Category: Film

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Micklegate Arts Trail combines art with music, spoken word and film from today to June 15 as part of York Festival of Ideas

Micklegate Arts Trail: 35 artists, 20 free events, one festival of art, music film and poetry

YORK creative collective Navigators Art launches the 2025 Micklegate Arts Trail today featuring works by 35 York artists on display in 14 shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants until June 15.

The launch day, running from 12 noon to 5pm, will present street buskers Joel Wilson (The Typing Poet), Borgia Trio, Jasmine Lowe and Nathan Kirby, along with music improvisations by Joe Allen, Desmond Clarke, Fin O’Hare, Tom Maynard (The Sounen Project) and Nick Walters at Holy Trinity Church, where Walters has coordinated the display of 3D sculptures and events.

Keep an eye out for the Extreme Knitting demonstration with giant needles by Hippystitch, alias Sally Stone in the church grounds. All these events are free.

Coordinated by Steve Beadle and George Willmore, Micklegate Arts Trail has expanded from last June’s inaugural Micklegate Art Trail – note the change from ‘Art’ to ‘Arts’ – to embrace music, film and poetry as well as art in a festival run in tandem with York Festival of Ideas that opens on the same day.

On show for the next fortnight will be works by:

Sinead Corkery: Work on show at No 84 Deli & Cafe

Raginie Duara at Lucius Books; Mark Kesteven at Old School Barber Shop; Barry Lewis, Desmond Clarke, Lu Mason, Nick Walters, Peter Baker, Richard Mackness, Sally Stone and Tom Maynard at Holy Trinity Church and Bill Oakey and Julia Leonard at Cads of Micklegate.

Look out for Nick Kobyluch, Sharon McDonagh and Sola at Skosh; Jane Dignum, Jo Rodwell and Lois Folkard at The Falcon; Chalky the Yorkie, Jasmine Foo, Jude Redpath and Sinead Corkery at No 84 Deli & Cafe; Susan Bradley at Divine Coffee Roasters; Fiona Kemp and Ali Hunter at Hudson Moody and Skulldog at Mack & Lawler Builders.

Isabel Bullon Benito and Marc Godfrey-Murphy (Marco Looks) can be found at Oxfam Bookshop; Chrissy Buse at Cafe Fleur; Elizabeth Smallman and Linda Combi at the Amnesty Bookshop and Melisaa Hill, Michael Campbell, Richard Thompson and Sarah Schiewe at The Hooting Owl in Rougier Street. Opening times may vary between venue.

“Micklegate Arts Trail is a rare community event of its kind in York,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “It’s been hard work to put it together, probably harder work than last year, because it’s not just an art trail now but we also have spoken-word and music events, taking place in three pubs, The Artful Dodger, The Falcon and The Hooting Owl.

“The great thing about the art trail is that all the work on show is chosen is chosen by the traders and shops themselves, and not by a panel. So the work is what they like and what suits their premises. That means there are no preconceptions about who will be chosen, and some quite big York names are missing out this year – the selection process is what makes it a true community event.”

Collage drop-in session at The Artful Dodger on June 8

Richard continues: “Our starting point for the festival is that Navigators Art likes Micklegate as a street, an historic street, but some people just see it as a cut-through, and some shops and traders are struggling, especially after the parking price increases, so we want to draw attention to what Micklegate has to offer.

“Hopefully the arts trail will attract pedestrians to visit the street. We’re very much doing this festival to support both Micklegate traders and the York artists they chose to display. That’s why it exists and we hope this second trail is a step to making it an annual event.”

Arts Trail events will include free live music sessions at The Falcon and The Hooting Owl on June 1, 8 and 15 at 2pm and 7pm featuring Andy Bowen and Liv Quigley, One Iota, Jasmine Lowe, Mike Amber and Will Martin.

Martin will return to The Falcon on June 4 and 11 at 7pm and further sessions will follow at The Hooting Owl on June 5 and 12 at 7pm.

The Falcon will play host to board game (in house or bring your own) on June 3 and 10. A spoken word, music and open-mic session will be held upstairs at The Artful Dodger on June 5 at 7.30pm when invited guests will include poets Janet Dean and Jessica Van Smith and singer Mike Amber. Bring your poem, an original song, guitar, or whatever, for the open-mic in a safe, supportive, non-discriminatory environment.

The poster for tonight’s YO Underground 3 bill of live & left-field music words & performance at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

Experimental short films by Timothy Marvell, Nick Walters and Tom Walters will be shown in the Nativity hut at Holy Trinity Church on June 7 from 9pm to 10pm.

To coincide with the arts trail launch, Navigators Art presents YO Underground 3, a night of live new music and words at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, tonight from 7.30pm to 10pm.  

Step forward Desmond Clarke, improvisers Joe Allen & Friends, Spartacus T ruth, University of York students Katie Laing and Dan Fishwick and The Jammingtons Experience  (Tom Nightingale and Mark Stokes), purveyors of idiosyncratic songs that take an ironic look at life. Tickets are on sale at bit.ly/nav-events or on the door.

In the first art demonstration, George Willmore will hold collage sessions on June 8 at 1.30pm and 3.30pm upstairs at The Artful Dodger. Two days later, upstairs at The Hooting Owl at 7.30pm, artist Melissa Hill and poet-researcher Becca Drake will team up for Creative Arrangements, where Melissa will discuss her three vases on display for the arts trail that inspired Becca to write and perform her new work.

You are invited to draw or write verses in response to the vases, poetry and talk. Free materials will be provided at both demonstrations but you can bring your own too.

Further details will follow on two more Navigators Art contributions to the Festival of Ideas: the Making Waves art exhibition at City Screen Picturehouse from June 8 to July 4 and About Time Too!, a concert of music and words to complement a day of free talks celebrating ‘Time’ at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, on June 14 at 7pm.

