Pick Me Up Theatre to perform Stephen Sondheim shows at the double at Theatre@41, Monkgate in March and April

Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre

ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from March 27 to 30.

Taking part too in this celebration of New York composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will be Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Nick Sephton, Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer and Mathew Warry.

Planned originally for 2020 before Covid intervened – and Sondheim’s death on November 26 2021 at the age of 91 – Pick Me Up’s show features music from his Broadway shows, film scores and TV specials. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Pick Me Up Theatre’s company of singers for Sondheim We Remember

Pick Me Up will make a swift return to Theatre@41 with a second Sondheim show, his 1984 musical collaboration with playwright and director James Lapine, Sunday In The Park, from April 5 to 13.

Inspired by George Seurat’s pointillist painting Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, the musical follows Seurat (played by Adam Price) in the months leading up to the completion of that famous work.

Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists and neglects his lover Dot (Natalie Walker), not realising that his actions will reverberate over the next 100 years.

Performances will start at 7.30pm on April 5, 6 and 9 to 13, plus 2.30pm on April 6, 7 and 13. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Neil Warnock to give donation to York City foundation from York Barbican show

Neil Warnock: Football chat at York Barbican on May 31

FOOTBALL gaffer Neil Warnock will give a donation from every ticket sold for his Are You With Me? show at York Barbican to the York City FC Foundation.

Warnock, who left his latest post at Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiere League after only 33 days as interim manager on March 9, will be in York on May 31 for a show rearranged from June 15 2023.

The record-breaking boss has committed to supporting the community projects of each professional club in the towns and cities he will be visiting for six shows in May and June.

“I love going around the country talking about my career and football in general, trying to make people smile along the way,” says Warnock, 75, who lives in Cornwall.

“To now also be raising funds for the very important community projects York City foundation undertake makes the night extra special. It’s a fabulous club and city, and I can’t wait to be there with a few very special guests too, including some legends of the club.”

Warnock made four appearances as a winger for York City in 1978. He worked as a chiropodist for eight years and went on to be the official Guinness World Records holder for achieving the most promotions in football – eight in total – including taking Scarborough FC into the old fourth division of the Football League as GM Vauxhall Conference champions in 1986-87. He has managed 17 different clubs over 44 years, including Sheffield United and Leeds United, overseeing more than 2,000 games.

Darren Kelly, York City’s general manager, says: “We are delighted and very grateful to Neil for this generous gesture to donate ten per cent of every ticket sold for his show in York.

“Neil is a real legend of football, and I am sure York City fans will turn out in numbers to see the show and in the process support the very important work the York City foundation does in the community.”

Tickets for June 15’s 7.30pm show are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/neil-warnock-are-you-with-me/

Rowntree Players to hold auditions for Grimm Tales on Sunday. Here’s how to apply

THE deadline to register for auditions for Rowntree Players’ summer production of Grimm Tales is Friday, March 22.

The auditions for the July 11 to 13 run at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, are open to anyone aged 14 or over (on or before the audition date).

Auditions will be held on Sunday (24/3/2024) from 1pm to 4pm at Door 84, Lowther Street, York. To register your interest and to request an audition pack, send an email to info@rowntreeplayers.co.uk.

Adapted by Carol Ann Duffy and dramatised by Tim Supple, Grimm Tales takes a journey through six of the bizarre, whimsical stories collated by the Brothers Grimm: Snow White; The Golden Goose; Ashputtel; The Magic Table, The Good Donkey & The Cudgel In The Sack; Musicians Of Bremman and Hansel & Gretel.

The small cast will play numerous roles, each tale being introduced and linked by the Narrator, who will address the audience directly. Once each story begins, mush of the action will be narrated by the characters themselves, necessitating the performers to be able to deliver narrative clearly as well as perform dialogue and be confident with switching between the two.

All the cast will perform several characters, sometimes even in one story, so versatility and quirkiness are a must.

For the audition day, auditionees will not be required to prepare anything in advance. A script will be provided on the day and everyone will be expected to read a variety of characters, grouping performers in different combinations.

Casting will be for the Narrator, four male and four female roles, in each case one role aged 40 plus, two, 25 to 40, and one under 25.

Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at rowntreeplayers.co.uk.

More Things To Do in York and beyond with plenty of Bull and no bull. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 12 for 2024, from The Press, York

Bass player Kai West’s poster for Bull’s tweoday album launch for Engines Of Honey at The Crescent

COMEDY legends and Arthurian tales, Welsh rock firebrands and a bullish album launch, an Italian dance champion and spa town illuminations have Charles Hutchinson reaching for his diary.

