Cherie Federico: Aesthetica Short Film Festival director
THE 11th Aesthetica Short Film Festival is running in York this week and online until November 30. No better time for Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Chalmers & Hutch to invite director Cherie Federico for a chat about York’s fiesta of film.
Under discussion too in Episode 63 are: Adele’s algorithms; The Young’uns’ gig theatre in The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff at York Theatre Royal, and are Public Service Broadcasting’s powers of Bright Magic fading?
“Lucy McCormick is pure charisma and has a wildness of spirit that takes my breath away,” says director Emma Rice of her “rock star” actor playing Cathy. Picture: Steve Tanner
YORK Theatre Royal’s Haunted Season climaxes with Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights, Emma Rice’s long-touted elemental adaptation of Emily Bronte’s gothic Yorkshire revenge tragedy, from Tuesday to November 20.
Company founder and artistic director Rice completes a hattrick of Theatre Royal visits after her stage versions of Angela Carter’s Wise Children in March 2019 and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers in September that year.
This time, she partners with the National Theatre, Bristol Vic (in the city where Wise Children are based in Spike Island) and the York theatre for a gale-force, folk musical Wuthering Heights, whose tale of love, revenge and redemption is marked by her trademark visual flair, wild humour, puppetry and casting of “rock star” Lucy McCormick as Cathy.
Here Emma answers Charles Hutchinson’s questions as Wuthering Heights seeks to hit new heights.
You call Wuthering Heights a “tragedy”, but reviews have emphasised the “comedy/pastiche”, “the unfaithful storytelling” and the folk musical panache of your interpretation. Have past productions been too serious and Yorkshire-grim?
“I believe that Emily Brontë is an overlooked comic genius. I love comedy and there’s always laughter in my shows, but it wasn’t difficult to bring fun to this adaptation – it’s all there in the text.
“Linton Heathcliff is the most despicably funny character ever written and Lockwood a comedy genius. I hope this production will celebrate Brontë’s sparkling humour as well as her bloody passion.”
Kandaka Moore (Zillah), left, Ash Hunter (Heathcliff), Nandi Bhebhe (The Moor), Lucy McCormick (Cathy) and Witney White (Frances Earnshaw) in Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights. Picture: Steve Tanner
What were the aspects of the story that you most wanted to bring out for a 2021 audience in its transition from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights to Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights?
“There are several aspects of the show that cast a new ‘21st century’ light on the book, but one thing that stands out is how I see Catherine. I initially saw her as the traditional tortured romantic heroine, then as a bit of a minx. Now I think she’s unwell.
“I think she’s a prisoner of her time: a deeply independent women who is constrained by the limitations of being a woman in the 1800s and who fights against those restrictions until it literally drives her mad. I’ve enjoyed exploring this way of looking at this iconic character with Lucy [McCormick] in the role.”
What made you cast Lucy McCormick as Cathy?
“Lucy is a rock star. Literally and metaphorically! She is pure charisma and has a wildness of spirit that takes my breath away. She is fearless, passionate, seriously sexy and maverick. She was my Catherine from the moment I saw her perform and I cannot believe my luck that she is creating this role with me. I am in awe.”
What do you recall of first reading Wuthering Heights: where, when; how old were you?
“I have always loved the book, though at different times in my life it has meant different things to me. In my teens it was one of the first ‘exam’ books that really got me; it fired up my reluctant teenage brain and dared me to dream of passion and romance.
“In later readings, I was struck by how little love there actually is in the book: it’s brutal and cruel, and this darker version of the book stuck in my mind.
Ash Hunter as Heathcliff and Lucy McCormick as Cathy. Picture: Steve Tanner
“Then, a few years ago, I was appalled by what I saw at the Calais Jungle and at refugee camps all over the world. I was horrified by the cold negotiations our government was having about how many refugee children we would take in – horrified that this could even be a question a so-called civilised country was asking. Something sparked in my brain. Wasn’t Heathcliff an accompanied child?”
Do you view the book and its writer differently now to when you first read it?
“It blows my mind that this book was written by someone so sheltered. The detail of Cathy’s neurosis and behavioural issues and the depiction of illness is devasting and brilliantly described.
“I wonder if, as a vicar’s daughter, all of life came to the Brontes’ door and that is how Emily knew so much about the human condition. I don’t find the novel unworldly in the slightest. It is brutally honest and frighteningly well observed. It explores, obsession, control, prejudice, jealousy, violence and hope. All themes very much rooted in reality.
“I knew I needed to tell this story and I needed to tell it now. When Heathcliff is found at the Liverpool docks, the way he is treated sparks a series of events that are catastrophic. This is a cautionary tale and a revenge tragedy. Truly a story for our times.”
