The deep freeze: Snow goes underground in A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre
A FESTIVE trail, treasured exhibition and snow reboot, pantomime and A Christmas Carol spell out that winter staples aplenty are up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Time travel of the week: A Winter Adventure at JORVIK Viking Centre, York, until February 22 2026
A WINTER Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses. For the first time, visitors can peer through Bright White’s time portal into the blacksmith’s house excavated on this site in the 1970s, seeing what it would have been like to live there.
They will then board a time sleigh to travel back in time around the backstreets, transformed for winter by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow, bathed in cold blue lighting.Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.
Christmas at The Bar Convent. Illustration by Nick Ellwood
Activity trail of the week: Christmas At The Convent, The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 22, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm
DECEMBER visitors to The Bar Convent can uncover fascinating festive traditions through the centuries in a family-friendly activity trail through the exhibition that combines the convent’s history with the Advent season.
Families can enjoy finding clues, making decorations, dressing up, discovering traditions from Christmas past and much more. Look out for the traditional crib scene in the chapel. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
Garlands galore at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Festive exhibition of the week: An Inspired Christmas at Fairfax House, York, until December 21,open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
TREASURER’S House has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined by the National Trust with festive flair, inspired by the 17th-century house’s rich history.
Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra, wife to King Edward VII. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.
Guy Masterson’s Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, on tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Festive ghostly return of the week: Guy Masterson in A Christmas Carol, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 2pm 7.30pm
HEADING back to Theatre@41 for the fourth time, Olivier Award winner Guy Masterson presents Charles Dickens’s Christmas fable anew, bringing multiple characters to vivid life as ever, from Scrooge and Marley to the Cratchits and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come.
Be dazzled, be enchanted by a performance destined to linger long in the memory. “It’s guaranteed to get you into the Christmas Spirit – in many more ways than one,” says Masters. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ellie Gowers: Songs exploring distance, longing and identity at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Ecological songs of the week:Ellie Gowers, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7.30pm
WARWICKSHIRE singer-songwriter – and Morris dancer to boot – Ellie Gowers blends contemporary acoustic sounds with the storytelling traditions of folk. Her 2022 debut album Dwelling By The Weir addressed ecological themes and her 2024 EP You The Passenger received airplay on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie’s BBC 6Music show.
Her influences range from Mipso to Jeff Buckley is songs that explore distance, longing and identity. An extended version of the EP arrives this autumn 2025. Easingwold singer-songwriter Gary Stewart supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
St Agnes Fountain: Promoting new Christmas album Flakes & Flurries at NCEM, York
Folk gig of the week: Black Swan Folk Club presents St Agnes Fountain, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 1, 7.30pm
AFFECTIONATELY known as “the Aggies”, Chris While, Julie Matthews and Chris Leslie bring their Christmas cheer to the NCEM, presenting carols with a curve. They celebrate 25 years together with material from new festive album Flakes & Flurries (Fat Cat Records), old Aggie classics and a doff of the fedora to founder member David Hughes, who died in 2021. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Name of the dame: Robin Simpson will be playing Nurse Nellie in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal
Pantomime opening of the week: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, December 2 to January 4 2026
THEATRE Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael in Sleeping Beauty.
Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Mark Thomas in Ed Edwards’s play Ordinary Decent Criminal at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Recommended but sold out already: Paines Plough presents Mark Thomas in Ordinary Decent Criminal, York Theatre Royal Studio, December 2 and 3, 7.30pm
MEET recovering addict Frankie, played by political comedian Mark Thomas in his second acting role for playwright Ed Edwards after England & Son in 2023. In Ordinary Decent Criminal’s tale of freedom, revolution and messy love, Frankie has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail for dealing drugs.
On his arrival, none of his fellow convicts are what they seem, but with his typewriter, activist soul and sore lack of a right hook, he somehow finds his way into their troubled hearts, and they into his. In the most unexpected of places, Frankie discovers that the revolution is not dead, only sleeping. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Jeremiahs: Irish folk band play York for the first time on December 3. Picture: Tony Gavin
York debut craic of the week: The Jeremiahs, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 3, 7.30pm
IRISH band The Jeremiahs have travelled extensively, including playing 26 states in the USA, performing rousing new songs and tunes in the folk genre, peppered with picks from the trad folk catalogue. Lead vocalist and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, from County Dublin, is joined by his fellow founder, Dublin guitarist James Ryan, New York-born fiddler Matt Mancuso and County Clare flautist Conor Crimmins. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
The one and only Jesca Hoop: Playing NCEMon December 4
Singer-songwriter of the week: Brudenell Presents and Please Please You present Jesca Hoop, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4, 7.30pm
DISCOVERED by Tom Waits, invited on tour by Peter Gabriel and encouraged to relocate to the UK by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Jesca Hoop left California for Manchester to carve out a singular path across six albums of original material. Collaborations with producers John Parish (PJ Harvey), Blake Mills (Feist), and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers) have only sharpened the intricacy of her craft.
Now she has released Selective Memory, an unplugged reworking of 2017’s Memories Are Now, recorded live at home with bandmates Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer for Last Laugh Records. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events/jesca-hoop-at-the-ncem-york/.
Jared More and the more-and-more-roles-playing Katie Coen in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s alternative Nativity play, Christmas Inn Trouble. All pictures: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
CHRISTMAS Inn Trouble is Riding Lights’ second festive show since the York faith theatre practitioners’ 2024 re-launch and the first since artistic director Paul Birch and executive director Oliver Brown teamed up as co-chief executive officers.
As is customary, Riding Lights are heading off around the country, this time taking in Barrow-in-Furness, Mold, Bulwell, Lliswerry, Cheltenham, Chiswick, Hadleigh, Colchester, South Benfleet, St Albans and closer to home, Easingwold, before a five-day finale back home at their Friargate Theatre headquarters.
First up was a brace of performances at St Peter’s Church, Norton, playing to 600 children from Norton Community Primary School, perched two child per chair, in the afternoon before a public show at 5pm, when plenty of children were present again, introduced with delightedly expressive enthusiasm by Reverend Jenny Buckler, who moved to God’s Own Country from Somerset in 2021.
Last winter, Birch wrote A Christmas Cracker, his first play since taking the Riding Lights reins, rooted in the transformative power of storytelling, delivered with Birch’s trademark comedy plus puppetry aplenty.
Katie Coen’s shepherd in Christmas Inn Trouble
Description and detailed plot progression played a stronger hand than visual, magical wonder under Erin Burbridge’s direction. This time, Birch is in the director’s chair, at the helm for Rachell Price’s fast-moving, fun, physical, fizzing two-hander for all the family that is a definite upgrade on A Christmas Cracker in its comedic impact while being as strong as ever on delivering “a magical new twist on the Nativity that turns the traditional tale on its head”.
