The artwork for Shakespeare’s Speakeasy at York International Shakespeare Festival
“IT’S Shakespeare, but it’s secret”.Can a group of strangers successfully stage a Shakespearean play in a day?
Shakespeare’s Speakeasy is the place find out as part of York International Shakespeare Festival at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow at 7.30pm (box office, yorkshakes.co.uk).
Directed and produced by Steve Arran, for one night only this production offers an irreverent and entertaining take on one of Bill the Bard’s best-known plays, crammed into only 60 minutes.
“Five actors are given a script with their lines and cues and must learn it over the course of a month without ever meeting each other,” says Steve. “On the day of performance, the actors meet for the first time and rehearse for six hours before staging a 100 per cent ‘not-all-serious play’ from the canon.
“But which play will it be? Well, like all good Speakeasy shows, that’s a secret. The only way to find out is to come inside.”
Like last year’s inaugural York Shakespeare Speakeasy, when he played Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, one of the actors will be Ian Giles, soon to reveal his Bottom in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Grand Opera House, York, from May 6 to 11 (box office, atgtickets.com/york).
Ian Giles’s Bottom in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set on a northern council estate
Climb every mountain: Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York
THE spring weather may be perking up, but Charles Hutchinson still finds reasons aplenty to stay in the dark for cultural satisfaction.
York musical of the week: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
IN its centenary year, members of Strensall Women’s Institute have accepted NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first role in any show. This time he plays his favourite part, Max Detweiler. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Cracking the whip: Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior
Whip-cracking touring musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.
When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Got it taped: Gary Oldman with the reel-to-reel tape machine in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
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 1989.
“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 on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Andy Bell: New songs, solo favourites and Erasure hits at York Barbican tonight
York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm
ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album, Ten Crowns, ten tracks of dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, available on vinyl, CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.
Bell’s set combines new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer Dave Audé, who opens tomorrow’s show with a DJ set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Guitar Legends: Terrific riffs galore at Milton Rooms, Malton
Tribute show of the week: Guitar Legends, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm,
GUITAR Legends celebrates the music of iconic guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Prince, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler and Jimi Hendrix.
Through a blend of live music, visuals and anecdotes, the show takes a journey through rock history, showcasing tenor vocal prowess and guitar virtuosity. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Learlike: Greensleeved tell Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear from the distaff side at York International Shakespeare Festival
Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 2pm
GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.
Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.
Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall
The eyes have it: Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Saturday, 7.30pm
“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist Barmby Moor/York comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026
Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026
LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. General ticket sales open at 10am on Friday at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.
Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.
Alexander Flanagan Wright: Questions, questions and more questions about Hamlet
ALEXANDER Flanagan Wright has an idea for a show. Not Hamlet exactly, but a version that asks all the big questions in Hamlet, not only To Be Or Not To Be, at York International Shakespeare Festival tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday.
“I’ve got an idea for a version of Hamlet,” says Alex, storyteller, playwright, dream-weaver of words, director and leading light of The Flanagan Collective, one half of Wright & Grainger and co-founder of Theatre at The Mill, Stillington, near York.
“It’s a gathering, a conversation and a collective reading. We’ll have some tea and some biscuits (I’ll provide those), we’ll read some of Shakespeare’s play together, and we’ll have a good chat.”
There’s more than that, of course, he promises. “It’s deeper than that. It’s about us being somewhere together, here and now; it’s about us grappling with our existential place in the world; it’s about us seeing how words give rise to ideas and definitions about ourselves; it’s about feeling isolated when we’re in the middle of many people. It’s about us all doing something together, whilst bits of the world are tearing us apart.
“And, like I’ve already said, it’s about having a cup of tea. It’s a new show, a new gathering, a new idea. And I’d like to invite you to come and be a part of it.”
To be or not to be at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight at 8.30pm, or York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, tomorrow at 10am, or Micklegate Social, Micklegate, York, on Wednesday, 7.30pm, you decide. To book, head to yorkshakes.co.uk. Running time: up to 90 minutes.
