Mark Simmonds’s Prospero, staff in hand, in The Tempest
AFTER focusing on musical theatre, adventurous York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions stretched its wings by staging Shakespeare’s everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink last play with original music by founder, director and musical director Matthew Peter Clare and Gregory Parker.
Several of Ariel’s speeches were turned into song for Gemma-Louise Keane, on her return to the stage after a long break where you may have seen her fronting the band Kisskisskill or on York’s ghost tour circuit as Deathly Dark Tours’ Daria Deathly. Inspired casting by Clare, finding a performer with bags of stage presence and personality, coupled with an individual look and voice, typified by her rendition of Full Fathom Five.
Mark Simmonds, who has made his mark as much in Jorvik Gilbert and Sullivan Society, York Opera and York Light Opera Company as in York Settlement Community Players, has a natural musicality and resonant timbre to his voice.
Charlie Clarke’s Trincula in The Tempest. Josh Woodgate’s Caliban adopts a prone position beneath his bags of wood
Allied with being tall, this gave him righteous if sinister command as the dispossessed Milanese duke, Prospero, a command exacerbated by conducting his magical, storm-stirring powers from the John Cooper Studio’s mezzanine level, as well as in his treatment of his island slaves, Ariel and Caliban (more of whom, later).
Clare built his production on a brace of interlinking triangles, bringing magic, music and mayhem to the play’s three plot lines of comedy, tragedy and romance, fuelled by familiar Shakespeare tropes of mistaken identity, a family at war, murderous plotting and plot-thickening intrigues. The magic emanated from Prospero, and so too did the mayhem that ensued in the torrid tale of a shipwreck and its high-society survivors, spilling out onto Prospero’s island.
The music emanated from percussionist Clare’s band of eight: Helen Warry and Elle Weaver’s violins; Clare Pearson’s viola and Lindsay Illingworth’s violoncello; Fergus Vickers’ guitar, Rosie Morris’s contrabass and, best of all, Sarah Paterson’s harp.
Chloe Pearson’s Fernanda, left, and Freya McIntosh’s Miranda in The Tempest
The underscoring was particularly effective, often beautiful too, and most ambitious of all was the transformation of the play within the play into a song, Blessings, with vocal interplay and solos for Maddie Jones’s Iris, Molly Whitehouse’s Ceres and Rocks Nairn-Smith’s Juno.
The Tempest is a restless, breathless play of constant struggle and ultimate resolution, a maelstrom of tortured emotions, terror, a need to find a home, love, a safe place in the world, a reason to shake off boredom or cast off grief. Or as Clare put it: a play of “family and love, subjugation and bloody plots, reconciliation and forgiveness, euphoria and despair”.
Hence its helter-skelter tumble of tragedy and comedy that Clare addressed successful by applying “more Brechtian style” for the more absurd characters, such as Charlie Clarke’s Trincula, Dan Poppitt’s Alonso, and especially the outstanding John Woodgate’s cruelly abused Caliban, while favouring naturalism for the plot-driven likes of Prospero, Meg Conway’s viperous Antonia and the Sapphic love of Freya McIntosh’s Miranda and Chloe Pearson’s Fernanda.
Gemma-Louise Keane’s Ariel
Mikhail Lim’s Gonzalo, Rosie Stirling’s Sebastyne and Jack Fry’s Master of Ships all contributed to the pleasures of this Tempest kicking up a storm anew, aided by Molly Whitehouse’s playful costumes, Charlie Clarke & Josh Woodgate’s striking, circus and cabaret-inspired make-up and Will Nicholson’s sound and lighting design, fast making himself the go-to-guy of York technicians in 2025.
After Woodgate’s turn as Caliban, eye-catching from the moment he emerged bleary eyed from beneath the shelter of the raised stage, CharlesHutchPress looks forward to his future performances, led off by his ensemble role in Inspired By Theatre’s Rent from Thursday to Saturday this week at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Coming next from Black Sheep Theatre will be a return to Theatre@41 for an original play, The Inner Selves, from May 13 to 17. This four-hander charts the decline of two people’s mental health, and their marriage, as shown through Henry and Nora and the cacophonic assault of their inner thoughts. The play revolves are one bad day of mediocrity and boredom being the final straw for the pair as emotions come to a boil. Will this marriage survive? Even until morning?
Not for young children, its content warning takes in: alcohol, smoking, swearing, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, discussion of self-harm, marriage, divorce, loss of child, suicidal thoughts, mental health.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Meg Conway, returning to the York stage after a nine-year hiatus, as Antonia and assistant director Mikhail Lim as Gonzalo in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ The Tempest
Sinead Corkery: Making her York Open Studios debut in Monkton Road, York
PERFECT weather greets the opening of studio doors as artists parade their skills while politics comes under the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.
Art event of the month: York Open Studios, today and tomorrow; also April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm
YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s bill at The Basement tonight
Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, David Eagle, Ben Silver and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
ROB Rouse, from The Friday Night Project, Spoons, BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Mad Mad World, Upstart Crow and Rob And Helen’s Date Night self-help podcast, headlines tonight’s bill, hosted by Laugh Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin.
