REAL People Theatre, the York women’s community theatre group, will run a workshop for York International Women’s Week on March 8.
The event will run from 2pm to 4pm in person at SPARK York, Piccadilly, York, and on Zoom. Contact artistic director Sue Lister on 01904 488870 for the link.
The workshop will consider what the news of today is inspired by. “What or who has inspired you?”asks Sue. “A person past or present? An experience? The arts or sciences, exploration? Or have you been inspired by nature in all her wonders? As women, let’s share our inspirations and how they have influenced our lives.”
“This will be our 25th offering in the festival,” Sue continues. “It would be good to share women’s stories and record those who want to as a collage of positive life experiences! We need a bit of cheering up these days. The edited recording would go on my small YouTube channel, YouTube@ListerInteractions.
“By the way, if you can’t make March 8, I’ll be running the workshop again on March 12, same time, same place, same format for AWOC York (Ageing without the support of nearby children or family) All ‘awocs’ and allies are welcome.”
Sue will turn 80 next month. “I’m trying to slow down, so if anyone would like to run a drama workshop in the future under the Real People Theatre umbrella, do give me a ring.”
Stag burning at the Jorvik Viking Festival. More fun and games next week. Picture: Charlotte Graham
THE boat-burning Vikings are back as Charles Hutchinson looks forward to an action-packed February half-term.
Festival of the week: 40th anniversary Jorvik Viking Festival, York, February 17 to 23
A NEW Viking longship, a sword that never misses its target and recreations of the world’s largest fossilised poo take centre stage at Europe’s largest Viking Festival over half-term. Five days of Norse fun, living history, hands-on combat and lectures culminate in a parade of more than 200 Vikings through the historic streets on February 22 and two dramatic evening son-et-lumière shows.
A free living history encampment takes over Parliament Street with an array of tents featuring craftsmen and traders, with the opportunity to handle replica armour and weapons. For the full programme and to book tickets, go to jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk.
Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods, seated, with Bruiser, the Chihuahua (played by Lily), in York Light Opera Company’s Legally Blonde The Musical. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography
The power of pink musical of the week: York Light Opera Company in Legally Blonde The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until February 22, 7.30pm nightly (except February 16) plus 2.30pm matinees today, February 20 and 22
JOIN Elle Woods, a seemingly ditzy sorority girl with a heart of gold, as she tackles Harvard Law School to win back her man. Along the way, Elle discovers her own strength and intelligence, “proving that you can be both blonde and brilliant”.
Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods leads Martyn Knight’s 35-strong cast in this feel-good, sassy and stylish show with its powerful message of staying true to yourself, booted with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
David O’Doherty: Irish humour and song at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy show of the week: David O’Doherty, Tiny Piano Man, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 8pm
THE dishevelled prince of €10 eBay keyboards tries to make you feel alive with a pageant of Irish humour, song and occasionally getting up from a chair. “It’s gonna be a big one,” says Dublin comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright David O’Doherty, star of The Great Celebrity Bake Off 2024 and Along For The Ride With David O’Doherty. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Chloe Petts: Getting personal in How You See Me, How You Don’t at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Alternative comedy gig of the week: Chloe Petts, How You See Me, How You Don’t, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
CHLOE Petts returns with a new show and this time she’s getting personal. Between her newly found trolls, ‘oldly’ found school bullies and an excellent relationship with her food tech teacher, she brings her trademark ‘laddishness’ to tell you who she really is, all while her Head Girl badge glistens on her chest. Box office for returns only: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Gareth Gates: Turning romantic crooner in a Valentine mood at York Barbican
Romantic concert of the week: Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies – A Valentine Special, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
EXTENDING the St Valentine’s Day vibes to the weekend, Bradford singer Gareth Gates combines beloved ballads from classic films with the electrifying energy of up-tempo hits, from Unchained Melody to Dirty Dancing, in a celebration of love stories that have graced the silver screen.
Joining the 2002 Pop Idol alumnus and musical star will be Wicked actress Maggie Lynne, Dutch singer Britt Lenting, Performers College graduate Dan Herrington and a four-piece band. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Abbie Budden’s Annette Hargrove in Bill Kenwright Ltd’s production of Cruel Intentions: The’90s Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday. Picture: Pamela Raith
Dangerous liaison of the week: Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 18 to 22, Tuesday to Thursday, 7.30pm; Wednesday, 2.30pm; Friday, 5pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
CREATED by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble from Kumble’s 1999 film spin on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, this American musical is powered by the 1990s’ pop gold dust of Britney Spears, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, TLC, R.E.M., Ace Of Base, Natalie Imbruglia and The Verve.
Step siblings Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) and Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) engage in a cruel bet, where Kathryn goads Sebastian into attempting to seduce Annette Hargrove (Abbie Budden), the headmaster’s virtuous daughter. Weaving a web of secrets and temptation, their crusade wreaks havoc on the students at their exclusive Manhattan high school. Soon the dastardly plotters become entangled in their own web of deception and unexpected romance, with explosive results. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Stuart Green’s police inspector, Truscott, left, and Miles John’s thief, Dennis, in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ production of Loot
Scandalous play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 27, 7.45pm except February 23; 2pm, February 22
KATIE Leckey directs the Settlement Players in agent provocateur Joe Orton’s scabrous 1965 farce, the one with two thieves, dodgy police officers, adult themes, offensive language, sexism and xenophobia, references to sexual assault, including rape and necrophilia, a live actor playing a dead body in a coffin and digs at the Roman Catholic Church.
Don’t let that put you off! Yes, it still carries a content warning and age recommendation of 16 upwards, but it remains outrageously funny. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Wharfemede Productions director Helen Spencer, centre, rehearsing her role as Marmee in Little Women with Connie Howcroft’s Jo, left, Catherine Foster’s Meg, Rachel Higgs’s Beth and Tess Ellis’s Amy. Picture: Matthew Warry
Marching on together: Wharfemede Productions: Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
HELEN Spencer directs York company Wharfemede Productions in their first solo show, playing Marmee too in Allan Knee, Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein’s musical account of Louisa May Alcott’s story of the March sister – traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy – growing up in Concord, Massachusetts, while their chaplain father is away serving during the American Civil War. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ugg’n’Ogg tell the story of The World’s First Dogg at Milton Rooms, Malton
Children’s play of the week: Rural Arts presents Fideri Fidera in Ugg’n’Ogg & The World’s First Dogg, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 20, 2pm
IN the fresh sparkling world just after the last Ice Age, there were no dogs. How, then, did we attain our best friend and the world’s number one pet? Luckily for us, along came young hunter gatherers Ugg‘n’Ogg to pal up with the wolves, Tooth’n’Claw, to defy flying meat bones, raging forest infernos and even a time-travelling stick to invent the dog.
