Anton Lesser and Orchestra Of The Swan in a performance of Red Sky At Sunrise. Picture: Lucy Barriball
AUTHOR Laurie Lee’s extraordinary story is to be told in a captivating weave of music and his own words in Red Sky At Sunrise at the Grand Opera House, York, on May 26.
Actors Anton Lesser (from Endeavour, Wolf Hall and Game Of Thrones) and Charlie Hamblett (Killing Eve, Ghosts and The Burning Girls) play the role of Laurie Lee, older and younger, along with a rich array of other characters.
Together, they celebrate Lee’s engaging humour, as well as portraying his darker side, in a performance that has startling resonance with modern events.
Actor Charlie Hamblett in the role of Laurie Lee, younger. Picture: Lucy Barriball
Red Sky At Sunrise follows Stroud-born Laurie Lee through his much-loved trilogy, Cider With Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment Of War, when Lee famously walked out of the Slad valley one midsummer morning and ended up fighting with the International Brigades against General Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War.
Devised as a show by Judy Reaves, the text by Lee has been adapted by Deirdre Shields, to be accompanied by David Le Page’s musical programme for Orchestra Of The Swan.
His programme weaves around Lee’s writing, from the lush Gloucestershire countryside that Lee made famous in Cider With Rosie, to the dry landscapes of Spain, via the music of Vaughan Williams, Walton, Holst, Elgar, Britten, Grainger, Albeniz, Turina and De Falla. Guitarist Mark Ashford will be performing Asturias, Sevilla and Spanish Romance too.
David Le Page: Put together the musical programme for Orchestra Of The Swan for Red Sky At Sunrise. Picture: Lucy Barriball
Anton Lesser reflects: “It has been a joy to discover more of Laurie Lee’s sublime writing. In many ways, his account of what was happening in Spain in the 1930s is prescient of what is playing out now in Europe.
“There is a heartbreaking moment when Lee writes: ‘Did we know, as we stood there, our clenched fists raised high, and scarcely a gun between three of us, that we had ranged against us the rising military power of Europe, and the deadly cynicism of Russia? No, we didn’t. We had yet to learn that sheer idealism never stopped a tank.”
Red Sky At Sunrise, Laurie Lee in Words and Music, starringAnton Lesser, Charlie Hamblett and Orchestra Of The Swan, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, May 26. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Guitarist Mark Ashford playing at a Red Sky At Sunrise performance. Picture: Lucy Barriball
In the spotlight: Anton Lesser on Laurie Lee, Red Sky At Sunrise, playing villains, Endeavour and favourite roles
What do you enjoy about Laurie Lee?
“I enjoy a sweet resonance I feel with Laurie Lee’s writing, a kind of recognition of something apparently difficult to access, but which mysteriously becomes available through great storytelling.”
What can the audience expect from Red Sky At Sunrise?
“The audience can expect to be taken on a journey, (which reflects Laurie’s actual travels from rural Gloucestershire to Spain, but also his inner journey from boyhood to maturity), all in the company of great musicians playing sublime music.”
How does performing a combination of words and music work for an actor?
“To be asked to read great writing, and to read it aloud is a privilege. To read it aloud supported by magnificent music is something more-I would call it a blessing. The words and the music combine, hopefully deepening and enriching the experience for both audience and practitioners.”
Can you be carried away by the music?
“Yes, I’m often so carried away by the musicians that I’m a bit of a liability – sometimes needing a bit of a nod or nudge to come in on cue!”
“I enjoy a sweet resonance I feel with Laurie Lee’s writing,” saysactor Anton Lesser
You played the villainous advisor Qyburn in the HBO fantasy drama Game Of Thrones. Do you enjoy playing villains?
“It’s not so much that I enjoy playing ‘villains’ – I like to think that I approach every role without limiting their identity to a single label like good or bad – but I think it’s more that those characters tend to be more complex and interesting.”
True or false? When you did your first day’s shoot on Endeavour, Shaun Evans could not stop laughing?
“Yes, Sean did have a problem with me – for some reason in the first episode he couldn’t look at me without laughing. I like to think this was a manifestation of love, respect and huge professional admiration; sadly I suspect it had more to do with the ridiculous hat I was made to wear.”
On Endeavour, you and Roger Allam were renowned for being cheeky together?
“Roger and I got away with a modicum of bad behaviour simply because we were very old. Two theatre actors in gentle competition for the best ‘light’ or close-up must have been a sad and sorry spectacle, and an example for younger actors how not to behave on set – but it was great fun and all in the best possible taste!”
Favourite roles?
“My favourite role is usually the one I’m currently working on, but I can point to one or two which I remember as being particularly enjoyable. Feste in Twelfth Night (working with the wonderful Richard Briers), Serge in Art and more recently Benedict in The Two Popes. Vernon Marley in the TV series Better was especially fulfilling – a great character.”
Terms Of Agreement: Marcus Jarrell Willis’s first work for Phoenix Dance Theatre
PHOENIX Dance Theatre will perform artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis’s first work for the Leeds company as part of the Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love triple bill at York Theatre Royal tonight and tomorrow.
Terms Of Agreement is the Texas-born choreographer’s third work of his Terms & Conditions series. Featuring original written compositions by Tomos O’Sullivan and music by popular artist, this one focuses on the more ethereal, spiritual and kismet perspectives to unravel the eternal question: what is true love? “Further to understanding this, once you have negotiated the terms, will you accept the agreement?” he asks.
“Building upon the resounding success of Phoenix Dance Theatre’s last tour, which fittingly reflected on the company’s remarkable 40th anniversary, Phoenix is directing its focus forwards. Marking this latest chapter for the company we are embarking on a tour of new choreographic works, including two world premieres,” says Marcus, who took up his post last October.
“I am thrilled to be contributing my own creation to this versatile programme, and it has been a privilege for me working with our exceptionally gifted dancers to craft my first work for Phoenix.”