Support act David Eagle, a member of north eastern folk band The Young’uns, mines comedy from exploring how his blindness turns the most ordinary, commonplace events into surreal, convoluted dramas. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Ged Graham: Leading the Seven Drunken Nights celebration of The Dubliners, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Prestige Productions
Irish craic of the week: Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
SEVEN Drunken Nights takes a trip down memory lane in celebration of The Dubliners’ 50-year performing career on a 2025 global tour of 300 shows across 42 weeks. The Irish Rover, The Town I Love So Well and Dirty Old Town will be joined by new additions Paddy On The Railway and The Lark In The Morning in a new production for this year’s travels.
The show’s 2017 founder, frontman and narrator, Dublin-born writer and director Ged Graham, says: “The connection we’ve built with the audience over the years is incredible; they know we’re keeping the iconic music of The Dubliners alive with the same passion that they have for it.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Telling the whole story: Writer-performer Andrew Margerison in Dyad Productions’ That Knave, Raleigh
Historical play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 9, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.
The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary and victim.
“The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.”Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Manfreds: Playing Joseph Rowntree Theatre for the first time this weekend
Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Manfreds, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
TICKETS are down to the last few for the chance to see The Manfreds in their Joseph Rowntree Theatre debut, featuring original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, both 83.
The set list takes in such Sixties R&B hits as 5-4-3-2-1, Pretty Flamingo, The Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, intermixed with jazz and blues covers from their solo albums. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Al Murray: Rolling out his barrel of laughs at York Barbican as the Guvnor puts you right on Sunday night
Political insights of the week: Al Murray, Guv Island, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE people have spoken. The Pub Landlord is back for another round of Guv Island with “New Extra Brew Material”in 2025, having pulled pints and punters at the Grand Opera House in March 2024.
Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, the Guvnor will “make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to”. “Country, the UK, lost its way, seeks life partner/mentor/inspiration. Good sense of humour essential. No timewasters, tedious show-offs or offend-o-trons need apply. HR free zone,” says Murray. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast for Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre – the new name for Bright Light Musical Productions – follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance.
Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola: Strictly Come Dancing professionals team up for Red Hot And Ready
Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 victor Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
John Simpson: BBC News world affairs editor puts leaders and lunatics in the dock at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday
In Focus: More political insights of the week: John Simpson: The Leaders & Lunatics Tour, Grand Opera House, York, April 7, 7.30pm
IN his bold, unflinching look at leadership, veteran BBC journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE ponders why some inspire while others descend into tyranny. “And…are all tyrants ‘lunatics’,” he asks.
After six decades of unparalleled access to world leaders – and lunatics – Simpson explores the personalities that have shaped history. From notorious figures such as Assad, Saddam, Mugabe and Gaddafi to admired leaders Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky, he reveals their common threads, unique quirks and lasting impact.
Drawing on his first-hand encounters and personal dealings, Simpson will unravel the enigmatic personas of Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher, while pondering what links Mandela and Princess Diana or Zelensky and Mugabe.
In an increasingly volatile world, BBC News world affairs editor Simpson will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of the most pressing global challenges of our time – conflicts, war, famine, economic crises and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
Simpson, now 80, has spent all his working life with the BBC, reporting from more than 120 countries, including 30 war zones, and interviewing myriad world leaders on his foreign correspondent beat.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960s to present day in his fearless journalism, he will turn from interviewer to interviewee to take questions from the audience in the second-half Q&A.
What on earth is going on, John? Hear his answers at this talk “truly for our troubled times”, when Simpson promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire as he provides “insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
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world affairs editor of BBC News. He has spent all his working life with the BBC, and has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and interviewed many world leaders.
In an increasingly volatile world, John will also examine the most pressing challenges of our time – war, famine, economic crises, and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
In the second half, the floor is yours. Ask your questions as John offers sharp insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order.
John Simpson: Leaders and Lunatics Tour
After a sell-out tour in 2024, legendary journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE is returning to the stage for an exclusive evening packed with unparalleled insights from one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents of our time.
With decades of first-hand encounters and personal dealings, John will explore the enigmatic personas of global figures such as Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher.
John will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of our global issues – from conflicts, war and famines, to world economies and climate change.
What links Mandela and Princess Diana? Or Zelenskiy and Mugabe? John will reveal the common threads linking these figures, and offer a unique perspective on the impact they’ve had on world affairs.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960’s to present day, you will have an opportunity to ask John your questions – what were these leaders and lunatics really like, and what on earth is going on? Don’t miss John for an evening that promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire with his fearless journalism and captivating storytelling.
What on earth is going on? An event truly for our troubled times – don’t miss this enlightening and compelling evening.
Alison Taylor’s Mrs Alexander, left, Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, and Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan with Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble members Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Lee Harris. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
THE Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time is playing York for the third time in ten years.
First came the National Theatre’s bells-and-whistles production, winner of seven Olivier awards, at the Grand Opera House in January 2015, with its white box framework of graph-paper lines on moving walls and flooring to match the mathematical mind of teenage protagonist Christopher Boone.
Next, the performing arts department at All Saints RC School combined dance, original livemusicand movement sequences in a February 2023 adaptation wherein ten narrators represented Christopher’s imagination and inner thoughts, while highlighting the key motifs of letters, as well as Chris’s love of numbers and space, through physical theatre and projections.
Now comes York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s interpretation, using University of York history graduate Simon Stephens’s superlative script, premiered by the National Theatre, under the imaginative and inventive direction of Andrew Isherwood, a regular presence on the York stage and increasingly in the director’s chair too.
