The Cult’s Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy: Yorkshire return
THE Cult are bringing their Under The Midnight Sun European Tour home to Yorkshire for outdoor shows at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on July 5 and Scarborough Open Air Theatre the next night. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday (31/3/2023) via ticketmaster.co.uk.
Formed in Bradford in 1983, originally as Death Cult before settling on The Cult in January 1984, they hit the mainstream from the mid-1980s with She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Revolution, Love Removal Machine, Lil’ Devil, Wild Flower and Fire Woman.
Platinum-selling albums Love (1985), Electric (1987), Sonic Temple (1985) and Ceremony (1991) cemented the post-punk shakers’ place at rock’s top table.
Frontman Ian Astbury, 60, and guitarist and song-writing partner Billy Duffy, 61, continue to be The Cult’s creative driving force. Last October’s Under The Midnight Sun brought them their seventh Top 20 album chart placing, peaking at number 15.
The artwork for The Cult’s 2022 studio album, Under The Midnight Sun
Under The Midnight Sun’s recording sessions brought Astbury and Duff full circle, taking them back to Rockfield, the fabled Welsh studios where they had made their 1984 debut, Dreamtime.
The Cult’s 13-date European Tour starts in June, taking in a third British date at Cardiff Castle on July 4 when they play on UK soil for the first time since last year’s six-date co-headline arena tour with Alice Cooper.
The Cult join The Charlatans & Johnny Marr, Sting, Madness, James, boygenius, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, The War On Drugs, The Jacksons with Sister Sledge & The Real Thing, Embrace , The Lumineers and Ministry Of Sound Classical as the headliners for the 2023 Live At The Piece Hall season.
Scarborough Open Air Theatre welcomes Sting, Blondie, Pulp, Hollywood Vampires, N-Dubz, Olly Murs, Rag’n’Bone Man, Tom Grennan, Pete Tong and The Essential Orchestra Ibiza Classics and the International Tour of Mamma Mia! this summer.
Marlena Kellie, left, going through her Oh! What A Lovely War solo with Pick Me Up Theatre musical director Natalie Walker
ART is imitating life for singer Marlena Kellie, who has joined Pick Me Up Theatre’s 60th anniversary production of Oh! What A Lovely War.
From March 31 to April 8, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, she will play her part in re-creating the shows her grandfather would have performed in during the First World War, singing the lead on Now You’ve Got Yer Khaki On.
Devised and presented by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in 1963 before being turned into a film by Richard Attenborough in 1969, Oh! What A Lovely War is a satirical chronicle of the Great War, told through songs and documents in the form of a seaside Pierrot entertainment.
This photograph of a First World War entertainment troupe shows Marlena Kellie’s grandfather, Richard Palmer, centre, with his first wife, Marion Williams, next to him in the nurse’s uniform
While rehearsing, Leeds jazz singer and actress Marlena realised the costumes and songs from Robert Readman’s production were reminiscent of her own family’s acting career.
“My grandfather, his first wife and my grandmother were all in entertainment troupes during the First World War,” she says. “I found some wonderful old photos of them all – and they are the real-life versions of what we’re doing on stage.”
Marlena’s Romany grandfather, Richard Palmer, had an act he would perform at travelling fairs and later in the music hall, and he was part of Fred Karno’s circus too.
This troupe of Pierrots – dressed exactly as the original cast of Oh! What A Lovely War would have been – features Marlena’s grandfather, Richard Palmer, and her grandmother, Greta Palmer
Marlena’s parents, Eddie Palmer and Shirley Kellie, travelled the country with their own club act, settling down when Marlena was three years old.
Carrying on the Romany tradition, Marlena can sometimes be found telling fortunes but concentrates on club singing and acting. She was one of the trifle-bearing women seen charging joyfully along in last winter’s Argos Christmas advert!
“I used to be embarrassed by my ‘otherness’ in school, but now I embrace it,” she says. “I live with two fabulous drag queens and a lovely little dog called Whoopie.
Marlena Kellie’s parents, Eddie Palmer and Shirley Kellie, who toured their cabaret act for many years
“I can’t quite believe how life has led me to Oh! What A Lovely War but it feels like it was meant to be. My parents are sadly no longer with me, but I very much feel I am carrying on the family tradition.”
Meanwhile, York actor Ian Giles, who will play the Master of Ceremonies in Pick Me Up’s production, has found an image of his paternal grandfather, Sergeant William Giles, from Christmas Day 1915.
It shows his grandfather with men of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at Fleurbaix, near Béthune, northern France. “He is the sergeant standing upright pretty well at the centre of the photograph,” says Ian.
“I can’t quite believe how life has led me to Oh! What A Lovely War but it feels like it was meant to be,” says singer and actress Marlena Kellie
” It was found in my nan’s purse when she died in the mid-1970s. She had carried it with her everywhere. Gramp survived the war and lived well into his eighties.”
In a moving scene in the play, British and German soldiers sing carols and have a drink together over the barbed wire of No Man’s Land.
Ian, by the way, directed Oh! What A Lovely War in September 1972 in Newcastle at what is now the home of Northern Stage. “The late Freddie Jones, who was rehearsing Peer Gynt at the time, used to sneak in every night to watch my ending, which he found profoundly moving,” he recalls.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Oh! What A Lovely War, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 31 to April 8, 7.30pm, except April 2 and 3; 2.30pm, April 1, 2 and 8. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York actor Ian Giles’s paternal grandfather, Sergeant William Giles, with men of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on Christmas Day 1915 at Fleurbaix, near Béthune
Did you know?
MARLENA Kellie played Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar in her debut for York Musical Theatre Company at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, in November 2019.
Here’s Jonny Holbek, adding directing and sketch comedy to his theatrical portfolio
YORK actor Jonny Holbek is stepping out of the ranks to co-direct Pick Me Up Theatre’s 60th anniversary production of Oh! What A Lovely War.