Phoenix Dance Theatre performing Dane Hurst’s Requiem. Picture: Drew Forsyth
Terms Of Agreement forms part of a “powerfully visceral and thought-provoking triple bill exploring the nuances of human experience by three exciting international dance makers”: world premieres by Miguel Altunaga and Marcus Jarrell Willis, complemented by the Leeds company’s first touring performances of former artistic director Dane Hurst’s Requiem (Excerpts).
South African choreographer Hurst’s Requiem is a “powerful reimagining of Mozart’s awe-inspiring choral masterpiece in an emotional response to the grief experienced by so many around the world during the pandemic”.
The work was premiered at Leeds Grand Theatre last year as part of Leeds 2023: Year of Culture in a co-production with Opera North and South African partners Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera.
In his first stage commission for Phoenix, Afro-Cuban choreographer Miguel Altunaga premieres his daring new work, Cloudburst, set to a new score by composer David Preston.
World premiere:Phoenix Dance Theatre in Miguel Altunaga’s Cloudburst
Altunaga first collaborated with Phoenix in 2022 to create the dance film EBÓ as part of the company’s inaugural digital programme. Now, in a continuation of that work, Cloudburst explores mankind’s relationship to tribe and community, mythology and spirituality, ritual and surrealism, and how choices made by our ancestors shape our culture as well as our very being.
“I believe that this mixed bill will speak to every audience member at each theatre we visit,” says Marcus. “The emotions we feel during the different stages of our life and the questions we ask about our past, present, and future shape who we are and inform our sense of belonging.
“The sentiments expressed through these three works will resonate differently with each individual present in the audience, allowing space for both an impactful and memorable experience.”
York Theatre Royal is the final venue of Phoenix’s first British tour since 2022. Tickets for performances at 7.30pm tonight and 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow are on sale at 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Lila Naruse’s Memory Tess in Ockham Razor’s Tess. Picture: Kie Cummings
TESS Of The D’Urbervilles will be Tess at the double in Ockham’s Razor’s circus adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Victorian novel, on tour at York Theatre Royal from May 8 to 11.
Circus performer Lila Naruse will play Memory Tess in tandem with actress Hanora Kamen as Narrator Tess in Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney’s bold fusion of original text and the physical language of circus that enables the duo to tell the Wessex story of power, loss and endurance through a feminist lens.
The directors say: “Tess Of The D’Urbervilles has been adapted before for TV and film but it always struck us that the poetry of the book, the radical nature of it, and the strength and heroism of Tess was often lost in translation.
“Over time we became increasingly convinced that circus, and all the physicality of it, would be the perfect medium for capturing all the many elements of the novel. One of the surprises in the creation of Tess is how much joy and humour there is to find in the novel and the staging. There is a seam of joy in there which is captured by the play and collaboration of the ensemble.”
Commissioned by The Lowry, Salford and London International Mime Festival, circus theatre specialists Ockham’s Razor bring a cast of five women and two men to their first production based on a novel, presenting a script that uses Hardy’s own words with advice from novelist and screenwriter Anne Marie Casey, who has adapted Little Women and Wuthering Heights previously for the stage.
Strength and circus language evoke the physical labour of the novel as the cast members wield wooden planks and shift walls, ropes and swathes of linen to make sets that they balance on, climb, carry and construct.
Weaving together Hardy’s poetic language, acrobatics, aerial skills, dance, physical theatre, Tina Bicât’s evocative set and costume design, Daniel Denton’s projection design and Nathan Johnston’s choreography, Harvey and Mooney’s philosophical production explores questions of privilege, class, consent, agency, female desire and sisterhood.
At the heart are Memory Tess and Narrator Tess. “Memory Tess mostly re-lives the storytelling of Narrator Tess in a physical role with no verbal communication,” says Lila. “Through circus, dance, movement or physical theatre, she helps to create storytelling images very physically.”
Hanora Kamen: Taking the role of Narrator Tess at York Theatre Royal
Alongside her, Hanora is stepping into the role of Narrator Tess for the York run. “It involves lots of language, loads of Hardy’s beautiful language,” she says. “It runs to 28 pages, which makes it sparser than other narrators’ roles than can feel dense.
“My role is to guide the audience, when a voice is needed, or to make a link between Memory Tess and Narrator Tess, and to take the audience on two journeys but on one route, starting at different points in Tess’s life.
“Narrator Tess starts from the end of Tess’s life, as if you’re looking through old photos, with Memory Tess experiencing those memories, passing by the Narrator, and making the audience think, ‘what if something else could have happened?’.”
Both Lila and Hanora are working with Ockham’s Razor for the first time. “I did the R&D [research and development] for this show in November 2022,“ says Lila. “I come from a dance background, and they’ve brought together people from different disciplines, who’ve trained in circus or dance, so there’s a lot of crossover of disciplines to help each other with the things we haven’t trained in.”
Hanora reveals: “I’ve been trying to make contact with the company for what feels like the longest time, since the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016. It’s funny, you do that a lot as an actor. In this case, the chance has come now with an actor moving on to other things.
“Like Lila, I come from a devising background, but when you have a short lead-in time, you watch videos though you don’t want to feel your performance doesn’t come from within you, so I learnt the lines first.
“For me, this is a new show, and there’s a freshness for everyone. It’s a very exciting opportunity.”
Only One Question for….Ockham’s Razor artistic directors Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey
Ockham’s Razor in Tess: Circus theatre specialists tell Hardy’s Victorian story of power, loss and endurance through a feminist lens. Picture: Kie Cummings
Why Tess?
SINCE Ockham’s Razor announced their ground-breaking circus adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, artistic directors Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey have faced one question more than any other: “Why Tess?”.
“The answer starts with the fact that we both love the novel – in fact at times have felt a bit haunted by it,” they say, ahead of next week’s visit to York Theatre Royal.
“Despite being written in 1891, it still seems to speak to this moment in time as it explores questions of privilege, class, poverty, agency, the need for non-industrialised agriculture, female desire and solidarity.
“It also pulses with such a deep vein of beautiful pain around love and loss, heartbreak and yearning like no other novel.”
