Kara Tointon’s Constance in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife, adapted by Laura Wade
THE full cast is in place for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring production of Laura Wade’s adaptation of W Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, booked into York Theatre Royal for January 26 to 31 next year.
Kara Tointon was confirmed already to lead RSC co-artistic director Tamara Harvey’s cast, playing Constance after such credits as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion in London’s West End, Dawn Swann in EastEnders from 20025 to 2009 and Rose Selfridge in the television period drama Mr Selfridge, as well as Bella Manningham in Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight at the Grand Opera House, York, in February 2017.
She also appeared in Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, Twelfth Night for the RSC and The Windsors: Endgame at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London.
Kara Tointon: Returning to the York stage in January 2026 for the first time since Gaslight at the Grand Opera House in 2027
In a further highlight, this sparkling comedy of ill manners will feature original music composed by jazz pianist Jamie Cullum.
Joining 2010 Strictly Come Dancing winner Tointon will be Jules Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, UK tour, and Ghost The Musical, International & UK tour) as Mortimer; Sara Crowe (Calendar Girls at Noel Coward Theatre, Four Weddings & A Funeral and Private Lives, Aldwych Theatre, winning Olivier Award for best supporting actress) as Mrs Culver; Tim Delap (Jane Eyre at National Theatre, Peaky Blinders) as John, and Gloria Onitiri (Hadestown in West End, A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic) as Marie-Louise.
So too will Alex Mugnaioni (The Taming Of The Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at Harold Pinter Theatre and on tour) as Bernard; Philip Rham (Harry Potter And the Goblet Of Fire, Jane Eyre for Shared Experience, international and UK tour before West End) as Bentley, and Amy Vicary-Smith (The Duchess (Of Malfi) at Trafalgar Studios and Machinal at The Orange Tree Theatre) as Martha. Sam Flint, Jocasta King and Jane Lambert complete the company.
Kara Tointon in the poster for the RSC’s The Constant Wife
Set in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”.
Constance is the perfect wife and mother, and her husband is as devoted to her as he is to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend.
Written by W Somerset Maugham in 1926, The Constant Wife has been adapted by Laura Wade, the Olivier Award-winning writer of Home, I’m Darling – also directed by Harvey – and the international Emmy award-winning Disney+ television series Rivals, adapted from Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles bonkbuster novel.
Sara Crowe: Olivier Award-winning actress cast as Mrs Culver in The Constant Wife, playing York Theatre Royal on tour from January 26 to 31 2026
Harvey is joined in the production team by composer Cullum; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller; lighting designer Sally Ferguson; sound designer Claire Windsor and movement director Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster.
In the team too are associate director Francesca Murray-Fuentes; associate designer Angelica Rush; costume supervisor Ilona Karas; production manager Blair Halliday; company manager Mark Vince; deputy stage manager Kelly Evans; assistant stage managers Cormac O’Brien and Sasha Reece, and wardrobe supervisor Rob Bicknell. Casting is by Sarah Bird and Marc Frankum.
The Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Constant Wife is presented by Cunard and David Pugh, five-time Olivier Award and two-time Tony Award winning producer, who says: “I’m delighted to be bringing a production of such class and comedy, that evolves the wit of Somerset Maugham with the brilliance of Laura Wade, to theatres all around the country at prices that people can afford.”
Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, January 26 to 31 2026, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Eve Lorian conducting Prima Choral Artists and New World String Quartet
EVE Lorian’s York choir Prima Choral Artists will perform Family Christmas Concerts at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, on December 13 and 20 from 4pm to 5pm.
Audiences are invited to join the Prima Choral singers and their guests for two uplifting afternoons filled with festive favourites for all ages.
Produced and conducted by director Eve Lorian, the concerts will feature the New World String Quartet, organist James Webb and pianist Greg Birch in Prima’s reflective and cheerful Christmas celebrations.
Eve’s programme will offer a vibrant blend of high-spirited Christmas classics, modern choral arrangements and string and organ repertoire, including works by Tchaikovsky and Rawsthorne.
“A highlight of the concerts will be the much-loved audience carols, giving everyone the chance to join in and share the joy of live festive music together – an annual favourite for families and singers alike,” says Eve.
“With its atmospheric setting and warm seasonal programme, this one-hour concert is the perfect way to celebrate Christmas in York.”
Tickets are on sale at primachoral.com and on the door each Saturday from 3.30pm. “These popular 4pm concerts tend to sell quickly, so early booking is highly recommended,” advises Eve.
For event updates, behind-the-scenes videos and the latest news, follow Prima Choral Artists on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
The cover artwork for Don and Jo Pears’ festive album Christmas Carols
YORK musical stalwarts Don and Jo Pears are releasing a festive album, Christmas Carols – A Musical Celebration of Tradition and Talent.
The CD comprises 23 beautifully arranged carols written by the duo as “the culmination of decades of musical passion and collaboration, dedicated to Don’s late mother, Rhoda Robinson, and her family for their unwavering support”.
Don’s musical journey began in the small mining village of Leadgate, County Durham, where his love for music was nurtured in the Methodist Church choir under the guidance of Mr L. T. Whaley.
His career spans more than 34 years as head of music in schools and includes studies at Huddersfield University, The Guildhall, King’s College London, and Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire.
Today, Don is a legendary figure in York’s musical community, built around strong ties to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Jo Pears, a well-known singer in York, has starred in numerous musicals and performed with the York Guildhall Orchestra at York Barbican.