York album launch of the week: Bull at The Crescent, March 22 and 23, 7.30pm

BULL, York’s “finest purveyors of jangling indie joy”, launch second album Engines Of Honey with a brace of home-city shows, supported by FEET and Vehicle on Friday, then Fat Spatula and Eugene Gorgeous on Saturday.

Vocalist/songwriter Tom Beer, guitarist Dan Lucas, drummer Tom Gabbatiss and bassist Kai West promise entirely different sets for each night with no repeats. What’s more, they are making a day of it on the Saturday with a free daytime jamboree from 2pm, featuring an art fair, Ben Crosthwaite’s music quiz, bingo with Jade Blood, Bull’s homemade curry and a memoraBullia exhibition, plus post-gig DJs. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Rolling out a barrel of laughs: Al Murray at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy at the treble at Grand Opera House, York: Al Murray, Guv Island, Sunday, 7.30pm; An Evening With The Fast Show, Tuesday, 7.30pm; Frank Skinner, 30 Years Of Dirt, Thursday, 7.30pm.

STANDING up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, is back “to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to” in Guv Island.

An Evening With The Fast Show sold out suitably fast. Original cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir mark their 30th anniversary with behind-the-scenes insights into their television characters and catchphrases, recreating favourite moments too. Two nights later, Brummie comedian and TV and radio presenter Frank Skinner reflects on his own 30-year landmark. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Fast talking: An Evening With The Fast Show at Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday

Please Please You presents: C Duncan, Rise at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm

THE son of two classical musicians, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland-trained multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter C Duncan – ‘C’ stands for Christopher – plays solo at Rise.

The Glaswegian musician will be performing songs from his four albums: 2015’s Mercury Prize-nominated Architect, 2016’s The Midnight Sun, 2019’s Health and 2022’s Alluvium, recorded at his home studio at Helensburgh. He is an artist too, painting all the artwork for his Bella Union releases. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Feeder’s poster for their Black/Red tour, visiting York Barbican on Tuesday

Welsh invaders of the week: Feeder, supported by Girlband!, York Barbican, Tuesday, 8pm

ANTHEMIC Newport rock band Feeder mark their 30th anniversary with a spring tour and the April 5 release of a new studio double album, Black/Red, on Big Teeth Music.

Accruing seven million record sales, Grant Nicholas and Take Hirose’s group chalked up 20 Top 40 hits from 1997’s High to 2008’s We Are The People, and the likes of Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Feeling A Moment, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day, Fear Of Flying and Lost And Found surely will feature in their set. Leeds Brudenell Social Club awaits on April 7 at 8pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.

Leigh Francis: Leeds comedian heads to York on My First Time tour

Yorkshire comedian of the week: Leigh Francis, My First Time, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.45pm

LEEDS comedian, radio presenter and Bo’ Selecta! sketch show regular Leigh Francis is the scabrous, scatological, sometimes rubber-faced humorist behind the characters Keith Lemon, The Bear, Avid Merrion and Amanda Holden’s ‘gran’, Myrtle, along with celebrity impressions of David Dickinson, Ant and Dec and Louis Theroux.

All feature in Francis’s debut venture into the live environment in a tour show that combines sketches with buckets of audience interaction. “Come see me being other people live for the first time!” he says. Also playing Hull City Hall, March 22; Leeds Grand Theatre, April 6. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Giovanni Pernice: Let him entertain you at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Giovanni Pernice, Let Me Entertain You, York Barbican, Thursday 7.30pm

GIOVANNI Pernice, the Sicilian dancer from Strictly Come Dancing and BAFTA winner, returns to York Barbican on his 2024 tour, Let Me Entertain You.

Pernice, dancer, performer, showman and Guinness World Record holder for jive kicks and flick to boot, will be joined by fellow professional dancers and West End performers in a show of non-stop action. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

Le Navet Bete: History in the re-making in King Arthur at York Theatre Royal

Legend of the week: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur, York Theatre Royal, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AFTER Treasure Island and Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Le Navet Bete head back to York Theatre Royal for a retelling of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, in their inimitable comedic style. Camelot is in trouble, and Arthur knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history.

When three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy, however, a legend is born in a new comedy for the ages, suitable for the whole family. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jamie Cullum: All that jazz at York Barbican in November. Picture: Charles Gall

York gig announcement of the week: Jamie Cullum, York Barbican, November 12

DID you know that Jamie Cullum failed his Grade 4 piano exam and can barely read music? Nevertheless, the Rochford-born pianist, now 44, became the biggest-selling British jazz musician of all time. This autumn he will play 14 British dates, visiting York as his only Yorkshire destination. Tickets will go on sale on March 22 at 10am at axs.com/york.