What does outsider Heathcliff’s story represent in our increasingly intolerant, unwelcoming post-Brexit society?
“For me, Heathcliff, and the way he’s treated by those around him, is the key to the story. On the surface it’s a love story, but deep down I think it’s about kindness and about the danger of not showing compassion to those in need.
“Wuthering Heights is a cautionary tale about what happens when we treat those in need as somehow less than ourselves. This is the driving force of my adaptation: cruelty breeds cruelty. Be careful what you seed.”
“Ash Hunter has a unique intensity that could stop a train in its tracks,” says Emma Rice of her pick to play Heathcliff, right
What made you cast Ash Hunter in the role?
“Oh, everything! Ash Hunter is everything I want from my Heathcliff. He has a unique intensity that could stop a train in its tracks and a deep understanding of human love, rage and sorrow. He is one of the finest actors I have ever worked with and when he and Lucy start to fizz together, the planets start to spin. I am beyond words.”
How important is the physicality of the Yorkshire landscape to your production? How do you represent it on stage?
“Hugely important. In fact, I’ve made The Yorkshire Moor a character in the show, played by the jaw-droppingly talented Nandi Bhebhe and the ensemble. The Moor narrates the story, as well as trying – and often failing – to save the characters from themselves.”
Wuthering Heights features a live band. Why is music so integral to your theatre-making?
“Music is important to every part of my life. I love music and can’t imagine making a show that wasn’t full of it. And it feels essential to theatre. Along with storytelling, making music is one of the oldest forms of communication. It’s how we reach across the divide and connect with other humans.
“Wuthering Heights particularly calls for an epic score: it’s an epic novel and needs to be met with everything it demands and deserves. Ian Ross, my long-time collaborator, has composed the most extraordinary score, raw, ravishing and brimful of passion.”
Is it really “grim up north”? If not, why is that the north’s reputation?!
“Haha! I definitely don’t think it’s grim up north, in fact I love it! My family were big campers in the 1970s and many a wet weekend was spent in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. I remember walking up to Upper Withins – the place that is thought to have inspired Wuthering Heights – and being a little disappointed at how small it was. I was intoxicated by the moors though, and the Brontë Parsonage and the sheer wildness of that world.”
“It is a privilege and a wonder to be making something so important,” says Wuthering Heights director Emma Rice. Picture: Steve Tanner
You are building up a relationship with York Theatre Royal for your Wise Children work. Why is forging links with regional theatres, as well as with the National Theatre, important to you?
“York Theatre Royal is Wise Children’s most steadfast collaborator: we’ve made three original touring shows since we launched the company in 2018, and YTR has co-produced all of them! We love working with them and hope to continue doing so long into the future.
“Wise Children’s mission is about making great work and touring it around the country – because we believe that audiences everywhere should have access to the talent and vision that is all too often only seen in the capital.
“We’re also committed to touring the ‘real thing’: we don’t send out a second cast, or a rejigged set – we tour with the original production and cast, making sure that the show is in its perfect form, whether you see it in York or Inverness.”
If someone has never seen Wuthering Heights, or indeed read it, why should they come to your show?
“Because it’s got everything! An epic story, a staggeringly beautiful set, deliriously wonderful music, and a cast of such searing talent that my heart jumps every night. I truly feel this is some of the most thrilling work I have ever made, and I am loving watching audiences respond to it.
“Inspired and emboldened by lockdown, we were determined to bring everything we could to this show – and you can feel the energy in every song, dance, line and action. It is a privilege and a wonder to be making something so important with such an amazingly talented and joyful company.”
Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights runs at York Theatre Royal, November 9 to 20, 7.30pm (except November 14); 2pm matinees, November 11, 13, 18 and 20. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“I truly feel this is some of the most thrilling work I have ever made,” says Emma Rice as Wuthering Heights blasts its way to York Theatre Royal . Picture: Steve Tanner
Carr double: Jimmy Carr to play both York Barbican and Grand Opera House
Charles Hutchinson fishes out No Such Thing As A Fish and plenty more besides to hook you in.
Two bites at the cherry of sceptical comedy: Jimmy Carr: Terribly Funny, York Barbican, tonight, 8pm; Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 8pm
JIMMY Carr will be playing York twice inside a week on his rescheduled Terribly Funny tour, visiting both the Barbican and Grand Opera House.
The host of Channel 4’s The Friday Night Project and 8 Out Of 10 Cats will be discussing terrible things that might have affected you or people you know and love. “But they’re just jokes,” Carr says. “They are not the terrible things.”