“Directing this show has absolutely been one of the best experiences over the past 12 years I’ve had making theatre,” he says in his programme note – and it shows in an ensemble production that is cinematic yet boldly theatrical in its fusion of video projection, effects and lighting and sound by Will Nicholson, always in harmony with the mathematical shapes, emotional frictions and physical theatre of Isherwood’s team of 11 players.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone and his pet rat Toby with Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
His choice of recorded music is impeccable too, especially Cat Power’s heart-rending Maybe Not and Moby’s God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters, last used so evocatively in Robert De Niro and Al Pacino’s face-off in Heat in 1995.
On arrival, the audience is confronted by the sight of Elanor Kitchen’s model of a dead dog, Wellington, pinned to the ground by a garden fork, on the end-on raised stage. Welcome to a “murder mystery like no other”.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher John Francis Boone is rocking, traumatised, even more so when accused of killing the dog by Mrs Shears (Natalie Melia), his potty-mouthed neighbour in Swindon, Wiltshire.
Christopher is 15 years three months and two days old; he attends a special needs school, and although he is never attributed with Asperger’s syndrome by source novel writer Mark Haddon, this fearful yet fearless boy can calculate A-level Maths to A* standard at 15 but is ill-equipped to work out everyday life.
Christopher does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour. He loves red, his lucky colour, but rejects an offer of Battenberg cake because of his dislike of yellow.
Such frankness and original thinking instil humour and wonderment in his bright, naive, unpredictable utterances, but pain and puzzlement bubble beneath the surface too in Jonathan Wells’s performance, expressed in his twitching, fidgety fingers and downward gaze.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, with fellow Pick Me Up Theatre cast members Jon Cook, left, Lee Harris, Catherine Edge, Beryl Nairn and Tom Riddolls. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
This Elvington GP has favoured musical theatre in his York stage appearances, but here he returns to straight theatre for the first time since Berkoff and Strindberg plays in his Sheffield student days, making you wonder why he has not done so previously.
What a revelation his performance is. Slim of frame, boyish of looks, not unlike Ben Whishaw, he is 34 yet wholly believable as 15 – the age, by the way, that he took his A-level in computing, giving him an immediate connection with Christopher.
His physical demeanour is only part of the equation, Equally significant is how to convey Christopher’s intelligence and more significantly, the way he thinks, and both Wells and Isherwood maximise how Stephens’s script travels both inside and outside Christopher’s head as he vows to defy his father by “doing detective work” to hunt down Wellington’s killer.
Like a Keaton or Chaplin, Wells’s Christopher makes us laugh at the absurdity of others, or whoever he winds up with his candid, unconventional manner, but he never sets out to be a clown or funny. Christopher is serious, earnest, but his comments are the stuff of observational comedy.
Such is the skill of novelist Haddon and playwright Stephens’s writing, where we wholly empathise with the young boy who follows his own path, however unsafe he may feel amid the chaotic cacophony, on a bigger journey of discovery that combines abnormal intellect with bewildering, baffling new experiences.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone cowers from his father Ed (Mike Hickman) as a policeman (Jon Cook) looks concerned. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
Yes, we laugh, but we are also stopped regularly in our tracks by the feeble behaviour of his elders, but certainly not betters, who let him down, in particular his mendacious father Ed (Mike Hickman), a boiler engineer with a tendency to boil over into rage, even violence.
The one exception is special needs teacher and mentor Siobhan (Beryl Nairn), who encourages him in his writing.
Catherine Edge, so elegantly impressive in Settlement Players’ Separate Tables in February 2024, excels again as Judy, the mother that, spoiler alert, Christopher had been told was dead but had in fact fled to London with her feckless lover, neighbour Roger Shears (Lee Harris). Hers is the most emotionally complex role, the least black and white, and Edge finds those nuances.
In the ensemble, Alison Taylor, Natalie Melia, Lee Harris, Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Alexandra Mather both play multiple roles and bond in choreographed movement and babbling, threatening noise on Christopher’s first solo train journey to London with pet rat Toby, into the pandemonium of a Tube station, and out on to the alienating, disorientating streets.
Nicholson’s lighting is key to Pick Me Up’s technical flourish, but all in service of Wells’s remarkable portrayal of a boy with a beautiful mind in search of a safe haven.
Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
WILLY Russell’s tragi-comic Liverpool musical is visiting York for a remarkable tenth time since 1996. No show can rival that record, not even fellow regulars The Rocky Horror Show or Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.
Ticket demand is as high as ever: Monday’s press night was packed to the gills, opening a week’s run that accommodates three rather than the routine two matinees (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday).
Should you somehow still be a Blood Brothers virgin, make sure to initiate yourself in Russell’s modern-day Jacobean tragedy on its first York outing since 2022, when your reviewer considered the combination of Niki Evans’s Mrs Johnstone, Sean Jones’s Mickey, in his “last ever tour”, Joel Benedict’s Eddie, Carly Burns’s Linda and Robbie Scotcher’s Narrator to be “better than ever”.
The 2025 leads are more than a match, especially Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnston, with a singing voice to rival Annie Lennox, and Sean Keany’s tall, gaunt grim reaper of an Irish-accented Narrator. Sean Jones, meanwhile, has still not left the building – was he taking the Mickey when he said 2022‘s tour would be the final curtain after 23 years on and off in Blood Brothers’ baggy green jumper and short trousers?! – but why would he leave a role he has made his own?