Navigators Art’s music programme for the Micklegate Arts Trail

Navigators Art’s inclusivity policy

NAVIGATORS Art rejects racism, misogyny and other forms of bigotry. “We strive to achieve gender balance and across-the-board inclusivity at all times,” says co-founder Richard Kitchen.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as wizards and Stars Wars take over. Here Hutch’s List No. 21 from The York Press

The Wizard of York, Dan Wood, sets his spellbinding WizardFest in motion for three magical days. Picture: The Story Of You

NOT only a new festival of wizardry, but Charles Hutchinson has plenty more wizard ideas too for the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond the wand.

Enchanting festival of the week:  WizardFest, waving a wand over York, today to Monday

ORGANISED by The Wizard of York, Dan Wood, York’s first ever festival of wizardry promises 25 activities, events, workshops and fantastical food and drink, featuring  the city’s most magical businesses.

Highlights include Wizard Walk of York walks; a Brick Magic LEGO workshop; screenings of the first three Harry Potter films at City Screen Picturehouse; Professor Kettlestring’s Puzzling World needing  help to defeat dark wizard Mortius Darktrix; The Cat Gallery’s Black Cat Trail and Make It York’s Owl Trail; Monday’s Magical Night Market at Shambles Market and a fancy dress parade between St Helen’s Square and York Minster at 3pm on Monday. Plan your magical itinerary and make bookings at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.

York Printmakers’ poster for the 2025 Festival of Print

“More than an exhibition” of the week: York Printmakers, Festival of Print, 22 High Petergate, York, until July 20, open every Friday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sundays, 10am to 4pm

YORK Printmakers celebrate creativity, craft and community in a curated exhibition of original prints, from linocut and etching to screenprint and collagraph, complemented by demonstrations, talks and workshops. Visitors can explore the stories and processes behind each piece and meet the makers behind the art.

“This year’s festival is more than an exhibition,” say the organisers. “It’s an invitation to discover, to ask questions and to support York artists keeping traditional and contemporary printmaking alive.” Entry is free.

Festival Of The Force: The Star Wars convention from another galaxy, here in York

Film convention of the week: Festival Of The Force, York Railway Institute, Queen Street, York, Sunday, 10am to 5pm

MAY the Force be with you for this Star Wars convention, Festival Of The Force, whose mission is to deliver an immersive experience in celebration  of the Star Wars universe while building a strong sense of community among collectors, fans, and cosplayers of all ages. Look out for a galaxy of merchandise, celebrity appearances and fan-led events. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/festival-of-the-force-tickets.

Wanted in York: Julian Clary swaps guns for puns and putdowns in A Fistful Of Clary on Sunday

Camp sight of the week: Julian Clary in A Fistful Of Clary, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

JULIAN Clary goes Western as he saddles up for entendres at the double, sure that the men in the audience won’t be able to keep their hands off his Rawhide.

The lucky few will play with him on stage in the Hang‘em Low saloon, but life in the Old West was tough. Not all of Julian’s wild bunch will be around to witness the final shoot-out when he gives himself selflessly at high noon to the last man standing. Tickets update for Clary’s pun fight: still available at atgtickets.com/york.

Sophie Ellis Bextor: Disco nights at York Barbican and York Racecourse

Dancefloor diva at the double: Sophie Ellis Bextor, York Barbican, May 26, Spring Bank Holiday Monday, 7.30pm; York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend 2025, July 25, after 8.23pm last race  

“IT will be wonderful to bring the disco fun to everyone,” says Sophie Ellis Bextor, lockdown queen of the Kitchen Disco online sessions, as she heads to York twice. Buoyed by Murder On The Dancefloor’s appearance in the final scene of Emerald Fennell’s film Saltburn returning her 2001 smash to number two in the UK charts, she takes to the road with a career-spanning set also featuring  Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love), Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me) and Freedom Of The Night.

The former lead singer of theaudience will be joined by special guest Natasha Bedingfield for the post-racing concert on Knavesmire in July. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk (last few tickets); yorkracecourse.co.uk.

Jon Mills’s cast for Miles Salter’s short play One Step Beyond, premiering at the Black Swan Inn next week

Premiere of the week: Yortk Settlement Community Players presents Miles Salter’s One Step Beyond, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, May 26 to 28, 7.30pm

STEVE and Kerry have been married a long time. Steve’s vinyl collection may tear them apart. Luckily they have a counsellor…and Steve’s friend Boring Ryan on hand to help them out. It must be love, love, love. Jon Mills directs Stuart Green, Pamela Gourlay, Liz Quinlan, Chris Meadley and Jess Murray in York writer Miles Salter’s short play for YSCP’s Direct Approach project. Tickets to enter this House of Fun:  £5, pay on the door, cash or card.

Victoria Delaney, left, and Clare Halliday in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s production of Tiger Country at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Hospital drama of the week: York Actors Collective in Tiger Country, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 27 to 31, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2.30pm and 6pm, Saturday

NINA Raine’s doctors-and-nurses drama, last performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2014, is revived by Angie Millard’s company York Actors Collective.

This fast-paced play considers doctors’ dilemmas as a range of clinical and ethical issues come under the spotlight in a busy hospital. Professionalism and prejudice, turbulent staff romances, ambition and failure collide as Raine depicts an overburdened health service and the dedicated individuals that keep it going. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Nick Mohammed’s alter-ego, Mr Swallow, in Show Pony, cantering into the Grand Opera House next week and in the autumn. Picture: Matt Crockett

Comedy gig of the week: Nick Mohammed Is Mr Swallow in Show Pony, Grand Opera House, York, May 28 and October 23, 7.30pm

COMEDIAN, writer, Ted Lasso regular and Taskmaster loser Nick Mohammed transforms into his alter-ego, Mr Swallow in Show Pony, a new show that will “cover everything from not having his own sitcom to not having his own sitcom… and everything in between (critical race theory). As per – expect magic, music and a whole load of brand-new mistakes”.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sir Tim Rice: Mulling over a life in musicals at the Grand Opera House, York

Musical knight of the week: Sir Tim Rice, My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well, Grand Opera House, York, May 29,7.30pm

LYRICIST supreme Sir Tim Rice reflects on his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre, sharing anecdotes behind the songs, both the hits and the misses, complemented by stories of his life and live performances by leading West End singers and musicians, led by musical director Duncan Waugh. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Pocklington Arts Centre launches seat sponsorship scheme to celebrate milestone

Take a seat: Sponsorship opportunity at Pocklington Arts Centre

POCKLINGTON Arts Centre is marking its 25th anniversary by inviting patrons to sponsor a seat of their choosing through a seat plaque scheme.

