Theatre – charleshutchpress

July 15, 2026July 15, 2026

The frocks & shocks of The Rocky Horror Show return to Grand Opera House with Stephen Webb as Dr Frank N Furter

Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. Picture: David Freeman

STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as lascivious Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, York, from July 20 to 25

Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of Brad and his fiancée Janet, two squeaky-clean American college sweethearts, who meet Dr Frank N Furter by chance when their car breaks down outside his creepy Transylvanian castle while on their way to visit their favourite professor.

Cue an adventure they will never forget, full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences, by the way, need no encouragement to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress.

The Narrator’s role will be played by actress, stand-up comedian, cabaret act, writer, drama lecturer, singer and television presenter Jackie Clune, who played Mrs Lamb in the BBC sitcom Motherland.

She will be joined by James Bisp as Brad; Haley Flaherty as Janet; Ryan Carter-Wilson as Riff Raff; Laura Bird as Magenta/Usherette; Daisy Steere as Columbia; Morgan Jackson as Rocky and Edward Bullingham as Eddie/Dr Scott.

Completing the cast are Phantoms Jesse Chidera, Nathan Zach Johnson, Tyla Dee Nurden and Bethany Amber Perrins, plus on-stage swing/dance captain David Peter-Brown and on-stage swing/assistant dance captain Lucy Aiston.

Producer Howard Panter says: “This new cast brings an extraordinary energy and freshness to our legendary show. The thrilling mix of talent will continue to delight audiences across the country. The Rocky Horror Show is a guaranteed party night after night – it’s fierce, fearless and not to be missed!”

Stephen Webb’s Frank N Furter in doctor’s garb, centre, with fellow principals in The Rocky Horror Show. Picture: David Freeman

Here Stephen Webb discusses career ambitions, the challenges of playing sweet transvestite Dr Frank N Furter, his favourite costume and the Rock Horror phenomenon .

Was there a moment when you realised you wanted to be a professional performer?

“I was obsessed with John Travolta in Grease. I went to watch it in London when it first opened. I was obsessed. I thought, ‘I need to be in theatre’. That changed it for me really. I used to watch the film all the time.”

How did you react when you learned you would be playing Dr Frank-N-Furter?

“Well, I couldn’t believe it first of all. When I originally wanted to audition for Rocky, I thought I’d be up for Brad and then they said, ‘No, we want to see you for Frank’. When I got it, I was ecstatic! I couldn’t believe that I got this role. But in the next moment, I was really anxious because it’s such an iconic role. I just want to live up to the legacy.”

How do you bring your own twist to the role while honouring the legacy of past performances?

“I remember that Christopher Luscombe, the director, said, ‘We don’t want you to do an impersonation of Tim Curry, we want to see your version’, which actually settled me.

“I portray Frank using an American accent, instead of an English accent. Obviously, Frank’s costume is quite feminine,so I do inject an element of masculinity into my performance. My take on it is a little bit rough around the edges. The audience has mixed feelings about Frank, which I love. He is a lovable psychopath!

“Because the character was written during the ‘70s Glam Rock era, I take inspiration from David Bowie, T. Rex and Queen. But I always find something new every performance, which makes playing this role so exciting.”

What is your favourite part of performing as Frank each night?

“There are two moments. One is my entrance. I’m not on stage for the first 20 minutes and the audience are waiting for Frank to come on. There’s a big drum beat before I enter and I’ve got this big old cloak on.

“I walk down centre stage and sing ‘Sweet Transvestite’, whip off my cloak and reveal my crazy costume. The audience goes absolutely berserk for it. It doesn’t matter if I’ve had the worst day in the world – it goes away as soon as I’m on that stage.

“Another special moment for me is when you see the vulnerable side of Frank. It’s like he’s taken off his mask and you’re seeing the true side of him.”

Do you have a favourite audience interaction or reaction so far?

“There are loads of shouts throughout the show. The audience are very much part of the show; they are almost another character. I’ve heard pretty much all of them now, so they don’t tend to catch me out. When I’m talking to Rocky, when he first comes out, there are a few shouts that are quite rude, and I love them! I think they’re really funny.”

James Bisp’s Brad and Haley Flaherty’s Jane in The Rocky Horror Show. Picture: David Freeman

What is the most challenging part of playing Frank, either physically or emotionally?

“It’s not wearing the heels – I absolutely love wearing those – it’s actually wearing the black corset because it doesn’t give. Singing and dancing in a corset means I must make sure that I eat and drink enough at the right time before doing the show, otherwise I struggle throughout the show.”

Do you have a favourite outfit on stage?

“My finale red sequin corset. I absolutely love it. It really fits me like a glove – and it changes colour. If you push it up, it goes black, if you push it down, it goes red.”

If you could keep one piece of Frank’s wardrobe for yourself, what would it be?

“I do a few scenes with a leather jacket with tassels on it. I’m a motorcyclist so would love to steal it and ride my bike wearing it!”

The Rocky Horror Show has been pushing boundaries for more than five decades. Why do audiences keep coming back after all these years?

“It’s a show that celebrates what it means to be different, to follow your dreams, like the song ‘Don’t Dream It, Be It’. There are amazing songs; I don’t think you could ever get bored with the ‘Time Warp’ or ‘Sweet Transvestite’! It’s got a lot of heart, it’s extremely funny, and it allows people to be part of it. There’s no other show like it.”

Do you have any pre-show rituals before stepping into Frank’s heels?

“I don’t really have any pre-show rituals but I do love make-up. Before Rocky Horror, I never liked using make-up, now I absolutely love it. As soon as I start putting the make-up and wig on, it transforms me, like I’ve got an alter ego!”