After soothing the white-noise technical gremlins that stopped the start in its tracks – handled with admirable aplomb by cast members Katie Coen and University of York-educated Jared More – the hour-long show quickly finds its rhythm as bother aplenty afflicts The Bethlehem Inn and Spa.
The taps are leaking, the rats, squeaking, the rooms, fit to burst as the Bible story meets Fawlty Towers in the sparring of More’s hotel manager and the multi-role playing Coen’s dogsbody, doing all the graft. If she is more Polly than Sybil, More definitely has the flavour of Basil, from moustache, gait and height to oversized tie, temperament and oleaginous air.
His performance, however, is not mere Fawlty pastiche. Instead, he makes his manager a befuddled, exasperated character of his own as he awaits the arrival of a special guest.
Over-stretched: Jared More’s manager tries to handle multiple phone calls when the inn is already fully booked for Christmas
Given the date, we know who that “guest” might turn out to be, even if the manager is none the wiser, as all the clues build up in Coen’s portfolio of characters, turning herself into a grouchy, rascally Roman guard, Joseph (good with a hammer and wood), Mary (only too happy to take over the cow shed), a shepherd and a “Professor”, Price’s variation on the (un)Wise Men.
All are played with comic zest, all the better for Coen’s interaction with More that clicks instantly. They make for a highly humorous double act, but More reveals another side when, spoiler alert, cradling the baby.
Writer Price is alive to the power of puppetry and pooping noises being guaranteed to bring the young house down, and how they laugh at a cheeky donkey popping out of the myriad cupboards doors to bite More on the backside or grab and eat his bookings diary. The more the donkey does so, the louder the laughs grow. Likewise, the squelching boots of Coen’s shepherd are irresistibly comical, the more she walks.
Caitlin Mawhinney’s set is colourful and playful. The Spa sign is a loose-fitting add-on for a new facility, sure to fall off; the manager’s desk revolves around the stage at pace; the phone is sky blue, old-fashioned, but with a modern ring tone for the children to recognise. In the tradition of farce, two doors are in constant use; the cupboard ones even more so.
Riding Lights Theatre Company’s co-chief executive officers Oliver Brown and Paul Birch, director of Christmas Inn Trouble
“Our aim is to make theatre make a difference by creating unforgettable, entertaining theatre in response to current issues and the hopes and fears of the world we share,” says Brown. Christmas Inn Trouble does exactly that, not in a preachy, heavy-handed way, but with lightness and a sense of wonder at the abiding message of the magical Christmas story.
Mawhinney’s set and costume design are a joy, complementing the tone of Price’s storytelling with a palette of matching pleasures, while Patrick Burbridge’s songs are as much fun for the performers as they are for the audience.
Christmas Inn Trouble lives up to its vow to “bring you the Nativity like you’ve never seen it before!”, setting up families so joyfully for Christmas Day.
Riding Lights Theatre Company in Christmas Inn Trouble, The Galtres Centre, Easingwold, December 13, 2pm; Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, December 20, 1.30pm and 4pm, December 21 to 24, 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm. Box office: Easingwold, https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/mbbjvlpojddg; York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/christmasinntrouble.
Behind you: The scene-stealing donkey brings a smile to Katie Coen’s Professor, one of the (un)Wise Men by another name in Christmas Inn Trouble
Having a laugh: Writer-director Nick Lane enjoying rehearsals for his variation on Sleeping Beauty at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture:Tony Bartholomew
REGULAR Christmas show writer Nick Lane is making his Stephen Joseph Theatre directorial debut with Sleeping Beauty, joined in the rehearsal room by actors Jacob Butler, Amy Drake, Annie Kirkman, Oliver Mawdsley and Kiara Nicole Pillai.
“Have you ever had one of those dream?” he asks. “You know the ones, the one where you’re running but you can’t get anywhere? Or the one where you really, really need the loo but people keep getting in your way?
“What about the dream where you get cursed by a wicked fairy to prick your finger on your 12th birthday and fall asleep for 100 years?
“Not had that one? Molly has. She’s been having it a lot recently. Her 12th birthday is just around the corner. The day before Christmas Eve, in fact.”
Her Auntie keeps saying “One more sleep”. “But if Molly’s not careful, she could end up having have the longest and craziest sleep of her life!” says Nick, introducing his typically unconventional take on a familiar tale, one that opens at the SJT tomorrow.
“I didn’t want to do that Sleeping Beauty – even when she is awake, she has no agency and she’s barely in it!” he says. “So I’ve found a way of subverting it, where she will not just spend the second half asleep in a bed. She will in fact be in a dream world, so she will be ‘asleep’ but we will see her dream world.”
Nick has “tried to remain second cousins with the original Charles Perrrault story”. “The Wicked Fairy wants Fairyland for herself, and so sending ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to sleep is part of the gambit of leveraging Fairyland for herself.
“In the original story, the Wicked Witch wanted to kill Sleeping Beauty, but you’re not going to get many laughs if you kill her, so we change it to tricking her into being asleep in Dreamland.”
Nick continues: “What we’ve done is play around with the idea that there are three different types of dream: the Golden Mile of happy dreams; the Weird Lands, and the Swamp of nightmares.
“Our Sleeping Beauty, Molly, has to navigate her way from one place to another to find her way out of Dreamland to save us from an authoritarian fairy.
“The journey, and the order of that journey is integral to the plot, as she journeys through nice dreams, weird dreams and awful dreams.”
Nick’s Sleeping Beauty is “just an ordinary girl called Molly”. “She lives with Aunty Claire and Uncle Harry, she’s about to turn 12, and she’s been having these strange dreams about pricking her finger,” he says.
“The idea is that Molly is half-fairy, half human, otherwise known as ‘Hairy’. Being brought up by her aunt and uncle, she doesn’t know that her mother’s the Queen of the Fairies but her dad is a mere human, a bloke called Dave, living in Scarbarinia.”
Aunty Claire is in fact Clare de Lune; the authoritarian fairy is called Crepusculla and her mother is Aurora. “Their names are all to do with light: dawn light, twilight and night light,” says Nick.
“Our Crepusculla is a fairy supremacist who believes that humans have no place in Fairyland, and Aurora had no right to bring her daughter there as Crepusculla believes she should be ruling Fairyland.”
Out goes the usual Prince of the story too, replaced by plain old Dan, while Nick creates two henchmen characters, Sock and Butter, out of…a sock and a pack of butter.
