Dusk through the tent: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Matthew Johnson
IN its 17th year, the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival returns next month with a programme designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet.
Fourteen concerts will take place from August 10 to August 23, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham.
Sonnet: The theme for the 2025 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival
The remaining ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside.
Festival curator and internationally renowned cellist Jamie Walton says: “This year’s festival, Sonnet, celebrates the art of collaboration in awe-inspiring settings, taking audiences on a musical quest through interwoven themes within a central storyline.
“Each concert is titled after a celebrated poem alongside music that reflects the time of year, guiding us through the 12 months, with the Summer Solstice as our opening and closing landmark.
Cellist Jamie Walton: Curator of the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival
“The festival promises to be another exhilarating and thought-provoking experience, and we hope you will join us as we explore the pagan cycle of the year.”
Combining moorland churches with the Welburn Manor acoustically designed venue – an innovation introduced in 2020 to allow the festival to continue despite the pandemic – has proven to be a popular formula for the festival, attracting international artists, many of whom commit to the entire fortnight by taking up residencies.
This year, these will include violinists Alena Baeva, Benjamin Baker, Emma Parker, Oliver Heath, Charlotte Scott and Victoria Sayles; viola players Simone Gramaglia, Simone van der Giessen and Gary Pomeroy; cellists Rebecca Gilliver, Tim Posner and Jamie Walton; double bass player Will Duerden; pianists Katya Apekisheva, Joseph Havlat, Daniel Lebhardt, Anna Tibrook and Huw Watkins and harpsichordist David Gerrard.
Tenor James Gilchrist performing at the 2024 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Taking part too will be tenor James Gilchrist; clarinettists Julian Bliss and Matthew Hunt; French horn player Ben Goldscheider; flautist Silvija Ščerbavičiūtė and harpist Celine Souat. Completing the line-up will be The Waldstein Trio.
Jamie Walton says: “Many of our artists return every year, embracing residencies and immersing themselves in the festival as a creative retreat. This camaraderie allows the freedom to rehearse in a relaxed setting, forming ensembles that bring fresh interpretations to the repertoire, inspired by the landscape, the people and the atmosphere.”
Tickets for individual concerts are £18; a season ticket for all 14 costs £190. As ever, under-30s gain free entry to any of the concerts. To book, email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com, call 07722 038990 or visit northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
For the full festival programme, head to northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Violinist Alena Baeva playing at the 2024 North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Cantoria exploring festive music of the Baroque from four different perspectivesat St Lawrence’s Church, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
THE most striking feature of music in the Spanish Baroque is the similarity between the sacred and the secular: what works in church is fine outside it, and vice versa. There are few dividing lines. Even more startling, it is all filled with an irrepressible joie de vivre (or as the Spanish might prefer, alegría de vivir). All very un-Anglo-Saxon.
Cantoría’s eight singers and six players, conducted by the tenor Jorge Losana, explored festive music of the Baroque from four different perspectives.
Nowadays the term ‘villancico’ is often used to describe Christmas carols, especially strict ones that use verses (coplas) and refrains (estribillos). But it was originally secular and a cappella. By mid-17th century, many had acquired instrumental accompaniment.
Cantoria performing July 8’s A La Fiesta! programme at York Early Music Festival. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Thus we had Gitanillas cortesanas by José de Torres, gypsy girls dancing to the star of Jacob, in a style very similar to an English verse anthem, but much more balletic.
‘Between Heaven And Earth’ brought us españoletas, more reflective dance-songs of the late 16th century that remained popular throughout the 17th. Oddly enough, the Catalonian monk Joan Cererols contributed several in the vernacular, including a gently swinging eight-voice Suspended Cielos (Suspend, O Heavens) with effective pizzicato backing.
On an earthier level were the jácaras, romances that related the adventures of low-life characters and were therefore much more dramatic, often as intermezzos between acts of an opera. Here we seemed to be at the very heart of Spanish Baroque style. A jacarilla by Sebastián Durón, beautifully inflected by a soprano soloist, even brought the Christ-child into its catchy rhythms.
Cantoria singers and musicians at the In Tune studio
An extended fusion of the rowdier jácara with the Andalusian fandango was delivered by a charismatic baritone over choral backing. It proved the perfect transition into the fandango itself, here distilled instrumentally in one by Santiago de Murcia.
As if in remorse, Cantoría briefly moved back into a sacred lullaby, before a highly theatrical, not to say witty, finale involving bells of different sizes and, by implication, superiority.
It was left to an encore for us to hear castanets. But this was a wonderfully enjoyable, thoroughly professional survey of repertory we need to hear much more in this country. Maybe Cantoria might even consider staging a zarzuela, whose roots lie in the Baroque. Here’s hoping.
Cantoria’s concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on July 20 and still can be accessed via BBC Sounds. Strongly recommended.
Ensemble Bastion
York Early Music Festival, Ensemble Bastion/Ayres Extemporae, National Centre for Early Music, July 10 and 11
TWO prize-winning ensembles from the International Young Artists Competition at last year’s festival returned this year as fully fledged participants. Both more than justified their new status in lunchtime recitals.
Graduates of the Schola Cantorum in Basel, the four members of Ensemble Bastion are led by the recorder player Maruša Brezavšček, with her three equally lively colleagues on viol, theorbo and harpsichord.
In a programme entitled Phantasma: Visions of Heaven and Hell, the group explored the stylus phantasticus, which had its roots in the freewheeling keyboard fantasias of the Venetian performer-composer Claudio Merulo.
Frescobaldi picked up the style and it was transmitted to Germany by his pupil Johann Froberger, whose harpsichord Tombeau on the death of a French lutenist was fluently played by Mélanie Flores.