This original play for pooch lovers aged three upwards highlights the evolutionary transition from lupine to canine in a show full of physical comedy, puppets, music and song. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
In Focus:Exhibition refresh: Secrets Of Dress, Yorkshire Castle Museum, Fashion Gallery, Eye of York, York, from February 15
Fashion exhibits in the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust
YORK Castle Museum’s Fashion Gallery has been refreshed, remodelled and enhanced for 2025 with new items and fresh interpretations to show Secrets Of Dress from the Middle Ages to the opening decades of the 21st century.
Not merely a fashion exhibition, this re-boot is an opportunity to look at dress and textiles from the perspective of social history, exploring what clothes and accessories can reveal about our lives and experiences.
Every object has a secret to tell, hence Secrets Of Dress provides insights into ways of life that are very different to today and yet relatable. From 400-year-old sequins to Second World War utility shoes, from the cottage industry of old Yorkshire to the factory-produced fashions of the industrial age, this is social history brought alive by the story of dress.
Dr Faye M Prior, Curator of Social History, with a 1970s’ outfit designed by Angela Holmes for her York-based fashion brand Droopy & Browns. The outfit was kindly donated by Angela’s sister, Leone Cockburn, and her niece, Clare Cockburn. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust
This bespoke exhibition has been updated for the 21st century with a new section focusing on the City of York: York Makers. Thanks to the diligent research of York Castle Museum volunteers, York Makers presents York-made clothing, textiles and textile-working tools from the Middle Ages to the present day, alongside the stories of the people who made and used them.
York Makers celebrates creative people who lived and worked in York, some of whom contributed nationally as well as regionally to fashion.
On display are outfits by York-based designers Angela Holmes, founder of Droopy & Browns, and Vivien Smith, founder of Vivien Smith Simply Clothes. These two entrepreneurs created iconic fashion brands that offered distinctive styles on the high street from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
Gloves made of straw from the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust
Other York Makers include Victorian shirtmaker Herbert Morris Crouch, who ran his own shop on Coney Street, and Mrs Maria Cook, the dressmaker whose ‘Made In York’ label sparked the volunteer research project.
Secrets Of Dress showcases 500 years of clothing, accessories and textiles, including items never displayed until now. Every object has something to tell, and many show repairs and adaptations, revealing how practices thought to be modern, such as ‘upcycling’ and ‘remaking’, have a long tradition.
Displayed in an accessible and fun way, iconic items and textiles from the 1960s and 1970s will be recognisable immediately. Visitors can touch, feel and try on costumes re-created by costume designer Naomi Pugh – aka ‘Nomes’ – of Textiles by Gnomes, and enjoy family trails with Little Spotters Trails, including a colouring page for creative little ones.
York Castle Museum is open Monday, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets: adult £17; child £10.20; concessions available. Tickets are valid for 12 months. Children of York residents enter for free.
Visitors taking a close look at clothing and shoes in the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust
Alex Keen and Rachel E Thorn: Improving tonight’s performance of Lying Together at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
TUCK into a black comedy of sex and deception, improvised completely by award-winning comedians Alex Keen and Rachel E Thorn at Theatre@41 on St Valentine’s night.
“Each performance is inspired by a lie told or a secret kept in a real romantic relationship, submitted by members of the public like you,” say Alex and Rachel, who then explore an anonymous confession chosen by the audience.
“You can submit a secret you’ve kept, a lie someone has told you or something you’ve heard about from a friend, but weren’t personally involved in. All we ask is that you only submit genuine secrets and lies between a couple.”
Previous inspirations include:
Rachel sat in a shepherd’s pie and pretended the dog ate it;
Alex told Rachel he’d been in a car accident;
Rachel hid the fact that the wedding she went to was her ex’s;
Alex told Rachel his mum was dead when she wasn’t.
“Let’s find out why we lie to the people we love,” say Alex and Rachel, who invite submissions via lyingtogether.co.uk. Hurry, hurry!
They first worked together when they co-created Scriptless In Seattle, nominated for Best Improv Show at Leicester Comedy Festival.
They then formed the two-hander improv Between Us, winner of Act of the Year in the Phoenix Remix awards, next made Sex, Lies & Improvisation and now perform Lying Together.
They also co-created and tour the award-winning show MATES: The Improvised ’90s Sitcom with Hugh Clark.
Alex and Rachel have taught improvisation at home and abroad for: Equity UK; Chicago Dramatic Improv Festival; British Improv Project; The Cambridge Impronauts; Nottingham Student Improv Festival; Liverpool Comedy Improv; Sheffield Improv Jam; Making Room at Sheffield Theatres; The Same Faces; The Shrimps and Wayward Souls.
The tour poster image for Lying Together
Alex Keen: the back story
CO-CREATED, coaches and performs with Sturike Comedy, who have made the shows Teen High: An Improvised High School Movie, Story Time and Fan Friction.
Alex co-founded and co-runs the Sheffield Improv Jam, a bi-monthly improv event in Sheffield. He is a welfare officer and teacher at the British Improv Project, a biannual residential retreat in the Midlands. He has performed with The Shrimps, Cambridge Impronauts, The Same Faces, Stealing the Show and Tiny Stories. More information at www.alexrkeen.com.
Rachel E Thorn: the back story
CO-CREATED CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation and performed with Cambridge Impronauts, Upstairs Downton and The Shrimps.
Rachel’s scripted work has been long-listed by the Kenneth Branagh Award, the Female Pilot Club, the Painkiller Prize and Pentabus. She has written for Dead Ringers, The Now Show, DMs Are Open, Newsjack andBreaking The News.
Her sketch comedy has been aired on BBC Radio and she has collaborated with impressionists Alistair McGowan, Charlie Hopkinson and Darren Altman. She trained at Drama Studio London. More information at www.rachelethorn.com.
For tickets for tonight’s improv performance, make a Valentine’s Day date at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Connie Howcroft rehearsing her role as Jo March in Little Women – The Broadway Musical. Picture: Matthew Warry
BURGEONING York company Wharfemede Productions will stage their first solo production, Little Women – The Broadway Musical, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from February 18 to 22.
Based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868-1869 semi-autobiographical novel, the American musical focuses on the four March sisters – traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy – and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts, while their father is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the American Civil War.
