THE East Riding village of Fangfoss will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fangfest festival of practical arts on September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day.
“To mark this milestone, the event promises to be bigger and better than ever with attractions and activities to suit everyone,” says illustrator and designer Sarah Relf, from The Magpie’s Cabinet.
“The regular favourites will be there: the flower festival with this year’s theme of All Things Silver; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and, of course, lots of local artists exhibiting and demonstrating their work.”
Being a festival of practical arts, opportunities aplenty will be provided to try out new skills: everything from having a go on the potter’s wheel to spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free, while others are more intensive workshops that require booking in advance. Details of these can be found at facebook/fangfest or Instagram:@fangfestfestival.
Pottery workshop at Fangfest
New to this year’s event will be children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, bringing his circus skills and balloon bending to the event. Look out too for a mobile museum, brought by Pocklington and District Heritage Trust; the chance to visit new interior design business Foss Interiors, who will run a cooking demonstration with samples to taste, and the updated millennium screen made by the ladies of the village, on show in St Martin’s Church.
The Saturday celebrations will continue from 5pm at The Carpenters Arms, featuring live music from local bands plus pizzas made to order from Dough House Pizza.
Closing the event on the Sunday will be a Hymns and Pimms gathering at the pub, when everyone is welcome.
“I cannot believe that we have gone on so many years,” says Fangfest co-founder Lyn Grant, from Fangfoss Pottery. “It all started as a small open day for the Rocking Horse Shop in the village and just grew and grew.”
Entry to Fangfest is free. Car parking is available at the school for £2, with money raised going to Friends of St Martin’s School (F.O.S.S). For more details of what’s on, how to book workshops and all other information, visit facebook/fangfest or Instagram:@fangfestfestival.
Susan Twist’s Dotty Otley in the Stephen Joseph Theatre production of Michael Frayn’s farce Noises Off. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
FROM Frayn’s finest farce to Leeds Festival, War Horse to Bombay Bicycle Club, August puts the highs into Charles Hutchinson’s summer.
Farce of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on “an impossible task”.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage, and the catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), left, Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Yorkshire theatre event of the week: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until September 6
WAR Horse, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the National Theatre’s most successful play, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide.
Now comes a new tour, co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, that takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company bring breathing, galloping, charging equines to thrilling life on stage. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Chappell Roan: Making her biggest British appearance to date at Leeds Festival. Picture: Leeds Festival
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, tomorrow to Sunday
ALWAYS the festival to mark the end of the summer season of outdoor joys, Leeds Festival welcomes Travis Scott as the Friday headliner in his only European festival appearance. Sammy Virji, D-Block Europe, Trippie Redd and Amyl And The Sniffers are in action on that day too.
Saturday’s bill features Hozier, Chappell Roan, in the Midwest Princess’s biggest UK show yet, AJ Tracey, The Kooks, Bloc Party and Rudim3ntal, while the Sunday finale presents Bring Me The Horizon, Limp Bizkit, Becky Hill, Enter Shakiri and Wunderhorse. For the full line-up and ticket details, head to: leedsfestival.com.
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes: Making Rise debut in York. Picture: Richard Reid
Australian double bill of the week: Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes and Melody Pool, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb York, tomorrow, doors open at 7.30pm
LACHLAN Bryan & The Wildes are appearing in “full band mode” in the UK for the first time, stopping off at Rise. Until now, at Maverick Festival in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and shows around these isles as headliners or supporting good friends Hannah Aldridge and Alan Fletcher, the band has travelled the Northern Hemisphere mostly as a three-piece.
That all changes as the usual suspects, Melbourne storyteller Lachlan, guitarist Riley Catherall and bass player Shaun Ryan, are joined by Ben Middleton on drums and Yorkshire’s own Emily Lawler on fiddle and viola. Australian songwriter Melody Pool supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Bombay Bicycle Club: Riding into York Barbican on Friday. Picture: Bombay Bicycle Club website
York gig of the week: Bombay Bicycle Club, supported by Divorce, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm
LED as ever by vocalist, pianist and guitarist Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club’s set list will draw on songs from the Crouch End band’s six albums that span folk, electronica and world music, as well as indie guitar rock. The latest addition, 2023’s My Big Day, parades a revelatory set of vibrant, joyous compositions that bask in the sunshine. Feel the heat on Friday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Luke Haines, right, & Peter Buck: Showcasing new album at Pocklington Arts Centre
Gig of the week outside York: Luke Haines & Peter Buck, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm
LUKE Haines, Walton-on-Thames musician, songwriter and author of Freaks Out! and Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall, is best known for his bands The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Now his collaborator is Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M for 31 years.