Finally, what do you hope audiences will take away from experiencing The Rocky Horror Show?

“I think everyone who comes will have fun. It’s unique, liberating, funny, fierce and sexy. It’s a brilliant night out where everyone can be who they want to be. It’s one great big party!”

The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, July 20 to 25, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Content warning: Rude parts. Age guidance: 12 plus.

The Rocky Horror Show: the history bit

BEGAN life in 1973 in front of an audience of 63 people in the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, in Chelsea, London. Transferred to Chelsea Classic Cinema, then King’s Road Theatre, 1973 to 1979, and Comedy Theatre in the West End, 1979-80.

The Rocky Horror Show has enjoyed the longest continuous run of a contemporary
musical anywhere in the world, being watched by 35 million people in more than 30 countries and translated into 20 languages.

July 15, 2026

REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Opera North in The Sound Of Music, Leeds Grand Theatre, until August 1

Katie Bird’s Maria in Opera North’s The Sound Of Music

IF your memories of The Sound Of Music come with the emotional baggage of the 1965 film starring Julie Andrews, you will be more than pleasantly surprised by this reconstituted stage version.

Miss Andrews was a huge talent and the film proved a blockbuster, but its sugar-rush has been supplanted in this Nikolai Foster production (revived here by Ollie Khurshid) by a great deal more substance, political, emotional and geographical.

First seen in Leicester’s Curve Theatre last November, it now has the benefit of a full-size (40-piece) professional orchestra and chorus. Operatic purists may recoil to learn that all the singers are miked – which certainly helps the children’s voices – but they will get over it.

Two numbers cut from the film are restored, How Can Love Survive? and No Way To Stop It. Both refer candidly to the Nazi backdrop. This musical has a serious side that the film version all but ignored.

When a messenger boy in uniform arrives with a telegram “from Berlin” and bellows a Nazi ‘Heil!’ salute, you can almost hear the audience gasp. It recalls the Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938).

The message commands Captain von Trapp to join the German navy, which he is naturally loath to do. So it has a decisive effect – and gives us chilling context.

Michael Taylor’s set is exemplary. A nursery slope of the mountains around Salzburg, which are seen in the background – instantly paralleled by Maria’s “the hills are alive” at the start – has an angled path running down across the stage.

In the final scene, the nine members of the Trapp family, now refugees, are silhouetted against the night sky as they escape through the mountains to the New World. We understand at once: history never really changes.

Edward Bennett: Playing Captain von Trapp in Opera North’s The Sound Of Music

When he needs to be in the abbey with the nuns, he lowers a great pointed ecclesiastical window-frame. In the castle, there are grand doors instead.

Needless to say, the musical side of the evening is stunning. Katie Bird makes Maria her own, conflicted over her true calling, firm in her principles, but tender with the children. ‘Do-Re-Mi’ is charming and ‘My Favourite Things’ is life-loving. She gives us all sides of a truly appealing character.

Edward Bennett is an actor rather than a singer, but his baritone is perfectly adequate for the role of Captain von Trapp, as in his duet with Maria, ‘Something Good’, and in Edelweiss’ with the family.

There is one truly glorious piece of singing from Katherine Broderick as Mother Abbess: she gives us full Wagnerian splendour in ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ at the end of each act, soaring above the tumult.

The seven children – all are double-cast (this was the ‘Drop’ group) – sing with great conviction and clarity and they move with impressive discipline.

Amy Freston delivers a nicely haughty Baroness Elsa, whom the Captain discards for Maria, while other members of the pro-Nazi camp are neatly defined by Nicholas Butterfield as Max and Kamil Bien as Rolf. A variety of colourful cameos come from other members of the Opera North chorus, notably as nuns.

Ebony Molina’s choreography avoids traditional ‘song-and-dance’ routines in favour of more restrained and more engagingly lifelike dance. Oliver Rundell conducts with panache and his orchestra takes to the idiom like ducks to water, bursting with rhythmic pizzazz. The big choral numbers are thrilling.

This may not be The Sound Of Music as you imagined it, but it rings absolutely true. You dare not miss it.

Opera North in The Sound Of Music, Leeds Grand Theatre, until August 1. Box office: 0113 223 3600 or operanorth.co.uk.

Review by Martin Dreyer

July 15, 2026July 15, 2026

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 29, from Gazette & Herald

Eliza Carthy: Performing with The Restitution at Ryedale Festival

A MYTHICAL tale of a goddess, a near-future re-spinning of the selkie myth, an Arthurian quest of a lifetime, a bothersome briefcase in a love story and a nostalgia trip to variety’s golden days keep Charles Hutchinson entertained.

Folk gig of the week: Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, Ryedale Festival, Selby Abbey, tonight, 7pm

FLAMBOYANT Robin Hood’s Bay fiddler and singer Eliza Carthy continues to re-imagine traditional music with fiery imagination and fearless individuality. The daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, she grew up immersed in the folk world, and here she performs with her powerhouse touring band in one of Yorkshire’s most atmospheric and beautiful settings. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s SELENE at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Radical myth revamp of the week: Wright & Grainger and Theatre@41 present Megan Drury in SELENE, Halfway To Edinburgh Season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7pm, and tomorrow, 8.30pm

AUSTRALIAN actor Megan Drury stars in Easingwold duo Phil Grainger and Alexander Flanagan Wright’s tale of the goddess and the dark side of the moon in a radical explosion of an ancient myth.