In Focus: BEAM Light Festival, Harrogate, today, dusk (6.30pm) to 10pm

James Bawn’s light installation at the Cenotaph war memorial in Harrogate for the BEAM Light Festival. Picture: Charlotte Graham

COMMISSIONED by Harrogate International Festivals, Element 3 Design is illuminating Harrogate town centre with a light installation trail of spa-town locations, landmarks and green spaces, some iconic, others unexpected, ten in total.

Visitors and locals alike will see Harrogate in a completely different light in this new festival, as James Bawn follows up his 2019 light show by using lighting beams, projections and soundscapes to animate the likes of the Cenotaph and Crescent Gardens, while Valley Gardens trees will be lit with dancing twinkling lights. No need to book, just show up!

Supported by Future 50, North Yorkshire Council, Visit North Yorkshire and Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID), the Beam Light Festival festival is free: no need to book, just show up!

Business owners and the Harrogate community are encouraged to create their own lights for display in their windows to enhance the trail.

Beam follows on from such Harrogate large-scale outdoor events as the Fire Garden and the post-pandemicFire & Light Festival. Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, says: “Harrogate BID are thrilled to continue our close partnership with Harrogate International Festivals and Beam will be another fantastic occasion to celebrate this further.

“With anticipated increased footfall and spend for our members, a new and unique Harrogate experience delivering our objective of a ‘Vibrant Town’, we cannot wait to see Beam come to fruition and really put Harrogate on the map.”

Councillor Simon Myers, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for culture, arts and housing, says: “Beam demonstrates the importance of free-to-attend events to animate our communities and ensure access to the arts for the widest possible audiences.

“Large events like this are an opportunity to celebrate the spaces which we live and work in and enjoy, and Beam is sure to present the town in a brand new light.”

Fiona Movley, chair of the Future 50 Appeal, says: “Harrogate International Festivals’ Future 50 Appeal was created to ensure the widest possible access to the arts for our community, and to develop artists of the future. We are excited to light up our town and shine a light on the creative talent we have in our region.”

The ten locations for the BEAM Light Fesival


1. Valley Gardens

WORKING with sound artist Dan Fox, the Elgar Walk within the Valley Gardens will be transformed with a Glittering Grove. Thousands of specks of light dance across trees and paths creating a sparkling path as you head towards the sculpture that will have a single light beam hitting the clouds above.

2. Crescent Gardens

USING searchlights to cast patterns across the sky, the lights and soundscape will create a magical spectacle. At the heart of the installation is the iconic Cupid and Psyche statue from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which brings the timeless tale of love and transformation to life.

3. Picture Frame/Montpellier Hill

SEE yourself in a different light as the Picture Frame is picked out in different colours to accentuate the design. Strike a pose!

4. Cenotaph & Field of Light

THE Cenotaph war memorial will be illuminated with narrow beams of light to make a solemn and dignified artwork paying tribute to the sacrifices of those who served.

A field of light created by solar jars will glow in the darkness. As the sun sets and the jars come to life, the area will be transformed into a magical sea of twinkling lights.

5. St Peter’s Church

SUBTLE lighting to highlight the beautiful architecture will provide a serene and contemplative atmosphere for visitors to reflect and find solace in this tranquil space among the illuminated surroundings.

6. Jubilee Memorial

SEE Queen Victoria bathed in colour to accentuate the architecture of this memorial commemorating the 1887 Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

7. Victoria Shopping Centre

A DYNAMIC lighting design, complemented by a carefully curated soundscape, will elevate the architecture of this building inspired by the work of Palladio in Italy 450 years ago.

8. The Exchange Building

THE central stairwell of The Exchange will be illuminated to be seen from miles around. Searchlights on the roof will cast beams of light into the night sky, further accentuating the impact the building has had on the townscape.

9. Library Gardens & Library

THE Library Gardens will be lit carefully, playing with light and shadow, whilst the Carnegie Library will tell stories through light projection on the front of the building.

10. Cedar Court Hotel

A COLOURFUL animated light will wash the building in colour, illuminating the beautiful architecture.

REVIEW: Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

Table service: Sophie Bullivant, left Laura Castle and Abi Carter in Shakers

DEATHLY ghost tour host Jamie McKeller picked John Godber’s Teechers Leavers ’22 for his return to directing after 15 years last March.

Fresh from playing an Ugly Sister in panto, McKeller heads back to the Jo Ro with another rotten state-of the-nation Godber comedy, this one a husband-and-wife collaboration with Jane Thornton.