Having political correctness at a comedy show is like having health and safety at a rodeo, he asserts. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or atgtickets.com/york.
Jools Holland: Back at the piano with his orchestra in York and Harrogate
National treasure shows of the week: Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Harrogate Convention Centre, Saturday, doors, 7pm
PIANIST, bandleader and ringmaster Jools Holland is joined by his 19-piece orchestra for the 2021 autumn tour of his long-running celebration of ska, boogie-woogie and the blues.
The Later presenter, 63, will be welcoming regular vocalists Ruby Turner and Louise Marshall, plus special guest Chris Difford, his former compadre in Squeeze. Lulu is in with a Shout of a guest spot too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Bella Gaffney: Down by the river on new single Black Water. Picture: Esme Mai
Folk gig of the week: Bella Gaffney, York St John University Theatre, Saturday, 7.45pm
BORN in Bradford and educated in Nottingham, singer-songwriter Bella Gaffney now lives in York, performing both in The Magpies trio and solo.
Combining her folk-inspired compositions with her original arrangements of traditional pieces, Bella has a new album on its way in 2022 funded by Arts Council England and York charity Doing It For Liam.
Listen out for the single Black Water, a lockdown-inspired homage to the River Wharfe and its power to connect Bella to family and friends miles away. Katie Spencer supports on a bill promoted by The Crescent in a new venture with York St John. Box office: ticketweb.uk.
Russell Watson: Delighted to be performing again after the lockdowns, singing in York on a Sunday afternoon
Matinee idol of the week: Russell Watson, 20th Anniversary Of The Voice, York Barbican, Sunday, 3pm
REARRANGED from October 9 2020, Salford tenor Russell Watson’s 20th anniversary celebration of his debut album The Voice will be a Sunday afternoon performance.
Watson will be joined by a choir for a matinee concert featuring such favourites as Caruso, O Sole Mio, Il Gladiatore, Nessun Dorma, You Are So Beautiful, Someone To Remember Me and Faith Of The Heart. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
York Musical Theatre Company singers Cat Foster, left, Richard Bayton, Helen Spencer, John Haigh, Henrietta Linnemann and Rachel Higgs step out for Hooray For Hollywood
Escapist nostalgia of the week: York Musical Theatre in Hooray For Hollywood, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm
DEVISED by director Paul Laidlaw, York Musical Theatre Company’s Hooray For Hollywood celebrates songs from Tinseltown’s golden age of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. No
Laidlaw’s slick and sophisticated six-hander show stars Cat Foster, Rachel Higgs, Henrietta Linnemann, Helen Spencer, Richard Bayton and John Haigh, who will be evoking the days of Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935.
The tour poster for No Such Thing As A Fish, full to the gills with facts at the Grand Opera House, York
Podcast transfer of the week: No Such Thing As A Fish, Nerd Immunity, Grand Opera House, York, Monday, 8pm
SUITABLE for “anyone with a thirst for knowledge, a taste for puns and a need for belly-laughs”, the weekly British podcast series No Such Thing As A Fish is presented by the geeky researchers behind the BBC Two panel game QI: James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber.
Now, “the QI elves” are on their first tour since 2019, revealing favourite unbelievable facts in their Nerd Immunity live show. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Ash Hunter as Heathcliff and Lucy McCormick as Cathy in Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights at York Theatre Royal
World premiere of the week in York: Emma Rice’s Wise Children in Wuthering Heights, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to November 20
EMMA Rice’s Wise Children teams up with the National Theatre, York Theatre Royal and Bristol Old Vic for Rice’s folk musical, robustly visual account of Emily Bronte’s Yorkshire moorland novel.
Lucy McCormick plays Cathy in this epic story of love, revenge and redemption, now infused, according to the Guardian review, with “unfaithful storytelling”, pastiche, comedy and a “raging camp” tone. Interesting! Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Close, but no cigar: Omid Djalili takes the mic in The Good Times
What better time for The Good Times: Omid Djalili, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 8pm
AFTER experimenting with a Zoom gig where he was muted by 639 people, British-Iranian comedian, actor, television producer, presenter, voice actor and writer Omid Djalili is back where he belongs: bringing The Good Times to the stage.
Expect intelligent, provocative, fast-talking, boundlessly energetic comedic outbursts rooted in cultural observations, wherein Djalili explores the diversity of modern Britain. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kristin Hersh: Electric lady lands in York next spring
Newly confirmed for 2022: Kristin Hersh Electric Trio, The Crescent, York, April 24, 7.30pm
THROWING Muses co-founder Kristin Hersh will return to The Crescent with her Electric Trio, featuring Throwing Muses bass player Fred Abong and drummer Rob Ahlers, from her other band, 50 Foot Wave.
