Dominic Goodwin’s struggling variety act Freddie “Mine’s A Half” Francis in Twice Nightly
DOMINIC Goodwin is a man of many arts parts.
Actor, playing everything from Hercule Poirot to Siegfried Sassoon, Wind In The Willows’ Toad to Frankenstein’s Monster. Director. Georgian Little Theatre pantomime dame. Former theatre manager. The Dr Watson half of a Holmes & Watson double act from 2009 to 2024. Tales at Tiffin storyteller. Banks Music Publications director. Mimic. Bon vivant. You are always onto a good thing with Goodwin.
A figure of mirth as much as girth, forever larger than life, with a waistcoat to match, he has added another string to his bow in his debut solo comedy show cum fading memory play, Twice Nightly: a nostalgic trip through the golden days of variety and its dying embers, written and performed by the Scottish-born Ryedale polymath.
The year is 1956, Johnnie “Prince of Wails” Ray’s Just Walking In The Rain is reigning everywhere, Elvis and TV sets are on the rise, clouding the future for the likes of Goodwin’s Freddie “Mine’s A Half” Francis as he struggles with drink and bookings alike, unstable on his feet but ever willing and still able to raise a titter, mild, not bitter.
Tipsy and ever closer to tipping over the edge after 30 years as a second-spot act, we join Freddie on stage, glass of sustenance on a table to his side, and in his dressing room, with a hat stand and partition screen behind to facilitate multiple costume and character changes (in costumes by Pam Broadbent).
Freddie will be as much avuncular narrator as enervated performer, interweaving his own story with routines by the greats of variety in a series of quickfire transformations.
All are pulled off with uncanny mimicry, from Max Miller to Jimmy James and “Monsewer” Eddie Gray (not the Revie-era Leeds United footballer); from the Act Two-opening Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans’s gossiping housewife to Robb Wilton’s woeful wartime worries, many performed with the backing of the late performers’families.
Freddie’s own material never matches those heights, but we warm to his recollections of a life spent touring the halls: “the ups, the downs, the riotous, the fantastic and the downright silly,” as Goodwin put it in his CharlesHutchPress interview.
Dominic Goodwin in the guise of Norman Evans’s Over The Garden Wall caricature of a gossiping housewife in Twice Nightly
We learn of Freddie’s days entertaining the troops during the Second World War, surviving the jibes of the intimidating Glasgow Empire crowd, and what really happened when a speciality act lost her snake on stage.
We learn too of the personal price he must pay for “doing what he just had to do”: the trudge of all those nights away, the solace of empty bottles, to the cost of his marriage, providing the show’s pathos to counter all that patter and natter.
Directed by the experienced hand of York actor-director Thomas Frere, Goodwin’s performance is the apotheosis of his many talents, even stretching to baritone singing for The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, Happy Days Are Here Again, Goodnight Sweetheart and an out-of-season White Christmas.
In the vein of such solitary rueful ruminations as Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Heathcote Williams’s Hancock’s Last Half Four and Philip Meeks’s desolate veteran pantomime dame in Twinkle, Little Star, life’s fading fires and thwarted pathways in Twice Nightly make for a brightly burning star vehicle for Dominic Goodwin.
Dominic Goodwin’s 22-date tour of Twice Nightly began on May 21, climaxing with this week’s five-night run at The Lantern Theatre, Brighton (July 21 to 25).
Twice Nightly will play Terrington Village Hall, near York, on March 12 2027, 8pm. Box office: ticketsource.com; email terringtonvillagehallinfo@gmail.com or phone Dave on 01653 648394.
Did you know?
THE wall for Dominic Goodwin’s Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans routine was built in Dominic’s home village of Moniaive in south west Scotland by Angus McIver, whose wife, Carole, searched for the correct colour paints to design it.
Did you know too?
DOMINIC Goodwin uses Frankie Vaughan’s make-up box, donated to Henley on Thames Kensington Theatre, when applying the colours Number 5 and 9 in a dressing-room scene.
Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in tandem. Picture: Matt Jopling
THE Ballad Of Blea Wyke began as a five-minute commission for the Green Shoots project at York Theatre Royal in May 2022 that demanded further exploration.
Then came the Scarborough Fair Fringe premiere of the 60-minute version in June 2025.
Now, North Yorkshire slam champion poet, theatre-maker, storyteller and writer Hannah Davies and guitarist Jack Woods’ re-imagining of the selkie myth for a not-too-distant dystopian future on the North Yorkshire coast is shedding its skin anew, playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, and Helmsley Arts Centre, with the backing of York arts organisations Say Owt and Next Door But One.