This special opportunity will allow 150 supporters to leave a lasting legacy while helping to secure the future of the Market Place venue.

For a contribution of £200 for three years, individuals can dedicate a plaque on an auditorium seat, whether to commemorate a loved one, celebrate a special occasion or show support for the arts. A limited number of lifetime and business sponsorship opportunities will be available soon too.

Arts centre director Angela Stone says: “We’re thrilled to offer our supporters the opportunity to be part of Pocklington Arts Centre’s legacy. Sponsoring a seat is a fantastic way to celebrate our 25th anniversary while helping us secure the future of our creative work within the community.”

All proceeds from the scheme will be reinvested into ongoing improvements at the arts centre, including the establishment of a dedicated Community Fund to ensure the financial sustainability of creative engagement activities for young people and older adults.

For more information on how to be involved, visit pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk/support-us.

Pocklington Arts Centre: the back story

Not-for-profit arts and entertainment venue in the heart of East Yorkshire, delivering diverse programme of music, comedy, art, theatre and cinema.

Attracts world-class talent and creates opportunities for emerging artists in the intimate 200-seat auditorium in the market town’s former cinema.

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REVIEW: Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, until April 5 ****

Simon Oskarsson, left, Ewan Wardrop, Katy Owen, Patrycja Kujawska and Mirabelle Gremaud in Emma Rice’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest for Wise Children. Picture: Steve Tanner

FOUR huge wooden moveable revolving doors dominate Emma Rice’s set for Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West. Cocktail glasses and glinting bottles line each panel. Put the two together and heads will spin, and that is very much the feel of the world right now, spinning ever more out of control as Trump plays his hand.

The setting is still 1959, but come one last erudite turn of narration by Katy Owen’s remarkably adroit Professor, and the snap, crackle and pop of Rice’s psychodrama hits the gut as her best work does with a darkness that may some may crave for earlier but gives it a resonance amid the bloody mess of today. It may be the United Nations in Hitchcock’s plot, but it is no less NATO,  Trump, Putin, Israel, Gaza and the “Coalition of the Willing”.

On the case: Narrator Katy Owen. “Words dance from her lips, her voice mellifluous, her wit drought-dry, her manner as impish as Puck”. Picture: Steve Tanner

Rice and her cast have bags of fun on the way, especially in Act One, but not for the first time, the show becomes more mechanical, more methodical, over its second act, until that knockout final blow has you feeling as despairing and as angry as Rice.

Our guide is the nimble, balletic Owen’s Professor, in oversized coat and trilby, hectoring the audience to participate as if at a pantomime while equally badgering the cast to crack on too. Words dance from her lips, her voice mellifluous, her wit drought-dry, her manner as impish as Puck.

Through those revolving doors spins advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Ewan Wardrop), all too soon to be mistaken for George Caplan, who doesn’t really exist, yet is the fulcrum of Hitchcock’s Cold War conspiracy thriller.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice

You may think of Mischief’s mischievous mishaps or more likely, Patrick Barlow’s four-hander take on The 39 Steps (right down to actors making their coats billow in the wind), but Rice has her own style, a feminist perspective too, a desire too to bring more depth to character and motive, especially for Patrycja Kujawska’s femme fatale, Eve Kendall, with more than a bit of politics too. There is even meta-theatre here, a knowing nod to being in a theatre.

Rice, in her own whimsically witty way, is as stylish as Hitchcock: gorgeous clothes; cocktails agogo; dark glasses and Fifties’ panache; hat after hat, and a long, long row of suits behind those doors,as Mad Men meets bad men.

Rice conducts her six players with an elegant sleight of hand, aided by Etta Murfitt’s fabulous movement, Wardrop’s Thornhill drawing on his Matthew Bourne dancing days, all topped off by cast members miming deliciously to Fifties’ blues and jazz and novelty hits. Being fussy, at least one could be cut for a tighter focus post-interval.

Constantly on the move: Mirabelle Gremaud, left, Simon Oskarsson, Ewan Wardrop, Patrycja Kujawska and Karl Queensborough in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. Picture: Steve Tanner

Her use of newspaper print, with messages in large, bold type, is a regular joy, so too the running joke where tiny writing on a card is immediately accompanied by a larger version held above it. Throughout, suitcases, 75 of them at the last count, act as props, or bear labels to denote a location, or even act as scenery (most memorably Mount Rushmore).

Above all, Rice is at her most inventive and imaginative in re-creating Hitchcock’s cinematic setpieces, especially, the crop duster plane with the flourish of a magician that brings the house down. Glamour, romance, tender truths are promised and delivered, less so the Hitchcockian jeopardy, but the finale makes it all worthwhile.

Wise Children, York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse present Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West, York Theatre Royal, until April 5. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Katy Owen’s Professor and Ewan Wardrop’s Roger Thornhill in Wise Children’s take on the iconic cornfield scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. Picture: Steve Tanner

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Mission “impossible”: How Emma Rice brought Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest to York Theatre Royal stage

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice

THE world premiere of Emma Rice’s theatrical take on Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West is up and running at York Theatre Royal with a full week of previews before next Wednesday’s press night: a lead-up more associated with West End premieres.