Last seen on stage as the emotionally damaged Tobias Ragg in York Light Opera Company’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street at York Theatre Royal in February and early March, he is working alongside artistic director Robert Readman at Theatre@41, Monkgate.
“I’ve not done much directing before,” he says. “I directed a concert/show for York Light, A Night With The Light, at Friargate Theatre in June last year and also did some assistant directing for Nik Briggs for York Stage Musicals’ The Flint Street Nativity in 2019.
“This time it’s in between assistant directing and directing. It’s co-directing, which is the toughest form of directing in terms of presenting a coherent production.”
How has the partnership worked out with Robert? “I missed some of the early rehearsals because of doing Sweeney Todd, with Robert doing a lot of the early blocking. Then we worked on scenes in separate rooms, and for the last two weeks it’s been entirely me, while Robert has been busy building the set.”
The collaboration emerged through Jonny expressing an interest in co-directing. “Robert suggested working on Oh! What A Lovely War, a piece that I didn’t know, but I know very well now,” he says.
“I’m really glad I said yes. What a great show it is. I’m so pleased to get to know its full cycle, its humour and its darkness.”
Devised and premiered by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London in 1963 before being turned into a film by Richard Attenborough in 1969, this satirical chronicle of the Great War is told through music-hall songs, hymns with rewritten verses and vignettes in the form of a seaside Pierrot entertainment, accompanied by statistics of the growing body count on the war front.
Jonny Holbek, fourth from right, leading the singing in God, That’s Good! in York Light Opera Company’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street at York Theatre Royal
“The first thing to say is that so many people died absolutely needlessly, and this show gives us the chance to explore that situation and find the absurd comedy in it, or in this case the careful juxtaposition of comedy and the horror of war,” says Jonny.
“One minute, the audience will be laughing at something; the next, they will be bulldozed by a harrowing image, a shocking fact – and when you make them feel an emotion, they feel it even more.
“The songs have a powerful impact too. A lot of the audience will know most of them, certainly the music-hall ones that provide the sense of pride and excitement the soldiers would have been feeling at first. That gives the show its energy, and then the other side of warfare comes through: the wistful songs that become gut-wrenchingly haunting.”
Contrasting directing with acting, Jonny says: “Firstly, they’re obviously very different disciplines, although they do overlap. In terms of performance, in both roles, you look for the comedy, the drama, and the nuances in the piece.
“Directing, I find it more rewarding helping others to find and highlight the various levels of light and dark to keep the audience interested; whether a scene needs to be reined in or played bolder.
“You also have that tricky balancing act of trying to encourage the best performances, without causing stress or knocking morale.”
Jonny’s daytimes find him working for the Rural Payments Agency, part of DEFRA. By night, he is a regular on the York stage, adding another string to his bow with The Dead Ducks, the sketch comedy troupe he has joined, made up mostly of University of York post-grads, such as Tommy Harris and Eloise Ward.
“We do little shows every few weeks,” he says. “The last one was in a big lecture room at the university, and we’ve also played The Den at Micklegate Social. This summer we’ll be playing the Edinburgh Fringe at one of ‘theSpace’ venues. No show title yet.”
Summing up his love of performing (and directing too), Jonny says: “It’s the camaraderie you build, putting together something in such a tight time frame. I haven’t found anything like it outside the arts. That buzz.”
Brigid Mae Power: “Beautiful vocals and ability to cast a spell”. Picture: Eva Carolan
BRIGID Mae Power had been through a difficult week. Alluding to trials on Twitter, she then had car problems on her way up from London. Flustered but here, and very welcome.
Power is a critically acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter who doesn’t really fit neatly into any conventional musical box. Most of her music could not be described as folk.
Her beautiful vocals and ability to cast a spell have drawn favourable comparisons with the likes of Van Morrison or Tim Buckley. While Power has none of Morrison’s poetry, Buckley’s jazz folk sulk mid-period is a better match. Both trade in heart music.
Power was performing solo. The (metaphorically) naked presentation underlined how spun throughout with her characteristic wordless ululations, Left open-ended and spun throughout with her characteristic wordless ululations, the tunes showed their simplicity and sameness too, as well as, by their absence, highlighting how clever her album productions are.
The first half was somewhat underwhelming. A new number, Ashling – a tribute to primary school teacher and traditional Irish musician Ashling Murphy, who was attacked and killed while jogging – lacked the expected emotional heft. Her piano proved a better servant than the guitar, leaving more space for her voice to roam.
Power grew up in an extended Irish family near Wembley, surrounded by music. Her aunt, her earliest musical inspiration, was three rows back, which led to a touching moment.
Playing to a packed folk club, Power wisely leaned more on the traditional elements of her repertoire. The (once rebellious) Down By The Glenside (covered by Mary O’Hara and others) was wonderful and our one chance to sing along. Her cover of May Morning Dew was also spot on (from her excellent covers EP from 2021).
Having recovered from the trip, and one too many chilli peanuts before the start, the second half was a big improvement. In good spirits, the song selection was stronger, showcasing her more melodic side in City Nights. Wedding Of A Friend’s tune belied the startling subject matter, as ever unresolved and left hanging in the air.
The 20-song set list touched on different corners of her back catalogue, but what would the new material sound like? Dream From The Deep Well is due for release in June. Power, however, has been living with the material for some time.
Counting Down (“a sappy one”, said its writer) was full of yearning for home, while Some Life You’ve Known rang true. It will be interesting to see what the songs sound like in sequence with their fur coats on (to quote Sandy Denny).
Power’s quiet power comes from her ability to cast wordless spells. Performed eyes closed, one foot swirling to the music, it looks like the tunes transport her. She doesn’t overuse this feature of her performance or over-sing. It is mood music of the best kind, but it does require you to be in the right, or wrong, frame of mind.