Two cast members from McKeller’s 2023 production return to the Rowntree Players ranks for Shakers, his pantomime co-stars Sophie Bullivant and Laura Castle now being joined by Abi Carter and Holly Smith.

McKeller has plumped for the 1987 version, not the 1994 musical with 50 per cent new material, nor the 2010 edition with a cast of five, nor the 2022 remix, Shakers: Under New Management!.

In the mix: Holly Smith, Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter and Laura Castle making cocktails in a promotional shot for Rowntree Players’ Shakers

This is Shakers at its most raw, showing its dark Eighties’ roots like a bleach blonde hairdo, but resonating all the more in our age of zero hours contracts and #MeToo.

Like now, Thatcher’s Britain was an era of fears over losing your job and a them-and-us culture of division. Furthermore, some things never change, whether men treating women as meat or the boss demanding his cocktail waitresses show ever more leg.

In this unruly sister to Godber’s boisterous Bouncers, the multi-role-playing template turns the northern nightlife focus from the nightclub door staff to the cocktail bar shakers and stirrers: overworked, underpaid and prone to squabbling in a whirlwind of sticky floors and sticky situations.

Bullivant’s feminist Carol, Castle’s volatile Mel, Carter’s working mum Adele and company newcomer Smith’s brash Niki face the Saturday night shift from hell: seven hours beneath the neon lights, in shirts tied at the waist, black trousers and white pumps.

Laura Castle in a phone conversation in Rowntree Players’ Shakers

Fast, fizzing physical theatre, with minimal props and a minimalist set design of only four bar seats and four mini-bars on wheels in matching colours, is the performance style.

Another Godber trademark is omnipresent too: plenty of direct address to the audience, here concentrated in the stalls seats nearest the stage to lend McKeller’s production an intimate, studio atmosphere.

Mirroring Bouncers, the quartet plays myriad Shakers clientele: four lasses on a 21st birthday bender; leery lads on the pull; two bragging, misogynist TV producers; frantic kitchen staff; the jobsworth loo attendant.

Quick costume changes, jackets on, jackets off, sunglasses, handbags and a multitude of voices delineate characters that tend towards the caricature and the stereotype, especially in the yuppies and the luvvies.

Holly Smith and Sophie Bullivant in multi-role playing mode in Shakers

Like the waitresses’ shift, the workload and the pace is restless, exacerbated by McKeller’s decision to forego an interval, but there is stillness too in the monologues, one for each waitress, more serious in tone each time, culminating in a shuddering finale as downbeat as Teechers’ end-of-term despair.

Teamwork in movement and dialogue is impressively slick under McKeller’s direction, typified by that closing scene, while high energy bursts through individual performances, Castle the pick, as strong and supportive as that name would suggest.

The audience rarely laughs out loud en masse, which could be unnerving for the cast, but McKeller’s company resists trying to force the humour. Good decision.

Instead, Shakers’ poignancy and awkward, sobering truths hit home harder, shaking and stirring us all the more.

Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

REVIEW: Cluedo 2. Who? The usual suspects. With? More swagger than dagger. Where? York Theatre Royal, till Saturday ***

Weapons at the ready in Cluedo 2: from left, Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett (with the candlestick); Edward Howells’ Professor Plum (spanner); Gabriel Paul’s Reverend Hal Green (lead piping); Hanah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock (rope); Dawn Buckland’s Mrs White (dagger) and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard (gun). Picture: Dave Hogan 

CLUEDO 2 is far outselling last week’s remarkable York Theatre Royal touring show, Blue Beard, despite a raft of five-star reviews for Emma Rice’s feminist wonder tale for those regular York visitors Wise Children.

So much so, you might have to kill for a ticket for Cluedo 2, whether with a candlestick, lead piping, revolver, dagger, rope or spanner, in the box office.

Cluedo 2 is the sequel to, surprise, surprise, Cluedo, the stage revamp of Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 film Clue, based once more on the ever-popular Hasbro board game, whose familiar board design forms the backdrop to David Farley’s witty set to mark the game’s 75th anniversary.

Cut-outs of the board design’s borders form a picture framework within the Theatre Royal’s proscenium arch structure, while a doll’s house of Graveny House is a regular reminder of the new play’s setting. As ever, the whodunit will play out in the kitchen, conservatory, dining room, ballroom, study, hall, lounge, library and billiard room.

Red alert: Ellie Leach’s Miss Scarlett, Bloody Mary cocktail et al, in Cluedo 2. Picture: Dave Hogan

This new “game for a laugh” whodunit takes the form of a broad comedy, one that brings together veteran Birds Of A Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart screen and stage-writing joke factory Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, teamed with Mark Bell, the director of Mischief Theatre’s catastrophe-defying physical theatre capers The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery.