At 54, Jones continues to pour blood, sweat and tears into his combustible combination of bouncy comic timing [as seen each winter in his daft lad role in the Florian Pavilion, New Brighton panto too] and heartrending pathos on Mickey’s doomed path from skip to slouch to slump, from cheeky, boundlessly energetic child to lovelorn, tongue-tied teen, to crushed, enervated adult, broken on the wheel of anti-depressants and redundancy.
Impresario and producer Bill Kenwright – who had asked Jones to return to the role in 2022 – has passed away since that tour but the 2025 production still carries his stamp, credited as co-director with Bob Tomson, the team that brought Russell’s Blood Brothers to its emotional heights with gold standard production values to boot.
Vivienne Carlyle first worked with Kenwright and Tomson in 2006, playing Mrs Lyons and understudying Mrs J at the Phoenix Theatre in London, later appearing as Mrs Lyons at the Grand Opera House on tour in 2008, and she now returns to Mrs J after a 12-year gap, bringing scabrous Scouse humour, love, fierce passion, desperate resilience and guilty pain to the secret-burdened Catholic mother at the heart of Russell’s1983 cautionary tale of twin brothers separated at birth and cursed by a fateful superstition that if either should discover the other’s existence, they will die instantly.
Already struggling with too many children on an impoverished Liverpool estate and deserted by her wastrel husband, Mrs J’s budget on the never-never means she can only “afford” one child more, not two, and so cleaner Mrs J rashly enters a pact with her employer, a travelling salesman’s barren wife, Mrs Lyons (Sarah Jane Buckley), to give her the choice of the twins.
Whereupon, seen from the age of seven upwards, Jones’s scally urchin Mickey and Joe Sleight’s initially naïve, then scholarly Eddie are divided by the class divide that Russell lambasts, but their paths are destined to keep crossing, as fate plays its hand as much as social circumstance, turning their “blood brother” bond in adolescent rites of passage to adult separation.
Ever present in the shadows on Andy Walmsley’s set of house frontages, a mezzanine level and backdrops of Liverpool Liver Building skyscraper and the verdant countryside is Keany’s Narrator, a Faustian debt collector as dark as his suit and tie, overseeing innocent child’s play making way for crime and tragic final resolution, guns turning from toys to real.
From Vivienne Carlyle’s renditions of Tell Me It’s Not True, Marilyn Monroe and Easy Terms to Gemma Brodrick’s lovely performance as teen crush Linda, caught between Mickey and Eddie, to Nick Richings’ lighting and Matt Malone’s band, the 2025 tour of Blood Brothers shines with high quality in the transition from comedy to tragedy, the two faces of theatre writ large in this peerless, hard-hitting, unsentimental yet emotionally shattering musical.
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/York. Age recommendation: 12 plus.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
FOUR nights of Greg Davies and tenth visit of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers are the headline acts in Charles Hutchinson’s bill for cultural satisfaction.
Musical of the week: Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
WILLY Russell’s Liverpool musical makes its tenth visit to the Grand Opera House, and despite Sean Jones’s appearance in the 2022 tour being billed as his “last ever” after 23 years on and off as Mrs Johnstone’s son Mickey, here he is once more, still “running around as a seven-year-old in a baggy green jumper and short trousers” at 54.
Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle, who played Mrs Lyons on her previous Blood Brothers visit to York, takes the role of Mrs J in Russell’s moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Curiouser and curiouser: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Play of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Simon Stephens’s stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s story of Christopher Boone (Jonathan Wells), a 15-year-old boy with an extraordinary brain Exceptionally gifted at Maths, he finds everyday life and interaction with other people very confusing.
Christopher has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, hates being touched and deeply distrusts strangers, but everything changes when he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Greg Davies: Milking it in his Full Fat Legend stand-up show at York Barbican
Comedy gigs of the week: Greg Davies: Full Fat Legend, York Barbican, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm
TOWERING comedian Greg Davies plays York Barbican for a full-fat four nights on his Full Fat Legend Tour, his first on British soil for seven years.
The 6ft 8 inch star of Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners, The Cleaner, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Man Down and Cuckoo is undertaking his biggest stand-up tour to date. He last played York Barbican on November 1 and 2 2017 on his You Magnificent Beast tour, his first travels for four years. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, go to yorkbarbican.co.uk. Davies’s Hull Connexin Live shows on June 3 and 4 and at Leeds First Direct Arena on June 20 are sold out too.
Daniel Wilmot’s Count Dracula in Baron Productions’ Dracula at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York
High stakes of the week: Baron Productions in Dracula, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
FOUNDER and director Daniel Wilmot makes it Count when starring as the mysterious Dracula in York company Baron Productions’ account of Bram Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece in one of York’s most atmospheric churches.
When Jonathan Harker (Jack McAdam) embarks on a business trip to Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle, little does he know the terror that awaits him. Guided by the wise Professor Van Helsing (Lee Gemmell), a courageous group must gamble their lives, even their very souls, to stop Dracula’s evil plans to enslave the world. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.
Pianist Ian Pace
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents The Beethoven Project: Ian Pace, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, Saturday, 7.30pm
IN the second of The Beethoven Project concerts for York Late Music, pianist Ian Pace continues his exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No. 6.
The programme also includes Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (1-3), Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Liszt) and a new work of three musical tributes by Steve Crowther, Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues. Box office: latemusic.org/product/ian-pace-concert-tickets/ or on the door.