Christmas Carolscomposer Don Pears, left, York Guildhall Orchestra leader Fiona Love, producer Bob Whitney and conductor Simon Wright
Together, Don and Jo have helped raise funds to support the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, a cherished cultural landmark and beacon for community arts.
Performing together for decades, composer Don and lyricist Jo have written songs and carols since the early 2000s. Their music is created for everyone to enjoy and reflects their lifelong dedication to the arts and community.
The album was recorded at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margartet’s Church, in Walmgate, with the York Guildhall Orchestra and a specially formed choir of friends, who were conducted by musician and Guildhall Orchestra director Simon Wright.
The Singphonia Singers, a group of talented performers formed by Don, will showcase some of the carols at A Christmas Selection Box: A Music Night Production at the Rowntree Theatre on Sunday, December 14 at 7pm. Tickets are on sale on 01904 501935, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on the door, priced £12 to £15.
The Christmas Carols CD will be on sale at Sunday’s concert or can be downloaded from Spotify, Apple iTunes and Amazon Music.
The track listing for Don and Jo Pears’ album Christmas Carols
Wanderful: Coronation Street star Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York
CHRISTMAS music and pantomimes aplenty dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for December fun-filled fulfilment.
Having a ball: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, today until January 4 2026
LEEDS lad Bradley Judge’s Dandini joins the star-studded cast of Lisa George (Coronation Street) as Fairy Godmother, Tobias Turley (ITV’s Mamma Mia I Have A Dream) as Prince Charming and West End star Rachel Grundy (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legally Blonde) as Cinderella in UK Productions’ Cinderella, scripted by Jon Monie.
Directed by Ellis Kerkhoven, West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson bring the mayhem in Ugly Sisters mode as Harmony and Melody Hard-Up, joined in the comedy corner by Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The Marian Consort: Performing with English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble at York Early Music Christmas Festival on December 8
Festival of the week: York Early Music Christmas Festival, mainly at National Centre for Early Music, York, until December 14
HIGHLIGHTS at this Yuletide feast of music spanning the centuries, complemented by contemporary tunes, include Yorkshire Bach Choir & Yorkshire Baroque Soloists performing Hayden’s The Creation tonight and The Chiaroscuro Quartet and Consone String Quartet uniting tomorrow for Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat major Op 20.
The Marian Consort teams up with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble in Looking Bach To Palestrina on December 8 and Fieri Consort Singers and Camerata Øresund present Christmas Cantatas by Christopher Graupner and English Tavern Songs on December 12. Among further festival performers will be mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Dowland’s Foundry, Apollo5, Lowe Ensemble, Irish folk singer Cara Dillon and Joglaresa. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk. Box office: 01904 658338.
York Theatre Royal’s pantomime cast in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty. Picture: SR Taylor Photography
No sleep till January 4: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal
YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in Sleeping Beauty.
Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Hannah King’s Peter Pan in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Rowntree Players’ festive visit to Neverland
Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm
JOIN Wendy, John and Michael as they fly with Peter Pan to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Peter and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates. Fear not as Nanny McFlea and her ever eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Bec Silk’s Robin Hood and writer Martin Vander Weyer’s Dame Daphne in 1812 Theatre Company’s pantomime Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure
Ryedale pantomime opening of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; December 14, 2.30pm
HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs company-in-residence 1812 Theatre Company in this traditional panto with a Knock Knock Joke Contest, scripted by dame Martin Vander Weyer.
Robin Hood will be rescuing the lovely Maid Marian from the wicked Sheriff of Pickering, while Black Swan landlady Dame Daphne will lead the merriment and mayhem. Knock Knock! Who’s there? Daphne! Daphne who? Daph-nitely book early to avoid disappointment on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Singer Dene Michael, dressed as a pineapple, in the finale to Kim Hopkins’s documentary film Still Pushing Pineapples, showing at City Screen Picturehouse on Sunday
Documentary film screening of the week; Still Pushing Pineapples (12A), City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 5pm
BLACK Lace’s Agadoo has been voted the most infuriating song of all time. What happens when you are forever associated with such a Marmite hit; what comes after fleeting fame, and what does it mean to grow old still chasing a dream?
Perennial pineapple pusher and former Yorkshire band member Dene Michael is still singing the derided party anthem across fading clubland UK: a story now told in Selby-raised filmmaker Kim Hopkins’s humorous, moving, warts’n’all documentary, a pineapple slice of working-class social realism wrapped inside a road movie and abiding love story. Dene Michael, Hopkins and producer Margareta Szabo will hold a post-show Q&A. Box office: picturehouses.com/cinema/city-screen-picturehouse.
A Nativity For York director Paul Toy
Nativity play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York, All Saints Church, North Street, York, December 10, 7.30pm
USING medieval scripts from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays and music both medieval and folk in style, Paul Toy’s community cast tells a familiar story of a marvellous birth, threaded with humour, reverence and, sadly, hatred, where candlelight emphasises the constant struggle of the light against the darkness.
The performance lasts one hour with no interval. Refreshments will be available. Box office: 033 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/york-nativity or on the door.
Christmas will be merry for Kate Rusby at York Barbican on December 11
Carol concert of the week: Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry, York Barbican, December 11, 7pm
BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby plays her regular festive fixture at York Barbican, returning with her folk band and the Brass Boys for two sets of jolly carols from South Yorkshire’s pubs, Christmas chart chestnuts and original winter songs.