Tess has always struck them as a very physical and visual book. “Hardy paints this story with images alongside the deep poetry of the language, and at the centre of it is Tess, a character who experiences the world physically in all her journeying, labouring, desiring and battling against the fate dealt out to her,” they say.
“It is incredibly nuanced in its evocation of female relationships, sexual violence and female desire.
“We have long experience of working with reframing the female body with circus looking at strength, capability and agency and know there’s a radical staging of this that is possible and also one where the subtlety, nuance and poetry of the novel could be captured by movement.”
Mooney and Harvey note that although Tess has been adapted for film and television previously, the book’s poetry, its radical nature and Tess’s strength and heroism were often lost in translation, instead presenting her as an oddly passive and bloodless character.
“We have long experience of working with reframing the female body with circus looking at strength, capability and agency,” say Tess directors Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey. Picture: Kie Cummings
“Over time we became increasingly convinced that circus and all the physicality of it would be the perfect medium for capturing all the many elements of the novel,” they say. “So we sat in our kitchen and over three weeks read the novel to each other and sketched out chapter by chapter, phase by phase, how we would imagine this painted on the stage. Weaving together Hardy’s words with our physical storytelling.”
They duly wrote an adaptation where the story is told by an actor playing Tess [Hanora Kamen’s Narrator Tess]. “She speaks to us just before her execution, looking back at the events that have led to that moment,” they say. “She tells her story using Hardy’s words while an ensemble re-creates her memories onstage: the extreme physicality of the movement evoking the depth of emotion.
“Sometimes our actor becomes swept up by the ensemble and drawn into the action, so that it is also an adaption which deals with the act of telling, of memory, of control and of fate.”
Alongside Hanora, six circus performers use their strength and circus language to evoke the emotion and the physical labour of the novel. “They create Hardy’s Wessex on stage, wielding a series of wooden planks, shifting walls, ropes and swathes of linen to make sets that can unfold and which they balance upon, climb, carry and construct to become the vast landscapes and interior worlds. Both a literal landscape and a depiction of Tess’s inner world,” say the directors.
One surprise to Mooney and Harvey is how much joy and humour is to be found in the novel and their staging. “Most people, when they think of Tess, remember how bleak and heartbreaking it is. It is a tragedy but also there is a seam of joy in there which is captured by the play and collaboration of the ensemble and there is a reading where Tess moves towards annihilation but also action.”
The question of ‘Why Tess?’ has a practical answer too? “This book is part of the A-level syllabus and so is also an opportunity for us to reach new young audiences and introduce them to our art form and how it is perfectly placed to adapt this book about fate, class, struggle, heartbreak, yearning and redemption,” say Mooney and Harvey.
“Finally, we’ve been creating shows for 18 years, with each creation learning how to evoke worlds, relationships and meaning in circus. We feel that we’ve been working towards the making of this show for many years and now is the time to make it.”
Ockham’s Razor in Tess, York Theatre Royal, May 8 to 11, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Kitchen think drama: Vera Chok’s Lauren, left, Jay McGuiness’s Ben and Fiona Wade’s Lauren in Danny Robins’s 2:22 – A Ghost Story
THIS is turning into a boom year for thrillers as much as musicals at the Grand Opera House. First, The Woman In Black, then Sleuth, now 2:22 – A Ghost Story, and still to come, the courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men in May and The 39 Steps in July.
York, Europe’s self-proclaimed “most haunted city”, loves ghost stories. Here is a new one, a smart invader from modern-day London in a breathtaking show that has all the quality of an award-winning West End production, transferred to the tour circuit without any loss of capital-city gloss.
Just look at that state-of-the-art, open-plan, glass-encased kitchen, in Anna Fleischle’s desirable set design, topped off by the social and cultural wit of a James Graham comedy and a sleight of hand worthy of Derren Brown’s mind games.
Everything is right from the start. A packed auditorium is humming with excitement, nervous too, the tension cranked up by the dizzying, speeding turnover of numbers on the electronic clock – anything but 2:22! – to the accompaniment of Ian Dickinson’s propulsive sound design, setting the pulse racing too.
Throughout, Dickinson and lighting designer Lucy Carter will work in wickedly gleeful tandem, interjecting at regular intervals with sudden sounds, screams, blinding lights and a framing of the proscenium arch in red light at the start of each scene. You will judder, you will shudder, you may well shreak, jolted by the yelps of foxes doing what foxes do in the garden.
From the imagination of The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny podcaster, broadcaster and journalist Danny Robins comes the paranormal tale of teacher-on-maternity-leave Jenny (Fiona Wade) and always-right scientist Sam (George Rainsford) hosting their first dinner party since becoming the latest “posh tw*ts” to move into a newly gentrified Greater London neighbourhood.
Sam will be heading back from a work trip on the Isle of Sark. For several nights, however, Jenny has been disturbed at 2:22am precisely by the sound of someone moving around the house and a man’s voice crying, picked up via the baby monitor in daughter Phoebe’s bedroom. Convinced the house is haunted, we join her as she whiles away the hours painting until that time arrives. Cue more Dickinson and Carter fun and games.
Robins, with delicious timing throughout, is stirring the ingredients of a classic thriller with Hitchcockian elan, just as guest Lauren (Vera Chok), Sam’s best friend since university days, is stirring the risotto (it just would be risotto, wouldn’t it!).
Smoke screen: Jay McGuiness’s Ben at the glazed door, seeking supernatural truths in 2:22 – A Ghost Story. Picture: Johan Persson
Lauren has brought along her latest boyfriend, builder Ben (The Wanted’s Jay McGuiness): a streetwise, working-class counter to the yuppie London intellectuals.Last to arrive is George Rainsford’s Sam, a self-righteous, sarky, magniloquent sceptic, apologising for losing his phone on Sark. So begins class warfare on what turns out to be big Ben’s old turf before Sam and Jenny stripped out everything, just like in all the houses around there,each ending up with the same soulless kitchen, Ben notes.