Biber used it, too, in the passacaglia at the end of his Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas, which was imaginatively arranged here, growing in intensity.
These German pieces were the programme’s centrepiece. On either side we heard works by slightly earlier Italians. Two sonatas by Dario Castello, another Venetian, proved that he had Merulo’s style very much in his blood, with plentiful imitations and volatile changes of tempo.
More surprising was an adaptation of a Palestrina madrigal lamenting the wounds of love and thus veering between heaven and hell.
Similarly there was virtuoso viola da gamba from Martin Jantzen in a sonata by Bovicelli and equally deft finger-work from Elias Conrad’s theorbo in a vivid sonata by Maurizio Cazzati.
Ayres Extemporae
Finally, Brezavšček’s ubiquitous dexterity was nowhere better than in Monteverdi’s cheery Moresca from L’Orfeo, in which she switched seamlessly between alto and piccolo recorders. I hope this ensemble will return soon.
Ayres Extemporae is a string trio with a rare five-string piccolo cello where you would expect a viola to be. The ensemble took as its title ‘Erbarme dich!’ (Have mercy!), the opening words of several arias by Bach, but in this case of an aria from Cantata 55 for tenor, with piccolo tenor taking the voice part, as also in another one from Cantata 97.
In the hands of Victor García García, the instrument’s plaintive tone was well calculated to emulate the voice’s prayerful pleas and eventual serenity.
The programme opened with a suite by Matthew Locke, where the dances had an improvised feel and were much illuminated by the delicate filigrees of Xenia Gogu Mensenin’s violin. Two violin sonatas by Biber contained sets of variations that the group differentiated carefully.
Teresa Madeira’s cello came into its own in movements from Bach’s three sonatas for viola da gamba. In the Andante from No 2, pizzicato interludes offered moments of meditation. In the Adagio of No 3, the piccolo cello played gamba and provided quietude amid the restive atmosphere of the arias mentioned earlier.
Finally, we enjoyed the complete No 1, where the trio developed powerful momentum while maintaining admirable clarity. This is a thoughtful group whose future looks assured.
BOTH these concerts were supported by the John Feldberg Foundation, set up in memory of the violinist and harpsichord builder, who died aged 30 in 1960, to showcase the achievements of young musicians.
James Willstrop: Squash champ, actor and writer, taking Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man? to Friargate Theatre, York, and the Edinburgh Fringe
FROM squash court champion to stage leading man, James Willstrop explores what success really means and what really matters in his debut solo show based on true events.
In a preview of his Edinburgh Fringe run at The Space @ Niddry Street (Lower) from August 1, former squash world number one-turned-Harrogate writer-performer James presents Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man? at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, on Monday night.
In his 50-minute musical ode, he ponders what happens when a self-obsessed, international squash player – dreaming only of becoming world champion – falls for someone who desperately wants a child before her body clock expires. “Where’s the solution when two dreams collide?” he asks.
James tries to find answers in the form of his beautiful mother, Lesley, who died ten years earlier, when he was only 16, nearly 17. Through his reflections and memories of her, while this supreme athlete endures one of the most brutal training sessions he has ever done, can he find a way to discover whether dedication to his lifelong craft and drive to become world champion matters most, or whether bringing a child into the world supersedes it?
“It’s a slightly nerdy, unique slant [on the subject of ambition]: you don’t get too many sporting plays,” says James. “I wanted to look at how much it overtakes you and how healthy is your desire to get to that level? What is the cost of it and what really matters?
“It does become quite skewed, but maybe it has to because what I achieved took a lot of dedication and effort. But it’s also a story about life and parenthood and how what matters changes over time. But if we didn’t have these ambitions, whether in art or sport, we wouldn’t get anywhere, would we?”
Father and son
Since childhood, Norfolk-born James has loved to act, perform and write, alongside his 23 years as a professional squash player, and now he combines the demands of parenthood with teaching squash and playing such Pick Me Up Theatre roles on the York stage as Dr Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist and acid-tongued theatre critic Patrick Burns in Nativity! The Musical.
He has written two books, Shot And A Ghost: A Year In The Brutal World Of Professional Squash and Interviews With Inspiration: Heroes And Icons…And What Drives Them To Succeed, as well as putting pen to paper for the Yorkshire Evening Post. Now he has taken on a very different writing challenge. “Everything has to be said in 50 minutes in this show,” he says.
“Sometimes I found myself thinking, I’m writing a story for the stage for the first time, I’m not an expert playwright, am I trying to squeeze in too much about my mum and my son? Is this too much?”
Those feelings, however, had to play second fiddle to his need to express himself. “A lot of it is written through the regrets of memory as you begin to entertain being a father, thinking about what you get wrong [when growing up] and how you treated your parents. But it’s also about connection with my son Logan, Vanessa and Lesley.”
James attended a creative writing course at Leeds University just before the first Covid-19 lockdown. “They were encouraging me to keep theatricality in my writing,” he recalls. “I had Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads in my mind and I knew I didn’t want it is to be like a lecture.
“I want to ‘keep it theatrical’, so I’ve been working on how I can use movement, and it’s not a monologue as I’m trying to use other voices too.”
James Willstrop’s Doctor Frederick Frankenstein in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Young Frankenstein
He does make one comparison with squash. “On the squash court, you want to be in the centre, controlling the court, and you can do that on stage too,” says James.
A key ingredient in the show is the music: six original songs by Willstrop with arrangements by York musical director, orchestrator, composer and jazz group leader Sam Johnson, who will be playing keyboards on stage, complemented by recorded musicians.
“It’s been great to work on as James has written the words and tunes that I’ve fleshed out into fuller arrangements,” says Sam. “The thing I noticed from James’s voice notes is that they feel ‘through-sung’, as in a musical, where I’m putting form and structure to it.
