Coming to terms with loss: Alexa Chaplin ‘s Annie in York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical. All pictures: Gareth Jenkins *
WRITTEN by two Honorary Yorkshiremen from the Wirral, friends-since-schooldays Tim Firth and Gary Barlow, Calendar Girls The Musical plays an immediate crowd-pleasing ace card by opening with a song called Yorkshire.
Premiered under the name The Girls at Leeds Grand Theatre in 2015 and first staged in York by York Stage Musicals at the Grand Opera House in 2022, the show now plays out against All In One Productions’ photographic scenery of the rolling Yorkshire Dales at their most green and pleasant pastured. In front is a dry stone wall with a gate. You can almost smell the ‘Yorkshireness’ of it all.
Welcome to director-choreographer Kathryn Addison’s production for York Musical Theatre Company, with musical director John Atkin in the pit to conduct a band wherein Rosie Morris’s piano is to the fore (as to be expected when Take That keyboardist Gary Barlow is the composer), complemented by Cameron McArthur’s keys and guitar, Paul McArthur’s bass, Andy Jennings’ percussion and the emotive Yorkshire brass of Ross Simpson’s trumpet and Martin Farmery’s trombone.
From the Yorkshire-wide grin of that opening number, Firth and Barlow then introduce ‘The Girls’, the Knapely Women’s Institute members who will go on to pose for the fundraising artistic nude calendar that launched so many doppelgangers.
Eve Clark’s Jenny
The new WI chairwoman Marie (Andrea Copeland) may be old-school, all Jam and Jerusalem, dull guest speakers and duller regulations, but as second song Mrs Conventional establishes, these girls can be unconventional, especially Katie Melia’s rebellious Chris, whose sparky individuality so attracted husband Rod (Jack Hooper), who runs a flower shop.
However, the sunshine dims when John ‘Clarkey’ Clarke (Peter Melia), National Park officer, gardener and sunflower-loving husband of best friend Annie (Alexa Chaplin), is diagnosed, spoiler alert, with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Struggling to come to terms with the impending loss of this gentle, gregarious giant, Chaplin’s Annie delivers a beautiful rendition of Barlow and lyricist Firth’s outstanding number, Scarborough, with its devastating closing lyric: “And who will protect me/While telling me lies/If you’re not here.”
Those lines are typical of the observant golden touch of Firth, whose script judges perfectly what the crescendo should be (the stripping off one by one for the calendar), while also introducing three teenage children (James Hepworth’s Danny, Eve Clark’s Jenny and Frankie Jackson’s Tommo), who show another side to their parents.
Alison Taylor’s Ruth performing My Russian Friend And I
Firth applies the right balance of pathos, sadness, northern humour and bloody-minded defiance, the tears and the cheers, all heightened by the piano-led storytelling songs that show off another side to Barlow’s songwriting in modern musical set-pieces such as Yorkshire, the carol-singing Who Wants A Silent Night (led by Amy Greene’s Cora at the piano) and Sunflower, (fronted by Melia’s Chris).
Barlow’s mastery of balladry is affirmed by Chaplin’s performances of not only Scarborough but also Very Slightly Almost and Kilimanjaro, while Firth’s lyrics lend exuberant humour to So I’ve Had A Little Word Done, the big, brassy, belter for Sarah Brown’s Celia, then a darker sting to vodka-swilling Ruth’s My Russian Friend And I, sung with confessional candour by Alison Taylor, bordering on self-loathing.
Melia and Chaplin bring out all sides of Chris and Annie’s friendship, the light and the shade, the highs and the lows , the contrasting temperaments, the fun and the fall-outs, the grief and the renewal. Around them, Greene’s Cora, Brown’s Celia, Taylor’s Ruth, Copeland’s Marie and the ever-wonderful Sandy Nicholson’s former teacher Jessie savour their moment in the spotlight.
So too does Nicola Dawson in her cameo as Knapely show judge Lady Cravenshire, Janie Woolgar’s ill-fated WI lecturer, Brenda Hulse, and Paula Stainton and Samantha Cole’s two Miss Wilsons, a double act forever offering pots of tea and coffee.
Kate Melia’s Chris and Jack Hooper’s Rod in York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical
Peter Melia’s John is affable, phlegmatic, humorous, even in the face of a terminal illness, while Jack Hooper’s Rod delivers two homespun homilies on love and marriage that will make even a cynic go all warm and fuzzy.
Hepworth’s disgraced head boy Danny and Clark’s wayward schoolgirl Jenny, who leads him astray, delight in their awkward teenage journey of discovery, joined by Jackson’s ever-cheeky, work-shy Tommo.
No less awkward is Joe Marucci’s Lawrence, the shy photographer who suggests how the traditions of the WI – knitting, baking, piano playing, flower arranging – should be adapted for the calendar shoot featuring the ladies of Knapely in all manner of shapely.
Aside from some technical difficulties with the sound, Wednesday’s opening night reaffirmed what a wonderful celebration of community, Yorkshire, life, flowers, love, humour, humanity and the power of song Calendar Girls remains.
York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In full bloom: Kathryn Addison’s cast in the finale to Calendar Girls The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
* Photographer Gareth Jenkins
BASED in Kirkbymoorside, Gareth is “always happy to photograph creative events at no charge”. Any arts organisation in need of a photographer can contact him on 07875 018888 or 01751 430116.
Leading light: Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s Melchior in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Mia Scudds
MIKHAIL Lim played Georg in York Stage Musicals’ northern premiere of Spring Awakening at the Vaudeville Theatre, Joseph Rowntree School, York, in November 2010.
Roll forward to May 19 2026 when his startling production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s rock musical was launched with a 20th Anniversary Preview Event, 20 years to the day since the off-Broadway premiere opened at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City.
Entry came with a tote bag emblazoned with a lyric from the show. Inside were a notepad and pen (tools for the reviewers, received gratefully) and a Welcome note from Inspired By Theatre, the York company fast establishing a reputation for injecting thrilling new life into landmark musicals.
Spring Awakening director Mikhail Lim, right, in rehearsal with actor-musician JJ Thornton, who plays Hanschen. Picture: Tiggy-Jade
“What you are about to witness is a production that aims to honour the heart and spirit of Spring Awakening whilst bringing fresh and contemporary ideas to the piece through thrust staging, actor-musicianship, expressive movement and an intimate, visceral approach to storytelling,” the statement read, emphasising the desire to highlight the kinetic musical’s continued relevance two decades later.
