davies’s tales of loneliness, love and courage, The Storm Whale, in a show built on puppetry, original songs and dialogue.

Noi lives with his dad and six cats by the sea. One summer, while dad was busy at work, Noi rescued a little whale, washed up on the beach. A friendship began that changed their lives forever. The following winter, his dad takes one last trip in his fishing boat. Alone once more, Noi longs to see his friend again. Will it take another storm to bring them back together? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Chocolate Festival: City centre will be chock-a-block with chocs’n’eggs for Easter

Festival of the week: York Chocolate Festival 2025, April 16 to 20, 10am to 5pm

YORK Chocolate Festival showcases everything sweet and chocolate from independent businesses in Parliament Street and around the city.

Highlights include the York Chocolate Festival Market; Chocolate Taste Trail; Ashley McCarthy’s Chocolate Sculpture and Family Easter Egg Hunt. Entry to the festival and market is free; some activities and events require tickets. Full programme at: yorkfoodfestival.com/programme.

Showaddywaddy: Rock’n’roll revivalists standing under the moon of love at the Grand Opera House

Rock’n’roll nostalgia of the week: Showaddywaddy, Grand Opera House, York, April 17, 7.30pm

SHOWADDYWADDY make the bold claim to be “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”, living up to that title for the past five decades, they say.

Formed in 1973 in Leicester, they have sold more than 20 million records. Here come Hey Rock And Roll,  Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon, Pretty Little Angel Eyes et al. Box office: atgtickjets.com/york.

The Talkinator: Written by a human, performed by a human, Patrick Monahan

Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan: The Talkinator, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 18, 8pm

IN 2024, amid much talk of about AI taking over humans, only one man can out-talk the chat-bots and robots. Step forward Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan for one hour of stand-up comedy written by a human, performed by a human. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Divine Comedy: New album and York Barbican tour date. Picture: Kevin Westerberg

Gig announcement of the week: The Divine Comedy, York Barbican, October 21

NEIL Hannon will promote The Divine Comedy’s 13th studio album, September 19’s Rainy Sunday Afternoon, on a 16-date autumn tour. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, April 17 at 10am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-divine-comedy-2025/.

Written, arranged and produced by Hannon and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the album spans his usual range of emotions – sad, funny, angry and everything in between – as he “works through some stuff”: mortality, memories, relationships and political and social upheaval. 

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What Shakespeare did to Richard III, now Richard III does to Shakespeare in Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0 riposte

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 writer-performer Philipp Sommer

YORK’S own King Richard III looks back at his history with Alexa at his side – a modern voice in 1485 – in Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0 at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24 at 7.30pm.

The Berlin writer-performer is bringing his reimagining of Richard’s origin story to York as part of the 2025 York International Shakespeare Festival.

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 brings Richard III to the stage so that he may share his fears, his doubts, his joy and loyalty in this 50-minute retort to Shakespeare’s hatchet job, performed  in English.

“Shakespeare’s play underpins his person as the embodiment of evil, but is that all he was?” asks Sommer.  “Then, it was theatre; now, it’s social media that provides a platform for propaganda.”

The poster for Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0, playing York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24

Sommer describes his play as a “drama-dy”, combining drama and comedy. “‘Everyone has seen Richard III by Shakespeare, but have you seen Shakespeare by Richard III? This is the story from Richard’s point of view.”

Richard settles his accounts with Shakespeare, as Richard and Alexa ask the question: “Has the world really changed?”

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 supports the festival’s mission of bringing international voices to York to celebrate and elaborate upon Shakespeare’s work.

Founded in 2015, the festival is marking its tenth anniversary with this season’s April 22 to May 4 programme. For full details and tickets, go to yorkshakes.co.uk.

Produced by the community arts charity Parrabbola, the festival is now an annual event, returning to live performance in 2023 after a Covid-enforced break, with support from York St John University.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as a blaze of colour hits the streets. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 14, from The York Press

Sinead Corkery: Making her York Open Studios debut in Monkton Road, York

PERFECT weather greets the opening of studio doors as artists parade their skills while politics comes under the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, today and tomorrow; also April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm

YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.

Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s bill at The Basement tonight

Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, David Eagle, Ben Silver and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

ROB Rouse, from The Friday Night Project, Spoons, BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Mad Mad World, Upstart Crow and Rob And Helen’s Date Night self-help podcast, headlines tonight’s bill, hosted by Laugh Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin.

Support act David Eagle, a member of north eastern folk band The Young’uns, mines comedy from exploring how his blindness turns the most ordinary, commonplace events into surreal, convoluted dramas. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Ged Graham: Leading the Seven Drunken Nights celebration of The Dubliners, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Prestige Productions

Irish craic of the week: Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

SEVEN Drunken Nights takes a trip down memory lane in celebration of The Dubliners’ 50-year performing career on a 2025 global tour of 300 shows across 42 weeks. The Irish Rover, The Town I Love So Well and Dirty Old Town will be joined by new additions Paddy On The Railway and The Lark In The Morning in a new production for this year’s travels.

The show’s 2017 founder, frontman and narrator, Dublin-born writer and director Ged Graham, says: “The connection we’ve built with the audience over the years is incredible; they know we’re keeping the iconic music of The Dubliners alive with the same passion that they have for it.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Telling the whole story: Writer-performer Andrew Margerison in Dyad Productions’ That Knave, Raleigh

Historical play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 9, 7.30pm

DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave. 

The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary and victim.

“The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.”Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Manfreds: Playing Joseph Rowntree Theatre for the first time this weekend

Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Manfreds, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

TICKETS are down to the last few for the chance to see The Manfreds in their Joseph Rowntree Theatre debut, featuring original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, both 83.

The set list takes in such Sixties R&B hits as 5-4-3-2-1, Pretty Flamingo, The Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, intermixed with jazz and blues covers from their solo albums. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Al Murray: Rolling out his barrel of laughs at York Barbican as the Guvnor puts you right on Sunday night

Political insights of the week: Al Murray, Guv Island, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE people have spoken. The Pub Landlord is back for another round of Guv Island with “New Extra Brew Material”in 2025, having pulled pints and punters at the Grand Opera House in March 2024.

Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, the Guvnor will “make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to”. “Country, the UK, lost its way, seeks life partner/mentor/inspiration. Good sense of humour essential. No timewasters, tedious show-offs or offend-o-trons need apply. HR free zone,” says Murray. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast for Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre – the new name for Bright Light Musical Productions – follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance. 

Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Jan Noble in his verse drama Body 115. Picture: jannoble.co.uk/body115

Odyssey of the week: Jan Noble in Body 115, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm

EVER wished you were somewhere else? Ever wished you were someone else? Escaping the rain, a journey on the London Underground becomes a descent into the underworld in Body 115, 2023 winner of the London Pub Theatre Award for Best Innovative Play.

Written and performed by Jan Noble, directed by Justin Butcher, this tale of broken hearts, old flames and open roads follows Noble’s down-and-out poet-hero through the sewers and tubes of King’s Cross Station to the heart of Italy. Part invocation, part rain dance, this poetic odyssey is delivered with a contemporary kick. From the terraces at Millwall to fashionable Milan, expect shadowy encounters, dodgy connections and chance meetings with a host of poet ghosts.

“Body 115 is an epic poem, a tale of inner and outer journeys in explicit homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy,” says Noble. “From the rain-washed, subterranean underworld of King’s Cross, ‘Body 115’ – the long-unidentified victim of the 1987 fire – becomes Virgil to my Dante in a rhapsodic paean to the trammelling ecstasy of loss: a trans-European odyssey turned safari of the soul.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola: Strictly Come Dancing professionals team up for Red Hot And Ready

Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 victor Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.

Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

John Simpson: BBC News world affairs editor puts leaders and lunatics in the dock at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday

In Focus: More political insights of the week: John Simpson: The Leaders & Lunatics Tour, Grand Opera House, York, April 7, 7.30pm

IN his bold, unflinching look at leadership, veteran BBC journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE ponders why some inspire while others descend into tyranny. “And…are all tyrants ‘lunatics’,” he asks.

After six decades of unparalleled access to world leaders – and lunatics – Simpson explores the personalities that have shaped history. From notorious figures such as Assad, Saddam, Mugabe and Gaddafi to admired leaders Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky, he reveals their common threads, unique quirks and lasting impact.