He loves steering clear of the conventions of pantomime to create his own form of boisterous, madly inventive Christmas show. “The thing is, because they’re such well-known stories, pantomime does a good job of making them silly while still trying to stick to the story, but I have always thought, ‘why not try to do something different with the story, like making Aladdin rubbish at magic,” he says. “This time I thought, ‘what if Sleeping Beauty could be ‘awake’ and make her way out through the 100 years’.”
Nick continues: “Pantomime tends to be a lot of mucking about and not enough storytelling, so I’m not a big fan of it. It doesn’t do a lot for me. I know it’s the only time that some people go to the theatre, but panto done badly is merely mucking around when it needs to be more than that. What I do is kids’ stories but hopefully with adult appeal too – and kids are smarter than we think.”
As for Helen Coyston’s set design, Nick says: “Scarbarinia is a kind of modern-day Scarborough, while Dreamland is more weird, with Sock and Butter living there, and it looks amazing. Like a quilt, all soft and lovely!”
Sleeping Beauty stays awake at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from November 29 to December 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
“I want the audience to feel like they haven’t been to the theatre but have been through an experience, like they’d been beaten up by it!” says Mark Thomas of Ordinary Decent Criminal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
POLITICAL comedian, activist and actor Mark Thomas reunites with playwright and ex-offender Ed Edwards to perform Ordinary Decent Criminal at York Theatre Royal Studio on December 2 and 3.
Directed by Paines Plough joint artistic director Charlotte Bennett, who cut her theatrical teeth at the Theatre Royal’s TakeOver festival, Edwards’s tale of freedom, revolution and messy love tells the story of Frankie, a recovering addict sentenced to three and a half years in prison for dealing drugs in the 1990s after the Strangeways Prison Riot. All done and dusted in 70 intense minutes without an interval.
On arrival, Frankie finds that none of his fellow convicts are what they seem, but with his typewriter, his activist soul and his sore lack of a right hook, he somehow burrows his way into their troubled hearts, and they into his. In the most unexpected of places, he discovers that the revolution is not dead, only sleeping.
“It’s a play about a political reawakening,” says Edwards, who also wrote the Edinburgh Fringe First-winning A Political History Of Smack And Crack and England & Son. “It’s about a character who swallowed their political commitment after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, where it seems to him that all hope of political progress in the world has died. It’s also about seeing that the fight has to go on, with or without hope.”
Edwards served three and a half years in jail himself many moons ago. “A play has to have some sort of spark, so the spark for this was writing about those experiences and trying to make some sense out of them, which I hadn’t done for 30 years.”
How did Edwards come to collaborate with Thomas? “Mark saw my play The Political History Of Smack And Crack and really enjoyed it,” he says. “We met a couple of times after that and got on really well. Eventually, I wrote to him and asked if I could write something for him.
Ordinary Decent Criminal playwright Ed Edwards and comedian-actor Mark Thomas
“He said ‘yes’, and then we didn’t do that idea. We did something else – England & Son – that emerged from our conversations. Ordinary Decent Criminal is the follow-up to that.
“When you’re writing a play for Mark Thomas, you’re looking for the laughs, and Mark will always make them work.”
Thomas, whose tour of Ordinary Decent Criminal has brought him to the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Selby Town Hall and Leeds Playhouse already, now returns to York Theatre Royal Studio, where he performed England & Son in September 2023.
“I love Ed, I properly love him. He is my brother and my comrade,” he says of Edwards. “He’s a brilliant man, a really lovely bloke, and we communicate in a really meaningful way as colleagues. He’s so funny. He comes up with gags all the times.
“Like when I was about to go on stage at Paines Plough in England & Son, he suddenly appeared next to me to say he had this idea to change a line, when I was waiting for the lighting cue to start.”
Thomas recalls telling Edwards to “go away in brusque monosyllabic language”. “I walked on stage, I did do the new line, and afterwards he came up and said ‘I shouldn’t have done that to you’, but the line worked, and the way we work is not as structured as others might work in the theatre,” he says.
“We have a good argument, but good ones about art and ideas and ideology,” says Mark Thomas of his working relationship with Ed Edwards. Picture:Tony Pletts
“Ed has said that when I do stand-up he liked how I do impersonations that become characters very quickly, so he has written the scripts with Mark Thomas in mind. I love how he doesn’t waste time [in his writing]; he just gets on with it, so it feels like we can snap in and out of things.”
Thomas has found that he improvises less in theatre, where he is drawn to its emotional depth and power, allied to the fast pace and economy of his stand-up. “I’m 62, I’m officially five years from retirement, and on November 19 I celebrated my 40th anniversary as a professional performer, and what I love is that I’m still learning stuff; still finding new ways of doing things,” he says.
“I’m working with people who are teaching me new things, and for me, that’s wonderful because what’s the point if you get to the point where you say, ‘No, I’ll just do the same old stuff’. All of this is a delight to me, and Ed is such a unique voice as there’s no-one else that has his insightful passion.
“We have a good argument, but good ones about art and ideas and ideology, and I love that when Ed and I started working on England & Son, we worked with prisons on addiction recovery – and that work continues, taking shows into prisons.”
Thomas continues: “The prisoners will give you a little push, asking ‘have you been inside?’. ‘No, but the writer has’. ‘Have you ever had an addiction?’. ‘Yeah, but not now’ [Thomas has talked of having past issues with alcohol addiction, but is sober now, while Edwards is a recovering drug addict].
“They’re looking for bull****, so you do the show, and what’s fascinating is that the reaction is immediate. It just pours out of them, and a number of them have been inspired to write their own stories, so you feel you’ve won.
“Theatre opened up a world that I didn’t think was available to me,” says Mark Thomas. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
“We’ve worked with the Synergy Theatre Project too, who work with prisoners, workshopping and doing performances of shows about prison life.”
Thomas has enjoyed working with director Charlotte Bennett. “She’s magnificent,” he says. “What she’s great at, she’s absolutely brilliant at, is making you look at things anew, and you think, ‘oh, I’ve just been skipping over this’!
“It’s all about the work, and she’ll ask you things where you’ll say ‘I hadn’t thought of that’. What she’s good at too is pace, how it works, how it needs to shift, where you’ll investigate the overall shape of the show.
“Creating roles, how each character moves, she’ll look at the musicality of each character, which is fascinating, so it’s all been really refreshing, thinking ‘Ok, we can do it this way’.”
Thomas has drawn theatregoers, comedy fans and newcomers alike to the show. “What’s exciting is like when we were in Plymouth, a bloke said he was working on a construction site and was supposed to be going home but would now be there till Wednesday and didn’t know what to do in the evening, but he’d seen me do stand-up though he he’d never been to a theatre show…and he came!” he says.
