Category: Theatre

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More Things To Do in York and beyond in half-term week and in the nocturnal skies. Hutch’s List No. 6, from The York Press

The March To Coppergate, when 500 Vikings parade through York city centre on February 21 in a highlight of the 2026 JORVIK Viking Festival

THE Vikings are invading York once more while the Dark Skies Festival is full of stars in Charles Hutchinson’s tips for adventure and artistic discovery.

Festival of the week: JORVIK Viking Festival, York, February 16 to 22

YORK is gearing up for another action‑packed February half‑term as the JORVIK Viking Festival  brings a week of hands‑on history, craft activities and Norse‑themed entertainment to the city’s streets and historic venues.

Organised by York Archaeology, Europe’s largest Viking festival  promises an accessible programme for families, featuring a mix of free drop‑in events and low‑cost bookable sessions designed to spark curiosity in young Vikings and their grown‑ups. The full programme and tickets are available at jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk. 

Milky Way over Ravenscar at the North York Moors National Park Dark Skies Festival. Picture: Steve Bell, North York Moors National Park

Celebrating jewels of the night sky: North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks Dark Skies Festival, nightly until March 1

NORTH York Moors and Yorkshire Moors National Parks celebrate their 11th Dark Skies Festival this month. Discover activities at night to heighten the senses, such as night runs, canoeing and night navigation, astrophotography workshops, stargazing safaris, children’s daytime trails, art workshops and mindful experiences.

Full details of nocturnal activities at the two International Dark Sky Reserves, at the peak of the stargazing season, can be found at https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events and https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/yorkshire-dales-events.

Day Fever: Turning York Barbican into a dance floor this afternoon

Dance moves on St Valentine’s Day: Day Fever, York Barbican, today, 3pm

FULL of revellers ready to party to the best feelgood music, personally curated by Jon McClure of Sheffield band Reverend And The Makers, the gang behind Day Fever guarantee an afternoon of no-holds-barred fun times and dancing. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fladam Theatre duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of half-term week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

FLADAM Theatre, the York actor-musician duo of Adam Sowter and Florence Poskitt, return with an intergalactic musical adventure ideal for ages four to ten. Meet out-of-this-world pianist Norma, who dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, but children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children who have a very important piano recital coming up.

When a bizarre-looking contraption crash-lands in the garden, is it a bird? Or perhaps  a plane? No and twice no, it’s a piano, but no ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true in a 45-minute show packed with awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots, and interplanetary puns that will have children shooting for the stars. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

For whom the Bells toll: The Best Of Tubular Bells I, II & III, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Best of Tubular Bells I, II & III celebrates Mike Oldfield’s iconic and seminal musical pieces on a 26-date 26 date UK tour featuring an expansive live group, led and arranged by Oldfield’s long-term collaborator Robin Smith.

1973’s Tubular Bells will be performed in full, complemented by extended sections of 1992’s Tubular Bells ll and 1998’s Tubular Bells lll, as well as worldwide hit single Moonlight Shadow. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hottest ticket of 2026 in York: Jodie Comer as defence lawyer Tessa Ensler in Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Rankin

Recommended but sold out already: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

JODIE Comer returns to her Olivier and Tony Award-winning role as lawyer Tessa Ensler in the “Something Has To Change” tour of Suzie Miller’s Prime Facie in her first appearance on a North Yorkshire stage since her professional debut in Scarborough as Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in April 2010.

Comer’s Tessa is a thoroughbred young barrister who loves to win, working her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game: prosecuting, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event, however, forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

Thom Feeney in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills

Child’s play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2pm, February 21 and 28

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them. Their innocence is short lived, however, as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Spooky adventure of the week: Flying Ducks Youth Theatre in The Addams Family Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 19 to 21, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Flying Ducks Youth Theatre undertakes a whimsical, spooky musical adventure into the delightfully dark world of the hauntingly eccentric Addams Family on a night of unexpected revelations.

When Wednesday Addams falls in love with a “normal” boy, chaos ensues. As the two families converge over dinner, secrets are revealed and the true meaning of family is put to the test. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Kathyrn Williams: Opening Mystery Park Tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Kathryn Williams, Mystery Park Tour 2026, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 20, 8pm

KATHRYN Williams, the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based folk singer-songwriter, novelist, podcaster, tutor and artist long celebrated for her quiet emotional depth and lyrical precision, promotes her 15th studio album, last September’s Mystery Park, with support and special guest guitarist Matt Deighton in tow.

Opening her 12-date tour in Pocklington, 2000 Mercury Music Prize nominee Williams marks 27 years of diverse, multi-faceted music projects with a reflective, textured work, made in the quiet margins of motherhood and memory, shaped by time’s shifting tides. “This is the most personal record I’ve made,” she says. “The artwork is my own painting, based on the willow pattern from my grandmother’s tea sets. Each part of it ties into the songs: a map of memories.” Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Katherine Jenkins: Playing York Barbican on 25th anniversary tour

Concert announcement of the week: Katherine Jenkins, York Barbican, October 15

WELSH mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, 45, the biggest-selling classical artist of the 21st century, will play York Barbican as the only Yorkshire venue of her 25 Year Anniversary Tour. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on February 20 at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/katherine-jenkins-2026/.

“Reaching 25 years in music is incredibly emotional, but this tour is truly a celebration of the fans who have been there from the very beginning,” she says. “To be heading out across the UK and Ireland for 18 special shows feels less like a celebration of a career and more like a reunion with old friends, and I can’t wait to stand on stage, look out into those familiar faces and share it all over again.”

Russell Hicks: In action at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, and The Wardrobe, Leeds on his This Time It’s Personal tour

In Focus: Comedy gig of the week, Russell Hicks, This Time It’s Personal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

LAST year, Russell Hicks was just Happy To Be Here on his tour travels, discussing his life in the UK after moving from the USA.

Now the improvisational Californian comedian is looking inwards on his latest tour that visits Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight and The Wardrobe, Leeds, on February 22 (7.30pm). “This year it’s about…me. I’m back. And This Time It’s Personal,” he says, explaining the show title.

Deciding to leave the Trump-era politics to the likes of Jon Stewart, “I thought I would talk about more personal things, which is a challenge because I’m reactive to the climate, having done this thing of being a fish out of water [in Happy To Be Here].

“I’ve done that thing of discussing British culture through an American perspective on Instagram and Facebook, and I write Dear Diary entries about moving to Britain. I’ve done stuff on Marmite and Wetherspoons, as an American who knows nothing about this culture and is very honest about it, but they’re mostly just jokes.

“Like in America, I’m seen as a drinker; in England, I’m a legend (when it comes to drinking). That gave me an outline to talk about the UK versus the USA, and having done that, now I’m looking at myself in my new show, trying to sharpen my perspective, where I’m 42 now and so you get to the point where you’re more reflective.”

