CBEEBIES superstar and children’s favourite Justin Fletcher presents an all-singing, all-dancing spectacular extravaganza in Justin Live! The BIG Tour at York Theatre Royal on Thursday and Friday.
Over 20 years, Justin has become a TV institution, piling up BAFTA award-winning appearances on Something Special, Justin’s House, Jollywobbles, Gigglebiz and Gigglequiz, as well as providing character voices for Tweenies, Boo, Toddworld and Shaun The Sheep, latterly voicing Shaun in the Aardman movie Farmageddon.
Tickets for his 11am and 2.30pm performances, presented by Imagine Theatre, are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Here Justin discusses his new live show and his inspirations with CharlesHutchPress.
Whatinspired you to make your first step into children’s entertainment?
“As a child, I used to watch Playschool with Johnny Ball, Derek Griffiths and Floella Benjamin and loved acting out the stories. During my three-year course at drama school, I was inspired by Philip Schofield and Chris Jarvis in the CBBC Broom Cupboard and thought I’d like to perform in some family theatre and television.
“I put a show reel together and managed to secure an audition for the theatre tour of Playdays, which was the show that took over from Playschool, and I landed the part of Mr Jolly. That was the very first part I played, which started my career in family entertainment.”
Who was your inspiration when growing up?
“I was very much inspired by the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. I used to watch their slapstick routines over and over again. They had such an amazing chemistry between them.”
How has the world of family entertainment changed over the years and have you had to adapt your approach?
“The choice of family entertainment on television is now huge, whereas when I was a child there was avery limited number of programmes available to watch. However, having a good, strong, story-based script and engaging characters is still the key to having a successful programme.”
Although best known for your TV shows, you have produced and performed in plenty of theatre shows too. How important is live theatre for children and what do you enjoy most when playing to a theatre full of young people?
“Creating many family theatre productions over the last two decades has been incredibly important to me and hugely enjoyable. There’s nothing like performing on stage and meeting the families that support you and your television shows.
“Children’s theatre is so important, as it’s quite often their first live show experience. We’re hoping to inspire the next generation of theatregoers.”
Justin Fletcher’s map of destinations for The Big Tour
What do you enjoy about touring a live show?
“We have an amazing production team who work extremely hard to prepare the show before it goes out on the road. We’re like one big family. From the performers to the lighting and sound operators, the catering team, and the backstage crew, we’re all working together to put on the production.
“We also support each other whilst out on the road, which is really important when you’re away from home for fairly long periods of time. Touring provides a fantastic opportunity to experience so many different towns and theatres across the country and to meet so many new friends along the way.”
How did you start the creative process for writing Justin Live! The BIG Tour show and what inspired you?
“It always starts with a storyline. Once you have that in place, I think about the music content. Music is a vital element of all my shows, and I try to write some original songs myself, as well as featuring some of the much-loved traditional songs too.”
The BIG Tour will be full of slapstick. Why is this form of comedy timeless?
“Slapstick comedy has such wide appeal. It’s great when children and their families laugh out loud watching comedy routines by performers like Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. It’s a timeless format and you can’t beat the sound of belly laughter coming from the audience from children and adults alike.”
What interactive fun and games can audiences expect in theBIG Tour show?
“When children and their families come to see my shows, I don’t try to create a show that is simply to be watched, I create a show that they can be a part of. I love audience participation and almost every song we do is interactive and we always end with a big party that everyone can join in with.”
What are your favourite songs in the show?
“I love the action songs that we usually start the shows with. You can’t beat seeing the audience join in with classic songs such as Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes, If You’re Happy And You Know It and The Hokey Cokey.
“Then, in a heartbeat, we can fill the auditorium with magical stars and all join in singing and signing Twinkle Twinkle. That’s the beauty of live theatre, you never quite know what’s coming next!”
Why should people come to Justin Live! The BIG Tour?
“It’s been a very long time since we’ve been able to tour. I can’t wait to get out on the road and to meet all of our friends once again.”
The sun always shines on a-ha in Scarborough in July
NORWEGIAN synth-pop trio a-ha will head to the East Coast on their 2022 World Tour to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 3.
Forty years since forming in Oslo, vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen will be playing Europe, the United States and South America in 2022.
a-ha made their breakthrough in 1985 with the chart-topping Take On Me and The Sun Always Shines On TV from debut album Hunting High And Low, since when they have released ten studio and two live albums, plus an MTV Unplugged album. Take On Me has been viewed 1.4 billion times on YouTube and repeatedly voted into MTV fans’ Top Ten Best Music Videos of all time.
a-ha The Documentary, a film that follows the Scandinavians over four years, will be released in British cinemas on May 27 to coincide with their series of UK arena shows.
a-ha: New album in October
The documentary charts a-ha’s rise to the peak of their popularity, portraying the challenging creative and personal dynamics of three strong individuals who achieved their dreams.
After their world tour, a-ha will not be taking time out. Instead, in October, they will release True North, their first collection of new songs since 2015’s I on their debut for Sony Music/RCA.
True North will be not only an album, but a film too, capturing a-ha while recording the songs over two early November 2021 days in Bodø, the Norwegian city located 25km inside the Arctic Circle, in a project completed with the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic.
Venue programmer and promoter Peter Taylor, of Cuffe and Taylor, says: “a-ha are true pop pioneers, visionaries and one of the most loved bands of the last 40 years.
“Their 2022 tour sees them headline many huge venues, including the Hollywood Bowl, so we’re delighted to be bringing them to the UK’s very own iconic open-air arena, right here on the beautiful Yorkshire coast.”