“There’s still melody in the songs and they’re not forcing themselves into the story structure, so they feel natural where they are placed.”
James rejoins: “I’m just concerned to match how in good musicals songs are furthering the story, rather than just saying ‘I love you’ or expressing feelings. They must enhance the story,” he concludes.
James Willstrop in Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man?, Friargate Theatre, York, July 28, 7.30pm. Box office: ridinglights.org. Edinburgh Fringe, Venue 9, The Space@Niddry Street (Lower), August 1 to 9, 7.25pm; August 11 to 16, 5.25pm; August 18 to 23, 7.25pm. Box office: 0131 2260000 or edfringe.com. Age guidance: 12 plus.
The poster for James Willstrop’s Edinburgh Fringe-bound solo show, Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man?, previewing at Friargate Theatre, York, tomorrow
James Willstrop: the squash facts
ONE of only 23 world number one players in the history of men’s squash; one of England’s best ever players, gaining 80 caps. Won three world team championship titles for England. Became official world number one in January of 2012, a position held for 11 out of 12 months. British National Champion four times; Commonwealth Gold Medallist in 2018 and 2022.
Natural History Museum takes to the stage in Dinosaurs Live at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith
THE dinosaurs are roaring and roaming anew and love is in the air in Charles Hutchinson’s top tips for summer joy.
Children’s show of the week: Natural History Museum presents Dinosaurs Live, Grand Opera House, York, today, 2.30pm and 4.30pm
FOR the first time since 1881, the “home of dinosaurs”, London’s Natural History Museum, is going on tour, teaming up with Mark Thompson Productions for a “dinosaur adventure like no other”.
Suitable for age three upwards, the show takes a pre-historic journey to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods as life-like dinosaurs come alive on stage. In addition, today’s audiences will learn more about fossils, time scales and how our planet has changed over hundreds of millions of years. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Junk Drawer Theatre Company exploring the vicissitudes love in Thank You, I Love You at Theatre@41
Love stories of the week: Junk Drawer Theatre Company, Thank You, I Love You, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 7pm
STEP into a world where love is found in the quiet moments, the whispered goodnights and the spaces between words in Lucy Connor-Mulhall’s Thank You, I Love You’s 70-minute exploration of connection: romantic, platonic and everything in between.
Through fragmented memories, late-night conversations and the weight of unspoken emotions, Junk Drawer Theatre Company’s Rachael Lanaghan, Emine Altinsoy, Billy Abbey, Holly Carter, Luke Quarrington and Isobel Pilot’s characters navigate love, loss, and longing. Some hold on too tightly, others learn how to let go, in a reminder that love is not so much the grand gestures, more the smallest, softest things, such as a shared bed, a stolen glance, a promise to light the sky for someone who needs it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri: On song at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight
Coastal gig of the week: Texas, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight. Gates open at 6pm
THIS weekend, Sharleen Spiteri leads Glasgow band Texas through five decades of hits, from I Don’t Want To Be A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Sun to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking. Rianne Downey supports. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Ronan Keating: Returning to York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend today
Irish craic of the whip of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, today. Gates open at 11.15am; first race, 1.25pm; last race, 5pm
IRISH singer, presenter and talent-show judge Ronan Keating returns to the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, back on the Knavesmire track where he performed with Boyzone in July 2018.
Expect both solo and boy band favourites. “If you’re going to a festival or a racecourse, you have to give the people what they want, what they’re expecting, and because of the Boyzone documentary that’s on Sky and NOW TV, I’ll be doing more Boyzone hits than normal this time,” he says. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Helena Mackie: Oboe soloist at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s concert at Ryedale Festival
Ryedale Festival finale: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Final Gala Concert, Hovingham Hall, Sunday, 6.30pm
THE ‘Liverpool Phil’ make their Ryedale Festival debut this weekend, exploring the Italian vistas of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4, complemented by Mozart’s Oboe Concerto (featuring soloist Helena Mackie), Faure’s serene Pavane and Poulenc’s mischievous, charming Sinfonietta. For the festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
James Willstrop: From squash court to stage in musical ode to beautiful mothers, sporting ambition and fatherhood at Friargate Theatre
Edinburgh Fringe preview of the week: James Willstrop in Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be A Man?, Friargate Theatre, York, July 28, 7.30pm
JAMES Willstrop, cynical and driven only by his sporting success, is on the verge of becoming world number one in squash. A chance meeting leads to an agonising dilemma that threatens everything he has worked so hard to achieve.
Through tender recollections of his mother Lesley, who died when he was 17, and by undertaking the hardest training session of his life in real time, Willstrop learns lessons about ambition, success and love in the Harrogate sportsman, actor and writer’s solo musical ode to beautiful mothers, sporting ambition and fatherhood. Box office: ridinglights.org.
Annie Kingsnorth, left, Martin Shaw and Abigail Cruttenden in Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons at the Grand Opera House, York
Political play of the week: A Man For All Seasons, Grand Opera House, York, July 29 to August 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
THE greatest, most powerful and dangerous figures who shaped English history are brought vividly to life in Robert Bolt’s award-winning play, directed by Jonathan Church on a tour that visits York in its only northern outing before a West End run.
Now 80, The Professionals, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently star Martin Shaw playsSir Thomas More: scholar, ambassador, Lord Chancellor, friend to King Henry VIII and man of integrity. When Henry demands a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, clearing the way for him to marry Anne Boleyn, the staunchly Catholic Thomas is forced to choose between loyalty and conscience, committing an act of defiance that can only lead to the ultimate price. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
York Stage: Celebrating 100 years of Disney songs in Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Musical revue of the week: York Stage in Disney’s Dare to Dream Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, August 1, 7.30pm; August 2, 2pm and 4pm
HONOURING 100 years of Disney music, this60-minute revue follows an eager group of trainees on their first day at a fictional Walt Disney Imagineering Studio. As the trainees set out to help each other discover their dreams, they work together to explore the power of those dreams to unite, inspire and make anything possible.