On July 28, Haines & Buck released the third in their “psychiatric trilogy” of albums, Going Down To The River…To Blow My Mind,following Beat Poetry For Survivalists in 2020 and All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out in 2022. Their tour takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on August 27 and Leeds Brudenell Social Club on August 28. The Minus 5 support. Box office: Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com/events/hainesbuck; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
The poster for Tommy Cannon’s show at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Comedy night of the week: An Audience With Tommy Cannon, Keeping The Magic Alive, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
BEST known as one half of comedy duo Cannon & Ball, national treasure Tommy Cannon presents a night of entertainment, laughter and nostalgia with the billing of “Legend, Laughter & Legacy – Live On Stage” as he shares stories from his 50-plus career in showbusiness, many in tandem with Bobby Ball.
Expect behind-the-scenes secrets, career highlights and heartfelt reflections on his life on and off screen, delivered with charm, warmth and wit. Recollections from the golden days of British television to his stage work and appearances on hit shows will be topped off with special surprises (maybe a song), archive clips and a Q&A, when you can ask Tommy anything. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
One of Simon Baxter’s photographs from All The Wood’s A Stage, his joint exhibition with Joe Cornish at National Trust Nunnington Hall. Picture: Simon Baxter
Exhibition announcement of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, National Trust Nunnington Hall, near York, from September 20 to March 29 2026
ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.
Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.
Bojan Čičić: “Three-line whip for any lover of the Baroque violin”
THE appearance of Bojan Čičić in this neck of woods is a three-line whip for any lover of the Baroque violin. He scoots all over Europe directing top-notch ensembles, but always seems to find time to fit York into his crammed schedule.
Here he was leading the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) – a dozen strings and a harpsichord – in a Bach programme entitled Concerto Heaven: three concertos and an ouverture, providing the festival’s finale.
Bach’s ‘ouvertures’ are essentially suites; here, in No 3 in D major, an intro, an air and four dances. The dances were truly balletic and the final gigue had a comfortable lilt.
The concertos contained the real fireworks. The first, BWV1041 in A minor, was actually clean and unfussy – until its furious finale. Wonderfully vivacious, too, was the opening Allegro of the D minor Concerto, and its finish, after the solemnity of its slow movement, a real tonic.
But between these two we had a sensational account of BWV1042 in E major. Here Čičić elected to have merely five strings and harpsichord as accompaniment. There was a dazzling cadenza in the first movement, in which one could have sworn he was playing several instruments at once, so rapid the figurations and so distinctive the registers.
Yet equally mesmerising was the wistful Adagio, while his capricious episodes in the rondo-style finale were never less than tasty.
We should not forget that the AAM, now over half a century in being, offers consistently thrilling support which gives wings to Bojan’s flights of fancy. A wonderfully upbeat finish to the festival.
Waldstein Trio’s Christos Fountos, Greta Papa and Miguel Ángel Villeda Cerón
UNDER its 2025 theme of Sonnet, North York Moors Chamber Music Festival takes quotations from poetry for each of its 14 events, with four of them – those that take place in churches – extracted from T S Eliot’s Four Quartets.
They also act as identifiers of each event, since the ensembles, all assembled from the pool of highly talented musicians holidaying on the moors, are otherwise anonymous.
One group, however, can be identified at once, since the honour of opening the festivities fell to the Waldstein Trio, winners of the Young Artists Focus award this year. Although the trio has already won a number of awards in its three years’ existence, its choice of Beethoven’s last piano trio, Op 97 in G (‘Archduke’) – a work that offers no hiding places – revealed some shortcomings.
All three are talented performers, but they are at different stages in the evolution of their musical personalities. The Mexican cellist Miguel Ángel Villeda Cerón is a fully rounded player, delivering nicely rounded tone that inspires confidence in his judgement. His colleagues are not yet quite at that level.