Hannah, by the way, has been on the move too, leaving Scarborough for Saltburn-by-the-Sea, with a return to York upcoming, but the draw of the sea prevails in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, where her fascination with the myth of seals transforming into humans by shedding their skin plays out so imaginatively.
The crashing of waves wrapped within an eerie soundscape set the haunting atmosphere in the bar seating at Helmsley Arts Centre, with a door open to the garden beyond, enhancing the sense of direct connection with the natural world (as opposed to using the HAC theatre).
Leather’O musician Woods sits to the side, complementing Davies’s lyrical word-spinning throughout with simpatico acoustic guitar, loop effects and sporadic harmonies.
Davies, in sea green dress, has a magnetic, mellifluous voice and highly original turn of phrase, allied with a grace of presence, that makes her storytelling so compelling in its combination of contemporary insight, timeless mystery and folkloric mythology in her subject matter.
In her too-close-for-comfort near-future, especially prescient in this hottest of summers, there is nothing left to fish, ice cream and buses have long gone, cities are locked down, motorways have closed, Bluetooth and sugar are taxed, the military issues permits and fines, and most people have never seen the sea.
The waters are rising, the shallows are toxic, the East Coast cliffs are crumbling, and the last grey seal is bobbing in the water “like a blubbery shuttlecock”.
In her private school, scholarship student Cerys feels out of place on her 18th birthday, and not only because of her Broad Acres accent that has the other girls calling out “Hey, Yorkshire” as she stands scowling in the canteen queue at the end of term before they “fly off to their air-cons in private jets”.
Cerys, the loner, will instead venture to the place where no-one is allowed to tread: Blea Wyke, the headland located south of Ravenscar, “the Town That Never Was” (on account of Victorian plans to convert the hamlet into a resort to rival Scarborough being abandoned after only 12 houses were built).
Born in a storm and fearless, Cerys is carrying her social worker’s case folder, containing everything about her life, her back story. Looking on from Clifftop Farm, as she wades into the sea, is a tall, wiry, weather-beaten stranger who has patched up a hole in his jacket with Gaffer Tape.
His farm is now a shell, ruined through fire and flood, landslides are commonplace, and yet still he remains, counter to the government scheme to repatriate farming families in towns.
What keeps him there? What draws Cerys to the sea? Davies’s story will hook you in, as all the while the last grey seal looks on and the love story of the farmer and selkie girl is revealed.
Davies’s imagery keeps on delighting, whether describing the selkie’s shod skin as an “oily rind” or “discarded peel” or depicting “girls with fossils for toes” and “eyes like Whitby Jet”. Humour peppers the salty sea tale too, typified by a badge that proclaims “Geology Rocks”.
Nostalgia for lost times, erosion of coast and rural tradition alike, the curse of climate change and lost nature, the need for mystery and magical realism to survive, for love and ultimately hope to prevail, are interwoven into Davies’s mystical yet earthy storytelling drama, replete with poetry and siren song, directed so harmoniously by Em Whitfield Brooks, whose PitchWitches vocal quintet had opened the Helmsley show.
Above all, The Ballad Of Blea Wyke reinforces the joy to be found in sharing stories. As Hannah told CharlesHutchPress: “Stories are embedded into us at the very core. We are all made up of our stories and by telling and sharing them we get to see and understand ourselves in others action, words and deed. Humans need connection and shared experience to thrive and I think stories do that for us all. In such a divided world we need that more than ever.”
How true. If you missed this month’s York and Helmsley performances, put this date in your diary: October 8, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House, York
TOM Jones on the coast, Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.
Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, tonight and tomorrow, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm
STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.
Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lou Bass’s artworks for Bring Me Sunshine at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Bring Me Sunshine, Paintings by Lou Bass and Adam King, Helmsley Arts Centre, until September 4
SCARBOROUGH artists Lou Bass and Adam King have teamed up for a joint exhibition, Bring Me Sunshine. A regular North Yorkshire Open Studios participant at Beeforth’s Hive, Lou’s vibrant paintings are brought to life with help from playful and poignant characters, such as Donkey, Crow, Angry Man, Bandit Cat, Dog and Fox, as she explores emotions and situations through simple narratives.
Painter and printmaker Adam has been painting for more than 35 years, holding exhibitions and doing residencies throughout Yorkshire. Educated at Leeds Met, York St John and Huddersfield, he led the Foundation Art and Fine Art degree courses when lecturing at Harrogate College before painting full time. His work is marked by a fresh approach to image making, combining simplicity with sophistication and a sureness of composition.
Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday. Picture: Andrew O’Neill
Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Dylan Howells in Forget About Me (Work In Progress), tonight, 7.30pm; Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), tomorrow, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, Friday, 8pm
IN a remote, northeast village, something lurks in the bathroom: something Dylan struggles to remember, which even his dad’s deadly DIY skills can’t fix, as designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won’t stay still.
Part magic show, part ghost story, tonight’s show Forget About Me isn’t your typical conjuring act: mind-bending mentalism and spine-tingling effects blur the line between reality and fiction in a twisted tale designed to get under your skin.
DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava tomorrow. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change.
HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill on Friday in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s German flight attendant Gretchen in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”
He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Welsh pop legend Tom Jones: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, An Evening with James Taylor and His All-Star Band, Friday; Tom Jones, with Stone Foundation, Saturday; gates open at 6pm
MASSACHUSETTS singer, songwriter and guitarist, Laurel Canyon folk luminary, six-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame inductee James Taylor, 78, draws on six decades of songs, from his self-titled 1968 debut to 2021’s 19th studio album, American Standard, on Friday night.
Tom Jones, or Sir Tom Jones since 2006, to be more formal, returns to Scarborough this weekend at 85 to perform such favourites as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Green, Green Grass Of Home, A Boy From Nowhere, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not To Come and Sex Bomb. Joining Sir Tom will be the eight-piece soul collective Stone Foundation. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Holly Taymar: Performing Eva Cassidy’s songbook at Helmsley Arts Centre
Tribute show of the week: Holly Taymar Sings Eva Cassidy, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Holly Taymar delivers a warm, authentic performance that blends Eva Cassidy’s folk, jazz and blues material in renditions of Fields Of Gold, Songbird, Over The Rainbow and Autumn Leaves.
In a show of appreciation for Eva’s life and career, rather than imitation, Taymar combines intimate guitar accompaniment, mesmerising stage presence, melody and emotional truth. Singer-songwriter David Swann supports. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Craig David: TS5 DJ set after Friday evening’s race card at York Racecourse
Race day concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, Friday, and Tom Grennan, Saturday
SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.
Tom Grennan: Saturday live set at York Racecourse
BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
York tenor Ashley Stillburn: Making his York Proms debut on Sunday
Picnic concert of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, Sunday 5.30pm
RUN by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman and now in its ninth year, York Proms features music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs. Increasing the orchestra size this summer will enable the inclusion of iconic John Williams cinema compositions.
The soloists are York-born tenor and West End musical actor Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut and British/Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, making her third appearance. Tickets update: Still available at yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2026.
Bumpy landing ahead: Bethan Olliver’s Gloria, left, Val Debenedetti’s Gabriella and Jorja Cartwright’s Gretchen, the three flight attendants in Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
LEEDS Conservatoire musical theatre masters graduate Hannah Shaw is directing her second production of 2026 for Rowntree Players.
After her LGBTQ+ exploration of gay playwright Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” The Importance Of Being Earnest in March, she returns to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre to stage Marc Camoletti’s high-flying French farce Boeing Boeing, cleared for take-off on Thursday.
Presented in Beverley Cross and Francis Evans’s 1962 translation, Boeing Boeing is set in 1960 Paris, where self-styled lothario Bernard, a successful architect living abroad, reckons he can juggle his three flight attendant fiancées – American Gloria, German Gretchen and Italian Gabriella – with ease on account of their frequent “layovers”.
All it demands is a question of timing and a little help from his trusted French housekeeper, the long-suffering and sarcastic Berthe, who reluctantly plays “romantic air traffic controller” as Bernard keeps “one up, one down, and one pending”.
Jorja Cartwright’s’ Gretchen making her point to Lizzie Lawton’s Robert and Max Palmer’s Bernard in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ production of Boeing Boeing
However, unexpected schedule changes suddenly bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Oops.
“I knew I wanted to do a farce, and Boeing Boeing was one of the first that came up, which I then read, along with our movement director, Jennifer Carney,” says Bradford-born Hannah, who now lives in South Cave, 40 minutes from York.
“It has pace, which farces have to have, it has lovely physical comedy element and it has clever wordplay.” It has doors too, plenty of them. “Seven!” says Hannah, looking up at the JoRo stage ahead of Monday’s rehearsal. “Or eight if you class the double doors as two.”
