Category: Music

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Bluegrass band The Coal Porters play ‘church-based entertainment venue’, All Saints in Pocklington, tonight

The Coal Porters: Led by Sid Griffin at All Saints Church, Pocklington, on September 19

THE Coal Porters, the world’s first “alt-bluegrass” act, play All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight as one of “two (count ’em) encounters with church-based entertainment venues” on their nine-date tour.

Prominent figures in the UK Americana and bluegrass scene for 17 years, Sid Griffin’s band are back in the saddle throughout this month, performing one Yorkshire concert already at Filey Americana Festival at Filey Evron Centre on September 7.

In a further highlight, eighth-generation Kentuckian Griffin marked his 70th birthday with a special gig at the Water Rats, London, last night.

2025 has been quite a year for Long Ryders and Coal Porters frontman Griffin, both on the road and in the recording studio. “The Long Ryders have made a record and now The Coal Porters are firing up again for this tour,” he says.

Tonight AMA Award winner Griffin leads The Coal Porters at All Saints Church on vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp, accompanied by Grammy winner and Adele string section leader Kerenza Peacock on fiddle and vocals; Paul Fitzgerald on banjo and vocals; Andrew Stafford on bass and Neil Robert Herd on guitar and vocals.

“We’ve played St Mary’s Creative Space, an absolutely beautiful church in Chester, and a deconsecrated church in Glasgow, so we love playing civic buildings of interest in any form or shape, which are worth their weight in plutonium,” says Sid. “If they can’t hear a choir singing the praises of the Lord, they can hear us.”

How does Sid know which of his songs will suit the his long-running American alternative country band The Long Ryders or the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and doghouse bass, four-part harmonies and melodies of The Coal Porters’ alt. bluegrass?

“Some of the acoustic songs are really written in the singer-songwriter/troubadour tradition, and are not right for the scale of The Long Ryders, and likewise some songs need those drums and bass,” he says. “I can tell upon writing a song where it should go – and the audiences hardly ever disagree!

The tour poster for The Coal Porters’ September travels

“There’s a danger that you start writing songs that you know the band can play, and that’s a mistake as you have to challenge them to get out of their comfort zone. You really have to watch that. It’s one of the pitfalls.

“You have to extend yourself, but not too far, you have to be different, but not too far, which seems contradictory. The Ramones and Credence Clearwater Revival managed to do that, but it’s usually the point at which bands split.

“The Temptations changed, ZZ Top changed, but sometimes you can’t do that – and that’s the thing. I’ve always tried to traverse, with The Long Ryders experimenting and The Coal Porters being entertaining – and being told  we’re too entertaining for hillbilly!”

Sid takes his point further. “We’ll take songs by Bob Dylan or David Bowie and we’ll ‘Porterise’ them, knowing we’re playing a Dylan/Bowie song but in a bluegrass form, being true to the idiom.

“The bluegrass police don’t like it. It’s like The Stanley Brothers again. People always want it to be better but different, and it’s pretty impossible to square the circle,” he says. “Traditionalists don’t like it but Coal Porters fans love us to death, so the question is, how do you make things better than yesterday?”

Should he shed the optimism in The Coal Porters’ performances, ponders Sid.  “That would be a mistake when you have to entertain but also give the audience a mirror of what’s going, but are we giving them respite, an escape, from what’s going on?” he says.

“I take performances at least as seriously as recording. They’re staring at you; you have their complete, undivided attention. They’ve paid their money, they’re facing you, whereas at home they’re not paying as much attention to a screen.

“Live gigs are now so important because no-one’s making money out of albums. Merch stands are important too. People come up to ask me questions  when it’s their moment to have that conversation with someone that has influence and they really want to give me their opinion.”

Singer, songwriter, band leader, musicologist, broadcaster and author Sid Griffin has lived in London for 33 years, where music will continue to frame his life. “It’s what I do, it’s what we do, as Robbie Robertson said of The Band. Good times, bad times, I make music. I don’t have riches or fame. I’m just happy,” he says, as he turns 70.

“It’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and I’ll keep doing it. I’m very pleased anyone wants to hear what I have to say. It’s very touching that these middle-aged guys, usually in their Clash and Ramones T-shirts, come with their wives and their kids and say what our music has done for them.”

Coming up next will be The Long Ryders’ sixth studio album, the follow-up to 2023’s September November. “It’ll be out in March/April. No title yet,” says Sid. “We recorded in a little town in the desert with producer Ed Stasium [who has worked with the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead and the Smithereens, among others].

“It was a really great experience to get together with the guys again. It’ll possibly be our last one but it was a lot of fun to do.  Now we’ve got to be mix it for release in the spring.”

Hurricane Promotions present The Coal Porters, All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight, 7.30pm. Box office: sidgriffin.com/tour; Pocklington, ticketsource.co.uk/hurricane-promotions/the-coal-porters/2025-09-19/19:30/t-eaoqmak.

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm ****

Alison times three in Fun Home: Libby Greenhill as ‘medium’ Alison, Claire Morley as Alison and Hattie Wells as ‘small’ Alison. Picture: Mike Darley

APOLOGIES for the tardiness of this review, delayed by five days of binging on Prague culture.  Nevertheless, it is not too late to see Pick Me Up Theatre’s York premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s award-garlanded musical Fun Home.

Well, hopefully not too late to acquire a ticket for tonight or tomorrow. York Medical Society’s Theatre Room is one of York’s more compact performance spaces (capacity 60, for lectures; 45, for cabaret; 24, for board meetings). And now 40 for Fun Home.

Director-designer Robert Readman gives the portrait-bedecked room more of a drawing-room entertainment vibe, or maybe a parlour. Make that a funeral parlour, as a funeral home – or ‘Fun Home’ as the Beckdel family call their unconventional Pennsylvanian abode – is where ‘small’ Alison and brothers Christian (Oliver Smith) and John (Teddy Alexander) play and make up songs amid the coffins.