Your reviewer would argue that Sheik and Sater’s raucous musical take on Frank Wedekind’s late-19th century play has taken on even more resonance in those 20 years. The original play’s controversial themes of rape, abortion, teenage suicide, gay first love and adolescent sexual discovery led to Spring Awakening being judged too scandalous to perform in Wedekind’s lifetime, with no public performances until November 1906.
Rianna Pearce’s Wendla, centre, with Maz Nachif’s Martha, left, and Skye Pickford’s Ilse in Spring Awakening. Picture: Mia Scudds
Wedekind was damning the lack of birds & bees tuition and protection provided both by hand-washing and wringing parents and teachers when faced by their young charges’ burgeoning sexual feelings and search for identity. Now, the world has gone the other way, in the era where social media and the dark web provides a tsunami of information, but teenagers can still feel overwhelmed.
Spring Awakening – such an apt title – is a devastating, dark musical of youthful yearning rubbing up against austere learning in the strict schooldays of 1891 Germany. Part play, part punk concert, it comes suited and booted with strong language (the best song is called Totally ****ed) and scenes of a sexual nature (staged with the involvement of intimacy co-ordinator Lina Glissman, by the way).
In a tale of sex & drudge & shock’n’roll, company founder Dan Crawfurd-Porter swaps directorial duties for the Hamlet-echoing role of piercingly bright, free-thinking, atheist, rebellious student Melchior, sharing centre stage with Rianna Louise’s awakening young flower Wendla and Eryn Grant’s tormented, workaholic, tragic Moritz.
Blow by blow account: JJ Thornton’s Hanschen and guitar-playing actor-musician Oskar Nuttall’s Ernst in Spring Awakening. Picture: Mia Scudds
Spring Awakening is above all a wake-up call to the damage that ignorance imposes on young people in a sexually repressive era, here represented by the multiple stultifying roles of the Adult Woman (Gemma McDonald) and Adult Men (Stefan Michaels). Righteous, religious, blinkered, they rule by book and sometimes by belt.
The combination of Gi Vasey’s thrust set design, placing the audience close up, and musical director Jessica Viner’s band of keys, drum and string players, bolstered by guitar and piano/bass/Cajon-playing actor-musicians, gives even more intensity to the already heightened drama.
Vasey places a bare tree stump at the back, draped in ribbons, complemented by bare branches to either side. In the centre is a sand pit, framed in stones, that serves as school playground and field and transfers to a school room with the aid of chairs. The sand is of the shifting variety, in keeping with sense of seismic change, of matters going beyond balance and control.
Eryn Grant’s Moritz, centre, with JJ Thornton’s Hanschen, left, Oskar Nuttall’s Ernst, Lewis Jordan’s Georg and Kailum Farmery’s Otto. Picture: Mia Scudds
Freya McIntosh’s choreography matches the anger and frustration of the modern yet instantly timeless songs, breaking out of the formal lines and restrictive behaviour of the classroom for free, explosive expression, often with a microphone in the hand (a style of presentation later seen in Six The Musical).
Julie Fisher’s costume designs, with green school uniforms for the boys and a more diverse palette for the girls’ dresses, work well with Daniel Grey’s lighting design, and Will Nicholson’s sound design blends band and actor-musicians with clarity.
Eryn Grant is particularly impressive as the crushed Moritz, while Crawfurd-Porter’s Melchior has an edge to him, contrasting with the innocence of curiosity of Rianna Louise’s Wendla.
Explosion of punk energy in the classroom, observed by Stefan Michaels’ Adult Man and Gemma McDonald’s Adult Woman in Spring Awakening. Picture: Mia Scudds
Skye Pickford’s Ilse, with her stillness of presence, JJ Thornton’s Hanschen and Maz Nachif’s Martha catch the eye too, performing in tandem with Oskar Nuttall’s Ernst, Lewis Jordan’s Georg, Kailum Farmey’s Otto, Ines Campos’s Thea and Greta Piasecka in a schoolroom cast that has uniformity but bags of individuality too.
Drawing so strikingly on German Expressionism and folkloric imagery, Mikhail Lim has delivered a shattering, alarming, agitated, impassioned Spring Awakening, reaffirming Inspired By Theatre as a major player, a welcome upstart, on York’s theatre scene.
Inspired By Theatre presents Spring Awakening, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Inspired By Theatre marking the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening’s off-Broadway debut on May 19 2006. Picture: Mia Scudds
The full cast in John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers The Play, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Hugo Glendinning
FROM the hotel shenanigans of Fawlty Towers to the uplifting Yorkshire tale of Calendar Girls, Pixies’ 40th anniversary tour to Daniel Sloss’s bitter comic bite, Charles Hutchinson locates cultural hotspots aplenty.
Don’t mention the war: John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers: The Play, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm today, tomorrow and Saturday matinees
FIFTY years since John Cleese and Connie Booth’s chaotic hotel sitcom graced British television screens, Monty Python alumnus Cleese has adapted three vintage Fawlty Towers episodes for a stage play.
Following a sold-out West End season, Caroline Jay Ranger directs the 18-strong tour cast featuring Danny Byrne’s calamitous Basil Fawlty, Mia Austen’s exasperated wife Sybil, Joanne Clifton’s stoical chamber maid Polly and Paul Nicholas’s bumbling Major. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Pixies: Making their York debut after 40 years tonight
Recommended but sold out already: Pixies: Pixies 40, Celebrating 40 Years, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
PIXIES are playing York for the first time in their 40-year career, opening the 13-date British and European leg of the Pixies 40 tour at the Barbican, the only Yorkshire show. Celebrating four decades since their formation in Boston, Massachusetts, the American alt.rock band’s founding members, Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, are joined by bassist Emma Richardson. Gans support.
Jerron Paxton: Singing the blues at NCEM tonight
The Crescent and Brudenell Presents present Jerron Paxton, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 8pm
SOUTH Central Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jerron Paxton’s lived-in voice and California drawl underpin a stripped-down concoction of blues, ragtime, folk and old-time Black music styles that originated nearly a century ago, as heard on his latest album, Things Done Changed, released on Smithsonian Folkways in 2024.
“I write and sing about the culture I come from. It seems a bit neglected,” says New York-based Paxton, who plays guitar, banjo, piano and violin. As journalist Lynell George expresses in the liner notes: “It’s all there…you’ll discover context and background: the history of people and place and the come-what-may gamble of life-altering journeys.” Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Sandy Nicholson, front, left, Katie Melia and Alexa Chaplin in rehearsal for York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical
Yorkshire musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Cheshire childhood friends Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical account of the true story of a Yorkshire group of ordinary Women’s Institute members doing something extraordinary after the death of a much-loved husband.