On balance, Power turned the concert around enough to pull us into her world.
NOEL Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will play Hull Bonus Arena on August 30 and Leeds First Direct Arena on December 18.
Tickets will be available for special pre-sale on Wednesday for fans who pre-order the forthcoming album Council Skies via the official Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds store at store.noelgallagher.com and on general sale at tix.to/NoelGHFB from 9am on Friday.
Erstwhile Oasis guitarist Gallagher, 55, has released his latest album taster, Dead To The World, ahead of his fourth studio set’s arrival on June 2 on Sour Mash Records.
“By some distance it’s my favourite tune on the album,” he says. “It has this film-noir vibe. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done before. It’s very melancholic, but I like that. I’m a Gemini – I’m as up as I am down, and the trick is to meet somewhere in the middle and turn that into music.”
The arrival of Dead To The World follows fan excitement over mysterious orchestral clips – filmed by Gallagher at Abbey Road Studios, London – emerging on social media at the beginning of 2023.
Dead To The World turns out to be one of several songs on Council Skies that boast strings arranged by Rosie Danvers, a long-time High Flying Birds collaborator. “Rosie gets what I do,” says Gallagher. “Spending a weekend recording strings in Abbey Road…that’s one of the great privileges in a musician’s life. It sounds majestic.”
Already, Gallagher has issued Pretty Boy and Easy Now as singles from Council Skies. The Cure’s Robert Smith remixed Pretty Boy earlier this month, adding a spaced-out dimension.
Council Skies is available to pre-order on CD, heavyweight vinyl with bonus 7”, LP picture disc and various digital formats, including a Dolby Atmos spatial audio version. The Robert Smith remix will appear on deluxe limited-edition triple vinyl and 2CD formats that also will feature a live session version of Live Forever and a Pet Shop Boys remix of Think Of A Number.
A printed handwritten lyric sheet of title track Council Skies will be included with all album pre-orders via the official store at noelgallagher.lnk.to/Councilskiespr.
Gallagher already has announced a summer series of outdoor venue and festival shows for his High Flying Birds, including Bingley Weekender on August 4 and concluding with a September 1 appearance at Sheffield Don Valley Bowl’s Rock’n’ Roll Circus. These will be his first British concerts since performing on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage last June. Box office: noelgallagher.com/live.
The High Flying Birds have confirmed a 26-date USA tour too, co-headlining with Garbage.
Track listing for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ Council Skies deluxe album:
Disc 1:
I’m Not Giving Up Tonight
Pretty Boy
Dead To The World
Open The Door, See What You Find
Trying To Find A World That’s Been And Gone
Easy Now
Council Skies
There She Blows!
Love Is A Rich Man
Think Of A Number
Disc 2:
Don’t Stop…
We’re Gonna Get There In The End
Mind Games
Pretty Boy (Instrumental)
Dead To The World (Instrumental)
Council Skies (Instrumental)
Think Of A Number (Instrumental)
I’m Not Giving Up Tonight (David Holmes Remix)
Think Of A Number (Pet Shop Boys Magic Eye 12” Remix)
Pretty Boy (Robert Smith Remix)
Council Skies (The Reflex Revision)
Flying On The Ground (BBC Radio 2 Session, 08.09.2021)
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (BBC Radio 2 Session, 08.09.2021)
Live Forever (BBC Radio 2 Session, 08.09.2021)
The poster artwork for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ arena dates
The return of RSJ: York metalcore band reconvene for one -off reunion at The Crescent
HEAVYWEIGHT comedy, hardcore rock, reshaped Shakespeare and a ‘roarsome’ children’s show fire up Charles Hutchinson’s enthusiasm for the week ahead.
Resurrection of the week: Mr H presents RSJ, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7pm
YORK’S mightiest metalcore groovers reunite for a special one-off show, fronted once more by Dan Cook, now of Raging Speedhorn. “RSJ were/are one of the most intense groove and hardcore noise monsters, not just in York but across the UK. It’s no wonder they stormed stages at Bloodstock, Knebworth and Hellfire,” says promoter Tim Hornsby.
RSJ’s spine-rattling polyrhythms and huge guitars will be preceded by the return of much-missed melodic hardcore band Beyond All Reason and Disinfo. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Justin Moorhouse: Plenty on his plate to get off his chest at Burning Duck Comedy Club night
Lancastrian in York of the week: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Justin Moorhouse, Stretch And Think, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
MANCHESTER stand-up, radio presenter and actor Justin Moorhouse is back, “still funny, yet middle aged” (he’s 52), in a new suit for a new show that may contain thoughts on yoga, growing older, Madonna, shoplifters, Labradoodles, cyclists, the menopause, running, hating football fans but loving football…
…not drinking, funerals, tapas, Captain Tom, Droylsden, the environment, self-improvement, horses, the odd advantages of fundamental religions, the gym and shop-door etiquette. “Come, it’ll be fun,” he says. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Royal Shakespeare Company: Linking up with York Theatre Royal for York Associate Schools Playmaking Festival
School project of the week: York Theatre Royal and Royal Shakespeare Company presentYork Associate Schools Playmaking Festival of The Merchant Of Venice, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday and Wednesday, 6.30pm
SHAKESPEARE’S playis told in six sections by six schools each night, using choral and ensemble approaches to relate Shylock’s story through multiple bodies and voices in a celebration of the joy of performance that explores themes of prejudice, friendship and self-interest.
Participating schools on March 28: Acomb Primary, Applefields School, Millthorpe School, Vale of York Academy, St Barnabas CE Primary; March 29, Clifton Green Primary, Poppleton Road Primary, Brayton Academy, Scarcroft Primary, Fulford School and Joseph Rowntree School. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Big in the Eighties: Andy Cryer in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less) at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Patch Dolan
Shake-up of the week: The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Thursday to April 15
ORIGINALLY by Shakespeare, now messed around with by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane, SJT director Paul Robinson’s vibrant new staging of the Bard’s most bonkers farce arrives in a co-production with Prescot’s Shakespeare North Playhouse.