The Remi Harris Hot Club Trio: Heading for Helmsley Arts Centre
Jazz & blues gig of the week: The Remi Harris Hot Club Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
ACOUSTIC and electric guitarist Remi Harris is joined by double bassist Tom Moore and rhythm guitarist Chris Nesbitt for an enthralling evening of gypsy jazz and blues. Combining musical virtuosity with passion and flair, this dynamic trio draws inspiration from Django Reinhardt, Peter Green, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Pass in a mix of original compositions, jazz standards and new arrangements of Harris’s favourite tunes. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
“There is so much you don’t know,” says Andrew Margerison, introducing his portrayal of the life and times of Walter Raleigh in That Knave, Raleigh
Ryedale play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.
The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary, victim. “The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster for Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola’s Red Hot And Ready tour, booked into York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre
Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 winner Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Take a seat: Sponsorship opportunity at Pocklington Arts Centre
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre is marking its 25th anniversary by inviting patrons to sponsor a seat of their choosing through a seat plaque scheme.
This special opportunity will allow 150 supporters to leave a lasting legacy while helping to secure the future of the Market Place venue.
For a contribution of £200 for three years, individuals can dedicate a plaque on an auditorium seat, whether to commemorate a loved one, celebrate a special occasion or show support for the arts. A limited number of lifetime and business sponsorship opportunities will be available soon too.
Arts centre director Angela Stone says: “We’re thrilled to offer our supporters the opportunity to be part of Pocklington Arts Centre’s legacy. Sponsoring a seat is a fantastic way to celebrate our 25th anniversary while helping us secure the future of our creative work within the community.”
All proceeds from the scheme will be reinvested into ongoing improvements at the arts centre, including the establishment of a dedicated Community Fund to ensure the financial sustainability of creative engagement activities for young people and older adults.
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone – and his pet rat Toby – with Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan in Pick Me Up Theatre’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
PICK Me Up Theatre take on the challenge of bringing Simon Stephens’ stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s multi-million-selling novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time to the York stage from today.
The York company is following in the esteemed footsteps of the National Theatre, winner of seven Olivier awards for its remarkable production that played the Grand Opera House, York, on its first tour in January 2015.
Director Andrew Isherwood is at the helm for Haddon’s story of fearful yet fearless 15-year-old Christopher Boone, who can work out A-level Maths but is ill-equipped to work out everyday life, distrusting strangers deeply, never venturing alone beyond the end of his road.
Novelist Haddon never called him autistic or attributed Asperger Syndrome to him, but Christopher does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying, can count binary numbers to infinity and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour.
Everything changes when Christopher falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world.
“When I spoke to Pick Me Up producer Robert Readman in January last year, when we did Young Frankenstein, I put down a list of a range of shows I would love to be part of, and Curious Incident was one of them,” recalls Andrew. “I also said I didn’t understand any reluctance to do productions related to children’s stories.
“To my surprise, Robert already had this play on his radar and had secured the rights.” Now, to Andrew’s delight, Curious Incident forms Pick Me Up’s first show of 2025, with no fewer than three matinees in the hope of attracting school audiences to assist with their GCSE studies of Haddon’s book.
Andrew has seen the National Theatre show on its NT At Home streaming service but will be putting his own mark on the play. “I’m certainly trying to do my own version with projection and contemporary classical music,” he says.
“Over the years, even when I was studying film and television at York St John, I’ve always had an affinity with Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore and John Williams and how films used their music, and we’ll be using music as part of the stream of consciousness in the play, to complement the scene, setting the mood and tone.”
Andrew brings his background in television and film and 12 years of acting on stage into his directorial role. “I like to set the scene to get it on its feet straightaway in rehearsals, where I’ll say, ‘show me what you’ve got’ and then we’ll adapt it from there. I’ll always listen to an idea and if it’s good, I’ll look to use it,” he says.
Evocative lighting by Will Nicholson, on the back of his designs for Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women and Black Sheep Theatre’s The Tempest, will play its part in his third Theatre@41 show of 2025.
“We’re doing the show pretty much in the round, or more like a horseshoe, but with projection at the far end and we’ll be using a raised stage, like Pick Me Up did for Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and before that Shakespeare In Love,” says Andrew.
“There’ll be very little set, but lots of light boxes and lots of props, and lots of playing with levels, on the balcony as well as the stage, and plenty of sound effects too as we create illusions through sound and light.
“We’ll have strip lights around the stage and lights under the raised stage to serve a story purpose and thematic purpose, but I don’t want to overuse these effects in the first half hour because people can become desensitised.
“We want the audience to keep being surprised, so we’re doing it in a way where we don’t do things all the time. It’s not about throwing things at the wall and bombarding people with sound and noise, but it has to be evocative and emotional in its impact.”
The balance of visual and verbal is the key. “The play lends itself to strong visual representation but the actors shouldn’t be overpowered by that side of it, although they are always in shapes, whether standing in squares of triangles, because it’s always playing to how Christopher thinks mathematically,” says Andrew.
He has enjoyed bringing so many components together under his direction. “I like the opportunity to be more abstract as it’s non-linear. We can be more out there but hopefully be evocative too, as well as somewhat esoteric and abstract, all for the purpose of storytelling to put across what’s going on in Christopher’s mind, if we can pull it off.” he says.
“It’s abstract, it’s out there, but it’s got heart too, and a cast of 11 who I’ve encouraged to really go for it. I think they’re having a lot of fun with it – and they tell me they are!”
Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone and fellow cast members in a scene from The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
Taking the role of Christopher will be 34-year-old Jonathan Wells. “I was about 15 when I first read it, Christopher’s age, and it was probably the first book I read from that teenage perspective, which was a new method of fiction for me,” he says. “It’s the way he sees and interprets the world that jumps out at you because it’s written in his words, seeing things the way he does, but with a back story too.
“I went back to the book after I got the part and it struck me how literal the play script is, how direct the transfer is from page to stage.”
Almost 20 years on, Jonathan notes how “there’s much more awareness now of neurodivergence and the different range of ‘normal’”. In turn he will bring both sympathy and empathy to playing Christopher. Sympthy first: “There are times when he is very vulnerable, not just when being hit by his dad, but also in thinking about his mother, who he thinks is dead, and it’s open to your interpretation how you present that sadness,” he says.
And empathy? “I think back to myself as a teenager, doing an A-level in computing at 15,” says Jonathan, finding common ground with Christopher’s gift for Maths. “My dad was a computer teacher and my brother was a teacher too, giving me some of his A-level Maths books.”
Jonathan went on to study medicine and is now in his fifth year as a GP in Elvington. “I’m also teaching medical students in the practice on Thursday mornings at the moment,” he says, keeping teaching in the family.
On the York stage scene, Jonathan has focused on musical theatre shows until now. “The last ‘straight’ play I did was at university in Sheffield, when I did Steven Berkoff’s The Trial and also did August Strindberg’s A Dream Play, another ensemble play, like ‘Curious Incident’, so it’s been nice to get back to that,” he says.
“Depending on the musical, depending on the show, you have more straightforward characters in musicals, where you can create as much depth as you like, but with a play like this you can really get into the depth of the character to spend a couple of hours on stage as Christopher.”
Jonathan reveals he did not apply initially for the role of Christopher. “I auditioned for one of the voice parts as I thought I’d be too old for Christopher, but at the audition Andrew had a thought: could I play Christopher?”
Further audition calls ensued, and Andrew had found his Christopher. “I’m playing him with that vulnerability you associate with young people, dressing in a tracksuit and T-shirts, as I would have done at that age, for the rehearsals as I don’t like rehearsing in my work clothes,” says Jonathan.
He is drawing not only on Simon Stephens’ script and Mark Haddon’s book for his portrayal of Christopher but also on Atypical, the Netflix series about Sam, an American high school teenager on the autism spectrum. “It’s a coming-of-age story and family drama, which has a lot of parallels with Haddon’s book, and I’ve taken a lot from Sam’s character,” says Jonathan.
His medical training has played its part too. “As part of our mandatory training, we have to do autism training, which has come a lot into the NHS with online training developed by a mother whose son has autism. That’s been really useful to learn more about the way it affects behaviour,” says Jonathan.
“I am very much aware I’m not an autism expert, and I’m probably at the other end of the spectrum, so I’m playing him very much as a character [rather than from personal experience], drawing inspiration from what I’ve seen and read about it, taking that information, experimenting with different ways of moving and different ways of expressing the words, to keep the performance interesting.”
Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today (1/4/2025) to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola’s Red Hot And Ready, presented by Burn The Floor at York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre in July
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola, will head to York Barbican on July 6 on their Red Hot And Ready tour.
Created by Jason Gilkison, the new show will dance its way round the UK in June and July, visiting 30 venues including Leeds Grand Theatre on July 18 and 19.
The tour will be presented by Burn The Floor in the international company’s return to the UK as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band.
Red Hot And Ready will be “the ultimate high-voltage dance extravaganza, exploding with jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming, and celebrating the pure joy of dance”.
Buswell has been a two-time finalist during her seven Strictly years, winning the 2024 Glitter Ball trophy with comedian Chris McCausland and is noted for her fun, quirky personality, dynamic dance style and flaming red locks.
Coppola, the 2023 winner with actress Ellie Leach and 2024 runner-up with actress Sarah Hadland, has become a favourite with audiences in his two Strictly years, marked by both his terpsichorean flair and cheeky humour.
Buswell says: “I am truly excited to be going on tour with our magnificent new show with the most phenomenal partner, Vito, and to sharing the love and the energy as we dance for you.”
Coppola says: “I can’t wait to be on tour with the amazing, beautiful, vibrant Dianne Buswell. It’s going to be Red, it’s going to be Hot, and we are going to be super Ready to bring to you so much joy and smiles and happiness.”
Show creator and choreographer Jason Gilkison says: “I am feeling blessed to be coming home to Burn The Floor and creating a new show for the first time in ten years. To have Dianne and Vito leading this dynamic cast really guarantees an unforgettable experience for our audience.”
Burn The Floor is credited widely with kick-starting the modern ballroom dance revolution following its 1999 world premiere in Bournemouth. The explosive show was ahead of its time in combining the art and tradition of ballroom with rock’n’roll technology.
Heading into its in 26th year, Burn The Floor has revolutionised ballroom style on stages around the world with its mesmerising choreography, ground-breaking moves, dazzling costumes and sets and infectious, rebellious energy.
Italian-born Coppola began dancing at seven and is a three-time World Championship finalist and a European Cup winner. Buswell, former Australian Open champion and four-time Amateur Australian Open finalist, joined Burn The Floor in 2007.
Choreographer and BAFTA award recipient Gilkison’s involvement with Burn The Floor began as lead dancer in 1999. He took up the role of choreographer and artistic director in 2001, leading the show on several world tours and visiting more than 40 countries, including a box office-smashing season on Broadway in 2009/2010, followed by a West End season in London.
