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More Things To Do in York and beyond when truth will out for tips for trips on days ahead. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The Press

Dawn French: Frank confessions of a comedian at York Barbican

FRENCH comedy, a very English murder thriller, state-of-the-nation politics and police procedures stir Charles Hutchinson into action for the week ahead.

Comedy gigs of the week: Dawn French Is A Huge Twat, York Barbican, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm

HER show is so named because, unfortunately, it is horribly accurate, says self-mocking comedian and actress Dawn French. “There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery,” she explains. 

“I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life.” Tickets update: Limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Tonight, meanwhile, Sarah Millican plays a Work In Progress gig at Pocklington Arts Centre at 8pm. Sold out already alas.

A scene from Original Theatre Company’s touring production of Torben Betts’s new play, Murder In The Dark, starring Tom Chambers and Susie Blake. Picture: Pamela Raith

Thriller of the week: Original Theatre Company in Murder In The Dark, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

TOM Chambers and Susie Blake star in Torben Betts’s new ghost story chiller cum psychological thriller, set on New Year’s Eve, when a crash on a deserted road brings washed-up singer Danny Sierra and his dysfunctional family to an isolated holiday cottage in rural England.

From the moment they arrive, inexplicable events begin to occur…and then the lights go out, whereupon deeply buried secrets come to light. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Robin Simpson: Pantomime dame and storyteller, bringing Magic, Monsters and Mayhem to York tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Joel Rowbottom

Children’s show of the week: Magic, Monsters and Mayhem with Robin Simpson, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tomorrow, 4.30pm

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime dame Robin Simpson – he will be playing Dame Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk this winter – switches to storyteller mode to journey back to magic school on Sunday afternoon.

He will be telling stories of wonderful creatures, exciting adventures and “more magic than you can wave a wand” as he places the audience in charge of an interactive show ideal for Harry Potter fans.  Suitable for Key Stage 2, but smaller siblings are welcome too, along with Potter-potty grown-ups. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

Hannah Baker, left, Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens and Rachel Hammond in Mikron Theatre’s A Force To Be Reckoned With. Picture: Anthony Robling

Police spotted operating in the vicinity: Mikron Theatre in A Force To Be Reckoned With, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, tomorrow, 4pm

IN Amanda Whittington’s new play for Marsden travelling players Mikron Theatre, fresh from police training school, WPC Iris Armstrong is ready for whatever the mean streets of a 1950s’ northern market town can throw at her.

Joining forces with fellow WPC Ruby Weston, they make an unlikely partnership, a two-woman department, called to any case involving women and children, from troublesome teens to fraudulent fortune tellers. Box office: 07974 867301 or 01904 466086, or in person from Pextons, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma: Songwriters at the double at Pocklington Arts Centre

Songwriting bond of the week: Kathryn Williams & Polly Paulusma: The Big Sky Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, Tuesday, 8pm

AS label buddies on One Little Independent Records, Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma met on a song-writing retreat. They wrote songs together and tutored courses at Arvon Foundation and as their friendship developed and strengthened, they supported each other over lockdown.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that they would tour together at some point. Finally, those Thelma and Louise dreams – hopefully without the killing or the cliff finale – come true on a month-long itinerary, playing solo sets and uniting for a few songs. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Mike Skinner: The Streets’ composer-turned-filmmaker discusses his debut film in Q&A appearances at Everyman Leeds and Everyman York

Streets ahead: Mike Skinner’s film The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light and Q&A, Everyman Leeds, September 21, 8pm; Everyman York, September 25, 7pm

THE Streets’ Mike Skinner presents his debut feature film, the “neo-noir” clubland thriller The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, in an exclusive Q&A tour to Everyman cinemas.

Birmingham multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Skinner funded, wrote, directed, filmed, edited and scored his cinematic account of the seemingly mundane life of a DJ whose journey through London’s nightclubs turns into a tripped-out modern-day murder mystery. Each screening will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with Skinner, giving an insight into the music and story behind the film. Box office: thestreets.co.uk.

Mark Thomas: Comedian stars in Ed Edwards’s one-man play England And Son at York Theatre Royal Studio

Political drama of the week: Mark Thomas in England And Son, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 22, 7.45pm; September 23, 2pm and 7.45pm

POLITICAL comedian Mark Thomas stars in this one-man play, set when The Great Devouring comes home: the first he has performed not written by the polemicist himself but by playwright Ed Edwards.

Edinburgh Fringe award winner England And Son has emerged from characters Thomas knew in his childhood and from Edwards’s lived experience in jail. Promising deep, dark laughs and deep, dark love, Thomas undertakes a kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, Thatcherite politics and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working-class boy who just wants his dad to smile at him. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rowntree Park, by Jo Rodwell, one of 26 printmakers taking part in the York Printmakers Autumn Fair

Print deadline: York Printmakers Autumn Fair, York Cemetery Chapel and Harriet Room, September 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm

IN its sixth year, the York Printmakers Autumn Fair features work by 26 members, exhibiting and selling hand-printed original prints, including Russell Hughes, Rachel Holborow, Michelle Hughes, Harriette Rymer and Jo Rodwell.

On display will be a variety of printmaking techniques, such as linocut, collagraphs, woodcut, screen printing, stencilling and etching. Artists will be on hand to discuss their working methods and to show the blocks, plates and tools they use.

Sir Alan Ayckbourn: The truth will out when he takes to the SJT stage tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

In Focus: Theatre event of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Truth Will Out, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow, 2.30pm

IN a rare stage appearance, Sir Alan Ayckbourn plays Jim in a rehearsed reading of his Covic-crocked 2020 SJT premiere Truth Will Out, joined by John Branwell, Frances Marshall and the cast of his 89th play, Constant Companions.

Truth Will Out is an up-to-the-minute satire on family, relationships, politics and the state of the nation, wherein everyone has secrets. Certainly former shop steward George, his right-wing MP daughter Janet, investigative journalist Peggy and senior civil servant Sefton do.

Enter a tech-savvy, chippy teenager with a mind of his own and time on his hands to bring their worlds tumbling down, and maybe everyone else’s along with them, in Ayckbourn’s own “virus” storyline, written before Coronavirus stopped play.

“It’s ‘the one that got away’, with most of the cast in place, and we even did a season launch,” says Sir Alan. “The play was one of my ‘What ifs’: what if a teenager invented a virus that brought the whole thing down. A ‘virus’ play, like Covid, with the virus escaping and the play ending in the dark, waiting till dawn.”

Racism, trade unionism and infidelity all play their part in Truth Will Out too. “It’s a melting pot of wrongdoings,” says Sir Alan. Tickets update: limited availability on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

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Why Grace is in favour to play Carole King in York Stage’s Beautiful musical at Grand Opera House as Lancaster returns to York

Grace Lancaster at the piano in the role of Carole King in York Stage’s York premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

FEEL the earth move as Beautiful: The Carole King arrives in York for the first time tomorrow in York Stage’s production at the Grand Opera House.

“This Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical phenomenon is filled with the songs you remember – and a story you’ll never forget,” says director-producer Nik Briggs, introducing the Broadway and West End hit with a book by Douglas McGrath and those songs. Oh, those songs.

