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More Things To Do in York and beyond the endless rain when films turn Dead Northern. Hutch’s List No. 40, from The Press, York

Rievaulx Abbey, mixed media, by Robert Dutton, on show in A Yorkshire Year at Nunnington Hall

YORKSHIRE landscapes, campsite class division, horror movies to the max and a talkative traveller herald the arrival of the arts autumn for Charles Hutchinson.

Exhibition of the week: A Yorkshire Year, Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, until December 5

THE changing landscape of the Yorkshire countryside and coastline is captured by Yorkshire artists Robert Dutton, from Nunnington, and Andrew Moodie, from Harrogate, in seasonal images.

Dutton presents a dramatic interpretation of the untamed expanses of Yorkshire, from meandering freshwater rivers and hidden woodlands to the stark beauty of the moors. Moodie directs his attention to the undulating valleys of the Yorkshire Dales, as well as coastal villages. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission prices apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.

The artwork for the Dead Northern 2024 Horror Film Festival at City Screen Picturehouse, York

Film event of the week: Dead Northern 2024 Horror Film Festival, City Screen, Picturehouse, York, today and tomorrow

IN “the world’s most haunted city”, Dead Northern presents a festival of movies, music and social gatherings. Today opens with Demonic Shorts at 11am, followed by the regional premiere of Scopophobia, 12.30pm; Slasher, Thriller and Creature Shorts, 2.30pm; UK premiere of The Healing, 4.30pm; Dead Talk film-making panel, 7.30pm; regional premiere of Kill Your Lover, 9pm, and VIP Awards Party at Revolution, York,11pm.

Tomorrow features the Mad Props documentary, 11am; mini-feature Strike,12.45pm; feature film The Monster Beneath Us, 1.15pm; music mini-feature The Black Quarry, 3.45pm; Music Videos, 4.30pm; UK premiere of Kill Victoria, 6.30pm, and world premiere of Lake Jesup, 8.30pm. Guests must be aged over 18 to access screenings and live events. Box office: deadnorthern.co.uk/dead-northern-2024-film-festival.

Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch

Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Harrogate Theatre, today, 2pm and 7.30pm; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 9 and 10, 7.30pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 13 to 16, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they are expecting four days of hill running and total de-stressing. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.

The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The bird man of RedHouse Originals Gallery: artist Jim Moir at his Birdland exhibition in Harrogate

Last chance to see: Jim Moir, Birdland, RedHouse Originals Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, today, 10am, 10am to 5pm

“PEOPLE think that I am a comedian, but art comes first,” says Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves, as he mounts his second RedHouse show. “This one is Birdland because of my love of birds. I spend most of my days bird watching and painting,” he says.

On show – and for sale – is an exclusive collection of 50 new paintings celebrating his favourite subject ahead of the October 24 release of his second bird book, More Birds, Paintings Of British Birds, published by Unbound. Free entry.

Clare Ferguson-Walker and Robin Ince: Plenty to discuss at Pocklington Arts Centre

Double act of the week: Clare Ferguson-Walker & Robin Ince, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm

TAKE a tour around two marvellous minds via the vehicles of poetry, storytelling, jokes, and general silliness when Clare Ferguson-Walker and Robin Ince link up in Pock. Poet, comedienne, sculptor and singer Clare’s explosive second collection, Chrysalis, lays bare the poet’s soul on a journey laced with humour and humane observation.

Humorist, presenter, poet and author Ince co-hosts the BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox. His books include Bibliomaniac, The Importance Of Being Interested, I’m A Joke And So Are You and his next work, Normally Weird And Weirdly Normal: My Adventures In Neurodiversity, will be published next May. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The cover design for Michael Palin’s new diary collection

Globe-trotter of the week: Michael Palin, Grand Opera House, York, October 3, 7.30pm

IN the words of Monty Python alumnus, actor, presenter and Yorkshireman Michael Palin: “In There And Back – The Diary Tour 2024, I’ll bring to life the fourth collection of my diaries and the first to be released for ten years.

“Lots of fun as I go through the Noughties, and some dark times too. I constantly surprise myself with the sheer amount I took on.” Tickets update: still available at atgtickets.com/york.

Barbara Dickson: Acoustic October concerts in Pocklington and Leeds

Folk gigs of the week: Hurricane Promotions present Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4 (sold out) and October 16, 7.30pm. Also Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, October 20, 7.30pm

SCOTTISH folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland explore her catalogue of songs in these acoustic concerts in intimate settings, where the pair will let the words and melodies take centre stage as they draw on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, from Another Suitcase In Another Hall to I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Mundane matters: Josh Widdicombe mulls over really niche observations about silly little things in 2025 and 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Josh Widdicombe, Not My Cup Of Tea Tour, Hull City Hall, October 2 2025, and York Barbican, February 28 2026

PARENTING Hell podcaster and comedian Josh Widdicombe, droll observer of the absurd side of the mundane, will take stock of the little things that niggle him, from motorway hotels to children’s parties, and explain why he has finally decided to embrace middle age, hot drinks and doing the school run in his 58-date tour show, Not My Cup Of Tea.

“That’s my favourite type of stand-up: really niche observations about silly little things that you wouldn’t think about. I’ve got no interest in the big topics.” Box office: joshwiddicombe.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk; hulltheatres.co.uk.

In Focus: Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show, The Crescent, York, tomorrow. More Yorkshire shows to follow

This is the modern world: Mark Thomas returns to stand-up venting at The Crescent, York. Picture: Tony Pletts

LAST appearing in York in Ed Edwards’s one-man play England & Son in the Theatre Royal Studio last September, South London’s grouchy “godfather of political comedy”, Mark Thomas, returns to polemical stand-up in Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show at The Crescent tomorrow night.

One of the longest-surviving alternative comics after close to 40 years of stand-up, theatre, journalism, human rights campaigning and the odd bout of performance art, his latest tour’s fusillade of jokes, rants, politics, play and the occasional sing-song adds up to “generally mucking about trying to have fun and upset (shall we say) the right people”.

Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show? Explain the extended tag, Mark. “What happened is I liked the idea of ‘Gaffa Tapes’ as a title and had it last year for my Edinburgh Fringe show, but halfway through the Fringe run I got Covid and had to stop.