Christmas Is Merry marks her 20th anniversary of these winter warmers, drawing on her six Christmas studio albums: 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men, 2019’s Holly Head and 2023’s Light Years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Hyde Family Jam’s poster for their brace of Christmas jamborees at The Crescent, York on December 11 and 12
Christmas knees-up of the week: Hyde Family Jam, The Crescent, York, December 11, 7.30pm
FRIENDS! Come celebrate another Christmas with a right thorough knees-up at The Crescent with York buskers supreme Hyde Family Jam, a traditional-looking folk band that couldn’t be less traditional. They perform the songs they love from any decade, any genre, in any way they fancy, played as fast and loud as possible. “We call it ‘folk gone wrong’,” they say. “Expect a few special festive bonuses too!” Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Recommended but sold out already: Hyde Family Jam’s December 12 gig and The Howl & The Hum’s traditional special Crescent Christmas gig, led as ever by Sam Griffiths after leaving York and Leeds for London.
Setting sail in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes: Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather, front centre) and her Angels, Sophie Curry, left, Chloe Branton and Sophie Kemp. Picture: Felix Wahlberg
Getting a kick out of you musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, December 12 to 30
DITCH York’s December chills and climb aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes!, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.
Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Michael Ball’s poster for his Glow UK Tour 2026, taking in Yorkshire gigs at Bradford Live (September 2), Sheffield City Hall (September 5) and Hull Connexin Live (September 6), as well as York Barbican (September 12)
Concert announcement of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, September 12 2026
MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour. “There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says. “It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Box office: https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.
In Focus: The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery, York, until January 12 2025
Bowl Of Apricots, acrylic painting, by Anita Klein
PYRAMID Gallery’s Christmas Collection, in Stonegate, York, features works by London artist and printmaker Anita Klein, York ceramicist Ben Arnup, Peak District sculptor Paul Smith, South Staffordshire mosaic artist Amanda Anderson and York floral artist Lesley Birch.
Exhibiting too will be Canadian-born painter, printmaker and cartographer Mychael Barratt, Oswestry ceramicist Jacqui Atkin and Perthshire oil painter artist and printmaker Ian MacIntyre, complemented by bird and fish blown glass by Bruce Parks, bronzes by David Meredith, Nerikromi vessels by York ceramist Patricia Qua and studio jewellery for the Christmas season by 50 British makers.
Curator Terry Brett, who has owned the gallery for 31 years, has invited Anita Klein to fill the walls with 15 linocut original prints, new aquatint etchings and two paintings.
Bee Eater, ceramic vase, by Jacqui Atkin
“The gallery has enjoyed a long, unbroken relationship with Anita as a supplier of her extensive catalogue of prints that form a diary of her family life,” he says.
“Over the 28 years in which she has shown more than 800 different pictures at Pyramid Gallery, we have watched her career progress to the point where Anita has become one of the most collectable printmakers in the UK. It seems very fitting that she is the main focus of the Christmas Collection.”
As well as showing new linocut prints, Anita is selling copies of her book Out Of The Ordinary – 40 Years Of Print Making, featuring illustrations of 550 of her best-loved prints, published by Eames Fine Art.
The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery is open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm, Sundays, until January 12 2026. Closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Christian Mortimer, centre, enjoying a rehearsal for York Theatre Royal’s Sleeping Beauty with pantomime dame Robin Simpson, left, and Tommy Carmichael. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
THE last addition to the principal players in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime Sleeping Beauty is Christian Mortimer, a North Yorkshire actor and singer with previous form in the annual co-production with Evolution Productions.
Replacing the now unavailable York-raised musical theatre actor Scott Goncalves at a month’s notice, Harrogate-based Christian, 29, is playing Prince Michael of Moravia.
“I had to miss my first day of rehearsals as I was flying back from Tampa, Florida, where I was performing in a celebration of Frankie Valli’s music,” he says. “I’ve seen all parts of the world in this show, and this gig in Florida came about because someone who’d seen the show then hired us for his yacht club party.
“We were out there for five days that overlapped with the start of rehearsals here. The weather was very different, 27 degrees when I’d go on my morning run!”
“Bari-tenor” Christian’s Frankie Valli travels and work as a lead vocalist for Celebrity Cruises have taken him to Japan, South East Asia, “lots of” America, the Mediterranean and the West coast of Africa. “We went quad-baking on the Namibian sand dunes and had the best time ever doing it,” he says.
Sleeping Beauty choreographer Hayley Del Harrison contacted Christian with a late call to to say, “we’re looking for a Prince”. “Hence I’m not in any of the posters,” he says. “I had to send off my show reel to Hayley and to casting, and they came back with an offer. I said ‘yes’, and it’s ideal as I’m in Yorkshire already.
“I was in the ensemble here four years ago for Cinderella, when I worked with Hayley. That was the show with Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard as the Ugly Sisters [Manky and Mardy] and [comedian and ventriloquist] Max Fulham as a wonderful Buttons.”
It was the second winter of Covid-19 restrictions, a challenging time for theatres and actors seeking to live up to the maxim of “the show must go on”, as Christian recalls. “I started in the ensemble, covering for the Prince [Benjamin Lafayette], who got Covid.
Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in rehearsal with Aoife Kenny’s Princess Aurora for York Theatre Royal’s Sleeping Beauty. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
“In the lead-up to Christmas, I had one show as the Prince with Faye Campbell as Cinderella, who got Covid, then two with Lauren Richardson, who stepped up from the ensemble to play Cinderella, but then she got Covid too, so a stand-in was brought in. But then I got Covid!
“I was off for a week’s isolation period and was in my bedroom, by myself, on Christmas Day. It was definitely interesting to have to play off so many different people with differing ways of saying things, which keeps you in the moment. That was a good lesson to learn.”