A young girl watches the moon landings on repeat. A teenager makes a list of all the things they are not. A young adult starts to discover who they are. Expect a story addressing the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, the things orbiting around us as we grow up and not least the wild stuff inside us. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Three Inch Fools: Epic tale of Arthurian adventure and medieval mayhem at Helmsley Walled Garden

Outdoor theatre show of the week: The Three Inch Fools in King Arthur And The Holy Fail, Helmsley Walled Garden, tomorrow, 7pm

FOUNDED by Cumbrian brothers James and Stephen Hyde, The Three Inch Fools present an epic tale of Arthurian adventure and medieval mayhem, set in a land of daring quests, dashing knights and endless jousting.

Waiting in the wings is a would-be hero, by the name of Arthur, but when Camelot is rocked to its core by a tragic – and frankly improbable – incident involving a large table of an undisclosed shape, Arthur is thrust into the quest of a lifetime, Destiny awaits, chivalry calls and the quest to end all quests begins. Bring chairs, blankets and cushions. Picnics welcome. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted Thomas and Lennie Longworth’s equally shy Daisy in A Brief Case Of Crazy

Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

INSPIRED by the timeless genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mr Bean,Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Samuel Cunningham and Lennie Longworth’s physical comedy A Brief Case Of Crazy is a silent love story with a very loud heart, told through slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry.

Meet Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Daisy. His quest for love must contend with a boisterous boss named Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover that what’s on the inside counts most? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.

Hannah Davies & Jack Woods: Re-imagining selkie myth in a not-too-distant future

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore.

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of his myriad roles in Twice Nightly

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. Box office: York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

Tommy Banks; Turning up the heat at York Theatre Royal

Culinary event of the week: An Evening with Tommy Banks: Spinning Plates: Live, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm

MICHELIN-STARRED chef and entrepreneur Tommy Banks makes the trip from his Oldstead family farm to York Theatre Royal to bring his extraordinary story to the stage for the first and only time. Told across three intersecting timelines – the past 25 years, the defining 12 months and the opening night for his latest pub —each moment teeters on a knife-edge.

Banks runs the Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots York, in Marygate, York, and the Abbey Inn at Byland, as well as co-founding Jeopardy Hospitality, whose first venture is the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, Knaresborough. For one night only, he combines storytelling and immersive cinema to lift the lid on hospitality service at its most intense. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

CMAT: Songs of identity, grief and beauty standards at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Coastal gig of the week: CMAT, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates 6pm

CMAT, alias Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, burst on to the music scene six years ago with her debut single Another Day (KFC). The Dublin-born, County Meath-raised singer and songwriter has since released three bitingly humorous, emotionally honest albums, 2022’s If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, 2023’s Crazymad, For Me and 2025’s Mercury Prize-nominated Euro-Country, her exploration of identity, grief and beauty standards, exemplified by Take A Sexy Picture Of Me. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk.

Danger on T-Rex Mountain in Dinosaur Adventure Live at York Theatre Royal

Children’s show of the week: Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, Saturday, 2.30pm

SIXTY-FIVE million years in the making, Dinosaur Adventure Live brings a fusion of family-friendly storytelling, puppetry, and roarsome science to the stage as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares.

From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed (carefully!), Mike Newman’s show blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning into an interactive stage experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

July 14, 2026July 14, 2026

Rowan Armitt-Brewster aims for comedy perfection in silent love story A Brief Case Of Crazy at York Theatre Royal Studio

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s awkward office worker Thomas in Skedaddle Theatre’s A Brief Case Of Crazy

INSPIRED by the comic genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean, Skedaddle Theatre’s silent love story A Brief Case Of Crazy plays York Theatre Royal Studio from Thursday to Saturday.

This physical comedy with a very loud heart will be staged with slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry by writer-performers Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Lennie Longworth and Samuel Cunningham.

Meet Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Longworth’s Daisy. His quest for love must contend with Cunningham’s boisterous boss Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover how what lies on the inside counts most?

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Inspector Fix, right, in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal in July 2024

Actor, dancer, singer and physical comedian Armitt-Brewster will be returning to the Theatre Royal stage after parading his dextrous comedic skills as the Knife Thrower and Inspector Fox in Around The World In 80 Days-ish in July 2024 and as pantomime buffoon PC World in Aladdin that winter.

“I really enjoyed the panto,” he says. “It was my first time of doing it, and it’s such a brilliant form of theatre, a staple in so many parts of the world, that’s great for getting young people into the theatre as often it’s the first show they see.”

A Brief Case Of Crazy will find Armitt-Brewster putting the motion into commotion once more over its hour-long span. “I love movement and how choreography can create an image or an emotion with physicality,” he says. “Why I’m really fascinated by it is that I reckon you could perform it to a group of aliens and they would enjoy it.”

“It’s the sweatiest, stinkiest show in the world, and the level of performance has to be incredible: the refinement, the speed of it,” says Rowan. Picture: Mitch Donald

Both of Rowan’s parents are professors of English Literature – his mother now retired, his father still tutoring in Lincolnshire for a couple more years – so he has always been surrounded by stories and the power of language.

“My parents were keen on me using good grammar and knowing how to formulate sentences, so I’ve always loved text, performing in plays, but I also acquired a love of physical comedy – object manipulation, clowning, mime, puppetry – because there are no language barriers.

“We want to unite people with our work, with its positivity that appeals to people of all backgrounds, letting them all enjoy the story.”