Young Alison (Hattie Wells) is one of three Alisons in Fun Home, whose story is drawn from cartoonist Alison Beckdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Omnipresent is adult Alison (Claire Morley), at the age of the 43 – the same age that her father, suicidal spoiler alert, stood in front of a truck – looking back on her childhood and her coming out at 19 at university in New York (‘medium’ Alison, played by 16-year-old Libby Greenhill).

“It’s such a moving and unusual story and I love the score and the book,” says Readman, who rates five-time Tony winner Fun Home among his very best productions.

He is not wrong. Hattie Wells reveals a precocious talent, so confident on stage already, singing brightly and delivering a spot-on American accent, as her Alison shows a preference for jeans over dresses and a love of drawing. Her solo rendition of Ring Of Keys, is a high-point of a musical that eschews an interval to achieve maximum impact.

Likewise Libby Greenhill shows maturity beyond her years in her account of ‘medium’ Alison, with her love of literature and first love for fellow student Joan (Britney Brett), expressed so humorously and passionately in the song I’m Changing My Major To Joan. She is particularly impressive in the scenes where she craves her parents’ response to telling them by letter that she is a lesbian.

Alison’s mother, Helen (Catherine Foster, in fine singing voice), is a professional actress, but the focus is on her home life, where husband Bruce (Dale Vaughan) is a towering mass of complexities, contradictions, gaslighting control and linear, intolerant  thinking, yet with a teacher’s love of literature, a reckless streak and an expressive sideline in house restorations.

Doors to the Theatre Room are kept open for the corridor sounds of Bruce kicking out in anger, shouting in foul-mouthed froth at his wife and introducing ‘small’ Alison to her first dead body, adding to their shock value.

Bruce is homosexual, and not a closet one, openly hitting on students (played by Cain Branton) without regard for his wife’s feelings. Vaughan’s frank, fearless, frightening performance is one of the best on the York stage this year.

Everything is observed by Morley’s Alison, drawing and writing captions for her memoir, trying to make sense of it all, not least her father’s suicide, and she does so with a mixture of humour and tragedy in Morley’s first musical since her All Saints schooldays. And she really can sing!  Who knew!

Oh, and if you miss tonight or tomorrow’s shows, you could always head to Manchester for the Royal Exchange production from July 3 to August 1 next summer.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm Content guidance: Themes of LGBTQ+, suicide and strong language. Parental guidance: 12 plus. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/pickmeuptheatre.com.

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Navigators Art to host Folk & Word Open at Artful Dodger tonight and YO Underground #5 at The Basement on Saturday

The poster for Navigators Art’s YO Underground #5 bill at The Basement on Saturday

YORK arts collective Navigators Art will hold a Folk & Word Open Mic upstairs at The Artful Dodger, Micklegate, tonight and subsequently on the third Thursday of each month.

Poets and singers can sign up from 7pm for the 7.30pm start. “We welcome writers and ‘wordful’ acoustic musicians who’d like to share their work,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “Bring a poem, a guitar, a voice. All are welcome. We have a safe, friendly ethos. Access is by stairs only, sorry.” Entry is free with a purchase from the bar.

Navigators Art’s regular fulcrum of bold, left-field new music, words and performance will return to The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, for YO Underground #5 on Saturday at 7.30pm.

York flute and recorder player Carmen Tronsoco

“This edition features ethnic instruments, acoustic-electronic improvisation, words and guitar-based fusion, plus passionate new songwriting,” says Richard. “Expect bold, beautiful and adventurous sounds.”

On the bill will be Carmen Troncoso’s ethnic woody wind-blown instruments; York oboe musician Desmond Clarke & Osc~, featuring Barrington Brook, Iris Casling, Nika Ticciati and Gaia Blandina; No Spinoza’s words and guitar-based fusions, and a new York ‘supergroup’, the NSC Sound Union, combining members of Soma Crew, Namke Communications, Simon Micklethwaite and two others.

 Carmen Tronsoco is a flautist, recorder player and creative researcher. “In my artistic projects, I explore imaginative ways of engaging with my instruments, viewing them not as mere tools but as autonomous entities — or even creatures — capable of unfolding and revealing their own character,” she says.

York oboe player Desmond Clarke

“My practice aims to express the evolving, dynamic relationship between human and non-human agents.”

Desmond Clarke’s performances explore the boundaries and overlaps between acoustic instruments and their electronically inflected mirror images. Osc~ is a loose collective of musicians, based in the north, interested in long-form improvised musical performances. Previous performances have included four, seven, eight and 24-hour-long improvised megastructures.

No Spinoza is Thomas Pearson, a musician, poet and artist from the north east whose music – electronic folk with an art-rock edge – has received airplay on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio York and on radio and playlists worldwide. His fourth album will be released later this year.

No Spinoza’s Thomas Pearson

As Thomas Pearson, his writing has been published in various books and magazines, from Litmus to the Architects’ Journal. His artwork has been exhibited at the National Poetry Library, the Royal Academy of Arts and as a large-scale landscape installation at RSPB Saltholme, near Middlesbrough.

NSC Sound Union, formed by members of long-standing York bands Neuschlaufen and Soma Crew, meets the two bands half way: the improvisation from Neuschlaufen versus the discipline of Soma Crew. “Find out at each show which one comes out on top,” says Richard. “It’s never the same show twice.”

Admission is £6 in advance at www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance) or £10 on the door. The Basement is fully accessible.

Navigators Art raised £1,500 for Palestine aid at last Sunday’s A Gig For Gaza fundraiser at at The Crescent.