Christina Aguilera: Follows Britney and Kylie in playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre
AMERICAN singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Christina Aguilera, 41, will play Scarbrough OAT on August 2 as one of three UK shows this summer, with Liverpool and London to follow on August 3 and 5.
Promoter Peter Taylor says: “Christina Aguilera is a music superstar and true global icon and we’re absolutely thrilled she is coming to Scarborough this summer.
“Christina is only playing a handful of shows in the UK, so to bring her here is another major coup for Scarborough Open Air Theatre and the Yorkshire coast.
“First Britney [Spears], then Kylie [Minogue] and now Christina – three incredible women on the global stage – all headlining this special venue. Roll on August 2; this is going to be one of the must-see shows of the summer.”
More than 20 years after her self-titled debut album, New Yorker Aguilera has sold more than 43 million records worldwide, collected 18 million Spotify listens, received three billion YouTube views and achieved five American number one singles, making her the fourth female artist to top the charts over three consecutive decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s).
In 2010, Aguilera received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she holds the honour of being the only artist under the age of 30 to be included in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.
Aguilera’s British dates follow the release of her single Pa Mis Muchachas, a much anticipated return to her Latin roots in a Spanish-language celebration of Latina sisterhood that features Latin music superstar Becky G, explosive Argentinian rising star Nicki Nicole and Spain-based songwriter and rapper Nathy Peluso. Expect to hear it alongside Dirrty, Ain’t No Other Man, Fighter and Genie In A Bottle on August 2.
Sam Fender: Opening concert of Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2022 programme
NORTH Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender will travel down the East Coast to open Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2022 season on May 27 on his biggest ever UK Tour.
The double BRIT Award winner, who turns 28 next Monday, will be airing songs from his two chart-topping albums, last October’s Seventeen Going Under and his 2019 debut, Hypersonic Missiles.
This year he added the Brit Award for Best British Alternative/Rock Act to his 2019 Critics’ Choice Award.
Fender will follow his Scarborough concert with summer headline festival sets at Tramlines, Truck and Victorious and a London outdoor show at Finsbury Park.
Tickets for Scarborough OAT gigs are on sale at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
WHAT’S in the chocolate box of Eastertide delights? Charles Hutchinson unwraps the goodies in store, from a sweet-flavoured festival to a musical premiere, a Led Zeppelin legend to two Big shows.
My cocoa shoe: Edible high heels at York Chocolate Festival
Festival of the week: York Chocolate Festival, oozing chocolate in Parliament Street, York, until Easter Monday, 10am to 5pm
RUN by York Food Festival and Make It York, York Chocolate Festival returns over the Easter weekend for the first time since 2019 in celebration of York’s heritage as the Chocolate City.
More than 40 stalls are complemented by workshops, demonstrations by chocolatiers, a chocolate sampling trail and chocolate pairing sessions with wine and whisky for adults. Look out for stands selling specialist origin chocolates, eggs, cakes, truffles, brownies, macarons, chocolate-flavoured drinks and liqueurs, even savoury outliers such as chilli jams, artisan pizzas and pies. Entry is free; some events are ticketed.
Robert Plant and Suzy Dian fronting Saving Grace, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
York gig of the week: Saving Grace with Robert Plant and Suzy Dian, supported by Scott Matthews, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7pm
SAVING Grace, the folk-blues co-operative led by Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, play York tonight, followed by a further Yorkshire gig at Halifax Victoria Theatre on April 26.
Singer and lyricist Plant, now 73, will be joined on the April and May tour by Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar) and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic, baritone guitars, cuatro). Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Celebrating the music of The Dubliners: Seven Drunken Nights rolled into one Sunday in York
Irish jig of the week: Seven Drunken Nights – The Story of The Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
FROM their roots in O’Donoghue’s Pub in Dublin, Seven Drunken Nights raises a toast to the 50-year career of The Dubliners, telling the story of the Irish folk band that took the world by storm.
Irish musicians, singers and storytellers will evoke the atmosphere, theatre and cultural history of Ireland while invoking the spirit of Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, Ciaran Bourke and Jim McCann on a tour that will take in 20 countries in 2022 and 2023. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Bonding together: The BBC Big Band perform the 007 hits, shaken and stirred, at York Theatre Royal
Bond and band in harmony: The BBC Big Band, The Music Of James Bond…and Beyond, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday, 7.30pm
THE BBC Big Band are joined by guest vocalists Emer McPartlamd and Iain Mackenzie for a celebratory concert inspired by the music of James Bond film franchise.
Theme songs by York composer John Barry feature prominently in a set list sure to include Diamonds Are Forever, Thunderball and Goldfinger, alongside Monty Norman’s James Bond theme.
Expect a selection of more contemporary songs from the 007 musical library too, performed in the BBC Big Band’s inimitable style. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
BIG news: CBeebies’ Justin Fletcher is heading for York Theatre Royal on the BIG Tour
Children’s show of the week: Justin Fletcher in Justin Live, The BIG Tour, York Theatre Royal, Thursday and Friday, 11am and 2.30pm
CBEEBIES superstar and children’s favourite Justin Fletcher presents an all-singing, all-dancing spectacular extravaganza on The BIG Tour.
Justin is a TV institution, piling up BAFTA award-winning appearances on Something Special, Justin’s House, Jollywobbles, Gigglebiz and Gigglequiz, as well as providing character voices for Tweenies, Boo, Toddworld and Shaun The Sheep, latterly voicing Shaun in the Aardman movie Farmageddon. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Normal service resumed: Grayson Perry presents his rearranged Harrogate performance of A Show For Normal People on Friday
Who-knows-what-to-expect arty gig of the week: Grayson Perry in A Show For Normal People, Harrogate Convention Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
IN his own words, despite being an award-winning artist, Bafta-winning TV presenter, Reith lecturer and best-selling author, Grayson Perry is a normal person – and just like other normal people, he is “marginally aware that we’re all going to die”.