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted Thomas and Lennie Longworth’s Daisy, his equally shy colleague in A Brief Case Of Crazy. Picture: Mitch Donald

For all its comedy, A Brief Case Of Crazy has “deep-rooted themes” too, says Rowan. “It looks at grief, romance, belonging and differences within people, and it’s very pro the underdog. One of the things that’s happening is that almost always we have an adult audience, though it’s appropriate for children too.

“We try to cater for the children with the fun and the energy, but with the story, we’re trying to connect with adults. It’s a fine balance, and we’ve worked really hard at that since we first did the show two years ago.”

Rowan recalls how that creative process overlapped with his commitments to Around The World In 80 Days-ish. “I was rehearsing or performing in York for six days a week, then having to go down to Essex to rehearse on Sundays after a night’s sleep on the bus, then coming back to York late on Sundays to do ‘Around The World’ again the next week, and we opened at the Edinburgh Fringe a week after the York run finished!” he says.

Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas with his bothersome briefcase in A Brief Case Of Crazy. Picture: Mitch Donald

“We began Skedaddle as a cohort of very young creatives, when luckily we were able to rehearse at the studios at East 15 [Acting School], where we’d all trained on the physical theatre course.

“The show has developed massively since then. It’s still small-scale but our plan is to scale it up, working with a producer, Mitch Donaldson of Shoddy Theatre.”

Armitt-Brewster is sporting a dapper moustache for his latest role. “It’s more for the show than a personal preference, but it’s certainly a different look,” he says. “I’m going to have it until October 23, so I’ll just have to get used to it!”

Rowan Armitt-Brewster in York Theatre Royal’s announcement photo for his pantomime debut in Aladdin in December 2024

What should this week’s audiences expect from the performance behind that facial topiary? “It’s an hour of constant energy,” he says. “It’s the sweatiest, stinkiest show in the world, and the level of performance has to be incredible: the refinement, the speed of it.

“It takes weeks to make it really detailed, and as a company of course we believe that perfection doesn’t exist, but we aim for the one below that, whatever that is!”

Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, Thursday to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.

July 14, 2026July 14, 2026

Geoff Turner RIP: Tribute to giant gentleman of York theatre world

Geoff Turner in the rehearsal room. Picture: York Light Opera Company

THE funeral of York Light Opera Company president Geoff Turner will be held at York Crematorium, Bishopthorpe Road, York, on July 16 at 1.40pm.

A statement on the York Light Instagram site reads: “Geoff will forever be in our hearts. We know so many of you will want to say goodbye with us, so we’re sharing the details of Geoff’s funeral service.

“The service will be extended to celebrate Geoff’s life, with his last After Show Party at York Racecourse following the service. All are welcome.”

In lieu of flowers, a donation plate will be in place at the crematorium to raise funds for a bench in Geoff’s memory.

Geoff, of South Bank, York, died on June 27, aged 76. Formerly a civil engineer with British Rail, he was a stalwart musical theatre supporter with York Light Opera Company and NODA, the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, and served as a volunteer with Treasurer’s House, Mansion House and the King’s Trust.

Geoff Turner on volunteer duty at York Mansion House. Picture: York Mansion House

On the day of Geoff’s passing, York Light posted: “Today, York Light lost a wonderful president, and the world lost an incredible man. We’re heartbroken to announce that our president, Geoff Turner, lost his battle with cancer this morning.

“Having been a dedicated member for years before stepping up to presidency, we all share such fond memories of Geoff. He was always a cheerful presence and a true light in every production. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. He will be sorely missed by all.”

On June 29, York Mansion House posted: “We were all hugely saddened to hear of the death of Geoff Turner, our longest-serving volunteer at the Mansion House.

“Geoff had worked with us for 15 years in a variety of roles, most recently as a room guide, and during his time led tours around the house and even played the Lord Mayor three times in public events.

“His enthusiasm for the Mansion House and for history in general was infectious, and visitors always appreciated his passion, expertise and sense of humour. We will always be grateful for the contribution he made to the life of the house and will all miss him very much.”

Geoff Turner in full stage regalia. Picture: York Light Opera Company

York’s theatre scene and beyond has paid tribute too in multiple postings on Facebook. Jo Sweeting wrote: “I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Geoff in countless productions over the years with York Light Opera Company and enjoying his hospitality partying until the early hours at his home during “show week”. Very happy memories. Gone but never forgotten. Rest easy Geoff.”

Musical director Mike Thompson and director and actor John Hall wrote: “When John and I joined York Light for Showboat in the mid ‘70s, Geoff was one of the existing members who made us very welcome. We became friends and used to have regular Sunday lunch dates at each other’s houses, taking it in turns to cook. Geoff, you will be greatly missed by so many people.”

James W Deller described Geoff as “this gentle man and gentleman”. “He has inspired countless people over the years and has been a stalwart of the city’s community for decades,” he wrote. “His music, his love of history and his professional career, not to mention his support to the York civic parties – past and present – are a testament to his commitment and service. He will be much missed.

“I knew him through my parents and I know he will leave an unfillable gap in the city. Rest in peace, Geoff! The curtain falls for the last time. I hope you can still hear the applause!”

York Opera baritone and St Olave’s Church Choir member Clive Goodhead wrote: “I have nothing but the highest admiration for Geoff and will miss him deeply, as will so many people, whose lives he touched so much.

“Geoff was chair of York Light when I had the honour of holding the same position in York Opera. Thanks to Jim Welsman [former York Musical Theatre chairman] , we had occasion, therefore, to work together as far as possible to support and promote the performing arts in and around York, liaising closely with many others, especially those responsible for the various local venues. May he rest in perpetual peace.”