Drawing on his first-hand encounters and personal dealings, Simpson will unravel the enigmatic personas of Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher, while pondering what links Mandela and Princess Diana or Zelensky and Mugabe.

In an increasingly volatile world, BBC News world affairs editor Simpson will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of the most pressing global challenges of our time – conflicts, war, famine, economic crises and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.

Simpson, now 80, has spent all his working life with the BBC, reporting from more than 120 countries, including 30 war zones, and interviewing myriad world leaders on his foreign correspondent beat.

As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960s to present day in his fearless journalism, he will turn from interviewer to interviewee to take questions from the audience in the second-half Q&A.

What on earth is going on, John? Hear his answers at this talk “truly for our troubled times”, when Simpson promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire as he provides “insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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world affairs editor of BBC News. He has spent all his working life with the BBC, and has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and interviewed many world leaders.

In an increasingly volatile world, John will also examine the most pressing challenges of our time – war, famine, economic crises, and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.

In the second half, the floor is yours. Ask your questions as John offers sharp insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order.


John Simpson: Leaders and Lunatics Tour

After a sell-out tour in 2024, legendary journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE is returning to the stage for an exclusive evening packed with unparalleled insights from one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents of our time.

With decades of first-hand encounters and personal dealings, John will explore the enigmatic personas of global figures such as Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher.

John will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of our global issues – from conflicts, war and famines, to world economies and climate change.

What links Mandela and Princess Diana? Or Zelenskiy and Mugabe? John will reveal the common threads linking these figures, and offer a unique perspective on the impact they’ve had on world affairs.

As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960’s to present day, you will have an opportunity to ask John your questions – what were these leaders and lunatics really like, and what on earth is going on? Don’t miss John for an evening that promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire with his fearless journalism and captivating storytelling.

What on earth is going on? An event truly for our troubled times – don’t miss this enlightening and compelling evening.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Chamber Music Festival, Tim Lowe & John Lenehan, NCEM, York, March 12

Cellist and York Chamber Music Festival artistic director Tim Lowe

CELLO sonatas by Beethoven and Rachmaninov sandwiched three miniatures by Bloch in this tasty National Centre for Early Music preview of the York Chamber Music Festival, which will takes place from September 19 to 21.

Tim Lowe and his cello are front and centre of the festival, quite rightly since he is its artistic director. John Lenehan is a superb pianist in his own right and proved an excellent partner here.

The last of Beethoven’s five cello sonatas is his most expansive while also melodically amongst the most varied in his chamber music. Its grand gestures owe something to Beethoven’s desire to get back on good terms with its dedicatee, Countess Erdödy, with whom he had fallen out through his own fault. He also wrote it with one of her lodgers in mind, the brilliant Silesian cellist Joseph Linke.

Lowe and Lenehan showed instant rapport here. The second-beat accents and leaping intervals of the opening were neatly balanced by the much more lyrical second theme. The lovely piano chorale in the slow movement benefited from the cello’s elegiac commentary; it hovered teasingly before the headlong attack into the finale, where the fugal textures built relentlessly towards the climax.

Bloch’s three pieces entitled From Jewish Life, written in 1924, had a plaintive tone, notably in the cello’s upper register in the opening ‘Jewish Song’ and in the querulous ending to the supplicant’s humility in No. 2. There was a contrasting angst in the final ‘Prayer’ before it ended on a positive note.

After his only cello sonata dating from 1901, Rachmaninov wrote no further chamber music. Perhaps he found it too constraining. He had recently completed his Second Piano Concerto and there is a similar expansiveness in the sonata’s piano role.

Lenehan met all its challenges admirably, but was unable to subdue his touch quite enough in the finale, where the texture boils into concerto proportions. Balance was inevitably uneven here.

Elsewhere, however, the interplay was finely judged. After marvellous acceleration into the opening theme, there was a Brief Encounter moment for the nostalgic second theme. Lowe’s cello was puckish in the scherzo but contrastingly lush in the trio. His ripe tone made for a glorious slow movement, and even with its shortcomings the finale was never less than exciting. Roll on the festival proper.

Review by Martin Dreyer

TIM  Lowe will be joined at the September festival by pianist Katya Apekisheva and violinist Charlotte Scott among others; www.ycmf.co.uk

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