“It’s that thing of ‘Don’t tell them it’s theatre’, and when I talked with Ed about the show, I said, I want them to feel like they haven’t been to the theatre but have been through an experience, like they’d been beaten up by it!”
Theatre and performance changed Mark Thomas’s life. “It opened up a world that I didn’t think was available to me, and that’s how I’ve always been, how I’ve always appreciated it since then,” says this son of a self-employed London builder.
Mark Thomas in Ed Edwards’ England & Son, which played York Theatre Royal Studio in 2023. Picture: Alex Brenner
“The first theatre performance I remember seeing was Spike Milligan playing Ben Gunn in Treasure Island, running around chucking cheese at a mermaid! I want people to come to this show [Ordinary Decent Criminal] and say it’s like nothing they’ve seen before.
“Theatre has this amazing way of making you feel and think something that you didn’t know or feel before; it gives you the chance to experience something that connects you with other people.”
Thomas suggests Ordinary Decent Criminal is more hopeful than England & Son. “It’s hopeful, and what this one does is show someone charting a course through obstacles in a way that England & Son didn’t,” he says.
“You see Frankie trying to find a way through all the dilemmas while keeping something of himself. There are lots more characters in this one too, and what’s great is that no-one is totally bad, whereas in England & Son, the dad was a dark, dark force. No-one is all bad, though every one of them is flawed.
“I love how the characters don’t punch down. It’s just as physical as England & Son, but Charlotte has brought environments to the set. I joke that it’s my IKEA Barbara Hepworth!”
Settled into the tour’s flow, Thomas concludes: “I actually think it’s a better show than England & Son. We’ve taken a step forward, and I think Ed would agree with that.”
Paines Plough, Live Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Ellie Keel Productions, in association with Synergy Theatre Project, present Ordinary Decent Criminal, York Theatre Royal Studio, December 2 and 3, 7.30pm. Age recommendation: 16 plus. Tickets update: sold out; for returns only, ring 01904 623568 or visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society with his Dickensian ghost stories
FROM Dickensian ghost stories and Gothic tales to mischievous mice and a festive talent showcase, ’tis the season to be out and about, reports Charles Hutchinson.
Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, until Sunday
YORK storyteller supreme and Gothic actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with two of Dickens’ seasonal ghost stories: The Haunted Man, a neglected Gothic classic (November 27, 7pm) and A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s saga (November 28, 7pm, and November 30, 2pm and 6pm).
“Their words unlock a world teeming with chain-rattling spectres, with dark and shadowy doubles, with Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present and Yet To Come,” he says. “These tales chill the marrow and tickle the funny bone, but always they enchant, as only the works of a master storyteller can.” Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Steve Tearle: Directing NE Theatre York in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
DIRECTED by Steve Tearle, this musical will take you to a world of pure imagination in Roald Dahl’s devilishly delicious tale of young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket entering the scrumptious chocolate factory. There, he and his grandpa Joe, along with five more children, will meet the mysterious confectionary wizard Willy Wonka for an adventure like no other.
“The story of chocolate is at the very heart and history of this amazing city and it is only fitting that NE Theatre York brings Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to York,” says Tearle. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Rebecca Vaughan: Telling haunting tales of the festive season at Theatre@41
Frailties of human nature of the week: Dafyd Productions in Christmas Gothic, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
REGULAR York frequenters Dafyd Productions return with Christmas Gothic, an invitation to enter into the Christmas spirit as spectral woman (Rebecca Vaughan) tells haunting tales of the festive season, lighting a candle to the frailties of human nature and illuminating the chilling depths of bleak wintry darkness. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Tucking into the cheese at A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House
Mischievous mice takeover of the week: A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, until January 4 2026
FAIRFAX House’s much-loved Christmas display returns for 2025 with a new theme of A Christmas Mousequerade, combining more mice than ever before in the “ultimate 18th century house party”.
A multitude of mice is dressed in hand-crafted and exquisitely miniature Georgian finery, custom made by Fairfax House volunteers, as you step into the glittering world of Georgian York and join the Fairfax family’s preparations for the most spectacular ball of the season. Tickets: https://fairfaxhouse.co.uk/event/christmas-at-fairfax-house/.
Poetry gig of the week: Stairwell Books presents Poetry For All, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm
THIS annual event is designed to remove as many barriers as possible from enjoying live poetry events. All poems are projected on a screen, and BSL (British Sign Language) interpreted by Dave Wycherley and Vicci Ackroyd in a venue with fab acoustics and level access throughout.
Headliners Dominic Berry and Pete Kalu will be supported by five York poets, co-hosted by Fay Roberts and Rose Drew. Service dogs are welcome; entry for carers is free. VI tarot card reader Gillian Avart will read your potential future. Look out for special guests too. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Kevin Daniel: Relatable storytelling at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Steve Best
Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Kevin Daniel, Paul Tonkinson and Stephanie Laing, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
KEVIN Daniel combines a commanding stage presence with relatable storytelling and jokes aplenty. Paul Tonkinson, Yorkshireman, marathon runner and two-time Time Out Comedian of the Year, is noted for his effervescent physicality and skilful impressions, bringing alive exuberant, tender comic reflections of love, family and the day-to-day idiosyncrasies of 21st century living.
“Goofy and peculiar” host Stephanie Laing, an Edinburgh Fringe regular since 2010, fuses silliness, filth and unusual observations, underpinned by a disarming honesty and charming vulnerability. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Catenary Wires team up with poet Brian Bilston at Pocklington Arts Centre
Poetry-and-song union of the week: Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm
POET Brian Bilston started out by sharing his brief, direct, and witty poems online and now has more than half a million followers on social media. The Catenary Wires comprise Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and Ian Button, who also play as Heavenly, whose T-shirt Bilston was spotted wearing at one of his gigs.
Word reached Fletcher and Pursey, introductions were made, friendships were formed, and the Sounds Made By Humans album took shape: a collection of songs, where words and music have become intertwined. Friday’s first half features a solo spoken-word set by Bilston and a music set by The Catenary Wires; in the second, they unite to perform tracks from the album. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Poet Brian Bilston
Talent showcase of the week:HAC Studio Bar Festive Open Mic, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
HELMSLEY Arts Centre plays host to a cosy evening for creatives to share their talents in the relaxed and friendly environment of the Studio Bar. Mulled wine and mince pies are on the menu and festive tunes will be the order of the day.
This Open Mic is a comfortable space for both seasoned performers and those taking the stage for the first time, as well as anyone who wants to enjoy a drink from the bar and be entertained by Ryedale talent. No need to book to listen or perform, just turn up.