Russell continues: “That’s kind of the hallmark of being this age. At 35/40, people are starting to look at where they are and what got them there, good or bad. As in any culture, there is so much attention paid to early choices and early paths through life, but then there’s no guide to what to do in a capitalist society after 40. Then it’s just about maintenance.”

Do not mistake This Time It’s Personal for a navel-gazing exercise. “I’m very sensitive that that might be boring, where people do this show that can best summed up as ‘why I’m not successful’. But in my show, I’m celebrating being a comic and the experiences that I have,” says Russell.

“An audience member once came up to me and said, ‘comedians are like university drop-outs: they’re smart but they make the worst choices’. In a comedy club, I’m always in the moment, but then once I’m outside, I’ll look at what makes me uncomfortable. It’s that thing of thinking that you’re talking about yourself but actually you’re talking about all of us.”

As ever, Russell will be weaving improvisation into his shows in York and Leeds. “Improvisation, for me, is just something that’s inevitable. It’s the only way that I know how to perform, bringing in more as I talk about myself, and I’m always happy to find something in the room and then go off track,” he says.

“It’s just exciting. There’s a purity of connection. Being on stage, it’s the closest you get to hanging out with someone, making them laugh.”

As for the jokes, “I always know a joke’s really worked when they’re laughing uncontrollably at something and then have a hard time trying to re-tell it!” he says.

One final question: do you have any memories of past York visits, Russell? “One night in York, I went on a ghost walk before the show, then died on stage. I was like my own ghost that night!”

Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/; Leeds, https://ticket247.co.uk/Event/russell-hicks-at-the-wardrobe-leeds-486754.

Russell Hicks: Comedian, actor, writer

Russell Hicks: back story

Born: San Diego, California.

 Based: London.

Occupation: Exuberant, provocative stand-up comedian noted for weaving improvisation into material, and writer of weekly journals of life as an ex-pat.

Appeared on: Channel 4, BBC and ITV.  Starred as loveable Texan Coach Hughes in Prime Video series Lovestruck High, narrated by Lindsay Lohan. Written for and starred in ITV’s Stand Up Sketch Show. Won Channel 4 competition series Captive Audience with his fully improvised stand-up.

Track record: Won Prague Fringe Festival 2024. Headlined at every major UK club, including The Stand, Glee Club and Up The Creek. Residency at Top Secret Comedy Club in London. Comperes at Leeds and Reading Festival. Curates indie venues, historic theatres such as Hammersmith Apollo, and private members clubs. Endorsed as Global Talent by Arts Council England in 2022.

What else? Regularly entertains studio audiences at Have I Got News For You, The Last Leg and As Yet Untitled. Works Stateside with legendary Hollywood clubs The Comedy Store, The Improv and The Laugh Factory. As voice actor, he has lent his voice to Sky Comedy and Great Big Story and works for international brands in global campaigns.

Still more? Presenter on Yahoo Entertainment. Opens shows regularly for friends Axel Blake (2022 winner of Britain’s Got Talent), Simon Brodkin and Al Murray. Multiple film roles include appearing Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (2025) and Amazon MGM Studios romantic comedy Maintenance Required (2025) on Amazon Prime. Posts Dear Diary series on Instagram, gaining millions of views.

Previous tours: The Age Of Hicks, 2022; Next Level, 2023; first national UK itinerary, Happy To Be Here, 2024-2025, discussing his life in the UK.

Latest tour: This Time It’s Personal, January 23 to June 5.

Reflection of the day: “I still can’t believe I get to make people laugh for a living, travel the world and, most importantly, not wake up early on Monday mornings.”

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REVIEW: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ****

Iain Harvey’s Jesus in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. All pictures: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

WARNING: “This production contains intense scenes, frightening imagery, stylised violence and themes of death and religious conflict,” states the Joseph Rowntree Theatre website. Parental discretion and a minimum age of 12 are advised.

Such are the signs of 21st century times, whereas it is hard to imagine that 14th century York Mystery Plays performances would have been accompanied by such sensitivities. Or in 1951, when the plays were first revived, or indeed in 1971, when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s debut musical was premiered on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City.

Now comes Inspired By Theatre’s radical, boundary-pushing vision in old York city in rain-saturated 2026, one that has a rawness, frankness and starkness that emphasises why our more sensitive world labels emotional experiences in such cautionary terms.

Rianna Pearce’s Mary

After such startling shows as Green Day’s American Idiot in 2024 and RENT in 2025, company founder Dan Crawfurd-Porter now directs the York company in Jesus Christ Superstar, the Seventies’ hippy musical in which he made his debut as Peter for Ripon Operatics in 2021.

As with American Idiot and RENT, his directorial style is visceral, the drama confrontational, the ensemble bond so strong among his cast as he delivers on his promise of a “gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful” show.

“What defines this production is its intensity,” said Crawfurd-Porter in his CharlesHutchPress interview. “Our staging is bold, the choreography [by assistant director Freya McIntosh] demands everything from the cast, and the individual performances are so powerful. There’s no coasting, no safe choices.”

Mickey Moran’s Herod

Without recourse to technological trickery or projections, Crawfurd-Porter puts his trust in physicality, movement, bold lighting (by Daniel Grey) and contrasting costume (lighter colours for the good, dark for the villains of the piece, from Judas to Pilate, Herod  to Caiaphas and Annas).

As trailed in his remarkably striking publicity photographs, make-up is all important too, just as it was for David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, bringing internal character to the surface and providing spectacle when Gi Vasey’s set of moveable, plain building blocks is designed to have more impact through shape-shifting, becoming temple-of-doom towers around Pilate, Caiaphas and Annas, seating for Jesus’s followers or a battle ground when “belief spirals into chaos, power corrupts, and humanity collides with the divine”.

The raised central dais is not ideal for McIntosh’s choreography when calling on the cast to move across the stage at pace in the opening number, enforcing some awkward leaps and landings, but from then on, the ensemble work has momentum, climaxing with Act Two’s title number.

Kelly Ann Bolland’s Judas

Movement matters – and flows well under Crawfurd-Porter’s direction – but  this sung-through rock opera stands or falls on the strength of its singing; after all, Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan sang Jesus’s part on the original 1970 concept album.

Iain Harvey hits the high notes spectacularly with absolute assurance while bringing grace and fervour to Lloyd Webber and Rice’s somewhat morose depiction of Jesus. You sense his burden, brought here to save the world and to sacrifice himself  for God on the cross. In the one passage where Jesus speaks, perhaps too exhausted to sing, unlike in opera’s finales, he cries out to his mother: the moment that reinforces what a devastating performance Harvey has given.