Vignettes wherein their lives unfold are intercut with several re-creations of the melodramatic short stories that Jo writes in her attic studio in a musical featuring a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Jason Howland.
“Rarely produced in the UK since its Broadway debut in 2005, this is a unique opportunity for musical and literary lovers to see this fabulous adaptation,” says director Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ chief artistic director and co-founder.
“Little Women is a character-driven musical with family and friendship at the heart of this beloved story. I fell in love with the musical the first time I listened to it and having never seen it on stage. The score is beautiful, rousing and reflects the traditional setting of the piece, with spectacular group numbers and heartfelt solos.”
Helen continues: “As Wharfemede’s first independent production, it was the perfect size company and we are incredibly lucky to have some of the best performers in York in our ten-strong cast.
Wharfemede Productions director Helen “Bells” Spencer, centre, rehearsing her role as Marmee in Little Women with Connie Howcroft’s Jo, left, Catherine Foster’s Meg, Rachel Higgs’s Beth and Tess Ellis’s Amy. Picture: Matthew Warry
“Leading our cast as the passionate and fiery Jo March will be the incredible Connie Howcroft. I knew that Connie had sung Astonishing, the most famous song from the show, in her graduation ceremony several years ago so, ‘some things are meant to be’.
“Having performed with Connie several times, there was no doubt in my mind that she was perfect for this challenging role, with her incredible vocals and strength as an actor.”
Connie was familiar with the musical from her student days. “I knew quite a lot about it because I explored it when I was studying for my musical theatre degree at Hull College of Arts [from 2014 to 2017],” she says.
“A friend used one of the songs in her singing assessment, and I thought, ‘ooh, that sounds really nice”! I already knew the book, researched the show and then sang Astonishing, in my degree final ceremony performance – which ‘Bells’ saw on YouTube!”
When “Bells” asked Connie if she would be interested in performing in Little Women, “I said ‘yeah, sure, it’s a great musical’, and so me and Jo March were brought together,” she says.
Did she always have her eyes on that particular role? “Absolutely, 100 per cent, because she’s just a great character! I have many similarities with her, which is helpful in playing a character,” she says.
“She’s so self-aware until she’s not; she knows what she wants until she doesn’t. When something in her life throws her off balance, she always strives to do more. She loves her family, but she wants more than that from her life, so she’s always pulled between her family and what she believes her dreams should lead to. Her passions are always being challenged.”
Rachel Higgs’s Beth March, left, and Connie Howcroft’s Jo March rehearsing a scene for Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women. Picture: Matthew Warry
Connie has to accommodate her acting passions while working full-time as an events lead for an education company, teaching leadership skills to teachers in Westminster and Central Hall, London. “I do the preparatory work from York, sometimes working with people remotely on Zoom, then travel to London to do the events,” she says. “For this show, I did have to miss one rehearsal in late-January for a two-day event.”
She needs the balance of work and play. “Without having some form of performance outlet in my life, I don’t feel happy,” says Connie. “I grew up singing in the Q church in York from the age of 16, putting on Christmas productions too.
“I feel I always need to have singing in my life, but I’m careful about how I spread my time, as I’m a mum as well, to Riley, who’s 13 – and he does lead the life of Riley!
“But when I commit to a performance, I’m 1,000 per cent into it to do everyone proud and to make sure the production is the best it can be.”
Like Connie, “Bells” Spencer has found the balance between her love of performance – once her professional career, running a theatre company – and her work as a doctor in York. “I’m very passionate about the work I do for the NHS but I also get to do the thing I love as a hobby, putting in 100 per cent to make a performance of a standard I would want and expect to see,” she says.
Formed by “Bells” and chief operating officer Nick Sephton, Wharefemede Productions made their debut last October, staging Jason Browne’s The Last Five Years in tandem with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions.
“The aim of Wharfemede Productions is to have a good time with a good work ethic, where it’s all about being supportive of each other and being a team,” she says.
Joining Connie in Little Women will be Catherine Foster as Meg; Rachel Higgs as Beth; Tess Ellis as Amy; Spencer herself as Marmee; Rosy Rowley as Aunt March; Steven Jobson as Laurie; Nick Sephton as Professor Bhaer; Andrew Roberts as Mr Brooke and Chris Gibson as Mr Lawrence.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working on the rich characters and building a bond in the cast that shines through on stage. I’m so excited for our audiences to see this moving and funny show,” says “Bells”.
Wharfemede Productions present Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York Settlement Community Players’ Stuart Green’s inspector, Truscott, left, and Miles John’s thief, Dennis, rehearsing a scene from Joe Orton’s Loot
LOOT, Joe Orton’s scandalous first farce, opened at the Cambridge Arts Theatre on February 1 1965 with Kenneth Williams and Geraldine McEwan in the cast.
“The play is a disaster,” the iconoclastic Leicester playwright wrote in a letter to his lover, Kenneth Halliwell. “A very bad play,” sniffed the Cambridge News review. Ouch!
Loot would close after 56 performances and three re-writes, the cast declining the chance to transfer to London, but…Orton’s provocatively controversial, free-wheeling and ferocious dark farce about life’s ultimate taboo – death – is very much alive and kicking up a storm 2025, still suited and booted to shock, amuse and entertain in Orton’s signature scabrous style.
…And still carrying a Content Warning, to be found when booking tickets for Katie Leckey’s production for York Settlement Community Players, running at York Theatre Royal Studio from February 18 to 27.
It reads: “The show contains adult themes and offensive language (including sexism and xenophobia). There are also sexual references and references to sexual assault (including rape and necrophilia) and references to smoking on stage.”
Jack Mackay’s Hal, left, Emily Carhart’s Fay and Miles John’s Dennis in the rehearsal room for York Settlement Community Players’ production of Loot
All this, 60 years since Orton premiered his two-act satire on the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death and the integrity of the police force, wrapped in the story of the fortunes of two thieves, Hal and Dennis, as they navigate the ridiculous farce they find themselves in. Cue such props as rolling eyeballs, flying false teeth and a live actor playing a dead body.
“We made the choice to set the production in the time it was produced, so that audiences can see what has changed about ideas of ‘Britishness’, religion and institutional tyranny since then (if anything) and what still shocks and outrages us today,” says Katie, a Northern Irish actor and director, who completed her Masters degree last year at the University of York, where she set up Griffonage Theatre with co-artistic director Jack Mackay, now cast as Hal in Loot.