Disney’s Dare To Dream Jr includes songs that appear for the first time in a Disney stage musical, notably fan favourites from The Princess And The Frog, Coco, Enchanto and Frozen II in a showcase of contemporary songs, timeless classics and new medleys to surprise and delight Disney devotees of all ages. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Sweet Legacies: Exhibition at York TheatreRoyal to tie in with this summer’s community play, His Last Report
Exhibition of the week: Sweet Legacies, York Theatre Royal, until August 3
YORK Theatre Royal’s foyer is transformed into a pop-up exhibition of photography, visual arts, audio, film and more as part of the Sweet Legacies community engagement project.
The project has seen the Theatre Royal work with 22 community groups across the city to put on a series of fun, free and inclusive activities and events.
The free exhibition is open to all to learn more about the project and the Rowntree family to coincide with the Theatre Royal and Riding Lights community play His Last Report.
In Focus: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday
Soprano Lucy Farrimond: Performing at Sunday’s York Proms
NO tickets will be available on the gate for Sunday’s seventh York Proms at York Museum Gardens, presented by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman.
Topping the bill will be rising operatic singers soprano Lucy Farrimond and tenor Oscar Bowen-Hill, performing with the orchestra under director Ben Crick.
Royal Northern College of Music graduate Farrimond made her BBC Proms solo debut in 2019 aged 21, singing Haydn’s The Creation at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed on the BBC, ITV, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.
Bowen-Hill has graduated with BSc 1st Class honours in Cognitive Science and Singing, sings with the London Philharmonic Choir and is embarking on the next steps of his career with scholarships at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, London, and Oxford Bach Soloists.
Farrimond and Bowen-Hill will lead the Proms finale, including Jerusalem and Land Of Hope And Glory, rounded off with fireworks lighting up St Mary’s Abbey, as well as performing operatic arias and show songs. Classical orchestral pieces and film music will feature too.
The main stage will be complemented by York Proms’ biggest ever community stage, presenting more than 200 York performers, including the York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir in its centenary year, opening the event with a rendition of the National Anthem with the orchestra.
Taking part too will be York Rock Choir, Lucy’s Pop Choir, Bridge Shanty Crew, York Musical Theatre Company and the Katie Ventress Dance School.
Gates will open at 5pm for Fast Track tickets and at 5.30pm for Standard. Picnics are permitted, including alcohol and glass bottles but bags will be checked on arrival. Picnics are allowed, with alcohol and glass bottles, although bags will be inspected on arrival. Camping chairs? Yes. Tables, parasols, trolleys and BBQs? No. No dogs will be admitted, except for assistance dogs.
A quick check of the York Proms website confirms that Adult General Sale, Disabled and Child tickets are still on sale; Adult Fast Track and Teen tickets have sold out. To book, go to: yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2025.
Conductor and composer Eric Whitacre. Picture: Marc Royce
THE concert opened with a charming theatrical gesture: the choir entered the auditorium in single file, splitting symmetrically to surround the audience — with conductor Eric Whitacre positioned halfway up the central aisle — to perform the composer’s Lux Aurumque.
I’ve attended a number of concerts here — almost all of them orchestral — and all compromised by the venue’s generous acoustic. That’s hardly surprising, given that Hovingham Hall’s concert space was originally the North Yorkshire estate’s 18th-century riding school. But not this time. The choral sound resonated beautifully, the balance was impeccable and so was the singing.
Not only is Eric Whitacre a superb composer and a highly accomplished conductor, but he’s also completely at ease in his role as presenter. Instantly engaging and often funny, he gave us a deeper understanding of the choral works being performed.
The second piece had the wonderfully descriptive title: Leonardo Dreams Of His Flying Machine. The opening burst into dissonant flight in a work that embraced the dramatic. The vocal landscape was rich, enhanced by miniature suspended cymbals and tambourines to sex-up the score. The result was a fitting tribute to the great innovator’s visionary ornithopter and his enduring fascination with flight.
As visually engaging as the conductor and chamber choir undoubtedly were, I couldn’t take my eyes off the elephant in the room: an upright piano, front and right of stage. Then, halfway through the programme, Mr Whitacre graciously welcomed the festival’s artistic director and distinguished pianist Christopher Glynn to the platform.
The composer’s Seal Lullaby is his setting of the Rudyard Kipling poem and reminded me of the music by Howard Blake in Dianne Jackson’s animated film of Raymond Briggs’s , The Snowman. The tonal harmonic clusters and gentle dissonances were very effective and sweetly sung, but it was a bit sugary for my palette. Given the instrument’s limitations, Christopher Glynn’s ability to produce such a refined sound was impressive.
Whitacre’s Sing Gently impressed both as a choral work and in its timely ambition. Written in 2020 during the global Covid-19 lockdown, the piece was commissioned for Virtual Choir 6. Its premiere performance featured 17,572 singers from 129 countries – making it his largest virtual choir to date (I looked these statistics up).
The setting of the lyrics – “May we sing together, always. May our hearts always be gentle” – was simple and unembellished, and the performance sincerely heartfelt. I thought this gentle plea for empathy, community and kindness really resonated in a world that seems to be embracing the exact opposite.
The composer’s Hurt couldn’t be more different. It is actually a choral arrangement of a Trent Reznor song recorded by Nine Inch Nails as part of their iconic 1994 album, The Downward Spiral and later by the great Johnny Cash on 2002’s American IV: The Man Comes Around.