Geoff Turner, second from left: A commanding presence on stage. Picture: York Light Opera Company

Linda Newton wrote: “I’d known Geoff for many years. Our paths crossed so many times because he was involved in so many things, most recently singing with him in York Theatre Royal Choir. I don’t know how he fitted it all in! He lived life to the full and enjoyed every minute. You’ll be sadly missed, Geoff, by many people. RIP to a kind and generous man.”

Actress and singer Catherine Foster wrote: “A lovely man. He was such a wonderful supporter of theatre in York and always so generous with his praise. He made me feel so welcome when I did a show with him and had a lovely warmth about him generally. I will miss seeing him at the theatre. “

Jennifer Cowling wrote: “Geoff was a wonderful actor and a true theatrical buff, a proud and dedicated president of York Light, a superb NODA rep and an all-round great guy. He will be greatly missed by all of us who knew and worked with him.”

Musical director and radio presenter Adam Tomlinson wrote: “Whenever and wherever you met with Geoff, he was always the same, a true gentleman with time, conversation and humour. His passion and enthusiasm for amateur theatre was infectious and very special. He will be greatly missed in this fabulous musical theatre world of ours.”

York singer, Music Night host and Singphonia choir master Don Pears wrote: “Geoff was a loyal star on and off stage, especially for York Light, but also a great support and help to New Earswick Operatic Society, which was greatly appreciated.

“Both Jo [Pears] and I have very fond memories of performing with this giant of a gentleman. He was an excellent NODA representative and supported many other societies in our region. RIP Geoff, so many memories.”

July 11, 2026July 13, 2026

More Things To Do in York and beyond as music & comedy festival season blooms. Hutch’s List No. 28, from The York Press

Super Furry Animals: Flower power in the botanical gardens at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Ryan Eddleston

NINE comedians on one day in a garden, a mythical tale of a goddess and the dark side of the moon, a near-future re-spinning of the selkie myth and a bothersome briefcase in a love story keep Charles Hutchinson’s head spinning with artistic possibilities.

Rock gig of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Super Furry Animals, today, gates 4pm

FUTURESOUND’S third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts climaxes today with Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals’ headline set. On the bill too are singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey 1 at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills

Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, until July 26

RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, The Gesualdo Six, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.

Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

Cutting a dash: Russell Kane’s 7.10pm set will last 25 minutes at York Comedy Festival tomorrow

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live At York Museum Gardens, York, tomorrow, gates 3pm

TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm) and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.

In tomorrow’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Alex Lowe’s 82-year-old comic creation Barry From Watford (5.45pm); cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm) and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jarred Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.

Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s SELENE, part of Theatre@41’s Halfway To Edinburgh Season

Radical myth revamp of the week: Wright & Grainger and Theatre@41 present Megan Drury in SELENE, Halfway To Edinburgh Season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, now 7pm; July 16, 8.30pm

AUSTRALIAN actor Megan Drury stars in Easingwold duo Phil Grainger and Alexander Flanagan Wright’s tale of the goddess and the dark side of the moon in a radical explosion of an ancient myth.

UPDATE: 13/7/2026

STATEMENT from Team 41: “As you may have noticed the show now partially clashes with England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

“To allow people to catch as much of the match as possible, we’ve moved the start time for Wright & Grainger’s SELENE to 19:00.

“The show is 70 minutes long, so you’ll hopefully be able to enjoy Wright & Grainger’s SELENE and then see the match from the first Hydration Break.

“There is another performance of SELENE on Thursday at 8.30pm, so if you would prefer to move to that show, send an email to boxoffice@41monkgate.co.uk.”

Silence is golden: Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas in A Brief Case Of Crazy at York Theatre Royal Studio

Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, July 16 to 18, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

Hannah Davies & Jack Woods: Performing The Ballad Of Blea Wyke at Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17. Picture: Matt Jopling

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of three of his multiple roles in Twice Nightly at Friargate Theatre

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, July 17 & 18, 7.30pm

RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.

Turning up the heat: North Yorkshire chef Tommy Banks

Culinary event of the week: An Evening with Tommy Banks: Spinning Plates: Live, York Theatre Royal, July 17, 7.30pm

MICHELIN-STARRED chef, restaurateur and hospitality leader Tommy Banks makes the trip from his Oldstead family farm to York Theatre Royal to bring his extraordinary story to the stage for the first and only time. Told across three intersecting timelines – the past 25 years, the defining 12 months and the opening night for his latest pub —each moment teeters on a knife-edge.

Banks runs the Black Swan at Oldstead (head chef since June 2013), Roots York, in Marygate, York (since 2018) , and the Abbey Inn at Byland (since 2023), as well as co-founding Jeopardy Hospitality, whose first venture is the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, Knaresborough, in 2025.

His debut cookbook, Roots, was published by Orion in April 2018. He set up the food box business Made In Oldstead in 2020, Banks Brothers canned wine company in 2021, Tommy’s Pie Shop in 2024 and Tommy Banks Hospitality, for large-scale events, stadia catering and corporate hospitality nationwide, in 2025.

In 2019, Banks became resident chef at Lord’s Cricket Ground; in 2022, chef partner of Twickenham Stadium; in 2025, chef partner of Sunderland AFC. A lifelong Sunderland supporter, he now leads the culinary offering at Banks on the Wear and oversees corporate hospitality at the football ground.

Exemplified by the three-acre kitchen garden by the Black Swan, sustainability sits at the heart of everything Banks does. His field-to-fork commitment to responsible growing, foraging and low-impact cooking has been recognised with a Michelin Green Star, while his dedication to nurturing future talent continues through apprenticeship programmes and industry partnerships.

