AS No Time To Die opens at last, Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson consider the future direction of James Bond in the post-Daniel Craig era.
What else is up for debate? Petrol, panic stations and the arts. Angela Carter on sexism in Hollywood before #MeToo. Interviewing Michael Parkinson on the art of interviewing. Defining craft beer – or not – at Harrogate Beer Week.
Unhappy hour at The Midnight Bell tavern? Oh, but the joys of a new Matthew Bourne show visiting York Theatre Royal
DANCE at the double, Jekyll & Hyde, a quartet of short plays, sax music and Late Music, a Manic Monday and a Taylor-made gig are Charles Hutchinson’s pick of the early autumn harvest of live shows.
Intoxicated tales from darkest Soho: Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, York Theatre Royal, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
CHOREOGRAPHER and storyteller in dance Matthew Bourne’s new show for New Adventures explores the underbelly of 1930s’ London life, where ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions hopes and dreams in the bars of fog-bound Soho and Fitzrovia.
Inside The Midnight Bell, one particularly lonely-hearts club gathers to play out lovelorn affairs of the heart; bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption.
Inspired by novelist Patrick Hamilton, Bourne’s dance theatre show will challenge and reveal the darker reaches of the human heart. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Hands down (by your sides) if you can’t wait for the return of Riverdance
The other dance event of the week: Riverdance: The New 25th Anniversary Show, York Barbican, tomorrow to Sunday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
TWENTY-FIVE years on, composer Bill Whelan has re-recorded his mesmerising soundtrack while producer Moya Doherty and director John McColgan have completely reimagined the Irish and international dance show with innovative and spectacular lighting, projection, stage and costume designs.
The 25th Anniversary show catapults Riverdance into the 21st century and will “completely immerse you in the extraordinary and elemental power of its music and dance”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Blackeyed Theatre in Nick Lane’s take on Jekyll & Hyde, on tour at Stephen Joseph Theatre
Play of the week outside York: Blackeyed Theatre in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde , Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight until Saturday
NICK Lane’s adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde draws inspiration from his own journey. Injured by a car accident when he was 26 that permanently damaged his neck and back, he imagines Jekyll as a physically weakened man who discovers a cure for his ailments; a cure that also unearths the darkest corners of his psyche.
“I wondered, if someone offered me a potion that was guaranteed to make me feel the way I did before the accident, but with the side effect that I’d become ruthless and horrible – would I drink it?” ponders Lane.
Combining ensemble storytelling, physical theatre, movement and a new musical score by Tristan Parkes, Lane remains true to the spirit and themes of the original novella while adding a major female character, Eleanor. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Caught Short? No photos, so here is the poster artwork for RhymeNReason Put On Shorts, up and running at Theatre@41
Short run of the week: RhymeNReason Put On Shorts, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm
WHAT was Margaret Thatcher’s relationship with Jimmy Savile? Why did a Yorkshire pensioner try to smuggle a fruit cake through Australian customs? What really happened on day three in the Garden of Eden? How should a perfect murder end in a real cliff hanger?
Questions, questions, all these questions, will be answered in funny, thought-provoking short plays by Yorkshire writers David Allison, Steve Brennen, Lisa Holdsworth and Graham Rollason. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Sax Forte: Lunchtime concert at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel
The good sax guide: Sax Forte, Friday Concerts, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York, tomorrow, 12.30m
YORK saxophone quartet Sax Forte – Chris Hayes, Keith Schooling, Jane Parkin and David Badcock – open York Unitarians’ new season of Friday Concerts with an afternoon programme of English and French music.
Introducing themselves, Sax Forte say: “Chris plays soprano sax because he likes showing off; Keith plays alto sax because he tries to keep up with Chris; Jane plays baritone because she’s got the strongest shoulders; David knows his place (with apologies to The Two Ronnies and John Cleese)!”
The saxophone was not invented until the mid-19th century, but Sax Forte will be playing earlier classical and baroque pieces, trad folk tunes and later 19th and 20th works for sax quartet.
Conductor Simon Wright: Bringing together York Guildhall Orchestra and Leeds Festival Chorus next month
Classic comeback: York Guildhall Orchestra, York Barbican, October 16, 7.30pm
YORK Guildhall Orchestra return to the concert stage on October 16 after the pandemic hiatus with a programme of operatic favourites, conducted by Simon Wright.
The York musicians will be joined by Leeds Festival Chorus and two soloists, soprano Jenny Stafford, and tenor Oliver Johnston, to perform overtures, arias and choruses by Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Rossini, Mozart, Puccini and Verdi. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Late Music…now: Gemini, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, Saturday, 7.30pm
YORK’S Late Music programme of contemporary music returns from pandemic lockdown with Gemini on Saturday night.
First performances will be given of Gemini’s commission of Sadie Harrison’s Fire In Song and Morag Galloway’s It’s Getting Hot In Here, complemented by Peter Maxwell Davies’s Economies Of Scale and works by York composer Steve Crowther and Philip Grange. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Reflection and reaction: Manic Street Preachers showcase new album Ultra Vivid Lament at York Barbican
Not just another Manic Monday: Manic Street Preachers, York Barbican, Monday, 8pm
WELSH rock band Manic Street Preachers play York on Monday, with a second Yorkshire gig at Leeds O2 Academy on October 7.