Jake Lambert: The Sunshine Kid with bright ideas at Pocklington Arts Centre
Debut tour of the week: Jake Lambert, The Sunshine Kid, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
RAPIDLY rising stand-up comic Jake Lambert has chalked up more than 500 million views of his online videos featuring his gag-filled storytelling. Having supported Michael McIntyre on his worldwide tour, he is undertaking his inaugural international tour with his show The Sunshine Kid, selling out across the UK, Europe and Australia. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles: Christmas concert at Kirk Theatre
Christmas Singalong of the week: Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles and Scoble and Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 4, 7.30pm
THORNTON Le Dale Ukuleles’ Christmas Singalong is divided into two parts, kicking off with Scoble and Friends, a small group of talented singers and musicians.
Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles, the brainchild of leader John Scoble, will fill the stage with 40 players. Scoble provides tuition free of charge, while singer-songwriter David Swann gives lessons too. The group performs all genres of music, but virtually no George Formby, playing the melody as well as strumming and complementing ukuleles with other instruments. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Jared More and Katie Coen in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Christmas Inn Trouble. Picture: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
RIDING Lights Theatre Company launches its 2025 festive show, Christmas Inn Trouble, at St Peter’s Church, Malton, today at 5pm.
Billed as “a magical new twist on the Nativity”, the York Christian theatre practitioners’ follow-up to last winter’s A Christmas Cracker is written by Rachel Price and directed by artistic director Paul Birch.
Set to bring Yuletide joy to families in Yorkshire and beyond, Christmas Inn Trouble promises to “turn the traditional tale on its head”.
Bother aplenty is afflicting The Bethlehem Inn and Spa, where taps are leaking, the rats are squeaking and the rooms are fit to burst. So many guests have arrived that parking your camel is impossible and, if things were not bad enough already, a rascally Roman soldier has come to make sure everything is above board.
Management problems for Jared More in Christmas Inn Trouble. Picture: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
“Join Riding Lights as we bring a Christmas comedy filled with silly shepherds, some very (un)wise men and a young family who have no idea what they have let themselves in for,” says says Oliver Brown, Riding Lights’ executive director and co-chief executive officer.
“Christmas Inn Trouble is a fast and friendly festive farce and the perfect way to start your holiday cheer! It’s a funny slapstick comedy perfect for telling the story of the Nativity to primary-school aged children and their families.”
Riding Lights is one of Great Britain’s most productive and long-established independent theatre companies. Founded in York in 1977, the company continues to take innovative, accessible theatre into all kinds of communities far and wide.
Katie Coen’s shepherd in Rachel Price’s play Christmas Inn Trouble. Picture: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
“Our aim is to make theatre make a difference by creating unforgettable, entertaining theatre in response to current issues and the hopes and fears of the world we share,” says Oliver.
Christmas Inn Trouble will be performed by a cast of Jared More and Katie Coen, with set and costume design by Caitlin Mawhinney and compositions and sound design by Patrick Burbridge.
The tour will take in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria; Mold, North Wales; Bulwell, Nottinghamshire; Lliswerry, South Wales; Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; Chiswick, West London; Hadleigh, Colchester and South Benfleet, all Essex; St Albans, Hertfordshire, and, closer to home, The Galtres Centre, Easingwold, concluding the travelling itinerary on December 13 at 2pm.
Behind you! Donkey brings a smile to Katie Coen’s (Un)wise Man in Christmas Inn Trouble. Picture: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture
On the home front, Christmas Inn Trouble will play Riding Lights’ headquarters, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, on December 20, 1.30pm and 4pm, then December 21 to 24, 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm.
“We are so excited to bring this fantastically fun and joyful show to the Friargate Theatre this festive season,” says Oliver. “It’s jam packed with puppets, magic, song and story, bringing you the Nativity like you’ve never seen it before!”
Riding Lights prides itself on offering “affordable and accessible arts experiences to everyone”, so tickets for Christmas Inn Trouble are priced accordingly at £12.50 each or £40 for four people.
Slava’s SnowShow clowns – and their puppet fish – on their sightseeing travels in York
VETERAN clown Slava Polunin is the founder of Slava’s Fools Unlimited, president of the International Academy of Fools, Ambassador of Hans Christian Andersen in Russia and Official Envoy of the Dolphin Embassy. In other words, he is no fool, just like Shakespeare’s fools.
Since 1993, Slava’s SnowShow has won 20 awards while playing 225 cities across 80 countries, re-writing the rules for clowning. No longer are clowns the cloying blockage in the flow of a circus show, filling gaps between more exciting acts. No longer are they strangely frightening or weird.
Still sad faced, painted in the traditional Hobo style, Slava’s clowns are a fusion of Max Wall, Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, the loons of silent cinema’s golden age, the surrealism of Magritte’s paintings and the inventive joy of Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit. You might even find yourself thinking of The Teletubbies. Slava prefers the term “Expressive Idiotism”.
And yet, Slava’s SnowShow is an immersive, whimsical, multi-sensory show like no other, in a league of wonder of its own, charming and enchanting audiences from London to Moscow, Paris to New York, Hong Kong to Los Angeles, and now, at long last, York, where November’s skies heralded its debut visit with the season’s first snowfall on Wednesday morning.
Later, manufactured flakes dusted coats when walking up to the Cumberland street theatre in suitably freezing conditions. Once inside, the stage is bedecked in what appear to be oversized mattresses, arranged as if at Stonehenge, with the stuffing falling out, accompanied by the disorientating pre-show soundscape of jungle wildlife and steam trains. One “mattress” has a hole at the top, adding to the intrigue of what lies in store.
Grown, in Slava’s words, out of dreams, fairytales and magical ritual, images and gesture, play and imagination, Slava’s SnowShow attempts to “wed all the facets of life” while leaving the everyday at the door. To quote in full: this show constructs “a theatre of hopes and dreams, suffused with solitude and longing, premonitions and disillusions…a theatre on the edge between art and life, tragedy and comedy, absurdity and naivety, cruelty and tenderness”.
A figure with a clown’s face atop a fancy-dress chicken’s bright yellow costume (Artem Zhimo) enters carrying a rope, a rope that he will place around his neck. He looks troubled: the tears and the fears of a clown wrapped into one, but thoughts of suicide are cast aside quickly by his playfulness with that rope, although he is always on the edge highlighted in Slava’s quote above. Slava, by the way, originated this role and still plays it on occasion at 75.
Forever blowing bubbles: Slava’s SnowShow, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
Enter Slava’s son Vanya, the first of a multitude of matching clown figures in full-length fleece coats (protecting themselves against the weather in John Motson style). Their dark feet seem to stretch forever, likewise the flaps of their hats, with the wingspan of a plane, forcing them to duck and dive to avoid contact mid-air.