When they decide to make an artistic nude calendar for a cancer charity, upturning preconceptions is a dangerous business, leading to emotional and personal ramifications that no-one could anticipate but bringing each woman unexpectedly into flower. Katie Melia’s Chris and Alexa Chaplin’s Annie lead the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Dan Crawfurd-Porter in the role of Melchior in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
American musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Spring Awakening, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre marks the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening’s off-Broadway debut in New York City by staging Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s raw, explosive coming-of-age musical in the matching week.
Cutting straight to the heart of youth, desire, repression and rebellion in 1890s’ Germany, Mikhail Lim’s actor-musician production follows a group of young people navigating sex, love and identity in a society that refuses to educate or protect them, drawing on German Expressionism and folkloric imagery to boot. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
1812 Theatre Company’s poster for Goodnight Mister Tom at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Goodnight Mister Tom, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
JULIE Wilson directs Helmsley Arts Centre’s resident troupe, 1812 Theatre Company, in Goodnight Mister Tom. Adapted by David Wood from Michelle Magorian’s novel, the play is set during the Second World War, when sad, young William Beech is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and builds a remarkable and moving friendship with the elderly recluse Tom Oakley. All seems perfect until William is devastatingly summoned by his mother back to London. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Crumb of discomfort: Can castigated TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait (Ellen Carnazza) mount a comeback in Badapple Theatre’s Crumbs? Picture: Karl Andre Photography
Bake-off of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, today until Saturday, 7,45pm, plus 2.30pm Thursday & Friday and 2pm Saturday matinees
FORMER TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait is out of a job and out of her depth, trying to reinvent herself in the cut-throat world of social influencers. Can she keep the lights – and the oven – on as her live comeback show descends into delicious disaster? Expect big laughs, bold flavours, live bread making and a tasty treat for the audience at the end of Kate Bramley’s play as Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company returns to the Theatre Royal Studio. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Daniel Sloss: Acidic comedy at York Barbican tomorrow
Snappiest show title of the week gig of the week: Daniel Sloss, Bitter, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm
ACERBIC Scottish wit Daniel Sloss likes to keep his titles brief. After Jigsaw, Dark, X, Socio, Hubris, Now and Can’t, Sloss is Bitter in his 13th tour show, visiting York this weekend after playing 55 countries so far.
He has performed stand-up for more than half of his lifetime, sold out nine New York theatre seasons off-Broadway, appeared on the Conan show ten times on American television, broken Edinburgh Fringe box-office records and published his book Everyone You Hate Is Going To Die (Knopf/Penguin Random House) in 2021. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Wizard of York welcoming one and all to the magical WizardFest in York. Picture: The Story Of You
Magical event of the week: WizardFest, York, May 23 to 25
WIZARDFEST, York’s official Festival of Wizardry, waves its magic wand over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend as The Wizard of York conjures up spellbinding events, tours, trails, workshops, shows and fantastical food and drink.
Wizardry fans can book for the Wizard Walk of York, Brick Magic LEGO workshop, Wizard Family Rave, Giant Bubble Show or Wicked at City Screen Picturehouse. Expect owl appearances, dragons and the new Wizard Activity Zone on Parliament Street with wand making, face painting and more. Dress to impress for the free fancy dress parade from St Helen’s Square on Monday at 3pm. A digital map and full list of events with booking links can be found at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.
The Lightning Threads: Playing Ryedale Blues Club at Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents The Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 28, 8pm
FORMED in 2019, The Lightning Threads are an energetic electronic blues-rock power trio from Sheffield, influenced by The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors. They feature face-melting guitars, groove-ridden basslines and a multi-instrumentalist drummer simultaneously playing keys. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Handsome Family’s Brett and Rennie Sparks: Returning to “the greatest small venue on Earth” in honour of The Band Room founder Nigel Burnham RIP
TO mark the December 1 2025 passing of The Band Room founder Nigel Burnham, a memorial concert will be held on Thursday with all proceeds going to The Compassionate Friends, the charity that supports bereaved parents.
“We are delighted that The Handsome Family, who have been regular performers at The Band Room and were well loved by Nigel, have offered to play at this special memorial gig,” says concert co-organiser Mark Ellis.
The Handsome Family’s Brett and Rennie Sparks once described The Band Room, on the North York Moors, as “the greatest small venue on Earth”, a quote still to be found on the venue website.
The songwriting and marriage partners are on a 13-date British and Irish tour, playing Leeds Brudenell Social Club on Tuesday and The Band Room two nights later, promoting their deluxe reissue of Singing Bones after 23 years.
The 2003 album, their sixth, re-emerges with a repackaged sleeve on limited-edition vinyl, remastered by Guy Davie at Electric, and double CD in a gatefold sleeve and comes with a bonus album, Invisible Bones, featuring outtakes, demos and live recordings.
Tim Burrows, left, Mark Ellis and Nigel Burnham RIP: The team behind the concert programming at The Band Room
Singing Bones was their first recording after moving away from the midwestern alternative country scene of Chicago, Illinois, in 2001 to the southwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where their songs became infused with the desert sun and crawling reptiles, Mariachi and Morricone.
Defining the dark end of Americana for more than 30 years, Brett writes the music and Rennie writes the words. Their work has been covered by many artists, including Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers. Their song Far From Any Road was the opening theme for HBO’s True Detective (season one) and still receives thousands of Shazams every week from all over the world.
Asked to describe their music Brett says: “Western gothic”, inspired by the abandoned strip malls of desert America where thorny weeds slowly reclaim the land.
Handsome Family songs may be dark, but there is always laughter on stage, where Rennie sings as well as plays banjo and bass. She often introduces songs with seemingly unrelated stories. Brett, with his deep baritone and stentorian presence, holds centre stage. The two are joined regularly by multi-instrumentalists Alex McMahon (electric guitar and pedal steel) and Jason Toth (percussion and Omnichord).
The artwork for The Handsome Family’s 2026 reissue of Singing Bones
The Handsome Family’s last studio album, September 2023’s Hollow, began with a scream in the night on a record that delved into the natural world at the edges of the man-made and was lush with leaves, shadows and occult mystery.
“One night around 4 am, Rennie started screaming in her sleep,” recalls Brett. “She screamed, ‘Come into the circle Joseph! There’s no moon tonight’. Scary as it was, I thought, man, that’s a good chorus!”
Naming his proudest moments, Brett picks “the check [cheque] Richard Starkey [Ringo Starr] wrote to buy all our CDs and the words ‘The Handsome Family’ written in David Bowie’s last notebook. “There’s been a lot of smashed coffee cups in our house over the years, but we’re still unable to resist the urge to make music,” says Rennie.
