Molly Cheesley’s Alicia Johns, left, Eden Barrie’s Mary-Lou Atkinson, Robyn Sinclair’s Darrell Rivers, Bethany Wooding’s Sally Hope and Rebecca Collingwood’s Gwendoline Lacey in Emma Rice Company’s Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
ENID Blyton’s Malory Towers, the original post-war “Girl Power” story, was staged for the first time in a co-production by Emma Rice’s Wise Children company and York Theatre Royal in 2019, playing York in all-too-short stay that September.
Roll forward to 2026, when Rice now trades as the Emma Rice Company, for the school half-term visit to Leeds Playhouse of her revival of her “happy Lord Of The Flies”, as she calls her adaptation of the “naughty, nostalgic and perfect for now Malory Towers”, now touring in tandem with London’s Alexandra Palace Theatre, Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, Manchester HOME and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse. It is indeed perfect for half-term, judging by Thursday’s matinee, packed with children and their mums.
Writer-director Rice read Blyton stories, Famous Five and Secret Seven capers but not Malory Towers, in her contrasting, inner-city Nottingham comprehensive schooldays in the 1970s, but found herself drawn back to the Cornish cliff tops she knew so well in her groundbreaking Kneehigh theatre days.
This Cornwall is Blyton’s Cornwall of the Blighty 1950s: school days of midnight feasts, pillow fights and an outdoor swimming pool, when “lucky girls have the chance… to be returned back to the world sensible, sound and strong… women that the world can lean on”.
Stephanie Hockley’s Irene Dupont, at the piano, with violinist Emily Panes and Molly Cheesley’s Alicia Jones. Picture: Steve Tanner
To emphasise why the stories are “perfect for now”, Rice opens with a modern-day school setting, with doors not only to the headmaster’s office, but also to that symbol of changed times, the welfare officer’s office, beneath those imposing towers.
The children are displaying the same characteristics as they will once they morph into their Malory Towers selves, transformed as if in a dream once Eden Barrie, gawky and gauche in a fairy outfit, has been walloped on the head with a copy of Malory Towers.
Later this will be mirrored by the Malory Towers pupils enacting a fairy world scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, again with the girls’ own tropes influencing the choice of roles.
An electric charge of excitement spreads through the audience for an Emma Rice show like no other, and as ever you are smiling, beaming, from the effervescent, jollier-than-hockey sticks start when Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing sets the ball rolling for a series of delightful, dazzling songs, some originals by Ian Ross (music) and Rice (lyrics), others takes on Edith Piaf’s Mon Menage A Moi, Sammy Fain’s I Can Dream Can’t I? and Pat Ballard’s Mr Sandman.
Malory Towers director Emma Rice
One by one, Rice lets the new Malory Towers intake introduce themselves as the “deliciously naughty”, corny joke-loving West Country second-year pupil Alicia Johns (Molly Cheesley) welcomes the girls and their suitcase onto the Paddington train bound for the Cornish coast.
We meet Barrie’s bag-of-nerves, constantly apologetic Scottish pupil Mary-Lou Atkinson; returnee Rebecca Collingwood’s even-beastlier-than-in-2019 Gwendoline Lacey; Bethany Wooding’s ever-so-proper, prim and pucker Sally Hope and Robyn Sinclair’s furnace-hot-tempered, fierce-hearted Darrell Rivers, this production’s stand-out.
LIPA-trained Stephanie Hockley’s French student Irene Dupont, so free of spirit and musical to the tips of her piano-playing fingers, has a lead singer’s sense of melody and is humorous too in her head-strong character’s exasperation. To her side is violinist Emily Panes, so key to the beautiful arrangements. Along for the ride too comes Zoe West’s horse-loving Wilhemina “Call me Bill” Robinson, whose late arrival adds an air of mystery.
All is orchestrated by director Rice at a cracking pace, her ingenuity, inventive flair and sense of mischief complemented by Lez Brotherston’s typically witty, playful set and costume designs. The beds are employed so imaginatively in Alistair David’s choreography, while Simon Baker’s sound and video design and Beth Carter and Stuart Mitchell’s dream sequence animation are filled with the visual and verbal humour synonymous with the snap, crackle and pop of Rice’s crisply delivered shows.
Zoe West’s Bill Robinson in Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
From the rail route graphics from London to Cornwall to the furiously fast stride pattern of Bill’s animated heroic horse; from a swimming pool scene with Busby Berkeley swimsuit panache and puppet divers to a “Cliffhanger” punchline to end the first act; from a chalkboard to the shadow-puppet figure of headmistress Miss Grayling (voiced by Dame Sheila Hancock, no less), Malory Towers keeps delighting and amusing with its imagery.
Amid Blyton’s high jinks, high drama and high spirits, the performances from Rice’s typically diverse cast are ripe with personality and individuality beneath the uniformity of the school dress code.
Rice adds her own touches to the script, be it a Jackson Pollock drip-painting reference or, more gravely, the damaging, life-altering effect of the war on a father, to the cost of his troubled daughter. Part Blyton, wholly Rice, this Malory Towers is fun, feminist, joyful, old-fashioned yet fresh, championing compassion, inclusivity and freedom of expression with flair, fire and faith in the transformative power of education and theatre alike.
Emma Rice Company in End Blyton’s Malory Towers, Leeds Playhouse, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Cut up: Rebecca Collingwood’s spiteful Gwendoline Lacey, craving a switch to a Swiss finishing school in Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
York Pride: Day of Pride, protest, visibility, music, cabaret and family entertainment at Knavesmire tomorrow. Picture: Milner Creative
YORK Pride 2026 celebrates love, equality and community as thousands head to Knavesmire for a day suffused with with music, colour and unity as the LGBT+ rainbow flies proudly across York tomorrow from 11am to 7.30pm.
Free to attend, the festival promises a full day of Pride, protest, visibility, music, cabaret and family entertainment, opening with the 90-minute Pride parade from Parliament Street at 12 noon. Bring rainbow attire, water, comfortable shoes and sun cream or umbrellas (depending on the Yorkshire weekend weather).
The Main Stage line-up features Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle, musical star and pop singer Joe McElderry, Urban Cookie Collective, Nicki French, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Michael Marouli, Roxanne Cooper, Sweet Like Sabrina, Heavenly Bodies, Jordan Smart, DJ Rory Hoy and York Stage’s cast for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, performing the show’s biggest numbers ahead of the Grand Opera House run from October 16 to 24.
The Main Stage will be hosted by Ash Palmisciano, Mamma Bear and St Sordid Secret, bringing Pride energy, Yorkshire warmth, crowd moments and celebration throughout the day.
The Cabaret Stage returns with a packed line-up of drag, cabaret and queer performance, hosted by Miss Kitty Lee and Crudi Dench. On the bill will be RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Victoria Scone, JTG featuring Janice D, Tanya Hyde and Gloria Hole, Luna Hex, Queen Queef, Polly Glamourous, Elle Vosque, Sasha Glam, King Butch, Marigold Addams as Jane McDonald, Pembo, Robynne Ryske, Reese Wetherspoon, Ferne Ando and Mark Anthony.