“Are we still homophobic, are we less Catholic? The fact that we have to warn people that it’s still a shocking and scandalous play speaks volumes. The thing is this: we do need to give some sort of warning because some of the content is so abhorrent, mostly what Hal says.
“It’s about setting expectations fairly, but I still think the play should be shocking and done as written, so there are insidious lines that I have kept in that I don’t like, but it shows how people were thinking at that time – and still do today, especially men.
Loot director Katie Leckey
“Interestingly, we had 45-50 people auditioning, mostly men wanting to play the inspector, Truscott, although there’s pretty much an equal split of male-female characters in our production.”
The strongest voice of all in Loot belongs to Orton, suggests Katie. “That’s what fascinates me: the more I do the play, the stronger his voice becomes. He’s the most authorial writer. There’s something vicious in everything that is said, but it punches up,” she says.
“Orton was so angry about so many things and that’s why the viciousness is so poignant. Like how he was treated by the police, especially as a gay man who had to adapt. So the play is performative to an extent, but it is situated in lived experience.
“I can’t not speak to my actors about him, I can’t not contextualise, Hal is essentially Halliwell and Dennis is Joe. The more you read about his life, the more you can’t separate it from what he’s written.
“I try to get some distance as a director, but I don’t think you can with this, because of how Orton’s life ended [he was murdered, aged 34, by Halliwell in 1967] and how he wrote.
Paul French’s Mr McLeavy, left, and Stuart Green’s Truscott in rehearsal for Loot
“If you had interviewed Orton in 1965, he would have said Loot is a serious play, why is everyone finding it funny? But it absolutely is a farce, rigid in its form as a farce, going through the motions of a farce, which is funny in itself.”
Katie continues: “But what makes it one of the funniest plays is the language. If he had written it as a ‘normal farce’, it would instead have been a tragedy, but he has this flamboyant way of writing, partly upper class, partly colloquial. Using obtuse language deliberately too, where the rhythms sound so ridiculous.”
Translating Orton’s assertion of Loot’s seriousness to her actors, “everything has to be done with conviction in my direction,” she says. “It has to be done that way, with believability. I’m not into breaking ‘the fourth wall’. The characters have to come across as desperate.
“The only difference between tragedy and farce, Orton, said was the treatment of themes. If you made a play about police brutality and homophobia, you could do that as a tragedy, but what makes it funny here is how Orton has singed those subjects with his fire.”
Katie is delighted to be directing a Settlement show for the first time, having first performed with the company in Government Inspector in October 2023. “I went to the group audition and I was shocked and excited by how talented everyone was! I wheedled my way in and I’ve stayed because there’s something rewarding about working with a long-established company,” says Katie. “I felt I wanted to work with these guys as much as possible.”
On finishing her Masters degree, Katie “needed to do something or I will go bananas”. “I saw that Settlement had put out a call for directors and I thought, ‘it’s my time to do something similarly wacky and wild as Griffonage do, and luckily they said ‘yes’.”
York Settlement Community Players in Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7.45pm nightly, February 18 to 27, except February 23; 2pm matinee, February 22. Age guidance: 16 plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Who’s in York Settlement Community Players’ cast for Loot?
JACK Mackay, as Hal; Miles John, Dennis; Paul French, Mr McLeavy; Caroline Greenwood, Mrs McLeavy; Stuart Green, Truscott; Emily Hansen, Meadows, and Emily Carhart, Fay.
Helen Clarke, Xandra Logan, James Wood, Chris Meadley, Victoria Delaney and Serefina Coupe will feature too in Orton-inspired vignettes before the show and in the interval, penned by James Lee.
Velma Celli: Eyes down, hoping for a full house at her debut Dragamama Bingo evening at Wagamama, York
YORK international vocal drag diva Velma Celli, alias West End musical star Ian Stroughair, turns bingo caller for an evening of camp comedy drag bingo fun and games in Dragamama Bingo at Wagamama, York, tonight.
Eyes down for a full house and a feast of Velma fun and games, running from 7pm to 9pm at the Japanese restaurant in Goodramgate. “Wagamama wants to do community-based stuff on the first-floor mezzanine,” says Ian. “They said they knew who Velma was and asked what could she do for them. I suggested drag bingo for starters.
“So this time it’s bingo and comedy, £8 to join, with a top prize of £100, and Scott Robert will be on the piano to add to the atmosphere. The idea is that I’ll do a Dragamama night either once a month or once every other month with a different theme each time, whether bingo, or a game, or a quiz night.”
How would he rate Velma’s bingo-calling skills? “My mum was the accountant for Holgate Working Men’s Club, so we used to go to the bingo there. I loved it. ‘Thatcher’s House, number 10’. That’s one of mine.”
Velma Celli turns bingo caller at Wagamama, Goodramagate, York, tonight
Looking ahead, Velma’s diary for 2025 is taking shape for nights – and days – of cabaret music, risqué comedy and generally fabulous entertainment. Velma Celli’s Drag Brunch returns to the Impossible York Wonderbar, in St Helen’s Square, from March 8 with further shows booked for April 5, May 3, June 7 (York Pride Bottomless Brunch), July 5 and August 2. Doors open at 3pm. Book by emailing reservations@impossibleyork.com and copy in stroughair2@hotmail.com.
God Save The Queens – Velma’s celebration of British music icons, from Julie Andrews, Cilla Black, Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield and Kate Bush to The Spice Girls, Adele, Florence Welsh, Amy Winehouse, Jessie J and Dua Lipa, with room for George Michael and Sinead O’Connor too – will play the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on March 13 at 7.45pm. For tickets, go to: https://tinyurl.com/4z6bvwsy, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Velma will head to Skipton Town Hall on March 15 at 7.30pm with Show Queen, where she harks back to Ian’s stellar turns in Cats, Chicago, Fame and Rent in a parade of the best of London’s West End and Broadway musical theatre hits.
“Velma takes you to every corner of the fabulous genre, from Kander & Ebb and Lloyd Webber to Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked and Schönberg’s Les Miserables and many more,” says Ian. “Like, more than Six!” Box office: https://shorturl.at/MJVaO.
Velma Celli’s Show Queen: Heading for Skipton Town Hall, Cardiff, Millom, Southampton, Cowes, London and Dudley
Last year, Velma’s global travels with A Brief History Of Drag took in Australia, where she won the Best Cabaret prize at Perth Fringeworld 2024, 54 Below in New York City and a sell-out UK tour that culminated in a hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Now she brings the show to The Playhouse, Sheffield, on April 4 (7pm) and Hull Truck Theatre on June 13 (7.30pm) for a diva dive into the most iconic drag moments in music, theatre, movies and popular culture.