Such is the scale and anticipation that surrounds Frome company Wise Children’s co-production with the Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.

“The show’s ready for an audience,” said writer-director Emma last Friday morning, in a brief break from tech-week preparations for Tuesday’s first preview.

Five weeks of rehearsals at The Lucky Chance, Wise Children’s creative space in a converted Methodist church in Somerset, had preceded moving up to York on March 16.

“There’s a certain percentage of work you can’t do in the rehearsal room, especially when we have a very ambitious set with four revolving doors that are over four metres high and slide over the stage, and the cast has to learn how to move across the stage,” says Emma. “It’s quite mathematical as it’s such a mind-bending plot – and Maths is not my strong point!”

Quick refresher course: Hitchcock’s 1959 American spy thriller, the one starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason from cinema’s Golden Age, finds hapless advertising man Roger Thornhill (now played by Ewan Wardrop) being mistaken for George Kaplan when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run across America, dodging foreign spies, airplanes and a femme fatale, Eve Kendall, who might not be all she seems.

Rice duly turns Hitchcock’s smart thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking, replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, clothes, suitcases and newspapers in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, glitz, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. 

Where Rice’s vision of North By Northwest meets Hitchcock’s version is “sort of a surprising marriage, but I’ve loved it” she says of the creative process. “I love that it’s an impossible test. North By Northwest has a vast series of impossible problems to solve on stage, from Mount Rushmore to the plane, the crop duster, and you have to work your magic.

“We’ve come up with lots of fun ways to meet those challenges, those setpieces, while also matching Hitchcock’s vision, so it’s very stylish.”

Etta Murfitt’s contribution as movement director has been important. “It’s been fascinating because it’s an odyssey story and the thing you can’t do with the four-door set is travel much, so you have to find the energy to give that sense of travel,” says Emma.

Emma Rice at Wise Children’s creative space, The Lucky Chance, a converted Methodist church in Frome, Somerset

“We do that with fantastic choreography that, like Bob Fosse’s work, gives it humour as well as movement, and you think, ‘is it dance, is it theatre’? We have six actors who are incredibly virtuosic in their acting. Five of them have worked with me before, and the newcomer to the company is Simon Oskarsson, who’s Swedish but has been working in England for a long time.”

North By Northwest may be outwardly familiar, “but I would place a wager now that a lot people will have seen the film but if you ask them to tell the story they probably couldn’t,” says Emma. “I’ve taken months to complete all the beats of the story. I’ve not needed to have too many surprises but I’ve made it easier to understand.

“My experience of the film was that it was baffling, and we’ve been able to tell the story more clearly without losing the tension.”

To help her do so, she methodically made note cards of each plot point, placed on the floor to work through the machinations in her fourth conversion from screen to stage after The Red Shoes, A Matter Of Life And Death and Brief Encounter in her Kneehigh Theatre days.

“Nothing happens in Brief Encounter. Everything happens in North By North West, and it takes every iota of my theatre craft to present it. I have to be on the front of my toes. Like we now have over 70 suitcases in this show, each one with a different label and different things in it, after I swapped having lots of hats for more suitcases, though there are still many hats, but many more suitcases now!”

 Emma has homed in on the 1950s’ post-war setting too, not least to bring more depth to Hitchcock’s characters. “I’ve always been really fascinated by the Fifties,” she says. “My parents were small children in the war; my grandparents fought in the war. My parents were my family’s first generation to go university.

“Every character in the film would have just come out of the war; everyone making the film would have experienced it, so it’s been interesting to add that depth to it.”

In particular, she focuses on building up the back story of Eve Kendall, the femme fatale who helps Thornhill to avoid detection after they meet on a train. “I think Hitchcock made a great job of Eve; she’s the heroine of the piece, putting herself on the line with her bravery and her moral judgement  when facing the most jeopardy.”

Emma has given the narrator’s role to Katy Owen’s Professor. “I’ve used a lot of Hitchcock’s dialogue in the play, but the Professor’s narration is very much in my language though I’ve also used stage directions from Ernest Lehman’s film script, which was a masterpiece. They’re beautifully written; the language is virtuosic and humorous and elegant too.”

Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West, York Theatre Royal, until April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Wise Children’s world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, on stage at York Theatre Royal from this week

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Jodie Comer to revive Prima Facie “one last time” on 2026 tour. Grand Opera House, York, awaits next Feb in only Yorkshire run

Jodie Comer in the role of defence barrister Tessa Ensler in Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie, heading for the Grand Opera House, York, in February 2026. Picture: Helen Murray

NEWSFLASH: 26/3/2025

GONE in a flash. Tickets have sold out already for Jodie Comer’s “one last time” return to Prima Facie at the Grand Opera House, York. On pre-sale to members at 10am this morning and the general public at 12 noon, The York Press reports that only 20 minutes later, the last seat was filled.

JODIE Comer will revive her Olivier and Tony Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s sexual assault drama Prima Facie “one last time” on a 2026 tour booked into the Grand Opera House, York, from February 17 to 21.

The Killing Eve star last appeared on a North Yorkshire stage in her professional debut as spoilt, mouthy but bright, privately educated Ruby, playing opposite York actor Andrew Dunn in the world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in November 2010.

Tickets will go on sale at midday on Tuesday, March 25 at atgtickets.com/york for criminal lawyer-turned playwright Miller’s Olivier Award winner for Best Play, wherein Comer will play thoroughbred Tessa Ensler, a young, brilliant barrister who loves to win.

Ambitious Tessa has worked her way up from Liverpool and Luton council estates, via Cambridge University, to be at the top of her game in her early 30s as a criminal defence barrister for an esteemed London chambers: defending the accused, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case.

However, an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.