“She created the sound of a generation, so iconic,” says Nik.” “Those songs have then passed through the generations because they’re so relatable, especially on Tapestry, after her break-up with Gerry Goffin.”

Will You Love Me Tomorrow?. Take Good Care Of My Baby. It Might As Well Rain Until September. Up On The Roof. One Fine Day. So Far Away. You’ve Got A Friend. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. It’s Too Late. I Feel The Earth Move. All by the writer or co-writer of 118 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100. The most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States.

Beautiful tells the story of an ordinary girl, born Carole Klein in Manhattan, New York, with an extraordinary talent that took her from being part of a songwriting team with fellow teenager and later husband Gerry Goffin, through her creative relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to solo success with Tapestry and beyond.

Taking the role of Carole King, opposite Frankie Bounds’ Gerry Goffin, will be York-born actress and singer, New York Brass Band saxophonist and Leeds Conservatoire teacher Grace Lancaster.

“With her voice, her stage presence and her musicality, Grace was the perfect choice to lead our cast of 30,” says Nik. “Grace is 28 now but she’s always had that Carole King girlish charm, so it’s great to watch her charting that same path in Carole’s story.

“We’ll have an 11-piece band on stage, plus Grace on piano, with Stephen Hackshaw returning as our musical director.”

Grace is “really looking forward to the show this week…if a little nervous about the magnitude of the role”. “I’ve grown up with the songs of Carole without even knowing that she was the mastermind behind the music,” she says.

“Everyone knows Natural Woman and The Loco-Motion, right, but I didn’t quite realise that she had written them until I saw Beautiful in the West End back in 2015.

“I was at drama school at the time, and Katie Brayben (who was then Carole King) had just won the Olivier award for her portrayal and I was acutely aware that she’d trained on the very same course as me at Rose Bruford!

“Watching that performance blew me away so much and I felt such a connection that I knew one day I would just have to play Carole King!” 

Assessing what makes Carole King’s songs and life story so apt for a musical that is much more than a jukebox musical, Grace says: “Carole was in a golden era for songwriting. She was a young teenager when the one and only Elvis Presley came on the scene and was inevitably drawn to the rock’n’roll style. That type of music connects to a lot of people!

“The way Carole writes melodies is so organic and she often describes the music as just coming through her without her having to think. When music comes from a place of truth then there is something very Beautiful about it (no pun intended).

“I felt such a connection that I knew one day I would just have to play Carole King,” says Grace Lancaster

“The story weaves through Carole’s life and gives us an insight into how these songs were written in a ‘music factory’, the events that inspired them and how they reflect Carole’s life at that time.

“The fact that you’re watching a story that is about real people gives the musical a more personal feel and hopefully the audience will connect with this more than a regular jukebox musical.”

Picking a favourite Carole King song is almost like picking a favourite child, reckons Grace. “From what I’ve read, she’s written over 400 songs! You’ve Got A Friend and Will You Love Me Tomorrow? have popped up in other shows I’ve performed in, so I feel a deep connection to those,” she says.

“But Natural Woman is another strong contender: the gospel chords and the superb imagery make the song an utter delight to perform. These songs are multi-generational, passed on, still relevant today, and that’s another reason why Carole is such a wonder.”

Preparing for Beautiful has been the biggest challenge of Grace’s performing career. “I don’t think there’s a single point in the show where I have time to go back to my dressing room and sit down,” she says.

“A lot of work has gone into memorising the script, but even more time has gone into memorising the piano parts. As a musician, I would describe myself as a saxophone/clarinet player first; piano doesn’t come as naturally to me. So practising the piano to the point where my hands know what they’re doing without my brain getting involved – my brain needs to focus on acting/singing – has been the challenge of the last three months.”

Grace spent time aplenty researching Carole King’s story. “I read her memoir and watched interviews and have been delighted to find so many similarities in our beliefs and musical habits. She truly is an incredible woman,” she says. 

Rehearsals have been an “amazing way” for Grace to reconnect with her York roots. “I first performed with York Stage back in 2007 in We Will Rock You, so I’m so delighted to see that the theatre scene is as strong here as it is!” she says. “The cast are all very talented and play such an important role in this show, so I’m very proud to have them supporting me.”

Out of rehearsals, Grace fills her time with an eclectic mix of work. “I play the saxophone and assist with managing the New York Brass Band, which has taken me as far away as China and Kuwait and this summer to Glastonbury festival for the fifth time!” she says.

“Last year I started teaching on the Actor Musicianship course at Leeds Conservatoire and I’m thrilled to be able to see the talent and drive that these students have – but also to be a part of the theatre industry in the north who are nurturing talent outside of London.”

Looking ahead, over the next few months Grace will be developing her own business as a solo singer/saxophone player at weddings and events. “I’m also looking after my four-month-old Labrador puppy Winnie. So I’ve definitely got my hands full!” she says. “Winnie has been subjected to my constant piano practice since moving in with us and now the music of Carole King sends her to sleep.”

York Stage in York premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, September 15 to 23, 7.30pm except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm Saturday matinees; 4pm, Sunday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

One last question

DO you have Tapestry in your record collection, if such a thing as a record collection still exists in the house of Lancaster?!

“Tapestry is regularly played on my Spotify account,” says Grace.

Copyright of The Press, York  

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Wolds Pride takes pride in queer joy exhibition at Pocklington Arts Centre gallery studio in lead-up to Sunday festival

The Joy Of A Kiss, drawing in pencil and watercolour on paper, by George Cappleman, who has returned to making art after a long hiatus for the Taking Pride In Queer Joy! exhibition at Pocklington Arts Centre

WOLDS Pride’s Taking Pride In Queer Joy! exhibition by LGBTQIA+ artists is making an impact at Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC).

Launched with live performances by York performance poet Crow Rudd and York spoken word artist and activist Mal Fox at an evening event hosted by Wolds Pride chair Adam Tipping, the show coincides with Sunday’s Wolds Pride day in Market Place and PAC.

“Over the past three years we’ve been doing our community outreach work, working with our partners to promote the opportunity for queer expression, and when some people got in touch to say they were interested in doing an exhibition, we set it in motion with Pocklington Arts Centre,” he says.

“We’re really thankful to the artists from Pocklington, York and Leeds who are taking part, and though at first we thought we would just be exhibiting local queer artists’ work, now it’s becoming an immersive show, so you can add to it because we’ll be leaving our resources out in the exhibition studio throughout the run. You can drop in whenever to be creative.”

Untitled, mixed media on canvas board in acrylkic, ink and paint, by George Cappelman



In addition, the Warm Space community café runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when PAC is open for free community activities.

Adam champions the power of art. “It’s a way to express how you are feeling, exploring your identities through your imagination and creativity, and sometimes it can be easier to do that through creativity rather than speaking out,” he says.

“Everyone has creativity within them and that’s why we’d welcome anything for this exhibition, whether it’s a photograph, a poem, a story, a drawing, a colouring-in. Anything goes.

“But it’s also a space where you can just come and appreciate other people’s work, have a moment of silence and contemplation, in a safe place.”  