For one night only, he combines storytelling and immersive cinema to lift the lid on hospitality service at its most intense, reflecting on a lifetime of ambition, vulnerability, risk and pressure (cookers).

Set against a turbulent backdrop, where soaring business rates and crushing VAT force three pubs to close every week, Banks exposes the brutal reality of keeping the doors open while revealing the plate-spinning demands of leadership and what it takes to pursue excellence.

Along the way, discover the community of talent he has built in the once-sleepy village of Oldstead, firmly rooted in camaraderie, resilience and Yorkshire grit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

This Is Torture for Sean Walsh: Anxiety levels rising at Harrogate Theatre, York Theatre Royal and the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Jiksaw

Gig announcement of the week: Sean Walsh, This Is Torture, Harrogate Theatre, October 6, and York Theatre Royal, November 6, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, April 14 2027

I’M A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2022 series survivor Sean Walsh has decided to name his latest stand-up tour show after the phrase he says the most: “This Is Torture”. The dishevelled Camden comedian will be bringing his signature blend of chaos and charm to Harrogate, York and the newly added Scarborough to put himself through an anxiety filled-hour, as he indeed will on no fewer than 71 occasions on a tour now extended by 37 dates.

The ever-observant Walsh’s podcasting portfolio takes in co-hosting Oh My Dog! with Jack Dee, where guests discuss their special canine bonds, and What’s Upset You Now?, putting the world to rights in cathartic trips to the pub with Paul McCaffrey. In addition, on Class Clown, he sits down with the boldest rule-breakers in entertainment to explore the personal battles that shaped them.

In 2024, he made his Shakespearean debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at Stafford Gatehouse, then played Yvan in a tour of Yasmina Reza’s Art. Tickets: www.seannwalsh.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Scarborough,01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

In Focus: Navigators Art presents Moss Glow And Shadow Bloom, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight 7.45pm

York singer Gabriella Hunzinger

YORK arts collective Navigators Art’s final gig before a summer break brings together four Yorkshire performers whose work conjures unique worlds up in a magical programme of electronic, acoustic and vocal sounds, influenced by folk traditions and environmental awareness.

Combining ancient and modern iconography, art, poetry and music, the bill features York singer Gabriella Hunzinger, No Spinoza, previewing forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, Sheffield experimental songwriter Pefkin and Things Found And Made’s lost cinematic folk-tales.

No Spinoza’s Thomas Pearson

GABRIELLA HUNZINGER: Her songs take wisdom from nature’s seasonal cycles and explore connections between ourselves, the earth and what lies beyond our conscious experience. Accompanied by cellist Filipe Massumi and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Webster.

NO SPINOZA: Welcome to the thematic universe of forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, where Thomas Pearson’s songs bridge history and legend, ancient and modern. Featured in session on BBC Introducing.

Pefkin

PEFKIN: Sheffield performing and recording artist. Multi-instrumentalist and experimental songwriter of slowly unfolding psychedelic hymnals, inspired by nature.

THINGS FOUND AND MADE: Lost cinematic folk-tales: imagined histories, half remembered rituals of sound and nature, from York.

Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Things Found And Made

July 9, 2026

REVIEW: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday ***

Woogie Jung, left, Tom Pavey and Efe Agwele: Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Picture: Mark Senior

FORTY five years ago, Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield first staged a 20-minute Hamlet at the Shakespeare-themed Renaissance Faires in California.

If brevity is the soul of wit, as espoused by the soon-to-be-terminated Polonius in Act Two, Scene Two of Hamlet, then the anti-nuclear political action committee accountant, Santa Rosa graphic artist and Santa Cruz lawyer had hit on a formula for compact comedy gold.

Long moved to the UK 35 years ago; the trio’s Reduced Shakespeare Company first toured the UK 31 years ago, since when The Complete Works have spent nine years at the Criterion Theatre in London’s West End, featured in two television specials and transferred to more than 20 countries.

Now, Long is at the directorial helm for the 30th anniversary tour of a “re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated” Complete Works, still squeezing 37 plays and, very briefly, the Sonnets, into under two hours (including a 15-minute interval).

On RSC duty for the first time are Mountview Academy of Theatre MA graduate Efe Agwele, South Korean-born, London-based Woogie Jung, in his debut UK tour, and University of Oxford DPhil in Biology student Tom Pavey in his professional bow.

Tour understudy Kiran Raywilliams is a Bristol actor, rapper, poet and DJ, who played David in York company Pilot Theatre’s Run, Rebel in 2023-2024, by the way.

This is a young company, charged with injecting fresh energy into a comedy classic that opens with a copy of the First Folio on a plinth, ready to be shredded alive. The pace is fast, then faster still, but the comic timing is not always there, sometimes pushing too hard or rushed. Serving up the gory Titus Andronicus as a YouTube cookery tutorial, for example, lacks comic bite.

Ironically on such a stiflingly hot night (Wednesday), the cast needed to warm up their audience, whose response times quickened and noise levels rose once audience participation, both on stage and in the auditorium, became central to the show.

Acts of reduction vary from Coriolanus not being performed, on account of an aversion to the second part of his name, to the History Plays being conducted as a game of football with the crown passed like a hot potato from king to king (and King Lear shown the red card for being only a literary creation).

The comedy style is irreverent, gleefully silly at times, delivered with costume and prop changes by the dozen, shaking up Shakespeare like an earthquake but still with a love for Will’s wondrous works. Corniest gag? How about “I invited Shakespeare to the pub, but he was Bard.”

Not everything works, but in Chinese meal tradition, there is always another play coming up for comedic short shrift in the RSC’s taming of rather more than a Shrew.