The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less) is brought to life in neon-lit 1980s’ Scarborough. Cue mistaken identities, theatrical chaos and belting musical numbers from the era of big phones and even bigger shoulder pads. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.SEE REVIEW BELOW.
The poster artwork for Pick Me Up Theatre Company’s Oh! What A Lovely War
Revival of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oh! What A Lovely War, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 31 to April 8, 7.30pm, except April 2 and 3; 2.30pm, April 1, 2 and 8
PICK Me Up Theatre present a 60th anniversary production of Oh! What A Lovely War, a satirical chronicle of the First World War, told through songs and documents in the form of a seaside Pierrot entertainment.
Devised and presented by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in 1963 before being turned into a film by Richard Attenborough in 1969, now it is in the hands of Robert Readman’s York cast. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Feeling hot, hot, hot: Zog is on fire in Freckle Productions’ show at York Theatre Royal
Children’s show of the week: Freckle Productions in Zog, York Theatre Royal, March 31, 4.30pm; April 1, 10.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm
JULIA Donaldson and Alex Scheffler’s Zog takes to the stage in a magical Freckle Productions show most suitable for age three upwards, although all ages are welcome. Zog is trying very hard to win a golden star at Madam Dragon’s school, perhaps too hard, as he bumps, burns and roars his way through Years 1, 2 and 3.
Luckily plucky Princess Pearl patches him up, ready to face his biggest challenge yet: a duel with knight Sir Gadabout the Great. Emma Kilbey directs; Joe Stilgoe provides the songs. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Roy “Chubby” Brown: Bluer than Stilton at York Barbican
Still in rude health: Roy “Chubby” Brown, York Barbican, March 31, 7.30pm
ROY “Chubby” Brown – real name Royston Vasey, from Grangetown, Middlesbrough – is on the road again at 78, 50 years into a blue comedy career that carries the warning: “If easily offended, please stay away”.
Chubby may not be everyone’s cup of tea but a lot of people like tea, he says. Thirty DVDs in 30 years, thousands of shows worldwide and four books testify to the abiding popularity of a profane joker full of frank social commentary, forthright songs and contempt for political correctness. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
In the doghouse: Ferocious Dog attack songs with bite at York Barbican
Where there is despair, may they bring Hope: Ferocious Dog, supported by Mark Chadwick, York Barbican, April 1, 7pm
FEROCIOUS Dog, a Left-leaning six-piece from Warsop, Nottinghamshire, slot somewhere between Levellers and early Billy Bragg in their vibrant vein of Celtic folk-infused punk rock.
Fifth album Hope came out in 2021, charting at number 31 in the Official UK Charts. Special guest will be Levellers’ leader Mark Chadwick, joined by Ferocious Dog violinist Dan Booth for part of his 7pm set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Artwork by Cuban painter Leo Morey, one of the new artists taking part in York Open Studios 2023
Early sighter of the week:York Open Studios 2023 Taster Exhibition, The Hospitium, Museum Gardens, York, April 1 and 2, 10am to 4pm
FOR the first time since 2019, York Open Studios will be launched with a taster exhibition next weekend featuring examples of work by most of the 150 artists and makers set to open their studio doors on April 15, 16, 22 and 23.
This free preview gives a flavour of what will be coming up at more than 100 venues next month. Full details of this year’s artists and locations can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk. Look out for booklets around York.
In Focus: Luke Wright, The Remains Of Logan Dankworth, Selby Town Hall, March 30, 8pm
In the Wright place: Luke Wright making his political point in The Remains Of Logan Dankworth
PERFORMANCE poet Luke Wright returns to Selby Town Hall on Thursday to peform his 2022 Edinburgh Fringe political verse play The Remains Of Logan Dankworth.
Columnist and Twitter warrior Logan Dankworth grew up romanticising the political turmoil of the 1980s. Now, as the EU Referendum looms, he is determined to be in the fray of the biggest political battle for years.
Meanwhile, Logan’s wife Megan wants to leave London to better raise their daughter. As tensions rise at home and across the nation, something is set to be lost forever.
The third in Wright’s trilogy of lyrically rich plays looks at trust, fatherhood and family in the age of Brexit. Winner of The Saboteur Award for Best Show, it picked up four and five-star from the Telegraph, the Scotsman, the Stage and British Theatre Guide.
Wright was a founder member of poetry collective Aisle16, who shook up the spoken-word scene in the 2000s, helping to kick-start a British renaissance of the form. He is the regular tour support for John Cooper Clarke and often hosts shows for The Libertines.
He is a frequent guest on BBC Radio 4, a Fringe First winner for writing and a Stage Award winner for performance.
“Luke Wright is an astonishing performer and one of the best political writers around today, whose wonderful, lyrical writing translates really well to full-length plays,” says Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones.
“I was lucky enough to see The Remains Of Logan Dankworth in Edinburgh last summer and made sure I booked it for Selby Town Hall straight away. It’s a brilliantly told story by a powerhouse poet.”
For tickets: ring 01757 708449 or book online at selbytownhall.co.uk.
REVIEW: The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough *****
David Kirkbride’s Antipholus of Scarborough in a headlock with Claire Eden’s Big Sandra in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less). All pictures: Patch Dolan
Stephen Joseph Theatre and Shakespeare North Playhouse in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until April 15, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com
THIS Comedy Of Errors gets everything right. Not more or less. Just right. Full stop.
Shakespeare’s “most bonkers farce” has been entrusted to Nick Lane, madly inventive writer of the SJT’s equally bonkers pantomime, and Elizabeth Godber, a blossoming writing talent from the East Yorkshire theatrical family.
How does this new partnership work? In a nutshell, Lane has penned the men’s lines, Godber, the female ones, before the duo moulded the finale in tandem.