“Last year I toured England & Son, written by Ed Edwards, which I was really pleased with. It picked up more awards than I’d ever done before – six awards – and one of them was to perform the play in Australia, taking it out to Adelaide for five weeks – and we might be going to New York …

“But we made no money out of it. I thought, ‘right, how do we make some money?’, so it’s great to be getting back to stand-up. What I love about stand-up is… and this is simple…if you stop doing it, they say you’ll feel rusty, so if you have a hiatus, what you have to learn to do is put your hand on the neck of the beast.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to do all the clubs at the bottom of the eco-system, doing ten minutes here, ten minutes there, doing shows in different places, and the thing about it is, I died on my arse a couple of times, which feels horrible each and every time…

“But if you take a break, you need to get your muscle memory back working again. That’s why I loved doing Edinburgh this summer. I did 26 gigs. It’s just bang, bang, bang, every night. You can muck around, try things out.

Mark Thomas in England & Son, toured to York Theatre Royal Studio in 2023. Picture: Alex Brenner

“The riots were happening around that time, so I wrote about them – and it’s important to be able to talk about that. It’s a living, breathing affecting thing. I love being a warrior in the culture wars, and it’s good to be back on the battlefield.”

The tectonic plates of the political landscape keep shifting: fresh meat to a polemicist comedian’s grist. “Things are always changing,” says Mark. “What I love is that when I started work on the show, there was loads going on, because the Tories were no longer in power, and it’s good to be able to react to that and to suggest what should be happening.

“I was at the Diggers Festival, celebrating Gerrard Winstanley [English Protestant religious reformer, political philosopher, activist and leader and co-founder of the ‘True Levellers’ or ‘Diggers’], doing a talk in a church, where someone said, ‘if you get rid of the oath to the King, that would be the most radical thing you could do’.

“I said, ‘well, actually, I don’ think it is. If you want democracy to work, you should have voting at 16, proportional representation, and you need to abolish the House of Lords’…whereas they’re just tidying up what [Tony] Blair started all those years ago. The most radical thing would be to ban donations to political parties. Make it state-funded, giving money to run parties and campaigns, making it a level playing field.

“Do you know who is the only other country in Europe to have a ‘first past the post’ electoral system? Belarus. So if anyone is out of step, it’s us. I think eventually PR [proportional representation] will come in; it’s just a question of what form it takes.”

How does the change of ruling party in Westminster from the Conservatives to Labour after 14 years have an impact on Thomas’s venting? “It changes the goalposts because it’s a new set of people to attack for a new set of reasons,” says Mark. “It’s the new austerity that they’re proposing that’s not great.

“The fact is that Starmer got some of the things right over the riots. I find it fascinating that there is this a disconnect; the idea that everyone who rioted was a racist, but not everyone was, because riots have a movement of their own, but certainly the organisers were far right.

“I didn’t vote Labour. I’m a Socilaist, why on Earth would I vote Labour?” says Mark Thomas. Picture: Art by Tracey Moberly

“You can be a Zen Buddhist but if you set fire to an asylum seekers’ hotel, then you’re a racist.”

Long associated with spouting anti-Tory sentiment aplenty, Thomas will hold the incoming Labour Party to account too. “I think it’s healthier that way in politics. The honeymoon period is over already,” he says.

“I didn’t vote Labour. I’m a Socialist, why on Earth would I vote Labour? There shouldn’t be a honeymoon period anyway,  but I expect the right-wing press to go at Labour with gusto because they want to shape not only this government, but the next Tory one too.”

Any suggestions for policy change, Mark? “Local government can run the bus companies, but it’s really important that it’s not about making the maximum profit. That’s what used to happen until Thatcher changed it,” he says.

“I’m lucky now – because I’m 61, I get the 60+ London Oyster card for £20 [administration fee] that allows me to travel everywhere in London for free and I use buses a lot. That’s one of the great things about London: wherever you are, there will be a night bus coming along in a moment.”

He is looking forward eagerly to tomorrow’s return to The Crescent. “I love The Crescent,” he enthuses. “What they may lack in technical facilities, it’s a proper community venue. I always say, when talking about what community venues could be, take a look at this place.”

Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes, Burning Duck Comedy, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Marsdsen Mechanics, November 8, 8pm; Social, Hull, November 16, 8pm; Sheffield Memorial Hall November 10, 8pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, February 5 2025; Wakefield Theatre Royal, February 6 2025, 7.30pm.

Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Marsden, 01484 844587 or marsdenmechanics.co.uk; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Hull, socialhumberstreet.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Wakefield Theatre Royal, 01924 211311 or theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk (on sale soon) Age guidance: 16 plus.

Mark Thomas: the back story

The next step for Mark Thomas: Touring Gaffa Tapes

“IF you don’t know what Mark does, ask your parents. In his time, he has won eight awards for performing, three for human rights work… and one he invented for himself. He has made six series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product and three Dispatches for Channel 4, made five series of The Manifesto for BBC Radio 4, written five books and four play scripts, curated and authored two art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and was commissioned to write a show for the Royal Opera House.

“He has forced a politician to resign, changed laws on tax and protest, become the Guinness Book of Records world-record holder for the number of protests in 24 hours, taken the police to court three times and won (the fourth is in the pipeline), walked the length of the Israeli Wall in the West Bank (that’s 724km), and generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset (shall we say) the right people.”

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Shed Seven pour out myriad versions of Liquid Gold tomorrow as tour starts

The cover artwork for Shed Seven’s Liquid Gold, released on Cooking Vinyl tomorrow

SHED Seven’s album of orchestral reworkings, Liquid Gold, arrives tomorrow on Cooking Vinyl as their 30th anniversary celebrations take to the road.

These gilded reinventions were recorded in collaboration with arrangers Fiona Brice and Michael Rendall, Rendall having teamed up with the Sheds for 2017’s Top Ten comeback album Instant Pleasures and 2024’s A Matter Of Time.

The track listing will be: Getting Better; Speakeasy; Devil In Your Shoes; On Standby; Going For Gold; Waiting For The Catch; Better Days; Parallel Lines; Disco Down; Ocean Pie; new composition All Roads Lead To You and Chasing Rainbows.

Already the York band have trailered the 12-track recording with a quintet of tasters: Speakeasy, Devil In Your Shoes, Getting Better, the BBC Radio 2 B-listed Waiting For The Catch duet with Issy Ferris, of UK folk/rock/Americana duo Ferris & Sylvester, and, most recently, Chasing Rainbows, their most streamed song of all time and perennial set closer.

Originally released on 1998’s Let It Ride, Chasing Rainbows has been reshaped with a string arrangement and plaintive piano before the Sheds furnish the song still further, giving its melancholy and yearning a deeper resonance.

Frontman Rick Witter says: “When we set out to re-record Chasing Rainbows for Liquid Gold, this particular track presented a different kind of challenge. We knew we were handling something with extreme care, as we understand just how significant Chasing Rainbows is to so many of you! It’s not just a song but a part of your lives and memories. We read your comments and felt the impact this song has had.