Jodie Comer in her professional debut role as Ruby in Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in April 2010. In the background is York actor Andrew Dunn. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

“She played by the rules, but the rules are broken,” as the sleeve to Miller’s script puts it, when Tessa, the woman who defends men accused of rape, is assaulted herself.

Liverpool-born Comer, who turned 32 on March 11, won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her 2022 performance as Tessa in her sold-out West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, repeating that feat in the Tony Awards when Miller’s play transferred to Broadway in 2023.

The NTLive (National Theatre) and Empire Street Productions live capture of Prima Facie has enjoyed two record-breaking cinema releases, with streaming on National Theatre At Home too, and Comer also has recorded an audiobook adaptation by Miller.

Looking forward to reprising Miller’s monologue on tour, Comer says: “It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time and take this important play on tour across the UK & Ireland. The resonance of Suzie Miller’s writing, both in London and New York, exceeded anything we could have imagined.

“I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to get the team back together and take the production to theatres around the country, including my hometown of Liverpool. On a personal note, I can’t think of a better finale to what has been such an incredible and deeply rewarding chapter in my life.”

“It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time,” says Jodie Comer. Picture: Helen Murray

In her play, Miller, who was a lawyer for 15 years before focusing on writing since 2010, drew on research from trials at the Old Bailey to address how the legal system conducts sexual assault cases.

“It’s almost impossible to actually run a sexual assault case and win it,” she told a 2022 roundtable with Comer, DSI Clair Kelland and barrister Kate Parker, hosted by Emily Maitlis (as reported by the Guardian, April 22 2022).  “It’s almost like the forum of the court is not fit for purpose for sexual assault.”

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the Prima Facie 2026 tour,” says the Australian playwright, screenwriter, librettist, visual artist, novelist and human rights lawyer, who has degrees in both science and law. “This play has already achieved more than we all could have dreamed, and Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution.”’

Empire Street Productions producer James Bierman has announced that partnerships with the Schools Consent Project and Everyone’s Invited charities will continue on next year’s tour.

Set up in 2014 by barrister Kate Parker, the Schools Consent Project sends lawyers into schools to teach 11 to 18 year olds the legal definition of consent and key sexual offences.

The poster for the 2026 tour of Prima Facie

Their aim is to normalise these sorts of conversations among young people; to empower them to identify and communicate their boundaries, and to respect them in others.  To date, they have spoken to more than 80,000 young people across the country.

Throughout the tour, the production will be working with each venue to support the charity’s work in educating young people in the UK about consent.

Everyone’s Invited’s mission is to expose and eradicate rape culture with empathy, compassion and understanding. The charity offers a safe space for all survivors to share their stories completely anonymously. 

Everyone’s Invited allows many survivors a sense of relief, catharsis, empowerment, and gives them a feeling of community and hope. 

Conversations with friends and personal experiences throughout school and university revealed to founder Soma Sara how widespread the issue is, whereupon she began sharing her experiences of rape culture on Instagram.

Prima Facie playwright Suzie Miller. Picture: Sarah Hadley

In light of the overwhelming response from those who resonated with her story, Soma founded Everyone’s Invited in June 2020, later gaining charitable status in 2022 alongside the launch of the Everyone’s Invited education programme. So far, the programme has reached more than 50,000 students across the UK.

James Bierman says: “All of us involved in Prima Facie are honoured to be able to highlight and support the essential and brilliant work that Everyone’s Invited and The Schools Consent Project do up and down the country.

“Creating safe spaces for people to share their stories and be heard is vital, and to try and change the horrific levels of sexual assault we have in this country we have to change the way we as a society see and talk about consent. By educating young people the Schools Consent Project team are making the future a better place.”

The nine-city UK and Ireland tour will open at Richmond Theatre, London, on January 23 2026 and will visit the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, New Theatre, Cardiff; The Grand Opera House, York, in its only Yorkshire dates; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, and Birmingham Rep before closing with Comer’s home run at Liverpool Playhouse from March 17 to 21.

Prima Facie is helmed by Olivier Award-winning director Justin Martin, who is joined in the creative team by Rotherham-born composer Rebecca Lucy Taylor, the Brit Award-nominated singer and songwriter otherwise known as Self Esteem; set and costume designer Miriam Buether; lighting designer Natasha Chivers; sound designers Max and Ben Ringham; video designer Willie Williams for Treatment Studio and vocal coach Kate Godfrey.

Jodie Comer: the back story

Jodie Comer

BORN on March 11 1993 in Liverpool, Merseyside. Made professional stage debut in Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, April 2010.

Best known for playing psychopathic assassin Villanelle in cult BBC America spy thriller Killing Eve (2018–2022).  Won Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series and BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actress in 2019. Later nominated again for Emmy Award, BAFTA Award and Critics Choice Award, as well as Screen Actors Guild Award.

Made West End debut at Harold Pinter Theatre, London, in 2022 and Broadway debut at John Golden Theatre, New York, in 2023 in Suzie Miller’s legal drama Prima Facie. Won Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play, Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play and Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World awards. Nominated for Drama League Award too.

Starred in Channel 4’s Covid film drama Help, opposite Stephen Graham, marking her executive producer debut too. Won BAFTA for Leading Actress; Help won BAFTA for Single Drama. 

Further television credits include: Thirteen (BAFTA Award and RTS Programme Award nominations); Talking Heads; Doctor Foster; The White Princess; Rillington Place; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; My Mad Fat Diary and Remember Me.

Made feature film debut in Shawn Levy’s $300 million-grossing action comedy Free Guy, alongside Ryan Reynolds and Joe Kerry, in 2021. That year too, she appeared alongside Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Adam Driver in Ridley Scott’s historical drama The Last Duel, premiered at 78th Annual Venice International Film Festival.

In January 2024, she starred in The End We Start From, Mahalia Belo’s survival thriller based on Megan Hunter’s novel about the trials and joys of new motherhood in the midst of devastating floods that swallow up London.