When she is not writing lyrics, Rennie works on commissioned pet portraits. “I also do commissioned work of people, places and stories, but mostly I paint animals in animal heavens,” she says. All acrylic paintings are framed in wood with dried bean appliqués. “I also incorporate the subject’s name either on the frame or within the painting,” she adds.
The Handsome Family’s Rennie and Brett Sparks: Purveyors of “Western gothic”
Katie Melia’s Chris, centre, and Alexa Chaplin’s Annie, right, in rehearsal with Sandy Nicholson’s Jessie in York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical
KATHYRN Addison is directing York Musical Theatre Company in Cheshire childhood friends Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical account of a thoroughly Yorkshire true story, Calendar Girls, from Wednesday to Saturday at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
After the death of a much-loved husband, aYorkshire Dales group of Women’s Institute ordinary women decides to do an extraordinary thing. Led by Katie Melia’s Chris and Alexa Chaplin’s Annie, the friends vow to make an artistic nude calendar for a cancer charity, but discover that upturning preconceptions is a dangerous business, leading to emotional and personal ramifications that no-one could anticipate.
Yet their bold front brings each woman unexpectedly into flower in a tale that became a global phenomenon, spawning a million copycat calendars, Nigel Cole’s 2003 record-breaking film, Tim Firth’s stage play and Firth and Barlow’s musical (premiered under the title The Girls at Leeds Grand Theatre in November 2015).
Matching Chris and Annie’s friendship, Katie and Alexa have been friends since 2010. “We met when appearing in York Light Opera Company’s Crazy For You,” says Katie.
“We last worked together in Disenchanted, doing it for the second time last October,” says Alexa. “That time it was for Steve Coates Music Productions, which was cast and directed by Katie. We both played the same parts that we did for Pick Me Up Theatre [Katie’s Snow White and Alexa’s Cinderella] and got two of the original Princesses back, having first done it with Robert Readman in 2016. We’ve done such shows as Little Shop Of Horrors and Oliver!, and Calendar Girls must be about our seventh show together.”
Calendar Girls The Musical director Kathryn Addison
It turns out that Katie and Alexa are no strangers to a state of deshabille on stage. “We did Gypsy with Robert for Pick Me Up as two of the three strippers,” recalls Katie. “Neither of us had very much on in that one.”
Alexa was “very keen” to do Calendar Girls. Katie was “umming and ahhing”. “But only because it’s my 40th birthday on the Sunday after the show finishes, but when I realised who was going to be doing it, I thought, ‘I can’t miss out as it’s an amazing show with amazing people in it, like Alexa’.”
Addison’s cast also will feature Katie’s husband, who has stepped in to replace Ryan Stocks in the role of Annie’s husband, John Clarke. “That’s brilliant because they’ve been friends for 16 years,” says Katie, whose husband in Calendar Girls, Rod, will be played by Jack Hooper.
“It does help in this show because they’re such long-standing friendships, and we have to build something authentic and believable,” says Alexa.
Analysing her character Chris, Katie says: “She’s the more happy-go-lucky and feisty of the two, and she’s definitely Annie’s right-hand woman, keeping her grounded. She’s there as her relief, her support, her friend, with everything that Annie’s going through with losing her husband.
Alexa Chaplin’s Annie, front, in the rehearsal room for Kathryn Addison’s production
“You also see the vulnerable side of Chris through the struggles of her son, where she wants him to be everything she isn’t, but feels she is losing control of him because he’s being led astray by this rebellious girl when he’s on the path to be head boy.”
Assessing Annie’s character, Alexa says: “It’s a really emotional role. This is the most real character I’ve ever played and the most touching, and that’s quite a responsibility, but it’s also a fantastic stage role and I’ve been really enjoying the acting challenge of Annie being more of an introvert than Katie’s Chris, where she responds to Chris’s energy and humour. They’re quite a counterpart to each other, and above all Annie has to carry the show’s emotional load.”
Alexa lost a close friend to cancer. “But even without that, I’m moved sentimentally and empathetically by the music, so I find it very moving, because the script and lyrics are so well written,” she says.
“In the face of something tragic, you do still have to go to the supermarket and cook meals. It’s brilliantly observed [by Tim Firth] with ordinary life motoring on, amid the tragedy, with all the undercutting of emotion with wry quips being so Yorkshire.”
Katie adds: “John will make a quip at the most emotional moment, which is so relatable because that’s how we react to loss or pre-emptive loss.”
York Musical Theatre Company’s cast for Calendar Girls The Musical. Peter Melia will be replacing Ryan Stocks in the role of John Clarke
At the epicentre of Calendar Girls is the photo-shoot for the nude calendar. “I had a wobble a few weeks ago because of the reality of what’s required. You agree to do the show, knowing you will have to strip, then rehearsing in a dressing gown, but you’re aware there’ll be no clothing beneath that dressing gown when you get on stage!
“You also know that Chris is the one who champions doing the calendar and she’s the one who won’t be protected by props. I’ll just have some strategically placed ‘bunting’. I have to walk to the front of the stage, which I’d forgotten , so when it was all laid out to me, I thought, ‘I can’t do this’. At which point [husband] Peter said, ‘you signed up for it, it’s too late to back out now’!
“The thing is, the audience will not be judging on body type. It’s all about female empowerment.”
Alexa’s Annie will be “comfortably hidden behind watering cans and pot plants”. “Working together, it’s about thinking about sight lines and making everyone feel comfortable with the props and the solidarity of all doing it together: that teamwork and moral support,” she says.
York Musical Theatre Company’s line-up of Women’s Institute members for the Calendar Girls calendar
Katie adds: “We’ll be responsible for each other’s props for the photo shoot, so we’ve run the scene many times, thinking about ‘bigger buns’ or whatever. It’s not salacious or about ‘being sexy’. It’s about real women getting their kit off for a good cause – and we’ll have safety in numbers, where you can cover your ‘major modesty’!”
“And thankfully, unlike the original Calendar Girls, we will not be in the papers,” notes Alexa.
Addison’s directorial style will see Calendar Girls being ‘stripped back’ too, like a Yorkshire dry stone wall. “”It feels even more real because there’ll be no ‘jazz hands’,” says Katie.
York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Rianna Louise’s Wendla in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
INSPIRED By Theatre will mark the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening’s May 19 off-Broadway debut at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City with a typically bold actor-musician production at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from May 20 to 23.
Continuing the York company’s modus operandi of presenting bravura interpretations of established works, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Tony Award-winning rock musical will be directed by Mikhail Lim, 15 years after he appeared in York Stage Musicals’ northern premiere at the Vaudeville Theatre, Joseph Rowntree School, York.