Gary Oldman in the York Theatre Royal auditorium, where his production of Krapp’s Last Tape is in its second week. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
FANCY serving on a jury in a true crime thriller? Find out how in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to going out.
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 1989.
“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 on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
James Bond Concert Spectacular: Celebrating the music of the long-running film series. Picture: Bryan Marshall
Film music event of the week James Bond Concert Spectacular, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
CAROLINE Bliss, who played Moneypenny in The Living Daylightsand Licence To Kill, will be the compere for Q The Music’s James Bond Concert Spectacular, sharing anecdotes from her film appearances.
Focusing not only on Bond theme songs, such as Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and Nobody Does It Better, the show also pays homage to the complete canon, covering chase music, incidental cues and suites from across the series. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
You are the jury: Murder Trial Tonight III, in court at York Barbican on Tuesday
Courtroom drama of the week: Tigerslane Studios presents Murder Trial Tonight III – The Doorstep Case, York Barbican, April 29, 7pm
“THIS isn’t just a theatre play; it’s a social experiment,” says Murder Trial Tonight’s West End director, Graham Watts. “We aim to challenge perceptions and engage our audience in a way that goes beyond traditional theatre.”
Welcome to Tigerslane Studios’third season of Murder Trial Tonight – The Doorstep Case, wherein storytellers, technicians and performers break down the fourth wall and bring true-crime stories to life. The show begins on screen, giving the backdrop to the case, followed by a live murder trial, with the audience as the jury. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Carrie Hope Fletcher: Shooting from the hip and lip in Calamity Jane at the Grand Opera House, York
Whip-cracking musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.
When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston with musical supervision by Olivier, Grammy and Tony Award winner Catherine Jayes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Karine Polwart’s poster artwork for her Feather & Ether Tour show at Pocklington Arts Centre
Folk gig of the week: Karine Polwart, Feather & Ether Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 30, 8pm
THIS year marks 25 years since Karine Polwart embraced a full-time career as a Scottish folk singer and 20 years since she scooped three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with her debut solo album Faultlines.
Her Feather & Ether Tour is a rare chance to enjoy her in intimate, conversational solo performance. Expect a clutch of new songs and wonder tales and an night of curiosity and compassion from Polwart, songwriter, theatre-maker, broadcaster and storyteller, whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Learlike: King Lear re-told from the distaff side in the UK premiere at the York International Shakespeare Festival
Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, May 3, 2pm
GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.
Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.
Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall
The eyes have it: Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm
“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026
Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026
LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. Fans who pre-order the Wolfcub Edition at scoutingforgirls.os.fan will receive access to a ticket pre-sale that opens at 10am on April 30. General sales follow from 10am on May 2 at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.
Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.
In Focus: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday
NE Theatre York’s cast for The Sound Of Music at the JoRo
TWO Marias, two Captain Von Trapps, three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall Women’s Institute, plus a dog, add up to NE Theatre York’s production of The Sound Of Music.
In its centenary year, Strensall Women’s Institute has accepted creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns – and sing several big numbers – in the heartwarming Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first stage role.
NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle with his dog Millie Bell
“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with joy. Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler,” says Steve, whose dog, Millie Bell, will make an appearance in the canine role of Max’s dog.
Tearle’s cast features newcomers aplenty to the stage. “NE Theatre prides itself on giving people of all ages the confidence to perform on stage, and this is the perfect opportunity with more than 20 people who have never performed before,” he says.
NE Theatre York in rehearsal for The Sound Of Music
“We’re producing the show with all the elements that everyone loves but keeping with the West End trend of scaled-back sets and using lighting effects to highlight the action. The focus, as always, will be on the talent of the actors on stage and giving everyone a moment to shine.”
Maia Beatrice and Rebecca Jackson will alternate the role of Maria while Matthew Clarke and Chris Hagyard will do likewise as Captain Von Trapp. NE Theatre stalwart Perri Anne Barley will play Mother Abbess; Ali Butler and Aileen Hall will take turns as Baroness Elsa. Tearle is joined in the production team by musical director Joe Allan.