In Crawfurd-Porter’s most inspired casting, the treacherous role of Judas goes to Kelly Ann Bolland, whose prowess as a classic rock musician “with a strong affinity for music driven by raw energy and power” drives her outstanding performance, singing Heaven On Their Minds. Judas’s Death and the climactic Superstar with harrowing, turbulent vigour, even venom. At the same, the hand rubbing, the awful realisation of the consequence of Judas’s actions, recall Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth.

Richard Bayton’s Peter

Josh Woodgate’s Pilate

Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Hayes’ Caiaphas

Rianna Pearce’s Mary (Magdalene) impresses too, from leading Everything’s All Right to bringing heartfelt candour to chart hit I Don’t Know How To Love Him and revitalising Could We Start Again Please? with Richard Bayton’s substantial, volatile Peter.

Joseph Hayes’s basso profondo is suitably deep and dark for Caiaphas, joined in condemnation of Jesus by Gi Vasey’s Annas and Josh Woodgate’s exasperated, hand-washing Pilate, while Mickey Moran pops up from lead guitar duty in the orchestra pit for a scene-stealing, ultra-thespian, heavy-metal frontman cameo in King Herod’s Song. Kailum Farmery’s Simon leaps to the fore in Simon Zealotes, his tattoos and shaved cranium providing a bridge to modern times.

Lloyd Webber and Rice cut their musical teeth on Jesus Christ Superstar and musically it is very much a rock opera of its Seventies’ time, more direct, more thrusting, more emotionally in your face than their later works.

Kailum Farmery’s Simon

Mathew Peter Clare’s musical direction captures that thrill of an early work, one that predates the classical embellishments of Lloyd Webber’s later arrangements and whose songs would have fitted early editions of The Old Grey Whistle Test. You will love the moment too where the instruments fall silent for an a cappella finale too.

What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a’happening? Inspired By Theatre have once more delivered exhilarating musical theatre with purpose, passion and panache.

Jesus Christ Superstar, Inspired By Theatre, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

A montage of Dan Crawfurd-Porter images for Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar

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REVIEW: Here & Now: The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Sunday ***

River Medway’s Jem, centre, in the Code Fabulous rendition of Chain Reaction in Here & Now: The Steps Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith

A JUKEBOX musical is defined as a stage or film musical that “generally uses songs everyone knows and loves, creating a sense of instant familiarity and singalong fun”.

Then add a storyline, a plot structure, a reason to use those songs, from comedian, playwright and screenwriter Ben Elton’s futuristic, dystopian, flash script for Queen’s We Will Rock You to fellow playwright and screenwriter Tim Firth’s cheeky-boy, kitchen-sink tale of love, choices and destiny for Madness’s Our House.

Now add Steps, the boy/girl-next door purveyors of late-Nineties’ high-energy, synth-fuelled Europop, a late runner from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman stable beloved of bubblegum pop radio, hen-party club nights, post-school Iberian summer holidays and supermarket aisles. Never fabber than Abba, but once almost as ubiquitous.

Enter playwright, screenwriter and journalist Shaun Kitchener – who writes a fortnightly pop culture column in the Metro – to take Steps to musical jukebox heaven after participating in the Royal Court’s New Writers’ Group, writing for Soho Theatre, Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and Comedy Central’s Queerpiphany and premiering his plays Positive and All That in London.

Sally Ann Matthews’ supermarket boss, Patricia, left, with Lara Dennning’s Caz in Here & Now: The Steps Musical. Picture: Danny Kaan

Steps one: make it camp, make it cheesy, make it bright and breezy. Steps two, stick to the everyday soap-opera stuff of love, love rats, troubled pasts and hopeful futures, escapism and inertia, in the quotidian setting of a seaside supermarket. Steps three, find myriad ways to splice Steps’ hits to that storyline, however contrived.

Steps four, use every Steps’ trope and insignia, from typeface to palette of colours (pinks and blues), from calling the supermarket Better Best Buys (in a nod to Better Best Forgotten) to naming an airline Buzz (after the album of that title).

Look out too for the supermarket checkout aisles being numbered 5, 6, 7, 8 (Steps’ 1997 chart debut). All these in-jokes play well with the target audience – yes, Steps fans – who just about observed the pre-show supermarket-announcement request not to sing along until the Megamix finale at Wednesday’s matinee.

Steps five: build this Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman-backed show around a high-quality production team, led by Rachel Kavanaugh, esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company, West End, Regent’s Park and Chichester Festival Theatre director and former Birmingham Rep artistic director. Alongside her are choreographer Matt Cole, musical supervisor and arranger Matt Spencer-Smith, set designer Tom Rogers and costume designer Gabriella Slade.

In the trolley: Lara Denning’s Caz being spun a lie by Chris Grahamson’s Gareth in Here & Now. Picture: Pamela Raith

All contribute to the sassy show’s sights and sounds, playing playfully with the Steps iconography in the cause of a fun and hit-filled party night out (or matinee, if you want to make a day of it) on an open-plan set that has towers of immaculately stacked shelves to each side, pier railings and blue sea behind  and bluer sky above.

Here, in the tradition of Jeremy Lloyd & David Croft’s Are You Being Served? and Victoria Wood’s dinnerladies, the focus is on the staff, rather than interaction with customers, which leaves Here & Now to play out largely in an eerie vacuum (although that could provide an alternative explanation for why the store will, spoiler alert,  close in a week’s time).

While that blinkered focus is understandable, surely it would not have been too far a step to have had ensemble members dressed as shoppers on occasion. Instead, Here & Now is a staff-heavy fantasia for our age of the self-service till.

Jacqui Dubois’ Vel, left, and Rosie Singha’s Neeta on the supermarket floor in Here & Now. Picture: Pamela Raith

At the heart of Here & Now is the outstanding Lara Denning’s Caz and her co-workers, who promise her a Summer Of Love (after rotter husband Gareth (Chris Grahamson) reneges on their plan to adopt a child on the eve of her 50th birthday.

Jacqui Dubois’s ever-comforting Vel has eyes for delivery worker Tracey (Lauren Woolf); Rosie Singha’s Neeta is tongue-tied over fancying co-worker Ben (Ben Darcy); Blake Patrick Anderson’s Robbie is struggling to overcome his father’s rejection, stultifying his craving for a relationship with town celebrity drag act, Drop Dead Diva Amanda Smooth (RuPaul’s Drag Race star River Medway’s Jem), one of only two customers to be woven into Kitchener’s tick-the-boxes storyline.

The other is Edward Baker-Duly’s Max, or Frenchman ‘Henri’ as supermarket boss Patricia (Coronation Street alumna Sally Ann Matthews) thinks he is, practising her dodgy French pronunciations on her staff while failing to hide her fancy Francais fling from them. Acquisitive businessman Max turns out to be the Machiavellian villain of the piece, playing his part to the 2D, six-pack max.