The company of “fools on the loose” is completed by Francesco Bifano, Chris Lynam, Nikolai Terentiev, Yuri Musatov, Aelita West and Bradford West. Together with Zhimo and Polunin Jnr , they move with choreographic precision, yet with room for improvisation too, and they have a wonderful sense of timing, going against comedy’s usual rules for chaos and calamity by slowing everything down for maximum comedic effect.
Zhimo duly excels in a scene where he conducts phone calls on oversized yellow and red telephones that match his attire, another where he repeatedly crashes to the floor from a slanting chair and table, and above all when wrapped in a farewell embrace with a trench-coat on a coat stand at a railway platform. Charlie Chaplin would have loved it..
In this theatre of the absurd, Slava’s Snow Show takes the form of a work of art wherein each scene paints a picture that comes alive, whether for a shark fin to protrude from a misty sea or for clowns and audience alike to become entangled in a huge spider’s web spun the stage across the Stalls in the magical climax to the first half.
Zhimo’s journey becomes ever more prominent in Act Two, whose finale is a blizzard conducted by Zhimo’s chicken figure as if he were The Tempest’s Prospero, leaving the audience knee deep in (paper) snow and wreathed in smiles; their joy heightened by the release of giant balloons to bounce around the auditorium.
It takes four leaf blowers to clear up the mess after each SnowShow, which would make a show in itself, but as the snowfalls continue this week, make sure you find warmth and joy inside the Grand Opera House before clown-time is over. Children and the inner child in adults alike will have a (snow) ball.
Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Age guidance: eight upwards.
York actress Maria Gray puts on a dazzling display of green in Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery at Castle Howard. Picture: Tom Arber
CLW Event Design began working on The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz as long ago as January, and now the Yellow Brick Road is stretching through the rooms and corridors of the transformed North Yorkshire country house to dazzling effect.
Headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and York-based Adrian Lillie, working in tandem with Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog, this immersive experience is on the grandest scale yet since Castle Howard first partnered with CLW Design in 2017.
Huge set pieces were fabricated and built on the Castle Howard Estate before being moved into the house in an installation process that took ten days to complete, requiring 30,000 baubles to be put on display, while the creative team has reused and recycled products where possible and favoured more sustainable materials such as paper and glass.
There really is no place like this home, now dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and soundscapes that culminate in the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery, with its life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York and Malton’s Shambles (or Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, if you insist).
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz creative team in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, led by CLW Event Design’s Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie. Picture: Tom Arber
Look out too for Castle Howard’s famous 28-foot Christmas tree that sparkles in the Great Hall, installed by a team of 30 using a specialist forklift and winch system.
Unique musical compositions accompany each room in the house, alongside the soundscapes that bring the narrative from the original book to life.
The momentum provided by Wicked and now this week’s opening of Wicked: For Good made The Wizard Of Oz the ideal choice for the 2025 show; momentum further buoyed by Castle Howard receiving the Historic House Restoration of the Year award at Sotheby’s for its 21st Century Renaissance project, topped off by the unveiling of the lost Tapestry Drawing Room.
The journey down the yellow brick road is all the more magnificent for this once-in-a-generation transformation as Castle Howard enters its busiest time of the year, when as many as 100,000 visitors will enter the building: one third of the year’s total, condensed into the Christmas season.
The Wicked Witch of the West in Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
“We’re very much thinking about the house whenever we decide what to do, and this time we’ve gone back to L Frank Baum’s original 1900 story, which seems to fit really well with the house, designed by playwright John Vanbrugh,” says Adrian.
“So some things will be new to you that differ from the 1939 film. Like the slippers being silver, not ruby, and we feature all four witches [whereas the film combined the Good Witch of the North and Glinda the Good Witch of the South into one character, Glinda].
“We’ve also played with colours, so each territory has a tone, such as blue for the Munchkins, yellow for the Winkies [as opposed to green in the Judy Garland film], red for the Quadlings, and white for Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.”
In the original story too, everything looked green in the Emerald City as everyone was equipped with green glasses to look through, another detail acknowledged amid The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz props.
The Wicked Witch Of The West in an Andy Warhol-style portrait in The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz at Castle Howard. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
CLW Event Design continues to set itself ever bigger challenges for the Christmas season, this year expanding its portfolio from three to six sites: Castle Howard, Bamburgh Castle; Kensington Palace, Polesden Lacey, Beaulieu, and Chiswick House.
Castle Howard remains the jewel in the crown. “We are always developing our team, and in the week leading up to Castle Howard, we had 18 people working here, and 23 on the night before we opened, including the Imitating The Dog team,” says Adrian. “What I’m most proud of is that our team has really delivered. I was nervous at the beginning as to whether we could do it, but we’ve pulled it off.”
Charlotte adds: “I have to say the most spectacular achievement is the Emerald City High Street that transforms the Long Gallery into The Wizard Of Oz’s Shambles.”
Detail is important and so is humour, typified by Imitating The Dog’s soundscape. “We do have our Dorothy with a North American accent, but just as we had a Yorkshire-voiced Peter Pan, we now have a Good Witch of the North with a Yorkshire accent,” says Charlotte.
There’s no place like home: Dorothy’s bedroom in The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz at Castle Howard. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz draws on source material aplenty. “There are more than 14, maybe 17 books in L Frank Baum’s series. I got through four books, then I stopped,” says Adrian. “You have to extrapolate and you have to make sure all the magic parts are in there, but it’s good to go back to the roots and look at how it would fit into the house.
“The thing that we were very clear about from the start was that we really wanted to embrace this year’s redecoration of the house to integrate it into our design and we have certainly done that.”
Summing up this year’s wizard show, and the creativity that went into it, Adrian says. “Out of the six Christmas shows that we’ve done this year, this would always be the project that we would be working on up to the last minute. It’s just the scale of this house and our ambition as artists that demands we do that.”
CLW Event Design’sThe Wonderful Wizard Of Oz dazzles at Castle Howard, near York, until January 4. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.
The poster for Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
Christmas at Castle Howard events
Christmas at Castle Howard with the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, in the House, until January 4
Father Christmas in the Castle, in the House, November 22 to December 24
Santa’s Grotto in the Boathouse, December 6 to 24
Oz Twilight Tours, November 28, December 5, December 12 and December 19
Wreath Making Workshops, in the Garden Centre, available selected Thursdays and Fridays, November 20, 21 and 28; December 11 and 12
Christmas Afternoon Tea, in the House, until December 31
Accessible Events
CASTLE Howard is offering an expanded series of accessible events to open The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience to even more people, including British Sign Language- interpreted shows and Calm Sessions.