Their autumn itinerary is showcasing this month’s release of their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament: “both reflection and reaction; a record that gazes in isolation across a cluttered room, fogged by often painful memories, to focus on an open window framing a gleaming vista of land melting into sea and endless sky,” say the Manics. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
From Queen to Outsider: Roget Taylor in concert at York Barbican
The inside track on the outsider: Roger Taylor, Outsider Tour, York Barbican, Tuesday, 7pm
QUEEN drummer Roger Taylor plays York Barbican as the only Yorkshire show of this autumn’s Outsider tour in support of his new album of that name, out tomorrow.
“This is my modest tour,” he says. “I just want it to be lots of fun, very good musically, and I want everybody to enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to it. Will I be playing Queen songs too? Absolutely!” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Go wild in the country: The Shires look forward to returning yet again to the East Yorkshire market town of Pocklington next January
Gig announcement of the week outside York: The Shires, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 26 2022
THE Shires, Britain’s best-selling country music act, will bring their 2022 intimate acoustic tour to their regular haunt of Pocklington next January.
“Wembley Stadium, MEN Arena, Grand Ole Opry are all amazing, but Pocklington will always be a special place for us,” say Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, who are working on their fifth album. Box office: 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
We’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond…for a long time
Oh, and just one other thing….
BOND, James Bond. Yes, after all those false dawns in the accursed Covid lockdowns, the perpetually postponed final curtain for Daniel Craig’s 007 opens today when it really is time for No Time To Die to live or die at last. Shaken or stirred, thrilled or deflated, you decide.
Arm in arm: Wife-and-husband duo Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman celebrate 25+ years together in On Reflection at the National Centre for Early Music, York, on October 20
THE autumn and Christmas season of jazz, world, folk, film and classical music at the still socially distanced National Centre for Early Music, York, is under way
Saxophonist Jean Toussaint, who came to prominence with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, returned to St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, last Friday to launch the NCEM programme in the company of pianist Andrew McCormack and bass player Orlando le Fleming.
Tonight, the Black Swan Folk Club presents Devonian folk singer-songwriter John Smith, supported by Hannah Reed at 7.30pm.
Known for his intimate song-writing, honey-on-gravel voice and pioneering guitar playing, Smith has toured internationally for 15 years, and his session-musician guitar skills have been in demand from Joan Baez and Tom Jones.
Saxophone returns tomorrow at 7.30pm when Tim Garland (saxophone, bass clarinet), Malcolm Creese (double bass) and Gwilym Simcock (piano) celebrate 20 years together as the highly adventurous, ground-breaking British jazz ensemble Acoustic Triangle.
Olcay Bayir: Turkish singer makes her NCEM debut on October 10
Noted for their site-specific work, particularly in sacred buildings, such as St Margaret’s Church, they draw on wide-ranging influences, from ancient themes and folk styles, through impressionism and the jazz era, to the avant-garde, in Garland and Simcock’s compositions, complemented by works by Henry Purcell, John Taylor, Olivier Messiaen, Cole Porter and Maurice Ravel.
A third jazz highlight will be Byron Wallen’s Four Corners showcasing London trumpet player Wallen’s new album, Portrait, on November 10, with guitarist Rob Luft, bass player Paul Michael and drummer Rod Youngs.
Conceived when sitting in the central square in Woolwich, the album’s nucleus is Anthem For Woolwich, composed in response to Wallen being struck by the community around him with its mixture of ages and nationalities.
Taking inspiration from “the timeless sound of the human soul from all corners of the Earth”, Wallen explores and reinvents blues, mode and groove landmarks, while also drawing on early Renaissance music, Central and East African rhythms and polyphony and the works of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk.
“I’m hoping that York Music Forum’s Ian Chalk will be able to organise for young York jazz players to play with Byron and take part in the concert,” says Delma.
Out of the woods: Fiddle player Sam Sweeney re-emerges with his Unearth Repeat album and concert on November 19. Picture: Elly Lucas
The autumn season presents three world-class guitarists, demonstrating their contrasting styles: Brit Martin Taylor, Spaniard Juan Martin and Italian Antonio Forcione.
First up, on October 15, Grammy-nominated Harlow jazz guitarist Martin Taylor shows why he is widely regarded as the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz and finger-style playing.
Next, in his solo concert Melodic Beauty And Rhythmic Passion on October 29, Andalusian flamenco master Juan Martin performs pieces from his latest album Guitar Maestro.
Intense, artistic, passionate, unpredictable and formidably inventive jazz guitarist Antonio Forcione, from Molise, Italy, returns to the NCEM on November 26, blessed with “the hands of a tarantula and the heart of a lion”, as one reviewer put it.
Twenty albums to his name, Forcione has toured extensively, to Australia, Hong Kong, Russia and the Caribbean, as well as Europe.
Martin Taylor: Finger-style guitar playing on October 15
“The wonderful acoustics of the NCEM’s beautiful home of St Margaret’s Church provide the perfect setting for the acoustic guitar, adding a special touch of magic to the experience,” says director and programmer Delma Tomlin.
World music is represented by not only Juan Martin but also Olcay Bayir, from Gaziantep, Turkey, and the welcome return of Making Tracks.
Making her NCEM debut on October 10 – and appearing on the cover of the NCEM’s September to December brochure to boot – Olcay Bayir focuses on ancient poems and original songs in Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian in Dream For Anatolia: an evening of music and words that reflect her Anatolian heritage. Note the earlier starting time of 6.30pm.