Then add the social media intrigue of seeing 2023 Strictly Come Dancing champion Ellie Leach in her “stage theatre debut” after 13 years as Faye Windass in Coronation Street, replacing the originally announced fellow former Corrie star Helen Flanagan.

Her white boots and mini-dress affirm the Swinging Sixties’ setting for a Cluedo tale of murder, mystery and secret passageways with a “new house, new bodies, new suspects”. Or, more precisely, all the usual suspects, gathered one dark and stormy evening in 1968.

Faded rock’n’roll legend Rick Black (Liam Horrigan) will do anything to regain his fame and fortune, especially now he has newly acquired a country manor house, not too far from London. 

What did the butler see? Hannah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock, left, Jack Bennett’s Wadsworth, Edward Howells’ Professor Plum, Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard in Cluedo 2. Picture: Alastair Muir 

A long-awaited new album is his last hope, and so he has assembled the familiar names to pass judgement: his supermodel wife, the Honourable Celestine Peacock (Hannah Boyce); his nod-to-Colonel Parker American South manager, Colonel Eugene Mustard (Jason Durr, from Heartbeat and Casualty); long-time roadie “Professor” Alex Plum (Edward Howells) and blossoming northern interior designer Annabel Scarlett (Leach).

Blunt-speaking housekeeper Mrs White (Audrey Anderson, understudying ably for Dawn Buckland) comes with the house and knows all its secrets. Enter the butler, or rather a very, very thespian actor, Wadsworth (Jack Bennett), who has arrived a day early for filming for his role as a butler in a film that will star Rick Black, setting in motion a running gag about being/not being the butler.

Making a late entry is Black’s former song-writing partner “The Reverend” Hal Green (Gabriel Paul, from The Play That Goes Wrong and Northern Broadsides’ Quality Street)), not to be mistaken for soul singer the Reverend Al Green, but you know that gag will be played more than once.  Green had disappeared mysteriously just as Black’s career went pear-shaped.

 In further roles for Horrigan, film director Mr Grey and an easily distracted detective, plus Tiwai Muza’s PC Silver, will play their part two in a play that is done and dusted in two hours with an interval.

The comedy has two opposing forces: Marks and Gran’s humour is more laboured, slower to click, clunkier, than the fast pace that Bell favours from his Mischief exploits. The gap between the two styles is too big in Act One, but gradually they elide in the far superior Act Two, where the physical comedy, knowing nods to Cluedo’s conventions and even a pantomimic set-piece involving Mrs White’s assorted pastries reap rewards.

Murder most foul: Who could have killed rock star Rick Black (Liam Horrigan, second from right)? Ellie Leach’s Annabel Scarlett, left, Edward Howells’s Professor Plum, Dawn Buckland’s Mrs White, Hannah Boyce’s Lady Celestine Peacock and Jason Durr’s Colonel Eugene Mustard are all in the frame. Picture: Dave Hogan

Durr’s Colonel is mustard throughout; Leach grows into her on-trend Sixties’ role with its sudden twist, vibes of The Persuaders! and a couple of Strictly dance steps, matched by Lady Peacock’s shock revelation. All the while, Paul revels in Reverend Green’s American bafflement at English ways.

Nevertheless, the verbal humour remains a touch heavy handed and obvious, by way of contrast with the swift-moving set changes engineered by the cast on a set cleverly devoid of walls, but with a labyrinth of improvised manor-house corridors and secret passageways instead.

Bell’s direction is rooted in telling the story as much in pictures as words, and his mission is aided considerably by the show’s prize asset: the stylish movement direction of Anna Healey, which puts the ‘swing’ into the Swinging Sixties and makes amusing play of picture frames.

Not a patch on Blue Beard, but Cluedo 2 does improve as the bodies pile up. 

JAS Theatricals in Cluedo 2, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

More Things To Do in Ryedale, York and beyond as legends abound. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 6, from the Gazette & Herald

History with a comical twist: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur at York Theatre Royal

COMEDY legends and Arthurian tales, Welsh rock firebrands and an Italian dance champion, a Scottish folk queen and a school talent troop have Charles Hutchinson reaching for his diary.

Legend of the week: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur, York Theatre Royal, March 21 to 23, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AFTER Treasure Island and Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Le Navet Bete head back to York Theatre Royal for a retelling of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, in their inimitable comedic style. Camelot is in trouble, and Arthur knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history.