Calm Sessions
Saturday, November 15, 9.30am to 10.30am
Tuesday, November 25, 2.30pm to 3.30pm
Friday, December 19, 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Thursday, January 1, 3.30pm to 4.30pm
BSL Interpreted Session
Saturday, December 13, 11am and 3pm
Follow the Yellow Brick Road through Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Picture: Tom Arber
Touch Boxes
AVAILABLE in select rooms as part of the Christmas at Castle Howard with The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz experience. Touch boxes are sensory objects creatively designed to tell the story of the space and are available for anyone who would like to use them as part of their experience. Available to everyone on the day of their visit.
Father Christmas in the Castle
Relaxed performance: Friday, December 19, 6.30pm
Santa’s Grotto in the Boathouse
Relaxed performance: Saturday, December 6, 4.40pm
BSL-interpreted performance: Saturday, December 13, 10am
Did you know?
CASTLE Howard has employed 100 additional Christmas staff from the area to facilitate its Christmas event, on top of their year-round staff. They are supported by a team of 200 volunteers too.
Did you know too?
CASTLE Howard is hosting a Bettys shop in the Stable Courtyard for the duration of the Christmas event, selling confectionery, chocolates, teas and coffees. alongside Castle Howard’s Farm Shop with Christmas food-to-order service, Courtyard Café with seasonal winter menu, Garden Centre selling British-grown Christmas trees and marshmallow fire pit are open too for Christmas shoppers.
And finally
A DOCUMENTARY film crew has followed the Christmas creative team, CLW Event Design, as they prepare Castle Howard’s Christmas experience. The documentary will be broadcast in the Christmas At… spotlight on Channel 4 this winter, although the dates are yet to be confirmed.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road at Christmas at Castle Howard: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
FROM The Wizard Of Oz wonderland at Castle Howard to daytime dancing at York Barbican, Gothic tales to Dickensian ghost stories, ’tis the season to be out and about, reports Charles Hutchinson.
Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4 2026
CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight tens of thousands of visitors over seven weeks.
Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is the highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.
Day Fever co-founders Jonny Owen and Vicky McClure: Bringing the fun of daytime dancing to York Barbican on Saturday
Dance party of the week: Day Fever, York Barbican, Saturday, 3pm to 8pm
LAUNCHED in early 2024 by Trigger Point actress Vicky McClure, filmmaker and broadcaster Jonny Owen, Reverend & The Makers frontman Jon McClure (no relation), brother Chris McClure and Sheffield businessman James O’Hara, Day Fever has fast become a cultural sensation, built on people craving a space to let loose, laugh and dance, all before 8pm.
“It feels like a massive house party at your nan’s,” says Vicky. “No drama, no egos, just people acting daft, getting dressed up and having the best time.” No dress code, no pressure, only wall-to-wall feel-good tunes and an open invitation to dance like nobody’s watching. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Primitives: Playing The Crescent tonight
Indie gig of the week: The Primitives, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
COVENTRY band The Primitives emerged from the UK independent music scene in 1984 with a sound that distilled the shimmering guitar chime of The Byrds, the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and Sixties’ girl group melodies into quickfire pop gems. After debut album Lovely, breakthrough single Crash and further albums Pure and Galore, they split in 1992, only to re-form in 2009.
This year, Elefant Records released the double vinyl collection Let’s Go Round Again – Second Wave Singles & Rarities 2011-2025, adding new material to A sides, B sides and more besides from the past 14 years. Tonight they head to York with a line-up featuring original members Tracy Tracy, vocals, Paul Court guitar/vocals, and Tig Williams, drums. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday and Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; November 25 to 28, 7.30pm; November 29, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
DIRECTED by Steve Tearle, this musical will take you to a world of pure imagination in Roald Dahl’s devilishly delicious tale of young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket entering the scrumptious chocolate factory. There, he and his grandpa Joe, along with five more children, will meet the mysterious confectionary wizard Willy Wonka for an adventure like no other.
“The story of chocolate is at the very heart and history of this amazing city and it is only fitting that NE Theatre York brings Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to York,” says Steve. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Mohammed Moussa: Headlining Say Owt’s bill on Sunday at The Crescent
Poetry gig of the week: Say Owt presents Mohammed Moussa, The Crescent, York, Sunday, midday
YORK spoken-word collective Say Owt welcomes Gaza Poets Society founder, Palestinian poet and podcaster Mohammad Moussa to The Crescent. Now living in Turkey, he writes with urgency, humour and hope, seeking to build connections across borders.
Supporting Mohammed on Sunday’s bill of shared personal stories will be York-based poets Nadira Alom and Minal Sukumar. Nadira writes about mental health and her experiences as a woman and a Muslim; Minal is a writer, performance poet and doctoral researcher at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York. Box office: thcrescentyork.com.
James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society with a brace of Charles Dickens’ ghost stories
Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, November 24 to 30,Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 7pm; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm
YORK storyteller supreme and Gothic actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with two of Dickens’ seasonal ghost stories: A Christmas Carol, the famous saga of Scrooge (November 25 and 28, 7pm, and November 30, 2pm and 6pm), and The Haunted Man, a neglected Gothic classic (November 24 and 27, 7pm).
“Their words unlock a world teeming with chain-rattling spectres, with dark and shadowy doubles, with Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present and Yet To Come,” he says. “These tales chill the marrow and tickle the funny bone, but always they enchant, as only the works of a master storyteller can.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Meanwhile, Robert Lloyd Parry’s performance of three M R James ghost stories, Not Truly Dead, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on November 23 (7.30pm) has sold out.
O’Hooley & Tidow: Playing NCEM
Folk gig of the week: O’Hooley & Tidow, So Long For Now, National Centre for Early Music, York, November 26, 7.30pm
AFTER 15 years of performing together, eight studio albums, four BBC Folk Award nominations, composing Gentleman Jack as the BBC/HBO drama theme tune and gigs at hundreds of UK and European venues and festivals, Yorkshire folk duo Belinda O’Hooley & Heidi Tidow have made the momentous decision to say farewell for now to explore other adventures.
To help their loving and loyal audiences process this news, they are embarking on one last tour of all their favourite venues from over the years, taking in the NCEM next Wednesday. Tickets update: Sold out. For returns only, ring 01904 658338.