Save Our Store: Lara Denning’s Caz, centre, leads the supermarket staff in their protest. Picture: Pamela Raith

Matthews has fewer scenes than the central quartet but, along with Caz, Patricia is the show’s best-written role: blunt, in urgent need of more self-awareness, but with a waspish bite to her. Better still is Denning’s Caz, whose characterisation carries the most depth, not least the back story of child loss, against the grain of  Kitchener’s tendency towards cliché. She sings bangers and ballads alike with panache and poignancy.

All the hits are here and now, from 5, 6, 7, 8 being transformed into a Half-Price Hoedown to the washing- machine spin cycle of Medway’s Code Fabulous rendition of Chain Reaction. Even 2012 flop Story Of A Heart turns out to be rather better than its number 173 chart placing might have suggested.

Do not go seeking hidden depths – the songs never had them – but Here & Now has both comedy and Tragedy, (the Bee Gees cover), happiness and sadness, fun and games, bad behaviour and good, baskets and trolleys, love and loss, Steps and more Steps. A Summer Of Love to perk up a wet winter with fizz, friction and fancy fondant pop.

Here & Now: The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 3pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Martyn Knight to make exit with Annie after 21 years of directing York Light Opera Company at York Theatre Royal

Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis and Martin Lay’s Rooster in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company for the last time in its first staging of Annie in 25 years at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow to February 21.

“It’s my swan song for York Light after 21 years,” says Martyn. “I’m nearly 70, I’m still haring up and down the country – and I’ve just finished the panto season in Eastbourne, where I’ve been the dame for 21 years [at the Devonshire Park Theatre], playing Sally Smee, Smee’s mum, in The Adventures Of Peter Pan this winter.

“You have people coming through as performers all the time, and you need to have directors coming through too. There are only so many dance numbers you can do over the years.”

To prove the point, Martyn is directing Annie for the fifth time. “That spans several years,” he says. “Until now, they’ve all been in the south, High Wycombe, Taunton, Weymouth and… the other one eludes me. York Light is the first one in the north.”

Reflecting on more than two decades at the helm of York Light shows, he says: “As a company, they have brought me friendship and family, as I’ve made so many friends over the years, working with incredible people, with all the joy of giving back to amateur theatre.

“What I get out of it is amazing. I started in the amateurs, never training in dancing and singing, but got the chance in 1976 o start working as a dancer in Portugal at Casino Estoril, the biggest casino in Europe at the time.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“I was in the floor show, I was 19/20, in my ‘gap year’, and being paid to do it, then went to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore – onwards and upwards.”

Martyn continues: “I was never excellent in the three disciplines, but I could act, sing and dance, did lots of rep things, and ultimately went into the West End in one of those shows. In around 1990, I was in panto with Hinge & Bracket, alongside these 18 and 19-year-olds, when I was in my 30s, and I remember thinking, ‘I should get a proper job’, just as my mum always suggested.”

Cue Martyn directing and choreographing shows at the Watford Palace Theatre, where he had first performed at the age of 11 “when my mum got me into theatre”. “My dad was very high up in management at Heinz, but I have always been a rebel, going against what’s expected,” he says.

Directing has brought him much joy, not least when revisiting a musical such as Annie, a heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile. 

“I think it’s the children’s element of the show that makes Annie so popular, the chance to see your local talent on stage. We have 18 girls, aged seven to 13, and we auditioned far more than that,” says Martyn.

Annie at the double-trouble: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells sharing the title role in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“They really have that wow factor, and to me it’s all about the next generation of young performers. That’s what I like, when you see the talent coming through.”

Harriet Wells and Hope Day will be sharing the title role in the heart-warming tale of hope, family and second chances with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.

“Harriet and Hope have very different qualities and different approaches to playing the part, which I love,” says Martyn. “Harriet is very expressive; Hope was among the first ones I saw in the auditions, where you’re looking to spot someone who has star quality, and she really made me watch. She has a beautiful face.

“They’re both lovely singers and very good actresses, with demanding songs that they do so well, and though the hardest part is the dancing, they’re coming to terms with that too.”

Expect dazzling choreography, stunning costumes and a full live band in Martyn’s production, alongside a stellar cast of York talent, led by Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan after her forgetful but unforgettable Sister Mary Amnesia in  Nunsense: The Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in Summer 2024   and hostess Marlene Cabana in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe at the same theatre last summer.

Sarah Craggs and Neil Wood in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“Annabel is someone who didn’t cross my mind…until I saw her in the audition; slightly younger than she should be for Miss Hannigan, but her performance said ‘Cast me’,” says Martyn.

“Her last lead for me, [as Sarah Brown in 2018] in Guys And Dolls, was very different, which shows she is a very diverse, powerful performer. Put her together with Martin Lay’s Rooster and Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis, and they’re really good together.”

Martyn is as busy as ever – also working on a production of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical in Watford at present– and he is exacting in his standards. “You play to your strengths, but I also change,” he says. “As a director, I always think I could do it better, so I do alter things.”

York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, February 12 to 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm. The February 17 show will be British Sign Language Interpreted. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

  

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 6, from Gazette & Herald

Sally Ann Matthews in the role of supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now, The Steps Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Danny Kaan

MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s choices for February fulfilment.

Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday & Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm

PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Josh Woodgate’s Pilate in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.

On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

The sun’ll come out tomorrow: York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company  for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.

This heart-warming tale of hope, family and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars  Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and  Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies: Northern English folk at Helmsley Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

JEZ Lowe & The Bad Pennies have been playing their northern English and Celtic folk and acoustic songs and tunes for more than two decades around folk festivals, clubs and concert stages, while making a dozen albums.

Touring the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Belgium, as well as Great Britain and Ireland, singer, guitarist and composer Lowe performs with fiddle player, vocalist and Badapple Theatre writer-director Kate Bramley, Northumbrian small-pipes, accordion and whistle player Andy May and fretless bassist David De La Haye. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Al Murray’s All You Need Is Guv tour show at York Barbican

Comedy shake-up of the week: Al Murray, All You Need Is Guv, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

HEY cool cats! Hot on the heels of last year’s Guv Island tour of these green and groovy isles, The Guvnor is back with a new stand-up show for 2026. There’s no denying the world’s a mess, daddio, but here comes a glimmer of hope as the globe’s favourite pub landlord returns with his common sense hot-takes for the masses, offering a much-needed truth tonic for these whacked out and troubled times. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fladam Theatre duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of half-term week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

FLADAM Theatre, the actor-musician York duo of Adam Sowter and Florence Poskitt, returns with an intergalactic musical adventure ideal for ages four to ten. Meet out-of-this-world pianist Norma, who dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, but children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very important piano recital coming up.