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson, meanwhile, selected a criminally good play list of Eighties’ guilty pleasures, from Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again to Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, Nik Kershaw’s Wouldn’t It Be Good to Toni Basil’s Mickey, Cher’s Just Like Jesse James to Kenny Loggins’ Footloose, to be sung in character or as an ensemble with Northern Chorus oomph.
Oh, Dromio, Dromio, wherefore art thy other Dromio? Oliver Mawdsley’s Dromio of Prescot in the SJT’s The Comedy Of Errors(More Or Less)
Aptly, the opening number is an ensemble rendition of Dream Academy’s one-hit wonder, Life In A Northern Town, that town being 1980s’ Scarborough, just as Lane always roots his pantomimes in the Yorkshire resort.
From an original idea by Robinson, Lane and Godber’s reinvention of Shakespeare’s comedy is not too far-fetched but far enough removed to take on its own personality and, frankly, be much, much funnier as a result. To the point where one woman in the front row was in the grip of a fit of giggles. Yes, that joyous.
For Ephesus, a city on the Ionian coast with a busy port, read Scarborough, a town on the Yorkshire coast with a fishing harbour, although all the fish and chip cafés were shut without explanation on the evening of the press night. Was something fishy going on?
Ephesus was governed by Duke Solinus; Scarborough is run by Andy Cryer’s oleaginous Solinus. Still the merry-go-round action is spun around outdoor public spaces on Jessica Curtis’s set, where protagonists bump into each other like dodgem cars. Just as Syracusans were subject to strict rules in the original play, now Lancastrians are given the Yorkshire cold shoulder in a new war of the roses, besmirched Eccles Cakes et al.
In with a shout: Claire Eden, right, meets a Scarborough greeting from Alyce Liburd, left, Valerie Antwi and Ida Regan in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less)
So begins a tale of two rival states and two sets of mismatched twins (Antipholus and Dromio times two) on one nutty day at the seaside. Cue a mishmash of mistaken identities, mayhem agogo, and merriment to the manic max, conducted at an ever more frenetic lick.
It worked wonders for Richard Bean in One Man, Two Guvnors, his Swinging Sixties’ revamp of Goldoni’s 1743 Italian Commedia dell’arte farce, The Servant Of Two Masters, setting his gloriously chaotic caper, as chance would have it, in another English resort: Brighton. Now The Comedy Of Errors evens up the mathematical equation for two plus two to equal comedy nirvana from so much division.
One ‘guvnor’, Lancastrian comic actor Antipholus of Prescot (Peter Kirkbride) crosses the Pennine divide to perform his one-man show. Trouble is, everyone has booked tickets for the talent show across the bay, starring t’other ‘guvnor’, the twin brother he has never met, Antipholus of Scarborough (David Kirkbride, different first name, but same actor, giving licence for amusing parallel biographies in the programme).
The two ‘servants’ of the piece, Dromio of Prescot and Scarborough respectively (Oliver/Zach Mawdsley), are equally unaware of the other’s presence, compounding a trail of confusion rooted in Scarborough’s Antipholus owing money everywhere but still promising his wife a gold chain. He needs to win the contest to appease Scarborough’s more unsavoury sorts.
Comedy gold: Andy Cryer in The Comedy Of Errors (More Or Less)
Kirkbride takes the acting honours in his hyperactive double act with himself, Mawdsley a deux is a picture of perplexity; Cryer, in his 40th year of SJT productions, is comedy gold as ever in chameleon roles; likewise, Claire Eden fills the stage with diverse riotous, no-nonsense character, whether from Lancashire or Yorkshire.
Valerie Antwi, Alyce Liburd and Ida Regan, each required to put up with the maelstrom of male malarkey, add so much to the comedic commotion, on song throughout too.
Under Robinson’s zesty, witty direction, everything in Scarborough must be all at sea and yet somehow emerge as comic plain sailing, breaking down theatre’s fourth wall to forewarn with a knowing wink of the need to suspend disbelief when seeing how the company will play the two sets of twins once, spoiler alert, they finally meet.
Who knew shaken-and-stirred Shakespeare could be this much fun, enjoying life in the fast Lane with Godber gumption galore too. Add the Yorkshire-Lancashire spat and those Eighties’ pop bangers, Wayne Parsons’ choreography and the fabulous costumes, and this is the best Bard comedy bar none since Joyce Branagh’s Jazz Age Twelfth Night for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York in 2019.
When The Comedy Of Errors meets the 1980s, the laughs are even bigger than the shoulder pads. A case of more, not less.
Variations: Sarah Beth Briggs’s 50th birthday year recording
YORK international concert pianist Sarah Beth Briggs releases her new album, Variations, today.
Available worldwide through AVIE, it follows the success of her Austrian Connections disc, which received a five-star review from Musical Opinion.
“Lyricism and dance are the watchwords of Briggs’s beautifully prepared performances…a player at the height of her powers,” the reviewer enthused.
Recorded at the Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, Wales, with support from the Nimbus Foundation, Variations finds Sarah exploring five sets of Variations by great masters of the genre, some of them relatively rarely heard on the concert platform.
Mozart’s exquisite late Duport Variations pave the way for Beethoven, who, after “‘showing the British what a treasure they have in God Save The King”, threw out the rule book of traditional variation form in his beautifully crafted yet still much overlooked Opus 34 set.
Before concluding with Brahms’s deeply poignant tribute to Robert Schumann, Sarah plumbs the depths of Mendelssohn’s much recorded Variations Serieuses, true to the spirit of the title, which indicates the composer’s desire to go far beyond merely demonstrating a pianist’s virtuoso capabilities.
“For my 50th birthday year recording, I was keen to highlight the progress of Variation form through the classical and romantic eras and wanted to contrast a much performed and recorded set (Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses) with some of the lesser known and performed variations by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms,” says Sarah.