National Youth Choir of Scotland artistic director Christopher Bell
The choir delivered a genuinely rich, darker sound world with prominent dissonances reinforcing the rawness of text: “I hurt myself today/ To see if I still feel/ I focus on the pain/ The only thing that’s real”.
The choir’s role worked brilliantly: transforming from support, commentary and then integrating with the excellent soloist. The sustained minor second cadence created a haunting effect.
The mood shifted again with two of Moses Hogan’s well-known arrangements of African American spirituals: Elijah Rock and Joshua Fit The Battle (Of Jericho). Both pieces were great, bristling with vitality and razor-sharp articulation.
The vocal narrative was driven with authentic intent. However, the sheer rhythmic energy, dramatic dynamic contrasts and interplay between the powerful homophonic sections and lighter, more intricate imitation passages of the latter lingered longest in my mind.
Before looking at the musical offering from Bach, I must give a mention to Christopher Bell, the long-serving artistic director – and driving force – behind the very highly regarded NYCOS chamber choir. A point generously acknowledged by Eric Whitacre.
This and a slight whinge: the concert was about 15-20 minutes too long which, given the seating on offer, was a bit of an ask.
For me, the highlight of the concert was Come, Sweet Death: J S Bach, arranged (or rather, reimagined) by Edwin London and realised by Rhonda Sandberg.
That title needs a little unpacking: Bach’s Komm, Süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death) was originally written in 1736 for solo voice and basso continuo. Edwin London’s concept transforms it into a richly layered choral work – the true act of creative reinterpretation – freeing the singers from strict rhythmic coordination, a distinctly modern choral approach. But it is Rhonda Sandberg who created the practical performing score, bringing London’s vision to life.
The choir reverted to surrounding the audience, with Eric Whitacre directing from the centre. All seemed like business as usual, as the Bach arrangement exchanged lines of recognisable authenticity. Then, suddenly, that world stopped – as if someone had pressed a button – and we were transported into the most exquisite, psychedelic, timeless sound world.
The music floated, as the choir bled out the original sacred tune like some otherworldly canon. A work of genius? Quite possibly. And a fitting close to a concert that constantly surprised.
Everybody’s talking about Harvey Stevens’ Jamie: the break-out star of Pick Me Up Theatre’s production
MADE in Sheffield and exported to the musical theatre world, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has its second York run this week after Nik Briggs’s Teen Edition for York Stage in June 2023.
Young actors are no less prominent in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s production, led by Harvey Stevens, even younger at 15 than Ryan Addyman was when fronting Briggs’s cast of 13 to 19-year-olds at 17.
Harvey has been dancing since his first class at the Yorkshire Rose Academy of Dance aged three and will begin musical theatre studies at SLP College in Garforth in September. He is a stage natural, tall and lithe and mischievously energetic, here bringing his dream role of Jamie New to life with cheek and chutzpah.
There to watch him on the first night was his father, Antonie Williams-Browne, who had travelled up from Plymouth specially for the show. Twenty years ago, Antonie had shown off his own dance moves in Robert Readman’s UK amateur premiere of The Full Monty for Shipton Theatre Company at the JoRo, “lifting the first half to new heights” (York Press, July 27 2005) when playing the veteran, arthritic-limbed Horse.
Harvey Stevens’ Jamie New, front left, and his Mayfield School classmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
Son Harvey is a colt by comparison, with room for expansion in both his vocal and acting range, but already he has a thrilling presence on stage: everybody will be talking about his Jamie this week.
Inspired by the Firecracker documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16, composer Dan Gillespie Sells (from Horsham pop practitioners The Feeling) and writer/lyricist Tom MacRae drew on an original idea by co-writer Jonathan Butterell for the 2017 Sheffield Crucible Theatre premiere of a show that completed a populist trilogy of Steel City comedy dramas.
First came the defiant spirit and sheer balls of The Full Monty; next, the classroom politics and fledgling frustrations of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, and lastly “Jamie”, the unapologetic story of the boy who sometimes to be wants to be a girl, wear a dress to the school prom and be a drag queen.
Eight years on, “Jamie” still lives up to its billing as “the hit musical for today”, replete with bold humour, withering wit, northern nous and sassy social awareness, in a barometer of our changing times and attitudes towards gender, bigotry, bullying, homophobia, absentee fathers and the right to self-expression. Jamie’s reverence for RuPaul, whose Drag Race was not aired on BBC Three until 2019, affirms how the show has kept an eye on cultural shifts.
First we meet the Year 11 pupils of Mayfield School, a typical comprehensive classroom of 16-year-olds full of hopes and aspirations, but filtered through the realities of life in a northern town that makes them cynical and unruly too, typified by Stevens’ Jamie, draped languidly over his chair, bored and inattentive.
Zander Fick’s feisty drag queen Loco Chanelle in Everbody’s Talking About Jamie Picture: Matthew Kitchen
In the wake of Billy Liar’s Billy Fisher and Kes’s Billy Casper, here is another young, restless Yorkshire dreamer in need of escape from the grey grime of a Sheffield council estate in a classic teen rebel story.
A breaker of rules and hearts alike, this lippy kid in lip gloss oozes confidence on the surface, graceful in high heels, but Jamie is naive and vulnerable too, desperate to strut before he can walk, especially when his stay-away father (Andrew Isherwood) is so disapproving and teacher Miss Hedge (Alexandra Mather) is so narrow-minded.
Stevens’ Jamie will be the teen star of the show, but gold stars also go to Fergus Green’s loathsome, self-loathing bully, Dean Paxton, and Ruby Salter’s quietly self-assured doctor-in-waiting Pritti Pasha, Jamie’s best friend, whose rendition of It Means Beautiful lives up to its title.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is told from more than the teen perspective, giving it the grit of a kitchen-sink drama, where the adult viewpoint of father and teacher is compounded by Jamie’s world-weary, self-sacrificial, ever supportive mum Margaret (Rowntree Players’ pantomime clown Gemma McDonald revealing a deeper side, her voice cracking under the emotion of singing her second heartfelt ballad, He’s My Boy.