Sam is a non-believer in ghosts, insisting more logical reasons must explain the noises. Ben believes in the supernatural; Vera could be persuaded either way. Let’s stay up to 2:22am, Jenny suggests, as the trendy wine flows and arguments rise – as ultimately does the sexual heat – in an echo of the tensions of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf or a Tennessee Williams play.
2:22 – A Ghost Story has the spooks to rival A Woman In Black, but now through the application of modern technology (a baby monitor, an unpredictable Alexa) and the illusion wizardry of Magic Circle member Chris Fisher. What lifts it to five-star status is the brilliance of Robins’s state-of-the-nation character study: the choices of wine, the risotto; Sam’s dinner party playlist (Massive Attack) and Jenny’s too (The XX); the reference to Sam and Lauren working together for a charity in Africa; the discussion about the lizard, mouse and monkey sections of our brain and how fear, rather than love, is our most powerful emotion.
You will love the way Robins fills the hours until 2:22am; the relationship revelations; the debate over the existence or non-existence of ghosts; the Charles Lindbergh story behind the invention of the baby monitor, and ultimately the séance conducted by Ben. Does a ghost appear? No comment, but Ben is like a ghost of the street’s past that, as with Lady Macbeth’s damned spot, cannot be erased, no matter the aspirational revamp.
2: 22: A Ghost Story has ample shocks and alarms, but above all it is uncomfortably, truthfully funny, and all the better for all that intellectual jousting. All four performances are terrific, the dialogue sometimes almost too hot to touch under the combustible direction of Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr.
It feels wrong to highlight one performance, but it has to be said that Jay McGuiness, already boy band chart topper, Strictly champ, musical theatre leading man and young adult novelist, takes to “straight” theatre mightily impressively, every line a winner.
“Shhh, please don’t tell” requests a neon-lit message after the “reveal”. Hush, hush, promises Hutch, but please DO tell everyone to make the Grand Opera House their number one haunt this week.
2:22 – A Ghost Story spooks Grand Opera House, York, until May 4, 7.30pm nightly plus 3pm, Friday, and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Friargate Creative Hub:New venture for York’s arts community
THE Friargate Creative Hub will be launched at 6pm this evening (2/5/2024) at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York.
This new space for York’s creative community to connect, collaborate and create will be hosted by Riding Lights Theatre Company and fellow York theatre-makers Four Wheel Drive.
An initial two-week phase will run from May 4 to 18, when the hub will be open daily at Friargate Theatre as a free-to-access creative workspace, complemented by a programme of workshops and evening events, all tailored to emerging artists in York.
“The Creative Hub comes at a poignant time for our city, offering a much-needed space for emerging creatives to develop their craft and work,” says Four Wheel Drive’s Joly Black. “At this evening’s launch, we want your input, support and collaboration, creating spaces to develop and retain creative talent in York.”
The flexible workspace for creatives offers “space to focus on your script, find creative inspiration or get something up on its feet. All centred around collaboration.
“Enjoy the cafe space with creative break-out areas for free. Tea, coffee and snacks will be available to purchase if you’d like.” Opening hours will be Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm, and Sundays, 11am to 4pm.
Workshops run by professionals will have a Pay What You Feel charge; community workshop sessions will be held for free.
Creative Hub highlights in the fortnight ahead at Friargate Theatre include: Grab The Mic Night, Saturday, 6.30pm; Theatre: A Setting Up Surgery, May 8, 6pm; Stand-Up Comedy Beginners Workshop, May 12, 1pm, and Vocal Workshop, May 15, 6pm.
See the full programme and book tickets at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on?q=friargate%20theatre
“A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven,” says Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver as she plays theMother Superior in Sister Act
SUE Cleaver is taking the holy orders in a break from Coronation Street to play the Mother Superior in the 2024 tour of Sister Act in her first stage role in three decades.
Swapping the cobbles for the convent, the Rovers Return for rosary beads, after 23 years as Eileen Grimshaw in Corrie, she will play the Grand Opera House, York, from May 6 to 11.
‘‘I’m thrilled to be stepping into the habit and joining the incredible company of Sister Act on tour,” says Sue, 60. “It’s been over 30 years since I’ve been on stage, but theatre has always been my first love. A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven.”
Based on Emile Ardolino’s 1992 American comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act is a testament to the universal power of friendship, sisterhood and music in its story of Deloris Van Cartier, a disco diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder.
Placed under protective custody, Deloris Van Cartier (Landi Oshinowo) is hidden in the one place she should not be found: a convent. Disguised as a nun and under the suspicious watch of Cleaver’s Mother Superior, Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own in a joyous show replete with original music by Alan Menken and songs inspired by Motown, soul and disco.
Making a habit of it: Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior in Sister Act
“I’m loving it,” says Sue of her stage return that opened in Brighton and has since taken her to Manchester, Cork, Belfast and Glasgow. “Theatre is where I started. I played lots of different reps [repertory theatres] early in my career, and then TV and film took over, but I’m very happy to be back.
“Just having a live audience there, the adrenaline and fear that goes with that, and getting a great response from them – that’s what most actors would say is why they do it. Actually, thinking about it, it’s adrenaline, rather than fear. Every night is different; every performance is different.”
Sue had never seen the musical. “I was going in blind, but I decided I wasn’t going to see other performers, as you want to create your own version,” she says. “Because of my [Coronation Street] schedule, I had only four and a half days’ rehearsal with the musical director and director [Bill Buckhurst] and two members of the cast, so I’m pretty proud of myself, going on after one run-through.
“It’s a big thing to take on in that short amount of time, but you get through that initial feeling of fear and just get on with it.”
Now eight weeks into the run, Sue has been comparing notes with Lesley Joseph, who preceded her in the Mother Superior’s role on tour before switching to playing Sister Mary Lazarus alongside Ruth Jones’s Mother Superior in the West End production at the Dominion Theatre. “We often do a WhatsApp catch-up in the interval in our habits!” she says.
Clash of worlds: Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier and Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior in Sister Act
“I’ve not played a nun before, but the Mother Superior is just a great character. She’s a traditional, stern character who cares about the sisters and the convent, so it’s a clash of different worlds with Deloris as they navigate their way around each other and learn from each other. It’s a journey of discovery for both of them.”