Crudi Dench: Hosting Cabaret Stage at York Pride tomorrow and presenting Someone Help Her! in The Basement tonight
Crudi Dench, by the way, also will be presenting her “almost finished” debut solo show, Someone Help Her!, in her “ancestral homeland” of York in The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse tonight (29/5/2026) at 8pm.
Ring, ring, who is it? Drag comedian, West End writer, delusional icon and “all-round cheeky Northern piglet” Crudi Dench, of course, who will be taping the pilot episode for her new TV show, Someone Help Her! and needs the assistance of surprise celebrity guests in the audience (you) to help those phoning in.
Chaos ensues in this long-awaited, chaotic debut hour from the star and writer of award-winning, sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows Drag Queens vs Zombies and Drag Queens vs Vampires. Expect stand-up comedy, audience interaction and a fabulous telephone that Crudi will pick up bravely without receiving a text beforehand. Box office: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/34931/crudi-dench-someone-help-her-york.
Across the festival site, York Pride 2026 will featurethree stages, a dedicated dance tent, two bars, 100 stalls and food & drink traders, charities, community groups, sponsor spaces, an expandedFamily Area and the UK’s largest one-day funfair, plus the proud hosting of York Trans Pride.
Who’s who and what’s what at York Pride2026
The Family Area will bring family-friendly entertainment, activities, performances and creative spaces for children, young people and families, making York Pride a celebration for all ages.
York Pride is free to attend, a policy only made possible by donations, sponsorship, fundraising, traders, volunteers and community support. Every donation and every purchase from the festival’s official shop helps keep Pride free and protects the future of the event.
Explore the website at https://www.yorkpride.org.uk/to find out more about the Pride Parade, accessibility, volunteering, trading, sponsorship, donating, shopping, travel information, performers and everything planned for York Pride 2026.
Follow @yorkpride for the latest announcements and updates.
Jump to it:Charlotte Hanna-Williams, left, Jamie-Rose Monk, Sean Carey, Holly Sumpton and Christian Andrews in SplitLip’s Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Matt Crockett
THE decision to write the brash musical Operation Mincemeat was the last roll of the dice from its quartet of young British creative talents after years of performing sketch shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Next week, the world tour announced at the entrance of the United Nations in New York City on May 13 2025 arrives at the Grand Opera House, York, where musical comedy troupe SplitLip’s Olivier, WhatsOnStage, Off-West End and Tony awards winner will run from June 2 to 6.
What began as a tiny and tiny-budgeted Fringe show at London’s 77-seat New Diorama Theatre in May 2019 – after a scratch performance at The Lowry, Salford –triggered sold-out runs at Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios, followed by a West End premiere at the Fortune Theatre in May 2023, subsequently drawing 88 five-star reviews and 64 award nominations and rising, while building a fanbase known affectionately as “Mincefluencers”.
“We wish to thank the audiences who continue to carry this show with love and enthusiasm,” say writer-composers David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts.
“Operation Mincemeat reminds us that in uncertain times, the bonds between allies are more important than ever – and that message feels especially relevant as we consider all the great nations in which our show will now have the opportunity to play. This show continues to be the adventure of a lifetime, and we’re wildly excited about what’s to come.”
Charlotte Hanna-Williams’s Jean Leslie in Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Matt Crockett
SplitLip’s musical is set in 1943, when the Allied Forces are on the ropes, but luckily they have a trick up their sleeve. Correction, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather, inside the pocket of a stolen corpse. Equal parts farce, thriller and Ian Fleming-style spy caper, Operation Mincemeat tells the wildly improbable true story of the twisted covert operation that turned the tide of the Second World War.
Bursting at the seams with the kind of chaos that no-one could invent, the question is: how did a dead body, a fake love letter and – of all people – MI5 operative Ian Fleming come together to wrong-foot Hitler?
In a nutshell, five actors play more than 80 roles as MI5 plans to fool the Nazis as to where an Allied invasion of Italy was to occur. “We had been devouring every kind of source we could for telling the story of Operation Mincemeat, and we’d come to this realisation that it chimed every macabre, sick, twisted bell in all our horrible heads,” recalls Felix Hagan. “By miles, the funniest thing that we could think of at the start was that Ian Fleming was involved.”
SplitLip had a track record for “weirder, cabaret-style work” when they crafted Operation Mincemeat as their first musical, whose style spanned period ballads to hip-hop. “We approached every number completely with a clean slate as to what is the correct musical palette for this one song,” says David Cumming, who originated the role of Charles Cholmondeley, the nerdy MI5 conceiver of the subterfuge.
“And so we were less thinking about who’s going to be watching it; we were like, what does the story require in this moment, for this moment to be the best it possibly can be?”
Jamie-Rose Monk’s Johnny Bevan in Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Matt Crockett
Directed by Robert Hastie, former artistic director of Sheffield Theatres and director of Chris Bush and Richard Hawley’s Sheffield musical Standing At The Sky’s Edge, the touring cast combines Christian Andrews, Holly Sumpton, Seán Carey and Charlotte Hanna-Williams from the West End production with latest recruit Jamie-Rose Monk.
“I first saw it in the West End,” says Jamie-Rose. “I thought how sometimes, when you have a high expectation of a show with a bit of hype about it, that it doesn’t live up to it, but Operation Mincemeat absolutely smashed it, with so many characters in it, making you wonder how they did it and how it was one of things that could only work in the theatre, taking you on a storytelling journey.”
Charlotte recalls her first encounter. “I had friends who’d seen it before it went into the West End, but even at that point, when I was in the process of auditioning, I didn’t know what to expect,” she says.
“I was just in awe, and I was really excited from an actor’s point of view. It was such an exciting prospect, so rewarding to do, but also thinking, ‘oh my god, how on Earth are there only five actors doing this?!”
Charlotte was also struck by how “it’s a true story that’s managed to completely pass people by when we’re learning about the [Second World] War at school”.
“We do often see the male side of history, but actually this show is really good at showing how instrumental women were,” says Charlotte Hanna-Williams
Jamie-Rose rejoins: “The first thing that hit me when I watched it was the spirit of the show: the spirit of deception and the strategy involved. It really captures how a small group is trying to pull off this mad thing, which we see play out for real.”
The female perspective is a strong feature too. “We do often see the male side of history, but actually this show is really good at showing how instrumental women were,” says Charlotte.
“It’s not shoved down your throat, but it’s great to discover these people, and now even more research has been done by fans of the show, leading to a book about or characters, so it really shows how so many individuals came together, and quite unexpectedly, not the generals but people who work in the office.”
Jamie-Rose was delighted to be joining the debut Operation Mincemeat tour in February: “It’s a real gift to know that you’re about to do an excellent, tried-and-trusted show with brilliant writing, characters and music that we know works. It’s a real treat, but it’s also quite scary, because there’s expectation, which is terrifying but exciting too.”
Charlotte could draw on her West End experience of performing in the show. “You’re running on adrenaline a lot. That’s why we rehearse really thoroughly, so if anything goes wrong, we pick each other up 100 per cent. That’s why I’m really proud about doing this show.”