What happens when Neuschlaufen’s improvisation meets Soma Crew’s discipline? Find out at The Basement on Saturday

Osc~: Loose collective of northern musicians interested in long-form improvised musical performances

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REVIEW: Military Wives The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until September 27 *****

Raising their voices: Rachael Wooding, left, Jessica Daley, Emma Crossley, Bobbie Little, Syndey Isitt-Ager, Kayla Carter, Ashleigh Gray and Caroline Sheen in York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera

AFTER Sir Gary Oldman’s spring return to York Theatre Royal after 35 years in the banana-munching, tape-spooling Krapp’s Last Tape, here comes the second Theatre Royal coup of 2025.

Again opening with a week of previews before press night, Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives The Musical is receiving its world premiere.

This has HIT written all over it. Isitt is the BAFTA-winning writer-director behind the Nativity! film and stage show franchise and the Stock Aitken Waterman musical I Should Be So Lucky.  Likewise, Military Wives is a highly successful brand already, with a Gareth Malone TV series, a Christmas number one single and the 2019 film.

Military Wives writer-director Debbie Isitt in the rehearsal room. Picture: Danny With A Camera

Now Isitt’s musical brings together the best Isitt ingredients – comedy, high emotion, colourful, populist characters – fused with the pop appeal of chart hits and power ballads,  and the Military Wives true story already familiar to many.

York is an apt location for this world premiere, given the long history of Strensall and Imphal Barracks and the proximity of Catterick Garrison up the A1. Last night’s press night was preceded by a special pre-show foyer performance by the Military WAGS Choir from Catterick Garrison, and the presence of military wives in the audience had a palpable impact on the response throughout.

All this will be music to Debbie Isitt’s ears. She had maximised the authenticity of her storyline by her detailed research, meeting wives from barracks and Military Wives choir members.

In the line of fire in Afghanistan: Billy Roberts, left, Joe Kelly and Adrian Hansel’s soldiers in Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera

What results is a nascent musical that already feels complete, that ticks every box, that is much more than a mere jukebox musical, that has broad appeal, all-important momentum, comedy and tragedy in tandem.

The show carries the content warning of “including depictions of war and violence in a military conflict and themes of bereavement”. Plus haze/theatrical smoke.  Tick. Pyrotechnics and loud noises/explosion effects. Tick. Strong language. Tick. Prop firearms. Tick.  You have been warned. Tick.

Military Wives is billed as a “funny, feel-good story of female empowerment and the perfect harmony of laughter, emotion and fun in a joyous celebration of female friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes”. That might suggest the target audience is female, but to a man, every man around your reviewer was drawn to its winning formula too.

Across the divide: Caroline Sheen, left, Ashleigh Gray, Syndey Isitt-Ager, Emma Crossley, Jessica Daley, Rachael Wooding, Billy Roberts, Joe Kelly and Adrian Hansel in a scene from Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera

The words “joy” and “feel-good” jump out, but what makes Military Wives more than that is that it never hides away from the reality of war: the fear of death, of no return, of PTSD, of loss of faith, of the loneliness of absence, of the importance of letters in the dearth of physical contact.

All life (and death) is here on Katie Lias’s set of boxes, barbed wire and poppies as Isitt introduces us to the wives and their soldier husbands as the men head out to Afghanistan. Bex (Emma Crossley) and soldier partner Paula (Bobbie Little), struggling with IVF; Faith (Kayla Carter) and Luke (Adrian Hansel), questioning his faith (but not Faith); potty-mouthed, chain-smoking Krissy (Rachel Wooding), at loggerheads with Dale (Billy Roberts); posh, wasp-tongued Susannah (Caroline Sheen), “Snuffle Bottom” to husband Simon (Roberts), the colonel.

Jessica Daley’s ever-harassed Jenny and Stewart Wright’s ever-chirpy Dave the Welfare Officer in Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera

We also meet newly-weds Sarah (Sydney Isitt-Ager) and Adam (Joe Kelly), yet to go on honeymoon; pregnant Terri (Ashleigh Gray); mother-of-five shopkeeper Jenny (Jessica Daley), the can of Pringles of the barracks (“have one and she can’t stop”).

On hand at all times is Dave, the welfare officer, (Stewart Wright), always perky, always coming up with a new idea, always available to help, and throughout he is Isitt’s primary source of humour (along with the putdowns of Wooding’s Krissy).

Into this world, where the women have been living separate lives behind closed doors, comes choir leader Olive (Bobbie Little) to bring them together through song. Isitt in turn brings together all social classes and the frictions that go with that, leading to a superlative Spice Girls gag.

Ann Summers’ night for the Military Wives: Emma Crossley, left, Rachael Wooding, Ashleigh Gray, Kayla Carter, Jessica Daley, Syndey Isitt-Ager and Caroline Sheen. Picture: Danny With A Camera

All the while, on the choir’s journey from Bicester show to the Royal Albert Hall, songs are suddenly interjected with gunfire and explosions in Afghanistan, climaxing in the Act One cliffhanger with parallel dramas of childbirth on a hilltop and a medical emergency on the warfront. The shadow of death is never far away, but so too are revelations of past loss, infidelity, dementia and fatherhood.

George Dyer, arranger, orchestrator, musical supervisor and musical director, is on superb form at the piano, for Adele, Coldplay and Pink hits alike, matched by the moving, amusing performances of Isitt’s West End cast –and that is surely where Military Wives will be heading.

Maybe a tour first, given that this world premiere was made in association the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, and Buxton Opera House. Just as Seven Brides For Seven Brides and The Railway Children made their way from York Theatre Royal origins to London, so will Military Wives.

Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until September 27, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 40, from Gazette & Herald

Rebecca Vaughan’s Lady Susan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Ben Guest

JANE Austen’s Lady Susan, supreme chamber musicians, nature photography and Inspector Morse’s stage debut keep September busy for Charles Hutchinson.

Magnificently crafted tale of manipulation and manners of the week: Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow and Friday, 7.45pm, Saturday, 2pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm

DYAD Productions return with a new solo comedy show, Jane Austen’s 1794 tale of manipulation and manners. Directed by Andrew Margerison, company regular Rebecca Vaughan plays devil-may-care widow Lady Susan, oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica, long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine, family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia.

At the vanguard of Vaughan’s wickedly humorous adaptation is the charming, scheming and witty Lady Susan, taking on society and making it her own, but has she met her match? Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Classical festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival 2025, Friday to Sunday

YORK Chamber Music Festival artistic director Tim Lowe brings the cream of European string playing to York for three days. Taking part in five concerts at the National Centre for Early Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, and St Olave’s Church will be Charlotte Scott and Jonathan Stone, violins; Helene Clement and Gary Pomeroy, violas; Lowe and Jonathan Aasgaard, cello, and Katya Apekisheva, piano. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.

Comedy gig of the week: Russell Kane, Hyperactive, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

WHIRLWIND physical comedian, presenter, actor and author Russell Kane is out on the road again with his latest tour carrying a safety warning: “Wear strong underwear. Pants will be spoiled”. This show will be high-energy, high-octane and hyper-active. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.  

Film event of the week: Mother Vera with Q&A, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 6pm

IN a hidden Orthodox monastery in Belarus, Mother Vera weaves the inner world of an unorthodox young nun with the community that saved her life. After 20 years as a monastic, Vera faces deep inner conflict. Now, she must confront her past and trust her instincts to find the liberation she desires.

Friday’s screening of Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson’s winner of Best Documentary at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival – shot in black and white – will be accompanied by a question-and-answer session with Tomlinson, conducted by Aesthetica  writer and curator Rachel Pronger. Box office: picturehouses.com/cinema/city-screen-picturehouse.

Americana gig of the week: The Coal Porters, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm

THE Coal Porters, who claim to be the world’s first “alt-bluegrass” act, will be led as ever by Sid Griffin in Pocklington, a day after celebrating his 70th birthday.

Prominent figures in the UK Americana and bluegrass scene for 17 years, Griffin’s band are back in the saddle this autumn for eight dates. Their songs showcase the power of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and doghouse bass, all harmonised with four-part vocals and melodies. Box office: sidgriffin.com/tour; ticketsource.co.uk.

Ryedale exhibition launch of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, Nunnington Hall, near York, from Saturday to March 29 2026

ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.

Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.

Dance show of the week: The Return Of The Legends, starring Brendan, James, Pasha, Vincent and Ian, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite follow up 2024’s  Legends Of The Dancefloor with new Latin, tango, rumba and ballroom routines and more Strictly stories in The Return Of The Legends. Joined by a supporting cast, they deliver a night of dancing, camaraderie, music and laughter. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.  

Murder mystery of the week: Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, Grand Opera House, York, September 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre and Simon Friend Entertainment are touring the Inspector Morse franchise’s debut original stage play, House Of Ghosts, penned by Alma Cullen, directed by Anthony Banks and starring Tom Chambers.

A chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress dies suddenly on stage during a performance, prompting Detective Chief Inspector Morse to embark on a gripping investigation. What begins as a suspicious death inquiry takes a darker turn when the legendary inspector, in tandem with Detective Sergeant Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years earlier. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, The Della Grants, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 25, 8pm

LEICESTER band The Della Grants’ songs seamlessly bridge the gaps between blues, rock and Americana. Since their inception in 2014, they have made a name for themselves among industry professionals and fellow musicians for their song-writing ability and performances. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 39, from Gazette & Herald

Grainne O’Hare: Discussing her debut novel, Thirst Trap, a study of friendship in Belfast, with York theatre-maker and university tutor Bridget Foreman at Helmsley Literature Festival

HELMSLEY’s book festival, musical premieres, Ayckbourn’s 91st comedy and the Yellow Brick Road are beckoning Charles Hutchinson. 

Festival of the week: Helmsley Literature Festival, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday to Sunday.

HELMSLEY Literature Festival presents an entertaining weekend of writers, theatre and music, opening with Joanne Harris & The Storytime Band’s musical storytelling show on Friday at 7.30pm and concluding with the Studio Bar literary quiz on Sunday at 8.30pm.

Saturday presents retired clinical oncologist Grahame Howard at 2pm; Belfast-born debutant novelist Grainne O’Hare (Thirst Trap), 4.30pm; Debbie Cannon’s play The Remarkable Deliverances Of Alice Thornton, 7pm, and Poets’ Corner, hosted by Steve Harvey in the Studio Bar, 8.30pm. Sunday features Cliff Hague’s Cup Finals: Football Stories Of Great Games, Heroes And Villains, 2pm; northern authors Jenn Ashworth (The Parallel Path: Love, Grit And Walking The North) and Wendy Pratt  (The Ghost Lake), and Saltburn bookshop owner and The Hometown Bookshop novelist Jenna Warren, 7pm. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Musical world premiere of the week: Military Wives – The Musical, York Theatre Royal, today to September 27, times vary

YORK Theatre Royal stages the world premiere of writer-director Debbie Isitt’s musical based on the 2019 film, rooted in Gareth Malone’s The Choir: Military Wives project.

Faced with husbands and partners being away at war, the women are isolated, bored and desperate to take their minds off feelings of impending doom. Enter Olive to help them form a choir. Cue a joyous celebration of female empowerment and friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Interdimensional journey of the week: Wharfemede Productions in Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

DIRECTOR Helen “Bells” Spencer and musical director Matthew Clare follow up 2023’s Musicals In The Multiverse 2023 with another blend of iconic musical theatre hits reconfigured with surprising twists. 