Addressing the exhibition title, Adam says: “Taking Pride In Queer Joy! is a broad and open theme, allowing artists to say what it means to them and what being an LGBTQIA+ artist means to them.

Wolds Pride chair Adam Tipping, left, Dean Hodgson and Sophie Fox at the launch of Wolds Pride’s Taking Pride In Queer Joy! exhibition in the Pocklington Arts Centre gallery studio

“With ‘Queer’, it’s the power of reclaiming that word because for a long time it was used in a derogatory way, and it has to be acknowledged that for some people it still symbolises hurt, but we see reclaiming it as a means of empowerment, to be celebrated, as there’s something special about being queer.”

Adam will come on to ‘Joy’ but first he says: “We are living in a concerning time that’s very challenging for our community. If you look at the news at the moment, the trans, non-binary and gender-diverse communities are being challenged daily, by society’s debates around trans people playing sport, about access to spaces, access to health care.

“After five years of waiting and campaigning, we’re still waiting for the Government to deliver a fully inclusive ban on conversion therapy. It’s vital that this ban is delivered as a matter of absolute urgency to ensure no more LGBTQIA+ people are subjected to it.”

In the light of last month’s homophobic double stabbing outside the Two Brewers, the LGBTQ+ nightclub in Clapham, south London, Adam says: “If you look at the hate crime figures, they’re disturbing. We’re seeing a rise in those figures and a lot of that is likely fuelled by the culture wars in the media.

Pride Is Part Of Me, anatomy pieces in mixed media on canvas board, by George Cappelman, from the Taking Pride In Queer Joy! exhibition

“The reason we chose ‘Joy’ in the exhibition title was because of everything that’s going on right now, which is why an event like this exhibition launch, and a space like this, is so important, especially in rural areas.

“I grew up here [Adam is 29 now] and I barely knew any queer people in Pocklington, let alone there being a space for us, so it’s really empowering and special to be able to open a space like this, and hopefully people can come and find their own joy here.

“People that hold protected characteristics or identities that are outside the social norms, still often face funny looks, particularly in rural areas, but with the rise of smaller Pride organisations [in Scarborough, Bridlington, Goole, Beverley and Pocklington] over the past two years, I find hope that people are advocating for these communities and establishing safe spaces, without people having to travel miles to find them. There are fantastic people right across Yorkshire creating these spaces.”

Wolds Pride presents Taking Pride In Queer Joy! in the Pocklington Arts Centre gallery studio, Market Place, Pocklington, until September 22. Opening hours: 10am to 4pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10am to 5pm, Thursday; 10am to 1pm, Saturday, plus during performances.

Festival focus: Wolds Pride 2023, Pocklington, September 17

The poster for Wolds Pride 2023

WOLDS Pride 2023 will be bigger and better on its return to Pocklington town centre on Sunday from 11.30am to 6.30pm, replete with live entertainment, resources, activities, freebies and stands.

“We got the ball rolling for Wolds Pride in 2020, gaining charitable status that year, and then held our first Wolds Pride event last September: the first ever Pride event in the Pocklington/Wolds area,” says chair Adam Tipping.

“We’ve thrilled to have attained funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, and as part of our 2023 offer, the main event will be on Sunday, taking over the whole of the Pocklington Arts Centre building and Market Place, so there’ll be a road closure in place.

“We’ve been working tirelessly to ensure this event is as memorable, pride-filled and jam-packed as possible for you all, and we can’t wait to come together with you for our 2023 celebrations.”

Run by a team of volunteers, Wolds Pride 2023 is completely free, all are welcome, and no tickets are required. “Simply come along and join in the family-friendly fun in a safe, affirming space,” advises Adam. “Be sure to dig out your favourite outfit, bring along someone you know, and join us in celebrating our local LGBTQIA+ community.”

Crow Rudd: Trans Joy panel discussion; performance poetry reading and poetry workshop leader

Festival highlights

11.30am: Flag ceremony to launch Wolds Pride in Market Place.

11.45am to 6.30pm: Quieter Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre Oak Room, run in collaboration with Autistic Pride at Pride. Chance to contribute to the paper chain alternative pride parade that has been making its way throughout Prides all summer.

12.30pm to 1.30pm: Trans Joy panel discussion, Pocklington Arts Centre main stage, with performance poet Crow Rudd, spoken word artist Malin Fox and moderator Journals of Dami.

1pm to 2pm: Join York company Thunk-It Theatre’s free family workshop to create a giant map of our dream world; Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre gallery. “Chocolate rivers, free houses for everyone, whatever you dream, let’s build it together!” say Thunk-It’s Becky Lennon and Jules Risingham. Suitable for all ages.

2.30pm to 3.30pm: Free tote bag painting and decorating workshop with Journals of Dami, Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre gallery. Suitable for all ages; children aged eight and under must be supervised.

4.15pm to 5.15pm: Free introduction to poetry workshop with Crow Rudd, Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre gallery. Suitable for age 16 plus.

12 noon to 5.30pm: Community Pride Flag; chalk boards; larger-than-life games, including Connect4 and hoopla; badge making and colouring sheets; messages of LGBTQIA+ joy; all in Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre gallery.

12 noon to 5.30pm: Health and Wellness Zone, delivered in collaboration with Pocklington businesses. Includes yoga, meditation and massage tasters, Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, Pocklington Arts Centre gallery.

12 noon onwards: Make-up specialist Sonia Schofield will offer attendees free makeovers inside Pocklington Arts Centre, whether a touch of blush or rainbow eyeshadow.

Plus free face painting. Stilt walkers. Dancing to favourite Pride anthems. Free resources, information and signposting.

Pride Market, 25 stall holders, Market Place and Pocklington Arts Centre. From community stands publicising support, services, safe spaces, events and opportunities, to local businesses and vendors selling products, rainbow merchandise, arts & crafts and refreshments.

York spoken word poet, artist and activist Mal Fox

Festival artists

Mal Fox (he/they)

DISABLED, autistic, ADHD, aroace, non-binary, transmasc poet, crafter, artist and activist, who lives in York with his partner, child and two cats. His work focuses mainly on his experience of mental illness, neurodivergence and queerness.

Trans Joy panellist, PAC main stage, 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

Performing spoken word, PAC main stage, 4.15pm to 4.25pm.

Crow Rudd (they/them)

DISABLED, non-binary, queer, internationally published York performance poet, multiple slam champion, mentor, events producer, host, workshop facilitator, exhibition co-organiser and network founder based in York. Their work focuses on mental illness, queerness, activism, grief, identity, radical acts of love and the importance of cuddles.

Panellist on Trans Joy panel, Pocklington Arts Centre main stage, 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

Performing performance poetry, PAC main stage, 1.40pm to 1.50pm.

Running Introduction To Poetry workshop, PAC Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, 4.15pm to 5.15pm.

Journals of Dami (she/he/they)

CULTURAL curator and photographer from Newcastle, focusing on creating multi-dimensional representation for marginalised communities such as Black people, disabled people, the LGBTQ+ community and those troubled by mental health.

Uses myriad forms of media and art, such as photography, spoken word, films, writing and more, to create a world where she and others like her can exist unapologetically.