Cue A Show For Normal People, Grayson’s enlightening, eye-watering evening where existentialism descends from worthiness to silliness. “You’ll leave safe and warm in the knowledge that nothing really matters anyway,” he promises.
At a show rearranged from last autumn, Grayson asks, and possibly answers, the big questions on a night “sure to distract you from the very meaninglessness of life in the way only a man in a dress can.” Box office: harrogateconventioncentre.co.uk.
York Stage Musicals’ poster for the York premiere of Calendar Girls The Musical
Musical of the week: York Stage Musicals in Calendar Girls, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to April 30
THE true story of the Calendar Girls from Rylstone Women’s Institute has been turned into a beautifully poignant musical by writer Tim Firth and composer Gary Barlow.
Join York Stage Musicals as they bring the show to York for the first time. “Be prepared to laugh and cry throughout a truly memorable evening filled with unforgettable songs that prove there is no such thing as an ordinary woman,” says producer Nik Briggs. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.
The Chemical Brothers: Big beats and dance moves at Castle Howard this summer
Rave of the North Yorkshire summer: The Chemical Brothers at Castle Howard, near Malton, June 26
HEY boy, hey girl, electronic pioneers The Chemical Brothers will take to the grass at Castle Howard this summer.
Manchester big beat duo Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, both 51, will galvanize rave diggers in the North Yorkshire stately home’s grounds where gates will open at 5pm for the night ahead of Setting Sun, Block Rockin’ Beats, Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Let Forever Be, Galvanize, Go et al. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
The Tragedy Of Guy Fawkes playwright David Reed outside the Guy Fawkes Inn in York. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
“THE theatre has always been a place where rebellion thrives,” says chief executive Tom Bird as York Theatre Royal sets its Rumours And Rebels season in commotion.
Two legendary York figures, Guy Fawkes and the Coppergate Woman, will come to life as the spotlight is turned on those who resist, rebel and stand up to injustice, corruption and persecution this summer and autumn.
“We wanted to talk about opposition and intrigue and how ‘sticking it to the man’ manifests itself, which is often in the form of rumours first,” says Tom. “We knew we were going to be doing this strand of work with rebellion shot through it, but we also wanted a nod to the fact that rebellion can start in a more subtle phase with rumour.
“We already had rebellion in the diary with Guy Fawkes, Julius Caesar and Red Ellen, which all start with ‘talk’, and I was thinking about how you’re naturally quite wary of making heroes of people who are seen as terrorists, so I didn’t want the season to be too on the nose in celebrating rebellion without also saying it’s a complicated business.
“Look at Guy Fawkes; we think of him as a York hero but actually he wanted to blow up hundreds of people.”
Long in the planning for its York Theatre Royal world premiere, York-born writer David Reed’s “explosive new comedy about York’s most infamous rebel”, The Tragedy Of Guy Fawkes, will run from October 28 to November 12, directed by Gemma Fairlie as Monty Python meets Blackadder.
“We’ve had the script since before I came here in December 2017,” says Tom. “David [one third of the The Penny Dreadfuls comedy trio] is a local writer; the script is brilliant and funny, and the pre-sale of tickets is fantastic.”
Co-director Juliet Forster, left, and playwright Maureen Lennon with JORVIK Viking Centre’s model of The Coppergate Lady
Further explaining the Rumours And Rebels season title, Tom says: “The other reason for ‘Rumours’ is the impact of social media, where it feels like we’re surrounded by an unsolicited swirl of rumour that could lead to action, even to direct rebellion, like you saw with Trump’s supporters marching on Capitol Hill.
“Uncurated rumours bother us a lot, and that’s why we’re curating the summer and autumn programme under this title to highlight the importance of curation when news has stopped being that and so many people no longer trust experts. Theatre is a place for resistance and for celebrating it since Athenian times.”
Standing alongside Reed’s Guy Fawkes tragi-comedy in the season ahead will be Maureen Lennon’s community play The Coppergate Woman, wherein a Valkyrie woman with the answers rises again to move among the people of York, a goddess resisting the havoc wrought by pandemic, from July 30 to August 6.
These in-house productions will be preceded by Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Theatre’s touring production of Red Ellen, Carol Bird’s epic story of inspiration Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson, who was forever on the right side of history, forever on the wrong side of life, from May 24 to 28.
“We’re super-excited about Red Ellen, which had been planned by Lorne Campbell before he left Northern Stage to move to the National Theatre of Wales. After The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff, this is another unsung political hero to be celebrated by Northern Stage.”
Flicking through the brochure, in Shakespeare’s Globe’s Julius Caesar, on June 10 and 11, the protagonists fear power running unchallenged as Diane Page directs this brutal tale of ambition, incursion and revolution; in Conor McPherson’s Girl From The North Country, from September 5 to 10, the chimes of freedom flash through a story rooted in Bob Dylan’s songs; in Pilot Theatre’s revival of Noughts & Crosses, from September 16 to 24, the love between Selby and Callum runs counter to the politics of their segregated world.
In Frantic Assembly’s reimagined 21st century Othello, from October 18 to 22, Othello faces a barrage of racial persecution in Shakespeare’s tragedy of paranoia, sex and murder; the year ends with the Theatre Royal’s third pantomime collaboration with Evolution Productions, where Peter Pan joyously stands up to the tyranny of time, from December 2 to January 2.
York Theatre Royal chief executive Tom Bird
Delighted to welcome Shakespeare’s Globe, Tom says: “I left the Globe to move here, and as the Roman Quarter project gets underway in Rougier Street, we were interested in doing a Roman-themed work.