Reflecting on diving into the deep end with Sister Act, Sue continues: “I feel it’s really important to take risks, to get out of your comfort zone. It’s why I said ‘yes, I’ll do it’. The timing was right for me, having concentrated very much on Corrie and bringing up my son, who’s now flown the nest. Hitting 60, this decade is about having fun!”
Fun to be had by all: “It’s just lovely to see audiences up on their feet and dancing. Right now, people are looking to go out and have a good time, and musicals provide that for all ages,” says Sue. “We all need that after the last few years. The world isn’t a great place at the minute, but if you can escape for a few hours of fun on stage, why not?”
Sue will be returning to the Coronation Street studios next month. “Eileen’s just popped off to see Thailand – it’s very useful to have a son in the show who’s gone off to the other side of the world!” she says. “I’m back in Corrie as soon as I finish this tour, going back to filming in June.”
Sister Act, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Wednesday and Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Copyright of The Press, York
Why did Sue Cleaver say ‘Yes’ to doing I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Here! in 2022?
Sue Cleaver: Spilling the beans on her time in the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! jungle in 2022, when she finished ninth
“I ALWAYS said ‘No, I’ll never do it’, and then I said, ‘why am I saying ‘No’?’. It was only fear – and that wasn’t a good enough answer.
“So I did it! It was very tough, but we had a good group of people, who are still in touch, making friends for life. You can’t do that kind of show without making deep connections.”
Editing versus reality?
“The viewer sees 19 minutes out of every 24 hours, and we have absolutely no say in how things are knitted together. None of us have watched it because it will be the edited version and all that entails.
“We know what our journey was. You couldn’t re-create it. We all lived it. I lost two stone; some of the lads lost three stone.”
Daily food rations in the jungle
“Three table spoons of beans, three table spoons of rice, and then you win everything else. You’re getting up at six in the morning and your food doesn’t fly in until eight at night, so you’re very tired at the end of the day, which is the aim of it.
“We were lucky that we were a very solid group: it was a world of grown-ups in there.”
Lessons learnt in the Aussie jungle?
“Well, I never went back to putting salt on food because I had way too much salt before. I don’t miss it. Now I’m completely off it. I don’t even put it on chips.
“I never want to eat wholegrain rice again either.
“I came back thinking, ‘I’ll never sleep in a jungle in a little camp bed again’, but as long I can take my own packed lunch I’d go back to sleeping in a camp bed.
“I’ve done my fair share of camping. Occasionally we have a camping trip from Corrie, though we’ve not done that yet this year.”
Vera Chok’s Lauren and Jay McGuiness’s Ben in a scene from 2:22 – A Ghost Story, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, this week
JUST a normal week? No, paranormal, more like, as a ghost story pumps up the spooks. Fear not, a hope-filled musical, dances of love, loss and legacy and soul, folk and funk gigs are Charles Hutchinson’s picks too.
New ghost to haunt “Europe’s most haunted city”: 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, spooking until Saturday, 7.30pm fright-nightly; 2.30pm today (1/5/2024) and Saturday; 3.30pm, Friday
JENNY believes her new London home is haunted, hearing a disturbance every night at the same time, but husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben.
Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is drawing closer, so they decide to stay up… until 2:22 in the morning… and then they’ll know in The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s paranormal thriller, wherein secrets emerge and ghosts may, or may not, appear. Fiona Wade, George Rainsford and Vera Chok join The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness in Matthew Dunster & Isabel Marr’s cast. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Come From Away: Award-winning musical of hope, humanity and unity on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre
Musical of the week: Come From Away, Leeds Grand Theatre, running until May 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
IRENE Sankoff and David Hein’s four-time Olivier Award-winning musical tells the remarkable true story of 6,579 air passengers from around the world being grounded in Canada in the wake of 9/11. Whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts.
As spirited locals and global passengers come together to forge friendships, we meet first female American Airlines captain, the quick-thinking town mayor, the mother of a New York firefighter and the eager local news reporter in a celebration of hope, humanity and unity. Box office: 0113 2430808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for Alexander O’Neal’s farewell tour, Time To Say Goodbye, bound for York Barbican on Friday
Farewell tour of the week: Alexander O’Neal, Time To Say Goodbye, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
AFTER nearly five decades, Mississippi soul singer Alexander O’Neal is hitting the road one final time at 70 on his Time to Say Goodbye: Farewell World Tour, accompanied by his nine-piece band.
O’Neal will be undertaking a journey through his career with the aid of never-before-seen-photos, testimonies and tributes, all set to the tune of such hits as Criticize, Fake and If You Were Here Tonight. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Phoenix Dance Theatre in Dane Hurst’s Requiem, part of the Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love programme at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Drew Forsyth
Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre in Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
YORK Theatre Royal is the final venue on Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s first British tour since 2022 with a visceral triple bill of works by international dance makers Dane Hurst, Miguel Altunaga and Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis.
Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love opens with South African choreographer and former Phoenix artistic director Hurst’s reimagining of Mozart’s Requiem in response to pandemic-induced grief. Two world premieres follow: Afro-Cuban choreographer Altunaga’s first Phoenix commission, the daring Cloudburst, and Texas-born Jarrell Willis’s Terms Of Agreement.Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Milton Rooms’ poster for the Comedy vs Climate workshops this weekend in Malton
Workshop of the week: Comedy vs Climate Change, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday and Sunday
THIS weekend Comedy vs Climate Change hosts a brace of workshop projects for 18 to 30-year-olds from North Yorkshire with the aim of raising awareness of climate issues and funds for environmental causes, as well as finding hope in climate humour that shapes a greener, better and fairer future.
Saturday’s 2pm to 5pm session provides an introduction to stand-up and joke writing; Sunday’s 10am to 1pm session focuses on improv and character development. Both use humour to explore environmental issues based around local rivers. Ring 01653 696240 or go to themiltonrooms.com to book a place.
Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart: Playing dub, funk and world music at Pocklington Arts Centre
Funkiest gig of the week: Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart, Pocklington Arts Centre, May 9, 8pm
SUPREME bassist Jah Wobble’s two-hour show takes in material from his work with John Lydon in Public Image Ltd and collaborations with Brian Eno, Bjork, Sinead O’Connor, U2’s The Edge, Can’s Holger Czukay, Ministry’s Chris Connelly and Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker.
Born John Wardle in 1958, he was renamed by Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, who struggled to pronounce his name correctly. Wobble has combined elements of dub, funk and world music, especially Africa and the Middle East, in his songwriting and has written books on music, politics, spirituality and Eastern philosophy too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Gigspanner Trio: Led by fiddler Peter Knight at Helmsley Arts Centre
Folk gig of the week: Gigspanner Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, May 10, 7.30pm
IN the wake of his departure from Steeleye Span, fiddle player Peter Knight has turned his full attention to the Gigspanner Trio, a ground-breaking force on the British folk scene.
Knight, who first performed with the fledgling Steeleye line-up in 1970, is joined in his trio by percussionist Sacha Trochet and guitarist Roger Flack. Together, they combine self-penned material with arrangements of music rooted in the British Isles and beyond. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly: On tour at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Half-term show announcement of the week: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 28, 2.30pm
FIRST written as a song in 1953, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly was a chart-topping hit for singer and actor Burl Ives before being adapted into a best-selling book by Pam Adams a few years later, one still found in schools, nurseries and homes across the world.
To mark the nursery rhyme’s 50th anniversary, children’s author Steven Lee has created a magical musical stage show for little ones to enjoy with their parents that combines the charming nonsense of the rhyme with his own “suitably silly twists”. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Introducing Pop Yer Clogs Theatre company co-founders, lined up for debut production The Importance Of Being Earnest. Poster art by: Ian Cotterill
POP Yer Clogs Theatre, a new repertory company of York professional actors, will stage Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest from tomorrow to Saturday at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.
Oscar Wilde’s comedy of mistaken identity, high society and a mislaid handbag forms their inaugural production after forming in March 2023.
“The name ‘Pop Yer Clogs’ was chosen as we wanted something ‘Yorkshire’ and humorous that hinted at our origins as a company,” says company co-founder Andrea Mitchell. “We all met in an immersive scare attraction [York Dungeon].”
Staging a faithful adaptation of Wilde’s waspish comedy of manners, Pop Yer Clogs will adorn the production with specially recorded music by Matt Robair and Nick Trott, handmade 1890s’ costumes by cast member Lydia McCudden and lighting and sound by Niamh Cooper and Ethan Canet-Baldwin.
Andrea Mitchell, as Lady Augusta Bracknell, left, Harry Murdoch, as Jack Worthing, and Lydia McCudden, as Gwendolen Fairfax, in rehearsal for The Importance Of Being Earnest
The company was founded last year to bring productions of classic dramas to the York stage for an accessible price of £10 per ticket. First up is The Importance Of Being Earnest, Wilde’s 1895 satire that pokes fun at the absurdity of Victorian upper-class society, armed with an arsenal of his most famous one-liners…and that immortal exclamation, “A handbag?”
Jack Worthing (played by Harry Murdoch) and Algernon Moncrieff (Rob Cotterill) are two friends from very different worlds: country and town. Jack is a carefree young man who invents a fictitious brother named Ernest, adopting this persona to escape his country home and live a double life in London.
Jack falls in love with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (Lydia McCudden). When he discovers that Gwendolen could only marry a man named Ernest, Jack plans to kill off his fictional brother and assume the name for himself.
Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s cast for The Imprtance Of Being Earnest
Meanwhile, Algernon learns of Jack’s excessively pretty niece, Cecily Cardew (Erin Keogh), who has fallen for Jack’s imaginary brother. He hatches a scheme of his own to pretend to be the fictitious Ernest in order to win Cecily’s heart.
As the two men become entangled in each other’s elaborate lies, their deceptions unravel in a whirlwind of rushed proposals, disapproving relatives and mistaken identity, but soon they learn the vital importance of being earnest.
Further roles go to Andrea Mitchell as Lady Augusta Bracknell, Lucy Crawford as Miss Prism, Jack Higgott as the Reverend Canon Chasuble and director Christopher Leslie as the two butlers, Lane and Merriman.
Company co-founder Leslie studied performance practice at Leeds University Centre and has taken part in many productions throughout Yorkshire. Cotterill, Keogh and Mitchell are among those who work in the character acting team at York Dungeon.
Rob Cotterill’s Algernon Moncrieff, left, and Harry Murdoch’s Jack Worthing rehearsing a scene for Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s The Importance Of Being Earnest
Leslie says: “Earnest is a play everyone has heard of but has not necessarily seen. It is such a delightfully witty and farcical play, and it will be a treat to put it on this week. We have a superb and stellar cast on our hands and everyone has been working extremely hard.”
Harry Murdoch, who plays Jack Worthing, adds: “Not a single rehearsal goes by where we don’t find ourselves in fits of giggles. Every character has their own moment to show off all their absurd eccentricities, and the part of Jack offers so much for me to play with.
“Throughout the play he goes from experiencing the highest intensity and anxiety to moments of the deepest despair and vulnerability. The perfect range of emotions for a comedic lead!”
Theatre@41 trustee Jim Paterson says: “As Wilde himself said, ‘the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it’. We heartily encourage the people of York to take that advice and yield to the temptation to see The Importance Of Being Earnest. We love welcoming new companies to our studio and can’t wait to see Pop Yer Clogs take on this brilliant comedy.”
Pop Yer Clogs Theatre director Christopher Leslie, second from right, working with his cast in rehearsals for The Importance Of Being Earnest
In addition to staging Earnest, Pop Yer Clogs are rehearsing for an abridged performance of Alice In Wonderland at York Theatre Royal Studio on May 16 at 6pm as part of the Theatre Royal’s TakeOver festival, run in tandem with York St John University. The company will return to Theatre@41 with a full-length production of Alice In Wonderland in November.