Following artistic director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s ambitious staging of Jesus Christ Superstar in February, Lim picks up the reins for one of the most powerful and emotionally raw musicals of the modern era.
Spring Awakening director Mikhail Lim, right, working on the guitar in rehearsal with cast member JJ Thornton(who will play Hanschen).Picture: Tiggy-Jade
“Spring Awakening came out when I was almost exactly the age of the characters,” says Mikhail. “It completely opened my eyes to different forms of musical storytelling and the kind of contemporary theatre I fell in love with.
“Being part of the northern premiere in York 15 years ago [in November 2010] was incredibly special. Now, on the 20th anniversary of the original off-Broadway production, it feels extraordinary to be returning to this piece as a director. In many ways, it feels like fate.”
Mikhail adds: “This show has been in pre-production since November 2024, after we acquired the rights. We’ve waited until the right time, with the right crew, the right cast, at the perfect time, and that time has arrived.”
Maz Nachif’s Martha in Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Based on Frank Wedekind’s 1906 play, Spring Awakening follows a group of late-19th century teenagers in a small German village, navigating the confusion, curiosity and turmoil of adolescence in a rigid and repressive society at odds with their awakening sexuality.
As these young people search for answers about sex, identity and self-expression, their world collides with an oppressive culture imposed by teachers and parents determined to silence them.
In a show whose themes including sexual assault, suicide, abortion and physical abuse, Crawfurd-Porter swaps directorial duties for playing Melchior opposite Rianna Louise’s Wendla.
Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s Melchior in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
“We’ve known each other for pretty much three years, starting out as cast mates, then Dan directed me and now I’m directing Dan, so we have this symbiotic relationship,” says Mikhail. “It comes from having similar tastes in artistry, and along with choreographer Freya McIntosh, we instinctively understand what kind of theatre we want to do.”
Dan says: “After the demands of directing Jesus Christ Superstar, I looked to Mikhail to fill my shoes for Spring Awakening, but then the temptation to audition for Melchior was too much.”
Why? “First of all, I love the show, and how unique it is, so, the chance to perform in it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Dan. “It requires young actors, which I’m not going to be able to play at some point, and it’s a role that resonates with me.
Eryn Grant’s Moritz in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
“It’s not unique to me, as most will struggle with that journey from adolescence to adulthood: the whole thing of puberty and sex and the pressure to be successful, making much more of it then you do when you’re older – and this captures all that so well.”
Rianna says: “Spring Awakening is my favourite show, though I’ve never seen it live. I was part of that online generation that really got into it through YouTube as it was such a cult success. I love how it’s so truthful about what it talks about and I love Wendla’s character. It’s a poignant story of sex and relationships but also of women’s reproductive health, which is still an interesting subject.”
Combining Sheik’s music with Sater’s book and lyrics, the show blends alternative rock, folk and punk influences with a deeply human coming-of-age story. Scenes unfold with grounded realism before erupting into powerful musical numbers that reveal the characters’ inner thoughts and emotions.
Skye Pickford’s Ilse in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Mikhail will be using a cast of 13, a size that requires every performer to play a vital role in bringing the story to life, as he explains: “This show demands performers who can truly act through song and move with real emotional honesty. We’ve assembled a phenomenal company of performers who bring enormous passion and skill to the stage.”
Movement and physical storytelling will play a central role in the production. McIntosh’s choreography blends contemporary dance with expressive theatrical movement, creating moments that feel less like traditional choreography and more like living visual art unfolding on stage. The show’s band will form part of the storytelling, with a mixture of professional musicians and actor-musicians creating a dynamic on-stage musical presence.
Mikhail’s production will take place in the John Cooper Studio at Theatre@41, creating an intimate and immersive environment where audiences are placed close to the action. “The black-box setting allows the production to feel particularly visceral,” he says.
Maz Nachif’s Martha, left, Greta Piasecka’s Anna, Rianna Louise’s Wendla, Skye Pickford’s Ilse and Ines Campos’s Thea in a poster for Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening
“Performing in a smaller space is both a challenge and a gift. It allows every moment, every sound and every visual detail to be felt up close. The result is something incredibly immediate and powerful.”
Inspired By Theatre will draw visual inspiration from German Expressionism and folkloric imagery to create a haunting and symbolic world that sits between realism and surrealism as old-fashioned values are refracted through a 21st century lens in an exploration of sex, puberty, coming of age and a yearning for a more progressive future.
Inspired By Theatre presents Spring Awakening, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 20 to 23, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Stefan Michaels’ Adult Man and Gemma McDonald’s Adult Woman in an Inspired By Theatre poster for Spring Awakening
Kelly Munro-Fawcett: Taking up the venue director’s post at Pocklington Arts Centre
KELLY Munro-Fawcett is settling in as Pocklington Arts Centre’s venue director, marking an exciting new chapter for the East Yorkshire cultural hub.
Taking over from Angela Stone, who held the post from October 2022 to January 2026 before returning to her native Scotland, Kelly brings a wealth of experience across performance, producing and creative health.
Beginning her career as an actress, playing such Shakespearean roles as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she then founded RedBobble Arts, a socially engaged theatre company known for mounting touring productions and delivering impactful work in communities.
Latterly, she held the role of senior project manager at Hoot Creative Arts, a creative health organisation based at Bates Mill, Huddersfield.
Stepping into the leadership of Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC), Kelly vows to build on the strong foundations and deep community roots established when the former Ritz Cinema and Penny Arcadia Museum opened as a 200-seat multi-purpose arts and entertainment venue in 2000.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Pocklington Arts Centre,” says Kelly, 42, who lives in Leeds. “Live performance has always been very close to my heart, and this venue is something truly special. It’s not only known for the quality of its artistic programme, but also for the role it plays at the centre of the community.”
PAC combines live music, comedy, theatre and exhibitions with a community programme of creative activities designed to support health and wellbeing.
“What really drew me to this role is the unique balance Pocklington Arts Centre holds,” says Kelly. “It is both a destination for world-class performance and a welcoming civic space shaped by its community. That legacy, developed for over 20 years by Janet Farmer and then Angela Stone, is something I have deep respect for and I’m committed to carrying forward.”
Kelly, who took up her post last month, will be working with a team of dedicated staff and more than 50 volunteers as Pocklington Arts Centre continues to play a vital role in the market town’s cultural and social life.
Looking ahead, her focus will be on sustaining PAC’s high-quality programme while ensuring the venue’s long-term resilience and relevance.
“My priority is to maintain the quality of the programme audiences know and love, while also strengthening the organisation for the future,” she says. “That includes growing audiences, particularly as more families make Pocklington their home, and continuing to expand opportunities for people to engage creatively.