“We’d known for a while this would be a rebellion season, and the Globe knew we were keen to link up with them, so they gave us a couple of options. National companies are getting really good at that, and it’s great to have the Globe back for the first time since they did Henry VI.”
Tom says the season fell into place partly through the stars aligning. “If Frantic Assembly’s Othello is on tour, you take it,” he says. “It fitted perfectly with our own choices of Guy Fawkes and [York company] Pilot Theatre reviving Sabrina Mahfouz’s adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses.
“The first tour did really well, there’s since been the TV series, and it’s a story really loved by young audiences as a Romeo & Juliet for the 21st century. It’s a no-brainer to bring it back.”
Bringing a “big show” to York Theatre Royal is not easy, says Tom, given the seating capacity of 750, but that does not deter him from seeking to do so. Take the double Olivier Award-winning West End and Broadway hit Girl From The North Country, written and directed by The Weir playwright Conor McPherson.
He reimagines the songs of Bob Dylan in a universal story of family and love set in the heartland of America in 1934, when a group of wayward souls cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse in ‘nowheresville’ [Duluth, Minnesota]. As they search for the future and hide from the past, they find themselves facing unspoken truths about the present.
“God we had to fight to get it but I’m seriously glad we did,” says Tom. “It premiered at The Old Vic and it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Bob Dylan had been badgered for years about doing a jukebox musical, and he said, ‘only if it’s a bit weird’. Luckily, he was involved in Conor getting to do it.
Girl From The North Country: “Doing a Conor McPherson on a Bob Dylan jukebox musical”
“It’s a marriage made in heaven! He does a Conor McPherson on a Bob Dylan jukebox musical: it’s an incredible, haunting story with a cast of odd characters you’d find travelling on a Greyhound bus, when you gather all this eccentricity in America and you can’t escape them, set to Dylan’s songs.
“Everyone knows Bob Dylan songs are sung better when Dylan doesn’t sing them, and for this show, they take a genuine cross section of songs from across his career, not only the Sixties.”
Among further highlights, York Stage will make their Theatre Royal debut in a 40th anniversary production of Howard Ashman and and Alan Menken’s musical Little Shop Of Horrors, from July 14 to 13, and Original Theatre will present Susie Blake as Miss Marple in Rachel Wagstaff’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, from October 4 to 8.
“I’d been a bit worried whether a murder mystery is still what people want as we’ve seen that move from drawing-room plays to musicals in audience tastes, but The Mirror Crack’d has gone like a train at the box office,” says Tom.
Summing up the philosophy behind Rumours And Rebels, he concludes : “It’s not easy to have a themed season when we put on such diverse work here, but when we see ways to do seasons with connected themes we will do it, like the Theatre Royal did with seasons focusing on Yorkshire and women before I came here.
“By having a theme, hopefully it will encourage people to see more plays in the season having enjoyed one.
“Overall, for me, what we’re eliminating from York Theatre Royal is the middle-of-the-road. When we bring in touring shows, we might as well go ‘big’, bringing in new audiences; when we produce plays, we’re going to do new work like The Tragedy Of Guy Fawkes and The Coppergate Woman, not Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, which might be my favourite play but wouldn’t get an audience.”
For the full programme and tickets details for Rumours And Rebels at York Theatre Royal, go to: yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Box office: 01904 623568.
Copyright Of The Press, York
Susie Blake as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang’s new single, Love Is Blind (Billy Bragg Said), is coming soon.
“Recorded and mixed by Jonny Hooker at Young Thugs Studios in York, the song will be released in May and has been compared to ‘a bar brawl between Squeeze and Springsteen’s E Street Band,” says frontman Miles Salter.
“There’s a great video by Dave Thorp to accompany the track, which will be on all the usual platforms, Spotify, Apple, YouTube etc.”
Writer, musician and storyteller Salter is working with a “re-wired” Chain Gang, the new line-up featuring Daniel Bowater on keyboards and accordion, Steve Purton on drums, Mat Watt on bass and Mark Hawkins on lead guitar.
“We’re lining up summer dates, including gigs in Helmsley, Harrogate, Doncaster and York, with more details to follow,” says Miles.
The Chemical Brothers: Block rockin’ beats at Castle Howard this summer
HEY boy, hey girl, electronic pioneers The Chemical Brothers will take to the grass at Castle Howard this summer.
Manchester big beat duo Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, both 51, will galvanize rave diggers at a June 26 gig in the North Yorkshire stately home’s grounds, near Malton, where gates will open at 5pm.
Formed by the two university friends in 1989, The Chemical Brothers have chalked up 13 million record sales with such dancefloor nuggets as the chart-topping Setting Sun and Block Rockin’ Beats, Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Let Forever Be, It Began In Afrika, Star Guitar, Galvanize, Do It Again. Got To Keep On and Go en route to multiple Grammy awards.
In total, Rowlands and Simons have delivered nine studio, one live, five compilation, two remix, five mix, one soundtrack and two videos albums, six extended plays, 15 promotional singles and 32 music videos.
Their latest album, April 2019’s No Geography, secured two more Grammys. Last year, Rowlands and Simons released the single The Darkness That You Fear and produced new mixes for their Radio Chemical project for Sonos Radio and the multi-sensory centrepiece of Electronic – From Kraftwerk To The Chemical Brothers.
Made in tandem with live visual creators Smith & Lyall, Electronic became the most successful exhibition in the history of London’s Design Museum.
The Chemical Brothers will be Castle Howard’s second concert of Summer 2022, following New Romantics’ heartthrobs Duran Duran on June 17.
Camping at Castle Howard will be available for both events. To book tickets, go to: castlehoward.co.uk.