When three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy, however, a legend is born in a new comedy for the ages, suitable for the whole family. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Feeder’s Black/Red Tour 2024, playing York and Leeds

York gig of the week: Feeder, supported by Girlband!, York Barbican, March 19, 8pm

ANTHEMIC Newport rock band Feeder mark their 30th anniversary with a spring tour and the April 5 release of a new studio double album, Black/Red, on Big Teeth Music.

Accruing seven million record sales, Grant Nicholas and Take Hirose’s group chalked up 20 Top 40 hits from 1997’s High to 2008’s We Are The People, and the likes of Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Feeling A Moment, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day, Fear Of Flying and Lost And Found will surely feature in their set. Leeds Brudenell Social Club awaits on April 7 at 8pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.

The Talent Troop from Welburn Hall School, performing at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow

Community show of the week: Welburn Hall presents The Talent Troop, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow (14/3/2024), 7pm

A SELECTION of students from Welburn Hall School, near York, takes to the stage once more for a variety performance. Prepare to be amazed by The Talent Troop in a fun-filled evening of music and dancing guaranteed to bring out the smiles. Look out for a fund-raising raffle and cake stall too. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The Pink’un: Vicky Jackson’s tribute show to an American pop icon at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Vicky Jackson: Pink!, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

VICKY Jackson has been wowing audiences with her energetic portrayal of Pink, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, for more than a decade.

In bespoke costumes and accompanied by her five-piece touring band, Jackson presents all of Pink’s major hits from her 24-year career. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Roll out the barrel of laughs: Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy at the treble at the Grand Opera House, York: Al Murray, Guv Island, Sunday, 7.30pm; An Evening With The Fast Show, March 19, 7.30pm; Frank Skinner, 30 Years Of Dirt, March 21, 7.30pm.

STANDING up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, is back “to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to” in Guv Island.

An Evening With The Fast Show sold out suitably fast. Original cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir mark their 30th anniversary with behind-the-scenes insights into their television characters and catchphrases, recreating favourite moments too. Two nights later, Brummie comedian and TV and radio presenter Frank Skinner reflects on his own 30-year landmark. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.  

Beneath The Layers: A work by Anne-Marie Magson from her Helmsley Arts Centre exhibition

Exhibition of the week: Anna-Marie Magson, Beneath The Layers, Helmsley Arts Centre, until May 3

FROM her home studio in York, Anna-Marie Magson creates ceramics and artworks. Trained in fine art painting at Liverpool College of Art, she worked initially with clay, exploring surface decoration and textured pattern on tiles and panels.

Latterly, she has returned her focus to two-dimensional work, expanding her practice to encompass abstract collages, printmaking and painting to reflect her long-standing love of printed textiles and quilt designs and mid-20th century art.

The poster for Leigh Francis’s debut tour, My First Time

Yorkshire comedian of the week: Leigh Francis, My First Time, York Barbican, March 20, 7.45pm

LEEDS comedian, radio presenter and Bo’ Selecta! sketch show regular Leigh Francis is the scabrous, scatological, sometimes rubber-faced humorist behind the characters Keith Lemon, The Bear, Avid Merrion and Amanda Holden’s ‘gran’, Myrtle, along with celebrity impressions of David Dickinson, Ant and Dec and Louis Theroux.

All feature in Francis’s debut venture into the live environment in a tour show that combines sketches with buckets of audience interaction. “Come see me being other people live for the first time!” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Giovanni Pernice: Let him entertain you at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Giovanni Pernice, Let Me Entertain You, York Barbican, March 21, 7.30pm

GIOVANNI Pernice, the Sicilian dancer from Strictly Come Dancing and BAFTA winner, returns to York Barbican on his 2024 tour, Let Me Entertain You.

Pernice, dancer, performer, showman and Guinness World Record holder for jive kicks and flick to boot, will be joined by fellow professional dancers and West End performers in a show of non-stop action. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

Barbara Dickson: All Saints Church autumn concert with Nick Holland in Pocklington

Gig announcement of the week: Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4, 7.30pm

IN this special acoustic performance, Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland will explore her catalogue of songs in the intimate and historic setting of All Saints Church.

The pair let the words and melodies take centre stage as they perform material drawing on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, Answer Me, Another Suitcase In Another Hall, Caravan and I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net.

Mad Alice’s Bloody Tour of York wins European award for best sightseeing tour

The Bloody Tour of York guide Alicia Stabler with her award at the ceremony in Berlin

YORK tour guide Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler has won the 2024 European Arival TourReview Spotlight Award for Best Sightseeing Tour within One City.