Since then, Christian has been abroad at Christmas twice, performing with The Other Guys (the Frankie Valli tribute). Now, he is back on home turf in regal mode as Prince Michael of Moravia. “He’s more of a set-up guy, driving the narrative forward, though he has a few jokes and he’s in the slosh scene, so he’s definitely good fun,” he says.
“Often the Prince is seen as being a bit wet, singing a few love songs, but this show is really well written [by Evolution Productions director Paul Hendy] to make the Prince a bit more out there and stronger.
“He has a fun number near the start, called Introducing Me, when he and Princess Aurora are getting to know each other, and he also sings Die With A Smile, the Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars song, and A Thousand Years, the Christina Perri song that we’ve changed to A Hundred Years to fit the story.”
Christian, who studied at Rossett High School, York College and ArtsEd, in London, and cut his acting teeth with York Light Youth, York Light Opera Company and Pick Me Up Theatre in York, will be spending Christmas in Harrogate. “I’m commuting from home every day, and my brother Jordan and Natalie have just had a baby girl, Mia, so we’ll be together on Christmas Day,” he says.
Looking ahead, “I’ll be moving south in February with my girlfriend, Lizzy Parker, who’s a fellow musical theatre performer. She was in Heathers: The Musical as Heather McNamara, the one who wears yellow, and then did Next To Normal in the West End at the Donmar Warehouse,” says Christian.
“We’re moving to Stevenage, where we both have connections, and we’re both in a position to buy, but have never lived together until now, so we’ll move in together and then find somewhere on the outskirts of London.”
York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions present Sleeping Beauty until January 4 2026. Box office: 01904 623568 or yortktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Christmas Is Merry for Kate Rusby: “It just seemed the perfect title for the tour that celebrates 20 years of my Christmas gigs,” she says
BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby returns as bright as a festive robin to York Barbican on December 11 on her 20th anniversary Christmas Is Merry tour.
Kate, who turned 52 today (4/12/2025), will cherry pick from her seven winter albums, 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men, 2019’s Holly Head, 2020’s Happy Holly Day (Live) and 2023’s Light Years.
In the company of her regular band, coupled with the added warmth of “the Brass Boys”, Kate combines carols still sung in South Yorkshire pubs with her winter songs and favourite Christmas chestnuts. As ever, look out for the festive fancy dress finale and maybe her new Christmas Chill version of The Wren@20.
Here Kate discusses the magic and joy of Christmas songs past and present with CharlesHutchPress.
The 2025 tour has a new title, Christmas Is Merry. Why did you choose that one, Kate?
“We recorded a gorgeous song called Christmas Is Merry a few years ago, and it’s a favourite of ours to play live now. It just seemed the perfect title for the tour that celebrates 20 years of my Christmas gigs. We all have such a great time on the tour, we just adore it and are very, very merry and giddy throughout, so the title just fitted.”
What will be the new elements of the latest round of Kate Rusby Christmas concerts: New set design? New additions to the set list?
“Ooooh, absolutely new set; it’s going to be so fab! I can’t give any spoilers, but when people walk into the auditorium hopefully they’ll love it. We’re going retro is the only clue I’ll give!
Kate Rusby’s cover artwork for her 2023 Christmas album, Light Years
“As for the set list, as it’s celebrating 20 years, we’ve tried to include audience faves and our faves from over the years, which actually match up!”
What will be the band line-up for this winter’s tour?
“Same as last year, my band of six: myself, Damien O’Kane, acoustic guitars, electric guitars and banjo; Duncan Lyall, double bass and Moog; Sam Kelly, guitars, bouzouki and vocals; Nick Cook, accordions and electric guitar, and Josh Clarke, percussion.
“Plus my fabulous brass lads: Gary Wyatt, cornet; Lee Clayson, flugelhorn horn; Robin Taylor, euphonium; Chris Howlings, French horn, and Nick Etheridge, tuba. So that’s 11 on stage in total including lil’ old me.
“It’s our biggest tour of the year, so we have more of our incredible crew, lights, set etc, all travelling round in a big truck. Every single one of them is a true gem and talented beyond belief. I’m so lucky to work with them all.”
What are the ingredients that go into making the perfect Christmas album? The familiar, the unfamiliar, the new and the old?
“Exactly that! I like to include something for everyone! On each Christmas album I’ve made, there are songs from the South Yorkshire pub-sings, to songs more recognisable, to classics we hear every year (but Rusby-fied, of course!)
“I like to search for more quirky, funny songs that appeal to the younger generation, (Hippo For Christmas or I’m Getting Nothing For Christmas, for instance) and then I also include songs I’ve written, about the New Year bells ringing in a new start [Let The Bells Ring] or about a lost angel I imagined sitting in a tree in our snowy garden [Glorious].”
Kate Rusby in wintertime. Picture: David Angel
How come you have made so many Christmas albums, whereas Michael Buble and Kylie Minogue both keep re-releasing the same one?!
“Ha!!! Aw, I love Michael Buble and Kylie, they’re both very cool. I see Kylie has just released a new song called XMAS. I love it. I suppose I just have way too many songs I still want to record, from the pub-sings round here and beyond. I love researching and discovering new cool Christmas songs, and I love writing them too, so there’s no way I’m done yet!”
How come there are so many versions – and variations – of While Shepherds Watched? Where do you keep finding them?
“I know them from the ‘pub-sings’ around this area of South Yorkshire, where more than 30 different versions still exist! The South Yorkshire carols are something I am truly passionate about, and the very reason I started our Christmas tour in the first place.