“From Hedwig to Kinky Boots, Rent to Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Boy George to Freddie Mercury, no stone is left unturned in this electrifying beast of a performance,” says Ian. Box office: Sheffield, https://shorturl.at/hDDiv; Hull,https://shorturl.at/2saW5.
Farther afield, Velma’s Show Queen plays Welsh Millennium Centre, Cardiff, March 29; The Beggar’s Theatre, Millom, Cumbria, April 18; The Stage Door, Southampton, May 23; Cowes Fringe, Cowes, Isle of Wight, May 24; The Duchess Theatre, West End, London, June 2, and Dudley Town Hall, June 20.
“The idea is that I’ll do a Dragamama night either once a month or once every other month with a different theme each time,” says Velma Celli
Before then, her new show, Rock Queen, will be making its debut at Crazy Coqs, the Art Deco cabaret, jazz, theatre and comedy space at Brasserie Zedel, in Soho, London, on March 20 at 9.15pm (tickets: https://tinyurl.com/yc2wur77).
“It will be all the rock classics, like Cher, Bon Jovi and Nirvana, but with a twist, so Velma will do rock songs in a musical theatre style and vice versa,” says Ian. “From Queen to Heart and every Gun N’ Rose in between, she will, she will, rock you!” Watch this space for news of a York performance in 2025.
One more York show definitely in the diary is Velma’s Pride Cabaret at Impossible York on June 6 from 7pm to 11pm (doors 6pm) in a special event to herald York Pride on June 7. Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/ucky9emr
Velma Celli’s Dragamama Bingo, Wagamama, Goodramgate, York, February 13, doors 6.30pm. Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/4hmukk69.
Ric Liptrot: Exhibiting in The Other Collective exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
FROM dollops of Dolly Parton advice to Stewart Lee’s werewolf encounter, devilish storytelling to a Cinderella prequel, Charles Hutchinson, cherry picks highlights for the days ahead.
Exhibition of the week: The Other Collective, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until March 13
CURATED by Bluebird Bakery, The Other Collective brings together the work of Lu Mason, Ric Liptrot, Rob Burton, Liz Foster and Jill Tattersall.
“These wonderful artists were all missed off the billing for York Open Studios 2025 and we felt that was a real shame,” says Bluebird boss Nicky Kippax. “So The Other Collective was born and we hope the work will get a lot of interest from our customers.”
Mark Reynolds’ tour poster illustration for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, playing York Theatre Royal until Saturday
Comedy gigs of the week: Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm
IN Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, Lee shares the stage with a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity. The Man-Wulf lays down a ferocious comedy challenge to the “culturally irrelevant and physically enfeebled Lee”: can the beast inside us all be silenced by the silver bullet of Lee’s deadpan stand-up? Tickets advice: Hurry, hurry as all shows are closing in on selling out; 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tricia Paoluccio’s Dolly Parton and Stevie Webb’s Kevin in Here You Come Again at Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: Here You Come Again, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
SIMON Friend Entertainment and Leeds Playhouse team up for the tour of Here You Come Again, starring and co-written by Broadway actress Tricia Paoluccio, who visits York for the first time in the guise of a fantasy vision of country icon Dolly Parton.
Gimme Gimme Gimme writer Jonathan Harvey has put a British spin on Bruce Vilanch, director Gabriel Barre and Paoluccio’s story of diehard Dolly devotee Kevin (Steven Webb) needing dollops of Dolly advice on life and love in trying times. Parton hits galore help too! Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Hayden Thorpe: Performing Ness with Propellor Ensemble members at the NCEM, York, tonight
Arthouse gig of the week: Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start
PLEASE Please You and Brudenell Presents bring Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble to the NCEM to perform Ness, with the promise of a “sonically spectacular and transformational live show”.
Thorpe, former frontman and chief songwriter of Kendal band Wild Beasts, promotes his September 2024 album. Using a process of redaction, Thorpe brought songs to life from nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s book Ness, inspired by Suffolk’s Orford Ness, the former Ministry of Defence weapons development site during both World Wars and the Cold War. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Sylvie (Aileen Hall), centre, demonstrates her skills to friends Amelie (Perri Ann Barley), left, and Helene (Devon Wells), right, in rehearsal for Blue Light Theatre Company’s Where The Magic Begins!
Premiere of the week: Blue Light Theatre Company in Where The Magic Begins!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2pm matinee
BLUE Light Theatre Company stage York playwright and actress Perri Ann Barley’s new play Where The Magic Begins!, a prequel to Cinderella based on characters from the original Charles Perrault version.
“We meet many beloved characters in their younger days, such as a young Fairy Godmother, who is about to discover her ‘gift’. We follow her journey as she struggles with a secret that could put her life, and that of her family, in grave danger,” says director Craig Barley. Box office: 07933 329654, at bluelight-theatre.co.uk or on the door.
Hannah Rowe: Performing in the cabaret setting of The Old Paint Shop at York Theatre Royal Studio
Cabaret night of the week: CPWM Presents An Evening With Hannah Rowe, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow, 8pm
YORK promoters Come Play With Me (CPWM) welcome Hannah Rowe to The Old Paint Shop’s winter season. This young singer writes of experiences and shifts in life, offering a sense of reflection within her rich, authentic, jazz-infused sound. Friday’s 8pm show by upstanding York pianist Karl Mullen has sold out. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott
Devilish delight of the week: Tim Ralphs and Adderstone, Infernal Delights, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Friday, doors 7.30pm
TIM Ralphs and York alt-folk storytellers Adderstone serve up a winter night’s double bill of dark delights. Let Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott lead you down the steps to the underworld with story-songs from wild places in their Songs To Meet The Darkness set.
In Beelzebub Rebranded, Tim Ralphs’s stand-up storytelling exhumes the bones of ancient Devil stories and stitches them into new skins for fresh consumption in his wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/adderstone/infernal-delights/e-xjjber.
Saxophonist Snake Davis, right, double bassist Don Richardson, left, and concertina player Alistair Anderson: Playing together at Helmsley Arts Centre on Sunday
Trio of the week: Snake Davis, saxophones, Don Richardson, double bass, and Alistair Anderson, concertina and Northumbrian pipes, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
ADD an old mucker to a new pal, whereupon saxophonist to the stars Snake Davis sounds excited. Snake and Don Richardson go back decades, too many gigs and shows to remember. Lulu and Paul Carrack were particularly memorable. Snake and Alistair Anderson met at a wonderfully quirky Northumberland venue in late 2023 and decided to make music together. Here comes folk, jazz, world, pop and more. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Craig David: Combining his singing, master of ceremonies and DJ skills at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer
Gig announcement of the week: Craig David Presents TS5, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 19
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this summer. Expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.