Pianist Daniel Lebhardt. Picture: Matthew Johnson
The Greek-Albanian violinist Greta Papa is another good player, but here she swapped her musicality for an almost permanent smile. Nothing wrong with a smile but here it seemed to mask nerves: at any rate, she lacked the conviction to balance her string colleague.
The Cypriot pianist Christos Fountos never really settled. Too many of his accents were hammered: accents need to steal up on the listener, not thump them between the eyeballs. His passage-work was also suspect, too many rapid runs not clearly articulated. He may well be a better soloist than collaborator.
There was little grandeur in Beethoven’s opening theme, but the scherzo was crisp with some neat touches of rubato. The andante promised to cast a spell several times, but it was interrupted by over-eager piano. The finale was much more even-tempered, with a pleasing accelerando into its coda.
Musicianship of a different order was on display after the interval. Benjamin Baker’s fluent violin allowed Schumann to speak to us directly through his Three Romances Op 94, never forcing the tone. The first emerged as a sinuous lament, the second evoked a beautifully songful line, and the third was sprightly. Daniel Lebhardt’s piano provided sympathetic support.
Violinist Charlotte Scott: “Luscious tone and rapt attention to detail”
Lebhardt also offered the first two extracts from Book 1 of Janacek’s On An Overgrown Path, ten evocations of childhood memories, which are being interwoven into festival programmes. They were gently intimate, with the odd surprise.
Brahms’s First Violin Sonata, Op 78 in G, brought the return of another festival favourite, Charlotte Scott, with Joseph Havlat as her pianist. They were exceptionally well-matched.
Havlat came to the fore whenever needed but never intruded on Scott’s luscious tone and rapt attention to detail. They clearly experienced the first movement’s surges of emotion together. Scott’s double-stopping accompaniment in the Adagio was as remarkable as her luscious melodic line. The duo’s exchanges in the closing rondo flowed smoothly and purposefully. This was playing of the highest calibre.
Review by Martin Dreyer
The festival continues with daily concerts until August 23. For full festival details and tickets, head to: www.northyorkmoorsfestival.com
Sonnets In Bloom scriptwriter Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s summer production is being staged
FROM War Horse to Leeds Festival, the Wedding Present musical to Bombay Bicycle Club, August puts the highs into Charles Hutchinson’s summer.
Churchyard drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and August 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the weekend: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Yorkshire theatre event of the week: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, August 19 to September 6
WAR Horse, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the most successful play in the National Theatre’s history, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide.
Now comes an all-new tour, co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, that takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company bring breathing, galloping, charging equines to thrilling life on stage. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Chappell Roan: Performing her biggest British show yet at Leeds Festival on August 23. Picture: from Leeds Festival website
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 21 to 24
ALWAYS the festival to mark the end of the summer season of outdoor joys, Leeds Festival welcomes Travis Scott as the Friday headliner in his only European festival appearance. Sammy Virji, D-Block Europe, Trippie Redd and Amyl And The Sniffers are in action on that day too.
The Saturday bill features Hozier, Chappell Roan, in the Midwest Princess’s biggest UK show yet, AJ Tracey, The Kooks, Bloc Party and Rudim3ntal, while the Sunday finale presents Bring Me The Horizon, Limp Bizkit, Becky Hill, Enter Shakiri and Wunderhorse. For the full line-up and ticket details, head to: leedsfestival.com.
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes: Playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery. Picture: Richard Reid
Australian double bill of the week: Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes and Melody Pool , Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb York, August 21, doors open at 7.30pm
LACHLAN Bryan & The Wildes are appearing in “full band mode” in the UK for the first time this summer, stopping off at Rise. Until now, at Maverick Festival in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and shows around these isles as headliners or supporting good friends Hannah Aldridge and Alan Fletcher, the band has travelled the Northern Hemisphere mostly as a three-piece.