She is working with a cast that, predominantly, has undergone theatre training. “We’re very lucky that the majority of them will be playing the role they auditioned specifically for. Val [Debenedetti ], who’s playing Gabriella, has Italian heritage.
Lizzie Lawton’s Robert, Max Palmer’s Bernard and Val Debenedetti’s Gabriella rehearsing a scene from Boeing Boeing
“Jorja [Cartwright] has had sessions with family members, who live in various places, to get Gretchen’s German accent right; Rebecca [Thomson] has done a lot of her own research for Berthe, listening to French performers speaking in English.”
The cast’s performances will not be playing to the stereotypes and caricatures of 1960s’ farce, however. “It would be very easy to fall into that trap because the script leans into those stereotypes, like the moment where Robert [Bernard’s friend] pats Gloria on the backside, but we’ve cut that because it doesn’t need it. We’ve done our best for our women in the play to be empowered,” says Hannah.
“When Gretchen and Robert meet for the first time, rather than being harassed by him, we make the directorial choice that Jorja’s Gretchen is playing a game with him, teasing him, so they’re both toying with each other, and she’s playing hard to get.
“You will find that both our male characters [Bernard and Robert] show weaknesses, whereas our female characters do not.”
Director Hannah Shaw overseeing a rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ production of Boeing Boeing
Movement director Jennifer Carney’s contribution is vital to the comedic interplay. “Physically, the way they embody a character comes through in their characterisation,” says Hannah, who also draws on 1960s’ sitcoms as a style influence.
Composer Max Barron, who worked with Hannah on her end-of-year show Going Out at Leeds Conservatoire in 2025, has written an original score for Boeing Boeing, also inspired by Sixties’ sitcoms. “We’ve created a pre-show ‘credits’ sequence performed by the cast to establish the character motifs, where Max has worked on our ‘theme song’, choreographed by Jenny,” she says.
Hannah’s directorial style for Boeing Boeing will marry the visual, the aural and the characters. “For example, you will know which of the flight attendants is entering from the colour flashing on the door to represent their airline colours and then a sound ‘sting’, and then she will make herself known and the scene will continue,” she says.
Hannah’s Boeing Boeing production will not be a 1960s’ museum piece. “I think if you viewed it through that lens, it wouldn’t age very well, but it’s flex enough that if you have a vision not to be sexist, it won’t be sexist,” she says. “We don’t abandon the text, but it’s all about changing the subtext. That’s how you create the magic.”
Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s Gretchen and Rebecca Thomson’s Berthe clash in Boeing Boeing
The poster for the 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, playing Grand Opera House, York, next summer
THE world’s longest-running play, Agatha Christie’s thriller The Mousetrap, will return to the Grand Opera House, York, from June 21 to 26 2027 on its 75th Anniversary Tour.
Christie’s iconic play first played the Cumberland Street theatre on the Diamond Anniversary Tour when the mouse first escaped its London trap in 2013 and last visited York in March 2023 on its 70th anniversary travels.
Producer Brian Fenty has announced that Nicholas Bailey and Susan Penhaligon will star as Major Metcalf and Mrs Boyle respectively in Christie’s 1952 murder mystery, famed for its silent clues, shifting shadows and the best-kept secret in theatre history. Watch this space for news of further casting and the creative team.
Nicholas Bailey: Cast as Major Metcalf in 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap
A shocking murder rattles London. Far from the chaos, a remote country guesthouse welcomes seven strangers seeking refuge, but when a police sergeant battles through a deadly snowstorm with a warning no-one expects, it becomes clear the threat is already within their walls.
Every whisper hides a clue, every story masks a lie, and as suspicion tightens its grip, one question chills the room: who among them is capable of murder?
Nicholas Bailey is best known for his portrayal of Dr Anthony Trueman in BBC One’s EastEnders since 2000, returning to the role on several occasions, most recently in 2025.
The 2023 cast for Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap on its last visit to the Grand Opera House, York
Bailey has enjoyed a varied career across stage, screen and radio. His theatre credits include Richard Eyre’s King Lear (National Theatre), Macbeth (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Dreamgirls (West End), Jackie – The Musical (UK tour), Mother Courage And Her Children (UK tour), Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Barbican Centre and BAM, New York) and Julius Caesar (Royal Exchange).
His television credits include Coronation Street, Casualty, Doctors, Death In Paradise, House Of Anubis and Holby City and he played Carl Lawrence in BBC Radio 4’s long-running rural drama The Archers from 2012.