“It’s really good to get to play someone I would never be cast as normally. It’s one of my favourite moments,” says Jamie-Rose Monk of performing the role of MI5 operative Ian Fleming in Operation Mincemeat
Among her roles is Jean Leslie: “She’s the only female character being played by a female member of the cast! There’s lots of gender swapping for roles,” she says. “Jean is a young woman coming into MI5, which, at the time, was a bit of a boys’ club, and there’s this expectation that she’ll be part of the typing pool, but I get to play a character who’s really true to herself and is more than the girl who makes the tea.
“There’s also a moment of real poignancy in her journey, and it’s such a privilege to tell her story.”
Visiting York for the first time, Jamie-Rose’s principal role is Johnny Bevan. “He’s the ‘boss boss’, tasked by Downing Street to make up a deception plan, and I guess the main thing we get from Bevan are the stakes of the operation, where it’s so fast paced and fun, but it’s also serious with life consequences if it’s not pulled off successfully,” Jamie-Rose says.
“I also play Haselden [Francis Haselden, British Vice-Consul in Huelva], who’s in Spain, tasked with making sure it goes well, but he’s not so good at that, and Ian Fleming, who you see at the start at MI5. It’s really good to get to play someone I would never be cast as normally. It’s one of my favourite moments.”
Summing up the five-star appeal of Operation Mincemeat, Charlotte concludes: “It appeals to all demographics. Someone said, their husband usually hates musicals, but now he’s bought the soundtrack album!”
SplitLip in Operation Mincemeat: A New Musicalt, Grand Opera House, York, June 2 to 6, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday matinees. Also Hull New Theatre, July 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday & Saturday matinees; Leeds Grand Theatre, September 7 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: York, atgtickets.com/york; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for Navigators Art’s Back To The Garden event at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse
NAVIGATORS Art has invited York performers to celebrate and explore the 2026 York Festival of Ideas theme of Place and Space with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens.
Original words and music feature alongside well-loved works by familiar names in the company of storyteller Lara McClure; Mike Amber & Lola-Mae, taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock; poet and novelist Janet Dean and performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette, exploring words and sounds.
Sofa Sofa: Songs rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love
Taking part too will be alt folk band Sofa Sofa (Charley, vocals, guitar, harmonium; Rich, guitar, vocals, bells, synths; Ayse, violin; Filipe, cello, and Adam, drums/percussion), whose songs are rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love.
Box office: ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door from 7pm. The venue is fully accessible.
John Robb: Discussing his new memoir, Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories, at Pocklington Arts Centre
WILDLIFE photography and nature-inspired poetry and music turn Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts to the sunnier days ahead.
Talk of the week: John Robb, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm
JOHN Robb is a multi-faceted creature: author, musician, journalist, Louder Than War music website boss, Louder Than Words and Louder Than War Live festivals boss, Eco champion, vegan behemoth and punk rock warlord, as well as TV and radio talking head, frontman of post-punk mainstays The Membranes and ambassador for home-town Blackpool.
To mark the May 12 publication of his memoir, Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories, he is undertaking a spoken-word and book tour, where each show comprises a one-hour talk by Robb, followed by a conversation and Q&A with a special guest. Tomorrow, he welcomes Pauline Murray, Penetration singer and author of Life’s A Gamble, her 2023 autobiography. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Nobody puts Baby’s poster in the corner for Dirty Dancing In Concert at York Barbican
Film event of the week: Dirty Dancing In Concert, tomorrow, 7.30pm
RELIVE the film that stole the hearts of generations with this live-to-screen concert event featuring Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama projected in full, accompanied by a live band and singers performing every song from the soundtrack.
Feel the romance, rhythm and emotion as the love story of Baby and Johnny (Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze) comes to life on a full-size cinema screen. A dance-along encore party follows the final scene. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk
Now you see him, now you don’t: Daniel Davis and Georgina Sockett in Our Star Theatre Company’s The Invisible Man, to be spotted at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Vanishing act of the week: Our Star Theatre Company in The Invisible Man, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
THE thought of invisibility, and the advantages it could bring, has captured the imagination since HG Wells’s science-fiction novella was published in 1897. The Invisible Man has been adapted many times for film, but rarely for the stage.
Here comes Derek Webb’s original, fast-paced and riotous adaptation boasting 15 characters, split between three energetic actors, Daniel Davis, Georgina Sockett and Rhys Harris-Clarke, aided by quick and daft costume changes, prop manipulation, whacky imagination and tons of tongue-and-cheek fun in Herefordshire company Our Star’s touring production, directed by founder Ben Mowbray. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
The poster for The Future Is Vintage, the latest Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox concert at York Barbican
Retro gig of the week: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Future Is Vintage Tour 2026, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm
SCOTT Bradlee’s troupe of singers, dancers and instrumentalists perform a new show in signature time-twisting style, putting a retro spin on everything from Seventies’ rock classics and Britpop hits to the latest chart toppers and movie and video game soundtracks.
“We’re humbly presenting our own unique vision of a spectacular future; one that is built upon the timeless musical genres of the past and the authentically human spirit of creativity that inspired them,” says founder and arranger Bradlee, who invites you to dress in your vintage best for the full time-travel experience. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Ocelots’ Ashley and Brandon Watson
Literature-inspired musings of the week: The Ocelots, The Arts Barge, Foss Basin Moorings, Tower Street, York, Friday,7.30pm
BLOOD harmonies are at the centre of The Ocelots’ sound with its Americana echoes of Neil Young and Sufjan Stevens. Twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson, from Wexford, Ireland, blend absurdity and sincerity in an array of literature-inspired musings.
Open tunings and clawhammer banjo merge country-folk contemplation with urban imagery, as heard on 2020’s Started To Wonder and 2025’s Everything, When Said Slowly albums and 2023’s Addlepated and March 2026’s Revisions EPs. Fionnuala Mary Bradbury supports. Box office: artsbarge.com.
Ian Smith: Stories of stress, love and buying a magic spell off Amazon in Foot Spa Half Empty at Helmsley Arts Centre
Comedy gig of the week: Ian Smith, Foot Spa Half Empty, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday 8pm
EDINBURGH Comedy Award nominee and Northern News podcast co-host Ian Smith heads out on tour with Foot Spa Half Empty, his new show about stress, love and buying a magic spell off Amazon, in his follow-up to 2023’s Crushing.
Smith, 37, from Goole, has appeared on Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, The Stand Up Sketch Show, BBC Radio 4’sThe News Quiz, The Unbelievable Truth and Just A Minute and hosted his own Radio 4 series, Ian Smith Is Stressed. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Mike Amber: Taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock songs with Lola-Mae at Navigators Art’s Back To The Garden night of poetry and music
Nature lovers of the week: Navigators Art presents Back To The Garden, York Festival of Ideas, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 7.30pm, doors 7pm
NAVIGATORS Art has invited York performers to celebrate and explore the York Festival of Ideas theme of Place and Space with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens.