Pop Yer Clogs Theatre in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 1 to 4, 7.30pm. Running time: Two hours, including interval. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk or at https://tinyurl.com/3c4rvbbe. Tickets for Alice In Wonderland: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
TakeOver festival: the back story
ANNUAL collaboration between York Theatre Royal and York St John University, wherein students control the theatre’s event programme and commission performances from professional companies such as Pop Yer Clogs Theatre. The 2024 festival will run from May 13 to 18.
Alice Atang’s Fiddler and Steve Tearle’s Tevye in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof
TEVYE will always be Steve Tearle’s most treasured role, his programme note reveals, as the North Easterner plays the Russian village milkman for the third time in celebration of Fiddler On The Roof’s 60th anniversary.
That enthusiasm is writ large in both his performance and his direction of the 1964 Broadway musical, less showy than usual in both cases, still with his familiar twinkle in the eye in his engagement with the audience but graver in disposition too, as demanded by the shadow of anti-Semitism that darkens Joseph Stein’s book for the nine-time Tony Award winner.
The result is his most rounded production for NE Theatre York, one that plays to his Busby Berkeley-style convention of using a big cast but does everything in the cause of the musical, rather than imposing on it mischievously or allowing himself to adlib.
Given what is unfolding in Gaza and Israel, this is a time of heightened division and global political tension to be staging a musical with a pogrom – an act of persecution against Russian Jews in 1905 – at its heart.
Fiddler is set in the Pale Of Settlement of Imperial Russia, where Tevye must cope not only with three daughters’ strong will to marry for love – each one’s choice of husband moving further away from the customs of his faith – but also with the Tsar’s edict to evict the Jewish community from their small village of Anatevka.
Rooted in Sholem Aleichem’s story Tevye And His Daughters (or Tevye The Dairyman) and other tales, Fiddler finds the traditionalist Tevye facing changes to his simple family life from all sides: from daughters rebelling against the convention of arranged marriages, as they take matters into their own hand, to the climactic decree to evacuate the village.
Stein’s book and the songs of Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick richly establish Tevye’s tormented, if humorous character and his role as narrator/commentator, swimming against the tide of change and female empowerment, and this is where Tearle excels, bringing such personality to If I Were A Rich Man and Tradition.
Not only Tearle impresses. Perri Ann Barley’s stoic wife Golde and the rebel treble of Maia Stroud’s Tzeitle, Rebecca Jackson’s Hodle and Elizabeth Farrell’s Chava give moving performances too, while Finlay Butler’s Motel, Kit Stroud’s Perchik and Callum Richardson’s Fyedka play their part resolutely.
Melissa Boyd’s choreography hits the mark in the show’s hot spots, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, To Life, Sunrise, Sunset and Tevye’s Dream, the production’s high point.
Praise too for Tearle’s costume design and musical director Joe Allen’s orchestra, so integral to the moods and changing tones of Fiddler On The Roof.
As for the Fiddler of the title, whether by Tevye’s side or perched on the roof, Alice Atang is a nimble symbol of both joy and melancholia.
NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof ran at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from April 23 to 27.
Henry Madd’s Henry, left, and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of Lost Content. “This show demands that people pay attention to the darker side of life in a small town, while celebrating the beauty of it,” says Henry. Picture: Ali Wright
HENRY Madd’s Land Of Lost Content is a frustrated love letter to his rural hometown.
On tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow night (28/4/2024), it carries the trigger warning: References to domestic and sexual abuse, drug and alcohol use, suicide and self-harm.
“It’s about the messiness of old friendships that should probably end but won’t because they’re the only ones who know what it was really like to grow up where you did,” he says of his provocative autobiographical piece.
“This show champions rural voices, it demands that people pay attention to the darker side of life in a small town, while celebrating the beauty of it. Too often rural characters are neglected from mainstream media, but the characters in this show are real and relatable; they are based off the people I knew growing up and still know now.”
Directed originally by Nic Connaughton, the Pleasance’s head of theatre, and now co-directed by Lauren Lambert Moore for the tour, Madd’s insight into friendship, adolescence, forgiveness and life not going to plan is an empowering coming-of-age story about the trials of growing up in a small country town and its ongoing effects on two estranged mates.
Henry (Madd) and Jake (Marc Benga) were bored friends who grew up in Ludlow, where friendships were forged in failed adventures, bad habits and damp raves as they stumbled through teenage days looking for something to do. Then Henry moved away.
Now he is back, and there will be no enjoying a welcome home pint without facing up to the memories – and the people – he left behind.
“Welcome to a town where worlds are turned upside down in an instant, yet nothing seems to change,” says Madd.
Drawing on themes of mental health and substance abuse in rural areas, Land Of Lost Content sheds light on the unique challenges small-town life poses to relationships, through a blend of theatre and spoken word in a “necessary analysis on underfunded mental health and youth services, and the stigma around reaching out”.
To sum up Land Of Lost Content: “Immersing audiences from all backgrounds in its microcosm, issues of youth mental health and addiction in rural areas are addressed through Henry and Jake’s complicated rekindling, as they navigate small town hardships – including unreliable buses – while life refuses to go to plan.”
Henry Ladd’s smalltown boy, Henry, in Land Of Lost Content. Picture: Ali Wright
Here son of Ludlow Henry Madd discusses life in a rural town with son of Ripon Charles Hutchinson
Why are rural lives and voices neglected by the mainstream media and culture?
“They’re wrongly seen as being less relevant. It’s the job of art to hold a mirror up to society, right? But people forget that the countryside is part of that. There’s an assumed belief in this country that what happens in the countryside is less important or newsworthy than events in the city.
“Therefore, characters in these rural areas are rarely explored in depth and fall into played-out stereotypes, namely: landed gentry, country bumpkins and murder victims.
“Stories often start with characters who have ‘finally broken free’ from small-town homes and are starting their new life in the big city. There’s a suggestion that everything that happened before this moment didn’t count.
“This show does the opposite. It goes back and sits with that time, appreciates it, confronts it and tries to forgive it where needed.”
What was good about growing up in Ludlow?
“No-one was paying attention to what we were doing.”