“There’s a real sense of care and commitment here, and I’m looking forward to working with the team, volunteers and the wider community to shape what comes next.”
“My style of working is collaborative,” says Kelly Munro-Fawcett. Picture: Rachael Munro-Fawcett
Kelly is beginning a period of engagement with staff, volunteers and stakeholders as she develops plans for PAC’s future.
Welcoming her to Pocklington, town council deputy clerk Claire Findlay, says: “Having spent time with Kelly, I am confident that she and the wider team will build on past successes and steer our amazing arts centre into a bright and secure future.”
Kelly, who was appointed by the town council after undergoing three interviews, says: “My style of working is collaborative. It’s about partnerships, and the more minds you have on a project, the better the outcome.
“What I’ve been doing in five weeks in post is building up my ideas of what might be needed, and for the direction of travel, but I can’t begin to do that until I’ve met the local community: audience members; participants in the community; Friends of Pocklington Arts Centre, which has 500 members; Pocklington Town Council and those behind Pocklington’s bid to be the first UK Town of Culture in 2028.
“I’m also reaching out to people who’ve come to PAC in the past. It’s about respecting what worked previously, what do they want see more of, because ultimately we’re a creative community hub as well as being an award-winning live venue.”
Discussions have taken place already with the Godber family over staging a fourth Christmas show written by John’s daughter Elizabeth and directed by Jane Thornton, and now formal approval is awaited from PAC’s principal funding body, Pocklington Town Council.
Originally from Birmingham and raised in Nottingham, Kelly moved north to study at Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, graduating with first class honours. “I originally wanted to go to Manchester Metropolitan University – like Julie Walters – but Arden turned out to be great because they trained you not only as an actor but also to have a social conscience, because they taught you that art reflects the country you live in,” she says.
“They also taught us how to make our own theatre, which was an incredible opportunity – and the three founding members of RedBobble all came from Arden when we formed the company in 2011 to focus on live performance, community engagement and neuro-diverse empowerment.”
Kelly draws on her ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] in her working practice. “It gives you the ability to see the bigger picture, like spotting patterns and trends, to bring together people or concepts or a multi-disciplinary arts team,” she says.
“It also helps to make me creative; it gives you empathy, with the ability to put yourself in other people’s shoes and to be super-focused. If I’m passionate about something, I won’t stop; I’ll forget to have lunch.
“Having ADHD makes me really keen to support people to achieve their full potential, and that’s why I’m so passionate about the live shows and community programme at PAC.”
Let’s Do It! director and performer Courtney Brown
PICKERING Musical Society is putting the finishing touches to its summer concert, Let’s Do It!, as excitement continues to build at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering.
Running from June 9 to 13, the production promises a joyful celebration of the timeless music of Cole Porter, taking audiences on a journey through a selection of the legendary Indiana songwriter’s most beloved works.
Featuring music from Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate and many more, the show captures the glamour, sophistication and irresistible charm of the golden age of musical theatre.
Pickering Musical Society singer Rachel Anderson in Let’s Do It!
Audiences can look forward to an evening packed with memorable songs, including the show-stopping Blow, Gabriel, Blow, the playful Let’s Misbehave and ever-popular You’re The Top, alongside many other favourites that continue to delight audiences decades after they were first performed.
At the helm is director Courtney Brown, following her successful directorial debut with My Favourite Things last year. Building on that success, she has assembled a production full of energy, movement and fun, with rehearsals now in full swing as cast and creative team members work to bring the music and staging together ahead of opening night.
The set promises to be spectacular, with the cast joined on stage by a grand piano and five talented musicians, creating the rich sound and atmosphere of the golden age of jazz to transport audiences back to an era of elegance, style and unforgettable music.
The Ladies Ensemble in Pickering Musical Society’s Let’s Do It!
The addition of live music on stage will bring an extra dimension to the production, creating an immersive theatrical experience in bringing Porter’s timeless songs thrillingly to life.
Adding even more spectacle to the production, Pickering Musical Society again will be joined on stage by performers from the Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance. Their colourful choreography and dynamic routines will instil extra sparkle and visual excitement.
Pickering Musical Society presents Let’s Do It!, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01751 474833 or www.kirktheatre.co.uk.
Christopher Cross: Sailing into York Barbican tonight
FROM the hotel shenanigans of Fawlty Towers to the uplifting Yorkshire tale of Calendar Girls, Pixies’ 40th anniversary tour to Daniel Sloss’s bitter comic bite, Charles Hutchinson locates cultural hotspots aplenty.
Grammy winner of the week: Christopher Cross, supported by Chris Difford, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
AMERICAN singer-songwriter Christopher Cross plays York Barbican as the only Yorkshire venue on his nine-date UK tour. The multi-Grammy-winning artist, from San Antonio, Texas, now 75, is best known for Sailing, Ride Like The Wind and Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do). His special guest will be Chris Difford, co-founder of Squeeze. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ebor Singers soloists Alisun Russell Pawley, top, left, Caroline Smith, Jason Darnell, bottom, left, and Jonty Ward
Classical concert of the week: Ebor Singers & Manchester Baroque, Baroque Gala Concert, Dixit Dominus, York Minster, tonight, 7,30pm
THE Ebor Singers unite with period instrument specialists Manchester Baroque to perform Purcell, Handel and Bach works in tonight’s two-hour Baroque Gala Concert in York Minster’s Quire. The soloists will be Alisun Russell Pawley (soprano), Caroline Smith (mezzo-soprano), Jason Darnell (tenor) and Jonty Ward (bass-baritone). Box office: 01904 557200 or yorkminster.org.
Tom Stade: Canadian mischief-maker
Mischievous comedy gig of the week: Tom Stade, Naughty By Nature, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm
CANADIAN stand-up Tom Stade is back on the road with his 2025 Edinburgh Fringe hit, wherein he playfully dishes out more of his insightful observations in a night of mischievous and uncompromising comedy. His credits include the Have A Word Pod podcast, Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, The John Bishop Show and Live At The Apollo. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Willy Mason: Songs full of heart, philosophy and hope for humanity. Picture: Ebru Yildiz
The Crescent & Brudenell Presents gig of the week: Willy Mason, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 6.30pm (doors 6pm)
MARTHA’S Vineyard, Massachusetts singer-songwriter Willy Mason has been writing, recording and touring for 25 years, ever since his home demo of breakout single Oxygen became an unexpected hit. Treading a meandering path, he frequently shuns the limelight in favour of odd jobs and unexpected company.
When he does appear, however, it is always worth the wait to hear songs full of heart, philosophy and hope for humanity that draw on a deep well of melody and story passed on from songwriter parents. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173675325.