Original words and music feature alongside well-loved works by familiar names in the company of storyteller Lara McClure; Mike Amber & Lola-Mae, taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock; poet and novelist Janet Dean; performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette and alt folk band Sofa Sofa, whose songs are rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love. Box office: ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.
Country Bound: Performing upbeat country songs, complemented by floor fillers re-imagined in a country music style, at Milton Rooms, Malton
Country gig of the week: Country Bound, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm
COUNTRY Bound put the ‘fun’ into country function band, performing upbeat modern and classic country songs, complemented by classic floor fillers re-imagined in a country music style.
Fronted by Micki Consiglio, they cover hits by Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Zach Brown Band, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Dolly Parton, Lady A, Blake Shelton, Faith Hill, Morgan Wallen, Billy Cyrus, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Kacey Musgraves, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Kelsea Ballerini, Kenny Rogers, Patsy Cline and more. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Rick Wakeman: The Wizard of Prog reunites with the English Rock Ensemble at York Barbican next March
Gig announcement of the week: Rick Wakeman, The Wizard of Prog, Ultimate Highlights Concert Tour with English Rock Ensemble, York Barbican, March 11 2027
KEYBOARD player extraordinaire Rick Wakeman, who turned 77 on May 18, will be reuniting with the English Rock Ensemble to focus on a broad sweep across his classic back catalogue, including extracts from epic concept albums Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table, Yes material and surprises.
The band line-up reassembles from 2025’s Return Of The Caped Crusader Part 2 tour: Wakeman, Jesse Smith (lead vocals), Adam Wakeman (keyboard, guitars and vocals), Dave Colquhoun (guitars and vocals), Lee Pomeroy (bass and vocals), Adam Falkner (drums) and backing vocalists Sara Davey, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson and Jo Marshall. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/rick-27.
Paul Hobson’s A Toad Swims Across Its Woodland Pond: Grand Prize winner inBritish Wildlife Photography Awards 2026, on show at Nunnington Hall
In Focus: British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026, Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, until July 5,open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm
THE winners of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026 have been unveiled at the National Trust’s Nunnington Hall, where 75 photographs are on show.
Paul Hobson’s A Toad Swims Across Its Woodland Pond, photographed from a pond-floor perspective in Sheffield, has taken the top prize from more than 12,000 images submitted by professional and amateur photographers.
“I am lucky to have a pond close to my house that has relatively clear water,” says Hobson. “Toads use this pond to breed in, and I decided I wanted to try to capture an image looking up from the bottom of the pond.”
To accomplish this, he housed the camera inside a home-built glass box, complete with old tripod legs and ballast to prevent sinking, and triggered the camera using an adapted long cable release.
“I had to wait quite a long time until a toad swam across the surface,” says Hobson. “Most of them would usually swim below it and rest on the glass. He was eventually successful, however, and the outcome provides a rare view of a toad in its woodland home.
Ben Lucas’s Feathery Pillow: Winner of the Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award 2026
Ben Lucas won the Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 award with Feathery Pillow, his charming image of a mute swan cygnet taking a nap on its sibling’s back. “Nature can often be so cruel, but tender moments like this warm my heart,” he says.
The annual showcase of nature photography is a crucial reminder of what value British woodlands, wetlands and other ecosystems still hold.
“This year’s winners celebrate the wonder, diversity and character of British wildlife in truly exceptional ways,” say British Wildlife Photography Awards director Will Nicholls. “From familiar species to rarely seen moments, the portfolio showcases the skill and passion of the photographers behind the lens.
“Together, they offer a joyful celebration of Britain’s natural world, while also reminding us why these places and species are so deserving of our care and protection.”
Photographers competed in 11 categories in the adult competition: Animal Behaviour, Animal Portraits, Botanical Britain, Black & White, Coast & Marine, Habitat, Hidden Britain, Urban Wildlife and Wild Woods, plus British Seasons and Documentary Series making up the special awards.
Three photographs from the British Wildlife Photography Award 2026 exhibition
Further awards were given for Wildlife in HD Video and three age groups in the youth competition: age 11 and under, 12 to 14 and 15 to 17.
All awarded images are published by Graffeg Books in a hardback coffee-table book, available online at bwpawards.org, with a foreword by actor, writer and director Mackenzie Crook.
The 2027 competition is open for entries at bwpawards.org, inviting photographers of all levels of experience to submit their photos of Britain’s nature at its best.
Nunnington Hall invites visitors take time in the organic gardens overlooking the River Rye to spot many birds and insects and maybe the occasional otter or kingfisher that calls the garden home.
Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.Entry is free for National Trust members and under-fives.
Sugar and spite and all things not so nice: Ellen Carnazza’s TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait in Badapple Theatre Company’s Crumbs. Picture: Karl Andre
IN the week when jettisoned American TV institution The Late Show turned into the late show, as Stephen Colbert signed off, British TV’s favourite baking queen, Petronella Parfait, was cancelled too.
Mystery surrounds her disgraced exit, but ruthless, rather than rueful, Petronella is determined to bounce back, and tonight we are her audience – her “Crummies” – as she launches her online cookery channel, Dough My Gosh, as hot on gossip as tray bakes, as she looks to ride the social media influencer wave.
Will the cook crumble or rise anew like the dough for her signature Athenian Caraway Loaf? Will it be Crumbs of comfort or discomfort for the axed Bake-Up judge?
Find out in writer-director Kate Bramley’s latest comedy for Green Hammerton’s “theatre on your doorstep” rural-travelling troupe Badapple Theatre Company, newly installed as York Theatre Royal’s associate company for the next year.
To mark that partnership’s launch, Badapple are concluding their spring tour with four days of performances in the Theatre Royal Studio, where virtuoso Harrogate actress Ellen Carnazza is cooking on gas mark five as Petronella, the bad apple or good apple of the piece.
Bramley affectionately calls Carnazza “the hardest-working woman in theatre”, because although Petronella has an ego too big to accommodate anyone else in her kitchen, chameleon Carnazza will play multiple characters, foes, friends and family alike, glowing under the lights from so much physical exertion in this one-woman show of two 45-minute halves.
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as the old chestnut says, but Carnazza’s Petronella can very much stand the (self-inflicted) heat and stay in Petronella’s Perfect Kitchen to bake the bread that audiences will devour at the finale.
Will they, however, swallow everything else she says as the layers surrounding the mystery of her swift exit are peeled back with each new interruption of her live broadcast that takes the form of a series of phone calls and interviews, where Carnazza is framed by an oversized mobile phone case. Already her West Country assistant Demelza Meek has walked out, tired of being her Cornish patsy and vowing to bring her down.
One by one, we meet Petronella’s mother, Lady Payne, a still glamorous former Bond Girl; barrister Gloria Gluten, who shared her schooldays, and Mrs Crumble, the Welsh cook from her childhood whose recipes she may well have purloined for her own gain.
As she fights to prove she does not put the fake into bake, secrets are exposed and everything collapses around her on AJ Lowe’s amusingly Mischief Theatre-echoing misbehaving kitchenette set, with its malfunctioning tap, tumbling shelf of cookbooks and non-stick apron hook, topped off by the lights going out.