When a bizarre-looking contraption crash-lands in the garden, is it a bird? Or a plane? No and twice no, it’s a piano, but no ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true in a 45-minute show packed with awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots, and interplanetary puns that will have children shooting for the stars. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Crime fiction author Elly Griffiths: Discussing new novel The Killing Time at Milton Rooms, Malton

Kemps Books’ literary event of the week: An Evening With Elly Griffiths, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 16, 7.30pm

ELLY Griffiths, award-winning crime fiction author of The Ruth Galloway Mysteries, The Brighton Mysteries and The Postscript Murders, discusses new novel The Killing Time and the inspirations behind her time-twisting mysteries, compelling characters and gripping storytelling. Expect lively conversation, fascinating insights and a book-signing finale. Tickets: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jodie Comer’s lawyer Tessa in Prime Facie, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Rankin

Recommended but sold out already: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

JODIE Comer returns to her Olivier and Tony Award-winning role as lawyer Tessa in the “Something Has To Change” tour of Suzie Miller’s Prime Facie in her first appearance on a North Yorkshire stage since her professional debut in Scarborough as Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in April 2010.

Comer’s Tessa is a thoroughbred young barrister who loves to win, working her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game: prosecuting, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event, however, forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

Craig David: PerformingTS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend in July

Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.

David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

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Deathly Dark Tours to launch ticket office & retail shop in Grape Lane on Friday the 13th

Deathly Dark Tours tour guide in chief Dr Dorian Deathly

FRIDAY the 13th. Could there be a more perfect date for York’s Deathly Dark Tours to open their doors?

After five years of meeting guests on Grape Lane, Dr Dorian and Dede Deathly – Jamie and Laura McKeller – are overjoyed to have acquired a good old bricks-and- mortar property that will serve as new ticket office and space for spooky, tour-themed retail.

“To celebrate the opening, we are offering an opportunity for people to pop down to explore the shop and also to join a free tour on Friday 13th February,” says Dr Dorian.

“Due to the January weather carrying on stubbornly into February, the tours will be just half the usual length of the public tours at a snappy 45 minutes. Our guide will take guests on a whistle-stop tour of some of York’s most spooky spots, parting ways on Shambles, which is perfect for a post-tour tipple.”

The doors to the shop, at 4 Grape Lane, will open at 5pm and all are welcome to attend. “We will be running a free tour at 6pm and again at 7pm, starting from the shop, with 30 spaces available on each one,” says Dede Deathly (Laura).

“If you would like to grab some tickets for either of the tours, please send an email with the name of the lead guest, which time slot you would like and how many tickets you need to DORIAN@DEATHLYDARKTOURS.COM. The tickets will then be sent over to you.”

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Jodie Comer returns to North Yorkshire stage for first time since her 2010 SJT professional debut, now starring in sold-out Prima Facie at Grand Opera House, York

“It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time,” says Jodie Comer, as she plays defence barrister Tessa Ensler on tour. Picture: Rankin

JODIE Comer will revive her Olivier and Tony Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s sexual assault drama Prima Facie “one last time” on a 2026 tour booked into the Grand Opera House, York, from February 17 to 21.

The Killing Eve, The Bikeriders and 28 Years Later  star last appeared on a North Yorkshire stage in her professional debut as spoilt, mouthy but bright, privately educated Ruby, playing opposite York actor Andrew Dunn in the world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in November 2010.

Tickets for the only Yorkshire venue on Prima Facie’s nine-city “Something Has To Change” tour went on sale on March 25 2025, for pre-sale to members at 10am and the general public at 12 noon, selling out only 20 minutes later.

Looking forward to reprising Miller’s monodrama on tour – directed by Justin Martin with music by Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor – Comer says: “It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time and take this important play on tour across the UK & Ireland. The resonance of Suzie Miller’s writing, both in London and New York, exceeded anything we could have imagined.

Jodie Comer in her professional theatre debut as Ruby in Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in 2010. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

“I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to get the team back together and take the production to theatres around the country, including my hometown of Liverpool. On a personal note, I can’t think of a better finale to what has been such an incredible and deeply rewarding chapter in my life.”

In criminal lawyer-turned playwright Miller’s Olivier Award winner for Best Play, Comer, 32, will play thoroughbred Tessa Ensler, a young, brilliant barrister who loves to win.

Ambitious Tessa has worked her way up from Liverpool and Luton council estates, via Cambridge University, to be at the top of her game in her early 30s as a criminal defence barrister for an esteemed London chambers: defending the accused, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case.

However, an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.

Jodie Comer in Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, on April 25 2022. Picture: Helen Murray

“She played by the rules, but the rules are broken,” as the sleeve to Miller’s script puts it, when Tessa, the woman who defends men accused of rape, is assaulted herself and ends up in the witness box.

In her 90-minute play, Miller, who was a lawyer for 15 years before focusing on writing since 2010, drew on research from trials at the Old Bailey to address how the legal system conducts sexual assault cases.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the Prima Facie 2026 tour,” says the Australian playwright, screenwriter, librettist, visual artist, novelist and human rights lawyer, who has degrees in both science and law.

“This play has already achieved more than we all could have dreamed, and Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution.”

“Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution,” says Prima Facie playwright Suzie Miller. Picture: Rankin

Liverpool-born Comer won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her 2022 performance as Tessa in her sold-out West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, repeating that feat in the Tony Awards when Miller’s play transferred to Broadway in 2023.

The NTLive (National Theatre) and Empire Street Productions live capture of Prima Facie has enjoyed two record-breaking cinema releases, with streaming on National Theatre At Home too, and Comer also has recorded an audiobook adaptation by Miller.

Now, opening at Richmond Theatre, Surrey, on January 23, Comer will complete the “perfect full circle by concluding the tour in her home city at the Liverpool Playhouse from March 17 to 21.

In an exclusive interview with Harpers Bazaar journalist Helena Lee on January 22, (https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a70089560/jodie-comer-prima-facie-play-tour/), Comer said: “Honestly, it’s just such a gift. I’ve got a fair chance to revisit Tess, to see how the character can develop and what further truth I can find. It’s rare.

Jodie Comer’s Tessa Ensler, the young, brilliant barrister who loves to win in Prima Facie. Picture: Rankin

“I’ve had so many different life experiences [since she first played Tess]. I’m coming into the room feeling a little more confident, a little more knowing, which is making for more detailed and revelatory discoveries.”

Comer’s Harpers Bazaar interview concluded: “We’re going out to regional, smaller cities and presenting Tess to the people she probably speaks to most. To go on this tour and have the final week in Liverpool – a homecoming for both Tess and myself – feels really quite magical.”

Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees, all sold out. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

NO press tickets are being provided for Prima Facie’s visit to the Grand Opera House, York. Frustratingly, CharlesHutchPress will not be reviewing the hottest ticket of the year, so hot that he was unable to purchase one in the booking tsunami on March 25 last year.

Jodie Comer in the tour poster for Prima Facie

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REVIEW: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14 ****

Robin Simpson’s Sam, the emotional support dog, in Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

“I CAN’T think of anyone better to play a dog than Robin,” said York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster at Saturday night’s post-show discussion.