Set up in 2010 and relaunched with an ambitious new model in 2019, followed by a digital edition in 2020, Making Tracks brings together young artists from the UK and around the world to showcase unique musical traditions, initiate collaborations and contribute towards a global community of environmentally engaged musicians.
Full details of November 1’s NCEM concert are yet to be confirmed but the eight diverse musicians from Britain and Europe have been chosen.
Antonio Forcione: Returning to the NCEM on November 26
Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer John McCusker has cancelled his John McCusker Band 30th Anniversary Tour date on October 3, although The Wishing Tree Tour gig by John Doyle, John McCusker & Michael McGoldrick is still in the diary for The Cresent, York, on November 3.
The enduring folk partnership of wife and husband Kathryn Roberts & Seth Lakeman marks 25+ years of making music with On Reflection at a rearranged NCEM concert on October 20.
Co-promoted by the Black Swan Folk Club, this celebratory night takes a whistle-stop tour through their artistic journey from the early days of folk supergroup Equation to latest album Personae, via a nod or two to their extracurricular musical adventures.
After his Unfinished Violin Project, former Bellowhead fiddle player Sam Sweeney returns the NCEM on November 19 to promote his latest album, Unearth Repeat, wherein he embraces the groove and swagger of traditional English folk and the huge sound, flair, energy and festival spirit of bands from the Celtic and Scandinavian music scenes.
Sweeney first played the NCEM when director of the National Youth Folk Ensemble. This time he will be joined by Jack Rutter on acoustic guitar, Louis Campbell on electric guitar and Ben Nicholls on double bass.
Nanook Of The North: Robert J Flaherty’s 1922 film will be accompanied by an improvised live score by Frame Ensemble at a Yorkshire Silent Film Festival screening on October 14
The Yorkshire Silent Film Festival plays host to Nanook Of The North (certificate U, 79 minutes) on October 14, when the pioneering 1922 documentary film will be accompanied by a live score by Frame Ensemble, a quartet of improvising musicians that specialises in creating spontaneous soundtracks for silent film.
“Pianist Jonny Best, who runs the film festival [as well as being a musician, researcher, producer, educator and writer], will be doing the accompaniment with his ensemble,” says Delma. “I find it so enthralling that they create such musical magic out of nowhere.”
Filmed by director Robert J Flaherty in the vast Canadian Arctic, where Nanook and his family live under an endless sky and in conditions of unimaginable cold, Nanook Of The North is a mix of recorded reality and staged drama, depicting the everyday struggle of the Innuit (Eskimo) people to stay alive.
From the bitter chill of the northern reaches of Arctic Quebec to Christmas at the NCEM in the form of the York Early Music Christmas Festival 2021, running from December 3 to 11.
Guest musicians include The Gesualdo Six; Joglaresa; Pocket Sinfonia; Prisma; tenor James Gilchrist and lutenist Matthew Wadsworth, plus the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, presenting JS Bach’s B Minor Mass, with more details to follow in a separate preview shortly.
Green Matthews: Midwinter Revels in the mood for Christmas on December 16
.Christmas revelry continues with modern-day folk balladeers Green Matthews on December 16. That night, Chris Green and Sophie Matthews perform Midwinter Revels: A Celebration Of Christmas Past, a seasonal selection of stories, carols, winter folk songs and tunes played on a plethora of weird and wonderful instruments.
Delma says: “We’re so pleased to be able to bring you this wonderful season of music for all tastes and to welcome friends old and new back to our home in York. We decided: let’s get dates in the diary and enjoy music-making again and try to get back to a sense of normality.
“We’ve put together a programme of world-class musicians, and we’re also looking forward to the return of our community singing group, Cuppa And A Chorus, as well as the latest in our not-to-be-missed series of silent films with live music. We hope to see you at the NCEM very soon.”
Nevertheless, in light of these pandemic times, a reduced capacity will be in operation. “The NCEM realises that audiences are returning to live events with caution, and for added safety and comfort, we are reducing our capacity so that social distancing is possible,” explains Delma.
“We’ve put together a programme of world-class musicians,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin
“We are continuing to operate with many safety precautions in place and recommend mask wearing and hand sanitising.”
Tickets for the autumn season are on sale on 01904 658338 and at ncem.co.uk, joined by the York Early Music Christmas Festival from October 4. “Tickets for all concerts are selling quickly, so early booking is advisable,” recommends Delma.
“So far, there’s definitely a substantial core audience who do want to return, and we’re so fortunate that there’s no fixed seating, so we can give people more space, and hopefully they will feel more comfortable with that and will gain confidence as we come into the winter.
“That’s why we’re retaining social distancing while ensuring there’s still a three-pronged energy between the venue, the artist and the audience.”
Performances start at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise.
Billie Marten: Ripon singer-songwriter in full bloom on third album Flora Fauna and at secret Harrogate gig with a full band. PIcture: Katie Silvester
WHAT else do culture vultures Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson cram into Episode 57 of Two Big Egis In A Small Car?
How about Blade Runner and where next for billionaires in space?
What’s going on with Covid passports and arts venues?
What can the arts expect from novel Tory Culture supremo Nadine Dorries?
What is the future for album covers?
What was CH’s verdict on Tonderai Munyevu’s Mugabe, My Dad And Me at York Theatre Royal, The Woman In Black at the reopened Grand Opera House, York, and the pie-laden Waitress at Leeds Grand Theatre?