What was bad about growing up in Ludlow?
“No-one was paying attention to what we were doing.”
Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in a scene from Land Of Lost Content. Picture: Ali Wright
What leads to mental health issues and substance abuse in adolescence in a rural town? Has that scenario worsened? How could it be improved?
“I think the popularity of substance abuse is rural areas is caused by a perfect storm. Boredom, lack of youth services, lack of services to spot problems, plenty of outdoor space for things to happen secretly and a population where different ages are more likely mingle.
“However, in many ways for me, this created a safe community to experiment in; people looked out for each other. We had a lot of fun at the time, but the repercussions later down the line have been undeniable.
“Whenever I return, I see the same things are happening. It’s a point we talk about in the show: ‘The faces change but never age’. In many ways it seems unchangeable, but so do all things before they…well…change.
“There are many ways it could be improved, certainly investing more heavily in the arts to provide young people with more outlets to express themselves. But also, creating a culture that doesn’t demonise these ‘anti-social’ behaviours as much, so that there is a better support system when people get into trouble.”
The underfunding of youth services is a perennial problem. Discuss…
“After a decade of Tory austerity, it’s hard to think of anything new to say on the matter. We all know that there are far reaching negative consequences of cutting youth services. That’s not to say that these services can fix everything, but they help; they offer an alternative and a safe space to come back to and that’s important.
“I think one of the issues is that we’re stuck in a culture of putting out fires, rather than preventing them happening. ‘Children are the future’ is a soundbite no-one seems to believe despite its undeniable truth.”
“Stumbling through adolescence looking for something to do”: Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of Lost Content. Picture: Ali Wright
Are rural town teenage days “forged in failed adventures, bad habits and damp raves, stumbling through adolescence looking for something to do”, inexorably inevitable?
“Yeah, of course, to a certain extent. But work can be done to make sure that those who do it are the ones who want to do it, not because there was no other option.
“If you’ve grown up in that culture it’s hard to imagine an alternative, but I’ve definitely spoken to people who had much calmer times growing up and weren’t sniffing ketamine before school, so I think it must be possible.”
What was the writing process behind such a deeply autobiographical piece? Did itdiffer from how you usually write?
“It was the story I had in me that I needed to tell, and I couldn’t have written anything else at the time. Aside from the work I write for children, which is more fantastical, all my writing is autobiographical.
“The process was tough. It involved a lot of sitting with uncomfortable memories and questioning why I was doing it. I felt a huge responsibility to try and tell it honestly while still protecting people’s identities and making it work for the stage.”
“I think the popularity of substance abuse is rural areas is caused by a perfect storm,” says writer Henry Madd. Picture: Ali Wright
How did you come up with the title Land Of Lost Content?
“Stole it! It’s taken from a poem in A E Housman’s collections Shropshire Lad. I felt it captured the sense of a place that used to provide everything you needed but no longer does so. Unfortunately, everyone pronounces the words ‘content’ the wrong way and I regret choosing it.” [That sounds like ‘discontent’ with it, Henry – Editor].
Have you made any adjustments to the play since its initial performances at Edinburgh Fringe and in London in 2022?
“Absolutely. I’m constantly tweaking it. The longer we do the show, the more objective I am about the writing. I used to hate cutting lines but now I’m much less precious, and the script is leaner, more efficient, and clearer because of it.
“The show has been re-directed for the tour by the amazing Lauren Lambert Moore, and she’s really leant into the youthful, playful side of the show, which gives it a fresh new life.”
What three words would you use to summarise Land Of Lost Content?
“Heartfelt. Energetic. Nostalgic.”
What can the York audience expect to see in tomorrow’s performance?
“Plenty of laughter, wild stories, a bear who owns a pub, bad dancing (lots of bad dancing, blame Lauren) and hard-hitting conversations.”
“I am committed to sharing these stories with a wider audience,” says Henry Maddof Land Of Lost Content. Picture: Ali Wright
This tour has visited London, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Norwich, Guildford, Oxford, Bristol, Leeds, Hereford, Birmingham and Bradford so far. What has been the response?
“One of the most gratifying things about this show has been the response of how many people have related to it, no matter where they are from. There is a tendency for rural theatre to only play to rural audiences. While it is important to bring this material to the audiences that may relate to it the most, I am committed to sharing these stories with a wider audience.”
Who are your biggest inspirations in the arts world?
“There’s too many to name (he says about to name some!). I feel like all I do is obsess over other artists and try to recreate what they do. That said, Jez Butterworth and Shane Meadows, if we’re talking big names in theatre and film.
“Ocean Vuong, who’s reminds me that it’s possible to be direct and poetic at the same time. The poet Helen Heckety, whose show To Helen Back, was the first time I’d ever seen spoken word/theatre/autobiography/surreal all done together, and I just remember watching it and going, ‘Yeah, that’s it, that’s what I want to do’.”
If you could collaborate with anyone, alive or dead, who would you choose?
“I mean if anyone’s got Jez’s number and wants to contact him for me, that’d be great. I also love working with different art forms and I love dance, despite being rubbish at it, so working with a choreographer like Pina Bausch would be a dream.”
And finally, Henry, can you outgrow your hometown?
“I think you just have to find different ways to wear it.”
Henry Madd: Ludlow-born Poet, educator, theatre maker. Picture: Raphael Klatzko
Henry Madd: the back story
Poet, educator and theatre maker born in the West Midlands, now operating in Margate.
His work, rooted in his rural upbringing, veers from the heart-warming to the heart- wrenching, always with a healthy dose of comedy woven in.
Performed across the UK and internationally, sharing stages with Rudy Francisco, Harry Baker and Lemn Sissay.
Committed to delivering community art projects, working with organisations from Public Library of San Diego to Philharmonia Orchestra.
Regularly hosts and produces music and poetry events around Kent.
Supported artist of The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.
Follow Henry and his tour at: www.henrymadd.com, Instagram @henrymaddpoet; X @Content_land
Henry Madd’s Land Of Lost Content, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow (28/4/2024), 7.30pm. Box office:
