Mark Comer’s production image for York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness, now called off, alas
FOR the second year running, York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust has had to cancel A Nativity For York at Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York.
The decision has been taken “amid the growing threat from Omicron”, putting paid to performances at 7pm tonight and 2pm, 4pm and 6.30pm tomorrow of A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness, Terry Ram’s community production drawn from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays.
Trust chair Linda Terry says: “Due to the uncertainty surrounding the impact of the new variant, we have, with great regret, taken the decision to cancel our Nativity production on December 17 and 18.
“The cast, crew and the trust are extremely disappointed, but we feel it is a wise option under the circumstances. Ticket holders have been contacted by email and reimbursement of ticket costs are being made.
“We express our grateful thanks to everyone who supported the production in so many ways: our cast and crew; Terry Ram, our director; our sponsors; the Spurriergate team; Mark Comer, for the production image; John Saunders, for photography, and everyone who contributed to the fundraising efforts.
“We know this will be a disappointment to all involved. Let us hope that we can bring A Nativity for York back in 2022.”
“To be given this opportunity at the Grand Opera is like receiving a transplant,” says Suzy Cooper. Picture: David Harrison
TONIGHT is press night for York pantomime stalwarts Suzy Cooper and Martin Barrass for the first time since December 2019.
They have reunited as part of the “Famous In York Five”, starring alongside grand dame Berwick Kaler, David Leonard and A J Powell in Dick Turpin Rides Again, their first pantomime for Crossroads Live since their switch to the Grand Opera House from York Theatre Royal.
“It’s a great stage for pantomime,” says principal girl Suzy, who plays Donna Donut this winter. “It’s a wonderful stage with a proscenium arch, stalls that go all the way back, a dress circle and upper circle, and it’s exciting to be back in a theatre with such a traditional auditorium. Acoustically, it’s fantastic too.”
Delayed by a year by Covid enshrouding the Cumberland Street theatre in darkness last winter, Suzy is even keener to be back among friends. “We wanted to be back together, which was really important to do: we have a very loyal audience and it’s lovely to bring our pantomime to this city that we love, and not just for those that live here but also for the people from further afield whose tradition has been to come to our panto,” she says.
“I was devastated to lose the Theatre Royal, but to be given this opportunity at the Grand Opera is like receiving a transplant, allowing us to continue this tradition.”
Comic stooge Martin – son Dunkin Donut to Berwick’s mam Dotty Donut this time – is no less enthusiastic. “This place is fantastic,” he says. “It’s a bit like Dr Who’s Tardis; you stand outside and you have no idea how big it is, but it turns out to be a full 1,000-seat theatre inside.
“It’s lovely to have ended up here, with all the legacy and longevity of Berwick Kaler’s pantomimes, and he’s been champing at the bit to get on stage again!”
Suzy is enjoying re-establishing the camaraderie of the long-running team, with Berwick restored to the fore after co-directing and writing Sleeping Beauty in the wake of his retirement from the pantomime stage in February 2019.
David Leonard’s Vermin the Destroyer, left, Martin Barrass’s Dunkin Donut, in waiter mode, and A J Powell’s Luvlie Lumpit making a meal of a scene in Dick Turpin Rides Again. Picture: David Harrison
“We have the added edge within us of knowing people want to see us doing pantomime together again,” she says. “We are blessed: it’s hard work doing panto but we know how teamwork is important and how we are the sum of our parts.
“When we did Sleeping Beauty, we missed Berwick on stage, the audience missed him, and now we have a second chance to be together again. We need him.
“There’s this awful ‘cancel culture’ going on, and yes, things have to develop and have to change, but the idea that a show like ours, that’s been going on for so long, shouldn’t continue is a travesty. We are not dead yet!
“I’m genuinely delighted to be here, in a city that means so much to me. Last year, it just wasn’t Christmas, because I wasn’t in York.”
Assessing what Grand Opera House audiences can expect from Dick Turpin Rides Again, with Berwick taking the rains once more as writer, director and dame, Suzy says: “We’ve always said that we’re a family pantomime but we are anarchic. There’s nothing that won’t delight children, but we are unruly.
SUZY Cooper played a “lesbian office worker” in BBC One soap opera EastEnders this year, filming in lockdown in late-January and early February for episodes that went out in March/April. “It got me out of the house and into London for the first time in four months,” she says.
Did you know too?
Suzy, who lives in London, is a yoga teacher, teaching both in person and online on Zoom. “To share my yoga has been an amazing thing to do,” she says. “They are very tough, my classes!”
Horrible Histories’ cast for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas, destined for Elvington Airfield
THE world’s first drive-in pantomime is to park up at Elvington Airfield, York, for a “terrible end” to Christmas on January 2, courtesy of the gleefully grotesque Horrible Histories team.
Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas will be performed at 11am, 2pm and 5pm that day in the finale to a 14-date tour of racecourses, airports, stadiums and a motor-racing circuit that begins on Friday.
This is the second tour of a show first prompted by the pandemic-enforced closure of theatres nationwide in 2020. Birmingham Stage Company and Coalition Presents responded by working together to save Christmas for more than17,000 families by putting on their drive-in panto premiere.
Writer-director Neal Foster, actor/manager of Birmingham Stage Company, says: “We have to thank the remarkable pandemic closing all the theatres for these car park shows coming about.
“At first, we didn’t know what to do, but various people had ideas about doing things in car parks, and in fact we were contacted by seven companies, but only Coalition followed it up, and so we did Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain in car parks.
“Then, Guy Robinson, from Coalition, asked if we had a Christmas show, and we said, ‘yes, we have Horrible Christmas’.”
Cue the first tour last winter, when, “by December 31, we were the only company still doing a show, because the theatres had had to close again, and our last show, after two weeks of performances, was in Harrogate [at the Great Yorkshire Showground],” says Neal.
“We then put together Billionaire Boy for car parks, for May, when shows could re-start, and that show then went into the West End. Since May, we’ve done eight shows in seven months; we just haven’t stopped!
Birmingham Stage Company’s cast for Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain, the first car park tour show
“In fact, it’s been one of our most successful years, and a lot of that was down to the money we received from the Culture Recovery Fund. We didn’t need to apply for the third round of grants, but we wouldn’t have been able to do this year’s shows without the £200,000 we received earlier on.”
Neal was “amazed and thrilled by how totally successful the Car Park Party productions have proved to be”. “We’re delighted to be back on tour again with Horrible Christmas. It turns live theatre into a truly unique and festive event.”
In a nutshell, Horrible Christmas is a car-centred, Covid-secure experience, wherein children and adults are able to able to jump up and down in their own seats, cheer and make as much noise as they like, even beeping horns, as they watch a celebration of Christmas “delivered in a way that only Horrible Histories can”.
“You don’t need to worry about anyone else because you’re in your own bubble in your car, like everyone there,” says Neal. “It’s like you’re in your own VIP tent!”
In the panto, when Christmas comes under threat from a jolly man dressed in red, one young boy must save the day, but can he save Christmas? From Victorian villains to medieval monks, Puritan parties to Tudor treats, the Horrible Histories cast of eight sets off on a hair-raising adventure through the history of Christmas in the company of Charles Dickens, Oliver Cromwell, King Henry VIII and St Nicholas as they all join forces to rescue the festive season in Terry Deary’s tale.
True, it is not strictly speaking a typical panto, but nevertheless Horrible Christmas will spark up the audience’s festive spirit, from the comfort and security of their own cars.
In doing so, the Car Park Panto seeks to address these scenarios: children being unable to sit still; the need to cater for different snack requirements; the feeling of anxiety in crowds; the inability to find a dog sitter; and a desire to wear pyjamas, fancy dress or a Christmas jumper at the panto and not be judged.
“You can leave all worries at home and relax as a family with Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas,” say the promoters. “If traditional panto at your local theatre is proving too expensive for all the family, Horrible Christmas! is the best value ticket for you.
The poster for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas show
“The ticket covers the car, not the people inside, so you can bring your grandparents and babies and be sound in the knowledge you will be safe seated among family and friends, rather than in a packed theatre auditorium.”
Horrible Histories’ own history of Horrible Christmas began in 2013. “We first did it in a co-production with Derby Playhouse that year, and apart from one year, it’s been put on every year since then, at such places as the Lowry, Salford Quays, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Cambridge and Birmingham,” says Neal.
“It’s different from our other Horrible Histories stories, with a cast of eight, making it the biggest Horrible Histories show we do, whereas we do the Barmy Britain show with a double act and big 3D special effects. Not only do we use eight actors but there’s a screen on stage too, so it’s like a concert, with everything being filmed live.”
Horrible Christmas tells the story of a young boy having all his Christmas presents stolen by ‘Father Christmas’, who turns out not to be Father Christmas. “The boy goes back to the times of Charles Dickens, Charles II, Oliver Cromwell and Henry VIII, Saint Nicholas, and back to Bethlehem itself, and what’s different to other Horrible Histories is that it’s very touching,” says Neal.
“It’s worth saying, there’s nothing gory about Horrible Christmas, unlike our other shows. It’s more about being silly and funny – and it works really well in a car park.