Francesca Chiejina as Mimi and Luciano Botelho as Rodolfo in English Touring Opera’s La Bohème
English Touring Opera, La Bohème, April 8; The Golden Cockerel, April 9, at York Theatre Royal
IT was good to have English Touring Opera back in town. Don’t take my word for it. The Theatre Royal had to open its upper reaches to accommodate the throngs gratefully gathered for professional opera for the first time since Covid struck.
York Opera had led the way in fine style last autumn; ETO followed suit, with a potboiler and an exotic rarity.
Puccini’s La Bohème inevitably relies for its success on the lovers at its heart. The company had cast its net wide before settling on Brazilian tenor Luciano Botelho for the lovelorn Bohemian Rodolfo, casting Nigerian-American soprano Francesca Chiejina as his Mimì.
On this occasion, both began diffidently: it was partly a reflection of the amatory sheepishness of their characters, but also a result of under-projection. Botelho’s tenor disappeared into his head the higher up the range he went, while Chiejina took a while to release the tension in her jaw, which diminished her projection. She left the difficult final note of Act 1 far too early, a sure sign of lacking confidence.
Thereafter both improved and their Act 3 duet by the customs barrier found them much more relaxed and thus less self-conscious.
James Conway’s thoughtful production, revived here by Christopher Moon-Little, was based around deliberately simplistic designs by Florence de Maré (revived by Neil Irish). A large reflective glass panel leaned in on the bohemians’ attic, with the regulation stove in one corner and unusual seating provided by the basket of a hot-air balloon whose sandbags were cushions. Set on tea-chests, these became pillows for Mimì’s deathbed.
These bourgeois boys were well-clothed, affirmation that they would be returning to provincial ways once their salad days were done. In this way, set and production were complementary.
Michel de Souza’s warm baritone made a sympathetic Marcello, who was never going to be fooled by the glamour of Jenny Stafford’s Musetta; she in turn was more hard-edged than flirtatious.
Trevor Eliot Bowes’ pensive Colline and Themba Mvula’s lively Schaunard rounded out the well-balanced bohemians. Chorus members filled the cameo roles very competently and children from the York Music Hub Choir sang pleasingly – rather than the usual shouting – as Parpignol’s acolytes (he was ‘Pa’Guignol’, a Punch-and-Judy man).
Iwan Davies – not the main conductor for the run – stood in with distinction, his clear beat shaping accompaniment that always put the singers’ needs first. His orchestra responded with keen rhythms.
The chorus was in good heart at Café Momus, maintaining discipline amongst the hi-jinks. Despite the lack of outstanding soloists, this was a good, solid Bohème, well worth catching at Gala Theatre, Durham, on May 9 if you missed it this time in York.
Paula Sides as the exotic Queen of Shemakha in English Touring Opera’s The Golden Cockerel
Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the all-time great orchestrators and The Golden Cockerel, his last opera and the only one staged regularly outside Russia, offers plenty of evidence of this. Touring has made a reduced adaptation necessary, which Iain Farrington has handily provided.
It lacked some of the exoticism that a larger orchestra might have offered but kept the vital woodwinds very busy and retained enough glockenspiel glitter for the astrologer’s motif. Gerry Cornelius conducted it lovingly while keeping a good balance between stage and pit.
James Conway’s new production was well-timed. The fairy-tale libretto, based on a Pushkin poem, was sung here in a neatly rhyming translation by Antal Dorati and James Gibson. It tells of half-witted King Dodon’s fear that his country is about to be invaded.
When the work was selected it can hardly have crossed the company’s mind that a terrible real-life sequel would actually ensue. The analogy cannot be pushed too hard, but the exotic Queen of Shemakha – ‘Mother Russia’ it was suggested to me in the interval – does all she can to seduce Dodon and his court, opposed only by the ineffectual General Polkan.
The Astrologer who frames the action reveals at its close that only he and the Queen are real characters, “all the rest were dream, delusion…”. In fact, the opera is better seen as parodying naive techniques in Russian opera and to that extent anticipates Stravinsky’s Petrushka.
Conway did well to stick to the score and not introduce an excess of up-to-date connotations, other than dressing the royal housekeeper Amelka and three of her minions in military khaki. In the designs by Neil Irish, the general wore a Kaiser-style helmet, which implied a pre-First World War setting. The cockerel of the title was mainly perched on a look-out tower, so as to warn of impending invasion. She was appealingly drawn by the nimble Alys Mererid Roberts.
Grant Doyle gave an amusingly doddery Dodon, struggling to hold on to power, with his sons – who accidentally bump each other off in battle – portrayed as Tweedledum and Tweedledee by Thomas Elwin and Jerome Knox.
Amy J Payne was a regular martinet as Amelka, Edward Hawkins made a nicely bumbling Polkan, and Robert Lewis coped valiantly with the ultra-high tenor role of Astrologer, more than faintly reminiscent of Rasputin.
That left the bulk of the serious singing, in Acts 2 and 3, to Paula Sides as the Queen. Her coloratura, deliberately parodistic, hit the spot, and her somewhat shrill tone suited the orientalism of Rimsky’s score.
It was just as well we had English side-titles, as diction was generally less than ideal. The chorus played a full part in keeping the comedy vital, crawling out from under the curtain for their finale.
It has been 37 years since this work was given in Yorkshire, by Opera North, so unless you are young you may want to head to Durham on May 10.
YORK vegetable string band King Courgette have a new recipe for “Good Friday electric reincarnation rock happenings on your doorstep” at The York Vaults, Nunnery Lane.
“It’s free, which, given the price of electricity, is pretty good value,” says band member String Bean Slim, alias York musician, writer and history tour guide Alfred Hickling.