“Think unexpected style swaps, minor to major key switches, gender reversals, era-bending reinterpretations, genre mash-ups and more,” says Bells. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

York premiere of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, today to September 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees

ROBERT Readman directs the York premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Krow’s five-time Tony Award winner, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel. 

When her volatile father dies unexpectedly, Alison (Claire Morley) recalls how his temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, she relives her unique childhood at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions of her father’s hidden desires. Box office: ticketsourse.co.uk/pickmeuptheatrecom.

Exhibition of the week: Paint & Print, Beryl Braddock, Judith Ellis & Pauline Brown, Helmsley Arts Centre, until October 31

SINCE gaining a Fine Art degree at Leeds and Goldsmiths as a mature student, Beryl Braddock has enjoyed more than 40 years of drawing and painting, using watercolours, crayon, inks, charcoal and oils in still life, landscape and life drawing works, often in portraits of family and friends.

Judith Ellis’s paintings and prints utilise the process of mark making – colour, shape, form and texture – developed with elements of order and chance. Her work evolves with or without a pre-conceived idea; sometimes fragments of diaries are used to develop texture and form or a poem might provoke a colour. Artist, art therapist and theatre designer Pauline Brown paints and draws mostly outdoors in nature, following the changing seasons, using layers of colour and texture to capture the landscape’s moods and atmosphere.

Brass band gig of the week: Stape Silver Band, Brass Across The World, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

STAPE Silver Band takes a musical journey around the world in the company of Pickering Musical Society members, performing works associated with myriad genres of brass band music. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk/events/stape-silver-band/.

Tribute show of the week: Abba Sensation, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

KIRK Theatre “simply had to have them back” after Abba Sensation’s sold-out last visit. Combining costume changes, lighting effects and a faithful account of the Abba sound, the band welcomes audience participation, whether singing, clapping or dancing. Anyone “too posh” to join in can rattle jewellery instead. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk/events/stape-silver-band/.

Ruby slippers of the week: York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to September 20

UNDER Nik Briggs’s direction, York Stage skips down the Yellow Brick Road as Erin Childs’ Dorothy, Toto and her friends, the Scarecrow (Flo Poskitt), Tin Man (Stu Hutchinson), and Cowardly Lion (Finn East), journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Ian Giles).

In navigating the enchanting landscape of Oz, Dorothy is watched closely by Glinda, the Good Witch (Carly Morton) as the Wicked Witch of the West (Emily Alderson) plots to thwart Dorothy’s quest and reclaim the magical ruby slippers. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Theatre event of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s 91st premiere, Earth Angel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Saturday to October 11, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm, Wednesday and Thursday, and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

GERALD has lost his wife of many years. Amy was the light of his life, almost heaven-sent. Trying his best to put a brave face on things, he accepts help from fussy neighbours. Then a mysterious stranger turns up at Amy’s wake, washing the dishes and offering to do a shop for Gerald, but is he all that he appears?  

Alan Ayckbourn’s 91st play digs deep into one of life’s greatest mysteries: what makes someone a good person – and in this day and age, can you ever be sure? Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

Emma Burke’s wartime nurse performing Anthem, from Chess

“THE show’s concept is playful, radical too, and has the potential to be rolled out again,” predicted your reviewer, when encountering June 2023’s “out of this world” Musicals In The Multiverse.

Sure enough, here comes the bigger, bolder sequel, still with a “big cast, bags of energy and enthusiasm, and a fun idea for a show”, still with Helen “Bells” Spencer as director and Matthew Clare in charge of the remarkable musical arrangements as songs are freed from the chains of their usual presentation.

The company and venue has changed, from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company and art deco Joseph Rowntree Theatre to Spencer and Nick Sephton’s Wetherby-based Wharfemede Productions and black-box Theatre@41, Monkgate.

The show title has replaced ‘In’ with the broader-sounding ‘Across’ to reflect an even more expansive multiverse: alternative worlds where musical favourites and newer works are turned on their head, taking on a new life with a change of gender, era, key or musical style, as musical director James Ball and his band, out of view behind curtains but worthy of a standing ovation in their own right, deliver Matthew Clare’s diverse, dazzling arrangements with such brio.

Nick Sephton and Helen “Bells” Spencer’s tender rendition of I Don’t Need A Roof

Attending Monday night’s dress rehearsal, the technical rough edges with the projection would be ironed out by tonight’s opening  show, and likewise Bells Spencer was keeping herself busy in taking notes, and even adjusting actors’ stage positions mid-number to achieve the right balance. Choreographer Connie Howcroft, when not performing, kept an eye on the big numbers too.

Musicals Across The Universe sits inside an end-on set design, usually bare to enable use of the full stage, even the stairway, with the occasional addition of chairs too, while projections, whether of a blur of Fake News or images of wartime Poland, accompany assorted numbers. Costume changes are frequent, sometimes amusing, often witty, always striking.

Act One opens with the full company finding its voice in Facade, a number from Jekyll And Hyde that is the essence of putting on a front, but with the truth still bursting through. As Long As He Needs Me, Nancy’s troublesome song from Oliver!, becomes more mournful, less desperate, in Jai Rowley’s interpretation.

The Place Where The Lost Things Go, from Mary Poppins Returns, is transformed into a children’s song, all the more moving in Matthew Warry’s performance, supported by Laertes Singhateh and Emelia Charlton-Matthews.

Lauren Charlton-Matthews: Outstanding rendition of Dear Bill from Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Simon Trow

Anthem, from Chess, takes on a Jazz Age air in Emma Burke’s rendition; Lauren Charlton-Matthews chose Dear Bill, from the Grand Opera House-bound Operation Mincement for her solo number, duly delivering the show’s best storytelling singing. 