Meet Sheffield drag queens Loco Chanelle, Tray Sophisticay, Laika Virgin and Sandra Bollock, alias Zander Fick, Andrew Isherwood, Mark Simmonds and Ryan Richardson, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Make-up: Renee Delait. Hair: The Birdcage, Brighton. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
She forms a defiant double act with Lottie Farmer’s Ray, her blunt but sharp friend, who is always popping round with a market stall bargain, backed up by a choice putdown for authority.
Equally supportive too is dress-shop boss Hugo/veteran drag act Loco Chanelle (Zander Fick, continuing his year of outstanding performances), in tandem with the bantering drag-queen veterans Sandra Bollock (Ryan Richardson), Tray Sophisticay (Andrew Isherwood at the double) ) and Laika Virgin (Mark Simmonds), Sheffield’s variation on The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.
Posted high above the stage, musical director Adam Tomlinson and his band, trumpet, trombone, tenor sax et al, are in top form throughout, for big numbers and instrumental interludes alike, while Ilana Weets’s choreography hits the mark, from And You Don’t Even Know It opening to Out Of The Darkness (A Place Where We Belong) finale.
Readman wears his director and designer hats with elan, aside from a misbehaving, overworked central door* that opens to Margaret’s kitchen, Loco Chanel’s studio, school classroom and Dad’s house alike. His triumphant production epitomises this musical’s call to “celebrate being yourself and find a place where you belong”: the stage for Jamie New and Harvey Stevens alike.
Pick Me Up Theatre, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Gemma McDonald’s Margaret, left, Harvey Stevens’ Jamie New and Lottie Farmer’s Ray in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
* Footnote from director-designer Robert Readman:
“JUST a quick note to say the misbehaving centre door is now fixed! It was originally going to swing both ways but it just decided to come out…”
Harvey Stephens’ Jamie New, front left, with his Sheffield schoolmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
FROM dazzling dancing to doodling, disco favourites to an orchestral festival debut, Charles Hutchinson highlights summer delights that lie ahead.
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness into the spotlight?
Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Helmsley Arts Centre’s poster for Doodle Fest’s creative workshops
Summer holiday activity of the week: Doodle Fest, The Art of Doodling Art Festival Creative Workshops, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 10am to 3pm, ages eight to 11; tomorrow, 9.30am to 11am, ages five to seven; tomorrow, 1pm to 4pm, ages 12 to 16
ARTIST Nicola Hutchinson guides participants through taking doodling skills to the next level, from experimenting with different forms and techniques to discovering new ways to express yourself through art. Turn your sketches into articulated characters; design giant doodled picture frames to showcase your masterpieces; let your imagination run wild as your doodles come to life in beautiful works of art.
All materials will be provided, but bring a sketchbook if you have one at home. All levels and abilities are welcome; snacks and drinks are provided; dress to get messy. Tickets: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Sharleen Spiteri: Fronting Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Judas Priest, tonight; Texas, Saturday. Gates open at 6pm
JUDAS Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Tonight’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons.
This weekend, Sharleen Spiteri leads Glasgow band Texas through five decades of hits, from I Don’t Want To Be A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Sun to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking. Rianne Downey supports. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts: Feel the power of ballads and anthems at Grand Opera House, York
Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.
Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend
Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Friday. Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm
AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.
Ellis-Bextor, 46, draws on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Fifties and Sixties’ tribute gig of the week: Music Masters, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
MUSIC Masters’ time machine of a five-piece band transport Friday’s audience back to 1950s and 1960s’ pop with their dedication to vintage vocal harmonies, instrumental prowess and revival of the spirit of a golden age when music was the heartbeat of a generation. As the old saying goes, “be there or be square”. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Ronan Keating: Returning to York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend on Saturday
Irish craic of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Saturday. Gates open at 11.15am; first race, 1.25pm; last race, 5pm
IRISH singer, presenter and talent-show judge Ronan Keating returns to the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, back on the Knavesmire track where he performed with Boyzone in July 2018.
Expect both solo and boy band favourites. “If you’re going to a festival or a racecourse, you have to give the people what they want, what they’re expecting, and because of the Boyzone documentary that’s on Sky and NOW TV, I’ll be doing more Boyzone hits than normal this time,” he says. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Helena Mackie: Soloist for Mozart’s Oboe Concerto at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Ryedale Festival debut
Ryedale Festival finale: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Final Gala Concert, Hovingham Hall, Sunday, 6.30pm
THE ‘Liverpool Phil’ make their Ryedale Festival debut this weekend, exploring the Italian vistas of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4, complemented by Mozart’s Oboe Concerto(featuring soloist Helena Mackie), Faure’s serene Pavane and Poulenc’s mischievous, charming Sinfonietta. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
Alan Fletcher: Heading to Pocklington with his band in September
Show announcement of the week: Alan Fletcher, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm
NEIGHBOURS soap star Alan Fletcher will swap Ramsay Street for Pocklington Arts Centre for an evening of song. Known to millions as Dr Karl Kennedy in the long-running Australian series, he has carved out a career as a musician too, first fronting rock band Waiting Room, then as an Americana and alt-country singer-songwriter.
In 2024, singer and guitarist Fletcher’s five-piece band sold out 22 British dates promoting his album The Point. Now they return to showcase latest album Back To School. His compositions blend humour (For The Love Of Lager, How Good Is Bed) and poignant reflections on love, life and everything in between (Hey You, The Point, Back To School). Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Kate Rusby: Performing with the Singy Songy Session Band at Ryedale Festival. Picture: David Angel
In Focus: Ryedale Festival, Kate Rusby, When They All Looked Up, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 25, 7pm, sold out
BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby makes her Ryedale Festival debut on Friday, performing songs from her new album with her Singy Songy Session Band.