Moderator for Trans Joy panel discussion, PAC main stage, 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

Performing spoken word, PAC main stage, 1.30pm to 1.40pm.

Leading free tote bag painting workshop, PAC Interactive Activities and Workshop Zone, 2.30pm to 3.30pm.

Andy Train

HOST for the day, offering the main-stage welcome at 1.50pm. Often dubbed “Mr Pride” with 21 years of Pride experience; vice-chair for Pride in Hull; co-founding co-chair of UK Pride Organisers Network and Interpride Global Advisory Council member.

Provides “pride team” support to Wolds Pride. His day job includes training and performing, often with a big blue steam engine called Thomas.

Abbadabbatwo – Abba tribute

ALEX and Toni pay tribute to super-trouper Swedes Abba with audience participation, crazy costumes and “undeniably dancey” music. Performing together since 1996, they formed this electrifying show in 2018.

Playing Pocklington Arts Centre main stage, 1.55pm to 2.40pm.

MXYM (pronounced M-X-Y-M)

NEWCASTLE singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, self-producing all their own work in a high-speed collision of avant-garde, goth and glam rock. Inspired by Grace Jones, Motley Crue, Madonna and Bjork, MXYM’s musical landscape is diverse and always extensively queer.

Performing on Pocklington Arts Centre main stage, 3pm to 4pm.

Veggie Stripper

BLACK drag king, from Newcastle, who is “the personification of organised chaos”. Expect powerful live vocals, dancing and lip-synching, action-packed into a high-energy, camp performance.

Performing on PAC main stage, 4.05pm to 4.10pm.

Wolds Wonders Theatre Group

BASED at Pocklington Arts Centre, welcoming adults with learning disabilities to explore song, dance and drama. The group provides a safe, friendly, fun environment for members to “try and achieve things they didn’t think they could do”.

Presenting special video performance, PAC main stage, 4.35pm to 4.40pm, preceded by Dance Time from 4.25pm to 4.35pm.

The Family Shambles Takeover!

DRAG collective from York, featuring Luna Hex, “life-sized Monster High doll and mother of Coven Events”; Tommy Boi, “the dancing tailor of York and bisexual drag king”; Miss Diagnosis, “the non-binary, scary, camp, punk drag clown of York”, and Cuppa T, “non-binary drag artist and the UKs hottest beverage”.

Also Linda from HR, a “delusional killjoy, overpromoted, and ready to push you under a bus at a second’s notice”. By the way, her host human form, Phil, is a writer of post-punk pop bangers and founder of the Trans and Non-Binary Open Mic nights at Over The Rainbow Café, above The Portal Bookshop, Patrick Pool, York.

Performing on PAC main stage, 4.45pm to 6pm, to be followed by closing speeches and the last dance.

Tha Family Shambles Takeover!: Drag diva finale to Wolds Pride on the Pocklington Arts Centre main stage
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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on ‘Waking’, North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Welburn Manor Marquee, 26/9/23

Cellist Alice Neary: Festival trio with violinist Benjamin Baker and pianist Daniel Lebhardt

WHEN standards are already so high, it is hard to imagine that the best wine has been kept till last. Yet this final afternoon devoted to Schubert surpassed everything else I had experienced at this year’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. It was nothing short of sensational.

The ‘Trout’ Piano Quintet, D.667, was preceded by the B flat Piano Trio, D.898. The performers in the latter were violinist Benjamin Baker, cellist Alice Neary and pianist Daniel Lebhardt. Their ensemble was so taut, so larded with deep understanding and leavened with the utmost sensitivity to each other, that it seemed certain that they had collaborated before.

Within this delightfully Viennese pastry the ensemble gently drew attention to any number of Schubertian subtleties, teasing our tastebuds with the smallest of details, so that the total confection was constantly riveting.

When the breezy first movement’s second theme arrived, beautifully enunciated by Neary, it was impeccably emulated by Baker; they were in perfect agreement. The pause in the recapitulation was tantalisingly elongated, thanks to Lebhardt.

The slow movement was a lovely contrast, ruminative, thoughtful, even subdued. Its very intimacy drew us in, so that when the piano thinned down to a single line near the end, it was riveting in its simplicity.

Violinist Benjamin Baker: Hosting At The World’s Edge festival next month

The crisp Scherzo was balanced by an extremely smooth, legato Trio, while the frisky final Rondo was light on its feet, positively balletic. I do not expect to hear this account bettered. Equalled, perhaps, but never bettered. I would not be surprised if this threesome were to perform regularly outside this festival. It was no surprise to learn that Neary is to join Baker as a special guest at his New Zealand festival, At The World’s Edge, in October.

A completely new team took over for the ‘Trout’. It did not quite live up to its predecessor in the programme but was nevertheless extremely satisfying. Schubert wrote it while enjoying a holiday in the glorious countryside around Steyr, about 100 miles west of Vienna. So it was fitting that we should enjoy the piece in a rural setting.

The quintet, led by violinist Charlotte Scott, got off to an engaging start, with ensemble always taut. Her fellow string players were violist Simone van der Giessen, cellist Jamie Walton and bassist Siret Lust, with Christian Chamorel the eloquent pianist. But it was not until the second movement Andante that colours really began to emerge, highlighted by the close-knit duet between viola and cello, as also leavened by the rare streak of melancholy here.

After a brilliant scherzo, the variations that give the work its nick-name were slightly under-characterised, the song theme needing a touch more emphasis. Throughout I felt we required a little more from the double bass, which carries less well than the higher voices in this marquee. The finale was given its superb rhythmic impetus by Chamorel’s intelligent pianism.

This concert underlined the magic ingredient of the whole festival: spontaneity. Chamber music, at least outside London, is so often experienced at the hands of groups who repeat the same programme while touring. Many are extremely proficient. But they may lack the freshness that is always on display here, and the calibre of performers is unrivalled by any similar festival. Long may it thrive.

Review by Martin Dreyer

Violinist Charlotte Scott: Leading the quintet
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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on ‘Which Dreamed It?’, North York Moors Chamber Music Festival

Ben Goldscheider: “Immaculate”

North York Moors Chamber Music Festival: ‘Which Dreamed It?’, St Mary’s, Lastingham, August 25

THIS was one of the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival’s more adventurous programmes, but that did not deter the punters: it was a full house.

There were two pieces each from Schumann and Debussy, balanced by four much more contemporary works by two Brits and two Germans. It made for a stimulating mix, not least because the performers were so utterly committed.

Ben Goldscheider began out of sight in the Saxon crypt, the church otherwise darkened, with Bernhard Krol’s Laudatio for solo horn (1966). Inspired by the ancient Christian hymn Te Deum Laudamus, it could hardly have been more appropriate as a scene-setter, journeying from plainsong into more modern, questing territory. Goldscheider was immaculate.

He also closed the evening, with Jörg Widmann’s Air (2006). The music conveys something of the atmosphere of alphornists signalling to each other between mountain-tops, so that there are constant echoes and imitations, given a third dimension by the piano strings being wedged open and resonating eerily. It is a favourite competition piece. Goldscheider was more than equal to its taxing variations and drew sustained applause.