“I cannot wait to bring my TS5 show to Scarborough and the beautiful Yorkshire coast in July,” enthuses David, 43. “2025 is a massive year for me as it’s the 25th anniversary of my debut album [Born To Do It] and my debut number one single (Fill Me In]. What better way to celebrate than bringing the party to Scarborough this summer.” Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ poster for The Tempest at Theatre@41, Monkgate
YORK company Black Sheep Theatre Productions are to present The Tempest with live music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from March 26 to 29.
William Shakespeare’s timeless tale of power, love and redemption will be directed by company founder and composer Matthew Peter Clare in an innovative adaptation that blends traditional Shakespearean drama with a dynamic theatrical approach.
Known for bold and impactful storytelling, Black Sheep will seek to bring an exciting new vision to Shakespeare’s melting pot of mistaken identity, magic, intrigue, murderous schemes, comedy and romance.
“The Tempest is famously Shakespeare’s last play, focusing on family and love, subjugation and bloody plots, reconciliation and forgiveness, euphoria and despair,” says Matthew.
“It is a play that has been performed numerous times in as many ways. With Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ version at Theatre@41, we aim to marry a more Brechtian theatre style for some of our more absurd characters with a grounded, naturalistic approach for the more plot-driven characters.”
Director and composer Matthew Peter Clare
Matthew continues: “We have also utilised my musical background, alongside the incredible talent of Gregory Harper, to create a musical score for a live six-piece band, featuring strings, guitar, and harp, that will accompany the show and highlight the characters and their choices throughout.
“This will perfectly complement the singing of the island spirits, as well as our featured leading singers, such as Gemma-Louise Keane as Ariel and Josh Woodgate as Caliban.”
Both are well-known figures in York’s theatre and music scene, with Gemma-Louise being the lead singer of KissKissKill and Josh regularly performing with Inspired By Theatre, starring in Green Day’s American Idiot last year and now rehearsing for Rent.
“The strength of this production lies in the juxtaposition of absurd comedy and serious drama,” Matthew says. “The comedic energy of Charlie Clarke as Trincula, Molly Whitehouse as Stephana, Dan Poppitt as Alonso and Rocks Smith as Francisca is sharply contrasted against the more sinister and thought-provoking portrayal of Mark Simmonds’s Prospero.”
Mikhail Lim: Collaborating with Matthew Peter Clare in the Black Sheep Theatre production team for a second show in succession
The cast comprises: Mark Simmonds as Propsero; Freya McIntosh, Miranda; Gemma-Louise Keane, Ariel; Dan Poppitt, Alonso, Spirit; Megan Conway, Antonia; Chloe Pearson, Ferdinanda; Isaac McAndrews, Gonzalo; Rosie Stirling, Sebastian: Josh Woodgate, Caliban; Charlie Clarke, Trinculo; Molly Whitehouse, Stephano: Mickey Moran, Adrian, Spirit; Ellie Carrier, Francisco, Juno, Spirit; Rocks Smith, Boatswain, Ceres, Spirit, and Justine Hughes, Master of Ship, Iris and Spirit.
Matthew will be joined in the production team by Mikhail Lim, as he was for Black Sheep’s production of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World at the National Centre for Early Music, York, last October.
“Our adaptation of The Tempest is set to be an unmissable experience, blending Shakespeare’s genius, innovative staging and an evocative live musical score to bring the story to life in a bold, fresh, and deeply engaging way,” concludes Matthew.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Tempest, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 26 to 29, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Tim Ralphs: Wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, on Friday
ANOTHER storytelling evening in York? What the devil is going on?
Find out on Friday when York alt-folk storytelling duo Adderstone host Infernal Delights, an evening of stories and songs exploring the underworld and diabolic deeds at Rise@Bluebird Bakery,Acomb.
Joining Adderstone on the 8.30pm bill will be Nottingham stand-up storyteller Tim Ralphs, performing his Rebranding Beelzebub show to a York audience for the first time.
“Unlike most cities, York has not had an established storytelling scene for many years, but there are signs this is changing,” says Adderstone’s Gemma McDermott, who sees green shoots of a vibrant storytelling scene arising in York.
“There certainly seems to be a new appetite for a story. We’ve told our tales all over York, but there isn’t a dedicated storytelling club like there is in most cities. Maybe that’ll change?”
Gemma continues: “The Theatre Royal has been bringing storytellers to its Studio for years, but it’s great to see a scene developing that blends different influences.
“To name just a few examples: Lara McClure, who gathers packed houses in all sorts of venues with her outrageous tales of wanton goddesses; Say Owt, who have just celebrated ten years of their cutting-edge spoken-word events that have nurtured so many budding storyteller-poets.
“Experimental collectives like Navigators Art & Performance and The Good Room, who produce theatrical and gothic experiences for audiences. And a big shout-out to the independent venues like Rise, The Arts Barge and The Crescent that are hosting storytelling events and that suit the genre so well.”
In Rebranding Beelzebub, shot through with diabolical horror, absurd confessions and humour fit for the unholy, Tim Ralphs will shine a spotlight on Him Downstairs, Old Nick, Beelzebub, the Devil himself, to see if he might just be ready for a rebrand.
“Have you seen the cloven hoof prints on the cellar steps? Have you heard the fiddle player cursing? Can you smell the scent of burning secrets?” he asks. “In this wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend, I exhume the bones of ancient Devil stories and stitch them into new skins for fresh consumption. This grand collection spans supermarket stalls, urban sprawls, mad drunken preachers, and widow’s sons with dark humour and a distinct whiff of sulphur.”
Adderstone’s Gemma McDermott and Cath Heinemeyer: Hosting a descent into the underworld for a storytelling evening of darkly devilish delights
Adderstone’s Gemma McDermott and Cath Heinemeyer will guide Friday’s audience downwards to meet Ralphs’ wild underworld with songs and stories of ancient pacts, the troubles of crones and the dangers of beasts in their Songs To Meet The Darkness opening set.