How does it feel to face up to the questions for the revived People We Love exhibition, soon to return to York Minster.
The vampire strikes back: Comedy troupe Le Navet Bete in Dracula: The Bloody Truth at York Theatre Royal
DRACULA at the double, Bull’s delayed album party, a burgeoning Ripon singer-songwriter, a talent showcase, a festival for the over-fifties, a Geordie podcast couple and a quick-witted Aussie catch Charles Hutchinson’s attention.
Family friendly Dracula? Yes, really, in Le Navet Bete’s Dracula: The Bloody Truth, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow and Saturday, 7.30pm
KINGS of comedy Le Navet Bete link up with Exeter’s Northcott Theatre to sink their teeth into Dracula: The Bloody Truth, mixing slapstick and crafted comedy with a healthy dose of things going wrong.
Penned and directed by Peepolykus’s John Nicholson, this “family friendly show” journeys from the sinister Transylvanian mountains to the awkwardly charming Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby.
Esteemed Professor Abraham Van Helsing and his three idiotic actors will try frantically to expose the truth behind Bram Stoker’s notorious novel and warn audiences of the real dangers of vampires. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
What’s Mina Harker’s viewpoint? Find out in Imitating The Dog’s Dracula: The Untold Story at Leeds Playhouse
Like buses, no Dracula for ages, then two come along in quick succession: Imitating The Dog/Leeds Playhouse in Dracula: The Untold Story, Leeds Playhouse, tomorrow until October 9.
DIRECTED by Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, this chilling new reimagining of the classic gothic vampire tale is set in the 1960s and told from Mina Harker’s viewpoint.
Unfolding on stage as a live graphic novel, Leeds company Imitating The Dog utilise cutting-edge digital technology to engage with the dark landscape of Bram Stoker’s original, injecting it with renewed energy and political insight.
Dracula: The Untold Story “flips the page on our fascination with the most enduring manifestation of evil in literature”. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
At last! Bull will hold their Covid-delayed album launch party at The Crescent tomorrow
Gig of the week in York: Bull, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
THIS show is York band Bull’s debut album launch gig, and no bull.
Didn’t Discover Effortless Living have the misfortune to be released in the very early days of Lockdown 1 on March 26 2020? Indeed so, but casting the pandemic hiatus to one side, it is never too late to celebrate a York band signing to a major label – EMI Records – and so here comes the long-awaited party for Tom Beer, Dan Lucas, Tom Gabbatiss and Kai West.
Cue the York-grown joys of Disco Living, Green, Bonzo Please, Loo Goo, Eugene and plenty more bangers beside.
Billie Marten: Singer-songwriter will play with a full band at Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Gig of the week outside York: Billie Marten, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, tomorrow , doors at 7.30pm
RIPON singer-songwriter Billie Marten promotes her third album, Flora Fauna, and new single Liquid Love on tour in Leeds with a full band-line-up.
Built on her minimalist acoustic folk foundations, the London-based Marten’s first album for Fiction Records is fostered around a strong backbone of bass and rhythm as she sheds past timidity in favour of greater urgency.
Flora Fauna’s songs mark a period of personal independence for Marten as she learned to nurture herself and break free from toxic relationships, and a big part of that transition was returning to nature. Box office: brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
After last year’s competition, here comes the celebration of Yorkshire’s blossoming acts
Showcase of the week: Yorkshire’s Got Talent – Live!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7pm
DANCE, comedy and a wide variety of music feature in this celebration of the best of Yorkshire’s young talent as judged by professionals and voted for by the public.
A thoroughly entertaining show bursting with joie de vivre is promised from these stars of the future in a fundraiser for the JoRo Theatre. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Chris and Rosie Ramsey: From hit podcast to York Barbican live show
Visiting Geordies of the week in York: Chris & Rosie Ramsey, Shagged. Married. Annoyed, York Barbican, Tuesday, 8pm
FOR the first time ever, loveable Geordie duo Chris and Rosie Ramsey are bringing their hit podcast live to York for one show only, moved from June 16 to September 28.
Apparently, the only way the Ramseys can have a conversation without being interrupted by a small child or ending up staring at their phones is by doing a podcast, drawing 18 million downloads.
Now, comedian and 2019 Strictly competitor Chris and Rosie discuss life, relationships, arguments, annoyances, parenting, growing up and everything in between in front of a live audience.
Learning opportunity: An IT workshop at the York 50+ Festival
Festival of the week: York 50+ Festival, Saturday until October 3
The York 50+ Festival presents more than 80 events in a “fine way to shake off the gloom of Covid and join in either in person or by sharing online with people from all over the country and abroad”.
This is the 16th annual festival organised by YOPA (York Older People’s Assembly) and a small team of volunteers, offering social events and open days, talks, walks, sport and active leisure, workshops, classes and “chatty benches”.
The full programme can be found at yorkassembly.org.uk/50-festival and copies are available in all York libraries, community centres and around the city centre, plus at the YOPA office at Spark: York and the Tourist Information Centre, Museum Street.
Tim Minchin’s back…and Tim Michin’s Back is back for the Back Encore Tour 2021 at York Barbican
Look who’s Back: Tim Michin, Back Encore Tour 2021, York Barbican, October 19, 7.30pm
TIM Minchin, Australian comedian, actor and composer, is back with a new set of dates for his Back show, taking in York Barbican.