“The carols were lost to the rest of the country, (apart from a little pocket of Cornwall, where they have similar carols and some totally different!), so I wanted to show them off and spread them around again, and here we are 20 years later! I just love it.”
Will it be roast turkey or goose or neither for the Rusby-O’Kane household on Christmas Day?
“Ooh, we’re going turkey this year! We did have goose for a few years but we’ve gone back to turkey. With all the trimmings of course, even down to bread sauce. Whoop!”
Do you have a favourite Christmas album in the Rusby household?
“There tends to be a LOT of singing at a Rusby family Christmas, but I love listening to Louis Armstrong’s Christmas music. It feels me with warmth and always makes me smile.”
Banjo players Damien O’Kane and Ron Block: Teaming up for third album together, Banjovial, Kate Rusby’s pick of 2025
Which album have you enjoyed discovering this year that you would recommend giving as a Christmas present?
“I have to say one of my faves from this year is hubby Damien O’Kane’s new album Banjovial. His third album he’s recorded with fellow banjo legend Ron Block. “Ron plays with Alison Krauss; in fact he’s been her right hand banjo man for more than 30 years.
“Dee and Ron became best banjo buddies a few years ago and he’s played on my last few albums. He’s so great, as is Damien, and together they make the best, happy, uplifting, sunshine-in-a-bottle music! Fully recommended!”
Do you have recording plans for 2026?
“Yes, I have a plan! An album I’ve been wanting to record for a wee while, so I’ll be getting stuck into that when my girls [Phoebe Summer and Daisy Delia] are back to school in January. It’ll probably be released around the middle of the year I think.”
Kate Rusby: Christmas Is Merry, York Barbican, December 11, 7pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.Her tour visits Bradford St George’s Hall (December 5, bradford-theatres.co.uk); London (Dec 7); Manchester (Dec 9); Llandudno (Dec 10); York (Dec 11); Gateshead (Dec 13); Sheffield City Hall (Dec 14, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk); Brighton (Dec 16); Bristol (Dec 17); Nottingham (Dec 19) and Cambridge (Dec 20.)
On a separate matter
You played Ryedale Festival this summer at the Milton Rooms, Malton, with the Singy Songy Session Band, performing latest album When They All Looked Up. What do you recall of that experience?
“AW it was so gorgeous! What a beautiful little hall, we loved it. Our girls came along as did my parents, and other friends of the family so it was just fab. The audience were really great too, and probably the smartest dressed audience I have ever had!”
Wanderful: Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in UK Productions’ Cinderella at Grand Opera House, York
AFTER 13 years as “loud, gobby, feisty” Beth Sutherland in Coronation Street, Lisa George decided to leave soapland’s cobbles to tread the boards once more.
A decision she made in 2024, when her final episode aired last August, that now brings her to York to play Fairy Godmother at the Grand Opera House in UK Productions’ Cinderella from December 6 to January 4 2026.
“The decision had been bubbling away because of my visual impairment,” says Lisa, who has the rare eye condition of NAION (non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy), one that causes sudden and painless vision loss in up to 11 per cent of people.
“I first lost vision in the bottom half of my right eye [when Lisa had been hit in the eye by a rope] and then had a second occurrence in 2022 [in her left eye] and was formally diagnosed in 2023 after a year of searching for what was wrong.”
As chance would have it, when she partnered with Tom Naylor in Dancing On Ice in 2020, it turned out he was the son of Gerard Taylor, an eye specialist she had consulted in 2017.
“I don’t think people realise I have this eye condition because I don’t make a song and dance about it,” says Lisa George
For Lisa, who also had been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2016, matters came to a head when she was watching a production of Romeo And Juliet at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester last year.
“In a black-out during the performance, I suddenly thought about not being able to see,” she recalls. “I’d earned my stripes, I’d worked on Coronation Street for 13 years, and I thought, ‘if I’m going to go blind, I need to do theatre again now. I don’t just want to be known for Beth [Sutherland] . I’m going to play other roles before anything might happen to stop me’.
“The condition is stable; I can see, but I was petrified I would never work in theatre again after I was diagnosed, but I was also aware that I’d be able to have people hold my hand, or show the way with torches. There’s far more help nowadays.”
Cinderella is her second pantomime since leaving Coronation Street. “I don’t think people realise I have this eye condition because I don’t make a song and dance about it – though my script is massive!” she says.
Working with director Ellis Kerkhoven and choreographer Xena Gusthart for the first time, Lisa is “absolutely delighted to be appearing as Fairy Godmother at the Grand Opera House”. “Panto is such a special time of year, and I can’t wait to see families and friends come together to share in the magic over the festive season,” she says.
Lisa George in the poster for her role as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, when she was announced as the first signing for the Grand Opera House pantomime for 2025-2026
As ever with commercial panto, rehearsals crack on apace. “We had ‘blocked’ the whole of the show by day three, and we’d had costume fittings, dance rehearsals and vocal rehearsals on top of that,” says Lisa.
“The very first pantomime I did we had only a week’s rehearsals. That one was with Jimmy Cricket, Linda Nolan, a young Suranne Jones and Paul Crone, ‘the roving reporter’ from Granada TV. That was at the Tameside Hippodrome [in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester], a theatre that doesn’t exit anymore. I was Dandini, the old-fashioned thigh-slapping Dandini in fishnet tights.
“We’re getting pushed out now, with the Prince Charming and Dandini roles going to men, on top of men already playing the dame. What’s left for the women?