All’s well that ends well too in Act Two’s focus on Hamlet, in particular a Freudian analysis of the suicidal Ophelia, acting out her psyche, with the audience split into three to play the parts of her Ego, Id and Superego (the three components of the mind defined by Sigmund Freud’s structural theory of personality).

To finish: Hamlet in 30 seconds, then in five seconds, and finally, backwards. Silence is the rest…and the rest is silence until the post-show discussion with chairs on the stage for the only time.

Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

July 8, 2026July 15, 2026

REVIEW: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

As smart as ever…or is he? Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

AS Harold Wilson once said, in the white heat of a lobby briefing to journalists in 1964, a week is a long time in politics.

As it turns out, it is a long time on a theatre tour too. Both the role of Prime Minister (imminent exit stage left Sir Keir Starmer) and of the former Prime Minister in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister have undergone a change since the tour opened.

Sir Keir resigned on June 22; the next night, Robert Kitson took over from Simon Rouse as Jim Hacker at Cheltenham Everyman, Rouse having had to withdraw from the rest of the itinerary through illness.

Kitson had understudied Griff Rhys Jones in the West End run and York marks his third week of working in tandem with Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby: a partnership now well into its comic groove as the blustering Jim and erudite Sir Humphrey joust in familiar point-scoring mode.

Writers Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay’s beloved BBC political satire, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister had run between 1980 and 1988, followed by the 2010 play, Yes, Prime Minister.

Robert Kitson: Taking over as Jim Hacker in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister

Now, writer-director Lynn picks up the solo baton for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, a final chapter that began at The Barn Theatre in 2023 as I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember, a title that indicated the vulnerabilities of ageing for the now venerable Hacker and Sir Humphrey.

This is no nostalgia trip for a treasured double act, however, but a freshly crafted comedy as politically sharp as ever in this age of cancel culture, with lessons to be learned by both the former political leader and his Civil Service nemesis, Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey.

Kitson’s Jim Hacker is now Lord Hacker, “older, but perhaps not wiser”, befuddled by the modern world, suffering from arthritis, back pain and congestive heart failure, and in need of a carer, as well as a stair lift.

“Care worker,” Princess Donnough’s Sophie corrects him at her interview to take on the role. It will not be his only politically incorrect utterance to meet her disapproval.

Indeed Jim’s indiscreet tongue is in trouble with rather more than former English Literature student Sophie at Hacker College, Oxford, where he is the long-serving Master after the college was set up in his name with a benefactor’s funding.

Princess Donnough’s care worker Sophie in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Danny Kaan

Since being forced to resign as Prime Minister, he has dabbled in journalism, written a book (6,000 sales in the first week, none since), turned up every so often for his attendance allowance and expenses at the House of Lords, but now he faces “the ultimate modern crisis: being cancelled by the college committee after his support of Cecil Rhodes’s statue staying in place, among other pronouncements against the tide of change.

Hostile students and equally hostile Fellows want him to be ousted: a P45 delivered by William Chubb’s gaunt college Visitor, Sir David, arriving in Grim Reaper black hood.

Jim will not go quietly into the night, re-establishing contact with Sir Humphrey, by now consigned to a “home for the elderly deranged” by his daughter-in-law, to draw on his skills of negotiation, eloquent, elaborate obfuscation and love of a Latin phrase.

Francis, reprising the role he first played at the Barn Theatre and then in the West End, is a master of comic timing, exquisite line delivery and tongue-twisting double-speak monologues, yet there are frayed edges to Sir Humphrey’s piercing intelligence and bureaucratic chess play. Immaculate suit, ever-present briefcase, superior air, are all present and correct, but could the first signs of dementia be kicking in as he loses the thread of his thinking in one of his magniloquent obstructive set-pieces.

Jim and Sir Humphrey must not only seek to outmanoeuvre Sir David but also face the modern thinking of Donnough’s formidable, frank and fearless Sophie. As well as politics, the world of education is dissected with a scalpel by Lynn as rising student fees and “offensive” words in literature come under fierce discussion.

Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby and Simon Rouse’s Jim Hacker in a publicity shot for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Simon had to leave the tour through illness

Lynn has the measure of politics and education alike in the kind of wise, waspish and witty satire now all too rare on the British stage in a play as full of King Lear pathos as comedy, where there is a sadness to Jim and Sir Humphrey, now past their pomp.

Yet the comedy still prevails amid the melancholia, directed so astutely by Lynn and co-director Michael Gyngell in a high-class production where Lee Newby’s set design of Jim’s unkempt college rooms evokes academia, widower loneliness and a political past. Snow dusts the skyline in Leo Flint’s window video projections in a further nod to Jim and Sir Humphrey being in their winter years.

Physical comedy plays its part too, riffing on the ageing of the two protagonists, whether in a mobile-phone-going-off-in-a-pocket joke or the stair lift’s brief turn in the spotlight at the opening to Act Two.

Everything is so well balanced in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, always giving both sides of the argument, showing the fault lines in Jim and Sir Humphrey alike, culminating in the warmth of the fitting finale – the recognition of the need for supportive friendship – that is genuinely moving.

The Barn Theatre presents I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday; 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

July 8, 2026July 8, 2026

Hannah Davies re-imagines selkie myth in dystopian future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Performing The Ballad Of Blea Wyke at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, and Helmsley Arts Centre

NORTH Yorkshire slam champion poet, theatre maker and writer Hannah Davies and her regular musician, Jack Woods, re-imagine the selkie myth for a not-too-distant dystopian future on the North Yorkshire coast in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke.