Last year too, she joined Tom Hardy and Austin Butler in The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols’s account of a fictional 1960s’ Midwestern motorcycle club, based on the photo-book of the same title by Danny Lyon.

Coming next, from June 20, will be 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle’s latest instalment in the 28 Years Later trilogy, where she stars alongside Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell, followed by Kenneth Branagh’s The Last Disturbance Of Madeline Hynde.

Now filming The Death Of Robin Hood, playing opposite Hugh Jackman, directed by Michael Sarnoski.

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REVIEW: Rowntree Players in Glorious!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today ***

Neil Foster’s Cosme McMoon Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins and Mike Hickman’s St Clair Bayfield in the Rowntree Players poster for Glorious!, mirroring the composition of the poster for Stephen Frears’ film, by the way

GLORIOUS! is the true story of 1940s’ New York socialite heiress Florence Foster Jenkins, “the worst singer in the world”, yet cherished by Cole Porter and Tallulah Bankhead, no less.

You may recall Meryl Streep’s Oscar-nominated tour de force in Stephen Frears’ 2016 film or Hull actress Maureen Lipman in the West End premiere of Peter Quilter’s 2005 play with music. Now is the turn of Jackie Cox in Martyn Junter’s elegant production for Rowntree Players.

Meanwhile, as chance would have it, across the Pennines, Wendi Peters is playing Florence in a revised version of Quilter’s joyous drama at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester until March 30.

In her day, bemused audiences would great the screeching warbling of the deluded Florence with mocking laughter, but in Glorious! the laughter is reserved for Quilter’s script, whose wit is even sharper than Florence’s ever-enthusiastic but far-from-pitch-perfect singing.

We first encounter Cox’s flamboyant Florence in her grand hotel suite abode, where her constantly supportive manager and long-time companion, failed British Shakespearean actor St Clair Bayfield (Mike Hickman), has arranged for dapper Cosme McMoon  (Neil Foster) to be her new piano accompanist.

Apparently, St Clair has been cut from the streamlined Manchester production, but Hickman makes you wonder why as he continues his run of impressive performances with this arch, dry-humoured fixer.

Foster’s McMoon takes his place behind assorted grand pianos through the show, his face a picture of alrm when he first encounters the shocking noise of “the First Lady of the sliding scale”.

It becomes a running joke how McMoon’s eloquence allows him to seemingly flatter Florence by leaving out the exact word that would insult her and yet impart that meaning to the audience. Here Quilter’s delicious, mischievous writing is at its best, along with the moment he plays a delightful trick on the audience in a funeral scene, turning sombre repose to chuckles.

Florence loves to sing, loves to dress up, loves to entertain, loves to raise money for charity, loves music, but she does not take kindly to criticism, vetting her potential audiences by restricting entry to invitation only to her notorious balls.

She is shielded from the truth by kindly/sycophantic friends, such as Dorothy (Jeanette Hunter in a double act with a stuffed dog), but in Cox’s hands you cannot but warm to her passion for performing, even if you cover your ears when another high note falls off the cliff edge.

What’s more, like comedian Les Dawson’s deliberately maladroit piano playing, it takes skill to sing always tantalisingly either side of the right note. Director Hunter encouraged Cox to worsen her singing in rehearsal, advice that pays off in Cox’s indestructible performance.

Her Madame is neither an operatic diva, nor a circus freak show, more a singing equivalent to Olympian ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards in still giving pleasure for all the faults in her technique. Quilter brings so much heart her character and to his storytelling, summed up in a poignant finale where we are invited to think how Florence, by now in angel wings for her triumphant Carnegie Hall farewell, thought she sounded when she sang.

That angelic frock is but one of many striking costume choices by Julie Fisher and Cox herself, matched by the set design with yellow walls and green doors for Florence’s hotel apartment.  Abundant flowers adorn the stage, courtesy of Robert Readman and cast members, and if Cox’s singing puts teeth on edge, the soothing recorded piano arrangements by Sam Johnson are of the highest order.

Martyn Hunter pops up in dapper dinner jacket to play a CBS news reporter, Graham Smith has a cameo as the Undertaker, and Quilter’s skill at crafting humorous characters is further affirmed by Moira Tait’s Maria, Florence’s Mexican maid, who sticks stoically to speaking Spanish  – aside from “sandwiches” – but understands every English utterance in another running gag.

Chris Higgins draws boos for her performance as Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, not for the quality of her acting, be assured, but for her music snob’s rude, mean-spirited interruption of Madame’s concert.

Not boos, but cheers, even tears, accompany Florence’s swan song – fitting for Rowntree Players’ polished, amusing, ultimately poignant show. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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Ewan Wardrop dances with delight at playing Roger Thornhill in Emma Rice’s take on Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest

Ewan Wardrop in rehearsal at The Lucky Chance, Frome, for his role as Roger Thornhill in Wise Children’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, premiering at York Theatre Royal from March 18 to April 5. Picture: Steve Tanner

EWAN Wardrop returns to the Wise Children ranks for the world premiere of Emma Rice’s adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest at York Theatre Royal from March 18.

After appearing in artistic director Rice’s productions of Bagdad Café (Old Vic Theatre, London) and The Buddha Of Suburbia (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Barbican Theatre, London), he will take the lead role of Roger Thornhill in the Somerset company’s co-production with York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.

Mistaken for another man, Thornhill finds himself smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy after a mistimed phone call to his mother. Now the reluctant hero is on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

“Emma told me about her production plans getting on for two years ago,” says Ewan. “We did two sets of workshop at The Lucky Chance [Rice’s creation space and venue in the refurbished and repurposed Portway Methodist Church in Frome], where we just threw ideas around because it’s such a filmic Hitchcock film with the setpieces and the plane scene and you’re thinking ‘how do you do that on stage?’.