He had been soloist in Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, with Daniel Lebhardt offering tenacious piano support. After nicely sustained legato in the Adagio, he cantered through the succeeding rondo with immense panache, testing his rapid tonguing even further by speeding up in the coda.

In Mark Simpson’s Nachtstück (2021), he did not hold back from the work’s more nightmarish contrasts, varying his tone in the darkness, but becoming more triumphal after Lebhardt’s keyboard climax. He is a riveting performer.

Debussy’s Rhapsody (named ‘First’ but in fact the only one) for clarinet and piano (1910) saw the first appearances of Robert Plane and Christian Chamorel respectively. Plane captured the composer’s will-o’-the-wisp aura, much helped by Chamorel’s early restraint. They brought terrific verve to the work’s later stages.

They were joined by viola player Simone van der Giessen for Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen (Fairy-tale narrations). Three of the four tales are marked ‘lively’ and they got off to an effervescent start.

There were pleasing contrasts, though, both in the lovely central section of the second tale and in the martial, dotted rhythms of the last, which were crisp and to the point. The exception was the third, where a peaceful, rocking movement in the piano featherbedded a soaring line in the viola, not quite matched here by the clarinet.

The four berceuses from Thomas Adès’s opera The Exterminating Angel are not the stuff of sweet dreams, indeed the title is ironic. With Lebhardt returning to the piano, viola and clarinet brought an elegiac feel to the opening lullaby, followed by something altogether bolder with a terrifying ending in the second. Only the finale seemed likely to produce a soporific effect – and it was touchingly shaped.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Sweet Baboo, The Crescent, York, September 5

Sweet Baboo’s Stephen Black: “Shimmering, lovely tunes” at The Crescent, York. All pictures: Paul Rhodes

ON supposedly one of the worst nights of the year to put on a gig – new school year just started and all that –Sweet Baboo nevertheless did his best to blow away the Tuesday late-summer torpor that hung over the city. Elsewhere Dexys took up the challenge at York Barbican.

Sweet Baboo is the stage name for Stephen Black, a shining light of Wales’s indie scene. While latterly he has paid his bills as part of better-known bands – he sets off again in October touring with Teenage Fanclub – he periodically resurfaces with his own shimmering, lovely tunes.

The stage name comes from Charles M Schulz and Peanuts. His music shares Schulz’s depths, his shiny and bright melodies carrying darker meanings, as great music tends to. More than one of his 13-strong setlist was written to “keep the s**t world at bay from his son”. The best of these was Clear Blue Skies, a song about father and son blasting melodically into space.

Sweet Baboo with his tape backing contraption at The Crescent

Black was performing solo, but like his friend and collaborator H. Hawkline, he trades a fine line in using tape backing. This contraption, which required a stolen eraser to keep it going, provided enough of the flavour of the rich band music from his latest album Wreckage. This machine was also the means to keep us laughing as Black paused to get the tape in the right place, no back, forward, pause, close enough and on with the song. They acted as a well-oiled double act.

Black played beautifully throughout, performing tunes from across his back catalogue. His feigned innocence, his off-kilter world view and innate romantism recalled Scandinavian performers like Sondre Lerche, another multi-instrumentalist. With his austere haircut and monochrome white outfit, if you squinted and listened to the finger picking on Walking In Tthe Rain, it could have been Paul Simon at the time of his Songbook.

Support act Rowan: “Ramshackle but fun”

Following support act Rowan’s ramshackle but fun opening set (a one-man Violent Femmes), Black was a welcome contrast. Where Rowan’s music sometimes lacks the heft to convey all those ideas, Black can work wonders with little.

New single Werewolves is a case in point; a clever twist on daydreams that could have wide appeal. Rowan’s Skeldergate – written for the saddest street in York – needed to be much glummer, although new song Sail Anywhere would be grand performed with a full band.

A song of farewell was the highlight of Sweet Baboo’s set too. Proving he can make magic of the daily blur, Goodbye is a gorgeous composition about taking a dog for lockdown walks, but so cleverly written and tuneful as to have far wider appeal.

Sweet Baboo’s songs: “Feigned innocence, off-kilter world view and innate romantism”

Expense ruling out touring with a band, Black is one of the very few who doesn’t need one. Adept on assorted instruments, he gave us snatches of flute, and even a temperamental Yamaha wind synthesiser that lent a Bernie Worrell or William Onyeabor-style squelch to Pink Rainbow.

Swimming Wild stretched out with no trappings, then Cate’s Song topped that, touching, funny and both better than the more arranged originals.

In Black’s hands there was no room for gloom, and for 80 minutes, we were in his palm. Catch this original if you can.

Review by Paul Rhodes

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when feeling the earth move. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 37 for 2023, from The Press

Gracing the stage: Grace Lancaster in the role of Carole King in York Stage’s York premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

FROM Carole King’s beautiful songs to Velma Celli’s pop queens, an artistic family to a poet’s biscuits, Charles Hutchinson adds to the September sunshine as cause for heading out and about.

Musical of the week: York Stage in Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to September 23

YORK, are you ready to feel the Earth move, asks director Nik Briggs, ahead of the York premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. “This show has taken the world by storm, and for good reason, with its inspiring story of Carole King, a woman who rose to fame in the music industry during a time when female songwriters were few and far between”.

Singer, actress and pianist Grace Lancaster takes the lead role in this celebration of perseverance, passion and the power of music to unite. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Damon Gough: Marking 25 years of Badly Drawn Boy

Treasured songwriter of the week: Badly Drawn Boy, The Crescent, York, Monday, 7.30pm

DAMON Gough is undertaking his Something To Tour About: 25 Years Of Badly Drawn Boy tour, playing a sold-out standing show in York with Liam Frost in support.

Chorlton singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano player Gough, who released Banana Skin Shoes as his first studio album in ten years in May 2020, first made his mark with the Mercury Prize-winning The Hour Of Bewilderbeast in 2000. Eight albums on, he has plenty to tour about.

Rosie Jones: Unadulterated joy in Triple Threat at Leeds City Varieties and York Theatre Royal

Comedy gig of the week: Rosie Jones: Triple Threat, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Wednesday, 8pm; York Theatre Royal, Thursday, 8pm

COMEDIAN Rosie Jones’s show is guaranteed to be full of unapologetic cheekiness, nonsensical fun and unadulterated joy from the triple threat herself.

Theatre@41 honorary patron Rosie has hosted Channel 4’s travel series Rosie Jones’ Trip Hazard and Mission: Accessible and made numerous appearances on The Last Leg, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Hypothetical, Mock The Week, The Ranganation and Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back. Box office: Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Jessica Steel: Powerhouse vocals at A Night To Remember

Fundraiser of the week: Big Ian Presents A Night To Remember, York Barbican, Thursday, 7.30pm

HUGE frontman Big Ian Donaghy hosts his annual charity fundraiser as George Hall leads a 20-piece All Star House Band with a 12-strong brass section in a night of cover versions of Kate Bush, Bill Withers, Take That, Fleetwood Mac, Tina Turner, Queen, Wham!, Elvis and more.