Originally micro-commissioned by York Theatre Royal as part of the Green Shoots project in May 2022, the show has grown from its five-minute debut into a 60-minute performance, premiered at the Scarborough Fair in June 2025 and now heading for York and Helmsley.

Directed by Em Whitfield Brooks and presented in association with York arts organisations Say Owt and Next Door But One, this lyrical spoken-word and musical storytelling piece will be performed at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, on Friday (10/7/2026) at 8.30pm and Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17 at 7.30pm.

Chiming with her own move from York to Scarborough, Hannah relates the tale of a young woman who wants to see the sea, combining her storytelling with Pascallion and Leeather’O musician Jack’s live guitar, loops and harmonies in a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song.

“I’ve spent the last few years living and working by the sea – I love it,” says Hannah. “The sound of the waves are like instant calming white noise for me. There is something both soothing and terrifying about the sea and I love the fact that it brazenly declares all of its moods without apology.”

What happens in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke? A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore. On her 18th birthday, Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown to seek the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past.

Explaining what drew her to the selkie myth of seals transforming into humans by shedding their skin, Say Owt associate artist and creative producer Hannah says: “I suffered from Topical Steroid Withdrawal between 2019 and 2023, a debilitating iatrogenic condition caused by steroids.

“I’d been through hell with that, as my skin burnt, swelled, scabbed and shed, so the image of the seal shedding its skin really resonated with me. A lot of the selkie myths are about transformation and coming back to one truest nature, and I really had to do that as I healed.”

Hannah read all manner of folk tales for research purposes: “Any I could get my hands on,” she says. “The People Of The Sea, a memoir by writer David Thomson, was really useful. In it he travels to rural Scotland and Ireland and meets all kinds of local people, who tell him a wide variety of the ancient Celtic versions of the stories.

“It was fascinating to learn so much about them and the variety of stories and forms they show up in. The selkie stories also cross over into Nordic and Norse folklore, so I read up about those too.”

Hannah continues: “I also ‘geeked out’ on plenty of nature documentaries, watching seals swimming, fighting, giving birth. 2014 film Song Of The Sea is a really lovely watch. I enjoyed that film immensely and also watched darker sea films like Lighthouse (2019) and Bait (2019), set and filmed in a Cornish fishing village.”

Blea Wyke, should you be unaware, is a rocky promontory very close to Ravenscar, between Scarborough and Whitby, where seals often can be spotted, especially during mating or pup season.

“Ravenscar was once planned as a new Victorian seaside town, which never actually got finished as the company went bust,” says Hannah. “There are hints of this in the landscape, laid pavements, drains etc. I was fascinated by this image of a half-finished ghost town and this informed the feel of lockdown and disaster in the piece and also the wider themes.”

Why is the coastline “forbidden” in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, Hannah? “The piece is set in a contemporary re-imagining of the myth and places the events of the story in Yorkshire, in a time that suggests a post-climate collapse.

“The piece was very much influenced by the desolate feeling of lockdown and the restrictions around it and also by the type of world that we are living in, where every inch of the land is owned, privatised or restricted in some way.”

Assessing why storytelling remains so crucial to human existence, Hannah says: “Stories are embedded into us at the very core. We are all made up of our stories, and by telling and sharing them we get to see and understand ourselves in others’ actions, words and deeds.

“Humans need connection and shared experience to thrive and I think stories do that for us all. In such a divided world we need that more than ever.”

Out of curiosity, the last question has to be whether Hannah believes in the existence of selkies? “I believe in folk tales and the power they have to tell us about the lore of the land,” she says. “I definitely believe in magic.”

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods present The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Friday, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm. Box office: York, bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 28, from Gazette & Herald

Becca Magson’s Rita and Joe Gregory’s Frank in 1812 Theatre Company’s Educating Rita. Picture: Lauren Wyeth

RYEDALE Festival and 1812 Theatre’s Educating Rita, compact Shakespeare and Live At York Museum Gardens are uppermost in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations amid the July heatwave.

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Educating Rita, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm

SAMANTHA Hughes directs Helmsley Arts Centre resident troupe 1812 Theatre Company in Willy Russell’s comedy Educating Rita, wherein Frank (Joe Gregory) is a tutor of English Literature in his 50s whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books.

Enter Rita (Becca Magson), a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, she slowly wins over the hesitant Frank with her highly original insights and refusal to accept “No” for an answer. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. Picture: Lauren Wyeth.

Michael Flatley’s Irish dancers in the 30th anniversary tour of Lord Of The Dance, in action at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Brian Doherty

Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.45pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy, after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.

The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour features “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.

Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing the indisposed Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), squeezing into York Theatre Royal this week

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.

Californian co-founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet at York Medical Society. Picture: Amie Barton-Young

Storytelling actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe world premiere, July 11, 7.30pm

THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in two York performances.

Smith also presents the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) ahead of his Edinburgh Fringe residency. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens

Rock and pop festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, tomorrow, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, Friday, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, Saturday, gates 4pm

WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts tomorrow with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.

Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

Ross Noble: Playing York Comedy Festival at Live At York Museum Gardens on Sunday

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live at York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates 3pm

TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm), from Russell Howard’s Good News, and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.

In Sunday’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Barry From Watford (5.45pm), the 82-year-old comic creation of Alex Lowe; cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm) and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jared Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.

The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm as part of Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills

Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 10 to 26

RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, pianist Junyan Chen, The Gesualdo Six, Dunedin Consort, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Picture: Matt Jopling

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, York, July 10, 8.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: York, https://bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Category: Theatre