Now her last friend and sponsor, Penny Puttanesca, proprietor of the neighbouring Pizza Inferno chain, with her Gina/Sophia Italian allure and Mafia hauteur, has finally had enough of her freeloading.
After so much back-and-forth patter and constant changes of voice and character, with the aid of scarves, hats and glasses, Carnazza and Bramley surpass it all with the Puttanesca family’s henchman, Big Tony, who says nothing yet everything behind dark glasses with shrugs, grimaces and the folding of arms, before Carnazza plays both Petronella and Big Tony on the chase with all the madcap joy of a cartoon, all the funnier for being conducted in a small space, maximum gesture, minimal movement.
Bramley’s Petronella Parfait is an absurdist caricature, even more so for her script revelling in more puns than buns, yet for all the comic exaggeration in Carnazza’s performance, Crumbs is bang-on in its exposé of the cult of celebrity.
Petronella is sweet on the TV surface, yet sour when the heat is on; more back off than Bake-Off. She is a baker as needy as kneady; constantly plugging products, pushing her “brand” and placing endorsements. Ultimately, her cherry on top cannot hide the soggy bottom beneath.
Your reward is a feast of laughs in a comedy with bite, followed by a chunk of bread at the close, whose “secret recipe “ can be unlocked by scanning the QR code on the back of the programme.
Purely by coincidence, what should be playing on the main stage next door but another story of a TV celebrity fighting for her career (after being exposed as a charlatan in losing a court case with £500,000 costs): namely psychic medium Sheila Gold in Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman’s twisted thriller The Psychic, now in the last week of its world premiere.
Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, baking at 2pm and 7.45pm today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Wizard of York (Dan Wood): Presenting the second WizardFest in York city centre. Picture: The Story Of You
FROM WizardFest to the Wizard of Prog, Roman festivities to musical & poetic nature lovers, Charles Hutchinson picks his hot spots for the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond.
Magical event of the week: WizardFest, York, today until Monday
WIZARDFEST, York’s official Festival of Wizardry, waves its magic wand over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend as The Wizard of York conjures up spellbinding events, tours, trails, workshops, shows and fantastical food and drink.
Wizardry fans can book for the Wizard Walk of York, Brick Magic LEGO workshop, Wizard Family Rave, Giant Bubble Show or Wicked at City Screen Picturehouse. Expect owl appearances, dragons and the new Wizard Activity Zone on Parliament Street with wand making, face painting and more. Dress to impress for the free fancy dress parade from St Helen’s Square on Monday at 3p.m A digital map and full list of events with booking links can be found at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.
The Roman Camp in York Museum Gardens, part of the Eboracum Roman Festival in York. Picture: Gareth Buddo
Festival highlight of the week: Living History, Crafts and Combat, Eboracum Roman Festival, York, today and tomorrow
THIS weekend showcases the best of Eboracum with live performances, creative storytelling and historical demonstrations alongside fun family activities, insightful talks and opportunities to dive into archaeology in York.
At the Living History Camp in York Museum Gardens, discover how the Romans lived by talking to the legions in their camp and watch demonstrations of weaving, carpentry, pottery and blacksmithing. Check out military demonstrations and formations with Ermine Street Guard or join York Museum Trust’s Garden Team for a guided tour of the Edible Garden today. Look out too for artillery demonstrations and the Kids Barbaric Battle. For full festival details, visit: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/eboracum-roman-festival-2026.
Live baking on stage: Ellen Carnazza’s TV cook in crisis Petronella Parfait in Badapple Theatre Company’s Crumbs. Picture: Karl Andre
Bake-off of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm and 7.45pm
DISGRACED TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait is out of a job and out of her depth, trying to reinvent herself in the cut-throat world of social influencers. Can she keep the lights on – and the oven – as her live comeback show descends into devilishly delicious disaster?
Expect big laughs, bold flavours, live bread making and a tasty treat for the audience at the end of Kate Bramley’s play as Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre returns to the Theatre Royal Studio, where solo performer Ellen Carnazza plays multiple roles. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Upbeat Beatles: Celebrating the Fab Four from the Cavern to Abbey Road at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Tribute gig of the week: Joseph Wilson Productions presents The Upbeat Beatles, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
THE Upbeat Beatles travel the Fab Four’s long and winding road from the early Cavern days through Beatlemania and Shea Stadium, New York City, to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, with narrative and full multi-media presentation. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Nobody puts Baby’s poster in the corner: Dirty Dancing In Concert at York Barbican
Film event of the week: Dirty Dancing In Concert, York Barbican, May 28, 7.30pm
RELIVE the film that stole the hearts of generations with this live-to-screen concert event featuring Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama projected in full, accompanied by a live band and singers performing every song from the soundtrack.
Feel the romance, rhythm and emotion as the love story of Baby and Johnny (Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze) comes to life on a full-size cinema screen. A dance-along encore party follows the final scene. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk
John McCusker: Leading his trio at the NCEM on Friday
Recommended but sold out already: John McCusker Trio, York Festival of Ideas, National Centre for Early Music, York, May 29, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH violinist John McCusker is joined by virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and singer Sam Kelly and flute, whistle and guitar player Toby Shaer in his trio to perform a thrilling combination of instrumental dexterity, heartfelt songs and live energy. Their fusion of original compositions, traditional melodies and contemporary folk bursts with innovation, joy and soul. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
The Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox poster for the The Future Is Vintage tour, visiting York Barbican on Friday
Retro gig of the week: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Future Is Vintage Tour 2026, York Barbican, May 29, doors 7pm
SCOTT Bradlee’s troupe of singers, dancers and instrumentalists perform a new show in signature time-twisting style, putting a retro spin on everything from Seventies’ rock classics and Britpop hits to the latest chart toppers and movie and video game soundtracks.
“We’re humbly presenting our own unique vision of a spectacular future; one that is built upon the timeless musical genres of the past and the authentically human spirit of creativity that inspired them,” says founder and arranger Bradlee, who invites you to dress in your vintage best for the full time-travel experience. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mike Amber: Performing Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock songs with Lola-Mae at The Basementnext Saturday
Nature lovers of the week: Navigators Art presents Back To The Garden, York Festival of Ideas, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, May 30, 7.30pm, doors 7pm
NAVIGATORS Art has invited York performers to celebrate and explore the York Festival of Ideas theme of Place and Space with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens.
Original words and music features alongside well-loved works by familiar names in the company of storyteller Lara McClure; Mike Amber & Lola-Mae, taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock; poet and novelist Janet Dean; performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette and alt folk band Sofa Sofa, whose songs are rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love. Box office: ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.
Rick Wakeman: Performing with English Rock Ensemble in The Wizard of Prog show at York Barbican next March
Gig announcement of the week: Rick Wakeman, The Wizard of Prog, Ultimate Highlights Concert Tour with English Rock Ensemble, York Barbican, March 11 2027
KEYBOARD player extraordinaire Rick Wakeman, who turned 77 on May 18, will be reuniting with the English Rock Ensemble to focus on a broad sweep across Wakeman’s classic back catalogue, including extracts from epic concept albums Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table, Yes material and surprises.