“Because the play is about how special Christmas is to people, it was great for us that last Christmas, for some, it was the only way to experience a Christmas show. It remains the safest way to see a Christmas show, and it’s particularly good if you have anyone elderly or vulnerable in your family.”
What comes next for Horrible Histories? “We’ve been doing Horrible Histories shows for 16 years now, starting in 2005, and there’s no end to that history,” says Neal. “Fortunately, humans have produced all sorts of horrible history down the years, and Boris Johnson is doing that for us now, isn’t he?!”
Car Park Panto presents Horrible Histories in Horrible Christmas, Elvington Airfield, near York, January 2 2022. Bring blankets, sleeping bags, maybe a favourite festive hat – oh, and a car, obviously. Tickets: £49.50 per car, plus £2.50 booking fee, at carparkparty.com.
Did you know?
“HENRY VIII is one of the reasons why turkey became popular on Christmas Day,” says Neal Foster. “The world seems to follow the fashion of what the Royals do, and it was Henry who introduced the eating of turkey at Christmas. As with all the Horrible Histories, that story is taken from a Terry Deary book.”
Jared More’s Fizzy Finn and a puppet in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet
RIDING Lights Theatre Company’s “crackling new Christmas adventure”, Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet, will hit the ground running from Saturday at Friargate Theatre, York.
Written by Jon Boustead for primary-school children, the topical play addresses children’s mental health problems arising from lockdowns and separation from family and friends.
Finn is a fidget whose brain is ablaze with an unbreakable buzz that fizzes to his fingers and tickles his toes, or it would do so if he could only find his feet, in a Christmas adventure full of fear and bravery in a stormy world.
“Christmas brings surprises and not all of them are nice,” says Boustead. “It’s a crackling mix of hopes and fears and they’re definitely getting closer. Finn is on the run. Can stories help to untangle things?
“If only someone would listen to Suzy Pettiskew before she bursts. Or stop Barney Box’s dog from growing bigger night by night. And can anyone really ‘blotzsh the Glim’?”
Jared More’s Fizzy Finn and Meg Blowey’s Tink the Cobbler in her amazing story-telling Shoe Shop
Directed by Erin Burbridge and designed by Anna Gooch, Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet features a magical blend of vivid storytelling, original music by Patrick Burbridge and creative puppetry, presented by Jared More’s Fizzy Finn and Meg Blowey’s Tink the Cobbler.
Suitable for five to 11-year-old children, the show has been available to schools this term either for live performances or in a film version, accompanied by a teachers’ pack, prepared by a primary school teacher, overseen by a child psychologist and approved by Ebor Psychology. “There’s really useful stuff in there for teachers and children,” says says acting general manager Bernadette Burbridge.
This is the second such Riding Lights film. “We learned last year, with a very charming filmed production of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, that film offered a very successful way of supporting schools coping with lockdowns,” says Bernadette.
“We provided a link that they could forward to children at home and in some cases, the giants zoomed into schools, by agreement, to interact with the children.
Finding his feet: Jared More’s Fizzy Finn in a scene with Meg Blowey’s Tink the Cobbler
“Sadly, in November, we were receiving at least one call a day from a school to say they had Covid and didn’t want us to come into their buildings, so we had to cancel a number of Fizzy Finn performances.
“We offered them the film and a virtual visit from Tink the Cobbler and Fizzy Finn instead – and the advantage of having a filmed version is that we can make this available to audiences right across the UK and beyond.”
Now, Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet does exactly that from December 18 to 23 in 50-minute performances at 10am, 1pm and 3pm on Saturday and next Wednesday and 11am and 2pm next Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate.
“The film is a good alternative but there’s nothing like a live show!” says Bernadette, who sums up Fizzy Fiin’s tale this way: “Jon’s play isn’t about Christmas although it’s set at this time of year. It’s about learning to understand one’s fears and anxieties and finding good ways to deal with them.”
Jon concludes: “Shoes are very good storytellers. You experience a lot by stepping into someone else’s shoes. So fasten your laces! Tie them up tight and join Finn as he discovers Tink the Cobbler and her amazing story-telling Shoe Shop.”
Tickets are on sale on 01904 613000 or at ridinglights.org/fizzy-finn.
Will The War On Drugs feature in Graham Chalmers or Charles Hutchinson’s list?
YORKSHIRE culture podcasters Chalmers & Hutch pick their Top Tens in Episode 68 of Two Big Egos In A Small Car.
Under discussion too are Damon Albarn’s bleakly beautiful concerts at York Minster; the tidal wave of streaming; and who will be number one at Christmas? Elton & Ed? Gary & Sheridan? Adele & yet more Adele? The sausage roll enthusiast?
Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor in Badapple Theatre Company’s 2021 revival of The Snow Dancer. Picture: Karl Andre Photography
BADAPPLE Theatre Company’s Christmas show, The Snow Dancer, opens a two-day run at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow.
In its 21st year, the Green Hammerton theatre-on-your-doorstep company has revived artistic director Kate Bramley’s magical eco-fable for its latest rural tour from December 2.
Bramley’s original story blends festive family entertainment with an important eco-message and an original score by Jez Lowe, as actors Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor tell the story of the animals of The Great Wood, who are desperate for a long sleep, but find it too warm because something is awry.
Everyone is going around in circles and is sick of nuts before Christmas is even in sight. On a set design by Catherine Dawn, the intrepid heroes in this fairy tale with a furry tail must search for the mysterious Snow Dancer to make it snow if they are ever to sleep.
Badapple’s trademark humorous, song-filled shows have been delighting audiences of all ages for 21 years on tours of rural locations around Yorkshire and further afield. The company “brings a full theatre experience to unusual, often tiny, spaces with significance to their communities in productions that reflect world-wide issues that have an impact on village life”.
Founder, writer and director Kate says: “Theatre is just storytelling and what better way to raise awareness of issues? The climate emergency, referenced in The Snow Dancer, is something we’ve been concerned about for a long time.
Badapple Theatre Company artistic director Kate Bramley
“We want to create social discussion that’s relevant to our audiences and 21st century living. We can do this through theatre and constantly reinventing what that is: with music, sometimes dance, puppetry and on one occasion live baking!”
Kate continues:“Badapple as a company has been working on becoming more environmentally sustainable for over a decade, wherever possible reusing or recycling sets and sourcing sustainable clothing for costumes.
“By taking theatre to rural locations on tour, we have reduced the environmental impact of audiences having to travel to one location to see a production.”
Badapple will stage two school shows and one public performance at the JoRo at this week’s residency. “We’ve rarely performed at a ‘fixed’ venue in a city in the past 15 years, but we’ve struck up a great partnership with Joseph Rowntree Theatre and their community commitment and ethos is so synchronised to our core values,” says Kate.
“It’s harder for us to sustain a run of performances in one larger venue, having not specialised in this area for 15 years, but it’s just about making new friends in new areas and the return of The Snow Dancer to York this year is a great chance for the good folk of our nearest city to see what it is we do.”
As with all theatre companies, particularly touring companies, Badapple has experienced the hardships of the various lockdowns during the pandemic. In particular, one show in production for 18 month and booked into 30 venues had to be cancelled immediately. The pandemic has been a time of crisis for the North Yorkshire company but nevertheless one of reflection that has resulted in positive outcomes and new plans for the future.
“Theatre is just storytelling and what better way to raise awareness of issues?” says Badapple writer-director Kate Bramley of The Snow Dancer, with its climate change topicality, performed by Danny Mellor and Meg Matthews. Picture: Karl Andre Photography
Kate says:“We were lucky to be so well supported by Arts Council England to get us through this period. It was really hard but we came out fighting. We made sure we stayed connected to our Badapple Youth Theatre students online and later with outdoor classes, and then we diversified into outdoor touring for the first time [with Danny Mellor’s Suffer Fools Glady in September 2020].
“Like many other organisations, we had to diversify, exploring film work and also radio. Despite the hardships of that time, there were so many positives to come out of it. We are now looking to find long-term partners and finance to create a bespoke outdoor space for summer shows for the next decade and hopefully beyond.”
Badapple Theatre Company in The Snow Dancer, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 15 (two school performances) and December 16 (public performance). Tickets for Thursday’s 7.30pm show are on sale on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Leaping to it: Berwick Kaler is raring to pick up the pantomime reins from today in Dick Turpin Rides Again. All pictures: David Harrison.
AFTER two dress rehearsals in one day, York’s comeback dame, Berwick Kaler, plays to an opening pantomime crowd today for the first time since December 13 2018.
Much water has passed under York’s bridges since Berwick’s farewell 40th anniversary show, The Grande Old Dame Of York.
He exited the York Theatre Royal stage for the last time in trademark boots, unruly wig and walkdown frock on February 2 2019, that night saying he would “return like a shot” if he were asked to do so.
That return, delayed by a year by Covid’s theatre shutdown, goes ahead today at Berwick’s new pantomime home after a crosstown transfer, the Grand Opera House, as he resumes panto business with vainglorious villain David Leonard, bouncy comic stooge Martin Barrass, golden gal Suzy Cooper and “luverly Brummie” A J Powell in Dick Turpin Rides Again.
“I’ve always thought the Grand Opera House is a proper theatre, absolutely right for pantomime,” says Berwick, who has appeared on the Cumberland Street stage only once before, when he played the flamboyant Captain Terri Dennis in Peter Nichols’ musical comedy Privates On Parade.