That all changes as the usual suspects, Melbourne storyteller Lachlan, guitarist Riley Catherall and bass player Shaun Ryan, are joined by Ben Middleton on drums and Yorkshire’s own Emily Lawler on the fiddle and viola. Australian songwriter Melody Pool supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
The cast for Reception with writer-director Matt Aston, back row, far left, and The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, back row, far right, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds. Picture: Northedge Photography
Musical world premiere of the week: Perfect Blue Productions and Engine House Theatre present Reception, The Wedding Present Musical, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, August 22 to September 6
SET in 1980s’ Leeds, Reception: The Wedding Present Musical follows a group of university friends whose lives remain entangled over five turbulent years. Through weddings, funerals, graduations – and, of course, the receptions that follow – York writer-director Matt Aston’s new drama explores how we grow together and apart, all scored to David Gedge’s 40 years of searingly personal, sharply observed song-writing for The Wedding Present and Cinerama.
Like the Leeds band that inspired it, the musical thrums with raw emotion, biting wit and restless energy, performed by a dynamic ensemble of actor-musicians, weaving a story of love, regret and reconnection through the melodic force of Gedge’s music. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Bombay Bicycle Club: Riding into York Barbican on August 22. Picture: from Bombay Bicycle Club website
York gig of the week: Bombay Bicycle Club, supported by Divorce, York Barbican, August 22, doors 7pm
LED as ever by vocalist, pianist and guitarist Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club’s set list will draw on songs from the Crouch End band’s six albums that span folk, electronica and world music, as well as indie guitar rock. The latest addition, 2023’s My Big Day, parades a revelatory set of vibrant, joyous compositions that bask in the sunshine. Feel the heat next Friday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Luke Haines & Peter Buck: Teaming up at Pocklington Arts Centre
Gig of the week outside York: Luke Haines & Peter Buck, Pocklington Arts Centre, August 22, 8pm
LUKE Haines, Walton-on-Thames musician, songwriter and author of Freaks Out! and Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall, is best known for his bands The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Now his collaborator is Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M for 31 years.
On July 28, Haines & Buck released the third in their “psychiatric trilogy” of albums, Going Down To The River…To Blow My Mind,following Beat Poetry for Survivalists in 2020 and All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out in 2022. Their tour takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on August 27 and Leeds Brudenell Social Club on August 28. The Minus 5 support. Box office: Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com/events/hainesbuck; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
Sonnets In Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor in the Holy Trinity churchyard in Goodramgate, York
SHAKESPEARE in poetic full bloom, arguably the best ever British farce and moorland classical music lead off Charles Hutchinson’s case for not going on holiday in August.
Poetic return of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Alex Phelps and Valerie Antwi in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Farce of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a-play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage, and the catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, until August 23
IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Smashing Pumpkins: Heading for Scarborough on Aghori Tour
Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, gates 6pm
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Brightside: Scarborough band making their NCEM debut in York
From coast to York: Piano Goes Brightside, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
SCARBOROUGH band Brightside are undergoing a name change to The Waisons but not before playing this Piano Goes Brightside gig in York. In the line-up are Josh Lappao, lead guitar and vocals, Vince Lappao, drums and keyboards, Mason Marshall, guitar and vocals, and Olly Kershaw, bass guitar.
Formed to compete in a Battle of the Bands school competition, where they were placed runners-up, their two years of gigging has taken in school events, a Nativity entertainment, Christmas parties and a wedding. “We mostly do covers, but plan on making originals soon,” they say. As for the piano, progressive Scarborough pianist Jamie Kershaw will play 45 minutes of Schubert, Debussy, Ludovicio Einaudi, jazz and more. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Scarborough and District Railway Modellers’ poster for this weekend’s Pickering Model Railway Exhibition
Keeping on track: Pickering Model Railway Exhibition 2025, Memorial Hall, Potter Hill, Pickering, August 16, 10am to 5pm, and August 17, 10am to 3.30pm
ORGANISED by Scarborough and District Railway Modellers, Pickering Model Railway Exhibition features working layouts by Badger’s Bottom, Box File, Dalmunach, Farnby, Gallows Close,High Stamley,Low Key, Napier Road, Snicketway and Thomas For Kids.
Look out for model-making demonstrations by Simon Howard and Tim Penrose and trade support by DPP Model Railways, Model Market, GM Transport Books and Phoenix Games Studio. Free parking and free entry for accompanied children are further attractions; refreshments are available. Tickets: sdrmweb.co.uk.