“Dandini wasn’t my favourite role, to be fair. I have more fun as the fairy. I love playing Fairy, whether Petunia Pumpkin in Cinderella or Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington, both at the Oldham Coliseum, or Fairy Godmother last year at the Wyvern Theatre, in Swindon, or now Fairy Godmother in York, where it’s my first time working with UK Productions.”
“I’ve brought my steamer, my big straw, my Vitamin C tablets – and I’ll try to get plenty of sleep too,” says Lisa George of her routine for the pantomime season ahead
Producer Martin Dodd enthuses: “We are thrilled to welcome Lisa to the cast of Cinderella. She brings a huge amount of talent, warmth and star power to the stage, and we know that the audience will fall in love with her Fairy Godmother.”
Performing in pantomime, with the challenge of cold weather, loud audiences and multiple shows, is arguably theatre’s most demanding season, requiring care of body and voice. “It’s a tough call doing panto,” says Lisa. “I’ve got a nebuliser that someone told me to get last year, where you put on a mask to hydrate your throat.
“Then there’s a wide straw, a singing tube, that you blow bubbles with to help the voice. Opera singers use it. I learned about that last year as well, so I’ve brought my steamer, my straw, my Vitamin C tablets – and I’ll try to get plenty of sleep too.”
“Absolutely buzzing” about singing two key numbers in Cinderella, one in the transformation scene, the other in Act Two, Lisa is looking forward to her York debut. “Of all the tours I’ve done, I don’t think I’ve done York before,” she says. “It’s been brilliant; it’s a really lovely cast , everyone’s so talented. We’ve bonded already; everyone is just dead nice and supportive.”
UK Productions presents Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, December 6 to January 4 2026. For tickets, go to atgtickets.com/york.
Actress Lisa George
Lisa George on her years of treading Coronation Street cobbles, 1997 to 2024
“I left in July 2024, and my last scene on screen was on August 24, after 13 years of playing [former model] Beth Sutherland, married to Kirk Sutherland [in 2015]. She was loud, she was gobby, she was feisty; a very proper lioness, protecting her son, loyal – and I think she was really funny too.
“She was a loudmouth, a hybrid of Ivy Tilsley and Janice Battersby, and I loved playing her. Those 13 years just flew by.
“I’d done Coronation Street before, playing three guest roles, and originally I was asked to do episodes as Beth. But then the producer asked me back for a trial six months, then for afull year that turned into three years, then another three years, and so on and son on! Because they didn’t have someone gobby in the factory anymore, that’s why they kept her.
“I first played a nurse in 1997 in a scene with Martin Platt, Gail’s husband. Then I was a family liaison officer for five episodes when Katy Harris, played by Lucy-Jo Hudson, killed her dad with a wrench.
“I filmed my part as a police officer when Ashley and Claire Peacock’s son was kidnapped, but those scenes were never shown after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann [in May 2007].”
Lisa George in her latest role as Fairy Godmother in UK Productions’ Cinderella at Grand Opera House, York, from December 6 to January 4 2026
Lisa George: back story
BORN on October 15 1970 in Grimsby.
Best known for playing factory worker and former model Beth Sutherland in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2024.
In 2020, Lisa skated her way to fifth place, partnering Tom Naylor, on Dancing On Ice; in 2022, she appeared as Cabaret’s Sally Bowles in ITV’s All Star Musicals; in 2022 and 2023, she performed with fellow Corrie cast members on Britain Get Singing.
Lisa read theatre studies at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, where she won singing scholarship for three years running.
Since graduating in 1995, her credits include UK tour of Prisoner Cell Block H – The Musical, touring with Lily Savage; Dusty Springfield tribute show I Only Want To Be With You; Cinderella, with Jimmy Cricket; Daydream Believer, for M6 Theatre Company, and Life On Mars, at Riverside Studios, London.
Further shows were: The Queens Of Country, playing Tammy Wynette; One For The Road, playing Pauline Cain for The Torch Theatre, and producing, directing and appearing in An Evening with Kander and Ebb. Also undertook six-month run in UK tour of musical comedy Girls Night in 2010.
In pantomime, Lisa has appeared as Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington (Oldham Coliseum), Petunia Pumpkin in Cinderella (Oldham Coliseum) and Dandini in Cinderella (Tameside Hippodrome).
Television roles include: Emmerdale; Casualty; Holby City; City Central; Cops; Roger Roger; My Summer With Des; Coronation Street (see above); Oliver’s Travels; Manhunt; Children’s Ward and Holding The Baby.
Commercials include: Ebay, Learn Direct, KFC, Claims Direct and White Lightening Cider. The “controversial singing KFC commercial” has become infamous for receiving the most ever complaints. Radio: The Handmaiden’s Tale, BBC Radio 4, and Pick Ups.
Lisa appeared alongside Michelle Collins in BAFTA-nominated television adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s The Illustrated Mum, playing the role of Miss Hill.
Lisa recorded backing vocals with The Stranglers on their 1998 album Coup de Grace (Eagle Records). From 2001, she toured with 13-piece soul band The Rumble Band for four years before jumping ship to join the mighty rocking big band orchestra, The Cat Pack, recording It Ain’t What You Do, an album of jazz, jump blues, rock’n’roll and swing classics and originals in 2006. Also performed with Sheffield jump jive band The Big Heat for two years.
After supporting Little Richard and Chuck Berry with The Cat Pack in 2005, Lisa was asked to record her solo album, The Devil Said Shake, for Raucous Records as Lisa George and The Pedalos.
Lisa appeared as a guest singer in Rave On, the Buddy Holly show; travelled the country as support act to Peter Grant and toured as backing vocalist for Joe Longthorne on his 2007/2008 You And Me tour and 2009 40th Celebration Tour.
IN a 2003 poll conducted by Q magazine, a panel of music writers voted Black Lace party anthem Agadoo as the worst song of all time. “Magnificently dreadful,” was the verdict.
What happens when you are forever associated with such a derided hit; what comes after fleeting fame, and what does it mean to grow old still chasing a dream?
Former member Dene Michael, originally from the Bradford suburb of Tong, is still singing the Yorkshire band’s 1984 number two – kept off top spot by George Michael’s Careless Whisper – across clubland UK. A story now told in Yorkshire filmmaker Kim Hopkins’s documentary Still Pushing Pineapples, her “elegy for a lost time, a lost culture, a lost Britain”, as the Telegraph deemed it.
On tour from November 28, Hopkins’s humorous, moving, warts’n’all 123-minute film for TullStories and her film company Labour Of Love will play City Screen Picturehouse on Sunday, when Hopkins, Dene Michael and producer Margareta Szabo will hold a post-screening Q&A.
Dene Michael and girlfriend Hayley, sporting her Dene tattoo, in Still Pushing Pineapples
Still Pushing Pineapples, a title taken from Agadoo’s shall-we-say-banal lyrics, is Selby-raised Hopkins’s follow-up to her award-wining portrait of a Bradford film club, A Bunch Of Amateurs, part one of a trilogy to be completed next year.
In her frank and fearless piece of affectionate social realism, Hopkins’s camera follows “former pop star” Dene Michael over two and half years as he clings to the remnants of fame he once had as a member of 1980s’ novelty pop group Black Lace, a band he joined after Alan Barton and Colin Gibb (or Routh as he was first known) had their biggest hit with Agadoo, “the high or low point of any party”.
Now, performing for a dwindling, ageing audience in some of the UK’s most deprived seaside towns and cities, Dene is keen to press on with his music career and free himself from the legacy of the Black Lace songbook to “do something a bit more credible and clever”. A decision enhanced by the management jettisoning him and his Hawaiian wardrobe for a younger Black Lace (featuring Phil Temple and 2008 Britain’s Got Talent contestant Craig Harper since 2023).
Who needs a 1980s’ throwback in a loud pineapple shirt and oversized red specs, singing a tired earworm? Apparently, many do (doo doo). Hence Still Pushing Pineapples traces the path of Dene, his spirited 89-year-old mum Anne and his sassy new girlfriend Hayley (freshly inked Dene tattoo on her arm et al) on their travels across Britain and to Benidorm in a pineapple-decorated camper van.
The poster for TullStories and Labor Of Love Films’ documentary Still Pushing Pineapples
Outwardly, they may look like three unlikely amigos to share such a trip, but those travels are suffused with love, humour and no little drama in Hopkins’s Yorkshire variation on Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’s 2006 tragicomic American road movie Little Miss Sunshine.
En route, they navigate love, family duty and the relentless pursuit of one last chart success, as entertainment, working-class culture, human connection and the power of pop align in this idiosyncratic documentary that opened this year’s Sheffield DocFest and received a special preview screening at Bradford’s Pictureville cinema on November 14 as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Kim Hopkins describes herself as a “working-class, queer British filmmaker” and is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary UK documentary film-making. A highly skilled self-shooting director, she brings a distinctive visual world and deep intimacy to her films.
She is a graduate of the National Film and Television School and co-founder of Labor Of Love Films with Margareta Szabo, producer of A Bunch Of Amateurs and Still Pushing Pineapples.
Yorkshire documentary filmmaker Kim Hopkins, Selby-educated director of Still Pushing Pineapples
“Still Pushing Pineapples is the second film in a trilogy I’m making about working-class communities, self-expression, the power of solidarity and escapism,” says Kim. “When Black Lace exploded onto Top Of The Pops with their Agadoo hit in the 1980’s I, like many, dismissed it as a junk novelty song. But every summer since, on every beach holiday, Agadoo has proved inescapable.
“Returning to my Yorkshire roots later in life, I’ve come to understand the power of escapist popular culture. Working-class people need to escape. I decided to ask my family what they thought about me making a film, this time about Black Lace and Agadoo?
“They approved of the idea. Nostalgia gleamed in their eyes. Alexa lit up with party tunes of yesteryear. They wanted to know the whole Black Lace story. Who were they, where did they end up, would it be ‘real’?”
Still Pushing Pineapples, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, December 7, 5pm. Box office: picturehouses.com/cinema/city-screen-picturehouse. To view the trailer, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZFfsJmGMQU.
Dene Michael dressed as a pineapple for the finale to Still Pushing Pineapples
Michael Ball’s poster for his Glow UK Tour 2026, when he will play Yorkshire shows at Bradford Live, Sheffield City Hall, Hull Connexin Live and York Barbican
MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour.
“There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs, as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says.
“I hope you enjoy the new album, and I hope you come to see us on tour next year. It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Tickets go on general sale on Friday at 9am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.
Featuring original material, Glow will be released “early next year” and will be available via the Michael Ball store at https://michaelball.tmstor.es/. Fans can pre-purchase the album now to gain exclusive tour access, starting today at 9am.
Ball will be on the road from August 26 to October 2 2026 on his Glow UK Tour, whose itinerary takes in further Yorkshire concerts at Bradford Live on September 3, Sheffield City Hall, September 5, and Hull Connexin Live, September 6. Box office: livenation.co.uk; gigsandtours.com or michaelball.co.uk.
Michael Ball: back story
BORN in Bromsgrove on June 27 1962, Great Britain’s “leading musical theatre star” is a double Olivier Award-winning, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum recording artist and radio and televison presenter.