“Dick Turpin is one of the most original pantomimes ever, and I’m so excited by it,” says Berwick Kaler
“It’s no good asking me anymore when it was; it was a long time ago. I used to have the poster hanging in my loo, the one with me saluting.”
Should you or Berwick be wondering, the year was 1996, and now, 25 years on, he is back there, retirement plans cancelled. “You’re not going to believe this, but when I retired, I’d retired, and I’ve not earned a penny on stage since then, so I was retired,” he says.
“But we got this offer from Qdos Entertainment [now taken over by Crossroads Live], the biggest pantomime producer in the business, and the thing is I knew I had to be in it this time, not just write it and direct it, which I did for Sleeping Beauty [in 2019-2020 at the Theatre Royal].
“I took up the invitation to return for Martyn, David, Suzy and A J because they’re great exponents of the art of panto, who should be on stage in York.”
Recalling his experience of working on Sleeping Beauty, Berwick says: “At that time, I had no yearning to go back on stage,” he says. “It was a little too soon to start missing playing the dame. Even when I went in for rehearsals, I didn’t want to get up and do it.”
The dame and the daft lad: Berwick Kaler and Martin Barrass reunite for Dick Turpin Rides Again
Later, he would say he regretted the decision to exit stage left. “But when we got the offer to return, at first, I wasn’t sure, but now, at this stage, having said yes, I believe I’m writing better than ever. I’ve got my brain back in gear.”
Panto villain David Leonard has noted how Berwick becomes a “different animal” once he pulls on the dame’s wig and frocks, his voice taking on its stage power too. At 75, four years on from heart bypass surgery, he says, “The thing is, we have to be careful because we can’t do the full-scale slapstick like before, but there can still be slapstick, and Dick Turpin is one of the most original pantomimes ever, and I’m so excited by it.
“It was a one-off when we did it before, as my 30th Theatre Royal pantomime, and it was one of these shows that forced you to really use your imagination. It’s been great to bring it back and work on creating a new version all over again.”
“The legend returns!”, declares the show poster: a reference as much to Berwick Kaler as Dick Turpin as 49 performances lie ahead, starting at 2pm today.
Crossroads Live presents Berwick Kaler in Dick Turpin Rides Again, Grand Opera House, York, today until January 9. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.
CHRISTMAS shows, Christmas concerts, Christmas plays, ‘tis the season for Charles Hutchinson’s diary to be jolly full.
Jason Manford: “Exercising the old chuckle muscle”
Busy week for comedy: Jason Manford: Like Me, York Barbican, Thursday and Friday, 7.30pm.
SALFORD’S Jason Manford revives his funny-bloke-next-door schtick for Like Me, his follow-up to “the fun we had on my last tour”, Muddle Class, a show about turning from working class to middle class that played York Barbican in February and October 2018.
“In these trying times, it’s always important to be able to get away for a couple of hours and exercise the old chuckle muscle,” reckons Manford, 40, who has tickets available for both nights at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Meanwhile, Jack Dee’s Off The Telly gig, moved from April 25 2020 to tomorrow night, has sold out. So too have Alan Carr’s Regional Trinket shows on December 18 and 19.
Filey Brigg, seascape, by Rosie Dean at Village Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week: Rosie Dean, Seascapes, Village Gallery, Castlegate, York, until January 22, open 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
SEASCAPE artist Rosie Dean has taken part in York Open Studios for the past ten years. Now she is exhibiting at Simon Main’s Village Gallery through the winter months.
“I feel total peace breathing the ozone, staring out to sea and focusing on the horizon line, sensing all around me and feeling the elements around me, the sights and sounds, the salt in the air. Pure contentment,” says Rosie.
Levellers: Part of York Barbican’s busy week for concerts. Picture: Steve Gullick
Curiosity concert of the week: The Magical Music Of Harry Potter Live In Concert With The Weasleys, York Barbican, Monday 8pm.
POTTY about Potter? Then exit those Shambles shops and head to York Barbican for a night of music from Harry’s films and the West End musical, performed by the London Symphonic & Philharmonic Film Orchestra with the Weasley brothers in tow.
Original actors, magic, star soloists, a choir and the orchestra combine in the debut European tour’s programme of John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicolas Hooper and Alexander Desplat’s soundtrack magical moments, plus selections from the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child score.
More music in York Barbican’s crammed pre-Christmas diary comes from Levellers, Brighton’s folk-rock stalwarts, tonight and Steve Steinman’s tribute show, Anything For Love: The Meat Loaf Story, on Wednesday, both at 7.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Steve Mason: Solo gig at Stockton on the Forest Village Hall
If you seek out one gig, make it: Steve Mason, Stockton on the Forest Village Hall, near York, Tuesday, doors, 8pm; start, 8.30pm.