Pickering Country Fair: Vintage tractors are among the attractions this weekend
Country pursuits of the week: Pickering Country Fair, Galtres Pickering Showground, August 16 and 17
COUNTRY sports, from mounted games and falconry, to gun dog scurries and heavy horses (Sunday only), will be complemented by ‘have-a-go’ opportunities in a chance to discover and learn about country pursuits under expert guidance. Among the highlights will be the Yorkshire Vet, Peter Wright; owl adventures; axe throwing; falconry; birds of prey; terrier racing; lurcher racing and coursing; archery; tractor pulling and a reptile display.
A vintage vehicle area features cars, commercials, fire engines and military vehicles, including tanks, along with displays of traction engines, tractors and working displays. Visitors can browse a variety of trade stands, autojumble, a craft and fine food marquee, old-time fun fair, non-stop arena entertainment, catering and a licensed bar. Tickets: outdoorshows.co.uk/pickering-country-fair. Pre-booked camping is available from midday on Friday to 10am on Monday.
Sonnets in Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s performances will be staged
SHAKESPEARE in poetic full bloom, arguably the best ever British farce and moorland classical music lead off Charles Hutchinson’s case for not going on holiday in August.
Poetic return of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Mad Alice: History talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York at 4pm tomorrow
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, until August 11
ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival is a whirl of dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.
Among the highlights will be a Promenade through the city; Georgian ice-cream cooking demonstrations; Regency Rejigged dance performances; Georgian Execution Tour with Bloody Tours of York; Mad Alice and York Gin’s history talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York bar; York Georgian Ball at Grand Assembly Rooms; Portraits in Jane Austen; A Byron Letter and A Georgian Kerfuffle at York Mansion House and An Intimate History: The Life and Loves of Anne Lister at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.
Seven Wonders: Paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Tribute show of the week: Seven Wonders, The Spirit Of Fleetwood Mac, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
SEVEN Wonders, a seven-piece, 100 per cent live band, cover all eras of Fleetwood Mac, from the Peter Green blues years, through Rumours, to Tango In The Night. Be prepared to dance the night away to Go Your Own Way, Don’t Stop, The Chain, Rhiannon, Dreams, Little Lies, Oh Well, Edge Of Seventeen and many more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Alex Phelps, left, Christopher Godwin, Olivia Woolhouse, Valerie Antwi, Susan Twist, Charlie Ryan and Andy Cryer in rehearsal for Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Play of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage and the brilliantly catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Moorlandfestival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 10 to 23
IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Mark Radcliffe and Arlo: Dog tales at The Crescent
Shaggy dog stories of the week: Mark Radcliffe (& Arlo): In Conversation, The Crescent, August 11, 7.30pm
MARK Radcliffe, radio broadcaster, musician and writer, is one half of BBC Radio 1′s semi-legendary Mark and Lard and one half of BBC 6Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie. Now he introduces his new double-act partner, his beloved pampered Cavapoo, Arlo, as featured in the book Et Tu, Cavapoo?, published by Corsair on August 14.
In March 2024, Radcliffe and Arlo set off from Cheshire in their VW Beetle convertible for a three-month sojourn in Rome. Join them in conversation for an account of their time amid the sights (and sniffs) of the Italian capital in a show for lovers of travel and history, food and drink, art and architecture, and those seeking an insight into the eccentricities of the canine mind. This event combines a book signing, an interview with a special guest host and a chance to put questions to Mark (and Arlo). Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Smashing Pumpkins: Heading to Scarborough on Aghori Tour
Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13, gates 6pm
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Scarborough band Brightside: Making NCEM debut on August 14
From coast to York: Piano Goes Brightside, National Centre for Early Music, York, August 14, 7.30pm
SCARBOROUGH band Brightside are undergoing a name change to The Waisons but not before playing this Piano Goes Brightside gig in York. In the line-up are Josh Lappao, lead guitar and vocals, Vince Lappao, drums and keyboards, Mason Marshall, guitar and vocals, and Olly Kershaw, bass guitar.
Formed to compete in a Battle of the Bands school competition, where they were placed runners-up, their two years of gigging has taken in school events, a Nativity entertainment, Christmas parties and a wedding. “We mostly do covers, but plan on making originals soon,” they say. As for the piano, progressive Scarborough pianist Jamie Kershaw will play 45 minutes of Schubert, Debussy, Ludovicio Einaudi, jazz and more. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Geoff Turner’s Sir Thomas Graspallin The Raree Show or The Fox Trap’t. Picture: Gareth Buddo
IMAGINE the joy of Sarah Cowling, York tour guide and Churches Conservation Trust volunteer at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, when research led to the discovery of the writings of Mr Joseph Peterson.