Taking part will be Jessica Steel, Heather Findlay, Beth McCarthy, Graham Hodge, The Y Street Band, Boss Caine, Gary Stewart, Simon Snaize, Annie Donaghy, Kieran O’Malley, Las Vegas Ken, the Huge Brass Boys, Hands & Voices, musicians from York Music Forum and Jessa Liversidge’s fully inclusive group Singing For All. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

John Hegley: Biscuits all round at Stillington Mill

Poet of the week: John Hegley: Biscuit Of Destiny, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Friday, 7.30pm

POET John Hegley, star of radio, television and school assemblies, heads north with a clutch of new verses, a few older favourites and a cardboard camel with a moving jaw.

The biscuits in the show derive Romantic poet John Keats’s phrase: “a scarcity of buiscuit”. Not the sort of phrase nor spelling you expect from a Romantic poet, notes Hegley, who delves into the more eccentric side of Keats, alongside everyday goings-on in the Hegley homes of now and yesteryear. Expect drawings of elephants, myths, discos, daleks, optional community singing and the search for a sense of self-worth. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill/939591.

Velma Celli: Reigning over York Theatre Royal on Friday in a celebration of British pop royalty, God Save The Queens. Picture: Sophie Eleanor Photography

Brit icons of the week: Velma Celli’s God Save The Queens, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK cabaret superstar Velma Celli, the vocal drag diva alter ego of musical theatre actor Ian Stroughair, introduces her new celebration of British pop royalty.

Accompanied by Scott Phillips’s band, Velma’s night of rapturous music, risqué comedy and fabulous entertainment features the songs of Adele, Amy Winehouse, Annie Lennox, Florence Welch, Leona Lewis, The Spice Girls, Kate Bush, Shirley Bassey, Cilla Black and Bonnie Tyler, plus a tribute to Sinead O’Connor.

Katya Apekisheva: Russian-born pianist playing at York Chamber Music Festival, sometimes solo, sometimes in the company of string players

Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, September 15 to 17

FESTIVAL artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe is joined by John Mills and Jonathan Stone, violins, Hélene Clément and Simone van der Giessen, violas, Jonathan Aasgaard, cello, Billy Cole, double bass, and British-based Russian pianist Katya Apekisheva for three days of concerts.

Highlights include Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op. 13, Dvořák’s String Sextet, Elgar’s late Piano Quintet, Strauss’s Metamorphosen, Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 1 and Schubert’s last Piano Sonata in B flat major. For the full programme and venues, head to: ycmf.co.uk/2023-programme. Box office: 01904 658338 or ycmf.co.uk.

Ewa Salecka: Conducting Prima Vocal Ensemble in Songs From The Heart

Choral concert of the month: Prima Vocal Ensemble, Songs From The Heart, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, September 30, 7.30pm

ARTISTIC director and producer Ewa Salecka leads York choir Prima Vocal Ensemble in an intimate evening of contemporary classical and popular choral music with Greg Birch at the piano.

Works by Randall Thompson, René Clausen, Stephen Paulus and Elizabeth Alexander will be followed by a second half of moving and energetic arrangements of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Freddie Mercury songs. Ahead of their 2024 New York City reunion, Prima perform a Christopher Tin number too. Box office: primavocalensemble.com.

Copyright of The Press, York

Hannah Arnup and Ben Arnup with bowls by Mick Arnup and a bronze dog by Sally Arnup at the Arnup Centenary exhibition, opening today at Pyramid Gallery

In Focus: Exhibition launch of the week

Hannah Arnup, Ben Arnup, Tobias Arnup and Vanessa Pooley, Arnup Centenary, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, 11am today to October 30

THE Arnups, two generations of artists with roots in York, work in pottery, painting, wildlife sculpture, figurative sculpture and ceramic sculpture. The late Mick and Sally Arnup set up home and studio in Holtby in the 1960s, and three of their family, Ben, Hannah and Tobias, have followed careers in the arts.

This exhibition by the three second generation artists and Tobias’s wife, Vanessa Pooley, coincides with the centenary of their father’s birth in 1923. In recognition of their parents’ influence on their own artistic journeys, a few pieces by Mick and Sally will complement the new works.

Gallery visitors can expect to see new work by ceramist Ben Arnup, who specialises in slab-made flattened boxes and vessels that play with the viewer’s sense of form and space, alongside Hananh Arnup’s wheel-thrown bowls and plates with sgraffito decoration and Vanessa Pooley’s gently curvy female forms in ceramic and bronze. On the walls, the still life paintings by Tobias Arnup will sit alongside ceramic wall pieces by Ben and Hannah.

Ben’s intriguing Trompe L’Oeil forms are well known to collectors of ceramics and visitors to Pyramid Gallery. Formerly a landscape designer, he creates shapes that explore drawn perspective using coloured clay slab-constructed stoneware, “having fun with the way we see form”.

After studying sculpture at Kingston Art School and specialising in ceramics at Goldsmith College, London, Hannah has lived and worked for much of her adult life in Ireland where she owns and runs Ballymorris Pottery. Latterly, she has set up a new studio in the family home in Holtby near York, re- purposed as a community of artists’ studios.

Vanessa works with bronze and ceramic to create sculpture of mostly female forms with an individual and distinctive style that takes inspiration from the work of Henri Laurens and his studio assistant Balthazar Lobo, as well as Marino Marinni and the sculptures of Picasso and Matisse. Her work is to be found in collections around the world.

Tobias studied at Camberwell School of Art and went on to teach at Blackheath School of Art before a change in career to be an art therapist.

“I was helping run a course at Blackheath School of Art and I found I was more interested in the people that sat in my office at lunchtime complaining about their fellow students or about their parents or about not getting their art right or wondering what they were going to do, or who were just not really coping with life very well,” he says.

After his training, Tobias started an art therapy department at Holloway Prison, which was in existence until the women’s prison closed in 2016. 

During his 35-year career, he also worked in secure units in mental health hospitals, finding that art could engage traumatised people when other methods of therapy had not.  

In his art, Tobias has evolved an individual style that begins with a black outline of still life objects and flowers, drawn in ink with a goose quill. He then adds colour in gouache, filling the spaces between or on top of the black lines.

Depending on what he feels is necessary, he might add more black ink lines, or redo the original lines, then more colour and maybe finish with more black lines. This layering of lines and colour is done slowly and carefully in a process that he describes as meditative. The result is intriguing, distinctive and joyful, with pastel colours contrasting with the black outlines, that have a bold and purposeful feel mixed with occasional random unevenness.

Gallery owner Terry Brett has worked with Ben and Hannah for many years, as well as with Mick and Sally, and looks forward to his inaugural showing of paintings by Tobias and bronze and ceramic sculpture by Vanessa.

“‘For me, this is one of the most satisfying moments in my time as an exhibition curator,” he says. “Not only for the quality of the work and diversity of styles, but also because I am pleased to be representing Vanessa and Tobias for the first time.

“To be hosting the family with an exhibition that is paying respect to Mick and Sally in a collective show is a very special moment for both myself and the gallery.”