Go The Distance/Defying Gravity, from Hercules/Wicked, vie for centre stage in a mash-up for David Copley-Martin, Emily Hardy, Naomi Mothersille and Zander Fick; partners Spencer and Sephton bring tender romance to Big Fish’s I Don’t Need A Roof and Tess Ellis revels in the stark solo spotlight in Miss Saigon’s Why God? Why?

Two Act One favourites follow in quick succession, first Rosy Rowley’s lonesome Mr Cellophane, from Chicago, her face marked by a painted tear, accompanied by the Dance Core in white masks with crimson lips and matching dark tears.

Listen, from Dreamgirls, branches out from dialogue to Jai Rowley expressing himself in British Sign Language, learned expressly for this performance, to be interpreted in song by James Ball as Matthew Warry takes over on piano.

Exchanging sign language: James Ball, left, and Jai Rowley in Listen

After the men-in-black smooth chops of When She Loved Me, from Toy Story, you will go potty for Connie Howcroft’s polka-dotty reinvention of Friend Like Me from Aladdin, with her Dance Core in tow.

Mickey Moran, outstanding in the 2023 show, comes to the fore in Act Two’s opening Queen Medley from We Will Rock You, both on lead vocals as bravura as Freddie Mercury and on guitar too. The show must go on, and indeed does with Naomi Mothersille leading Make Them Hear You from Ragtime.

Richard Bayton and James Ball address songs to each other as gay lovers on the path to separation, first in Bayton’s confessional Just Not Now, from I Love You Because, then Ball, wrought with tragedian drama in Abba’s The Winner Takes It All, from Mamma Mia!, the show’s outstanding solo turn.

It’s Never That Easy/I’ve Been Here Before, from Closer Than Ever, find Spencer, Howcroft, Emily Hardy and Naomi Mothersille in harmony; Tess Ellis, in cream, stands out from the crowd in the heartfelt Someone Like You, from Jekyll & Hyde, and Ben Holeyman does likewise in Gypsy’s Don’t Rain On My Parade. Take note of Kirsty Barnes, notebook in hand, in Santa Fe, from Newsies.

Life is a Cabaret for Zander Fick, surrounded by the Dance Core in Musicals Across The Multiverse. Picture: Simon Trow

Zander Fick, fresh from playing drag star Loco Chanel in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, dons fishnets, shiny red Latex top and matching high heels and lipstick, to darken Sally Bowles’s Cabaret, from Cabaret, into being more in keeping with the Emcee.

Bayton and Ellis, Holeyman and Barnes play two couples in declamatory tandem in the mash-up of Million Dreams and How Far I’ll Go from The Greatest Showman and Moana, and mother and child partnerships, Spencer and Singtaheh, Rowley times two and Charlton-Matthews a deux, express the bond movingly in Mamma Mia’s Slipping Through My Fingers. Abbie Law savours the last solo showcase in Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You, from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

The full company assembles for Blame It On The Boogie, from MJ The Musical, a celebratory finale led flamboyantly by Rosy Rowley and Mickey Moran that has everyone dancing to the Multiverse max.

Wharfemede Productions present Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rosy Rowley. front, left, and Mickey Moran, front, right, lead the outbreak of dancing in Blame It On The Boogie, the finale to Musicals Across The Multiverse

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Childs’ play for Erin as she plays Dorothy in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz at Grand Opera House, York, from Friday

Erin Childs’ Dorothy looking out of the farm window

ERIN Childs is feeling at home in the lead role of Dorothy as York Stage skip down the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard Of Oz at the Grand Opera House, York.

“It’s so iconic,” says the 17-year-old A-level student from Dunnington, sitting in the Cumberland Street theatre’s foyer bar before performing songs from the show at a Networking and Meet The Team evening last Wednesday.

“I’m quite young to be playing Dorothy as it’s a very big role. I’m so grateful for the opportunity with a company that has such professional standards.”

Erin, who is studying Musical Theatre among four A-levels from this term, will take to the stage from Friday buoyed by achieving her LAMDA Grade 8 Award. “I got a distinction!” she says excitedly.

For the past seven years, she has trained under The Wizard Of Oz director Nik Briggs at York Stage School,  making her mark in a series of York Stage shows.

“My first was The Sound Of Music, when I played Brigitta von  Trapp, and I’ve also done Everybody’s Talking  About Jamie, playing Pritti Pasha at the Grand Opera House, and in May I was in A Midsummer Night’s Dream [set on a modern-day northern council state],” says Erin. “I was a chav fairy, Peaseblossom, and it was a very fun show to do.”

Erin Childs’ Dorothy with Toto (Freddie) in a field at York Maze

How is her American accent coming along for farm girl Dorothy? “I would say we’re doing it more generalised American than Kansas, just to save on confusion, because Kansas is a midwestern  American accent, which might be confusing, and we have to make it as accessible as possible,” says Erin.

She is looking forward to “bringing my own twist” to Dorothy in what she describes as “a kind of modernised” take on The Sound Of Music’s heartwarming tale of friendship, courage and the belief that there’s no place like home.

Erin’s Dorothy, her dog Toto and her friends, the Scarecrow (Flo Poskitt), Tin Man (Stu Hutchinson) and Cowardly Lion (Finn East), must journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Ian Giles).

In navigating the enchanting landscape of Oz, Dorothy will be watched closely by Glinda, the Good Witch (Carly Morton) as the Wicked Witch of the West (Emily Alderson) plots to thwart Dorothy’s quest and reclaim the magical ruby slippers.

“She’s going on this emotional journey, a journey of self-discovery, that everyone goes on with her, as she really embodies that we’re all searching for the same things – especially love – as we all have the same emotions,” says Erin. “She also finds love in herself, accepting who she is.”