“I first learnt Mozart’s Duport Variations in my teens, and they were a test piece when I played in the first round of the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. I’ve loved them ever since – there’s so much that’s joyful (and very operatic!) about them!”
Sarah recorded Beethoven’s Seven Variations on God Save The King purely by chance, but now, serendipitously, they could not be better timed for King Charles’s upcoming coronation.
“It’s strange to think I was recording Beethoven’s God Save The King Variations when Queen Elizabeth II was alive, never imagining that the timing of the release would be shortly before King Charles III’s coronation,” she says.
“I’m particularly delighted to have included them in the album programme at what turns out to be such an appropriate moment in history. Beethoven made it clear that he believed the British had a ‘treasure’ in God Save The King and he has a lot of fun embellishing it!”
Sarah continues: “His Opus 34 set is much less frequently performed than the Eroica set that immediately follows it, but my love of these variations goes back to growing up with my own late teacher Denis Matthews’ recording of them. They’re beautifully crafted, yet certainly showing Beethoven the revolutionary – throwing out the rule book of traditional variation form.”
“The key for me here is to view the variations as truly great music, rather than purely for their virtuoso qualities,” says Sarah Beth Briggs of Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses
Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses need little introduction to classical music lovers, says Sarah. “I’ve had a soft spot for them for as long as I can remember,” she reveals. “I approached them from the early days of studying with Denis with a real wish to understand the importance of Mendelssohn’s title – the word ‘serious’ distinguishing them from the sometimes frivolous variations of the time, which were largely about showing off.
“The key for me here is to view the variations as truly great music, rather than purely for their virtuoso qualities, and much of the excitement of playing them is keeping something in reserve so the whole set can build to a really exciting conclusion.”
Sarah finishes with the Brahms Schumann Variations. “They have almost overwhelming depth and sadness, alongside moments of high drama,” she says. “I see this set as a true masterwork. A wonderful tribute both to Robert Schumann (who had just been admitted to an asylum following his attempted suicide) and to his wife Clara (the dedicatee), who was at the time pregnant with their seventh child.
“It is hard to believe that this is the writing of a 21-year-old man, but certainly indicates Brahms’ great genius. It feels a suitably great work with which to conclude this particular musical journey.”
Discussing her performance plans for Variations, Sarah says: “While I have previously performed the works that feature in my album individually, I’ve chosen to wait to perform a programme built on a larger part of this release until the autumn season.
“I look forward to performing Variations Plus (featuring some of the disc programme alongside other works that take the form of variations but aren’t actually titled as such!) in numerous venues throughout the UK.”
Sarah’s Yorkshire appearance will be in November as part of the Music In The Round series at the Sheffield Crucible. Watch this space for more details.
“Part of my programme planning has centred around linking my great interest in Hans Gál (whose music I have made several recordings of) with my latest Variations project, so at the heart of my Variations Plus programme is Hans Gál’s Piano Sonata from 1927, which includes a set of variations as its rather haunting third movement,” she says.
“That ties up nicely with my first live performance of the Gál Piano Concerto (which I made the world premiere recording of) later this year in Germany with the Hofer Symphoniker.”
See Sarah Beth Briggs’s album preview below:
Sarah Beth Briggs: Variations
Mozart: Variations on a Minuet by Duport, K573
Beethoven: Seven Variations on God Save The King, WoO78
Beethoven: Six Variations on an Original Theme in F major, Op 34
Mendelssohn: Variations Sérieuses, Op 54
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann, Op 9
SING up! Song sheets at the ready, choir master Gareth Malone is bringing his 2023 tour, Sing-Along-A-Gareth-Two, to the Grand Opera House, York, on Bonfire Night.
Tickets for his November 5 concert and further Yorkshire dates at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on November 6 and Sheffield City Hall on November 19 go on sale tomorrow (24/3/2023) at 10am at garethmalone.com; York, atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, 0113 243 0808or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Sheffield, 0114 256 5593 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
Malone, his band and singers will be on the road with his uplifting, joyous new show from November 2 to December 11.
“Following the barnstorming, whirlwind success of Sing-Along-A-Gareth in 2022, I‘m back, new and improved, with Sing-Along-A-Gareth-Two! Featuring a whole new list of classic tunes for you and your friends to sing your hearts out to. I’ll be up and down the nation warming your larynxes in a feel-good evening of fun that will leave you with a song in your heart.”
Playing piano, guitar and bass, Londoner Malone, 47, will “create songs on the spot and help the audience to write their own songs too, discovering hidden talents along the way, in a feel-good evening of upbeat fun tracks we all know and love, which everyone can easily sing along to”.
The song list will be available to download in advance for those wanting to practise. Whether you are coming with a choir, friends or solo, all are welcome to join Malone in this celebration of community and song.
Audiences will “get to enjoy a whole evening of new classic songs that Gareth will select to raise the roof of every theatre. Prepare your vocal cords for a night of pure joy that will uplift your spirits and bring everyone together through the power of song”.
Malone again naturally: Gareth is all smiles on his return to Sing-Along duties
Advance notice:GarethMalone is assembling a new setlist for his 2023 tour. Songs may include:
9 to 5 – Dolly Parton
We Are The Champions – Queen
Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
Superstar – Jamelia
Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
Take On Me – a-ha
Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival/Tina Turner
You Got A Friend – Carole King
I Will Wait – Mumford & Sons
Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty
Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
Plus a few surprises, including a unique medley of party songs created by Malone.
The tour poster for Sing-Along-A-Gareth-Two
Gareth Malone: The back story
EDUCATERD at Bournemoth School, the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and Royal College of Music, London.
Malone’s achievements as choir master, presenter and populariser of choral music include three number one singles, two BAFTA awards and countless television shows over the past 15 years, such as The Choir and The Choir: Military Wives.