“It’s been a while. We know all kinds of weird **** went down during the lockdown; not least that Poppa ‘King’ Courgette decided to have a bit of a clear-out at the Clifton Delta.
“Now, nobody has been in Poppa’s box room for years, excepting some really mean-looking spiders that hang out there paying no rent. But Poppa gave me a call to say he’d found a bunch of old boxes and was wondering what all the knobs were for.”
What happened next? “‘Well, those don’t look like boxes to me,’ I tells him. ‘Them is amplifiers. Mighty big ones too’,” String Bean recalls. “‘But I can’t hear no noise,’ Poppa says. ‘No, that’s ’cause you gotta plug summin’ into’em,’ I said.
“‘What, like my old banjer?’ Poppa asked. ‘No, not a banjo,’ I told him. ‘No-one in the right mind would want a banjo to be any louder. But what about that electric blue Stratocaster you devalued by putting on a ridiculous- locking whammy bar in the 1980s, when you were still in Spandex trousers?’ ‘What – that old thing?’ Poppa looked at me quizzically. ‘You mean go ‘lectric…?’.”
How did String Bean respond? “‘Sure,’ I told him. ‘Just as long as we can persuade Wild Zucchini Bill that it’s time to stop bashing bits of old luggage and get himself a real drumming kit’.”
Long story short, it turns out Wild Zucchini Bill had bought himself at least half a dozen real drumming kits already and was making lockdownmerry hell for everyone within earshot.
“And then Hot Chilli McGrath had an altercation with a woman at the council dump who was trying to throw a ‘lectrical guitar into the skip; so he jumped right in there after it and fished it out,” says String Bean.
“He was so pleased with this bargain that he went right out and bought a set of hot, custom-wound pick-ups. And some new tuning pegs. And a different scratch-plate.”
Hot Chilli then decided to replace the body and fit a new neck. “But since he’s now the proud owner of the world’s most expensive free guitar, he’s real keen to try it out,” says String Bean.
“That left only Bad Apple Two T’s Curtis, and there ain’t no way he wasn’t gonna join the fun, so he fished out this really funky ’lectronic keyboard that had been in the back of hisbox room.
“Then he went out and got a real flashy new one, which is bright red – a much cooler colour. And so, Two T’s was transformed into Two Keys.”
How did King Courgette put this electrification to good use? “Cuttin’ to the chase, we used the rest of the Plague to write a whole new album,” says String Bean.
“We recorded it on a boat: it’s called Amphetamine Stew and we think it’s about time people heard it. So, we arranged to go back to one of our oldest haunts, the Victoria Vaults, only to discover that it ain’t called that anymore, but at least it’s still in the same place.
“If you wanna come and hear what we’ve been up to, the place to be is The York Vaults on Friday from 7.30pm. Best news of all is – it’s free. Yep, no charge.”
King Courgette will be joined on the April 15 bill by the blues band Jonny And The Rizlas. “It ain’t gonna be a Good Friday; it’s gonna be a Great Friday,” vows String Bean. “See you down the Vaults for the post-lockdown Electric King Courgette, Mark II. Because what doesn’t kill you makes you louder.”
SCOTTISH indie legends Teenage Fanclub return to Leeds Beckett University tonight for gig number three on their 11-date tour in belated support of tenth studio album Endless Arcade.
Released last April on the Glaswegians’ own label PeMa as the follow-up to 2016’s Here, the songs “walk a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths: the importance of home, community and hope, entwined with bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts of insecurity, anxiety, loss.
Endless Arcade was almost finished by the time the first Covid lockdown was imposed with its stay-at-home orders. How apt that Norman Blake’s seven-minute Home should open Endless Arcade, albeit that its sentiments were shaped by his experiences stretching back pre-pandemic in his search for what ‘home’ means.
Blake has been living in Canada for the past ten years. “My wife is Canadian, so we moved over there, but we’re now in the process of coming back to Glasgow,” he says.
“We live in Kitchener, about an hour’s drive west of Toronto, but it makes more sense to be over here with the band.
“Over the ten years, I’ve had a nice time over there, making friends travelling around Canada and the USA.”
That said, his sentiments in Home are etched in loss and yearning. “Without going into too much detail, the last 18 months have been challenging for me on an emotional level, but it’s been cathartic channelling some of these feelings and emotions into song,” says Blake.
The poster artwork for Teenage Fanclub’s tour and album, by Huw Evans, aka musician H. Hawkline
Has living in Canada influenced his song-writing. “I don’t think so directly, but I guess you will always be influenced by your surroundings, and every songwriter would say you’re influenced by the songs you hear and the gigs you go to, but thematically it’s the same subjects as always.”
During his time in Canada, Blake has worked with Joe Pernice, frontman of Scud Mountain Boys, Chappaquiddick Skyline and the Pernice Brothers, the duo being joined in The New Mendicants supergroup by The Sadies’ drummer, Mike Belitsky, to release the album Into The Lime in 2014.
“We first met when our bands played a show together in London in 2000. Joe lives in Toronto, so we started working together when I moved there,” says Blake. “It was great doing that because you always pick up bits of technique and he’s a real lyrics guy.”
Blake has contributed Sun Won’t Shine On Me, Warm Embrace, I’m More Inclined, Back In The Day and Living With You alongside Home to Endless Arcade, an album recorded in Clouds Hill Recordings in Hamburg with fellow founder Raymond McGinley, drummer Francis McDonald, bassist Dave McGowan and Welsh musician Euros Childs, featuring on keyboards across an entire Teenage Fanclub album for the first time.