She is referring to West Yorkshire actor and storyteller Robin Simpson, best known in York for his six seasons as the Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame – and already confirmed for next winter’s Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs too.

Simpson’s ability to connect with audiences is “extraordinary”, said director and associate artist John R Wilkinson, an ability needed for both his panto role and now York Theatre Royal, English Touring Theatre and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s world premiere co-production of Catherine Dyson’s one-act solo play.

In a nutshell, what links the two parts is the requirement for “direct address” to the audience. Here Simpson is playing Sam, an emotional support dog on a Year 9 school trip to a museum (unspecified but the Imperial War Museum in all but name).

Robin Simpson: Storytelling prowess in The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

Simpson is not dressed as a canine, nor does he walk on all fours, but his tabard bears the message “Don’t Pet Me I’m Working” and his roll-neck jumper and trousers evoke the colours of a Golden Retriever or Labrador.

This dog talks, taking the narrator’s role, while evoking the school head of history and a particularly sensitive schoolboy, and taking the audience by the hand as he invites us to imagine being in a theatre in 2026,then the group of school children, on the bus trip and in the museum, and most hauntingly, the victims of the Nazi Holocaust  in each Second World War picture.

Writer Dyson decreed only a few stage instructions, the most significant being that the pictures being described by Sam should never be shown. Instead, the images should be formed in our imagination – one of theatre’s most powerful tools – but such is the impact of Kristallnacht  (the Night of Broken Glass), the children’s exodus from Poland, the Jewish ghettos and the concentration camps that, when combined with Dyson’s descriptions and Simpson’s storytelling prowess, we readily draw on imagery from history books, films and documentaries.

Dyson’s structure is methodical, building momentum all the while. A head count is taken as regularly as Simpson’s Sam asks us how we are feeling after each picture. Simpson’s narrator explains how Sam can sense our emotions, our distress, without having the capacity to understand the play’s greater question: Why?

Director John R Wilkinson in rehearsal with actor Robin Simpson for the world premiere of The Last Picture

Gradually, we see teacher, breakaway 13-year-old pupil and dog all break down in reaction to what they are encountering, all  conveyed so expressively by Simpson. 

We learn too of other children’s reactions: wanting to know when lunch will be; wondering why something that happened so long ago in a different country should matter to them as they head from room to room, one marked Escalation, Deportation, Final Solution. They reach for the mobile phones at the earliest opportunity to flick through the latest posts.

Interestingly, contrary to myth, dogs do see in colour, but not in the same way we see colour, and here Wilkinson and set designer Natasha Jenkins complement Dyson’s descriptions of colour used by Sam to sum up the mood of each scene.

The back wall is covered with a plain cloth (an aid for us to build up a picture); the flooring has a metallic black sheen, framed by Isle of Skye lighting designer Benny Goodman’s strip lighting that changes from white to yellow. When the cloth drops suddenly, the stage is bathed in fiery orange.

Natasha Jenkins’s set design for York Theatre Royal’s production of The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

The minimalism stretches to the props: one table to the side, with a water bottle marked Sam (for Simpson’s vocal lubrication) and five lecture hall/school room chairs that Simpson uses in differing ways, most disturbingly to portray dead children when lain on their side.

Every detail has been thought through to the max, honed in four weeks of rehearsals, a research visit to Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield, and in Wilkinson’s bond with Dyson over the power of abstract, non-literal  theatre and European drama, as well as in Simpson’s remarkably adroit performance.

The Last Picture had begun life as one of 37 new plays picked from 2,000 entries to mark the500th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio in 2023 with a national playwriting initiative, when Wilkinson directed a rehearsed reading at York Theatre Royal and saw its potential for a full-scale production.

Robin Simpson’s Sam in a rueful moment in The Last Picture. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

This is that production, the full picture of The Last Picture, and what a fitting, moving first show for the Theatre Royal to make for the Studio space since the accursed Covid pandemic.

Add Max Pappenheim’s sound design, a devastating use of Mendelssohn’s music – deemed “degenerate” by the Nazis – and movement direction full of circular rhythm by Alexia Kalogiannidis, and Dyson’s play is unique, wholly original, thoroughly theatrical.

The Last Picture is unmissable, unforgettable, urgently needed theatre at its best.

The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14, 7.45pm plus 2pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees, then on tour. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. The tour will visit HOME Manchester, February 18 to 21; Bristol Old Vic, February 24 to 28; Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, March 5 to 7;  Mull Theatre, March 11 and 12; Bunessan Village Hall, March 13; Iona Village Hall, March 14.  

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when taking Steps to entertainment. Hutch’s List No. 5, from The York Press

Robin Simpson in The Last Picture at York Theatre Royal Studio, Picture: S R Taylor Photography

MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s favourites for February fulfilment.

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 14, 7.45pm except Sunday,  plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s anti-Fascist monodrama The Last Picture, directed by associate artist John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school museum trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Colour & Light turns the spotlight on Viking invader Eric Bloodaxe among York’s rogues, scoundrels and historical figures in Double Take Productions’ light installation at York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower. Picture: David Harrison

Illumination of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, until February 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings are illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for Double Take Projections’ fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show bring York’s historic rogues, scoundrels, miscreants, mischief makers and mythical characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

    Suede: Showcasing Antidepressants album on York Barbican return

    Recommended but sold out already: Suede, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

    AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede make a rather hastier return on their 17-date Antidepressants UK Tour when Brett Anderson’s London band promote their tenth studio album.

    “If [2022’s] Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Anderson. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. This is broken music for broken people.” Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

    Sara Pascoe: Contemplating smart and astute nocturnal thoughts in I Am A Strange Gloop

    Comedy gig of the week: Sara Pascoe, I Am A Strange Gloop, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

    HAVE you ever been awake in the middle of the night and thought something so smart and astute that you could not wait for the world to wake up for you to tell them? “This show is that thought, in that it doesn’t make much sense and is a bit weird on reflection,” says Dagenham comedian, actress, presenter and writer Sara Pascoe.

    In I Am A Strange Gloop, Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club podcaster and former The Great British Sewing Bee host Pascoe reveals how her children don’t sleep, her kitchen won’t clean itself and her husband “doesn’t want to be in it”. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

    Sally Ann Matthews’ supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now The Steps Musical. Picture: Danny Kaan

    Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 10 to 15, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm

    PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

    However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

    Gi Vasey’s Annas and Joseph Hayes’ Caiaphas in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

    Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 11 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

    YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.

    On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

    Annie at the double: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells will be sharing the title role in York Light Opera Company’s musical. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

    The sun’ll come out, not tomorrow, but from Thursday at: Annie, York Light Opera Company, York Theatre Royal, until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm

    MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company  for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.