He was the pioneer of Great British Home Chorus, wherein thousands of people across the country sang with Malone from their kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms during the pandemic lockdowns.
Stephen Altoft: Exploring microtonal possibilities on the trumpet
STEPHEN Altoft is dedicated to the creation of new repertoire for the trumpet.
Hear the results tomorrow afternoon in Late Music’s 1pm concert by the Microtonal Projects co-director at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York.
For more than 20 years, Altoft researched the microtonal possibilities of the trumpet with composer Donald Bousted, developing a fourth (rotary) valve mechanism to enable the conversion of his existing trumpets into microtonal instruments: a 19-division B flat trumpet and quarter-tone C trumpet
Latterly, too, he has been developing programmes for flugelhorn in 12-, 19- and 24-divisions of the octave.
As a solo artist, and with percussionist Lee Ferguson in the duo Contour, Altoft has given concerts throughout Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada.
Initially he played in brass bands, most notably the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, before studying at the University of Huddersfield (1991-1995), where he was awarded a B.Mus Honours in performance and composition, a Master’s degree in performance and the Ricordi Prize for Contemporary Performance.
This was followed by periods of private study with Markus Stockhausen in Cologne and, with assistance from the Music Sound Foundation, with the Ensemble Modern trumpeter William Forman in Berlin.
He is now co-director of Microtonal Projects, manages the EUROMicroFest and teaches trumpet and improvisation at the music school in Waldkirch, Germany.
“In the last few years, the Microtonal Trumpet project has concentrated on developing new repertoire in 19-division (19 equal divisions of the octave) tuning on trumpet and flugelhorn, but with a special focus on harmony,” says Altoft. “We have been lucky enough to present this project internationally to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
“The current programme of pieces by myself and international composers brings together microtonal trumpet with electronics, interpretation of compositions and improvisation. Most of the pieces are multitrack pieces, addressing harmony in 19 equal divisions of the octave.”
Tomorrow afternoon’s programme comprises:
Time Dreaming (2018): Donald Bousted (UK) for three 19-div trumpets;
Gnossienne (2014): Eleri Angharad Pound (UK) for solo 19-division trumpet;
Lud’s Church (2020): Richard Whalley (UK) for solo 19-division trumpet and multitracks;
New Work: James Williamson;
Dialogue: Chris Bryan (US/ UK) for 19-div trumpet and computer;
Hidden Jewels (2018): Stephen Altoft (UK/Germany) for multi-tracked 19-div Trumpets;
RASP (2013), Stephen Altoft (UK/Germany ) for 19-div trumpet.
Tickets for tomorrow’s concert cost £5 at latemusic.org/event/stephen-altoft-19-division-trumpet/ or on the door.
Ivana Peranic & Rachel Fryer and pianist Ian Pace to play Late Music concerts on April 1
Cellist Ivana Peranic
LATE Music’s brace of concerts on April 1 at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York, presents cellist Ivana Peranic and pianist Rachel Fryer at 1pm and pianist Ian Pace’s Xenakis Centenary Concert at 7.30pm.
Peranic and Fryer will be performing Hayley Jenkins’ Partition, Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces, Rebecca Clarke’s Impetuoso (from Cello Sonata) and Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata, plus student compositions from York St John University
Late Music regular Pace’s Xenakis Centenary Concert programme carries the subtitle Composers With A Side Hustle in a celebration of Xenakis and other composers with regular jobs.
Step forward Iannis Xenakis, architect; Philip Glass, taxi driver and plumber; Morton Feldman, clothes factory worker; Charles Ives, insurance clerk; James Williamson, insurance claims handler and John Cage, graphic designer and mycologist (fungus collector).
Pace’s programme comprises Xenakis: Mists; Glass: Knee Play 4 (from Einstein On The Beach); Feldman: Extension 3; Ives: Selection of short piano works (Anthem – Processional, Study No. 21 – Some Southpaw Pitching, The Seen And Unseen, Baseball Take-Off, Allegretto, Bad And Good Resolutions); Williamson: New Work (world premiere); Xenakis: Chansons I-VI, Cage: In A Landscape and Xenakis: A.r. (Homage Ravel).
Composer James Williamson gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, accompanied by a complimentary glass of wine or juice.
Afternoon tickets cost £5; evening tickets £12, concessions £10, at latemusic.org or on the door.
Christopher Weeks’s Buddy Holly in Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story
IT feels like Buddy, the forerunner to so many jukebox musicals, is always playing the Grand Opera House. Not so! Once there was a 12-year gap, and this week’s run is the first since 2017.
What is true, nevertheless, is that it deserves to keep coming back with its sad but joyous celebration of the geeky, bespectacled boy in a hurry, the revolutionary rock’n’roll rebel from Bible-belt, country-fixated Lubbock, Texas.
As heard in concert at York Barbican last autumn, Don McLean’s letter to the heart of American culture, American Pie, is cryptic in its lyrics. Except for its clarity in recalling “the day the music died” as McLean shivered with every paper he delivered that February 1959 morning after Holly and fellow singers J P Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens had perished in a plane crash in the Iowa snow.
“Something touched me deep inside,” sang McLean in his eulogy, and Alan Janes’s musical has carried that torch through 27 actors playing Buddy, 414 pairs of glasses and 3,326 pairs of trousers – those figures no doubt still rising – since its August 1989 debut at the Plymouth Theatre Royal.
So many short, sharp songs from a brief but brilliant life cut short still rave on, never to fade away, as Janes crams in Holly hit after Holly hit, and plenty more besides with long concert sequences at the climax to both halves.
Indeed, unless your reviewer’s memory is playing tricks, there seems to be less detail of the story these days (in particular about the split from Buddy’s increasingly truculent band The Crickets and old-school producer Norman Petty as Holly (Christopher Weeks) swapped New Mexico for New York. This fracture is now mentioned only in passing by Thomas Mitchells’s narrator, Lubbock radio show host Hipockets Duncan, pretty much with a shrug of the shoulders).