Simon Oskarsson’s Valerian, left, Ewan Wardrop’s Roger Thornhill, Katy Owen’s Professor and Mirabelle Gremaud’s Anna rehearsing a scene for Emma Rice’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West. Picture: Steve Tanner

“The producers had sought Emma to do this production as she’s the best at doing this kind of adaptation.”

For the rehearsal process, “Emma writes the script with her ideas for stage directions, but it’s moveable, thinking ‘oh, this will work better visually’, where she’ll come in with a better idea overnight,” says Ewan. “Or Etta [choreographer and movement director Etta Murfitt] might come up with a new movement sequence.

“You learn your lines, you do the lines, cuts are made, and Emma is very good at thinking on her feet, making changes right up to the eve of the show, always looking for the best way to portray something.”

The resulting production will become as much Emma Rice’s 2025 North By Northwest as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 North By Northwest in this fifth collaboration between Wise Children and York Theatre Royal after productions of Angela Carter’s Wise Children, Malory Towers, Wuthering Heights and Blue Beard.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice

As the Theatre Royal brochure promises: “Emma Rice takes on film legend Alfred Hitchcock in this riotously funny reworking that turns the original thriller on its head. With just six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous ’50s soundtrack and a lot of hats, this dazzling production plays with the heart, mind and soul. Join us for a night of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths.”

“With this sort of show, it’s about striking the right balance,” says Ewan. “Audiences want to see scenes from the film they recognise, and it would be difficult not to have a nod to those, like the plane swooping down. We’re not re-creating the film but people will be happy to see scenes they love.

“It’s a question of scale how you transfer it to the stage, so for some things you have to rely on the audience’s imagination, which is the most powerful tool theatre has – and I prefer to use the imagination rather than see something where I don’t quite buy it.

“The film is a box of tricks but its emotional heart is maybe quite slight, so Emma has looked into how we present the ‘baddies’, looking deeper into that to make them more three-dimensional.

“Emma is bringing more depth to Roger’s relationship with Eve Kendall,” says Ewan Wardrop, pictured in rehearsal with Patrycja Kujawska. Picture: Steve Tanner

“She’s also bringing more depth to Roger’s relationship with Eve Kendall. In essence, he’s quite a shallow character, but he’s been through the war – like the actors in the film had – so Emma has written new sections to explore that.

“She’s been pretty faithful to the film, to the characters and the dialogue, but she’s added to the dialogue without changing the storyline.”

Ewan is an Alfred Hitchcock devotee. “I’ve always loved his films. They’re visually compelling, and I was a dancer before I was an actor, so I’ve always responded to his visual flair. With Hitchcock, there are so many memorable scenes that go by without dialogue that are beautifully framed,” he says.

Ewan worked previously with choreographer Etta Murfitt in Matthew Bourne’s company and loves the movement element to Wise Children’s shows. “Emma (CORRECT) uses more and more dance in her productions, so she casts actors who aren’t necessarily great dancers but who move well, which can be more interesting than actual dancers.

Leaping into action: Ewan Wardrop, left, and Simon Oskarsson in the Wise Children rehearsal room. Picture: Steve Tanner

“Emma casts really well as she knows people so well and she’s very instinctive to make you do things that I wouldn’t come up with or go as far as that, and you think, ‘how does she know that?’. 

“She will use your great strengths and that’s one of her great assets: her emotional intelligence and empathy, as well as her theatricality.”

North By Northwest marks Ewan’s return to York. “I’ve been coming here for years,” he says. “I did my one-man George Formby show, Formby, in the Theatre Royal Studio and I play the baritone ukulele with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, performing at the Theatre Royal,” he recalls.

Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, March 18 to April 5, then on tour. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

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Drag diva Velma Celli to stage York premiere of Show Queen At The Movies in Screen One at City Screen Picturehouse

Velma Celli’s show poster for Show Queen At The Movies’ debut York performance at City Screen Picturehouse

YORK drag diva deluxe Velma Celli will return to her former glam stomping ground at City Screen Picturehouse this summer in Show Queen At The Movies.

“I am thrilled to be heading back to City Screen on July 26, but not in The Basement as my head is too big for that space now! So, I am in Screen One! That’s right. Velma in a cinema!” says Velma, the vocal drag alter-ego of West End musical star Ian Stroughair.

“This new show, Snow Queen At The Movies, will explore all your favourite movie soundtracks from Barbra Streisand to Judy Garland. The Bodyguard to Dirty Dancing. Flashdance to Purple Rain. West Side Story to Titanic. Pretty Woman to The Shining…maybe not The Shining!”

City Screen will be one of Velma’s two “bigger” York shows this year to complement her Drag Brunch residency in the Impossible York Wonderbar and MC duties at the Yorktoberfest Beer Festival at York Racecourse. Tickets for the 9pm show are available at https://shorturl.at/j8wHC.

Tickets for Velma’s return to York Theatre Royal’s main stage on November 12 will go on sale later this year.  Watch this space.

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What’s in store in National Centre for Early Music’s 25th anniversary spring season?

Cellist Matthew Barley: Telling his Light Stories at the NCEM on May 18

THE National Centre for Early Music’s 25th anniversary spring season at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, is as close to opening as the new chorus of daffodils.

First up on March 4 will be multi-award-winning Portuguese fado singer LINA, who was recommended to NCEM director Delma Tomlin by colleagues at the University of Nottingham.  “It will be a lively and entertaining night, promoting her extraordinary 2024 album, Fado Camões,” says Delma.

The 7.30pm concert will feature the poetry of Portuguese poet Luiz Vaz de Camões, adapted to traditional fado, in a multi-media performance with Ianina Khmelik on piano and synths and Pedro Viana on Portuguese guitar, complemented by videos on the big screen by Collective Of Two, lighting design by Tela Negra and live sound by Marco Silva. “Bring your best dancing feet,” advises Delma.