Billed as “Old Songs, New Songs, F*** You Songs”, the set list draws on material from all corners of Minchin’s eclectic – and often iconoclastic – repertoire.
Back was first performed in Great Britain in 2019 on Minchin’s first tour over here in eight years. Last November, he released his debut solo album, Apart Together. Tickets for the Back Encore Tour 2021 show go on sale today at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Big news! York artist Freya Horsley, right, and gallery co-director Ails McGee with Freya’s paintings Turning Tide and Liquid Light at According To McGee, York
BIG paintings, a night market, thrillers at the double, cookery chat, an anniversary celebration, a long-awaited Scottish return and a brace of comedians are the diverse focus of Charles Hutchinson’s attention.
Exhibition of the week: Freya Horsley, Contemporary Seascapes, According To McGee, York, running until October 11
ACCORDING To McGee is playing host to the biggest paintings the Tower Street gallery has ever exhibited: Liquid Light and Turning Tide, two mixed-media works on canvas by Freya Horsley.
The York artist is displaying a new series of seascape paintings depicting the Cornish, Scottish and north east coastlines.
“Her art makes you look twice because it has a calming quality and, like a good sunrise, it makes you go ‘wow!’,” says co-director Greg McGee.
York Creatives Night Market: Debut night of arts, crafts, music, food and drink at Shambles Market tomorrow
York Creatives Night Market, Shambles Market, York, tomorrow, 7pm to 10.30pm
POSTPONED at short notice on August 20, the debut York Creatives Night Market goes ahead tomorrow in a chance to browse art and products by independent traders.
Street food, drinks and music all evening are on the menu too for this free event, open to all.
The Rusty Pegs: Tenth anniversary concert at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Celebrating ten years on: The Rusty Pegs, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Saturday, 8pm
TEN years ago, York country band The Rusty Pegs formed, drawn from volunteers at the Monkgate theatre, who were asked to perform their debut gig there at a Raising The Roof fundraiser.
To mark a decade of making music together, the Pegs have decided to come full circle by performing an anniversary gig in the same place where it all started, this time launching the autumn season. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
No mistaking Justin Currie: Del Amitri return with Fatal Mistakes album for first York gig since 2002
Long time coming: Del Amitri, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.45pm
DEL Amitri follow up the May 28 release of their seventh studio album, Fatal Mistakes, with a return to York Barbican after a 19-year hiatus.
Justin Currie’s Glaswegian band last played there in May 2002, the year they released their last album, Can You Do Me Good?.
“It’s been nearly 20 years since we toured with a new album, lord knows what took us so long,” says Currie. “The prospect of sprinkling our set with a few choices from Fatal Mistakes fills us with the sort of excitement that, for some men of our age, might call for light medication. We think the adrenaline will see us through.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
No smoke without ire: Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss blows his top at York Barbican
Comedy gig of the week: Daniel Sloss: Hubris, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
SUNDAY’S gig is third time lucky for Scotsman Daniel Sloss, whose October 3 2020 and May 8 2021 visits were ruled out by the accursed Covid.
Sloss, 30, has sold out six New York solo off-Broadway seasons, appeared on American television’s Conan show ten times and toured to more than 50 countries. Now, at last, comes his new show, with special guest Kai Humphries.
Look out for Sloss’s book, Everyone You Hate Is Going To Die (And Other Comforting Thoughts On Family, Friends, Sex, Love, And More Things That Ruin Your Life), from October 12. For tickets for Sunday, go to: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
What’s cooking? Cookbook writer Yotam Ottolenghi finds flavour at York Theatre Royal on Tuesday
Flavour of the month: Yotam Ottolenghi, A Life In Flavour, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday, 7.30pm
CHEF, restaurateur and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi reflects on A Life In Flavour, provides cooking inspiration and signs copies of his “flavour-forward, vegetable-based” cookbook, Ottolenghi Flavour, after the show on Tuesday.
West Jerusalem-born Ottolenghi will be discussing the tastes, ingredients and flavours that excite him and how he has created a career from cooking.
Expect “unique insights into how flavour is dialled up and why it works, from basic pairings fundamental to taste, to cooking methods that elevate ingredients to great heights”. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Dane Baptiste: Comedian with a chip on his shoulder at Burning Duck Comedy Club
The other comedy gig of the week: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Dane Baptiste: The Chocolate Chip, The Crescent, York, September 23, 7.30pm
IN his own words, Dane Baptiste is now a “grown ass black man, too old to be concerned with chicken or trainers, too young to be considered a peer of Trevor McDonald”.
Has he got a chip on his shoulder? “Yes. A chocolate one,” says Baptiste, a south east London stand-up who once worked in media sales.
Noted for his boldly provocative material, he hosts the podcasts Dane Baptiste Questions Everything and Quotas Full. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events.
The Rowntree Players’ poster for next week’s production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web
Web of the week: Rowntree Players in Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, September 23 to 25, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
DIPLOMAT’S wife Clarissa is adept at spinning tales of adventure, but when a murder takes place in her drawing room, she finds live drama much harder to cope with in Rowntree Players’ autumn return, directed by Howard Ella.
Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband arrives with an important politician, she enlists the help of her guests.