Released on Pure Records on April 25, When They All Looked Up is Kate’s first studio set of new material since 2019’s Philosphers, Poets & Kings. In that time, she has delivered the Christmas albums Holly Head in 2019 and Light Years in 2023 and the covers collection Hand Me Down in 2020.
Combining original compositions with re-imagined traditional songs, When They All Looked Up spans a dynamic sonic landscape, from intimate acoustic arrangements to rich, immersive soundscapes, on intimate, uplifting, joyous and profoundly moving songs that explore human stories, themes of resilience, self-discovery and connection.
First single Let Your Light Shine is a heartfelt message to Kate’s teenage daughters, Daisy and Phoebe, and to all in need of encouragement, elevated by the addition of Barnsley Youth Choir’s Senior Choir.
The album cover artwork for Kate Rusby’s When They All Looked Up
“This song is my advice to my daughters, but also to anyone who might need to hear it,” says Kate. “It’s about embracing who you are, having faith in your unique gifts, and letting the world see your light. Be strong, be positive and be kind.”
The full track listing is: How The World Goes; Today Again; Ettrick; Let Your Light Shine; The Moon Man; Judges And Juries; The Barnsley Youth And Temperance Society; The Girl With The Curse; Master Kilby; The Yorkshire Couple and Coal Not Dole.
On December 20, Kate will bring her Christmas Is Merry tour – her 20th anniversary celebration of festive folk joy – to York Barbican. As ever, she will perform traditional South Yorkshire carols, Christmas chestnuts and her own winter songs, drawn from her six Christmas albums, in the company of her regular band and the “Brass Boys” at 7pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb tonight.
York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Tonight’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, right, with Reception writer-director Matt Aston walking through Leeds. They will discuss the new musical tonight at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York
Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens
YORK Theatre Royal’s community play takes top billing in Charles Hutchinson’s selections for summer satisfaction.
Community play of the week: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company present His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, today to August 3
FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.
Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Bean there, done that: “Appetite For Destruction” artist Lincoln Lightfoot takes his spay can to York’s iconic Bile Beans mural advert at VandalFest
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today, Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH.
Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre today
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Craig David TS5 Show plus special guest Patrick Nazemi, today; Judas Priest, July 23. Gates open at 6pm
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this weekend. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.
Judas Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Wednesday’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Heather Leech in Gleowit Productions’ King Harold’s Mother at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Historical solo show of the week: Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
IN 1066, a mother loses four sons; three killed at the Battle of Hastings, one branded as a traitor. However, these are times of turmoil, where crowns on the head go with swords in the hand, and this mother has lost everything.
Two years later in Exeter, King Harold’s mother, Gytha Thorkelsdottir, makes her last stand against the might of the new king, William. She is forced to face the consequences of her own actions, to accept the overwhelming might of the Conqueror. Is nothing all she is left with? Is nothing better than this, asks Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, written and performed by Heather Leech. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton
Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm
THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.
Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, left, and Reception writer-director Matt Aston, pictured walking through Leeds, will be teaming up for a chat at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, on Sunday
Gig and chat show the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7pm
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
Out with the old, in with New: Harvey Stevens’ Jamie, front left, with his Sheffield school classmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New is terrified of the future and has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. He knows he can be a sensation. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness, into the spotlight?
Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, July 24, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.
Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for Knavesmire
Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25.Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm
AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.
Ellis-Bextor, 46, will draw on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home, from a pop career now stretching beyond 25 years. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
In Focus: The Floating Fringe, Arts Barge, York, July 24 to 26
The launch poster for The Floating Fringe
ALL aboard for The Floating Fringe, a celebration of grassroots, home-grown performances on the Arts Barge, moored at Foss Basin Moorings, off Tower Street, York.
This bold new arts festival is taking over the Selby Tony former cargo barge for three jam-packed days of comedy, theatre and family entertainment, offering a long-overdue space for the city’s vibrant and emerging Fringe scene.
“Led by a new generation of creatives, The Floating Fringe is here to shake things up,” says lead organiser Kai West, the York artist, printmaker and Bull band member. “It’s a spirited response to past commercial Fringe attempts that failed to take root, replacing polished formulas with passion, playfulness and local and up-and-coming talent.
“This is about more than just putting on a show. It’s about building a community. With its intimate setting and grassroots ethos, The Floating Fringe aims to be the artistic home for Fringe arts, acts and audiences alike: a long-awaited space for expression where alternative, up-and-coming and independent voices can truly thrive.”
Kai continues: “York has always had the talent, the audiences and the appetite for Fringe. What it’s been missing is a space that actually belongs to the community. After seeing other commercial attempts come and go, we wanted to create something independent, accessible and genuinely rooted in York’s creative scene. The Arts Barge has always been about building something meaningful for York, by York. The Fringe is just another part of that.”
The Arts Barge itself is part of that story. A passion project years in the making, it was crowd-funded and community-built by the Arts Barge Project to bring an accessible floating arts space to York. Now fully operational and moored in the centre of the city, the barge is more than a venue. “It’s a symbol of what’s possible when local creatives are given the freedom to build something of their own,” says Kai.
From comedy to original theatre and family-friendly daytime shows, The Floating Fringe promises a weekend packed with performances, connection and grassroots energy. “Whether you’re a Fringe fanatic or just curious to see what York’s creative underground has to offer, everyone is welcome aboard,” says Kai.
5pm to 6pm, Robocop vs The Terminator vs Gabriel Featherstone. Three titans of entertainment face off in a bloody, mind-mangling, no-holds-barred battle to the death.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Richard Brown: Nauseatingly Woke Full-Grown Jellyfish. Underground Fringe favourite known for thoughtful, intelligent and dark alternative comedy.