That said, The Buddy Holly Story does answer McLean’s question, “Now do you believe in rock and roll?” with an emphatic ‘Yes’. But “can music save your mortal soul?” The inevitability of death would say ‘No’, but hey, it makes you feel good to be alive, whatever your age, how often you hear those Buddy songs.
Hipockets Duncan’s homespun narration begins at the very end ofthe story, before Holly’s 18-month rise and crash landing is charted chronologically. The teenage rebel with a cause in Buddy bursts through the gingham niceties of the opening number as he dupes a country radio station in deepest redneck 1956 Texas into letting him play on air, only to switch mid-song to that new interloper, rock’n’roll. Rip It Up is the song and rip it up is exactly what rule-breaker and innovator Buddy does.
A Nashville Decca producer may dismiss him with a “Can’t sing, can’t write” jibe, but Holly’s big specs appeal, silver tongue and golden arrow to the melody bullseye will triumph: no time to eat, but always feeding the beat as he writes restlessly and records relentlessly.
Directed by Matt Salisbury, rock’n’roll history in motion is a delight – the where, when and why it happened – as Petty’s wife, Vi (Stephanie Cremona) swaps tea-making for playing the celeste in a key contribution to Everyday; Buddy adapts the drum warm-up of The Crickets’ Jerry Allison (Josh Haberfield) for the opening to Peggy Sue, and Buddy refuses advice to remove his glasses, instead switching to thicker frames.
Such is the energy and joy, the love of life and wonder of love in Holly’s songs that this musical and its cast of multi-talented actor-musicians refuses to let the music die.
Cheeky humour and romance, innocence and defiance play their part, as Weeks’s Holly leads the show in all-action style, his singing and guitar playing top notch, while Joe Butcher’s constantly on the move stand-up bass player Joe B Mauldin and Haberfield’s drumming delight too. Look out too for Thomas Mitchells, taking on no fewer than six roles, count’em. That’s why his surname sounds plural!
Through the second half, the love-at-first-sight story of Buddy and record company receptionist Maria Elena (Daniella Agredo Piper), with her premonitions of Buddy’s fate, tugs at the heart strings like a Buddy Holly ballad.
Both concerts are choreographed superbly by Miguel Angel, whipping up the audience to the max; first, the remarkable night when the mistakenly booked Crickets found themselves playing at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York.
Then, the fateful last night of a badly organised tour at the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa, as Christopher Chandler’s Big Bopper and Miguel Angel’s hip-swivelling Ritchie Valens share the spotlight with Weeks’s inexhaustible Holly.
The tears will always flow at the sudden curtain fall to announce Holly’s passing, but every performance is a resurrection, a chance to shout Hollylujah.
Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Existing tickets from the “unexpected postponement due to bad weather” show remain valid for the new date.
“Unfortunately, due to various band members being snowed in, tonight’s show with The Martin Stephenson Trio has had to be postponed, not cancelled – we don’t give up easily – to a date tba,” read an announcement by Howden Live’s Mark Rodger on the snow-bound night.
The artwork for Martin Stephenson & John Perry’s new album, New Wave Connection
True to Mark’s word, self-deprecating, humorous Durham-born singer, songwriter and storyteller Stephenson, 61, will perform with fellow members of The Daintees, Gary and Anth Dunn, on Friday at 7.30pm, when Molly Curtis will be making a long overdue return in support.
“This show has a cast-iron guarantee of being a truly memorable night out and is well worth investing in, even if you’re not familiar with Martin Stephenson’s music. You don’t get on [The Old Grey] Whistle Test for nothing,” says Mark.
Now part of the Thoroughbred Music stable, Stephenson is joined on his latest album, New Wave Connection, by long-term pal John Perry, co-founder of fashionable London punks The Only Ones with Peter Perrett.
Together they have recorded versions of Rock & Roll Jamboree, New Wave Dave, Wholly Humble Heart, Big Sky New Light, Mother’s Son, Salutation Road, Taker On The Globe, Me And Matthew, Frattern Star and Running Water.
Martin Stephenson: The back story
Martin Stephenson: Billy Connolly’s “kind of musician”
INSPIRED by The Cure and the Brighton scene, Martin began his career as a busker aged 15. He then spent three years plying his trade as the guitar player in various bands in his native North East.
But he wanted more. He wanted to tell stories of his own and he was quickly developing ways of doing just that.
He developed his songwriting technique by firstly learning a few licks from a Spanish guitar book, then repeating the process with jazz, blues, country, skiffle and reggae.
Eventually, this glorious collision of styles would become the trademark in a career stretching to almost 40 years.
When Martin formed his band The Daintees, they became a busking sensation and were signed by Kitchenware at around the same time as fellow North Easterners Prefab Sprout and Hurrah!. The albums Boat To Bolivia (1986), Gladsome, Humour & Blue (1988), Salutation Road (1990) and The Boy’s Heart (1992) ensued, each covering a multitude of genres, tempos and moods.
Disenchanted at the way the industry was moving, and following the band’s break-up shortly after The Boy’s Heart’s release, Martin distanced himself from the mainstream music industry, relocating to the Scottish Highlands to recharge and re-evaluate.
There followed a number of years where Martin supported himself through extensive live work and a multitude of self-financed solo albums.
2000 saw the re-formation of The Daintees, and to this day Martin splits his time between solo and small collaborative projects with band albums and annual celebratory Daintees UK tours.
Did you know?
MARTIN Stephenson originated the term “alt. country” when describing the song Running Water on his 1986 debut album with The Daintees, Boat To Bolivia.
Did you know too?
MARTIN Stephenson performed his song Rain on Billy Connolly’s documentary The Big Yin. Connolly called him “my kind of musician”.
The poster for Martin Stephenson’s rearranged Howden Live concert