The artwork for Shed Seven’s Liquid Gold version of Chasing Rainbows

“In crafting this new version, we poured all that emotion and significance into it. As we worked in the studio, it became clear that this rendition embodies a collective spirit. It’s not meant to be better than the original but rather to stand as its sister, a cinematic alternative, like the closing scene of a movie. That’s why it sits proudly at the end of Liquid Gold. You can almost hear your voices singing long after the record has finished.”

On the heels of being named as ambassadors forNational Album Day, playing Blossoms’ Big Bank Holiday Weekend at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, on August 25, and BBC Radio 2 In The Park in Preston on September 8, the Sheds head out on a record store tour of short sets and record signings tomorrow.

They also will perform six intimate shows to mark the 30th anniversary of their 1994 debut album, Change Giver, before their full-scale headline tour starts on November 14. 

A year that began with Shed Seven topping the album charts for the first time in January with A Matter Of Time will end with Witter and guitarist Paul Banks going back to where the Sheds’ story began, when the two former Huntington schoolboys play acoustic shows at the Huntington Working Men’s Club in York on December 21 and 22.

The Liquid Gold album campaign has been given further impetus with a Bootleg Edition, featuring stripped-back artwork hand-stamped by a band member and five bonus tracks, available as a specially priced CD and on black double-vinyl.

Other formats include signed yellow splatter double-vinyl and a Live At York 2CD that adds a live album recorded at the brace of York Museum Gardens 30th anniversary gigs in July. The Sheds’ official store also offers fans the chanced to build their own custom album bundles. All pre-orders are on sale at shedsevenn.lnk.to/LiquidGoldPR

Shed Seven’s gig diary: September 27 to December 22

Starry starry night: Rick Witter leading Shed Seven at York Museum Gardens in July. Picture: David Harrison

September 27, Manchester, HMV (1pm SOLD OUT)

September 27, Bury, Wax & Beans (6pm SOLD OUT)

September 28, Birmingham, HMV (1pm SOLD OUT)

September 28, Leamington Spa, Head Records (5pm SOLD OUT)

September 29, London, Rough Trade East (5pm SOLD OUT)

September 29, London, Rough Trade East (7pm SOLD OUT)

September 30, Southampton, Vinilo (1pm SOLD OUT)

September 30, Brighton, Resident Music (6.30pm SOLD OUT)

October 1, Bristol, Rough Trade (12 noon LOW TICKETS)

October 1, Bristol, Rough Trade (5pm SOLD OUT)

October 2, Nottingham, Rough Trade (12 noon SOLD OUT)

October 2, Nottingham, Rough Trade (6pm -SOLD OUT)

October 3, Sheffield, Bear Tree Records (12 noon SOLD OUT)

October 3, Liverpool, Jacaranda (7pm SOLD OUT)

October 4, Newcastle, Beyond Vinyl (6.30pm SOLD OUT)

October 10, Kingston-Upon-Thames, Pryzm, Change Giver show, hosted by Banquet Records (EXTRA SHOW ADDED)

October 11, Kingston-Upon-Thames, Pryzm, Change Giver show, hosted by Banquet Records (SOLD OUT)

October 12, Coventry, HMV Empire, Change Giver show (SOLD OUT)

October 16, Edinburgh, Assai Records (12 noon SOLD OUT)

October 16, Glasgow, HMV (5pm SOLD OUT)

October 17, Glasgow, SWG3, Change Giver show, hosted by Assai Records (SOLD OUT)

October 18, Manchester Academy 2, Change Giver show, hosted by Crash Records (SOLD OUT)

October 19, Leeds Beckett Student Union, Change Giver show, hosted by Crash Records (SOLD OUT)

30th anniversary party time: Shed Seven’s Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield, left, Paul Banks, Rick Witter, Tom Gladwin and Tim Wills. Picture: Chris Little

November 14, Sheffield Octagon (SOLD OUT)

November 15, Cardiff University Great Hall

November 16, Liverpool University Mountford Hall (LOW TICKETS)

November 18, Halifax, Victoria Theatre (LOW TICKETS)

November 19, Hull City Hall

November 21, Aberdeen Music Hall (SOLD OUT)

November 22, Glasgow O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)

November 23, Edinburgh O2 Academy (LOW TICKETS)

November 25, Leicester O2 Academy (LOW TICKETS)

November 26, Margate, Dreamland

November 28, Bristol O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)

November 29, Newcastle O2 City Hall (LOW TICKETS)

November 30, Leeds O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)

December 2, Oxford O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)

December 3, Lincoln, Engine Shed (LOW TICKETS)

December 5, Stockton Globe

December 6, Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse (SOLD OUT)

December 7, Birmingham O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)

December 9, Norwich – The Nick Rayns LCR, University of East Anglia (SOLD OUT)

December 10, Cambridge, Corn Exchange (LOW TICKETS)

December 12, Bournemouth O2 Academy (LOW TICKETS)

December 13, Nottingham, Rock City (SOLD OUT)

December 14, London O2 Academy, Brixton (SOLD OUT)

December   21, Rick Witter & Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, acoustic gig (SOLD OUT)

December 22, Rick Witter & Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, acoustic gig (SOLD OUT)

For ticket availability, head to shedseven.com/gigs.

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Tickets for Coldplay’s first ever Hull gigs next August go on sale to HU, YO, DN and LN postcode holders today at 6pm

Coldplay performing on their Music Of The Spheres World Tour. Picture: Anna Lee

FIFTY per cent of the tickets for Coldplay’s first ever concerts in Hull – at Craven Park Stadium on August 18 and 19 2025 – will go on sale to fans with HU, YO, DN and LN postcodes via Ticketmaster this evening from 6pm.

The general sale for Coldplay’s Hull shows and six nights at Wembley Stadium, London, on September 22, 23, 26, 27, 30 and 31 next year will open at 9am tomorrow morning at ticketmaster.co.uk/coldplay-tickets/artist/806431. These will be their only British/European dates in their Music Of The Spheres World Tour diary for 2025.

Last Sunday evening, Coldplay placed a poster in the window of the Dublin Castle, in Camden, London – the venue for their debut gig on February 22 1998 under the name The Coldplay, tickets £4 with flyer – to reveal that ten per cent of their proceeds from the Wembley and Hull concerts will be donated to Music Venue Trust.

This will help to fund the trust’s support of UK Grassroots Music Venues and upcoming artists. Donations also will be made to the Music Venue Trust by the concerts’ promoters (SJM Concerts, Metropolis Music and Live Nation), the band’s booking agent (WME), the two venues and the official ticket agents (Ticketmaster, See Tickets and AXS). 
 
Mark Davyd, the Music Venue Trust’s chief executive, said: “Coldplay are the perfect example of a UK band who came through the grassroots circuit on their way to worldwide stadium-filling success.

“It’s fantastic to see them celebrating their own pathway to Wembley by giving back to the grassroots music venues that supported them and recognising the artists and promoters that are struggling more than ever to build their own careers.

“Through our partnership with Save Our Scene – who introduced us to Coldplay last year – this money will go directly into work that ensures communities right across the country will continue to have access to great live music on their doorstep.

“The band’s support really will stop venues closing, make tours happen and bring the joy of live music to thousands of people. After months of discussing Coldplay’s potential support around these UK shows with them, we’re so happy and grateful that the news is finally out there.”
 

Coldplay have sold ten million tickets for their Music Of The Spheres World Tour since March 2022. Picture: Anna Lee

In a world first for a stadium show, Coldplay have pledged to power production for the Wembley concerts with 100 per cent solar, wind and kinetic energy, collected at the venue and elsewhere in the UK, and delivered by a specially designed electric battery system.

In addition, one of the satellite stages at each show will be fully powered by energy generated by the audience via kinetic flooring and power bikes.
 
In June, the band announced that their Music Of The Spheres World Tour has so far produced 59 per cent less CO2 emissions than their previous stadium tour in 2016/17, exceeding their original target of a 50 per cent reduction. They also revealed that nine million trees have been planted, to be followed by a further million before the end of the year.
 
Coldplay will make a limited number of Infinity Tickets available for the shows via Ticketmaster at 12 noon on Friday, November 22. Infinity Tickets are released for every Coldplay show to make the Music Of The Spheres World Tour accessible to fans for an affordable price.

As always, they will cost £20 per ticket, and they are restricted to a maximum of two tickets per purchaser and must be bought in pairs, which will be located next to each other, anywhere in the venue.
 
Since the first Music Of The Spheres World Tour date in March 2022, Coldplay have sold more than ten million tickets, making it the biggest tour by a group of all-time.
 
Coldplay’s tenth studio album, Moon Music, will be released on October 4 and will set new standards for sustainability, with each LP being made from 100 cent recycled plastic bottles (nine per record). It is available to pre-order on EcoCD, EcoRecord LP and digital via ukstore.coldplay.com.

Moon Music is the world’s first album to be released on EcopCD, created from 90 per cent recycled polycarbonate, sourced from waste otherwise headed for landfill.

The track listing is: Moon Music; feelslikeimfallinginlove; We Pray, featuring Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI; Jupiter; Good Feelings featuring Ayra Starr; 🌈; iAMM; Aeterna; All My Love and One World.



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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond as garden ghosts gather for haunting season. Hutch’s List No. 35, from Gazette & Herald

Ghosts In The Garden: Returning for fourth season with more locations and more wire-mesh ghosts

GARDEN ghosts, Yorkshire landscapes, campsite class division, awful auntie antics and ridiculous improv comedy herald the arrival of the arts autumn for Charles Hutchinson.

Installation of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, haunting York until November 5

GHOSTS In The Gardens returns with 45 ghosts, inspired by York’s past, for visitors to discover in the city’s public gardens and green spaces, with the Bar walls, St Olave’s Church and York Railway Station among the new locations.

Organiser York BID has partnered with design agency Unconventional Design for the fourth year to create the semi-translucent 3D sculptures out of narrow-gauge wire mesh, six of them new for 2024. Pick up the map for this free event from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street and head to https://www.theyorkbid.com/ghosts-in-the-gardens/ for full details. 

Rievaulx Abbey, mixed media, by Robert Dutton in A Yorkshire Year at Nunnington Hall

Exhibition of the week: A Yorkshire Year, Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, until December 5

THE changing landscape of the Yorkshire countryside and coastline is captured by Yorkshire artists Robert Dutton, from Nunnington, and Andrew Moodie, from Harrogate, in a diverse collection of seasonal images at the National Trust house.

Dutton presents a dramatic interpretation of the untamed expanses of Yorkshire, from meandering freshwater rivers and hidden woodlands to the stark beauty of the moors. Moodie directs his attention to the undulating valleys of the Yorkshire Dales, as well as coastal villages. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission prices apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall

Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch

Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Harrogate Theatre, until Saturday; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 9 and 10; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 13 to 16

WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they were expecting four days of hill running and total de-stress. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.

The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta and Annie Cordoni’s Stella in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet

Children’s show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, today to Sunday

CHILDREN’S author David Walliams and Birmingham Stage Company team up for the fourth time. After adaptations of Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, here comes actor-manager Neal Foster’s stage account of Awful Auntie.

As Stella (Annie Cordoni ) sets off to visit London with her parents, she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, not everything Aunt Alberta (Foster) tells her turns out to be true. She quickly discovers she is in for the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie! Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Halls Of Ridiculous: Spinning their improv comedy at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Scott Akoz

Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Club presents The Halls Of Ridiculous, Cal Halbert and Tony Cowards, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

NORTHERN comedy The Halls Of Ridiculous, namely Chris Lumb (from BBC Three’s Russell Howard’s Good News) and Phil Allan-Smith (from BBC One’s This Is My House), push the boundaries of improv, sketch and character creativity with their quick-thinking scenes, zany special guests and quirky approach to performance.

Cal Halbert is one half of The Mimic Men, the UK’s only impressionist double act; host Tony Cowards is a rapid-fire gag merchant with an arsenal of one-liners, delivered by a likeable everyman character. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Just Us And A Piano: 1812 Theatre Company singers stage two fundraisers for Helmsley Arts Centre

Fundraising musical theatre concert of the week: 1812 Theatre Company, Just Us And A Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

SINGER Julie Lomas and pianist Neil Bell bring together a grand piano and an ensemble 1812 Theatre Company singers to celebrate the world of musical theatre, from the Broadway classics of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers, through to Cabaret, Wicked, My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Hamilton and the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Singers Amy Gregory, Esme Schofield, Florrie Stockbridge, Joe Gregory, Julie Lomas, Kristian Gregory, Natasha Jones, Oliver Clive and Phye Bell will be raising funds for Helmsley Arts Centre. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Honey & The Bear: Tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people and a passion for nature at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ten Year Anniversary Tour: Honey & The Bear, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

BRITISH folk and roots duo Jon Hart (guitar, bass and bouzouki) and Lucy Hart (guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo, mandolin and percussion) are joined by guests Evan Carson (percussion) and Archie Churchill-Moss (melodeon).

Conjuring stories in song, Honey & The Bear tell tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people they admire and their passion for nature, as heard on third album Away Beyond The Fret, released last November. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Josh Widdicombe: Taking stock of the little things that niggle him in Not My Cup Of Tea

Gig announcement of the week: Josh Widdicombe, Not My Cup Of Tea Tour, Hull City Hall, October 2 2025, and York Barbican, February 28 2026

PARENTING Hell podcaster and comedian Josh Widdicombe, droll observer of the absurd side of the mundane, will take stock of the little things that niggle him, from motorway hotels to children’s parties, and explain why he has finally decided to embrace middle age, hot drinks and doing the school run in his 58-date tour show, Not My Cup Of Tea.

“That’s my favourite type of stand-up: really niche observations about silly little things that you wouldn’t think about. I’ve got no interest in the big topics.” Box office: joshwiddicombe.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk; hulltheatres.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond from September 21 onwards. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 39, from The Press, York

Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in York Theatre Royal’s production of Little Women. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

GARDEN ghosts, a coming-of-age classic, a political groundbreaker, astronaut insights and an awful aunt stir Charles Hutchinson into action as autumn makes its entry.  

Play opening of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, September 21 to October 12

CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s repertory cast in Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.

Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Steve Wynn: A night of stories and songs at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb. Picture: Guy Kokken

York gig of the week: Steve Wynn, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True: A Night Of Songs And Stories, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, September 21, 7.30pm

STEVE Wynn, founder and leader of Californian alt. rock band The Dream Syndicate, promotes his first solo album since 2010, Make It Right (Fire Records), and his new memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (Jawbone Press), both released on August 30.

Touring the UK solo for the first time in more than ten years, his one-man show blends songs from and inspired by the book with a narrative structure of readings and storytelling. Expect evergreens and rarities from The Dream Syndicate’s catalogue, coupled with illuminating covers and reflective numbers from the new record. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Ghosts In The Garden: Returning for fourth season with more locations and more wire-mesh ghosts. Picture: Gareth Buddo/Andy Little

Installation of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, haunting York until November 5

GHOSTS In The Gardens returns with 45 ghosts, inspired by York’s past, for visitors to discover in the city’s public gardens and green spaces, with the Bar walls, St Olave’s Church and York Railway Station among the new locations.

Organiser York BID has partnered with design agency Unconventional Design for the fourth year to create the semi-translucent 3D sculptures out of narrow-gauge wire mesh, six of them new for 2024. Pick up the map for this free event from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street and head to https://www.theyorkbid.com/ghosts-in-the-gardens/ for full details

Points Of View, stainless steel, by Tony Cragg, at Castle Howard. Picture: Nick Howard

Last chance to see: Tony Cragg’s Sculptures, Castle Howard, near York, ends September 22

TONY Cragg’s sculptures, the first major exhibition by a leading contemporary artist to be held in the grounds and house at Castle Howard, closes on Sunday after a successful run since May 3 that has seen a 12 per cent rise in visitor numbers since the equivalent period last year.

On show are large-scale bronze sculptures in the gardens plus works in wood, glass sculptures and works on paper, some being displayed for the first time in Great Britain. Opening hours: grounds, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm; house, 10am to 3pm. Tickets: 01653 648333 or castlehoward.co.uk.

Making her point: Lauren Robinson as politician Jennie Lee in Mikron Theatre’s premiere of Jennie Lee. Picture: Robling Photography

Political drama of the week: Mikron Theatre Company in Jennie Lee, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, September 22, 4pm to 6pm

IN Marsden company Mikron Theatre’s premiere of Jennie Lee, Lindsay Rodden charts the extraordinary life of the radical Scottish politician, Westminster’s youngest MP, so young that, as a woman in 1929, she could not even vote for herself.

Tenacious, bold and rebellious, Lee left her coal-mining family in Scotland and fought with her every breath for the betterment of all lives, for wages, health and housing, and for art and education too, as the first Minister for the Arts and founder of the Open University. She was the wife of NHS founder Nye Bevan, but Jennie is no footnote in someone else’s past. Box office: mikron.org.uk/show/jennie-lee-clements-hall.

Crime novelists Ajay Chowdhury, left, and Luca Veste team up for The Big Read in York and Harrogate on Monday

Book event of the week: Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival presents The Big Read, Acomb Explore Library, York, September 23, 12.30pm to 1.30pm; The Harrogate Inn, Harrogate, September 23, 2.30pm to 3.30pm

THE North’s biggest book club, The Big Read, returns next week with visits to York and Harrogate on the first day, when visitors can meet the festival’s reader-in-residence, Luca Veste, and fellow novelist Ajay Chowdhury, who will discuss Chowdhury’s Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year, The Detective.

More than 1,000 free copies of tech entrepreneur, writer and theatre director Ajay Chowdhury’s 2023 novel from his Detective Kamil Rahman series will be distributed across the participating libraries. Entry is free.

Astronaut Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican

Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm

BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage to share stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.

From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of space flight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta and Annie Cordoni’s Stella in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet

Children’s show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, September 26 to 29

CHILDREN’S author David Walliams and Birmingham Stage Company team up for the fourth time. Ater adaptations of Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, here comes actor-manager Neal Foster’s stage account of Awful Auntie.

As Stella (Annie Cordoni ) sets off to visit London with her parents, she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, not everything Aunt Alberta (Foster) tells her turns out to be true. She quickly discovers she is in for the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie! Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond as poet John Hegley talks potatoes. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 34, from Gazette & Herald

John Hegley: Two poetry peformances at Helmsley Literary Festival. Picture: Jackie di Stefano

HELMSLEY Literary Festival leads off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations to fill the cultural diary, joined by drag, folk and blues acts and an American coming-of-age classic.

Festival of the week highlight: Helmsley Literary Festival, Helmsley Arts Centre, John Hegley, New & Selected Potatoes, Saturday, 7pm to 8pm; I Am A Poetato, Sunday, 11am to 12 noon

POET, comic, singer, songwriter and spectacles wearer John Hegley heads to Helmsley with two shows, the first being his seriously funny, cleverly comic “best of golden oldies compilation with some new stuff” about love, family, France, art, the sea, dogs, dads, gods, taxidermy, carrots, glasses and…potatoes.

Second gig I Am A Poetato features An A-Z of Poems about People, Pets and other Creatures! Spelling it out for Helmsley, he promises Hedgehogs. Elephants. Laughing. Mandolin. Singing. Luton. Even a cardboard camel with moving parts. Yo!  For full details of two days of talks, signings, readings, open mic and a quiz, with Hegley, Anne Fine, Joanne Harris, Harriet Constable and The Chase’s Paul Sinha, visit helmsleyarts.co.uk. Box office: 01439 771700.

Bianca Del Rio: Discussing politics, pop culture and political correctness at York Barbican

Drag show of the week: Bianca Del Rio, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

COMEDY drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio heads to York on her 11-date stand-up tour. Up for irreverent discussion will be politics, pop culture, political correctness, current events, cancel culture and everyday life, as observed through the eyes of a “clown in the gown”, who will be “coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I’m still dead inside”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ryan Adams: Heading back to York Barbican on Friday

Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm

NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Harp & A Monkey: Songs of everyday life, love and remembrance at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Folk gig of the week: Friday Folk presents Harp & A Monkey, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

GREATER Manchester song-and-storytelling trio Harp & A Monkey specialise in poignant, uplifting and melodic short stories, both original and traditional, about everyday life, love and remembrance. In a nutshell, the extraordinary ordinary, from cuckolded molecatchers and a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli to care in the community, medieval pilgrims and Victorian bare-knuckle boxers.

This versatile collective of artists, animators, storytellers and multi-instrumentalists has undertaken bespoke songwriting for soundtrack, film and art projects for the likes of Sky Arts and the Department of Sport, Media and Culture. Fylingdales Folk Choir will perform too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

York actress Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Play of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to October 12

CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s new production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.

Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Seedling, by Sarah Sharpe, on show in Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th anniversary show at Blossom Street Gallery

Exhibition of the week: Leeds Fine Artists Celebrating 150 Years, Blossom Street Gallery, York, until October 31

LEEDS Fine Artists is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition at its regular York host, Blossom Street Gallery, featuring an inspirational collection of work demonstrating a wide range of styles and different media.

Taking part are: Sharron Astbury-Petit; Dawn Broughton; Jane Burgess; Mark Butler; Pete Donnelly; Alison Flowers; Roger Gardner; Margarita Godgelf; Dan Harnett; Peter Heaton; Nicholas Jagger; Michael Curgenven; Catherine Morris; Martin Pearson; Clare Phelan; Trevor Pittaway; Neil Pittaway; Annie Robinson; Annie Roche; Sarah Sharpe and John Sherwood. Opening hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.

Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican

Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm

BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage with his stellar new show, sharing the collected stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.

From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of spaceflight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Lightning Threads: Showcasing their debut album, Off That Lonely Road, at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 26, 8pm

SHEFFIELD blues-rock trio Lightning Threads are influenced by the great rock musicians of another time, drawing comparisons with The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors.

Tom Jane, guitar and vocals, Sam Burgum, bass and vocals, and Hugh Butler, drums and keyboards, have been nominated for Best Album in the 2024 Blues Awards for their November 2023 debut, Off That Lonely Road, recorded with Andrew Banfield, of Superfly Studios, and graced by Kelly Michaeli’s gospel vocals. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on York Chamber Music Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 13

Tim Lowe: York Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist

THERE was much to admire in the performance of the opening Haydn’s String Quartet in C major Op 33, No. 3 (The Bird) and why wouldn’t there be: excellent players and one of Haydn’s finest Quartets.

The nickname, The Bird, is derived from the early first violin chirping calls, acciaccaturas (very short, crisp notes), which convincingly transformed into haunting passages, sequences of very quiet, gently clashing suspensions.

The second movement Scherzo was, for the most part, hymn-like, the playing (on the lower strings) genuinely touching. The bird calling card did make an unexpected appearance in the central Trio section. Humorous and so Haydnesque.

The ‘authentic’ Adagio was effectively and poignantly delivered. The Rondo finale is ever-so-gently bonkers. Folk music, Hungarian gypsy energy, crazy batting of the theme between the violins and viola plus cello with the ending vanishing into a wisp of smoke.

But there were issues too. Intonation was not always dead centre – the high violin passage at the very opening and again in the Trio reappearance (second movement) with the two violins playing on their upper strings.

Sometimes the cello too wasn’t quite on pitch. But these were rare, and this is a technically demanding work with no places to hide. Another issue was balance.

Matters improved with the instrumental changing of the guard. The ever-excellent Tim Lowe’s (cello) insight and technical assurance was immediately self-evident in the following Tchaikovsky (String Quartet No.1 in D major, Op 11), but it was the introduction of Gary Pomeroy (viola) that seemed to be critical.

As the second half Dvořák clearly demonstrated, Simone van der Giessen is an excellent viola player, but in the Haydn the viola contributions were less prominent. Hence the balance issue, but why this was so I couldn’t honestly say.

Viola player Gary Pomeroy. Picture: York Chamber Music Festival

It is perhaps worth noting that Tchaikovsky’s D major Quartet is less technically demanding than the Haydn. It was still a terrific performance though.

The rising and falling chords of the opening Moderato have been likened to the playing of an accordion. For me, it created an image of a gorgeous sunrise. Well, each to their own.

The rich textures and contrapuntal dialogue were very well delivered, contributing to a highly enjoyable, generous (eight-nine minutes?) opening movement. The outstanding movement was the folk-inspired Andante cantabile. It is just so poignant, so beautiful. The balance, the shape and the playing were quite delightful. At times I thought the first violin sounded like a cor anglais or soprano saxophone.

The energetic peasant dance-like Scherzo was rhythmically tight, the accents crisply delivered and confident playing throughout.

Much the same could be said of the closing Allegro finale. The performance was tight, crisp, with a fine viola solo and a razor-sharp signing-off.

The second half belonged to Dvořák’s String Quintet in Eb Major, Op 97. The opening Allegro came across as a generous, giving performance. The reappearance of the main theme – fortissimo and in octaves was decidedly emphatic and the quiet sense of return, of coming full circle, was very effective.

As was the second movement Scherzo. The drumbeat rhythm is tapped out on the second viola whilst the real melodic focus belongs to the first viola (Dvořák was himself a viola player).

The musical soul of the work is in the third movement Larghetto, and that is precisely what came across. There were notably fine contributions from Gary Pomeroy (first viola), Tim Lowe (cello) and Ben Hancox (first violin) – intricate, ornamented pizzicato playing. The Rondo finale was full of zest whilst generating an infectious love for the music itself.

Review by Steve Crowther

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The Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn to present night of music and stories at Rise@Bluebird Bakery on Saturday

“I don’t see this show as a stodgy reading or as a random selection of songs but, rather, a tiny play of sorts,” says Los Angelean musician and author Steve Wynn. Picture: Guy Kokken

ON his first UK solo tour in more than a decade, The Dream Syndicate founder and leader Steve Wynn visits Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, on Saturday night.

The Paisley Underground legend will be promoting his first solo album since 2010, Make It Right (Fire Records), along with his new memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (Jawbone Press), both released on August 30.

Wynn’s one-man show blends songs from and inspired by the book with a narrative structure of readings and storytelling. Expect evergreens and rarities from The Dream Syndicate’s 1980s’ catalogue, coupled with illuminating covers and reflective numbers from the new record, adding up to a show of a past revisited.

His debut book details the winding path from growing up as music fan and pre-teen bandleader in Los Angeles, through the formation and ultimate dissolution of The Dream Syndicate at the end of their first era in 1988.

Stops along the way make room for tales of cross-country Greyhound trips to track down Alex Chilton to wild, off-the-rails tours with U2 and R.E.M. and the epic heart-of-darkness making of his Californian indie-rock band’s controversial second album, Medicine Show, and plenty more.

The new album is a similarly reflective and intimately revealing collection, written and recorded in tandem with the writing of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, featuring contributions from R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Bangles’ Vicki Peterson, Psychic Temple’s Chris Schlarb, Serena Maneesh’s Emil Nikolaisen, The Baseball Project’s Linda Pitmon and a cast of dozens.

Wynn says: “I don’t see this show as a stodgy reading or as a random selection of songs but, rather, a tiny play of sorts, a way of giving a flesh-and-blood companion to the book. I’m looking for that magic place where, say, Lenny Bruce and Spalding Grey and Ray Davies and Bob Dylan and maybe Hedwig might meet in a dimly lit cabernet on the back streets of Hollywood. I’ve never done this kind of show before but if I can hit all those markers, I’ll be happy.”

Steve Wynn, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, A Night Of Songs And Stories, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, September 21, 7.30pm. Box office: Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. Wynn will be selling and signing copies of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (book) and Make It Right (CD/LP) after the show. Further Yorkshire gig on Wynn’s eight-date tour at The Greystones, Sheffield, September 18, 8pm.

The poster for Steve Wynn’s show at The Greystones, Sheffield

Steve Wynn: the back story

Founder, singer and guitarist of The Dream Syndicate, revered 1980s’ Los Angeles indie-rock band. 1982 debut The Days Of Wine And Roses is regarded as cornerstone of indie/alternative rock scene.

Prolific solo career, touring the world and recording on regular basis and touring/performing in indie supergroup Gutterball, Danny And Dusty and The Baseball Project (also featuring R.E.M. founders Mike Mills and Peter Buck).

Wrote scores for two hit Norwegian TV shows, Dag and Exit.

His songs have been covered by Luna, Yo La Tengo and Concrete Blonde among others

Lives in New York City.

I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True in a nutshell:

A TALE of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagine: a world of major labels, luxury tour buses and sold-out theatres, but also oneof alcohol, drugs and a low-level rock’n’roll Babylon. Ultimately, a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.

Steve Wynn on Make It Right

The artwork for Steve Wynn’s new album, Make It Right

“I WROTE and recorded these songs in tandem with working on I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, my memoir, which comes out on Jawbone Press the same week as Make It Right, my first solo album since 2010.

“With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa. The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.

“The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with Santa Monica, the city and boulevard where I was born, and concludes with Roosevelt Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighbourhood in New York City that I call home today.

“You write what you know – even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.

“If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like What Were You Expecting. A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like You’re Halfway There.

“The cataclysmic ‘one big open drain’ of Simpler Than The Rain was resolved by the resolute ‘I’m just trying to make it right’ on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach-inspired Cherry Avenue would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on Making Good On My Promises.

“It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.

“As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and – look! – there they are on the record as well!

“And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb, from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple, added his cinematic touch; Emil Nikolaisen, of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh, chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Del Lords, Joan Jett) used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.

“It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record came out in the same week. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on Make It Right and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.”

Make It Right track listing:

1. Santa Monica. 2. Make It Right. 3. What Were You Expecting. 4. You’re Halfway There. 5. Making Good On My Promises. 6. Cherry Avenue. 7. Then Again. 8. Madly. 9. Simpler Than The Rain. 10. Roosevelt Avenue.

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REVIEW: York Stage in School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Finn East’s Dewey Finn: Reasserting his golden talent to amuse. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg

AS the new school year settles its feet under the table, School Of Rock opens for alternative lessons in life: music to the ears of anyone who believes that education should add up to more than Rishi Sunak’s vision of compulsory Maths to the age of 18.

After John Godber’s Teechers and Willy Russell’s Our Day Out both espoused the value of looking outside the box to stimulate children’s minds and actions, a more innocent force does so in School Of Rock in the idiot-savant form of Dewey Finn (Finn East).

Kicked out of his band, this failed rock-god guitarist is now in danger of being booted out of best mate Ned Schneebly’s (James Robert Ball) flat for pushing his freeloading beyond the tolerance of Ned’s insufferable, controlling partner Patty Di Marco (a suitably shrill and shrewish Amy Barrett).

Down but not yet out, he pretends to be teacher Ned to take up a substitute teacher’s post at posh and proper prep school Horace Green, immediately jettisoning Maths, tests and gold stars for lessons in the history of rock. Heavy rock, hard rock, not the swiftly dismissed Taylor Swift and Kanye.

Dewey is committing identity fraud, but he has a rebellious charm, the cheeky big kid within him encouraging his young charges to express themselves, all the more so in the hands of Finn East, who may have shades of Jack Black (from Richard Linklater’s 2003 film) in his performance but bags of personality of his own making, built on his instinctive comic timing and irrepressible stage presence.

He just happens to be a cracking rock singer too, and these are big, big rock songs, challenging to sing in the compositions of Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock.

Crucial too, in the guise of Dewey, is his interaction, his easy connection with the multitude of children that makes up the Next Generation of the title: led by the supremely talented young band of Charlie Jewison’s knee-slide guitarist Zack Mooneyham, Daniel Tomlin’s geeky keyboard wizard Lawrence Turner, Zack Denison’s all-action drummer Freddie Hamilton and Matilda Park’s ace “bass face” Katie Travis (Park having mastered bass in a matter of weeks).

Plenty of children’s roles add to the joy in Julian “Downton Abbey”  Fellowes’ ebullient script (rooted in Mike White’s screenplay), from Theo Rae’s fashion-fixated Billy Sandford to Molly Thorne’s bossy Summer Hathaway and Eady Mensah’s shy Tomika, from Team Gibson (with performances being shared with Team Fender, the names referring to makes of guitar).

Adults tend to play second fiddle, except for Megan Waite’s operatic-voiced head teacher, Rosalie Mullins, so repressed and orderly until Dewey brings out the Stevie Nicks butterfly from her dowdy chrysalis, and Dewey’s flatmates, Barrett’s ever-exasperated Patty and Ball’s Ned, a bundle of nerdy nerves that craves release in reconnecting with his past. Look out too for late replacement Flo Poskitt’s comical cameos as Ms Sheinkopf and Mrs Sandford.