Alicia, who takes visitors to the site of hangings, beheadings and hauntings on The Bloody Tour of York, run by Alicia Stabler, competed in the medium category against nine other European tours based in Krakow, Munich, Prague and Budapest as the sole British entry.

“This award means so much as it comes from people’s experiences of the tour and how engaged they are,” says Alicia. “It’s amazing to think that people have been recommended or recommend my tour to others around the world.”

The awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany, coincided with the three-day Arival 360 Tourism Conference that brought together the ‘best of the best’ in tours, activities, attractions and experiences in Europe.

The awards were awarded to businesses based on their online customer reviews. The winners were chosen through a data-driven, independent and impartial analysis of reviews across multiple review sites, online travel agencies and millions of customer reviews, powered by review management platform TourReview.

Alicia Stabler, front left, with fellow award winners in Berlin

By aggregating customer data from various platforms, TourReview identified the tour operators consistently wowing customers.  Other winners included Prague City Adventures for Culinary Tours and Experiences and the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the Barcelona cathedral, for Best Visitor Attraction.

Alicia has run The Bloody Tour of York since 2013 in the guise of the colourful costumed character of Mad Alice, who leads visitors on a journey around the city centre, regaling them with tales of 2,000 years of gruesome, macabre and supernatural history.

In “the city of a thousand ghosts”, Mad Alice combines entertainment and education in her tour of sites associated with famous characters, such as Guy Fawkes, who was born in York in 1570, and Dick Turpin, the notorious highwayman executed at the Three-Legged Mare gallows at York Tyburn on April 7 1739.

Run as an independent business, the tour began as a “small idea” when Alicia left university 18 years ago. “Having worked at various museums within the city, I wanted to focus on the stories I was brought up on as a child in York to teach people about the darker side of history,” she says.

“History can be immensely fun if presented the right way, and that’s where the character of Mad Alice comes in handy,” says Alicia

“We’re so fortunate that York has hundreds and hundreds of years of history – much of it soaked in blood. History can be immensely fun if presented the right way, and that’s where the character of Mad Alice comes in handy.

“Mad Alice is one of our local legends; there’s a street called Mad Alice Lane and supposedly in the 19th century Alice Smith lived there, who unfortunately went mad and began to confess to crimes she didn’t commit.

“The story goes she was hanged for nothing more than being insane. However, there is no evidence she actually existed. As my real name is a variation of Alice, it seemed only natural to adopt the persona.”

Receiving more than 2,000 five-star reviews across TripAdvisor, Viator, Google and Facebook, The Bloody Tour of York has won the Visit York Tourism Award for Best Experience three times and was awarded Bronze in the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards for Best Experience in Yorkshire.

Tomorrow, Alicia will find out if her tour has won 2024 Visit York Tourism Awards for Best Experience and Best of York.

Tour guide Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler in the shadow of Clifford’s Tower, York

Since the pandemic lockdowns, The Bloody Tour of York has built up an online presence across social media, leading to a surge in visitors, who praise the tour for its interactive experience.

“I strive to make everyone on the tour feel included by learning everyone’s names and where they are from and drawing them into the stories,” says Alicia. “I think that why it’s had such a positive response because everyone feels engaged in the history that has shaped our amazing city.”

Mad Alice has even had a limited-edition York Gin made in her name, the “scarily delicious” Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin.  Launched last September for Halloween, it has since sold out.

Created in collaboration with Alicia, this citrus gin was described as “bursting with fresh blood oranges and classic oranges, with a subtle syrup to finish,” while its “mix of classic botancials ensure complexity and depth”.

The gin came in a blood-red bottle with a ‘blood-splattered’ label featuring a drawing of Mad Alice herself. Each bottle was accompanied by a pamphlet detailing a selection of Mad Alice’s legends and stories, plus serving suggestions for the gin.

Alicia “Mad Alice” Stabler collaborating in creating Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin in the York Gin “laboratory”

Cocktails and torrid tales as Rowntree Players shake up Shakers for a Saturday night from hell bar none at the JoRo

In the mixer: Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter, Holly Smith and Laura Castle in Rowntree Players’ Shakers

YORK ghost-walk host, actor, voiceover artist, filmmaker, tour guide and pantomime villain Jamie McKeller had not directed a play for 15 years when he took the reins for Teechers Leavers ’22 last March.

Among the Rowntree Players’ cast of three for former teacher John Godber’s state-of-the-nation’s-education play were Sophie Bullivant and radio presenter Laura Castle, who now return for another slice of Godber physical theatre, Shakers, this one co-written with his wife, Jane Thornton.

The sister to Godber’s northern nightclub comedy-drama Bouncers, Shakers dives head first into the worst bar in town, where everyone wants to be seen, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from Thursday to Saturday.