He became creative director for Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) and is a judge and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance in Australia and the USA.
Over the years, Gilkison has choreographed for Cher, Celine Dion, Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett and many more.
Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from next Tuesday
THE Grand Opera House in York holds special memories for Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle ahead of her appearance there as Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.
“I’m so delighted to be going back to York as I made my debut there as the Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1999 with Richard Swerrun – who’s sadly since passed away – as Joseph,” she recalls,
“I remember messing up the brothers’ names, saying ‘Zebedee’ instead of ‘Zebulun’, and do you know why? It’s because one of the ‘brothers’ said to me just before going on, ‘make sure you don’t say ‘Zebedee’…and of course I then said it! Oh, the humiliation!”
Vivienne went on to play adoptive mother Mrs Lyons, the rich, barren businessman’s wife up the hill for whom Mrs Johnstone cleans, in Blood Brothers on tour at the York theatre in 2008 and now takes top billing as Russell’s emotionally turbulent musical makes its tenth visit – yes, tenth – from April 1 .
“I’m originally from Glasgow, so I grew up at the King’s Theatre, where you couldn’t keep me off the stage from being a wee tot. I remember going to see Blood Brothers when I was eight years old with my mum and dad, sitting there, riveted, in silence,” says Vivienne, who “had the lovely honour of going back there in October to play Mrs Johnstone”.
Blood Brothers carries a minimum age recommendation of 12, but Vivienne was mesmerised by the musical all of four years younger. “Because you have adults playing kids in it, that captures your imagination,” she says.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Seán Keany’s Narrator in Blood Brothers. Picture: Jack Merriman
Vivienne saw the show a couple more times before joining the London cast in 2006, playing Mrs Lyons at the Phoenix and understudying Mrs Johnstone too. “Every so often, I would play Mrs Johnstone on tour,” she says.
“One time, when Linda Nolan’s husband Brian had passed away, I was in Joseph at the time and they asked me if I could do a Saturday matinee of Blood Brothers, in Linda’s place, in Dunstable and then put me in a taxi back to High Wycombe for the evening performance as the Narrator in Joseph, which I played in the West End as well.”
Blood Brothers, a musical as powerful in impact as a Greek tragedy or an opera, tells the heartrending tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks in Liverpool, only to meet again with tragic consequences.
At its heart is Mrs Johnstone, a young mother deserted by her wastrel husband. Left to her own devices to provide for seven hungry children, she takes a job as a housekeeper to make ends meet, but discovers she is pregnant yet again, this time with twins. In a moment of weakness and desperation, she enters a secret pact with her employer, Mrs Lyons, with shattering consequences.
Note Mrs J is described as a ‘young mother’, and yet she has been played by actresses of myriad ages, Lyn Paul, for example, still playing her into her 70s. “The script direction says Mrs J ‘is 30 but looks 50,” says Vivienne, who gives her own age as “in the 40 to 50 bracket”. “It works, whatever age, because she starts the story at the end, in the boys’ adult years.
“I started playing her in my 30s, considered very young for the role, and after playing her for nine months just before it closed in the West End in 2012, I’m now coming back to it from a 12-year gap, after all the curve balls that life throws at you.”
“It always has to be as raw and authentic as possible to make it believable,” says Vivienne Carlyle. “You feel those emotions every time you do it, and that’s a testimony to Willy Russell’s writing.”Picture: Jack Merriman
Vivienne believes she benefited from playing Mrs Lyons first. “Very much so. Even from the perspective of working with all the other great Mrs Johnstones, seeing their creative processes,” she says.
“It gives you the perspective of both these women, both trying to do the best they can in their different ways. I’ve had so many mothers come up to me to say that when Mrs Johnstone gives her child Mickey away to Mrs Lyons, they can feel their heart turn.”
Blood Brothers remains as potent as ever, as much a fixture on the GCSE English Literature syllabus as on the theatre calendar. “We have a really wonderful director in Bob Tomson, who instills in us that it always has to be as raw and authentic as possible to make it believable. You feel those emotions every time you do it, or every time you see it, and that’s a testimony to Willy’s writing.
“The songs are iconic too, Tell Me It’s Not , Easy Terms, and it amazes me still when young people come to the stage door to tell me how much they love the show, buying into the 1950s to 1990s story; the culture and the politics; whether it’s fate or not fate. But no matter what age you are, you will connect with it.”
On tour since January, Vivienne is into the final three weeks of the spring itinerary. “We don’t yet know the casting for the rest of the year but of course I’d like to continue in it,” she concludes.
By her side is Blood Brothers mainstay Sean Jones, still playing Mrs Johnstone’s son Mickey from the age of seven, despite the 2022 itinerary being billed as his farewell tour after more than two decades, with all the accompanying interviews that went with that announcement.
Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone with Sean Jones’s Mickey, the “gift of a role” he continues to play at 54. Picture: Jack Merriman
“Sean is a remarkable actor,” says Vivienne. “When he said he was stopping, he meant it, but when you’re asked to come back ‘for a little while’, it can end up that you stay in!
“We first worked together when I did the tour as Mrs Lyons, so we’re old pals. He thinks of Mickey as a gift of a role, and so is Mrs J, who’s an extraordinary woman. Thing after thing happens to her: her husband leaves her; she finds she’s pregnant, with seven children already, but she never remains defeated.
“She always and tries to be strong and that’s what people do throughout the world, doing the best they can. That’s what people connect with in this play: everyday people with everyday problems.”