“We were very comfortable with each other in the studio,” says Blake. “I think some of the playing is a bit freer and looser than on recent albums. Dave and Euros’ playing is amazing, and Francis on drums is really swinging. The whole process of making this album was very invigorating. Everyone in the band contributed a lot and the song arrangements came together really quickly. Everything felt fresh.”
A new album is in the making already. “We’ve been in the studio; we’ve come to the realisation that the thing to do before we’re all too knackered is to crack on!”
Norman Blake is 56.
Teenage Fanclub play Leeds Beckett University tonight, supported by Norwegian musicians Frøkedal & Familien; doors, 7pm.
Farewell: Departing director Janet Farmer in the Pocklington Arts Centre auditorium
DIRECTOR Janet Farmer hosts her leaving party at Pocklington Arts Centre tonight as she ends her 25-year association with the East Yorkshire venue.
Earlier this week, on Tuesday, she oversaw her last concert: a strikingly strong double bill of Devonian folk musician John Smith and Eastern Pennsylvanian husband-and-wife duo Native Harrow, who reviewer Paul Rhodes observed “would have been worthy headliners in their own right”.
Janet will retire in mid-April after 22 years in post, preceded by three years of fundraising to transform the market town’s former cinema into a theatre, concert venue, cinema and studio gallery. The recruitment process to appoint her successor is under way.
From a standing start in 2000, Janet has led Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) into becoming a leading small-scale arts venue, recognised nationally as a beacon of good practice with a significant cultural reputation.
Janet has drawn more than £1million in public funding to support the venue’s presentation of 3,500 film screenings and staging of 900 live events, numerous festivals, from Pocktoberfest to the Platform Festival at the Old Station, plus hundreds of community events, workshops, exhibitions and private hires.
“When I started here, we borrowed an artists’ contact file; there were no agents online!” recalls Janet. “You had to buy a book with agents’ contact details and then contact them by fax.
“All the deals were down over the phone or by fax, whereas now it’s mostly by email, which can be seen as sad progress as you don’t always have that verbal contact any more.”
Over the past 22 years, Janet has programmed a diverse range of acts, naming her personal favourites as Joan Armatrading and Shed Seven, who both rehearsed at PAC for upcoming tours, Lesley Garrett, John Bishop, The Shires, Rhod Gilbert, Sarah Millican, Lucinda Williams, Baroness Shirley Williams, KT Tunstall, The Unthanks, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Ford and Josh Ritter.
When informing PAC staff and volunteers of her decision in January, Janet said: “I am sure this will be said on many occasions over the next few months, but I want to thank all of the staff and volunteers for their tireless support, hard work, dedication and friendship. This has been vital to making PAC the success it is today.
“It has been an absolute pleasure and honour to lead PAC over two decades and it fills me with immense pride knowing what has been achieved during this time. I look forward to returning as a customer and perhaps a volunteer in years to come.”
Twenty-five years, Janet, can you believe it? “People keep saying they’re surprised, but, yes, it really has been that long. I did think I would finish in 2020, and but for the pandemic, I would have done, but I felt I had to see out the time when we were closed,” she says.
“A big part of that was to apply for the Government’s Culture Recovery Funding, and only one application was necessary, what with the support we received from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and the furlough scheme, which meant we could continue to pay even part-time staff.”
Amid the ebb and flow of three pandemic lockdowns from March 2020, PAC continued to function by mounting 50-plus online events and workshops, staging a series of outdoor exhibitions by Sue Clayton and Karen Winship and launching Primrose Wood Acoustics concerts in June 2021 before reopening with two socially distanced performances by comedian Sarah Millican last July.
“We took Sue and Karen’s exhibitions into Askham Bar Vaccination Centre’s Tent of Hope in York and we took part in the online Your Place Comedy double bills, streamed from comedians’ living rooms and organised by Chris Jones of Selby Town Hall, with a host of independent Yorkshire venues involved,” says Janet.
“We did online shows with our beloved Lip Service too, and online has proved a really good way for people to discover acts like [York singer-songwriter] Rachel Croft and (Leeds band] The Dunwells, who were doing nightly streams at one point in lockdown.”
Janet wanted PAC to regain momentum before leaving this spring. “We’re doing all we can to make people feel safe as they return to coming here, such as having medical-grade air purifiers,” she says.
“I wanted us to get back into the swing of what we do, so we could show we could still do concerts, films, theatre, comedy and exhibitions well with good attendances again, and we have.”
She will continue to live in Pocklington while undertaking plenty of travel too. “This summer I can start the gap year I never had, going round the festivals, such as Cambridge Folk Festival; Kilkenny Arts Festival in August; Telluride Bluegrass Festival, in the Colorado mountains, where it’s a ski resort in the winter. Sitting in the mountains, watching a bluegrass festival, I’ll be in my element.”
Born and bred in York, trained in theatre, film and social sciences at York St John and later in theatre programming and policy through Leeds Playhouse, Janet first became the focal point of fundraising to establish Pocklington Arts Centre.
She then took on the role of running PAC once it opened. “I had to learn very quickly on the job, but I always had a handle on what people liked, like booking Johnny Vegas before he was well known,” recalls Janet.
“There were financial constraints, so I couldn’t be too adventurous at the start, and then there was always a bit of a problem of people not knowing where Pocklington was. But once we started getting bigger names, we could quote that to agents, and we became the little place that big acts wanted to play.”
That will be Janet’s legacy. “I’ve done my bit and it’s time to retire from here, though no doubt I’ll do some volunteering,” she says.
Janet Farmer: On stage at a Platform Festival, run by Pocklington Arts Centre at the Old Station, Pocklington
Janet Farmer’s Pocklington Arts Centre timeline
2000: First live event, French-Algerian guitarist Pierre Bensusan, February 2.