Ross Noble: Geordie surrealist tapping into his Cranium Of Curiosities at the Grand Opera House, York
Comedy gig of the week: Ross Noble, Cranium Of Curiosities, Grand Opera House, York, November 26, 8pm
THE Wizard of Waffle, the Rambler Royale, the Noodlers’ Noodler is touring a tornado of tangents. “What the show will be about is anybody’s guess, but that’s all part of the fun when you look inside my Cranium of Curiosities,” says Newcastle-upon-Tyne stand-up comedian and actor Ross Noble, who cut his comedy teeth in York as the bygone Comedy Shack’s master of ceremonies at The Bonding Warehouse. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Rebecca Vaughan: Telling haunting tales of the festive season in Dafyd Productions’ Christmas Gothic at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Frailties of human nature of the week: Dafyd Productions in Christmas Gothic, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 27, 7.30pm
REGULAR York frequenters Dafyd Productions return with Christmas Gothic, an invitation to come in from the cold and enter into the Christmas spirit as a dark and spectral woman (Rebecca Vaughan) tells haunting tales of the festive season, lighting a candle to the frailties of human nature and illuminating the chilling depths of the bleak, wintry dark. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 49, from Gazette & Herald, 19/11/2025 onwards
Adrian Lillie and Charlotte Lloyd Webber, of CWL Design, standing by the 28ftChristmas tree in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, where their Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience enchants until January 4. Picture: Tom Arber
SNOW storms with clowns, Castle Howard’s immersive Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Count Arthur Strong and Adam Z Robinson’s solo takes on A Christmas Carol put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.
Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4
CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight tens of thousands of visitors over a seven-week period.
Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is a highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.
Slava’s SnowShow: Arrival in York coincides with forecasts of snow across the North
Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm, today to Saturday; 2.30pm, tomorrow and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm
ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw
Straight-talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth for any of this.
Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York artist Lesley Birch at work in her studio for her Flower Power exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York. Picture: Esme Mai Photography
Blooms of the week: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm
LESLEY Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition that coincides with the publication of her small artbook of the same title by independent York publisher Overt Books, also featuring Esme Mai’s photographs of Lesley’s home studio and the York artist’s free-verse musings. On show too are Pottery Showdown potter Jacqui Atkin’s ceramics.
Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm
IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.
Gerard Hobson: Cut out for three days of Christmas art
Christmas exhibition of the week: Gerard Hobson, 51, Water Lane, Clifton, York, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sunday, 12 noon to 4pm
YORK printmaker Geard Hobson’s artwork comprises hand-coloured, limited-edition linocut prints and cut-outs focused on nature and wildlife, inspired by the countryside around where he lives in York.
As well as prints and bird, animal, tree and mushroom cut-outs, he creates anything from cards, mugs, cushions and coasters to chopping boards, lampshades, tea towels, notepads and wrapping paper. This week’s festive exhibition focuses on Christmas gifts, cards, prints and cut-outs.
Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light. The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse awaits on Friday
Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.
Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.
Rant: Scottish quartet of fiddle players heads for Helmsley Arts Centre
Fiddlers of the week: Rant, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH chamber-folk fiddlers Rant return to the road after releasing third album Spin last year, featuring their ambitious, bold and reflective reinterpretation of influential tracks by bands and players from across the globe from their formative years.
In the line-up are Bethany Reid, from Shetland, Anna Massie and Lauren MacColl from the Highland peninsula of the Black Isle, and Gillian Frame, from Arran, whose live set reflects years of honing their sound together and their love for the music of each home region through their writing, repertoire and stories. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Adam Z Robinson: Playing Scrooge and 27 more characters in A Christmas Carol at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale solo show of the week:The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company in A Christmas Carol, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
MARLEY was dead.. to begin with. So starts The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company’s ghostly staging of Charles Dickens’s festive tale, performed by Adam Z Robinson, whose solo adaptation “teases out the gothic aspects” and requires him to play 28 characters.
Join miserly misery Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey into the past, present and yet-to-come. The chilly atmosphere of Victorian London is brought to life and the spirits of Christmas return from the dead, all through the spellbinding art of storytelling that combines gripping narration with eerie recorded voices and an immersive soundscape. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Becky, left, and Rachel Unthank: Playing All Saints Church, Pocklington, this weekend
Recommended but sold out already: The Unthanks At 20, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Saturday, 7.30pm
POCKLINGTON’S Hurricane Promotions bring North Eastern folk band The Unthanks to All Saints Church as part of their 20th anniversary scaled-back, intimate series of shows in support of “today’s best small venues”.
The Unthanks play Pocklington fresh from singing sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank and pianist Adrian McNally being part of the cast of eight for the October 22 to November 2 theatre piece for Bradford UK City of Culture 2025, creating and performing the music for Javaad Alipoor’s staging of York author Fiona Mozley’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Elmet.
The show poster for The Sounds Of Simon at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Tribute show of the week: The Sounds Of Simon, The Music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Old Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
THE Sounds Of Simon, the UK’s longest-running tribute to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, takes a musical journey from their years as Simon and Garfunkel to the successes of their solo careers, as they explore the friendship that led to songs such as Mrs Robinson, The Sound Of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water, onwards to You Can Call Me Al, Graceland and Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes.
The show incorporates elements of the duo’s famously fractious relationship, as well as replicating their beautiful harmonies, complemented by video clips, stories and memories from more than 50 years. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Graham Smith in shocking pink as saucy Dame Dora Di Sorderlie in Dick Whittington in December 2021 in his Rowntree Players days
GRAHAM Smith, once the doyen of Rowntree Players pantomime dames, is moving on to panto pastures new with Shiptonthorpe Community Theatre.
Graham, who lives near Wilberfoss, will revel in the moniker of Dame Nellie Nickerlastic in Rachel Waud’s production of Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood at Shiptonthorpe Village Hall.
Neil Scott, Shiptonthorpe’s former “beloved and renowned dame”, will take on a regal new role as King Richard while Henry Rice will step into the boots of Will Scarlett, one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men.
Joining them will be Toby Jewsen as Robin Hood; Chris McKenzie,Little John; Paul Jefferson, Friar Tuck; Alison Rosa, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Chloe Jensen, Maid Marion.
Further roles will go to Robbie Howe as Snivel and Phil Featherstone as Grovel; Sienna Cayton, Ella; Pelham Dennis, Sam; Carolyne Jensen, Poet; Sarah Burnell, Minstrel, and Shirley Rice, Lady Guy.
Show times will be Friday, January 30 2026, 7pm; Saturday, January 31, 3pm and 7pm; Sunday, February 1, 2pm; Friday, February 6, 7pm, and Saturday, February 7, 7pm.
“Get ready for laughter, adventure and festive fun as the curtain rises on another unforgettable pantomime season,” says the director.
Tickets are available from Richard Waud on 07922 443639 or by emailing richardwaud@yahoo.co.uk.