8pm to 9pm, Seymour Mace Does Things With Stuff. “It’s better than watching people do things,” says Seymour. “It’s better than paying to watch people do things. I was doped up on watching other people do things. I forgot how to do things I’ve just remembered. Look what I done!”
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Theo Mason Wood: Legalise Kissing. York-raised Netflix writer and award-winning comedian delivers a punk-clown manifesto on love, identity and modern chaos in a genre-defying mix of stand-up, surreal storytelling and live techno anthems. “This is comedy like you’ve never seen before,” says Mason Wood.
Bobby Cockles
Friday
5pm to 6pm, Clown: Bobby Cockles Goes To Hell! The Good Room presents a dark stand-up journey through the terrible adventure of a cursed Cockney clown. Being in love can be absolute hell!
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Eryn Tett Is Sponsored By The Global Megacorp Institute of Manchester, work in progress. Multi award-winner is developing her next show: an immersive comedy packed with her trademark offbeat (mostly “yo mama”) jokes, top-secret ceremonies and a non-stop handshake.
8pm to 9pm, York The Plank: A Bunch of Local Legends. Fast, furious and gloriously chaotic stand-up comedy showcase helmed by Chris Booker, comedian, aspiring sci-fi writer and charmingly under-qualified sea captain for the night.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Thor Odin Stenhaug, One Night Stand Baby. A show about love, life (drawings) and being not only a son to your parents but more like a mutual friend.
Sir Dickie Benson
Saturday
2pm to 3pm, Moon Rabbit Theatre presents Shirley: A Ghost Story. Why do people write ghost stories? Is it to explain away the fear? To spread it? Or do they write to reveal the ghosts inside them?
3.30pm to 4.30pm, Caroline McEvoy: Train Man. Tale of sibling rivalry in post-Troubles Northern Ireland, told with gut-punch gags and emotional blows as McEvoy reckons with her lifelong battle with her younger brother, who loves trains and getting his way.
5pm to 6pm, Alfie Packham: My Apologies To The Chef. Voilà! Alfie serves up new jokes in his fresh show about friends, family, loneliness, enemies – and which of these he prefers. Bon appétit.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Jain Edwards, She-Devil. Jain isn’t like other girls. She’s worse. But she’s finally ready to lean in (and receive a little forehead kiss from hubby). Expect silly, subversive comedy in a show about conspiracy theories, autism and men turning on you.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Sir Dickie Benson Interacts With The Audience Whether They Like It Or Not. Encounter the last Hollywood hell-raiser; an octogenarian, thespian barbarian with a pint of vodka and a smouldering hash pipe whose capacity for drink is matched only by his boundless charm and mercurial temper.
Helen Charlston: “Projection and accentuation of words is amongst the best I have encountered in a long while, I am tempted to say unrivalled,” writes reviewer Martin Dreyer. Picture: Julien Gazeau
HELEN Charlston’s elegant mezzo had already been heard at the festival’s opening event with Fretwork, but this solo recital with theorbist Toby Carr deserved special mention, not least for an attractive new work commissioned by the National Centre for Early Music from composer Anna Disley-Simpson and librettist Olivia Bell.
Neither had been on my radar before – definitely my loss – but their new piece is an exciting collaboration that bodes well for their futures. It was specifically designed to fit within the festival’s Heaven & Hell subtitle, “a reflection on the story of man’s fall from grace”, in the words of the brochure.
Bell contributes an extremely witty poem, Purgatory: a waiting room, which immediately lends itself to monodrama, in which the ‘keeper of the keys’ offers advice and comfort to a new arrival wondering whether they will end up above or below.
The surprise here, mirrored three times in a refrain, is that the visitor has a choice: ‘Beach or snow? Joy or woe? Peace or party? Sparse or hearty? Fire or ice? Naughty or nice?’
Although not the refrain, this extract conveys something of the poem’s internal rhymes, not to say its Betjemanesque humour. But behind its clipped, conversational tone lies deeper philosophy; comedy and ideas are cleverly intermingled.
Disley-Simpson’s through-composed approach is essentially tonal, but above all she is alive to the text and clearly understands what suits the voice, using emphatic leaps when need be.
She could hardly have had a better advocate than Charlston, whose projection and accentuation of words is amongst the best I have encountered in a long while, I am tempted to say unrivalled.
The theorbo, too, is given more than a mere underlay, with speedier riffs, for example, that invigorate the refrain. Toby Carr played with typical fluency throughout.
There was a clear feeling of teamwork between all four – two creators and two performers – that might valuably lead to something genuinely operatic, a one-act piece, for example, with a mute ‘visitor’ being harangued by the key-keeper, allowing even more amusing theatrics than a static singer can achieve. But the potential the work throws up is indisputable.
The first part of the evening, ‘Heaven’, took place in the Great Hall upstairs; after the interval, appropriately for ‘Hell’, we moved downstairs to the gloomier, candlelit Undercroft.
The downside of this was that it took the BBC all but an hour to move equipment accordingly. But the broadcasts, when they come up on BBC Radio 3 on July 27 and August 3, will surely prove the whole exercise worthwhile.
‘Heaven’ included especially poignant accounts of Purcell’s The Blessed Virgin’s expostulation, in which Charlston fully inhabited the virgin’s volatile misgivings, and of Lord, What Is Man?, with despondency quite blown away by a forthright final quatrain and Hallelujah.
In ‘Hell’, aside from the premiere and some tasty Charpentier, we had Carissimi’s wonderfully volatile take on Lucifer and some meatily mischievous Monteverdi. Both performers were on top form. Don’t miss them.