NE Theatre’s production coincides with a brace of landmarks: the 60th anniversary of Robert Wise’s film starring Julie Andrews as the singing nun and the 90th anniversary of the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York
Quick refresher course: The Sound Of Music is based on the real-life story of the Von Trapp family of singers, one of the world’s best known concert groups in the era immediately preceding the Second World War.
When Maria, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey, becomes governess to a widowed naval captain’s seven children, she brings a new love of life and music into the home. Among the much-loved songs are My Favourite Things, Climb Every Mountain, Do Re Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, Edelweiss and The Sound of Music.
A number of tickets are being given to charities. Hurry, hurry to secure a seat as April 29, May 1 and May 2 are down to “last few tickets”, availability is limited for April 30 and both May 3 performances have sold out. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
BRITAIN’S favourite baritone, the ubiquitous Roderick Williams, brought a typically eclectic programme to the Leeds Song festival under the banner “A touch of the exotic”, with Andrew West as his deft collaborator at the piano.
It involved ten composers from Schubert to Sally Beamish, four of them female. It was right to begin with Schubert: he has always been the yardstick against whom song composers measure themselves. His setting of Goethe’s Kennst du das Land? distils the Romantic poets’ infatuation with Eastern climes. Sure enough, Williams’s quickened pulse at ‘Dahin!’ (it’s there!) captured that excitement.
Even more exotic, as more Debussyan, was Denis Browne’s last song, Walter de la Mare’s Arabia (1914), with its delicate piano and opiate aura, a timely reminder of a great talent snuffed out by war.
Arthur Bliss’s pithy Siege and Rebecca Clarke’s elegy A Dream were but preludes to Amy Woodforde-Finden’s much-loved Kashmiri song, where our duo conjured nostalgia without undue sentimentality.
Duparc’s only two settings of Baudelaire, arguably his best songs, were finely drawn. The shimmering impressionism of L’invitation au Voyage was balanced by his last mélodie, the sonnet La Vie Antérieure, which boiled up into a sensuous climax reflecting the flashing foam. The gradual return of the painful secret in the poetry was complemented by West’s beautifully poised postlude.
Sally Beamish’s Four Songs from Hafez were a commission from Leeds Lieder in 2007; it was good to hear them again. They centre on three birds and a fish as translated from 14th century Persian by Jill Peacock.
Much of the composer’s illustrative talent is found in the piano, birdsong of course but also watery undercurrents of excitement in ‘Fish’ where Williams accentuated Hafez’s “wine of creation”. ‘Hoopoe’, a love letter, had some delicate touches here.
Hafez’s wine also featured in Wolf’s Erschaffen und Beleben (Creation and Animation), as answer to a clodhopper’s problems. Williams was well attuned to Goethe’s sense of humour both here and in Wolf’s First Coptic Song.
The Jamaican-born composer Eleanor Alberga’s star has been rising rapidly in recent years. Her early years as a pianist and involvement with dance are both assimilated into The Soul’s Expression (2017), four settings of 19th century female poets. Described as a piano sonata with linking songs, it is through-composed (running without a break).
The songs are wonderfully evocative of nature, with piano interludes that take the place of strings in the original version. After an ecstatic glimpse of heaven in a cornfield, there are two calmer sections involving a gentle breeze at sunset and a shower of rose petals, before the title song, to an Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnet, delves into more spiritual territory, with the baritone briefly using falsetto against whispering keyboard. It was a touching experience.
More light-hearted, although no less powerful, were Harry Burleigh’s Five songs of Laurence Hope –the pseudonym of Adela Florence Nicolson – which are much influenced by negro spirituals. They include ‘Kashmiri Song’, but using all three of its verses (unlike Woodforde-Finden’s version) and tellingly repeat its ‘Where are you now?’ at the close. There was a glorious climax to ‘Worth while’ and especially strong emotion in the final song, ‘Till I Wake’. Williams and West are a superb duo.
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.
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.
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
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 Theatretonight
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 3for 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
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.