School Of Rock is described as “technically challenging”, partly on account of having two bands, not only the burgeoning young players but musical director Stephen Hackshaw’s band that plays in the theatre boxes, rather than the pit, at one point stepping forward to watch the young’uns in the climactic Battle of the Bands.

The first night is not without technical hitches in the sound balance, but these are ironed out quickly, and in every way this is a show with high production values, from Nik Briggs’s direction, bringing out such confident, expressive, energetic performances in his next generation, to Danielle Mullan-Hill in her rock choreography, peaking with Stick It To The Man.

Lighting designer Adam Moore and sound designer Ian Thomson evoke the atmosphere of a rock gig, the lighting rig absolutely looking the part, topped off by fireworks fizzing at the finale. Briggs’s set and costume design rock, and Phoebe Kilvington’s hair and make-up is the icing on the cake.

The accents are uniformly spot on too in this all-American celebration of music, friendship and the power of self-expression, where the young cast all deserves gold stars and Finn East reasserts his golden talent to amuse.

York Stage presents School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus  2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond when Beethoven project goes public for first time. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The Press, York

York Beethoven Project: Reassembling today to workshop and play Symphony No. 3, Eroica

A BIG orchestra, a psychedelic inflatable crab, veteran singers, a blues troubadour and a  Spanish guitarist rub shoulders in Charles Hutchinson’s cultural diary.

Groundbreaking concert of the week: York Beethoven Project, An Evening of Revolutionary Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 7.30pm

TODAY’S York Beethoven Project Come and Play workshop day climaxes with tonight’s performance of Beethoven’s No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55: Eroica in the project’s first pubic concert. The 40-piece orchestra will be the biggest ever to play the JoRo.

In addition, The White Rose Singers will be performing revolutionary musical theatre songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Carousel, James Robert Brown and more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at work in Peashom Park for his Jason Beside The Sea exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, today until January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm.

LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.

Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.

How long ago? Paul Carrack celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first hit at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury

Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he wrote How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.

“‘How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.”  His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

David Essex: Career-spanning concert at York Barbican

Rocking on: David Essex, York Barbican, September 17, doors 7pm

PLAISTOW singer, composer and actor David Essex, 77, plays York on his 20-date British tour, his first since 2022. His set list will span his entire repertoire, drawing on his 23 Top 30 hits and a career that has taken in playing Jesus in Godspell, Che in Evita, That’ll Be The Day, Silver Dream Machine and his own musicals Mutiny! And All The Fun Of The Fair.

The likes of Rock On, Lamplight, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You A Star, A Winter’s Tale and Oh, What A Circus will surely feature. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Charlie Parr: Showcasing blues and folk songs of community and communing with nature at Pocklington Arts Centre

Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm

RAISED in Austin, Texas, and now living in the Lake Superior port town of Duluth, folk troubadour and bluesman poet Charlie Parr has recorded 19 albums since 2002, this year releasing Little Sun, full of stories celebrating music, community, and communing with nature.

Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the songs of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Iago Banet: Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist plays solo in Helmsley. Picture: Sue Rainbow

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm

IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.

Featured on BCC Radio 2’s The Blues Show With Cerys Matthews, this solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist has played such festivals as Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz, displaying skill, complexity and versatility in his fusion of gypsy jazz, blues, Americana, country, Dixieland, swing, pop and folk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Ryans Adams: Heading back to York Barbican

Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, September 20, doors 7pm

NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Setting up camp: Julian Clary extends his western-themed tour into 2025. Harrogate and York await

Show announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm

JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”

Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.

In Focus: Rehearsed reading of Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Sunday, 3pm

The Stephen Joseph Theatre artwork for Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention

THE first ever public performance of the AI-futuristic Father Of Invention, written by Alan Ayckbourn in lockdown, will be given in a fundraising rehearsed reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough on Sunday (15/9/2024) at 3pm.

Ayckbourn directs a cast of Bill Champion, Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall from his 90th play, Show & Tell, joined by Ayckbourn alumni Liza Goddard, Elizabeth Boag, Laurence Pears and Naomi Petersen. This will be the first time the Scarborough writer-director, 85, has heard the work read aloud.

“Take a look at their rollcall of Ayckbourn-written-and-directed shows – we reckon they’ve racked up an impressive 39 between them,” says SJT press officer Jeannie Swales. “We haven’t counted last year’s reading of Truth Will Out, only shows that had a full production either here at the SJT or at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, including Show & Tell. Mind you, that’s still not quite half of the Ayckbourn canon of 90!”

One of a handful of dramas penned by Ayckbourn in the creative cocoon of his Scarborough home during the pandemic, Father Of Invention takes its title from its central character of technology magnate Lord Onsett, who has passed away.

“Lord Onsett was an entrepreneur who made billions from the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence,” says Sir Alan. “His company introduced the now ubiquitous Artificial Sentient Lifeforms, which carry out vast swathes of jobs for humanity from cleaning to security.

“His family are gathered to discuss how his enormous estate will be divided but as ever with Lord Onsett, there are a few surprises in store…”

Leading the gaggle of familiar faces will be “our old friend” Liza Goddard, who has appeared in Ayckbourn premieres of If I Were You, Snake In The Grass, Life & Beth, Communicating Doors, Life Of Riley and The Divide.

The omnipresent Bill Champion has roles in Comic Potential, Haunting Julia, GamePlan, FlatSpin, RolePlay, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Intimate Exchanges, Woman In Mind, Absurd Person Singular, Surprises, Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Henceforward…, No Knowing, By Jeeves, Season’s Greetings, The Girl Next Door, Welcome To The Family and now Show & Tell to his name.

Paul Kemp has made his mark in This Is Where We Came In, Drowning on Dry Land, Private Fears In Public Places, The Champion Of Paribanou, Woman In Mind, My Wonderful Day and The Divide, this summer adding Show & Tell to that list.

York actress Frances Marshall has appeared in premieres of A Brief History Of Women, Joking Apart, Season’s Greetings, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Elizabeth Boag in Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Roundelay, Confusions, Hero’s Welcome, The Divide, Family Album and  Truth Will Out; Naomi Petersen in By Jeeves, Joking Apart, Better Off Dead, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, Haunting Julia, The Girl Next Door, Constant Companions and Truth Will Out.

All money raised from the rehearsed reading will go towards the SJT’s New Work Fund, helping the theatre to present new work on its two stages and to nurture new talent.

Ticket availability is “limited”. Hurry, hurry, to book on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.