In a conscious parody of the detective thriller, Christie’s Spider’s Web delivers suspense and humour in equal measure in an intricate plot of murder, police detection, hidden doorways and secret drawers. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
In the chair: Just Some Theatre in rehearsal for The Killer Question, heading to Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Mystery of the week ahead: Just Some Theatre in The Killer Question, Theatre@41 Monkgate, York, September 25, 7.30pm
THE Silence Of The Lambs meets Last Of The Summer Wine in Dave Payne’s dark comedy thriller The Killer Question, marking the York debut of Manchester company Just Some Theatre.
Did The Chair game show champion Walter Crump’s obsession with death ultimately lead to his own? Inspector Black believes so, and now Crump’s dopey widow, Margaret, finds herself accused of her husband’s murder.
Faced by more than one deadly twist in the tale, can Inspector Black solve the mystery? Will Margaret be home in time for Countryfile? Just as important, which actor – Peter Stone, Jake Urry or Jordan Moore – will play which character? The audience decides. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
TWO Big Egos In A Small Car arts podcasters Chalmers & Hutch ponder the impact of Charlie Watts RIP.
What else pops up in Episode 56? Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon on dealing with sexism in the music industry; serious Britishness in Benedict Cumberbatch’s Cold War chiller-thriller The Courier and Sparks’ new music in Leos Carax’s Annette.
Covid passports and ABBAtars at Olympic Park: is this the future for gigs?
Getting Away With Murder(s) documentary filmmaker David Wilkinson at the gate of Auschwitz 1
AS the Grand Opera House reopens, diaries are starting to fill to pre-pandemic levels, much to the delight of a post self-isolating Charles Hutchinson.
Film world premiere of the week: Getting Away With Murder(s); Everyman York, Blossom Street, York, tonight, 6.30pm to 10.30pm
IT has taken 18 years for Yorkshire filmmaker David Wilkinson to bring his documentary, Getting Away With Murder(s), to the big screen.
Exploring an overlooked aspect of the Holocaust, he reveals that “almost one million people in 22 countries willingly carried out the unprovoked murder of 11 million innocent men, women and children but 99 per cent of those responsible were never prosecuted”.
Wilkinson, who examines the reasons behind the disregard for justice, will take part in a post-screening Q&A. Box office: everymancinema.com.
Fisherman’s Friends: Hooked on sea songs at York Barbican
They inspired a film and now they are back: Fisherman’s Friends: Unlocked & Unleashed, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7pm
CORNISH “buoy band” Fisherman’s Friends – combined aged 401 – re-emerge from lockdown for their Unlocked & Unleashed tour.
As celebrated in the film that shares their name, for 40 years they have met on the Platt of Port Isaac’s harbour to sing the songs of the sea.
In the line-up are lobster fisherman Jeremy Brown; writer, shopkeeper and master of ceremonies Jon Cleave; smallholder and engineer John ‘Lefty’ Lethbridge; Yorkshire-born builder John McDonnell; Padstow fisherman Jason Nicholas; filmmaker Toby Lobb and the new boy, former ambulance driver Pete Hicks. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
One Night In Dublin: One night in York for Irish songs aplenty at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Irish gig/jig of the week: One Night In Dublin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
SATURDAY night is the chance to spend One Night In Dublin – in York – when “Murphy’s Irish Pub” opens its doors at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Join in the craic as the lively Irish tribute band covers such Irish staples as Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, Dirty Old Town, Irish Rover, Seven Drunken Nights and Whiskey In The Jar. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Gary Meikle: Scottish comedian in Surreal mode at York Barbican
This experience really is “Surreal”: Gary Meikle: Surreal, York Barbican, Sunday, 8pm
DELAYED from April 8 to this weekend, playfully dark cheeky-chappie Scottish comedian and “viral sensation” Gary Meikel presents his second tour show in York.
Looking to “get away with talking about anything that will have you laughing at things you probably shouldn’t be”, punchy storyteller Meikle draws material from his own experiences, not least his unique family dynamic.
New show Surreal covers such topics as evolution, social media, how to deal with burglars, single mums, bee sex and small-man syndrome. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Exploration of family, myth and memory loss: Second Body’s Max Barton and Jethro Cooke in Styx at Theatre At The Mill
Residency of the week: Second Body in Styx, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday and Tuesday, 8pm
SECOND Body duo Max Barton and Jethro Cooke present their theatre-concert exploration of family, myth, memory loss and Max’s grandma, now with remixed music and bearing wounds wrought by 18 months of disrupted human connectivity.
“What does it mean to lose the memories that make us who we are?” they ask. “How can we continue to be ourselves when we are separated from our loved ones.” Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.
Back in Black: Robert Goodale and Antony Eden in the ghost story The Woman In Black, haunting the Grand Opera House, York, from Monday. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Re-opening of the week: Grand Opera House, York, for The Woman In Black, Monday to Saturday
AFTER 547 days, the Grand Opera House, York, steps out of the darkness and into The Woman In Black from Monday.
In PW Productions’ latest tour of Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story, Robert Goodale plays Arthur Kipps, an elderly lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over his family by the spectre of a “Woman in Black” for 50 years now.
Antony Eden is the young Actor he engages to help him tell that story and exorcise his fears, but soon reality begins to blur and the flesh begins to creep. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Bird song: Henry Bird, pictured in his Vampires Rock days, will be the special guest for You Can’t Stop The Beat
Community concert of the week: You Can’t Stop The Beat, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm
GENERATION Groove and Community Chorus are joined by special guest Henry Bird, the well-travelled York singer and guitarist for Tuesday’s fundraiser.