Parish records show that Peterson gave his living as “comedian” in the register at his son Joseph’s baptism in January 1738. Actor, writer and comedian would be more accurate, given that Peterson’s career blossomed at the Norwich Theatre Company from 1746 after working for Thomas Keregan’s company in York.
Yet before his exit stage left to Norfolk, York-born Peterson wrote expressly for his home city, and now Cowling is directing Holy Trinity’s revival of his first theatrical romp in a traverse staging at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, where it is thought the hour-long comedy might have been first performed.
There will be only one performance, tonight at 7.30pm, sold out alas, but last night’s dress rehearsal played to pretty much a full house too, so it had the atmosphere more befitting a first night.
Wood is everywhere: doors, dark panels on the walls, the floor, but thankfully not in the acting, led by Nick Patrick Jones’s Mr Joseph Peterson, introducing his piece of 18th century theatrical shenanigans in couplets, in the manner of Shakespeare’s Puck.
Jones will reappear as Peterson’s most exaggerated character, the coxcomb Sir Fopling Conceit, a narcissist as foppish and vain as his name, surely heading for a fall.
He is not alone in Peterson’s parade of vainglorious peacocks: step forward Geoff Turner’s Sir Thomas Graspall, in his case headed for a pratfall via the Raree Show of the title: a tented peep show that invites him to look inside. The Fox trap’t indeed.
Step forward with even more braggadocio Joe Standerline’s thunderous foxhunting enthusiast Squire Timothy, as quick on the bottom slaps as outrageous boasts.
They will be outwitted in a battle of wits by the womanly wiles of Mad Alice (York tour guide Alicia Stabler) in the guise of Betty, together with Joy Warner’s Corinna and Andrea Mitchell’s Belinda.
Further undermining the pompous posturing are the earnest machinations of Zander Fick’s Belamour and Matt Tapp’s Manly.
Standerline pops up too as Peterson’s answer to Shakespeare’s Fool, the self-explanatory Smart, albeit in a cameo, but one where he has fun with a hammy French accent and moustache.
Peterson crams into his hour all the tropes of Georgian theatre: the wigs and the topical wit; the daft names and even dafter characters; villainous uncles, astute servants and absurdist foreigners; physical buffoonery, clashing swords and verbal spats; putdowns and comeuppances; unhappy exits and the obligatory happy ending.
Then add Georgian style to compliment the foppery and frippery, further boosted by the perky musicality of Nicky Gladstone’s violin and Chantal Berry’s keyboard.
The last word goes to Jones’s Peterson, who is unnecessarily apologetic about the standard of his debut work. What’s more, it won’t be the last word if Sarah Cowling has her way. “There’s a whole catalogue of these funny little York-grown Georgian shows,” she says. “I really hope we can unearth more.”
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
AUGUST’S arrival heralds the return of riverside art, Georgian festival frolics and moorland classical music in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to a cornucopia of culture.
Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 9 and 10, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Scott Bennett: Presenting Blood Sugar Baby at Pocklington Arts Centre
Storyteller of the week: Scott Bennett, Blood Sugar Baby, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm
ONE family, one condition, one hell of a hairy baby: Scott Bennett, from The News Quiz and the Parenting Hell podcast, relates how his daughter fell ill with a rare genetic condition, congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI).
Never heard of it? Neither have new parents Scott and Jemma as they fight to achieve the right diagnosis for their daughter and are plunged into months of bewildering treatment, sleepless nights, celebrity encounters and bizarre side effects, but a happy ending ensues. Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Ryosuke Kiyasu: Drumming prowess on The Arts Barge
Beat that: No Instrument and Arts Barge present Ryosuke Kiyasu, The Arts Barge, Foss Basin Moorings, York, tonight, 7.30pm
PIONEERING snare-drum soloist Ryosuke Kiyasu has redefined percussion since 2003, releasing more than 200 albums, both solo and with his band, drawing 23 million views for his 2018 Berlin live set and featuring on BBC News.