Tobias Arnup with his gouache and ink paintings

Tobias Arnup on his artistic practice

THE play between line and colour has always been central to Tobias’s work as a painter.
“Undoubtedly my main influence of this has been that of my father, Mick,” he says. “However, I still remember the impact of being taught by the wonderful art master at Pocklington School, Nigel Billington, who encouraged a proper attention to composition and to drawing, particularly with ink.

“It was hardly a surprise when I chose Camberwell School of Art, in London, as the place to study for my Fine Art degree and where I was lucky enough to teach drawing myself for a while.”

Only relatively recently has Tobias experimented more with different media. “For many years my favourite was egg tempera, which I learnt about at Camberwell and used to
mix up myself,” he says.

“Depending on how much it was diluted, tempera has both the ‘gloopy’ quality of gouache and the richness of a watercolour glaze. It was working on paper, though, that has allowed me to work more flexibly.

“Using water-soluble pencil, Indian ink, watercolour and gouache – although not necessarily in that order – I seem to be forever swinging between creating chaos and trying to excerpt some sort of order on the composition.”

He continues: “These days the chaos of my ink marks is being brought under some sort of control by the flat, mat gouache. When things get a bit too tidy, out comes the ink bottle again.

“There cannot have been many options for school teachers at the time. Mr Billington’s huge
set-ups suited me perfectly, however. They were there ready for me – a constant resource,
I realise now, that is currently replicated in my own studio.

“Although they stray into more abstract concerns, I regard all these works as still-lives. When I am a bit stuck, it’s the ink and the goose-feather quills that I turn to, although I have used up my store of Chinese geese quills that I collected up from the garden when I was young.”

Pyramid Gallery opening hours are: Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. The displays can be viewed at pyramidgallery.com too.

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Dancefloor disciple John Godber keeps the faith in Northern Soul in days of drudgery and nights of joy in Do I Love You?

Northern Soul power: It’ll never be over for Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Chloe McDonald and Martha Godber in John Godber’s Do I Love You?. Picture: Ian Hodgson

“I’M not afraid to admit I was a rather good dancer,” says playwright, director, actor and erstwhile terpsichorean tornado John Godber. “Not so good now, mind. My knees.”

John’s ‘tap’ these days would be on the laptop, leading to his latest play, a hymn to Northern Soul that keeps the faith with the Wigan Casino days but addresses today’s believers in Do I Love You?, opening at Wakefield Theatre Royal tonight (7/9/2023)

“This is Northern Soul for a new generation, but with rising costs, unemployment and small-town blues, has anything really changed?” asks John, now 67. “Is this England 1973 or 2023? The pubs are closing, hospitality has gone, and strikes are everywhere…but when you’re out on the floor…”

…There you will find Godber’s twentysomethings, Sally, Nat and Kyle, as they develop a love for Northern Soul and the people involved with it across the industrial north. What started as a college project has grown into a passion, but the dance steps are exhausting.

Far beyond their home city of Hull, they find excitement, purpose and the tribe they have been seeking. Cue talcum powder, loafers and weekenders,  from Brid Spa to Stoke, from Oxford to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, as these young soulies vow to keep the faith, even as Britain crumbles, school buildings and all.

Do I Love You? Indeed he did, back in the day. “I went to all-nighters in Scarborough, and even then that single [Frank Wilson’s title song] was worth £45,000,” says John.

“It’s the one that lots of people know, but lots of soulists despise it because it’s too well known! Only 200 copies were printed, and one copy recently sold for £150,000.

Leap of faith: Emilio Encinoso-Gil shows off a Northern Soul move for Do I Love You? during rehearsals in the John Godber Studio at Hull Truck Theatre

“There’s this really interesting thing that soulies want to keep it underground, which is difficult, particularly when the BBC Proms did a Northern Soul Prom this summer [July 15 2023, curated by broadcaster and writer Stuart Maconie], gentrifying it with symphonic arrangements, of course!”

John recalls his dancing nights and early single acquisitions. “Dobie Gray’s Out On The Floor was my first one, then The Flasher, the instrumental by Mistura, and then you’re on to Al Wilson’s The Snake,” he says.

“Every church hall had a Northern Soul night, every youth club had a Northern Soul Night back then.

“A couple of Fridays ago, the cast went to a soul night at an ex-servicemen’s club, where they played Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You?, and they came away saying, ‘oh my God, it’s all true’.”

After a run of state-of-the-nation plays (Shafted, 2015; Scary Bikers, 2018, Sunny Side Up, 2020; Living On Fresh Air, 2023), Godber’s latest comedy is more of a celebration, albeit with politics still at its rotten core.

“I’m interested in enclosed environments: nightclubs [Bouncers], schools [Teechers], gymnasiums [Gym And Tonic], now the Northern Soul scene,” says John.

“This time there’s a lot of music, a lot of dancing, in the show, and we’ve had the world champion Northern Soul dancer, Sally Molloy, in for a couple of sessions. Just extraordinary!

A high-steping Martha Godber in rehearsal for Do I Love You?

“She came to the read-through to authenticate the piece and said, ‘I bless this show’, which was great because we want it to be authentic.

“Dancing was important to the casting, so we looked far and wide and even looked at auditioning some Northern Soul dancers but they just didn’t cut the mustard with the acting.”

John settled instead on a typically compact cast of Yorkshire actors Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Martha Godber and Belfast-born, Liverpool-trained newcomer Chloe McDonald.

“Martha went to Northern Contemporary dance in Leeds when she was 16 and got into Trinity Laban [Conservatoire of Music and Dance], but then decided to go to LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) to train as an actor,” he says.

“They worked with Sally a couple of months ago before rehearsals started, then did a full day with her, after the read-through day, when they almost couldn’t walk for a week!”

John’s own research brought him into contact with Dr Sarah Raine, from the cultural industries department at Leeds University, (who is in the process of moving to York by the way).

“What she’s identified is a real growth in Northern Soul, when working men’s clubs have gone, youth clubs have gone, but Northern Soul club nights go on,” says John.

Newcomer Chloe McDonald is making her John Godber Company debut in the premiere of Do I Love You?

“The music is put first; it’s not about leaving with someone on your arm, unlike in Bouncers, though the drug scene is pretty clear, but after 12 hours of stomping, you’re going to need something stronger than coffee and Red Bull!”

Godber’s twentysomethings in Do I Love You? work in a “chicken drive-through portal” as he euphemistically puts it. “It’s not a great place to work. Two of them have degrees, one in psychology, one in musical theatre; the other has stayed at home to look after her grandmother,” he says.

“After Covid, they’ve picked up these low-grade jobs, but the music underlines where they are in their rites of passage. They find this creed they have some sympathy with, a kind of religion, a kind of tribe.”

“In 2023, with the drudgery of daily life, now it’s about finding meaning and young people feeling they’re in a safe place.”

John Godber Company in Do I Love You?, Yorkshire dates: Theatre Royal, Wakefield, tonight until September 16; Georgian Theatre  Royal, Richmond, September 26 to 29; Pocklington Arts Centre, September 30, sold out; Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax, October 3 to 5; Barnsley Civic, October 6 and 7; Bridlington Spa, October 27 and 28; Hull Truck Theatre, October 31 to November 4; Cast, Doncaster, January 24 to 27 2024; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, February 7 to 10.