For more than 40 year, he has starred in West End and Broadway musical theatre productions, winning critical acclaim, a devoted following and awards for his stage work and recording career.
His theatre credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (ENO/Coliseum); Javert in Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (Gielgud Theatre & UK/Australia Arena Tour); Anatoly in Chess (ENO/Coliseum); Mack in Mack And Mabel (Chichester/UK Tour), and Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd and The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (West End), winning Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Further credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (Original West End cast), winning Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical; Kismet (English National Opera); Patience (New York City Opera); The Woman In White (West End/Broadway); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West End); Passion, The Phantom Of The Opera, Aspects of Love (West End/Broadway), and creating the role of Marius in Les Misérables (Original West End cast).
TV credits include the Victoria Wood BBC TV film, That Day We Sang, opposite his Sweeney Todd co-star, Imelda Staunton.
He presents his own show on BBC Radio 2 on Sundays. On TV, he has hosted The Michael Ball Show on ITV1, his first TV travelogue, Wonderful Wales on Channel 5 and an Easter Sunday special for the BBC.
Tours UK regularly as a concert artist, selling millions of albums over the past 40 years, as well as performing in Australia, China, USA and Japan. In 2007, he made his BBC Proms debut in An Evening With Michael Ball at Royal Albert Hall, London, marking the first time a musical theatre star had been given a solo concert at the Proms.
Deep in conversation: Snow goes underground in A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre
A SNOWY reboot, festive trail, treasured exhibition and pantomime launches spell out that winter staples aplenty are up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Time travel of the week: A Winter Adventure at JORVIK Viking Centre, York, untilFebruary 22 2026
A WINTER Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses. For the first time, visitors can peer through Bright White’s time portal into the blacksmith’s house excavated on this site in the 1970s.
They will then board a time sleigh to travel back in time around the backstreets, transformed for winter by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow, bathed in cold blue lighting.Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.
Christmas at The Bar Convent in York. Illustration by Nick Ellwood
Activity trail of the week: Christmas At The Convent, The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 22, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm
DECEMBER visitors to The Bar Convent can uncover fascinating festive traditions through the centuries in a family-friendly activity trail through the exhibition that combines the convent’s history with the Advent season.
Families can enjoy finding clues, making decorations, dressing up, discovering traditions from Christmas past and much more. Look out for the traditional crib scene in the chapel. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Garlands galore at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Festive exhibition of the week: An Inspired Christmas at Fairfax House, York, until December 21,open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
TREASURER’S House has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined by the National Trust with festive flair, inspired by the 17th-century house’s rich history.
Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.
The Jeremiahs: Irish folk band play York for the first time on December 3. Picture: Tony Gavin
York debut craic of the week: The Jeremiahs, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 3, 7.30pm
IRISH band The Jeremiahs have travelled extensively, including playing 26 states in the USA, performing rousing new songs and tunes in the folk genre, peppered with picks from the trad folk catalogue. Lead vocalist and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, from County Dublin, is joined by his fellow founder, Dublin guitarist James Ryan, New York-born fiddler Matt Mancuso and County Clare flautist Conor Crimmins. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Malton White Star Band: Performing Brass and Voices At Christmas at Milton Rooms, Malton
Ryedale festive concert of the week: Brass and Voices At Christmas with Malton White Star Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7pm
MALTON White Star Band and Community Training Band team up with singers from Norton Primary School for the 2025 edition of Brass and Voices at Christmas. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are on sale at https://donate.givetap.co.uk/f/malton-white-star-band/christmas-concert-2025 or by ringing Dave Creigh on 07766 237947.
The one and only Jesca Hoop: Playing NCEM in York tomorrow
Singer-songwriter of the week: Brudenell Presents and Please Please You present Jesca Hoop, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4, 7.30pm
DISCOVERED by Tom Waits, invited on tour by Peter Gabriel and encouraged to relocate to the UK by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Jesca Hoop left California for Manchester to carve out a singular path across six albums of original material. Collaborations with producers John Parish (PJ Harvey), Blake Mills (Feist), and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers) have only sharpened the intricacy of her craft. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events/jesca-hoop-at-the-ncem-york/.
Ryedale Christmas children’s show of the week: Esmerelda The Elf And Father Christmas, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm; Sunday, 10.30am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm
WHO thought it was a good idea to put Elf friend Esmeralda in charge of Christmas sweeties? Can you help her to have everything ready in time? Will any goodies be left by the time Christmas Day arrives?
Each family has its own space to sit in at this interactive show and can visit Father Christmas individually at the end. All children will receive a gift. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Bec Silk’s Robin Hood and writer Martin Vander Weyer’s Dame Daphne in 1812 Theatre Company’s pantomime Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure
Ryedale pantomime opening of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; December 14, 2.30pm
HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs company-in-residence 1812 Theatre Company in this traditional panto with a Knock Knock Joke Contest, scripted by Martin Vander Weyer.
Robin Hood will be rescuing the lovely Maid Marian from the wicked Sheriff of Pickering, while Black Swan landlady Dame Daphne will lead the merriment and mayhem. Knock Knock! Who’s there? Daphne! Daphne who? Daph-nitely book early to avoid disappointment on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Hannah King’s Peter Pan in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm
JOIN Wendy, John and Michael as they fly with Peter Pan to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Peter and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates. Fear not as Nanny McFlea and her ever eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Michael Ball: Glowing at York Barbican next September
Concert announcement of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, September 12 2026
MUSICAL star and radio presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour. “There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says.
“It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.