STEVE Mason was the frontman of The Beta Band, cult Scottish exponents of folktronica, a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop.
He first dipped his toe into solo work on Black Gold, his mournful 2006 album under the guise of the short-lived King Biscuit Time and has since released Boys Outside in 2010, Ghosts Outside with Dennis Bovell in 2011, Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time in 2013, Meet The Humans in 2016 and About The Light in 2019.
Presented by All Off The Beaten Track, Mason will play solo on Tuesday. Box office: seetickets.com/event/steve-mason/stockton-on-the-forest-village-hall.
The poster for The Arts Barge Christmas Party! at The Crescent, York
Christmas jamboree of the week: The Arts Barge Christmas Party!, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm.
THREE York community musical groups, Bargestra, The Stonegate Singers and The Blind Tiger Dance Band, unite for the Arts Barge Christmas bash.
Bargestra, the 20-piece Arts Barge band skippered by Christian Topman, play jazz, swing, Beatles, ska and more. The Stonegate Singers, a community choir open to anyone, is directed by Jon Hughes, who teaches the music by ear, one part at a time, so that anyone can do it.
The Blind Tiger Dance Band, Arts Barge’s 16-piece Lindy Hop swing band with Rinkadon Dukeboy up front, brings together seasoned professionals and rising young instrumentalists. All three groups will join together to make a 50-piece ensemble for the festive finale.
Recommended but alas sold out already at The Crescent are Christmas shows by Mostly Autumn on Sunday and fellow York band The Howl & The Hum on Wednesday, both at 7.30pm.
Chapter House Choir at the double: Carols by Candlelight, York Minster, Wednesday; Festival of Carols, St Michael-le-Belfrey, York, December 18, both at 7.30pm.
THE Chapter House Choir’s Carols by Candlelight at York Minster has sold out, but a second chance to hear the York choir and its bell ringers comes at St Michael-le-Belfrey.
Tickets for a Festival of Carols are available via Eventbrite, but do hurry because they are limited in number and selling fast.
Danny Mellor and Meg Matthews in Badapple Theatre Company’s The Snow Dancer. Picture: Karl Andre Photography
Global warming alert of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in The Snow Dancer, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Thursday, 7pm; Green Hammerton Village Hall, December 20, 2pm
GREEN Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company has revived artistic director Kate Bramley’s magical eco-fable, The Snow Dancer, for its latest rural tour.
Bramley’s original story blends festive family entertainment with an important eco-message and an original score by Jez Lowe, as actors Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor tell the story of the animals of The Great Wood, who are desperate for a long sleep, but find it too warm because something is awry.
The intrepid heroes in this fairy tale with a furry tail must search for the mysterious Snow Dancer to make it snow if they are ever to sleep. Box office: York, 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; Green Hammerton, 01423 339168.
York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s artwork for A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness
Christmas plays of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness, Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, December 17, 7pm; December 18, 2pm, 4pm, 6.30pm. A Christmas Carol, Mansion House, York, December 17 to 19, 7pm.
TERRY Ram directs the second York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust community production for Christmas, drawn from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays in the old church atmosphere of the Spurriergate Centre. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/york-mystery-plays-supporters-trust.
The Penny Magpie Theatre Company, from York, have sold out all three Mansion House performances of director Samantha Hindman’s adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, a version seen through the eyes of modern-day schoolboy Jon, who is gradually welcomed into Scrooge’s redemptive tale. Carols, mince pies, mulled wine and a house tour complete the festive experience.
Freedom is…Johannes Radebe’s debut tour show at at the Grand Opera House, York, next spring
Leaping into 2022: Johannes Radebe, Freedom, Grand Opera House, York, April 12, 7.30pm.
MAKING swish waves with baker John Whaite in Strictly Come Dancing’s first all-male coupling, South African dancer Johannes Radebe has announced his debut tour, Freedom.
Radebe will lead a company of dancers in classic Ballroom and Latin arrangements, scorching South African rhythms and huge party anthems, as he takes you on his journey from growing up in Zamdela, to travelling the world, winning competitions and becoming a Strictly professional.
“Leave your inhibitions at the door and get ready for a night of energy, passion and freedom,” he says. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.
Ride on time: AJ Powell, left, Suzy Cooper, Berwick Kaler, David Leonard and Martin Barrass return in Dick Turpin Rides Again. Picture: David Harrison
GRAND dame Berwick Kaler reunites with David Leonard, Martin Barrass, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell from today at their new pantomime home of the Grand Opera House, York.