    This heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars  Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and  Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

    Liz Foster: Exploring memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places in Deep Among The Grasses

    Exhibition launch of the week: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10

    YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.

    Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.

    Craig David: Performing his TS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase weekend

    Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24

    SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.

    David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment , plus current  House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

    Ice amid the January rain: York Ice Trail 2026

    Festival of the week: Make It York presents York Ice Trail, An Enchanted City, York city centre, today and tomorrow, 10.30am to 4pm

    THE streets of York will be transformed into An Enchanted City, where a spell has been cast, as ice sculptures, alive with enchantment, appear across the city’s cobbled and narrow streets.

    Created by Icebox, 36 sculptures inspired by magic, mystery, the weird and wonderful will make an extraordinary trail, but who cast the spell and why? Follow the trail to uncover the truth. Pick up a trail map from the Visit York Visitor Information Centre to tick off all the sculptures; collect a special sticker on completion. 

    The sculptures will be: Ice Ice Baby (neon photo opportunity), provided by Make It York; Igloo 360 Photobooth, Party Octopus; The Ice Village (curated market); All Aboard for Railway Stories, National Railway Museum; Bertie the Shambles Dragon, Shambles Market Traders; The Wizard of Ouse!, City Cruises York and Mr Chippy; The Enchanted Chocolate Bar, York’s Chocolate Story.

    Drake’s Spellbound Catch, provided by Drake’s Fish and Chips; Sword in the Stone, York BID; The Yorkshire Rose by Kay Bradley, Bradley’s Jewellers; Saint William’s Poisoned Chalice, York Minster; Toadstool House, York BID; York Park & Brrr-ide, First Bus; Wizard Teddy Bear, Stonegate Teddy Bears; Bettys Bern Bears, Bettys; The Magic of Connection, Grand Central Rail.

    Lord of the Lodging, provided by The Judge’s Lodging; The Ice Wall (photo opportunity), Make It York; Spellbound Train Ticket, The Milner York; From Grand Roots, Magic Blooms, The Grand, York; Hobgoblin, York BID; Enchanted, Icebox; Wade The Giant, North York Moors National Park; Let It Sew, Gillies Fabrics; The Hungry Dragon, Ate O’clock; Barghest, York BID.  

    The Prophet Hen, provided by SPARK: York; Jack Frost, York BID; Wings of Ice, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall; Magic Mixie Monster, York Mix; Mjolnir – The Bringer of Lightning, Murton Park; Beaky Blinder the Puffin, RSPB; Food and Drink Area; Ice Masterclass (paid experience); The Snow Block (photo opportunity), Make It York, and Live Ice Carving (from 12 noon each day).

    In Focus: Navigators Art performance & exhibition, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 5pm

    Penesthilia, by Penny Marrows

    TO mark the opening of Penny Marrows and J P Warriner’s posthumous exhibition at City Screen Pictiurehouse, Penny and artist Timothy Morrison’s son, London jazz guitarist Billy Marrows, performs tomorrow with Portuguese Young Musician of the Year 2025 Teresa Macedo Ferreira, supported by lutenist Simon Nesbitt. Admission is free.

    The exhibition launch follows at 6pm, celebrating two late York artists whose paintings were never exhibited in their lifetimes.

    Born in 1951, Penny grew up in Tockwith, west of York, and attended Mill Mount Grammar School for Girls before studying 2D and 3D art at York College, training as a sculptor, then taught art in prisons and adult education in London.

    On returning to Yorkshire, she painted and drew trees, landscapes and portraits for 30 years, including her self-portrait as an heroic winged figure.

    Her exhibition is curated by husband Timothy Morrison, York artist and teacher, who says: “I met her in a printmaking evening class in Brixton, where Penny made linocuts and engravings of alarmingly aggressive-looking mythical beasts.

    “Billy came along…and as a teenager fell in love with the guitar and jazz, and went on to study at Royal Academy of Music.

    “Fast forward to early 2023 when Penny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Billy started sending little video recordings of his music to cheer her up (and me). New compositions, and duets with Teresa [Macedo Ferreira].

    Penny Marrows in her garden

    “The Beech Tree had its premiere at Penny’s funeral, and some of these pieces became Billy’s first album, Penelope, released soon after in her memory. So far it’s raised almost £7,000 for World Child Cancer.”

    In 2025, Penelope was shortlisted in the category of Best New Album in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. “Penny doesn’t know about all this, nor that thanks to Billy’s music her paintings have had an extraordinary resurrection.

    “The trauma of the illness, combined with major retro-refit work in the house, meant that the paintings were buried in the chaos. We found them at the back of a huge pile. First exhibited at the funeral, they’ve since gone round the world beautifully emblazoned on Billy’s album covers.”

    Penny loved trees, especially walking through woods. “The paintings seemed to burst from nowhere at the time, almost with a secretive devil-may-care diffidence, but are actually distillations of detailed observational sketchbook drawings done in the Howardian Hills while we collected wood for our stove,” says Timothy.

    “Her early notebooks tenderly catch details of family life in Tockwith with an almost Bonnard-like natural draughtsmanship. My garden is a beautiful sculpture garden.

    “If Penny is anywhere, she’s in the trees, both in the paintings and out there. Her work inspires my own drawings; I think of her as Daphne and I often depict her as a bird perched humorously and enquiringly on her very own branch.

    “I would like to thank Richard Kitchen, who greatly encouraged me to curate this show of Penny’s work, and for making it possible.”

    J P Warriner’s work Untitled, featuring in Navigators Art’s exhibition

    BORN in Ireland in 1935, J P (John)Warriner lived most of his life in York, where he died in 2019 aged 84. “He has no surviving family or partner,” says Navigators Art’s Richard Kitchen. “Research indicates he was a brilliant and kind man, and a grandfather figure to troubled local youth.”

    John was a contemporary figurative painter whose style spanned surrealism, post pop, erotic and neo-mythic genres. Married to Effie, the couple had two children, Ronald and Nigel, who both died tragically young.

    “John seemed to have taken to painting to heal from the losses he and Effie endured,” says his exhibition curator, Cath Dickinson, of Notions Vintage. “He remains somewhat of an enigma, with little recorded about his life or artistic endeavours.

    “We know that he was a retired Nestle employee, living in Acomb, suspected to have hailed from Omagh, County Tyrone. With no social media or websites to dissect, no records of known influences or potential drivers, the journey of discovery about JP is just beginning.”

    Local accounts reveal that he was a much loved go-to grandfather figure to all the children in his street in Foxwood, Acomb, never missing a birthday or Christmas, delivering shortbread and fixing many broken bikes.

    In a strange encounter, curator Cath Dickinson, who has been collecting paintings by John for five years, met someone who knew a friend and neighbour of John by chance.