She is thrilled by the prospect of singing Over The Rainbow. “It’s so special; a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Everyone knows the song, and the fact that I have this opportunity is incredible,” she says. “The Jitterbug is brilliant to do too because of the fantastic choreography that goes with it.”

Erin Childs’ Dorothy walking through the maze at York Maze in her ruby slippers

Erin will perform with not one but two Totos. “We have a puppet Toto, commissioned from Elanor Kitchen, and ‘real’ Toto, our director Nik’s dog, Freddie,” she says. “Nepotism at its finest,” Nik jokes.

“I’ve worked with Freddie at nearly every rehearsal to get that bond with him. He’s very unpredictable but his cuteness will override everything.”

If Freddie is a new acquaintance, Erin has worked with all her fellow principal cast members previously. “They’re phenomenal. What they bring to life in their characters is just amazing,” she says.

Erin has had a busy summer, combining The Wizard Of Oz rehearsals with working in the entertainments team at York Maze under York actor, entertainer and magician Josh Benson. “It’s involved lots of hosting and dancing,” she says. “Hopefully I’ll be doing the Halloween show there this year too.”

York Maze, by the way, has played its part in York Stage’s publicity campaign for The Wizard Of Oz. Photographs of Erin’s Dorothy, amid the sweetcorn sheaths, in ruby slippers and with Freddie in Toto mode, were taken there, along with the filming of the show’s promotional video, featuring Erin in costume singing Over The Rainbow.

The Yellow Brick Road awaits.

York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, September 12 to 20. Performances: 7.30pm, September 12, 13, 19 and 20; 7pm, September 16, 17 and 18; 4pm, September 14; 2.30pm, September 13 and 20. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Over the rainbow: Erin Childs’ Dorothy following a path through the maze at York Maze

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Meet the three Alisons in Pick Me Up Theatre’s York premiere of Fun Home

Alison times three: Libby Greenhill, left, Hattie Wells and Claire Morley in the Fulford Social Hall rehearsal room for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home. Picture: Kevin Greenhill

PICK Me Up Theatre’s York premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s award-garlanded musical Fun Home opens at the York Medical Society, Stonegate, on September 10.

Director-designer Robert Readman was thrilled when the rights became available. “I jumped at the chance to produce this amazing Broadway musical – it’s such a moving and unusual story and I love the score and the book,” he says.

“It’s a remarkable show that won Tony awards for best musical, score, book, leading actor and direction, and we’re very lucky to have such a magnificent, tight cast to bring to life Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel, based on her own life. And I feel the atmospheric, very intimate venue of the York Medical Society will work so well for our production.” Please note, the seating capacity is only 40, so prompt booking is advised. 

First staged in the UK at the Young Vic in London in 2018, but yet to play the West End, Fun Home now makes its Yorkshire debut  with its story of Alison at three stages of her life as memories of her 1970s’ childhood in a funeral home merge with her college love life and her coming out.

Claire Morley in rehearsal for Fun Home. Picture: Kevin Greenhill

When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to recall the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.

“Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes as Alison looks back on her complex relationship with her father and finds they had more in common than she ever knew,” says Robert.

Readman’s cast will be led by Claire Morley as adult Alison, aged 43, Libby Greenhill as Medium Alison, aged 19, and Hattie Wells as Young Alison, aged nine, joined by Catherine Foster as Helen, Alison’s mother, Dale Vaughan as Bruce, Alison’s father, Teddy Alexander as John, Oliver Smith as Christian, Britney Brett as Joan and the multi-role-playing Cain Branton as JRoy/Pete/Mark/Bobby.

“Fun Home is one of those cult musicals where if you know it, you rave about it,” says Claire, who is performing in her first musical since playing a Ronette in Little Shop Of Horrors in her All Saints schooldays. “If you don’t know the show but come next week, I’m hoping it will become some people’s favourite musical.

Libby Greenhill’s Medium Alison: “Some of her scenes about self-identity and discovering she’s a lesbian are quite funny,” she says. Picture: Kevin Greenhill

“I’ve known about the show for some time, though I’ve never seen it, but I love the songs. I’ve used Maps for auditions and Changing My Major (Libby’s solo in our show), at drama school, and when I saw Pick Me Up Theatre were doing it, I thought ‘this is my chance’.”

Libby, 16, who is studying for A-levels in Classical Civilisation, Religious Studies and English Language (“my passion”), was the first to be cast by Readman in December. All Saints pupil Hattie followed later that month, picked while starring in Pick Me Up’s Oliver!, when appearing in Fagin’s gang alongside her mother Rhian’s Mrs Sowerberry. 

Looking ahead, Hattie, aged 11, has been cast as one of two Annies in York Light Opera Company’s production of Annie at York Theatre Royal next February.

Claire’s Alison will be omnipresent on stage. “Her memories make these characters emerge from her past. In one song, I sing that she’s 43, a similar age to when her father committed suicide, and so throughout the show she’s looking back on her life, her teenage days and childhood, and her relationship with her father.”

Young Alison actress Hattie Wells singing in the Fulford Social Hall rehearsal room. Picture: Kevin Greenhill

Libby says: “The musical is based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel, where she’s looking back over her memories, switching between 19-year-old Alison, in her first year at college in Pennsylvania,  and 11-year-old Alison, and there’s no dragging in this show. It’s very immersive, about one hour 40 minutes long, so there’s no interval.”

Claire says: “The show builds to this dramatic event, so if it had an interval, it would break the momentum, and staging it in the round with the audience on all sides will benefit the show too.”