The band line-up reunites from 2025’s Return Of The Caped Crusader Part 2 tour: Wakeman, Jesse Smith (lead vocals), Adam Wakeman (keyboard, guitars and vocals), Dave Colquhoun (guitars and vocals), Lee Pomeroy (bass and vocals), Adam Falkner (drums) and backing vocalists Sara Davey, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson and Jo Marshall. Tickets go on sale on May 29 at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/rick-27.
Coming to terms with loss: Alexa Chaplin ‘s Annie in York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical. All pictures: Gareth Jenkins *
WRITTEN by two Honorary Yorkshiremen from the Wirral, friends-since-schooldays Tim Firth and Gary Barlow, Calendar Girls The Musical plays an immediate crowd-pleasing ace card by opening with a song called Yorkshire.
Premiered under the name The Girls at Leeds Grand Theatre in 2015 and first staged in York by York Stage Musicals at the Grand Opera House in 2022, the show now plays out against All In One Productions’ photographic scenery of the rolling Yorkshire Dales at their most green and pleasant pastured. In front is a dry stone wall with a gate. You can almost smell the ‘Yorkshireness’ of it all.
Welcome to director-choreographer Kathryn Addison’s production for York Musical Theatre Company, with musical director John Atkin in the pit to conduct a band wherein Rosie Morris’s piano is to the fore (as to be expected when Take That keyboardist Gary Barlow is the composer), complemented by Cameron McArthur’s keys and guitar, Paul McArthur’s bass, Andy Jennings’ percussion and the emotive Yorkshire brass of Ross Simpson’s trumpet and Martin Farmery’s trombone.
From the Yorkshire-wide grin of that opening number, Firth and Barlow then introduce ‘The Girls’, the Knapely Women’s Institute members who will go on to pose for the fundraising artistic nude calendar that launched so many doppelgangers.
Eve Clark’s Jenny
The new WI chairwoman Marie (Andrea Copeland) may be old-school, all Jam and Jerusalem, dull guest speakers and duller regulations, but as second song Mrs Conventional establishes, these girls can be unconventional, especially Katie Melia’s rebellious Chris, whose sparky individuality so attracted husband Rod (Jack Hooper), who runs a flower shop.
However, the sunshine dims when John ‘Clarkey’ Clarke (Peter Melia), National Park officer, gardener and sunflower-loving husband of best friend Annie (Alexa Chaplin), is diagnosed, spoiler alert, with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Struggling to come to terms with the impending loss of this gentle, gregarious giant, Chaplin’s Annie delivers a beautiful rendition of Barlow and lyricist Firth’s outstanding number, Scarborough, with its devastating closing lyric: “And who will protect me/While telling me lies/If you’re not here.”
Those lines are typical of the observant golden touch of Firth, whose script judges perfectly what the crescendo should be (the stripping off one by one for the calendar), while also introducing three teenage children (James Hepworth’s Danny, Eve Clark’s Jenny and Frankie Jackson’s Tommo), who show another side to their parents.
Alison Taylor’s Ruth performing My Russian Friend And I
Firth applies the right balance of pathos, sadness, northern humour and bloody-minded defiance, the tears and the cheers, all heightened by the piano-led storytelling songs that show off another side to Barlow’s songwriting in modern musical set-pieces such as Yorkshire, the carol-singing Who Wants A Silent Night (led by Amy Greene’s Cora at the piano) and Sunflower, (fronted by Melia’s Chris).
Barlow’s mastery of balladry is affirmed by Chaplin’s performances of not only Scarborough but also Very Slightly Almost and Kilimanjaro, while Firth’s lyrics lend exuberant humour to So I’ve Had A Little Word Done, the big, brassy, belter for Sarah Brown’s Celia, then a darker sting to vodka-swilling Ruth’s My Russian Friend And I, sung with confessional candour by Alison Taylor, bordering on self-loathing.
Melia and Chaplin bring out all sides of Chris and Annie’s friendship, the light and the shade, the highs and the lows , the contrasting temperaments, the fun and the fall-outs, the grief and the renewal. Around them, Greene’s Cora, Brown’s Celia, Taylor’s Ruth, Copeland’s Marie and the ever-wonderful Sandy Nicholson’s former teacher Jessie savour their moment in the spotlight.
So too does Nicola Dawson in her cameo as Knapely show judge Lady Cravenshire, Janie Woolgar’s ill-fated WI lecturer, Brenda Hulse, and Paula Stainton and Samantha Cole’s two Miss Wilsons, a double act forever offering pots of tea and coffee.
Kate Melia’s Chris and Jack Hooper’s Rod in York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical
Peter Melia’s John is affable, phlegmatic, humorous, even in the face of a terminal illness, while Jack Hooper’s Rod delivers two homespun homilies on love and marriage that will make even a cynic go all warm and fuzzy.
Hepworth’s disgraced head boy Danny and Clark’s wayward schoolgirl Jenny, who leads him astray, delight in their awkward teenage journey of discovery, joined by Jackson’s ever-cheeky, work-shy Tommo.
No less awkward is Joe Marucci’s Lawrence, the shy photographer who suggests how the traditions of the WI – knitting, baking, piano playing, flower arranging – should be adapted for the calendar shoot featuring the ladies of Knapely in all manner of shapely.
Aside from some technical difficulties with the sound, Wednesday’s opening night reaffirmed what a wonderful celebration of community, Yorkshire, life, flowers, love, humour, humanity and the power of song Calendar Girls remains.
York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In full bloom: Kathryn Addison’s cast in the finale to Calendar Girls The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
* Photographer Gareth Jenkins
BASED in Kirkbymoorside, Gareth is “always happy to photograph creative events at no charge”. Any arts organisation in need of a photographer can contact him on 07875 018888 or 01751 430116.
Bharti Patel’s Sanjana, landlady of The Albion in Our Public House. Picture: Pamela Raith
THE premiere of Our Public House, Barney Norris’s big-hearted story of community, connection and what might happen if everyone truly had their say, is running at Leeds Playhouse this week.
When an entire community spoils its ballot papers and refuses to vote, angry at being unheard but wanting to show those in power they will not to be taken for granted, a pub on the brink of closure becomes the only place left to talk in touring company Dash Art’s agitated agitprop drama.
As a storm rages outside, The Albion landlady Sanjana (Bharti Patel), a family in mourning, familiar regulars, unexpected guests and local Labour MP Mary (Gabriella Leon) are thrown together for a night of debate, confession and open-mic speeches.
In a town divided by politics, secrets spill. Songs rise. Jokes crackle. Ideals clash. People fall in love. People fall out. Something shifts.
Inspired by the real words of more than 600 people nationwide,Our Public House transforms the state of the nation into a play with original live music where “drama and voices like yours take centre stage”.
At every show, a local community ensemble will be part of the action onstage, performing alongside the cast and highlighting the issues they feel are most important locally. Hence no two performances will be the same on Dash Art’s tour that will take in Prescot, Coventry, Cornwall, Sheffield Playhouse (June 17 to 20) and London’s Marylebone Theatre
Lauren Moakes as released prisoner Jo in Our Public House. Picture: Pamela Raith
Told through spoken English, British Sign Language (BSL), Sign Supported English (SSE), creative captioning and with original live music, Our Public House considers what happens when your voices take centre stage and those with influence start to listen, as explored by Norris, who also wrote the book for Sting’s shipbuilding musical, The Last Ship.