Playing Mrs Johnstone is emotionally and physically draining. “My duty is to keep fit,” says Vivienne. “I don’t drink when I’m working; I rest my voice: I eat well; I exercise; I do the bare minimum each day till I go on stage. It’s not a hardship. I love doing it; it’s what I do to bring Mrs J to the heights I want to.
“There’s a lot of stamina needed, but muscle memory kicks and it gets easier, the more you play it.”
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, April 1 to 5, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/York. Age recommendation: 12 plus.
Vivienne Carlyle: the back story
Vivienne Carlyle: First appeared at Grand Opera House, York, in 1999 as the Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
SCOTTISH Scottish actor, singer and voiceover artist, who works in the UK and internationally.
Theatre credits include: Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers (Phoenix Theatre, London and UK Tour); Songbird in Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco (South American tour); Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West End debut at New London Theatre and on tour); The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello Theatre, Original London Cast); Grizabella in Cats (Royal Caribbean); Usha in Lightseeker (Resort World Theatre, Singapore); Mrs Walker in The Who’s Tommy (UK tour); Queen Cackle in Geronimo Stilton Live On Stage (Singapore, Hong Kong); Mother Gothel in Tangled The Musical and Lady Tremaine in Twice Charmed (Broadway guest artist, Disney Cruise Line); Songs For Everafter, one-woman show of Disney classics (also co-writer, Disney Cruise Line).
TV credits include: Country singer Mindy McCready in Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Mindy McCready (ITV); Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Blue Peter (BBC).
Recording credits include: ALBA, 1719, Sands Of Time and Showtime for Scottish Opera, Shehallion and Lightseeker (Original Cast Recording).
Performed backing vocals for Barry Manilow, Michael Bolton and Dina Carroll.
Simon Oskarsson, left, Ewan Wardrop, Katy Owen, Patrycja Kujawska and Mirabelle Gremaud in Emma Rice’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest for Wise Children. Picture: Steve Tanner
FOUR huge wooden moveable revolving doors dominate Emma Rice’s set for Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West. Cocktail glasses and glinting bottles line each panel. Put the two together and heads will spin, and that is very much the feel of the world right now, spinning ever more out of control as Trump plays his hand.
The setting is still 1959, but come one last erudite turn of narration by Katy Owen’s remarkably adroit Professor, and the snap, crackle and pop of Rice’s psychodrama hits the gut as her best work does with a darkness that may some may crave for earlier but gives it a resonance amid the bloody mess of today. It may be the United Nations in Hitchcock’s plot, but it is no less NATO, Trump, Putin, Israel, Gaza and the “Coalition of the Willing”.
On the case: Narrator Katy Owen. “Words dance from her lips, her voice mellifluous, her wit drought-dry, her manner as impish as Puck”. Picture: Steve Tanner
Rice and her cast have bags of fun on the way, especially in Act One, but not for the first time, the show becomes more mechanical, more methodical, over its second act, until that knockout final blow has you feeling as despairing and as angry as Rice.
Our guide is the nimble, balletic Owen’s Professor, in oversized coat and trilby, hectoring the audience to participate as if at a pantomime while equally badgering the cast to crack on too. Words dance from her lips, her voice mellifluous, her wit drought-dry, her manner as impish as Puck.
Through those revolving doors spins advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Ewan Wardrop), all too soon to be mistaken for George Caplan, who doesn’t really exist, yet is the fulcrum of Hitchcock’s Cold War conspiracy thriller.
Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice
You may think of Mischief’s mischievous mishaps or more likely, Patrick Barlow’s four-hander take on The 39 Steps (right down to actors making their coats billow in the wind), but Rice has her own style, a feminist perspective too, a desire too to bring more depth to character and motive, especially for Patrycja Kujawska’s femme fatale, Eve Kendall, with more than a bit of politics too. There is even meta-theatre here, a knowing nod to being in a theatre.
Rice, in her own whimsically witty way, is as stylish as Hitchcock: gorgeous clothes; cocktails agogo; dark glasses and Fifties’ panache; hat after hat, and a long, long row of suits behind those doors,as Mad Men meets bad men.
Rice conducts her six players with an elegant sleight of hand, aided by Etta Murfitt’s fabulous movement, Wardrop’s Thornhill drawing on his Matthew Bourne dancing days, all topped off by cast members miming deliciously to Fifties’ blues and jazz and novelty hits. Being fussy, at least one could be cut for a tighter focus post-interval.
Constantly on the move: Mirabelle Gremaud, left, Simon Oskarsson, Ewan Wardrop, Patrycja Kujawska and Karl Queensborough in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. Picture: Steve Tanner
Her use of newspaper print, with messages in large, bold type, is a regular joy, so too the running joke where tiny writing on a card is immediately accompanied by a larger version held above it. Throughout, suitcases, 75 of them at the last count, act as props, or bear labels to denote a location, or even act as scenery (most memorably Mount Rushmore).
Above all, Rice is at her most inventive and imaginative in re-creating Hitchcock’s cinematic setpieces, especially, the crop duster plane with the flourish of a magician that brings the house down. Glamour, romance, tender truths are promised and delivered, less so the Hitchcockian jeopardy, but the finale makes it all worthwhile.
Wise Children, York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse present Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West, York Theatre Royal, until April 5. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Katy Owen’s Professor and Ewan Wardrop’s Roger Thornhill in Wise Children’s take on the iconic cornfield scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. Picture: Steve Tanner