Hattie has found herself growing into the role. “It felt weird at first because things didn’t all make sense to me, and it seemed quite strange, especially when Bruce [the father] is really angry, when it’s very scary as Dale [Vaughan] is really good at being angry,” she says.  “It’s helped to watch clips on YouTube and to work with Robert in rehearsals.”

Libby stresses that Fun Home is not a dark comedy but has elements of both.  “There are dark things with the father, and then, in some of Medium Alison’s scenes about self-identity and discovering she’s a lesbian, they’re quite funny,” she says.

“Ultimately it’s life-affirming as Alison tries to work out how to move on while reconciling herself with how she was emotionally manipulated,” says Claire. “I think everyone who comes to the show will recognise something from their own lives, although it’s very specifically one person’s memories – and it’s definitely not all doom and gloom. It’s a good musical where people will come up with differing interpretations.”

The three Alisons will be seldom seen on stage together. “There’s only one moment where we acknowledge each other,” says Hattie.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, September 10 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. Content guidance: Themes of LGBTQ+, suicide and strong language. Parental guidance: 12 plus. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/pickmeuptheatre.com.

Pick Me Up Theatre’s show poster for Fun Home at York Medical Society

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Nativity! writer-director Debbie Isitt launches world premiere of Military Wives – The Musical at York Theatre Royal

Debbie Isitt in the rehearsal room for Military Wives – The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera

DEBBIE Isitt, the writer-director behind the Nativity! film and theatre franchise, is at the helm of York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of Military Wives – The Musical.

After beginning preparations at Chalk Farm in London, Debbie and her 12-strong West End cast are in their second week in the Theatre Royal rehearsal room, working towards next Wednesday’s opening preview.

Based on Peter Cattaneo’s 2019 comedy-drama Military Wives, scripted by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard, and inspired by the true story of the Military Wives Choir that featured in Gareth Malone’s fourth documentary series of The Choir, BAFTA award winner Isitt has created a joyous celebration of female empowerment and friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes as the choir changes the world one song at a time.

“It’s my first time directing in York. Very exciting,” says Birmingham-born Debbie, 60. “Everybody’s loving being here in this very beautiful city, where we’ve found everyone to be super-friendly, and it’s a relaxing atmosphere, which is so helpful with a new show with lots of challenges.”

The Military Wives Choirs charity now has a network of 75 choirs in British military bases at home and overseas, bringing women in the military community closer together through singing.

Within that framework Debbie constructs her musical, wherein these women are isolated, bored and desperate to find a focus to take their minds off feelings of impending doom when their husbands and partners are away at war in Afghanistan.

Enter Olive (played by Bobbie Little), who arrives on the ‘patch’ to help them form a choir and learn to sing. Through the power of song, these diverse women find themselves facing their fears and making unexpected friendships along the way.

“I’ve loved this story from the early days of the Gareth Malone TV series in 2011,” says Debbie. “I fell in love with these women’s stories, having known nothing about the challenges they faced; how they lived in fear and isolation, and often didn’t make friends with each other on the camps because they were always being posted at a minute’s notice.

“That meant they didn’t make deep attachments and everything was at surface level, so it could be a lonely life. Singing in the choir gave them a sense of community when they didn’t know if their husbands would come back.

“Funnily enough, I was thinking, ‘I’d like to make a film of this’, but life takes over, not least the Nativity! films, but other things too.”

Debbie loved Cattaneo’s film – “it was really well cast,” she says – and when there were mutterings of making a stage musical, she contacted her agent to see if there would be interest in her writing and directing it. “Luckily there was,” she says.

She vowed to both draw on the film and origin story and to bring her own ingredients to the musical. “I’ve done lots of research of my own, so it’s a combination of my spin on the story and having a wealth of material to use.

“There’s a pressure to make something that people genuinely take to their hearts and really care about the characters,” says Military Wives – The Musical writer-director Debbie Isitt

“Bringing these women together in the choir is a great catalyst for drama and comedy – and for conflict from how they come from different backgrounds.”

Debbie held workshops 18 months ago and six months later, with many of the premiere cast in place from the start. “I’m known for using improvisation, with me wanting to tell the story, but with the actors having the chance to create their characters and me working my way around that,” she says.

“The brilliant thing about the process is that every cast member has made a contribution, so the characters feel bigger, three dimensional, so that has its own power.  It’s also good for comedy in the show as you can see if a joke lands. That makes it a fun way to work, keeping everything light on its feet.”

Debbie’s characters in Military Wives are a hybrid of “some of the women I met in my research, where I thought, ‘you’re going to be in my show’ and for others, they were built from me thinking about ‘if you’re a military wife, what would you focus on when you’re bored or anxious?’.”

To create a successful film, musical or television show, “there’s a pressure to make something that people genuinely take to their hearts and really care about the characters,” suggests Debbie.

“Ultimately, Military Wives has to be a character-driven story as you have to fall in love with these women, learning what it’s like to be a military wife, but it’s a universal story too: the way they use humour to get through the day, as do men when they’re at war.

“Then we have the music too, so we have all the ingredients for the show to be empowering, uplifting, healing. The banter, the comedy, the music, the forging of friendships.

“But in this story it doesn’t come without its sadder moments, and you can’t shy away from that, because that’s the reality, so you take the audience on a rollercoaster ride.”

In 2023, Debbie wrote and directed I Should Be So Lucky, the jukebox stage musical built around the Stock, Aitken and Waterman hit factory. Now she is working with arranger, orchestrator and musical supervisor George Dyer in a show full of pop, rock and power ballads.

“Singing those songs within the context of the story, they have a new meaning that makes them more powerful and moving,” she says.  “It’s very exciting to hear songs by Adele, Coldplay, Cyndi Lauper and Motown in a different context.”

York Theatre Royal, in association with Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham and Buxton Opera House, presents Military Wives – The Musical, September 10 to 27. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.