Chris McCausland: “Doing comedy for Yonks”
Scouse humour of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 8pm
YOU might have spotted him latterly on Strictly Come Dancing (2024 winner, no less), Would I Lie To You, Have I Got News For You, QI, Blankety Blank or The Last Leg, but this is no overnight success story. Liverpool humorist Chris McCausland has been doing comedy for Yonks. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Jonny Best: Leading Frame Ensemble at Magic and Motion: Georges Méliès and Buster Keaton In Concertat NCEM. Picture: Chris Payne
Film event of the week: Magic and Motion: Georges Méliès and Buster Keaton In Concert, with Frame Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, May 19, 7.30pm
STEP into the cinematic dreamworlds of George Méliès and Buster Keaton with the improvised, spontaneous music of Northern Silents’ resident quartet Frame Ensemble (Jonny Best, piano, Susannah Simmons, violin, Liz Hanks,cello, and Trevor Bartlett, percussion) as two pioneers of visual fantasy meet in a specially created cine‑concert.
French filmmaker and actor Méliès’s technical ingenuity in his extravagant Théâtre Robert‑Houdin illusion shows in Paris carried cinema beyond the simple recording of everyday life, opening up its magical possibilities. A quarter of a century later, in 1924’s Sherlock Jr., vaudeville performer Buster Keaton plays a humble projectionist who steps into the film he is showing, tumbling through a world where the laws of physics yield to the imagination. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Paul Nicholas as the Major in John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers: The Play
Don’t mention the war: John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers: The Play, Grand Opera House, York, May 19 to 23, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
FIFTY years since John Cleese and Connie Booth’s chaotic hotel sitcom graced British television screens, Monty Python alumnus Cleese has adapted three vintage Fawlty Towers episodes for a stage play.
Following a sold-out West End season, Caroline Jay Ranger directs the 18-strong tour cast featuring Danny Byrne’s calamitous Basil Fawlty, Mia Austen’s exasperated wife Sybil, Joanne Clifton’s stoical chamber maid Polly and Paul Nicholas’s bumbling Major. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Pixies: Making York debut after 40 years
Recommended but sold out already: Pixies: Pixies 40, Celebrating 40 Years, York Barbican, May 20, doors 7pm
PIXIES are playing York for the first time in their 40-year career, opening the 13-date British and European leg of the Pixies 40 tour at the Barbican, the only Yorkshire show. Celebrating four decades since their formation in Boston, Massachusetts, the American alt.rock band’s founding members, Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, are joined by bassist Emma Richardson. Gans support.
In full bloom: York Musical Theatre Company in the sunflower-power musical Calendar Girls
Yorkshire musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, May 20 to 23, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Cheshire childhood friends Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical account of the true story of a Yorkshire group of ordinary Women’s Institute members doing something extraordinary after the death of a much-loved husband.
When they decide to make an artistic nude calendar for a cancer charity, upturning preconceptions is a dangerous business, leading to emotional and personal ramifications that no-one could anticipate but bringing each woman unexpectedly into flower. Katie Melia’s Chris and Alexa Chaplin’s Annie lead the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Skye Pickford’s Ilse in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
American musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Spring Awakening, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 20 to 23, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre marks the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening’s off-Broadway debut in New York City by staging Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s raw, explosive coming-of-age musical in the matching week.
Cutting straight to the heart of youth, desire, repression and rebellion in 1890s’ Germany, Mikhail Lim’s actor-musician production follows a group of young people navigating sex, love and identity in a society that refuses to educate or protect them, drawing on German Expressionism and folkloric imagery to boot. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Daniel Sloss: Acidic comedy at York Barbican
Snappiest show title of the week gig of the week: Daniel Sloss, Bitter, York Barbican, May 21, 8pm
ACERBIC Scottish wit Daniel Sloss likes to keep his titles brief. After Jigsaw, Dark, X, Socio, Hubris, Now and Can’t, Sloss is Bitter in his 13th tour show, visiting York this weekend after playing 55 countries so far.
He has performed stand-up for more than half of his lifetime, sold out nine New York theatre seasons off-Broadway, appeared on the Conan show ten times on American television, broken Edinburgh Fringe box-office records and published his book Everyone You Hate Is Going To Die (Knopf/Penguin Random House) in 2021. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns Burlesque bounces into view once more at Rise at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Freida Nipples presents: Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, May 22, 8pm, doors 7pm
JOIN York’s burlesque queen, Freida Nipples, for a night of cabaret, drag, comedy and beyond at her latest Rise residency. Hosted by Ebony Silk, Friday’s bill features Sucre A La Creme, Cherie Bebe, Molly Ouse, Kiwi Adore and Freida herself. Box office: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/baps-buns-burlesque-tickets-1987497655991
Cheesy humour at Scarcroft Alllotments: Mikron Theatre Company’s James McLean, left, and Robert Took in Wensleydale Whey
In Focus: Mikron Theatre Company in Wensleydale Whey, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (17/5/2026), 2pm to 4pm
IN its 54th year of touring, Marsden’s Mikron Theatre Company will be conducting the Grate Cheese Quest in Lucy Raine’s new play Wensleydale Whey.
On the road and water until October 24, this legen-dairy tale will transport audiences to the Yorkshire Dales, where the stakes are high. Monks from the Abbey are desperately seeking a living soul to resurrect their traditional Wensleydale cheese.
Raine’s fromage-fuelled musical journey delves into the rich history of cheese, featuring a whey-out cast of characters, ghosts, and grievances. True to Mikron’s signature style, the show promises a gouda time with a cheesy plot and a sprinkle of drama.
Artistic director Marianne McNamara says: “2026 is a milestone year for Mikron. The company remains one of the UK’s most prolific touring theatre companies, performing over 5,000 shows since 1972 by canal, river and road.
“We’re all big foodies here at Mikron, so a pitch for a show about cheese is not a hard sell for writer Lucie [who also wrote Mikron’s show Hush Hush last year]!”
Over five decades, Mikron has been delivering professional theatre to 137 different venues annually, from allotments and fish & chip shops to pubs, village greens and even the odd theatre.
Wensleydale Whey’s cast of actor-musicians James McLean, Georgina Liley, Robert Took and Catherine Warnock is directed by Elvi Pipe, with musical direction and arrangements of Amal El-Sawad’s original music by Robert Cooper and set and costume design by Celia Perkins.
BASED in Marsden, West Yorkshire, Mikron travels the country by van and narrow-boat [called Tyseley]. Over 54 years, the company has performed thousands of times to nearly half a million people.
Mikron is famous for performing in unconventional venues, including youth hostels, lifeboat stations and hives.