    “I discovered that John had been more than a friendly neighbour but amentor to troubled local adolescents and young people who were struggling with the temptations of life in the hedonistic 1990s and 2000s,” says Cath.

    Artist J P Warriner with “our Amy”

    “John had a particularly close friend, mentee and muse in ‘Our Amy’, a wonderful young mum who was full of life, and had a fantastic sense of humour. John became Amy’s mentor and confidante and tried to not only guide but also record many of the pivotal moments in her tragically shortened life.”

    Exhibition visitors hopefully will be able to discover and share more of the  history of John’s painting and subjects. “The main part is in tribute and memory to Amy and John and their bond which transcended generations and societal norms,” says Cath. “John’s works have been likened to Alasdair Gray and Grayson Perry. They span decades and observe war, tragedy, comedy, temptation, love and loss.

    After the exhibition in memory of John, Effie and Amy ends on March 6, some of John’s works will be available to buy from notionsvintageyork.com at 6 Aldwark Mews, York, YO1 7PJ.

    “This joint exhibition has been both a labour of love and a voyage of discovery for its two curators,” says Richard. “Come and discover the work of two wonderful creative artists and their vibrant contrasting styles and subject matter.”

    Penny Marrows & J P Warriner, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on show until March 6, open daily from 10.30am until closing time.

    Did you know?

    BILLY Marrows also played at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, on February 5 with Di-Cysgodion, a contemporary jazz quartet making waves in the capital and touring the north following their appearance at London’s Vortex Jazz Club. 

    Billy will return to The Basement with the Billy Marrows Band on March 26 in a 7.30pm concert promoted by Jazztones at 7.30pm. Tickets: TicketSource booking at bit.ly/nav-events.

    The quartet brings together exciting London jazz scene improvisers to present York-born Billy’s boundary-pushing compositions, where they explore the relationship between improvisation and composition, incorporating grooves from across the globe and taking inspiration from many genres, including contemporary jazz, funk, progressive jazz and classical.

    Penny Marrows’ artwork for Billy Marrows’ album Penelope, which received a four-star review in Jazzwise

    Joining Billy, electric guitar and compositions, will be Chris Williams,  alto sax (Led Bib, Sarathy Korwar, Grande Familia, Let Spin), Huw V Williams, double bass (Gruff Rhys, Ivo Neame, Chris Batchelor, Di-Cysgodion) and Jay Davis, drums (Mark Lockheart, Eddie Parker, Elliot Galvin, Di-Cysgodion).

    Their debut album, Dancing On Bentwood Chairs, will be released on February 13, and this concert forms part of the accompanying tour,

    Billy, who grew up in Sheriff Hutton, near York, studied jazz guitar at the Royal Academy of Music. He also leads the chamber-jazz project Grande Família, whose appearances have taken in top British venues, Scarborough Jazz Festival and a sold-out residency at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho.

    In addition, Billy performs with Docklands Sinfonia, Tom Ridout Quintet, Chelsea Carmichael, Patchwork Jazz Orchestra and Di-Cysgodion. For more details, go to:
    billymarrows.com.

    Posted on

    REVIEW: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ****

    Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

    ONE of the joys of York’s remarkable spread of theatre companies is the chance to catch the ever-widening span of acting talent in leading roles.

    Helen Gallagher has performed in musicals since she was young, across Yorkshire, in Manchester and overseas in Seoul, South Korea. Now she takes the title role in Sophie Cooke’s production of Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s 1961 musical story of friendship, adventure, and romance, set against the backdrop of the American Western Frontier. 

    Alongside her is the towering Matt Tapp, who has played everything from a sailor to an asylum owner in amateur musicals for years, not least a Viking (no surprise there, given his heavy metal mane of hair and beard).

    Here he takes on a “real challenge, but an amazing one” in his Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company debut as “Wild” Bill Hickok (soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman and actor of the American Old West), here spelled ‘Hickock’ in the programme.

    Gallagher’s ‘Calam’ and Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill are both superb leads in Cooke’s impressively well-drilled company, one that fills the stage to the gills with bright energy, fun, frills and bonhomie, choreographed with admirable precision and passion by Heather Stead and Rachel Shadman.

    The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s eighth fundraising show for the JoRo Theatre’s maintenance since 2017 is built on strong foundations: Cooke’s direction, so alive to the show’s romance, love of theatrical performance and balance of frivolity, femininity, feminism and competitive male swagger, in tandem with Martin Lay’s zestful musical direction of an 11-strong orchestra (featuring polymath James Robert Ball in yet another guise as trombonist).

    Then add Stead’s choreography, maximising ensemble movement, Julie Fisher and Costume Crew’s costume designs and Eliza Rowley’s set design of a prettily refurbished cabin for Calamity and Katie Brown (Jennifer Jones) and an open-plan structure for the Golden Garter, the saloon run by Alex Schofield’s  ever-harassed by perennially willing-to-please Henry Miller.

    Charting the interlinked lives of the Deadwood City community in 1876, when everyone knows everyone’s business, Calamity Jane is suffused with colourful characters united by dreams of a better life. Not only the frontier-town folk and fort of soldiers, but also Jones’s Katie Brown, the dresser mistaken by Calamity Jane for Chicago singing sensation Adelaide Adams (Mollie Raine) when she promises Miller she will bring back Adelaide from the Windy City to perform at the saloon.

    Gallagher’s sharp-shooting Calam’ (real name Martha Jane Canary) is as fast with her tongue as her gun, always in a rush, ready for the rough and tumble, a no-nonsense tomboy, but with a romantic heart held in check beneath the bravado.

    She sings delightfully too, from The Deadwood Stage opener, through the exasperated Men! to Windy City and the ever-gorgeous My Secret Love. Best of all is her Act Two opening duet with Jones’s Katie, A Woman’s Touch.

    Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill has bags of stage presence too, matched by his assured singing, whether in his I Can Do Without You duet with Calamity or his ‘big number’, Higher Than A Hawk.

    At the heart of Calamity Jane is the love interest, played with a lightness of touch by Gallagher’s Calamity, who’s in love with Adam Gill’s upstanding but very forward Lt Danny Gilmartin, who’s fallen in love with Jones’s Katie, the new apple of the eye of Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill. Such a merry-go-round of the heart is delightfully daft and yet deftly played.

    Sadie Sorensen’s Susan blossoms in the story’s other romance with Tom Menarry’s Francis Fryer, the Chicago act booked mistakenly (as Miss Frances Fryer) by Miller. Menarry is a particular joy in drag for Hive Full Of Honey, while Raine revels in Adelaide’s moment in the spotlight , It’s Harry I’m Planning To Marry.

    From Emily Hawkins’ poster designs to Scenery Solutions’ backcloth for the Black Hills Of Dakota, this Calamity Jane is spot on in every way.

    Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight and 2.30pm (last few tickets) and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musical/calamity-jane/2830.