Patel and Leon are joined in Josephine Burton’s cast of hearing and deaf actors by Kit Esuruoso, Chaya Gupta, Lauren Moakes and Fergus O’Donnell for a topical play created over three years of research and workshopping that integrates the words of people from across England – some of whom will appear on stage.
The Albion, such an evocative name for a divided state-of-the-nation play, is an emblematic setting, where landlady Sanjana is the fulcrum. “She is running a speechwriting club early doors in the pub, before punters come in for the open-mic night,” says Dash Art artistic director Josephine Burton. “She’s had enough of the people feeling that they’re not heard, so she’s teaching them how to write and deliver speeches.”
Dialogue is delivered alongside songs, composed by Jonathan Walton, with lyrics co-written by workshop participants from across the country. In addition, every night throughout the play’s run, the audience will hear two speeches written and delivered by local people.
“It will be a new ensemble every night. That’s amazing” says Josephine. “So, all the way down the line, the whole process is really dynamic, and it’s constantly changing and evolving.”
The politics and the pints come with a potent chaser of humour, served with meaty ideas too. “Dash Arts asks the big questions of our time and attempts to answer them over multi-year programmes of work, with artists, with academics, with participants, and with audiences,” says Josephine.
Chaya Gupta, left, Lauren Moakes, Kit Esuruoso, front, Fergus O’Donnell, Gabriella Leon and Bharti Patel in the Buller Buller Buller, Oy Oy Oy! scene in Our Public House. Picture: Pamela Raith
Post-Brexit, she detected a fracturing of British UK identity, stirring her interest in “who we are in England today. What does it mean to be English?”
Three years ago, that question prompted the beginning of a process wherein Dash Art became involved in a speech-writing project, fronted by academic Alan Finlayson, that aimed to help people make and deliver speeches on issues they cared about.
Or as Josephine puts it: “Things that they felt we could do today, that would make tomorrow better. And my instinct was, if we supported the project – went round the country, went into community centres, and deaf communities, and prisons, and schools, and worked with young activists in Sheffield, and in Coventry, and in Norwich, and in Cornwall, and in Prescot – we’d get a real picture of who we are as a country.”
Those early stages “coincided with the dying days of the last Conservative government”. “We were hearing people talk about cost of living, and mental-health crisis, and special-needs education, and social housing. I always knew we were gonna make a play of some sort. I just didn’t know what,” she says.
Inspiration struck when Josephine realised a local pub would best suit those conversations. It was at this point that she brought playwright Barney Norris on board – with source material aplenty to utilise.
“I read 125 speeches before my initial workshop, and it was up to 200 by the time I delivered the first draft – and it’s kept growing,” he says. “So it’s kind of been a continual live document. This is my fourth play set in a pub.
Fergus O’Donnell’s Scott: Pub regular standing for Reform in the local election in Our Public House. Behind the bar is Lauren Moakes’ Jo.Picture: Pamela Raith
“I love a pub play, because I think the complex dynamics of status, and home, and performance in those spaces, are wonderful metaphor territory – for society, and also the kind of toxicity and ‘exclusionary-ness’ of pubs to some people, and the concept of welcome, the concept of a place you’re allowed to go in and get a glass of water, and not spend any money. And all the best stories happen around the fires.”
The creative process with Dash Arts felt very natural for Barney. “It’s a really exciting collaborative culture clash,” he says. “We’ve sustained the social-realist context that’s the basis for the majority of my work, and then, from time to time, we’ve exploded it – with music, or the public getting up on stage and speaking. So the play feels like this interesting meeting place of styles and languages, in the same way that society, of course, is also a meeting place.”
A further influence was Shakespeare’s The Tempest. “Could the Albion be like Prospero’s island, and could our landlady be a version of Prospero, conjuring magic, bringing people into her world?” ponders Barney. “And we’re touring to Shakespeare North, which feels appropriate.”
Barney describes Our Public House as “a play that engages with big ‘P’ politics”. “That’s a real new frontier,” he says. “Obviously, all theatre is political, but I hadn’t done a play about a politician.”
Coincidentally, the playwright had decided to enter politics himself, standing for the Greens in his hometown of Salisbury in the 2024 General Election. “That was really fun – an opportunity to amplify the lessons and share them, because I never imagined a world in which I won the seat of Salisbury off the Tories,” he says.
“But what I could do was to try and learn lessons about that process and feed them into the wider discourse – and the play was so exciting in that context, a way to talk about all that.”
Chaya Gupta, centre, leading the singing in Our Public House with Bharti Patel, left, Fergus O’Donnell, Kit Esuruoso, Lauren Moakes, and Gabriella Leon. Picture: Pamela Raith
Given that political office might seem an unlikely career swerve for a playwright, Barney cheerfully admits that it was not particularly on his to-do list. “I did it partly because I’d been going along to the meetings of the local Green Party, and honestly, at that time, there were only two of us attending the meetings regularly who were still a working age.
“I’d only been in the area for a short time, so I wouldn’t normally have muscled in, but I thought, oh, go on. I’d love that. It was this amazing opportunity to tramp the streets and meet people. One of the secret privileges of it was that I revisited and reintegrated into the landscape of my youth, having not lived in Salisbury since I was 18. You come back, you’re walking down every street you’ve been drunk underage on in your life. It was great.”
More seriously, Barney was struck, both on the doorstep and on the hustings, by the way politicians “have to pretend to listen in order to get a vote, and they will sort of half-promise some stuff or whatever”.
“There’s an extraordinary fakeness around what they’re allowed to say,” he says. “For example, the Labour manifesto had just 85 words on their agricultural policy – and that was what the Labour candidate was allowed to say. He didn’t have any other insight, and couldn’t answer any specific question. That was really interesting: to see the limits of language, the straitjacket of what an individual politician is allowed by head office to say.”
As a writer, Barney relished the colour and flavour of the environment: the Reform candidate was openly an admirer of Putin, “which, in the city of Novichok, felt like a bold move,” he says.
Also standing for election was the king of the Druids, Arthur Pendragon. However, the most significant contribution to the play’s plot from Barney’s brief time in politics was the idea of a vote strike.
Gabriella Leon’s MP Mary holding centre stage in Our Public House. Picture: Pamela Raith
“On election night, you have to look at every single spoiled ballot, and collectively agree that they are spoiled, and that they shouldn’t be counted,” he says. “There were hundreds more than usual at the last election. Many of them were penises drawn on the ballot, which turned out to be a campaign organised by a local anarchist who worked in a bar.
“That felt arresting to me. I thought, well, there’s something in the water, isn’t there? The rage and rejection that people feel towards mainstream politics was there, in those endless daubings on the ballot paper.”
This is not, however, a symptom of disengagement, suggests Josephine. “People are incredibly inspirational. If you give them an opportunity to speak, everyone has ideas about what we could do that would make things better, but they don’t feel heard,” she says. “People feel politics is broken because the system does not enable change. It’s definitely not apathy.”