Rise, the evening event hub of Acomb’s Bluebird Bakery, has become a fulcrum for storytelling with a licensed bar and menu additions. Over the past year, as well as bringing Ben Haggarty and other nationally renowned storytellers to York, the cafe has played host to regular storytelling performances by Lara McClure.
Owner Nicky Kippax says: “We opened Rise@Bluebird in late 2023 and it’s grown into a brilliant space for all sorts of events and performances. We’re thrilled that there’s an appetite for the sort of evening where an audience can relax with good food and drink and have a real connection with performers.
“We host all sorts of acts, from live music and dance nights to theatre and art exhibitions, but poetry and storytelling are a big part of what we do. I think the intimate atmosphere at Rise provides a unique experience that you wouldn’t get in a bigger space.”
Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer explains what differentiates storytelling from other kinds of performance: “Believe it or not, I actually have a PhD in storytelling! And what I have found in all my work is that although the story might be about a magical being or a far-off land, there are always themes that resonate with the problems of this moment in time and land with the listener, whoever they are,” she says.
“Adderstone uses songs and music to help tell the story, but essentially it’s about having contact with the people listening, and really, that’s what storytelling is about. It’s not a theatre show with loads of lights and cues and large props.
“It’s about a moment in time with that particular audience; no two shows are the same. You get the feel of what part of the story is resonating with the people in front of you and go with that.”
Gemma adds: “With Christmas now feeling far behind us but a fairly long slog of winter still to go, what could be better than coming into the warm cosy space of a bakery, ordering a beer and maybe a cheese platter and settling down to an evening’s telling?
“So, come and grab a glass of something nice, and see what it’s all about. Maybe you’ll hear a story you didn’t know or see a new way of looking at an old favourite. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a devilishly delightful evening.”
Adderstone and Tim Ralphs, Infernal Delights, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Friday, 7.30pm doors for 8.30pm start. Age guidance: 12 upwards. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/adderstone/infernal-delights/e-xjjber.
Ric Liptrot: Exhibiting in The Other Collective exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
FROM dollops of Dolly Parton advice to Stewart Lee’s werewolf encounter, devilish storytelling to a Cinderella prequel, Charles Hutchinson, cherry picks highlights for the days ahead.
Exhibition of the week: The Other Collective, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until March 13
CURATED by Bluebird Bakery, The Other Collective brings together the work of Lu Mason, Ric Liptrot, Rob Burton, Liz Foster and Jill Tattersall.
“These wonderful artists were all missed off the billing for York Open Studios 2025 and we felt that was a real shame,” says Bluebird boss Nicky Kippax. “So The Other Collective was born and we hope the work will get a lot of interest from our customers.”
The poster for South Bank Singers’ Of All The Birds concert
Nature concert of the week: South Bank Singers, Of All The Birds, A Winter Chorus, St Clement’s Church, Scarcroft Road, York, today, 3pm
SOUTH Bank Singers present Of All The Birds, A Winter Chrous, a Saturday afternoon concert of choral music inspired by the enchanting beauty and song of birds. Directed by Carlos Zamora, the choral programme spans six centuries, taking in Mendelssohn, Stanford, Ravel, Gibbons, Janequin, Vautor, Guastavino and Bartlet. Admission is free with a retiring collection for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
The poster for A Million Dreams, presented by Steve Coates Productions, at the Grand Opera House, York
Fundraiser of the week: A Million Dreams, A Charity Broadway Spectacular, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
STEVE Coates Productions present an evening of musical magic, song, dance and laughter by York talent in aid of The Snappy Trust, a charity “dedicated to maximising the personal development of children and young people with wide- ranging disabilities”.
Bev Jones Music Company, Flying Ducks Youth Theatre and a ten-piece band perform songs from Broadway and West End shows such as Wicked, Hamilton, Frozen, The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Mark Reynolds’ tour poster illustration for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, playing York Theatre Royal from January 28 to February 1
Comedy gigs of the week: Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal, January 28 to February 1, 7.30pm
IN Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, Lee shares the stage with a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity. The Man-Wulf lays down a ferocious comedy challenge to the “culturally irrelevant and physically enfeebled Lee”: can the beast inside us all be silenced by the silver bullet of Lee’s deadpan stand-up? Tickets advice: Hurry, hurry as all shows are closing in on selling out; 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tricia Paoluccio’s Dolly Parton and Steven Webb’s Kevin in Here You Come Again at Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: Here You Come Again, Grand Opera House, York, January 28 to February 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
SIMON Friend Entertainment and Leeds Playhouse team up for the tour of Here You Come Again, starring and co-written by Broadway actress Tricia Paoluccio, who visits York for the first time in the guise of a fantasy vision of country icon Dolly Parton.
Gimme Gimme Gimme writer Jonathan Harvey has put a British spin on Bruce Vilanch, director Gabriel Barre and Paoluccio’s story of diehard Dolly devotee Kevin (Steven Webb) needing dollops of Dolly advice on life and love in trying times. Parton hits galore help too! Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sylvie (Aileen Hall), centre, demonstrates her skills to friends Amelie (Perri Ann Barley), left, and Helene (Devon Wells), right, in rehearsal for Blue Light Theatre Company’s Where The Magic Begins!
Premiere of the week: Blue Light Theatre Company in Where The Magic Begins!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, January 29, 30 and 31, 7.30pm; February 1, 2pm matinee
BLUE Light Theatre Company will forego their annual panto in favour of staging York playwright and actress Perri Ann Barley’s new play Where The Magic Begins!, a prequel to Cinderella based on characters from the original Charles Perrault version of “everyone’s favourite fairytale”.
“We meet many beloved characters in their younger days, such as a young Fairy Godmother, who is about to discover her ‘gift’. We follow her journey as she struggles with a secret that could put her life, and that of her family, in grave danger,” says director Craig Barley. Box office: 07933 329654, at bluelight-theatre.co.uk or on the door.
Hannah Rowe: Performing in the cabaret set-up of The Old Paint Shop at York Theatre Royal Studio
Cabaret night of the week: CPWM Presents An Evening With Hannah Rowe, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, January 30, 8pm
YORK promoters Come Play With Me (CPWM) welcome Hannah Rowe to The Old Paint Shop’s winter season. This young singer writes of experiences and shifts in life, offering a sense of reflection within her rich, authentic, jazz-infused sound.