The University of York Baroque + Day will be held on March 8, presenting Ensemble Hesperi and rising star soprano Claire Ward at 12 noon, Consort Of Viols and SVES’s 2.30pm programme of reflective pavans and sorrowful songs and the University of York Baroque Ensemble & Ensemble Hesperi celebrating the musical tastes and talents of Queen Charlotte, Consort to George III, on International Women’s Day at 7.30pm.

Acoustic and slide folk guitarist Martin Simpson will return to the NCEM on March 22 for a typically intense, eclectic, spellbinding and deeply moving solo concert of interpretations of traditional songs, full of passion, sorrow, love, beauty tragedy and majesty. In the 18 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, he has chalked up an unsurpassed 32 nominations, winning numerous awards.

Legendary Italian acoustic guitarist, composer and NCEM favourite Antonio Forcione will team up for the first time with Italian/Sardinian guitarist, composer and educator Giorgio Serci for a melodic 7.30pm programme on March 28.

Guitar virtuoso Martin Simpson: Returning to NCEM on March 22. Picture: Geoff Trinder

“Antonio performing with Giorgio will bring a different flavour,” says Delma. “Be prepared to both laugh and be moved as they celebrate the unexpected elements in life with delicacy, humour and, not least, passion.”

Triptic is the post-Moishe’s Bagel band formed by former members Phil Alexander, Greg Lawson and Mario Caribe, who explore a shared love of folk music in their new project that will head to the NCEM on April 6 at 6.30pm.

Dramatic tango meets joyful klezmer and folk-infused originals, wrapped up in irresistible jazz and Latin grooves, played on violin, piano, bass, mandolin, accordion and guitar, as they seek uncharted musical pathways. Unleashing their energy and passion on a new set of compositions, they also set their sights on music from Armenia to Sao Paolo with many melodic stops along the way.

Seven-piece band Hejira will be celebrating Joni Mitchell’s late-1970s “jazz period” in a return visit to the NCEM on April 10 at 7.30pm. Hattie Whitehead, Ollie Weston, Chris Eldred, Pete Oxley, Dave Jones, Rick Finlay, Marc Cecil and Rob Harbron will focus on the Canadian singer-songwriter’s albums The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and Mingus.

Mitchell toured with jazz luminaries Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Michael Brecker, Jaco Pastorius and Don Alias in a brief collaboration that elicited the live album Shadows And Light, the primary source of inspiration for Hejira’s repertoire.

Trumpet player Jay Phelps and his band of supreme British talent will bring together the best of Miles Davis from 1958 and 1959 on April 24 (7.30pm), drawing on material from ’58 Miles and the iconic Kind Of Blue, the ground-breaking, improvisational “world’s greatest jazz album of all time”.

“We’re delighted that Jay also will be working with young jazz players from the York Music Forum Jazz Ensemble, run by Ian Chance,” says Delma.”Ian is building up the ensemble again after the exit of A-level students, and as we continue to develop our relationship with them, we hope they’ll be able to work with jazz guitarist Martin Taylor later in the season. We know the jazz stars so enjoy sharing the stage with these young talents.”

Hejira: Honouring Joni Mitchell’s late-1970s “jazz period” on April 10

Anglo-Irish band Flook are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, touring the NCEM on May 4 at 6.30pm with a line-up of Brian Finnegan, whistles and flutes, Sarah Allen, flutes and accordion, Ed Boyd, guitar, and John Joe Kelly, bodhran.

Silent film pianist Jonny Best will bring Rupert Julian’s 1925 horror movie  Phantom Of The Opera newly alive with a new improvised score as Northern Silents mark the 100th anniversary of one of the silent screen’s most beautiful creations, a dark love story starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin, on May 6 from 7.30pm to 9pm.

Chaney experimented for two years with metal hooks, wax, putty and paint to create the skull-like appearance that terrified audiences a century ago.

The NCEM Young Composers Award 2025, presented by the NCEM in tandem with BBC Radio 3 and The Brook Street Band , will climax with the live final on May 15 at 7pm.

On May 18, Light Stories will tell the story of classical cellist Matthew Barley’s life through music and projected imagery – by video designers Yeast Culture – as he narrates his search for meaning in music-making and how, in time, he came to heal past wounds.

His 6.30pm performance will incorporate pieces by Joby Talbot, Anna Meredith, John Metcalfe and Bach, together with new woks by Barley, connected by moments of improvisation and electronics.

Lon Chaney in Phantom Of The Opera, presented by Northern Silents on May 6. Picture: from Northern Silents

“Matthew has branched out into multi-media, focusing on health and wellbeing and how you can use music to help your recovery,” says Delma. “It’s a performance about his personal issues and how he came out the other side, and a show like this is part of our wider brief.”

The NCEM will present three York Festival of Ideas events: Sam Kelly &The Lost Boys on June 7 at 7.30pm; OAE Tots’ enchanting story of magic spells and much mischief, Spin, Spin A Story on June 8 at 4pm and the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment’s version of The Fairy Queen: Three Wishes, a huge party in a magical forest, on June 11 at 6pm (at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, please note).

Guitarist Martin Taylor and rising British jazz singer Alison Burns will perform songs from their duo album Songs For Nature, mixing the Great American Songbook with contemporary material, on June 18 at 7.30pm.

The spring season will close with the NCEM debut of husband-and-wife duo Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, on santoor, and Jas Ahluwalia, on tabla, in their Absolute Focus concert on June 22 at 6.30pm, staged in partnership with SAA/UK.

“We have worked with these partners for many years, and this concert makes a very nice conclusion to the season,” says Delma. “It will work very well at the NCEM, where we can accommodate the obligatory large carpet!”

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Delma says: “The diversity of our programme is important to us, in part because we’re always committed to presenting artists from other parts of the world – and our audiences seem to be keen to give music from all over the world a go.”

Tickets are on sale on 01904 658338 and at ncem.co.uk.

Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys, to be found at NCEM on June 7