Susan Penhaligon first came to prominence in the landmark television drama Bouquet Of Barbed Wire drama before becoming a household name as Helen Barker, younger sister to Dame Judi Dench’s linguist Laura Dalton in the ITV sitcom A Fine Romance from 1981 to 1984.
Susan Penhaligon: Cast as the volatile Mrs Boyle in the 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap
Her television credits include Emmerdale, Doctors, Casualty, Bergerac, Doctor Who, Upstairs, Downstairs and the BBC’s adaptation of Dracula.
Penhaligon has appeared extensively on stage in the West End and across the UK, with credits including The Real Thing (Strand Theatre), Three Sisters (Albery Theatre), Of Mice and Men (Mermaid Theatre), Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and UK tours of Cabaret, The Importance Of Being Earnest, And Then There Were None and Fisherman’s Friends – The Musical. Her film work includes The Land That Time Forgot, Patrick, Count Dracula, Soldier of Orange and The Uncanny.
She last appeared on the York stage in April-May 2019 in Moira Buffini’s political drama Handbagged, playing The Queen (Elizabeth II) opposite Sarah Crowden’s Margaret Thatcher, at York Theatre Royal.
Susan Penhaligon as The Queen, with Sarah Crowden as Margaret Thatcher, in Handbagged at York Theatre Royal in 2019
For the chance to Step into Monkswell Manor and solve the great British murder mystery that has kept the world guessing for generations, tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
Did you know?
On March 19 2025, The Mousetrap celebrated its 30,000th performance in the West End and was presented with a Guinness World Records certificate for the world’s longest theatrical run.
Sharing its name with the play within the play in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Agatha Christie’s murder mystery opened in 1952 and continues to enthral audiences at London’s St Martin’s Theatre, now booking into its 75th year in 2027.
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter: Third time at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: David Freeman
MARCH 2022, October 2024, now July 2026. The time to do the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House comes around ever more quickly. Once it was every three years, then 31 months, now 21.
No doubt Rocky Horror aficionados will be delighted by that acceleration, making their pilgrimage to Richard O’Brien’s schlock-horror rock’n’roll musical comedy sextravaganza time and time again to enact the time-honoured rituals established since 1973 in gothic fancy dress.
Likewise, new converts as wide-eyed and innocent as O’Brien’s American sweetheart college nerds Brad Majors and Janet Weiss sign up for their rites-of-passage initiation to the cult of Rocky Horror.
This time, Stephen Webb is doing a Time Warp of his own, back in Dr Frank N Furter’s fishnets on tour, having played the role at the Grand Opera House in 2019 and 2022. The swagger, the grace and the fruity decadence are now accompanied by a doomed sense of impending tragedy, especially in his rendition of Don’t Dream It, Be It.
Christopher Luscombe is still on directorial duty too, cracking the whip – like Frank in Act Two – to sustain its fast and increasingly furious pace, to push the tongue ever further into the cheek, to make it a visual and sensual feast in tandem with set designer Hugh Durrant.
Nothing can rectify the dip in quality of songs in Act Two or the mad rush to the finishing line, more in keeping with a Jacobean tragedy’s pile-up of dead bodies, but the 2026 production has increased momentum. On opening night, too, it overcame a sudden stoppage, when Bethany Amber Perrins had to take over from Daisy Steere as Columbia after a 20-minute hiatus. As ever, the show must go on, and indeed it did, quickly re-establishing its rhythm.
For any newcomers, the storyline opens with newly engaged, squeaky-clean American college couple Brad (James Bisp) and prim prom queen Janet (2022 returnee Haley Flaherty) losing their way in a storm and then their cherry under the seductive allure of Webb’s castle-dwelling transvestite scientist, Dr Frank N Furter, all framed in a bravura send-up of horror and sci-fi B-movies, heightened by O’Brien’s raucous pastiche of Fifties’ rock’n’roll music.
His show is driven by song, set-piece, outre characters and carnal pleasure, not quite disguising the flimsy plot with its shameless riff on Frankenstein in Frank N Furter’s desire to forge a new life in the form of glitter-dusted beefcake Rocky (Morgan Jackson).
All the while, the audience plays its part, not only in its dress code of Fifties’ waitress outfits, scientist cloaks, Frank N Furter fishnets and tattoos, gold shorts and blond wigs, but in participating in the ritual interjections, focused heavily on the salacious and salty shout-outs (after rice, confetti, lighter flames and water pistols were given the red card).