A significant portion of Mikron’s performances remain “pay what you feel” to ensure theatre remains accessible to everyone.
In Focus too: Pocklington Area Open Studios, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
CREATIVES from around the heart of East Yorkshire are opening their doors to the public for a weekend celebration of the arts.
Pocklington Area Open Studios (PAOS) has rapidly become one of the premier events of its kind, this year featuring 30 artists at 19 locations, drawing visitors from far and wide.
This weekend’s art trail celebrates quality craftsmanship in its many forms, including painting, ceramics, printmaking, textiles, jewellery, sculpture and photography.
Visitors can meet a diverse and welcoming group of makers and painters in person, many in their own studios and creative surroundings.
Printed free brochures are available from The Feathers Hotel and Costa Coffee in Market Place, Pocklington, as well as shops, cafes and libraries and from participating artists.
The brochure and venue map can be downloaded at https://www.pocklingtonareaopenstudios.co.uk/info.html.
Cone, by Alison Jagger, on show at WET Bar & Plates, York
FROM street photography to Jack The Ripper investigations, German comedy about the English weather to Canadian naughtiness, Charles Hutchinson highlights all manner of cultural delights ahead.
Photographic show of the week: Alison Jagger, After The Crowds, WET Bar & Plates, Micklegate, York, until June 3
AS a lone traveller and self-confessed free spirit, York street photographer Alison Jagger draws inspiration from the urban landscape, whose vitality she loves to capture with her mobile phone camera.
“There is nothing better than waking up in an unfamiliar city and recording its character, colour and vibrancy through my curious lens,” says Jagger. After The Crowds is the second in RARE Collective’s programme of solo exhibition at James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.
Pink Moors, oil on canvas, by Louise Davies
Exhibition of the week: Louise Davies and Glassmakers, Journey In Colour, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until July 4
PAINTINGS and etchings by South East London artist and printmaker Louise Davies are complemented by glass by Allister Malcolm, Madeleine Hughes, Margaret Burke, Charlie Burke and Amelia Burke.
Davies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, combines fluid lines and rich colour in vibrant landscape prints and oil paintings. Gallery owner Terry Brett drove to Stourbridge to pick up glass works by Malcolm and his workshop assistant, Hughes. Margaret Burke, son Charlie and his wife, hot glass specialist Amelia, run the hand-blown glass studio E&M Glass at The Old Bakery, Sarn Bridge, Malpas, Cheshire.
Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her new play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson
Solo show of the week:John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight,7.45pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm & 7.45pm
JESSE North, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, writer-performer Martha Godber’s play follows Jesse from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.
“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha, whose solo play is directed by Millie Gaston. A post-show discussion follows tonight’s performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for James Morrison’s 20 Years Of Undiscovered Tour, bound for York Barbican
Anniversary of the week: James Morrison, 20 Years Of Undiscovered, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
UNDISCOVERED was the number one debut album that changed everything for Rugby soul singer-songwriter and guitarist James Morrison (or James Morrison Catchpole to give him his full name). Back then, he was fitting carpets by day, playing open mics by night and driving up and down to London at any spare moment, taking meeting after meeting with multiple record companies.
On his 18-date May and June tour, 2007 British Male Solo Artist BRIT award winner Morrison is playing Undiscovered in its entirety in a set taking in big hits such as You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, fan favourites The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and This Boy, rarely performed gems One Last Chance and How Come and highlights from his six-album songbook, topped off by 2025’s Top Five success Fight Another Day. Cordelia supports. Tickets update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Wehn and where: Henning squeezing every German joke out of the British weather at Grand Opera House, York
York comedy gig of the week: Henning Wehn, Acid Wehn, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
GERMAN Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn takes an unbiased look at climate change. “It’s a topic sure to delight audiences and no surprise,” he says. “After all, everyone loves talking about the weather. Rain or shine, all will be fine. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows?! Come along. Or else.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Stephen Morgan’s show An Evening With Jack The Ripper
Reopening the greatest unsolved case in criminal history: Steve Morgan in An Evening With Jack The Ripper, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm
PRODUCER and broadcaster Steve Morgan conducts Ripper walks through London’s East End, where he retraces the steps of the notorious killer through the Whitechapel streets he stalked in 1888, when a series of women were murdered brutally between August and November.
The identity of the killer remains a mystery. Was he a doctor, a sailor, a soldier or some kind of religious zealot intent on ridding the streets of vice? Now Morgan has adapted his walk talk for the stage to explore the Ripper’s motives and investigate how he escaped detection. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
York Chamber Music Festival director and cellist Tim Lowe
Festival launch of the week: Tim Lowe (cello) & Stephen Gutman (piano), Gems Of The Romantic Cello, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm
DIRECTOR and cellist Tim Lowe previews the 2026 York Chamber Music Festival (September 11 to 13) in concert with pianist Stephen Gutman in a passionate exploration of expressive and beautiful works from the cello and piano repertoire.
Their programme will be the same as they played at St Mary le Strand, London, last Wednesday: Beethoven’s 12 Variations on See The Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus; Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No 1 in C Minor; Richard Strauss’s Cello Sonata in F Major and Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: Hand in hand for folk night at Helmsley Arts Centre
Folk gig of the week: Kathryn Roberts and Seth Lakeman, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
KATHRYN Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s creative bond spans 30 years, from being young trailblazers in 1990s’ folk supergroup Equation to twice being named Best Duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their live shows are brimful of charm, wit and musical mastery of songs of emotional depth, as captured on 2025’s Another Day At The Circus, their first live concert album. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Tom Stade: Naughty By Nature mischief-making
Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Tom Stade, Naughty By Nature, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
CANADIAN stand-up Tom Stade is back on the road with his 2025 Edinburgh Fringe hit, wherein he playfully dishes out more of his insightful observations in a night of mischievous and uncompromising comedy. His credits include the Have A Word Pod podcast, Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, The John Bishop Show and Live At The Apollo. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster for Scarborough Theatre Company’s first visit to Kirk Theatre, Pickering, with Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat
Musical of the week: Scarborough Theatre Company in Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, May 22, 7.30pm; May 23, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; May 24, 2.30pm
DIRECTED by Alex Weatherhill, Scarborough Theatre Company will be performing in Pickering for the first time, presenting Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s debut musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with a combination of unforgettable songs, dazzling costumes and electrifying energy.
Having staged The Addams Family, Kinky Boots, White Christmas and The Wizard Of Oz on the East Coast, now Weatherhill oversees a tale of betrayal, hope and triumph in a story that continues to inspire audiences of all ages, driven by pastiches of many musical styles. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