Key to the play’s vision is the central politician character, MP Mary, being deaf. “We spent time in the deaf community around the UK,” says Josephine. “It was so powerful to hear what they felt, and to be able to provide a platform for those feelings and thoughts to be expressed. It was important for us to bring a deaf actor into the room alongside a hearing cast.”
Actress Gabriella Leon “helped us and gave us permission to build a deaf character,” says Josephine. “That the politician in our play is deaf lends some irony to the fact that she is the first person to listen to the voices of the local community.”
The creation of Our Public House has been rich in its variety of lived experience. “The work that we’ve done in prisons has been unbelievable,” says Josephine, after company members visited HMP Styal, a women’s prison just outside Manchester.
The “community ensemble” supporting cast changes at every performance of Our Public House to represent differing voices from the public. Picture: Pamela Raith
“My heart went out for the women in the room, and they have inspired one of the characters in our play. These are people who are so silenced in society. It was very moving.”
For Harvey, creating the character of a putative Reform councillor was among his most invigorating challenges. “The arc of political zeitgeist across the period that we’ve been making the show has mirrored the journey we’ve been on with that,” he says.
It was essential to avoid approaching the character “from a place of demonisation and snobbery and dismissal,” he posits. “It’s such an incredibly prominent element of our contemporary politics. So I’ve really tried to articulate that empathetically from the inside out.
“My process of writing is very much to ‘be’ the characters, and I write out loud with my mouth, and then I write it down later. I just wander around the fields, talking to myself in their voice until they’re funny, you know?
“And so, to become that person – coming from the modern urban Left – that felt like a stimulating adventure. I hope what we’ve done is write a person of great dignity and integrity, with real concerns and problems – but who is coming up with, to my mind, the wrong solutions for them.”
Both Josephine and Barney emphasise that Our Public House should not feel like a lecture. “It’s just really, really funny,” she says “It’s a comedy. A really good night out.” Crucially, it is relatable too. “It’s a play about everywhere. Your place. Your local.”
Dash Art in Our Public House, Leeds Playhouse, tonight, 7.45pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm & 7.45pm. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk. Sheffield Playhouse, June 17 to 20; sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
The full cast in the finale to John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers The Play. Picture: Hugo Glendinning
WHEN Monty Python alumnus John Cleese opened Fawlty Towers The Play at London’s Apollo Theatre in May 2024, he was “more confident about it than almost anything I’ve ever done”.
After two sold-out West End seasons, a ten-month 39-venue UK tour was launched in September 2025, visiting Leeds Grand Theatre in early January and now the Grand Opera House in York this week.
“I know all the lines,” said the lady in the stalls row behind your reviewer at Wednesday’s well-attended matinee. Such has been the permeation of the coastal hotel shenanigans of Cleese and Connie Booth’s beloved BBC sitcom, whose 50th anniversary was the trigger for Cleese to mount the stage show, directed with comedic elan by Caroline Jay Ranger.
Just as Eric Idle adapted the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail for the hit stage musical Monty Python’s Spamalot, so Cleese, now 86, is on to a winner with Fawlty Towers The Play. Hapless Spanish waiter Manuel may say “I know nothing”, but Cleese knows everything about how to transfer Basil and Sybil’s trials and tribulations from small screen to stage.
Whereas Idle affectionately subtitled Spamalot “A New Musical (Lovingly) Ripped Off From The Motion Picture”, Cleese has adapted three of the most cherished episodes – The Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems and The Germans – to form two Acts, concluding the madcap proceedings with a new finale.
“The English do love a farce,” observed Cleese, whose play has the classic structure, physical silliness and comic verve of the works of Ben Travers, Brian Rix and Ray Cooney. He named Michael Frayn’s Noises Off and Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors too, and you will be laughing equally as frequently at Basil’s antics in Fawlty Towers live on stage.
There is an added factor here: familiarity, a feeling as comforting as a well worn pair of slippers or a favourite sofa or the sound of Dennis Wilson’s TV theme tune. That familiarity begins the moment you settle in your seat and take in Liz Ascroft’s open-plan set design of the hotel reception desk, the stairs to Mrs Richards’ first-floor bedroom, the dining room and the doors to the kitchen.
Above, to one side, stands a model of the frontage of Fawlty Towers, in the English Riviera town of Torquay. In the middle is a cut-out of the roof; to the other side is the Fawlty Towers sign – and yes, the order of the letters will be changed for Act Two in the tradition of the TV series. The first word becomes ‘Flowery’; over to you to work out the second!
Ascroft’s design sticks faithfully to the British mid-Seventies, with its ghastly colour palette, and her costume design does likewise, from ill-fitting shiny suits for assorted men to Sybil’s trademark pink two-piece The Malcolm Macdonald-style massive sideburns of Adam Elliott’s Mr Walt are a particular retro joy.
Elliott is part of a 17-strong cast – so rare to have such a large troupe for a tour these days – that is led by Danny Bayne as the deluded, crane-legged hotel proprietor Basil Fawlty and Mia Austen as his acerbic, haughty, exasperated but exasperating wife Sybil.
Cleese once described bolshy Basil as “rude but inefficient”, and Bayne’s characterisation captures that essence, relishing Fawlty’s irascibility, his propensity to ingratiate guests one moment, then treat them as a verbal punch bag the next.
Throughout, Bayne’s Basil finds Austen’s always right Sybil to be the bane of his frustrated life, and the more you watch his pratfalls, the more it strikes you how he is the opposite of many comedy favourites.
We love Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin because they ultimately win, like Shakespeare’s clowning fools. Fawlty, by contrast, only worsens his situation, tripping himself up with every utterance and foiled plan, and he is all the funnier for that, sharing the loser status of Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder, albeit but without the intelligence and cunning to keep escaping.
Caroline Jay Ranger chalked up an earlier West End touring hit with the musical version of Only Fools And Horses that shared Fawlty Towers The Play’s sense of celebration of a British classic, while drawing performances from her cast that mirror the television versions but still bring new life to them too.
Especially so here from the veteran Paul Nicholas, still twinkling in marvellously mischievous comic form as the bumbling Major and Hemi Yerohem’s Barcelona waiter Manuel, the butt of so much Basil intemperance. Seeing such characters in the flesh adds still more to the comedic joy.
Joanne Clifton, swapping the song and dance of musical theatre for the straightest role here, is a delight as unflappable chamber maid Polly Sherman, echoing Connie Booth’s distinctive voice too. Jemma Churchill’s Mrs Richards, even grouchier than Basil, is the nightmare hotel guest personified, barking and snapping while refusing to turn up her hearing aid.
Look out too for the double-act cameos of Emily Winter and Dawn Buckland’s old ladies, Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby, and Greg Haiste’s Mr Hutchinson, Mrs Richards’ rival as Basil’s most irritating hotel guest.
Fawlty Towers The Play is fawltless: British comedy at its best, farcical and furious, utterly Seventies yet timeless too. Make a reservation, now.
John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers The Play, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