Box office: Wakefield, 01924 211311 or theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk; Richmond, georgiantheatreroyal.savoysystems.co.uk; Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547; Halifax, 01422 849227 or theviaducttheatre.co.uk; Barnsley, civicbarnsley.ticketsolve.com; Bridlington, 01262 678258 or bridspa.com/; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Doncaster, 01302 303959 or castindoncaster.com; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Did you know?

THE latest plays by Great Britain’s most performed and second most performed playwrights open on the same night: Alan Ayckbourn’s Constant Companions at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and John Godber’s Do I Love You? at the Theatre Royal, Wakefield.

John Godber: Playwright, director and Northern Soul disciple
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Selby Town Hall’s autumn season combines new acts and returning favourites with illustrious award winners. Who’s playing?

Daniel Rodriguez: Former Elephant Revival frontman leads his folk quartet at Selby Town Hall on November 9

SELBY Town Hall’s autumn and winter season opens on September 16 with an already sold-out Work In Progress performance by Hull comedian Lucy Beaumont, star of Meet The Richardsons, The Great Celebrity Bake Off and Taskmaster.

The newly launched programme features multiple Grammy winners, Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees, Juno winners, BBC Folk Award recipients and multi-million selling chart toppers, with performers from the worlds of music, stand-up, theatre, poetry and broadcasting.

Picking out highlights, Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones says: “One of the most critically acclaimed comedians of the past decade, Kieran Hodgson, will be performing Big In Scotland here on October 6.

Kieran Hodgson: Big In Scotland, hopefully big in Selby too on October 6

“It was the talk of this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe, where Two Doors Down star Kieran received a fourth nomination for comedy’s most prestigious prize, the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Only James Acaster has gained more nominations in the 42-year history of the award.”

Author and comedian Sam Avery will return to Selby on November 18 with his show for mums and dads, How Not To Be A Terrible Parent, while the monthly £10 comedy club will be back for a second year, with English Comedian Of The Year Josh Pugh, Seeta Wrightson and Will Duggan playing the first Comedy Network gig on September 24.

Next come Tony Law, Molly McGuinness and Jack Gleadow on October 29;  Nathan Caton, Tom Lawrinson and Jessie Nixon on November 26 and Brennan Reece, Harriet Dyer and Justin Panks on December 17.

Sam Avery: Offering tips on How Not To Be A Terrible Parent on November 18

Lucy Beaumont leads off a host of sold-out comedy nights by poet-comedian Brian Bilston on September 21, Stephen K Amos: Oxymoron, October 14, Chris McCausland: Work In Progress, November 22, and, heading into 2024, Omid Djalili: Work In Progress, February 1.

A similar picture can be painted for music gigs: Shawn Colvin, on September 23, Hue & Cry, September 30, Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri, October 27, and China Crisis, November 17, are all fully booked.

“We’re delighted to be hosting Illinois singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin for the smallest date by far on a rare tour of the UK – her first in ages – for the much-lauded Song of the Year Grammy winner,” says Chris.

Shawn Colvin: Selby Town Hall will be “the smallest date by far” on her rare British tour

Tickets are still available, however, for “five stellar acts from North America with an astonishing 19 Grammy Awards between them”, points out Chris. “Fourteen of those belong to globally renowned banjo player Ron Block, best known for his work with bluegrass behemoths Alison Krauss & Union Station. Ron will be playing a full band show alongside Ireland’s BBC Folk Award nominee Damien O’Kane to create what the pair describe as ‘a banjo party’ on October 5,” he says.

“Daniel Rodriguez, former frontman of wildly popular Colorado folk band Elephant Revival, visits the UK for the first time this autumn with his top quartet, playing Selby on November 9, fresh from a United States stadium tour supporting The Lumineers.

“On January 18 there’s a return for Juno-winning Canadian close harmony trio Good Lovelies, followed by a January 26 debut for two-time Grammy-winning bluegrass legend Tim O’Brien, performing alongside his wife, Jan Fabricius.”

Sharon Shannon: Selby date on February 3 2024

Two Irish folk luminaries will be making returns to Selby: Dublin’s two-time BBC Folk Award-winning singer and bouzouki player Daoirí Farrell on October 21 and County Clare’s multi-million selling accordion and fiddle player Sharon Shannon, leading her trio on February 3. Next year too, Scottish traditional duo Ally Bain & Phil Cunningham will head to North Yorkshire on March 28.

On December 15, in his new show, BBC broadcasting heavyweight ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and Beatles expert Colin Hall will discuss The Songs The Beatles Gave Away to other artists, before Selby Town Hall spreads its festive wings on December 20 to stage Brass At Christmas in Selby Abbey, featuring Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band.

On the theatre front, Enid Blyton: Noddy, Big Ears & Lashings Of Controversy finds Liz Grand playing the “remarkable and controversial woman loved by children but vilified by the BBC, teachers, critics and librarians” on November 2.

Liz Grand: Performing new play about “the turbulent life of Britain’s most successful children’s author, Enid Blyton” on November 2

” I’m really pleased with the quality and range of shows we’ve got coming up,” says Chris. “We’ve got a great mix of new acts and returning favourites, with some pretty illustrious award winners among the artists lining up this autumn and winter.

“I’m particularly excited to be welcoming one of the country’s smartest and most inventive comedians, Kieran Hodgson, with one of the biggest buzz shows from last month’s Edinburgh Fringe, as well as a brand-new play from acclaimed actor Liz Grand about the turbulent life of Britain’s most successful children’s author, Enid Blyton. From banjos to The Beatles and poetry to pop, there’s a fantastic range of shows taking place.”

Tickets can be booked on 01757 708449 or at selbytownhall.co.uk.

Lucy Beaumont: Sold-out Work In Progress gig opens Selby Town Hall’s new season on September 16
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Sin City recall AC/DC’s Bon Scott years on the highway to tribute hell at Shire Hall

Sin City vocalist Gary John Jenkins and guitarist Ash JD Baker

SIN City, The Bon Scott Years AC/DC tribute, will make its Shire Hall, Howden debut on September 29 in the second show of Howden Live’s autumn season

After nearly a decade, Ash JD Baker, former Angus Young in the AC/DC tribute show Live/Wire, makes his long-awaited return to the Australian guitarist’s trademark school uniform. Joining him will be former band mate Gary John Jenkins, reprising his role of original AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott, as they re-create the sound and stage presence of the late-1970s’ AC/DC.

Alongside them will be bassist Dave Parker, who has held down the thundering low end in AC/DC tributes for the past decade. Citing both Mark Evans (AC/DC 1975-1977) and Cliff Williams (AC/DC 1977-2016) as major influences, he mirrors their tone, musical approach and attack.

Rhythm guitarist Matthew Nixon will recall the signature tone and playing style of the young Malcolm Young. Drummer Al Cormell will capture the swing and groove of Phil Rudd to build a huge wall of sound as Sin City journeys through Bon Scott’s years from High Voltage to Highway To Hell.

Tickets are on sale at howden-live.com, on 01430 432510 and from the Dove House Hospice shop (01430 431660) in hard copy form only.