“Concerts and performances have been on hold for well over a year and we’re all delighted to be back getting you singing and even dancing and raising money to help the wonderful Joseph Rowntree Theatre go from strength to strength,” say the organisers. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Waitress: Serving up a slice of musical pie at Leeds Grand Theatre from Tuesday
Musical of the week outside York: Waitress, Leeds Grand Theatre, September 14 to 18
MEET Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of some joy in her life. When a hot new doctor arrives in town, life turns more complicated and challenging, but with the support of her workmates Becky and Dawn, she finds that laughter, love and friendship can provide the perfect recipe for happiness.
Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson’s comedy musical stars Lucie Jones as Jenna, Emmerdale’s Sandra Marvin as Becky, Evelyn Hoskins as Dawn and Busted’s Matt Willis as Dr Pomatter. For tickets: 0113 243 0808 or at leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Destiny calling: Kirk Brandon’s Spear Of Destiny are heading to The Crescent in York
Cult band you really should see: Spear Of Destiny, The Crescent, York, September 19
LEADING Spear Of Destiny for 38 years now, Kirk Brandon heads out on their Worldservice@35 tour on the back of releasing last November’s lockdown album.
Brandon’s post-punk band – featuring Adrian Portas (New Model Army/Sex Gang Children), Craig Adams (Sisters Of Mercy/The Cult /The Mission), Phil Martini (Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind) and saxophonist Clive Osborne – re-recorded 1985’s WorldService album during 2020.
The WorldService@35 tour features the album and B-sides in full plus an extended career-spanning encore at three Yorkshire shows: York, then Leeds Brudenell Social Club on September 21 and The Welly, Hull, September 25.
Pie thrower: Jonathan Pie will vent his anger at the truth vacuum at the Grand Opera House, York
Angriest man of the month award: Jonathan Pie, Fake News (The Corona Remix), Grand Opera House, York, September 19, 7.30pm
JONATHAN Pie, the no-holds-barred fictitious political broadcaster alter-ego of Tom Walker, is resuming his Fake News tour that began in 2019 and had to twiddle its agitated thumbs through lockdown.
In that hiatus, Walker continued to post Jonathan Pie content to his social-media channels, whether commenting on the global reaction to the 2020 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement or woke culture.
Now he unleashes his righteous rage once more on stage. Tickets for the York slice of Pie are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
Getting Away With Murder(s) director David Wilkinson at Clifford’s Tower, the site of the former Castle in York, where in 1190 the city’s entire Jewish population were massacred
YORKSHIRE filmmaker David Wilkinson’s Holocaust documentary, Getting Away With Murder(s), has taken 18 years to reach the big screen.
Tonight, Everyman York, in Blossom Street, York, will host the world premiere at 6.30pm, concluding with a post-screening question-and-answer session with Wilkinson, chaired by Dave Taylor, the Independent city councillor for the Fishergate ward.
Exploring an overlooked aspect of the Holocaust, Wilkinson’s feature-length film reveals that “almost one million people in 22 countries willingly carried out the unprovoked murder of 11 million innocent men, women and children but 99 per cent of those responsible were never prosecuted”.
Examining the reasons behind the disregard for justice, Wilkinson says: “I filmed in ten countries, including the UK, where I question our turning a blind eye that allowed 400 alleged Nazi war criminals to live in this country, completely untroubled by justice.
“The only prosecution that ever occurred went ahead 53 years after the perpetrator’s arrival in London. He was sent to prison for murdering 18 Jews, although in reality, he was responsible for a great many more deaths.”
Director David Wilkinson at the train entrance to Auschwitz – Birkenau during the film-making for Getting Away With Murder(s)
Wilkinson’s studies brought him to York. “In 1190, Britain inflicted its own Holocaust when York’s Jewish population were massacred while under the King’s protection.
“At a time of increasing attacks on Jews throughout England, they fled to the Castle – now the site of Clifford’s Tower – to be besieged by an incited angry mob, and then committed mass suicide rather than wait to be killed or be forcibly baptised. Those who did choose to be baptised and came out were slaughtered by the mob.”
York in the 21st century is a different place, notes Wilkinson, who is chairman of film-makers Guerilla Films. The city now commemorates the massacre at Clifford’s Tower annually, along with Holocaust Memorial Day, as it acknowledges these atrocities and works to ensure that they never happen again.
York was one of the first British cities to receive City of Human Rights status, while York City of Sanctuary seeks to promote an environment of compassion and understanding in the city and provides support and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
York Interfaith Group meets regularly to promote mutual understanding between all of York’s faith groups and helps promote mixed-faith events hosted by its members.
Alex Fischer showing director David Wilkinson around Court 600 at Nuremberg
Wilkinson says York is an example of how a city can turn itself around and learn from events that happened within its walls almost 900 years ago, as well as from more recent history.
For many years, Jews thought that because of what happened at the Clifford’s Tower site, there was a ‘herem’ (ban) on Jews living in York. This was never the case and the relatively ‘new’ York Liberal Jewish Community (YLJC) is flourishing.
Celebrating its seventh birthday this year, and with around 100 members of all ages, YLJC is an active member in the York Interfaith Group and works regularly with other community and civic organisations.
YLJC is partnering with English Heritage and My Castle Gateway (for City of York Council) to achieve a new lasting legacy for the city’s history by seeking to influence the redevelopment plans of the car park at the base of Clifford’s Tower into a new public park.