He drums for noise-grind duo Sete Star Sept, the Kiyasu Orchestra and Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha and co-founded Canada’s cult hardcore unit The Endless Blockade. Box office: artsbarge.com/events.
Iago Banet: Finger-style Spanish guitar playing at The Basement
Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm
VIRTUOSO finger-style Spanish guitarist Iago Banet, who moved to London from Galicia in 2014, combines gypsy jazz, blues, country, Dixieland, swing, pop, folk and Americana in his acoustic repertoire, as heard on his third album, 2023’s Tres.
He has performed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Cerys Matthews’ The Blues Show on BBC Radio 2, appeared at Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz and played with Josh Smith, Mark Flanagan, Jack Broadbent and Clive Carroll. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Four actors, two plays, forty minutes each: 440 Theatre in Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth at Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Shaking up Shakespeare: 440 Theatre in Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
FOUR actors perform 40-minute versions of Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth, transforming the Scottish play from tragedy into comedy in this raucous, breakneck double bill. “Experience the hilarity of not only one of the Bard’s best comedies but also a side-splitting (literally!) Macbeth,” say director Dom Gee-Burch and producer-composer Laura Sillett. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Terry Deary presents Revolting at York Mansion House tomorrow at 5.30pm at York Georgian Festival
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, August 7 to 11
ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival will be a whirl of dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.
Among the highlights will be Terry Deary Presents Revolting; the Life and Loves of Anne Lister; a Georgian dance lesson at the Guildhall; Men’s Hats; Mad Alice’s history talk and gin tasting; the York Georgian Ball; Sounds of Regency by Candlelight; The World of Georgian Fashion; Portraits in Jane Austen and a revival of York actor-playwright Joseph Peterson’s comic romp The Raree Show or The Fox Trap’t. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.
Alex Phelps, left, Christopher Godwin, Olivia Woolhouse, Valerie Antwi, Susan Twist, Charlie Ryan and Andy Cryer in rehearsal for Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Play of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, August 9 to September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee seen entirely from backstage and the brilliantly catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Ryedale festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 10 to 23
IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
The Smashing Pumpkins: Heading to Scarborough on Aghori Tour next Wednesday
Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13, gates 6pm
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and collected two Grammy Awards, seven MTV VMAs and an American Music Award. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
The Magpies: Hosting their annual folk festival at Sutton Park on Friday and Saturday
THE Magpies Festival at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, York, on August 8 and 9 has sold out.
Run by Bella Gaffney, fellow founding member Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers of transatlantic folk band The Magpies, the festival combines live music on two stages with workshops and activities.
Taking part on Friday on the main stage will be Simeon Hammond Dallas, 6pm, Gnoss, 8pm, and Baskery, 10pm, while the Brass Castle Stage will play host to Roswell Road, 5pm, The 309s, 7pm, Theo Mizu & Banda, 9pm, and Ford Dimensional, 11pm.
Saturday’s main stage acts will be Dan Webster Band, 12 noon, Mishra, 2pm, Julian Taylor, 4pm, The Magpies, 6pm, Rob Heron and The Tea Pad Orchestra, 8pm, and Elephant Sessions, 10pm. In action on the Brass Castle Stage will be The Shackleton Trio, 1pm, Edwina Hayes, 3pm, Janice Burns & Jon Doran, 5pm, Jaywalkers, 7pm, and The Deep Blue, 9pm.
Baskery: Headlining the Magpies Festival main stage on Friday
The workshops and activities include Yoga with Elaine Welsh, Brass Castle Tent, Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 9.50am, Children’s Songs, Rhythms and Ceilidh with Mishra, Brass Castle Tent, Saturday, 10am to 10.50am, and Sea Shanties with guitar and banjo player Bella Gaffney, Brass Castle Tent, Saturday, 11am to 11.50am.
They continue with Bushcraft and Survival Skills with Forest School For All, outside The Nest, Saturday, 1pm to 2pm, Be Your Own Best Friend with GFS England & Wales, The Nest, Saturday, 3pm to 4pm, and Ceilidh with Archie Churchill-Moss, Brass Castle Tent, Saturday, 1pm to 11.55pm.
Food and drink and market stalls will be on site too. For full festival details, go to themagpiesfestival.co.uk.