Most are directed at the unflappable Narrator, on this occasion the actor, stand-up comedian and author Jackie Clunes, who consistently outwitted the audience, especially in her anatomical proclamations and acerbic topical asides. She shows originality in her retorts and quips, contrasting with the often crude “scripted abuse” from the stalls, although one shout of “Prince Andrew” made you crave more such impromptu cries.
For the rituals to work at their best, they need more participants than at Monday’s more-reserved- than-usual show, where the insults sometimes could not be discerned if watching from the Dress Circle. Clunes, nevertheless, worked the crowd skilfully, ever responsive but one thought ahead too.
What strikes you more and more after 50 years is how the sartorially and sexually audacious Rocky Horror fits with our gender-fluid times far more than in its earliest form, with its themes of transvestism, freedom of self-determination and homosexuality chiming ever louder alongside the old chestnuts of infidelity, the price of ambition and loss of innocence.
The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, Wednesday and Thursday, 8pm;Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kissing by the book: Molly Marr-Johnson’s Juliet and Alfie Jameson’s Romeo in The Duke’s Theatre Company’s Romeo And Juliet
THREE North Yorkshire open-air venues will welcome The Duke’s Theatre Company’s bold, high-energy reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet this week.
The Brighton touring company will play Esplanade & Prince of Wales Terrace, Scarborough, on Wednesday, Valley Gardens, Harrogate, on Thursday and Ripon Racecourse on Friday, promoted by Ripon Theatre Festival.
The trio of 7pm performances are part of a multi-date national tour of outdoor locations, from the cliff-top theatre at Minack in Cornwall to Scottish castles and stately homes, gardens, abbeys and parks across the UK, playing to more than 40,000 spectators.
Blending dynamic staging, evocative sound and the enduring power of Shakespeare’s verse, this retelling of Romeo And Juliet illuminates the passion, peril and youthful intensity at the play’s core, inviting audiences to rediscover the world’s most famous star-crossed lovers.
Joshua Merara’s Benvolio, left, and Joe Carrick’s Mercutio in The Duke’s Theatre Company’s Romeo And Juliet
Joseph Pitcher’s cast of six is headed by Alfie Jameson as Romeo and Molly Marr-Johnson as Juliet, in her professional debut after graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, joined by Joe Carrick as Mercutio and Lady Capulet, Sam Claridge as Tybalt and Paris, Emily Juler as Nurse and Prince and Joshua Merara as Friar Lawrence and Benvolio. All other roles will be played by members of the company.
Pitcher has directed Gypsy (UK Theatre Award for Best Musical Production) and My Fair Lady at The Mill at Sonning and Macbeth at the Salomans Theatre, Tunbridge Wells. For Romeo And Juliet, he leads a production team of designer Diego Pitarch (Sunset Boulevard and Spend, Spend, Spend, London) and award-winning composer Rob Millett (Ballet Rambert, National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe), who has provided original music.
For Ripon Theatre Festival, Friday’s performance will provide the finale to a season of more than 160 events in July.
For tickets, go to: https://www.thedukestheatrecompany.co.uk/book-now.
Thunk-It Theatre’s young performers in Misfit Fairytales
YORK company Thunk-It Theatre will become Pocklington Arts Centre’s first associate company, formalising a creative partnership developed over several years.
The new association reflects Pocklington Arts Centre’s commitment to supporting the local cultural economy, while building on both organisations’ shared goal of increasing the number of accessible creative opportunities in the North and East Yorkshire area.
After collaborating on a range of projects, Thunk-It Theatre will continue to use Pocklington Arts Centre as a base to develop exciting new productions, engage the community and nurture emerging talent.
Juliette Risingham, Thunk-It Theatre’s associate director, says: “We’re absolutely delighted to become an associate company of Pocklington Arts Centre. This partnership feels like a natural next step in a relationship that has grown over several years through shared values, ambitious projects and a genuine commitment to making the arts accessible to everyone.”
“From developing our Youth Theatre to creating large-scale community projects such as 25/5, Pocklington Arts Centre has continually championed our work and believed in our vision. Together we’ve created opportunities for young people, families and local communities to connect through creativity, and we’re incredibly excited about what comes next.
“Becoming an associate company gives us an even stronger foundation to nurture local talent and continue creating theatre that belongs to the people who take part in it. We can’t wait to begin this next chapter together.”
Known for its diverse, year-round programme of live comedy, music, theatre and exhibitions, Pocklington Arts Centre has established a strong reputation over the past 25 years as East Yorkshire’s cultural hub, but its contribution to the community extends far beyond its live events.