The consultation plans include a small public plaza with a new memorial space to the 1190 massacre victims, yet to be detailed or funded.
“It seemed appropriate and particularly fitting to me that the city of York should be where I launch this film,” says documentarian David Wilkinson
Wilkinson explains how this influenced his choice when deciding where Getting Away With Murder(s) should be launched: “Normally with the films I make, the world premieres are either in London or at one of the prestigious film festivals such as Sundance or Edinburgh.
“I have thought long and hard about where to hold the important first screening of this film. As a Yorkshireman I have always felt singularly uneasy that my own county city was the setting for such a horrific crime.
“Therefore, it seemed appropriate and particularly fitting to me that the city of York should be where I launch this film. It is an example of how a city and a Jewish community has and continues to move forward together.
“I am, therefore, delighted that the Everyman Cinema in York is supporting this important screening and that the York Liberal Jewish Communityhas agreed to co-host the event.”
Wilkinson ponders the possibility of York erecting a “deferential memorial” to what many consider to be the darkest day in the city’s history. “In the documentary, I filmed numerous reverential memorials to the murdered Jews, in Berlin, Vilnius, Kaunas, Liepaja, Günzburg, Dachau, Vienna and Auschwitz,” he says.
Auschwitz survivor Arek Hersh, who features in Getting Away With Murder(s)
“The more locations I visited, the more I became convinced that York too should have its own deferential memorial to those Jews murdered in the city, no matter how long ago it took place.”
Lilian Coulson, chair of York Liberal Jewish Community, reflects on Wilkinson’s documentary: “When David approached us to discuss his film, we were amazed to be told about the extent of this ‘hidden’ part of all our history.
“On a personal level, coming from a Jewish family who had to flee Nazi Germany to survive and whose grandfather was one of many lawyers working at the Nuremburg Trials, I have always wondered why nothing was done earlier by the outside world to stop the genocide of 11 million people, including six million Jews.
“Or what happened subsequently to those people who implemented this genocide. I look forward to viewing David’s film at its world premiere in York to learn more about what has happened (or not) since the Nuremburg Trials finished 75 years ago.”
Lilian continues: “YLJC, as York’s only formal Jewish community, is delighted to welcome David and his film to this city and to help open doors to our friends here to promote his film to those who also wish to learn more about our more recent past.
Benjamin Ferencz, 101, the last living prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials to give an eye-witness account, watches a 27-year-old Benjamin Ferencz prosecuting, as director David Wilkinson looks on
“We are lucky to live in a city that positively tries to encourage good interfaith relationships and tolerance and actively stretches out a hand to those in need. The continued dialogue of the proposed redevelopment of the Clifford’s Tower and Eye of York area provides a unique opportunity for us all to work together to commemorate its history and, at the same time, look positively to the city’s future.”
Wilkinson has great hopes that tonight’s screening could launch a campaign to raise money for an improved memorial for the 1190 victims, to be sited within a wider contemplative space, as being proposed for the English Heritage site under the My Castle Gateway plans.
“This could be undertaken in conjunction with York Liberal Jewish Community, who are already fundraising to employ the first resident rabbi in York since the Middle Ages, to help grow and develop their community,” he suggests.
“We hope that this will help in bringing about a successful outcome and that, after 831 years, the memory of those 150 people massacred inYork will be respectfully and informatively remembered.”
For tickets for tonight’s world premiere, go to: everymancinema.com.
Getting Away With Murder(s) director David Wilkinson at the gate to Auschwitz 1
Director’s statement by David Wilkinson
“I HAVE been trying to make Getting Away With Murder(s), either as a film or a TV series, since 2003.
I was baffled as to why it has taken so long to find the funding as, to me, it was essential to know why so very few of the murderers of the Holocaust were ever prosecuted.
I had hoped that others would also wish to know this answer.
When I was distributing his film Talking Sides in 2003, I discussed this in great detail with Sir Ronald Harwood as we drove around the country promoting his movie in key cities.
Ronnie wrote over a dozen plays, films, books and articles dealing with the Holocaust and told me that it “informed him”. When I mentioned to him that I was considering making the film, he instructed me to get on with it as he too wanted to know the answer.
The numbered arm of Auschwitz survivor Arek Hersh
It was intended that he be in the film (he later appeared in another documentary of mine), but his contribution in this was sadly not to be.
The film is dedicated to him.
My sole motivation for making Getting Away With Murder(s) was simply to find that answer as to why so many got away with their crime – the crime of mass murder on an industrial scale.
A simple question, you might think.
I knew long before I began filming that the answer(s) would be far from simple.
The film is almost 200 minutes long. The subject is so complex that I found it impossible to fit the answers into a neat 90 or 110 minutes. One of the advantages of not having any funding from a broadcaster means that I was free to explore the subject as I felt in detail.”
The poster for Getting Away With Murder(s), the Holocaust documentary set for British release on October 1, the 75th anniversary to the very day of the end of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. David Nicholas Wilkinson’s film covers what happened after the trial was over
GOOD to be back, good to be back. After a summer break, Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson resume their arts chat with reflections on their return to the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Did Graham’s day out among the 90,000 throng at Leeds Festival pass the test after all that Covid testing?
Verdicts too on Harrogate Theatre’s immersive play, Our Gate, and on British Sea Power’s name change in woke times can be heard in Episode 55 at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9127399 .