2000: First film, The Last September, directed by Deborah Warner, February 24.
2000: First outdoor festival, staged in April.
2001: First arts festival to be staged across the market town by PAC, continuing for four more years.
2001: James Duffy employed as box office assistant in October. Now general manager.
2002: Janet directs Fiddler On The Roof for Pocklington Dramatic Society.
2003: First film festival, including An Audience With Barry Norman.
2004: Second film festival, including Q&A with BAFTA chair Duncan Kenworthy and film journalist Quentin Falk.
2010: Forgotten Voices Community Choir launched.
2011: First full-colour A5 live events brochure launched.
2011: PAC cinema projection converted from 35mm to digital.
2011: PAC joins forces with Pocklington’s Roundtable to launch large-scale festival of beer and music
2016: Platform Festival of music and comedy launched.
2016: £600,000 refurbishment.
2018: Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation status awarded with annual funding.
2018: Sara Morton appointed as PAC’s first marketing and administrative officer.
2019: Dementia Choir launched.
2020: PAC closes under Covid pandemic restrictions in March.
2020/2021: PAC stages 50-plus online events and workshops during lockdown.
2021: PAC stages series of outdoor exhibitions by Sue Clayton and Karen Winship during lockdown.
2021: Primrose Wood Acoustics launched in June.
2021: PAC reopens in July with two socially distanced performances by comedian Sarah Millican after 17 months of closure.
2022: Director Janet Farmer to leave in April after 25 years’ involvement.
Pocklington Arts Centre’s statistics under Janet Farmer
£1 million raised in public funding for PAC.
3,500 film screenings programmed since 2000.
900 live events programmed.
100s of community events, workshops, exhibitions and private hires staged.
20-plus arts, music and film festivals mounted.
Joan Armatrading: Rehearsed at Pocklington Arts Centre in preparation for a national tour
Music acts brought to Pocklington by Janet Farmer since 2000:
Joan Armatrading; Richard Hawley; Lucinda Williams; Mary Chapin Carpenter; Rosanne Cash; The Unthanks; Edwyn Collins; The Staves; Josh Ritter; Hothouse Flowers; Kate Rusby; The Shires; Adam Cohen; Amy Macdonald; KT Tunstall; Lesley Garrett.
The Searchers; Barbara Dickson; Beth Orton; Eric Bibb; Nick Mulvey; Roger McGuinn; Elkie Brooks; Eddi Reader; The Magic Numbers; Gretchen Peters; Levellers; Ron Sexsmith; Ruby Turner; Kathryn Williams; Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.
Echo & The Bunnymen; Fairport Convention; Teddy Thompson; Mary Coughlan; David Ford; Clare Teal; Ward Thomas; The Blockheads; Raul Malo; Lissie; Dr Feelgood; Newton Faulkner; Georgie Fame; Lau; Fishermen’s Friends; Seth Lakeman; Alvin Stardust.
Ralph McTell; Bellowhead; Benjamin Francis Leftwich; The Coal Porters; Martyn Joseph; Irish Mythen; Courtney Marie Andrews; The Manfreds; Otis Gibbs; London Community Gospel Choir; Hugh Cornwell; Thea Gilmore.
Shed Seven; Benjamin Francis Leftwich; Curtis Stigers; Graham Coxon; Greg Lake; Glenn Tilbrook; Badly Drawn Boy; Courtney Pine; Joe Brown; Grace Petrie; Martin Simpson; Marty Wilde; Vonda Shepherd; Martha Wainwright and The Young’Uns.
Regional music:
The Howl & The Hum; Beth McCarthy; Dan Webster; Gina Dootson; Boss Caine; Amy May Ellis; Joshua Bunell; Edwina Hayes; The Dunwells; Rachel Croft; Charlie Daykin; Katie Spencer; Jessica Simpson; Gary Stewart; Josh Savage; The Grand Old Uke Of York; Mambo Jambo; Miles Salter; Nick Hall.
Spoken word:
Kae Tempest; Simon Armitage; Bob Harris; Pam Ayres; John Cooper Clarke; Sandi Toksvig; Keith Floyd; Jay Rayner; Baroness Shirley Williams; Michael Portillo; John Hegley; Tony Benn; Simon Callow; Jeremy Vine.
Robert Powell; Michael Dobbs; Andrew Motion; Paddy Ashdown; Ian McMillan; Barry Norman; Chris Packham; Amanda Owen; Clive James; Matt Abbott; George Melly; John Sergeant; Martin Bell; Gyles Brandreth and Julian Norton.
Theatre:
Trestle Theatre; Opera North; Northern Broadsides; Red Ladder Theatre Company; Reduced Shakespeare Company; Idle Motion; Reform Theatre; Talegate Theatre; Magic Carpet Theatre; North Country Theatre; Hull Truck Theatre; BlackEyed Theatre; Lempen Puppet Theatre; MultiStory Theatre; NTC; Vamos Theatre; ShowStoppers! and Badapple Theatre Company.
Comedy:
John Bishop; Sarah Millican; Dylan Moran; Jenny Éclair; Al Murray; Ross Noble; Fascinating Aida; Andrew Maxwell; Chris Ramsey; Jason Manford; Omid Djalili; Sue Perkins; Rob Beckett; Lucy Beaumont; Jon Richardson; Stewart Lee; John Shuttleworth; Rhod Gilbert.
Arthur Smith; Luisa Omielan; Phill Jupitus; David Baddiel; Greg Davies; Paul Merton’s Impro Chums; Henning Wehn; Stephen K Amos; Patrick Monahan; Dave Gorman; Russell Kane; Jeremy Hardy; Mark Steel; Rich Hall; Gary Delaney and Barry Cryer.