The Old Paint Shop shows by irreverent York covers combo Hyde Family Jam (today, 2pm and 8pm) and Karl Mullen, upstanding York pianist Karl Mullen (January 31, 8pm) have sold out. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tim Ralphs: Wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Devilish delight of the week: Tim Ralphs and Adderstone, Infernal Delights, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, January 31, doors 7.30pm
TIM Ralphs and York alt-folk storytellers Adderstone serve up a winter night’s double bill of dark delights. Let Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott lead you down the steps to the underworld with story-songs from wild places in their Songs To Meet The Darkness set.
In Beelzebub Rebranded, Tim Ralphs’s stand-up storytelling exhumes the bones of ancient Devil stories and stitches them into new skins for fresh consumption in his wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/adderstone/infernal-delights/e-xjjber.
York Ice Trail: Taking the theme of Origins next weekend
Whatever the weather, here comes the new ice age: York Ice Trail 2025, February 1 and 2
YORK’S “free weekend of frosty fun” returns with a 2025 theme of Origins as York’s streets are turned into an icy wonderland of frozen tableau in this annual event run by Make It York. Among the 30 ice sculptures showcasing 2,000 years of city history will be a Roman shield, a Viking helmet, a chocolate bar, a drifting ghost, a majestic train and a Yorkshire rose, all captured in the language of ice by Icebox. Full details can be found at visityork.org/york-ice-trail.
Before all that ice, windswept York has another free event on the city streets and beyond this weekend: York Residents’ Festival today and tomorrow. For the full list of offers, head to: visityork.org/offers/category/york-residents-festival.
Snow Patrol: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer
Gig announcement of the week: Snow Patrol, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 27
THE Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band Snow Patrol are to return to the Scarborough coast for the first time since July 2021, led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time lead guitarist Nathan Connolly and pianist Johnny McDaid.
Emotionally charged anthems such as Chasing Cars, Run and Open Your Eyes will be complemented by selections from 2024’s The Forest Is The Path, their first chart topper in 18 years. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk and scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
In Focus: Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, January 29, doors 7pm, start 7.30pm
Hayden Thorpe: Performing Ness with Propellor Ensemble at the NCEM
PLEASE Please You and Brudenell Presents bring Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble to the NCEM to perform Ness on Wednesday, with the promise of a “sonically spectacular and transformational live show”.
Thorpe, 39-year-old former frontman and chief songwriter of Kendal and Leeds band Wild Beasts, promotes his September 2024 album, Ness, released on Domino Records.
Using a process of redaction, Cumbrian musician Thorpe brought songs to life from nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s book Ness, inspired by Orford Ness, a ten-mile long shingle spit on the coast of Suffolk that housed the former Ministry of Defence weapons development site during both World Wars and the Cold War.
Acquired by the National Trustin 1993 and left to re-wild, to this day it remains a place of paradox, mystery and constant evolution.
Thorpe’s ode to Orford Ness, the physical place and the book, features Macfarlane’s words and illustrations by Stanley Donwood. He premiered Ness with Propellor Ensemble at Orford Ness on September 28 and 29 last year.
Here Hayden discusses working with Robert Macfarlane and Propellor Ensemble, the Cold War, nature and past York experiences with CharlesHutchPress.
Do you have any past experiences of York, whether on a school visit or whatever, Hayden?
“My parents used to take us to the Jorvik Viking Museum when me and my siblings were young. I was always amazed by the fake open sewer smell they would pump into the space.”
When did you last play in York, either solo or with Wild Beasts?
“I believe it was in 2006 or 2007. A rather long time ago. In any case, it’s been too long. It was somewhere quite familiar to me when Wild Beasts were coming up in Leeds. We’d make a regular dash across.”
How did the Ness project come about with Robert Macfarlane?
“In a really old fashioned manner. I fan-mailed Rob and he wrote back with all the generosity and open heartedness of his books. He’s as good as his word in the truest sense.
“Rob and I decided to perform some improvised music to his reading of Ness. It was a Eureka moment. The atmosphere and drama of the sound we made demanded that we commit to expanding it.”
Did you visit Orford Ness, now the Orford Ness National Nature Reserve, for research purposes?
“Yes. Orford Ness is an astonishing place. It’s a monument to rejuvenation and a monument to destruction. The very best and the very worst of us.”
By the way, Hayden, York has a Cold War Bunker Museum, in Monument Close, Holgate: a two-storey, semi-subterranean bunker built in 1961 to monitor nuclear explosions and fallout in Yorkshire, in the event of nuclear war.
“I had no idea that a Cold War museum existed in York. That’s fabulous. Bizarrely, I’ve developed a Cold War romance. I guess the conflicts and hostilities we face today have brought these conversations back into our everyday consciousness.”
The album cover artwork for Hayden Thorpe’s Ness
How have you turned the album into a concert performance?
“The album is very much made of sounds we’ve made with our hands and lungs, so with enough pairs of those it actually translates in a very true way. The unusual instrumentation, with orchestral percussion and clarinet foregrounded alongside me, creates a very distinct ‘Ness’ sound. The shows have been really emotional as a result.”
Were you tempted to feature strings in the Ness project for their emotional heft?
“We deliberately did not use strings. We opted to use the elemental forces at my play at Orford Ness: wind and resistant materials like metal and wood. It creates a haunted, volatile soundscape.”
Which Propellor Ensemble members will play in York?
“Jack McNeill plays clarinet and Delia Stevens plays orchestral percussion. Molly Gromadzki performs the spoken-word parts and sings in the choir. Brigitte Hart and Helen Ganya make up the choral section. It’s been a joy to work with such expressive and capable performers.”
What does a “sonically spectacular and transformational live show” entail?
“Something which is sonically ambitious and immersive. Once we start the show we don’t stop, it’s the album in full back to front. We want to take the audience to Ness, have them come face to face with the monster.”
Why was the National Centre for Early Music, in the former St Margaret’s Church in Walmgate, chosen for the York gig rather than The Crescent community venue, a classic working men’s club design?
“We’ve heard such great things about NCEM. Much of the story of Ness takes place ‘In The Green Chapel’, so the work lends itself to a space of worship.”
What is your own relationship with nature? Wild Beasts hailed originally from Kendal, with all that Lake District beauty around you…
“Nature has become increasingly important to my life and work. As artists we’re forced to ask what side of the conversation we sit on, one which acknowledges the existential crisis facing us or one which excuses it. Music can carry non-human voices really effectively. Ness is very much a meditation on that.”
What will be the next project you work on?“
Good question. Ness has certainly expanded my palette. I’ve come to feel maybe my strength is in making strange and ambitious works which would otherwise not get made. It’s crucial to keep the flame burning on works of exploration and oddity in an industry which increasingly incentivises conformity.”