The Kaler comeback was delayed by Covid’s dark shroud, putting Dick Turpin Rides Again back in the stable for a year, during which panto producers Qdos Entertainment have been acquired by global entertainment company Crossroads Live.
Even more so now, this is a new beginning for the familiar team and their faithful followers. “What we want to do is get people back into the theatre, gathering together to have a jolly good laugh,” says villain David Leonard.
“Earlier this year, I did A Little Night Music at the Buxton Festival, and it was just lovely to see people having a pre-show drink, laughing and full of expectation of going to the theatre once more and being entertained. There was such a lovely buzz.
“That will be the case at the Grand Opera House, where we know it will be a family show because generation after generation have come to our pantomimes, and we’ve had such a response on social media, with people saying, ‘we’ve got our tickets, we can’t wait’.”
Leonard, Barrass, Cooper and Powell last performed together in Sleeping Beauty in the winter of 2018-2019, their Theatre Royal finale in a show written and co-directed by Kaler.
“Pantomime is a bit like a drug,” says David. “I miss it when I’m not doing it, like last year and when I was doing Matilda in the West End, though I’ve missed theatre in general too.
“Pantomime is a bit like a drug,” says David Leonard. “I miss it when I’m not doing it.” Picture: David Harrison.
“As [theatre director] Peter Brook said, people feel better after a show, and more so than ever this year, after the pandemic lockdowns, when people want to be together, being entertained by a live show, rather than sitting at home binge-watching Netflix.”
The “famous in York five” are delighted to be working together again. “It’s a good feeling,” says David. “When we did the launch, we hadn’t seen each other for over a year. There was Berwick, in his street clothes, chatting with the photographer, then I chatted to him, gave him a hug, and it was time to do the photoshoot.
“In those six minutes, as he put his ‘dress’ on, he becomes a different animal, the lord of misrule. I remember thinking, when he stopped after 40 years, ‘why are you retiring? You always played an old dame, even in your 30s’. Now you are the dame.’
“Berwick is witty, he’s a great ad-libber, and we revolve around his planet. He provides the energy; the drive; he has this natural performer gene, with his voice going up a notch as soon as he’s on stage.
“You can only sit at home for so long reading Dickens before wanting to get back on that stage. He’s still got that desire; he still wants to do it, even after three years of not performing. It’s natural to him, like breathing.”
Looking back at Sleeping Beauty, the pantomime with the Berwick-sized hole in the middle, David says: “Being a team, without him, it was, maybe not rudderless, but it was a different experience.
“Now Berwick’s back with his joshing, and Martin is so happy about that. As the villain, I have my own agenda, I don’t care who’s playing the dame!” You should note, at this point, his tongue is pushing deep into his cheek.
“Berwick is just himself up there, a bloke in a frock, and very few actors can do that,” says David Leonard. Picture: David Harrison
The production run for Dick Turpin Rides Again is much shorter than for the team’s long, long stretches at the Theatre Royal, and the rehearsal period is leaner too. “This time we have two and a half weeks of rehearsals, but I always felt we were twiddling our thumbs before, thinking, ‘we could probably get this on in a week because we know each other so well’; we have that shorthand,” says David.
Once praised by fellow dame Roy Hudd for “being the best dame because you play the dame as a man in a frock with no make-up”, Berwick has resumed the full reins at 75 as writer, director and grand dame.
“He sets the pace, and when you’re on stage with him, you have to be very disciplined, very solid, so that he can have some air around him to allow him to ad-lib, and Suzy and Martin know that better than anyone,” says David.
“Berwick is just himself up there, a bloke in a frock, and very few actors can do that. I can’t, Martin can’t, because we’re character actors, but he’s not afraid to be himself. He’s very honest about himself, who he is, and he’s not scared of showing that to the audience.
“That’s what people love about him; they really connect with him because he’s warm and genuine; he feels it inside, and you need that in the central character.”
Kaler and co first staged Dick Turpin in 2008. “Berwick said, ‘well, he’s a bit dark’, but I said, ‘make him a hero, good versus evil’,” recalls David. “I think it ended up being our most popular show, and yet it’s a completely original panto, like Berwick’s Millennium panto, Old Mother Millie, and Robinson Crusoe. I’m really glad he’s doing this one for his comeback.”
Dick Turpin Rides Again, Grand Opera House, York, December 11 to January 9 2022. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York
Toni Feetenby as Pauline Mole and Jack Hambleton as Adrian Mole in Pick Me Up Theatre’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾. All pictures: Matthew KitchenPhotography
LEICESTER council estate housewife Sue Townsend’s spotty teenage diarist has gone through many lives since the early 1980s.