Here, Sophie’s Carol, Laura’s Mel, company newcomer Holly Smith’s Niki and Abi Carter’s Adele face the Saturday shift from hell. Lights, neon; music, loud; trainers, not allowed. Smart shoes only.

Thornton and Godber expose nightlife both sides of the sticky-floored bar, not only the cocktail-bar waitresses but the clientele too. Here come the girls, the lads, the yuppies and the luvvies, all played by Bullivant, Castle, Smith and Carter.

“I think this play is funnier than Bouncers, though I’ll still be going to Bouncers when it comes to York Theatre Royal in April,” says Jamie, who can draw on his own experiences to make his comparison.

“I’ve done Bouncers three times! I played Judd when I was 21; Les in my late-20s. They were both professional productions; then I was Ralph in my mid-30s in an amateur one at the Westwood Theatre in Scarborough.

“So the idea is, in ten to 15 years’ time, when my panto dame days are done, I’ll finally do Lucky Eric to complete the full Bouncers set!”

Whereas Jamie decided to present Godber’s updated 2022 version of Teechers, he will stick with 1987 vintage Shakers, not the 2022 remix, Shakers: Under New Management!. 

“Initially we were looking at doing the final version of Bouncers, quite a grotesque version,” he recalls. “But once I read Shakers, I really wanted to do it, and do the earlier version, which even after more than 30 years still hits hard, when things aren’t necessarily better now…”

… “Things are just different,” says Laura. “This version of the play is a bit more spicy, and I like that!”

She is enjoying renewing her stage partnership with Sophie and teaming up with Abi and Holly too after they were picked from Jamie’s auditions. “Me and Sophie – and Sara [Howlett] – created quite bond in Teechers, and having done Godber before and Godber under Jamie’s direction before, that’s made it slightly easier for the whole cast in rehearsals,” says Laura.

“That gave us a head start as to just how pacy it is. Abi and Holly are super-talented and picked up the style very quickly. They’ve learned things from us, we’ve learned things from them, which has worked out really well.”

Jamie has been struck by Shakers’ abiding relevance, its stark message, for all its humour. “That humour is grotesque and amplified. The piece changes gear very rapidly, but it’s all grounded in the four monologues, one for each of them, that are staged with naturalism, with each speech becoming more serious,” he says.

“Shakers stands up and makes its stand. As a bloke, you find yourself thinking, ‘how do I feel about this?’, and it’s been very interesting to draw on the cast’s own experiences.”  

Jamie will restrict the capacity to 100 per performance to lend his production a studio atmosphere in keeping with the play’s roots. “It will help to have the audience close up,” says Laura. “With everyone packed into the front, it will feel busy.” Like in a bar on a Saturday night.

Staging will be minimalist too, in Bouncers tradition, with four mini-bars on wheels on a neon and chrome set. “We’ve made the decision to mime most of the props, apart from a huge blow-up phone, but with little signifiers for the different characters we play, like shades or jackets, or a change of voice. We’ve chosen everything to make an impact.”

This complements the tone of Thornton and Godber’s play. “You won’t feel like you’ve bene lectured! What works is the contrast between being grotesque and comedic one moment, and then we hit you with real truths and that makes Shakers’ impact all the greater,” says Laura.

“Both this play and Teechers end on a downer, but that’s the harsh reality of life. We want you to have a good time but to leave thinking about the message we’ve put across in 80 minutes.”

Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 14 to 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Happy days ahead as Henry Winkler discusses The Fonz and beyond in 50 years on Hollywood at Grand Opera House show

AAAYYY! Happy Days legend Henry Winkler will mark his 50th anniversary in Hollywood by sharing stories of his life in The Fonz And Beyond at the Grand Opera House, York, on June 23.

Told he would never achieve, the Emmy award-winning actor, author, director and producer is treading the boards with his heartwarming story of success to celebrate his memoir, Being Henry.

Launched into stardom as The Fonz in the American sitcom Happy Days, Winkler has transcended the role that defined a generation of cool. In the enduring glow of that fame, he has endeared himself to new generations of fans with roles in shows such as Arrested Development, Parks And Recreation and Barry.

In a show billed as “dynamic, vivid, hilarious and emotional”, Henry will travel from the achingly vulnerable lows to the stratospheres of global acclaim (chiefly his appearance at the 1976 Logie Awards); from the disheartening truth of an upbringing with undiagnosed dyslexia, to the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own – and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.

In store too will be a story about his dogs and a live question-and-answer session with the audience. Tickets for the 7.30pm show are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.