From its dementia-friendly Singing For Fun group to its newly formed Arts and Dramatic Society, the venue hosts a variety of regular creative groups, offering a welcoming space for communities to connect and creativity to flourish.
Launching its associate company programme is a natural progression for the venue and marks a further step forward in its ambition to champion East Yorkshire talent and support the development of new work that is inclusive and accessible to all.
Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC) director Kelly Munro-Fawcett says: “We’re delighted to welcome Thunk-It Theatre as our first associate company. They create fantastic, accessible theatre, and we’re excited to support their work as they continue to grow. We want PAC to be a place where local artists can develop, new ideas can flourish and creative partnerships can thrive, so this feels like a really exciting step for us.”
Thunk-It Theatre is developing a number of new shows and community projects, with further details to be announced in the coming months.
More information on Pocklington Arts Centre and its programme, including Thunk-It productions, can be found at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Danger, danger for a ranger at close quarters with a dinosaur’s teethin Dinosaur Adventure Live: Danger On T-Rex Mountain at York Theatre Royal
DINOSAUR adventures and Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.
Children’s show of the week: Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, today, 2.30pm
SIXTY-FIVE million years in the making, Dinosaur Adventure Live brings a fusion of family-friendly storytelling, puppetry and roarsome science to the stage as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares.
From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed (carefully!), Mike Newman’s show blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning into an interactive stage experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Liz Foster: Exhibiting her abstract artworks in Arnup Studios’ first collective show at Pyramid Gallery
Exhibition launch of the week: Arnup Studios at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today, 11am to 2pm, then running until September 27
CERAMICIST Hannah Arnup, landscape and natural world artist Michelle Galloway, abstract artist Liz Foster, plein-air and studio artist Kate Pettitt, British wildlife ceramicist Penny Phillips and handmade jewellery designer Emma Welsh will be on hand at today’s opening of Holtby-based Arnup Studios’ first collective exhibition at Pyramid Gallery. Gallery opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Justine Warner with exhibits from today’s showcase of experimental textiles and mixed media at Laburnum Cottage, Sheriff Hutton
Art showcase of the week: Experimental Textiles and Mixed Media, Laburnum Cottage Art Studio, West End, Sheriff Hutton, near York, today, 10am to 5pm
NORTH Yorkshire Open Studios textile and mixed-media artist, Landscape Artist Of The Year 2022 contestant, teacher and workshop tutor Justine Warner plays host to an exhibition of one year of student work, showcasing skills, workbooks and final pieces based on a wide range of experimental textile techniques that employ exciting and unusual materials in creative ways.
Look at how Bondaweb, Lutradur, soluble fabrics, metal, foils, gel printing, transfer printing, batik, tetra pack printing, block printing and heat-shrink can be used and speak with some of the students who experimented with them.
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted office worker Thomas struggling with his bothersome briefcase in Skedaddle Theatre’s A Brief Case Of Crazy
Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm & 7pm
INSPIRED by the timeless genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mr Bean,Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Samuel Cunningham and Lennie Longworth’s physical comedy A Brief Case Of Crazy is a silent love story with a very loud heart, told through slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry.
Meet Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Daisy. His quest for love must contend with a boisterous boss named Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover that what’s on the inside counts most? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.
Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of his myriad roles in Twice Nightly
Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.
Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. Box office: York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.
CMAT: Songs of identity, grief and beauty standards at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight
Coastal gig of the week: CMAT, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today, gates 6pm
CMAT, alias Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, burst on to the music scene six years ago with her debut single Another Day (KFC). The Dublin-born, County Meath-raised singer and songwriter has since released three bitingly humorous, emotionally honest albums, 2022’s If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, 2023’s Crazymad, For Me and 2025’s Mercury Prize-nominated Euro-Country, her exploration of identity, grief and beauty standards, exemplified by Take A Sexy Picture Of Me. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk.
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House next week. Picture: David Freeman
Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, July 20 to 25, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm
STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter on The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.
Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lenny Pearce: Techno for toddlers at York Barbican
Techno dance moves for children: Lenny Pearce, Toddler Rave World Tour Part 2, York Barbican, July22, 3.30pm
LENNY Pearce is a force in family entertainment, captivating a global audience as the pioneer of Toddler Techno. Driven from his passion as a father, and his strong commitment to his home life, Lenny makes songs and videos and performs live shows where he spins children’s favourites, remixed into modern hits that keep young ones and parents alike dazzled. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Andrew O’Neill
Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), July 23, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, July 24, 8pm
DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student, and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change.
HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Airline hostesses at the treble: Bethan Olliver as Gloria, left, Val Debenedetti as Gabriella Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen in Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 23 to 25, 7.30pm
MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”
He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Craig David: TS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next Friday
Outdoor concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, July 24, and Tom Grennan, July 25
SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.
Bedford singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
Danger, danger, the new T-Rex is on the loose in Dinosaur Adventure Live: Danger On T-Rex Mountain
SIXTY-FIVE million years in the making, and now in its fifth year of roaring and touring, Dinosaur Adventure Live takes over York Theatre Royal’s main stage tomorrow afternoon with its story of Danger On T-Rex Mountain.
From the imaginative mind of Exciting Science creator Mike Newman, the hour-long show combines family-friendly storytelling, puppetry and “roarsome” science as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares when Mike’s cast of intrepid rangers leads a quest to recover the data crystal, restore power to the island and save the dinosaurs.
From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed – very carefully – Dinosaur Adventure Live blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning in a physically interactive stage experience, where children are encouraged to “stomp, roar and swish their tails”, climaxing with the T-Rex bursting on to the stage in a heart-pounding finale. Beyond the action, the show is educative too, sprinkled throughout with Dino-Facts and paleontological titbits.
“The show’s been running since 2022,” says Mike. “I wrote the first show that year, which ran successfully in 2022 and 2023, then the follow-up , Trouble On Volcano Island, and then it became a trilogy in 2025, with The Big Jurassic Storm, and now we’ve gone back to the first one for a bit of a re-work for the latest tour called Danger On T-Rex Mountain.”
Mike’s company’s offices are in Bloomsbury Street, London, where the high costs of central London make storage of the dinosaurs unimaginable there. Instead, they are stored elsewhere in a “fair amount of 40ft shipping containers”.
A ranger finds herself up close with a dinosaur in Dinosaur Adventure Live, on tour at York Theatre Royal
“In producing the show, one of the first things you have to consider is the size of the show, because although you can write something, you have to start from the basic proviso of it being a show with a ticket price of under £20 to make it viable, and that determines a lot of things. So the show tours with everything in one low loader and one long wheelbase Sprinter,” says Mike, who lives in Bedfordshire, where he conducted this interview from his Portakabin office at the end of his garden.
“The great thing with these dinosaurs is, it’s not that we are under any illusion they are real, but the fact you can take a 12ft tail and head off an 8ft body makes it a lot more feasible to tour – and you can get a fair amount of stuff inside the body too. Of course, it doesn’t leave room for much else!”
Mike is the definition of an arts and entertainment polymath, as an actor, puppeteer and theatre producer, having presented The Sooty Show from 2005 to 2008, taken the mic as a stand-up comedian and written, directed and performed in live stage adaptations of children’s shows, such as Rainbow, featuring Zippy, George and Bungle, since 2009.
Now dinosaur adventures have taken on growing prominence in his diary. “I knew you couldn’t just throw something on stage and watch it roar and think ‘that’s cool’, but kids want something more that they can invest in, and that’s why we have a story for each one, so it has a lot more to it than something visual that says ‘wow, that’s a raptor, isn’t that exciting’.
“They are shows for the whole family to go to because dads love to see a T-Rex just as little children do. As the children grow older, they invest in the story, and as they grow older still, the invest in the details; the size of the dinosaur, how many teeth it has; the power of the jaw to crush, which teenagers find pretty cool.”
Two rangers negotiating with a dinosaur in Dinosaur Adventure Live
The Dinosaur Adventure Live dinosaurs are “surprisingly light for the size of them”. “You think, ‘how on Earth can you pick that up?’, but in reality they are very light, but they do look incredibly impressive,” says Mike.
“We have a new T-Rex for this tour, a massive upgrade on 2022, in terms of what he can do and in terms of having an animatronic mouth and eyes. The dinosaurs all have cameras inside them and the newer ones have two cameras with split screens.
“When the T-Rex rises up [manipulated by its operator], it’s a good 12ft-14ft high and he can ‘run’ right to the front of the stage, open the jaw wide and rest his head in the lap of a dad!”
Dinosaurs are not Mike’s only venture into the distant past, by the way. “Since April, we’ve been touring Ice Age Adventure, featuring huge woolly mammoths, a white wolf and a baby sloth,” he says.
Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow (18/7/2026), 2.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Four plus.