Original stage monologue, when the central, older, character was called Nigel. Novel. More novels. Television series. Musical, with a script by Townsend and music and lyrics by Ken Howard and Alan Blakley. Play and junior play. Musical, with book and lyrics by Jake Brunger and music and lyrics by Pippa Cleary.
Robert Readman’s York company, Pick Me Up Theatre, are presenting the British amateur premiere of the Brunger & Cleary version on an open-plan traverse stage that evokes both 1980s’ Leicester school rooms and house interiors.
The traverse design, with the audience to either side and on the mezzanine level above, cranks up the sense of combat and swimming against the tide, in this case the story of an awkward 13¾-year-old intellectual’s battles.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast members: back row, Toni Feetenby, left, Alan Park, Ian Giles, Andrew Isherwood and Emily Halstead. Middle row: Adam Sowter, left, Flynn Coultous, Jack Hambleton, Florence Poskitt, Freddie Adams, Guy Wilson and Alexandra Mather. Front row: Sandy Nicholson, left, Flynn Baistow, Benedict Wood and Dotty Davies
This is Adrian (Jack Hambleton) against the world, whether having to contend with playground bully Barry Kent (Guy Wilson); endless spots; disciplinarian, narrow-minded headmaster Mr Scruton (Adam Sowter), or Nigel (Flynn Coultous), his rival for school crush Pandora (Emily Halstead).
Or Bert Baxter (Ian Giles), the 89-year-old curmudgeon that Adrian has to deal with on his Good Samaritans visits; or teacher Miss Elf (Florence Poskitt), never marking his work as highly as he thinks he deserves, or his struggles in the family home, where mother Pauline (Toni Feetenby) is being distracted by smarmy, hands-on neighbour Mr Lucas (Andrew Isherwood), and his father, George (Alan Park) is at a low ebb. At least Grandma (Sandy Nicholson) is there to comfort him (and squeeze his spots).
Polymath Readman is as much a set designer as director and choreographer, and his playful set with doors to either side allows for the speedy addition and removal of chairs, and for heads to jut through drape-covered window spaces to join in ensemble numbers, reminiscent of sudden interjections in The Muppets.
Florence Poskitt’s teacher Miss Elf and Jack Hambleton’s Adrian Mole
Amid the constraints imposed by performing in pandemic times, Readman decided to keep his cast size trim, by having adults play children as well as the adults, aside from the four teenage protagonists, performed by the already name-checked Team Townsend on press night, alternating through the run with Team Sue (Flynn Baistow’s Adrian, Benedict Wood’s Nigel, Dotty Davies’s Pandora and Freddie Adams’s Barry).
This was an inspired decision, with extra fun to be had in seeing faces so familiar on the York stage revert to teenage tropes (much like in the casting for John Godber’s classroom comedy, Teechers), especially in the ensemble numbers.
Readman’s decision also enhances your appreciation of the young performers, Hambleton’s beleaguered Adrian narrating with a hangdog expression; Halstead’s posh but socially aware Pandora being every inch the head girl in waiting; Coultous’s Nigel staying both perky and pesky throughout, and Wilson’s Barry casting his black-clothed shadow with a panto villain’s glee.
Brunger and Cleary’s songbook is savvy and witty in its lyrics, if more workmanlike in its tunes, but keyboard player Tim Selman’s band (with Jonathan Sage on woodwind, Rosie Morris on bass and Clark Howard on drums) gives it plenty of oomph. So much so, the sound balance on Wednesday sometimes made it hard to hear Hambleton clearly when narrating to music.
Andrew Isherwood’s hands-on Mr Lucas and Toni Feetenby’s change-seeking Pauline Mole
Readman has picked a tremendous cast all round, both for his young leading lights, and everywhere you look among the experienced ranks; be it the face-pulling comic turns of Poskitt and Sowter; the sliminess of Isherwood; the squashed-face grumpiness of Giles; or the return to the fore of the recently lesser-spotted, top-notch Feetenby and Park as the troubled parents,
Nicholson’s Grandma warms you like a cup of tea. Oh, and look out for opera singer Alexandra Mather as you will never have seen her before, vamping it up as naughty neighbour Doreen Slater.
Technically not a Christmas show, nevertheless the diary’s timespan from early-Eighties’ New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Eve means it sits well in the winter season. Diary note to yourself: book a ticket NOW.
Pick Me Up Theatre present Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, The Musical, John Cooper Studio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 18, 7.30pm, except December 11 and 12; 2.30pm matinees, December 11, 12 and 18. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Flynn Baistow’s Adrian Mole, from Team Sue, and Sandy Nicholson’s Grandma