In store is a loud, tight and intense set of material spread across singer and multi-instrumentalist Hersh’s 30-year career that saw Throwing Muses deliver their latest indie rock album, Sun Racket, in September 2020. Ahlers will open the gig in a solo showcase for his album Yellow Throat. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Hollie McNish: Sold-out Say Owt gig on Wednesday
Recommended but sold out already:
SOUL singer Gabrielle’s Rise Again Tour show at York Barbican on Wednesday; poet and author Hollie McNish, hosted by York’s spoken-word crew Say Owt, at The Crescent, York, on Wednesday.
Kevin Poeung as Merlin in Northern Ballet’s Merlin. Picture: Caroline Holden
World premiere of the week outside York: Northern Ballet in Merlin, Leeds Grand Theatre, Tuesday to November 20
OLIVIER Award-winning choreographer Drew McOnie makes his Northern Ballet debut with the epic adventure of Merlin, the world’s most famous sorcerer, who must discover how to master his magic to unite a warring kingdom. Cue heartbreak, humour and more than a little magic.
McOnie is working with the Leeds company after choreographing King Kong on Broadway and Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or at leedsheritagetheatres.com.
REVIEW, 10/11/2021: Northern Ballet in Merlin, Leeds Grand Theatre ***
DREW McOnie’s dazzling direction of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2016 whetted the appetite for his debut for fellow Leeds company Northern Ballet.
In his first full-length ballet, the Portsmouth-born Olivier Award winner applies his choreographic prowess to the world premiere of Merlin, an epic fantasy adventure, very definitely for a family audience, that would have benefited from being staged in the upcoming holiday season.
Merlin may be billed as “the world’s most famous sorcerer”, but the story that unfolds here needs recourse to Page 4 and 5 of the programme to peruse The Story – At A Glance to be assured wholly of who’s who and what’s what in what Northern Ballet artistic director David Nixon calls “this magical tale with a heart-warming family narrative”.
In a nutshell, “an otherworldly ritual brings with it two mighty Gods. Their union creates an orb that falls to earth and reveals a baby within: Merlin. A young Blacksmith (Minju Kang) finds this helpless child, adopting him in as her own.”
Hence the family appeal of a coming-of-age story with fleet-footed, nimble Kevin Poeung in the role of blossoming wizard Merlin discovering how to use his magical powers to unite the warring kingdom.
The importance of family – in this case Merlin being raised by a strong, principled single mum – provides the everyday beating heart of McOnie’s Merlin, albeit that power struggles and romance are the more obvious headline-making material here.
Northern Ballet go for the epic scale to excite younger audiences drawn to Harry Potter, Star Wars and the Tolkien films: cue sword fights, puppets for a smoke-billowing dragon and wild dogs, and an Excalibur that lights up in the manner of a Jedi lightsabre.
Colin Richmond’s golden set designs are spectacular, even magical, and of course there is magic in the show, but CharlesHutchPress did not find McOnie’s production wholly magical, despite the performances of Antoinette Brooks-Daw’s Morgan, Javier Torres’s Vortigern and Abigail Prudames’ Lady of the Lake.
McOnie has made his name in musical theatre, an artform that comes with narrative in song and book, but dance must fill in the gaps, and the storytelling is not this Merlin’s strongest suit, for all the zest of Grant Olding’s music and the panache of McOnie’s modern choreography, allied to classical steps.
Heather Watts as Queen of Night in York Opera’s The Magic Flute: “Fiery coloratura spiced with menacing gesture”. Picture: Benjamin Lindley
The Magic Flute, York Opera, at York Theatre Royal, tonight and Friday, 7.15pm; Saturday, 4pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
AFTER 20 frustrating months, York Opera is back where it belongs – on the Theatre Royal stage. We may all rejoice.
Running an opera company is backbreaking work at the best of times. Covid has been making it a whole heap harder. Mozart’s last opera would not necessarily be an automatic choice after so long a lay-off and is certainly not an easy option. But the company has dug deep and delivers the goods in a splendid revival of John Soper’s traditional production, first seen in 2009.
In the distribution of laurels, there are many individuals to compliment. But one entity stands out. Derek Chivers’s 20-piece band, using an excellent orchestral reduction by Kenneth Roberts, takes the score by storm.
Hamish Brown’s Prince Tamino and Alexandra Mather’s Pamina. Picture: Benjamin Lindley
On opening night they began untidily, to be sure, but halfway through the overture there was no stopping them, inspired by a woodwind quartet of the highest calibre whose colourings and accuracy are a marvel throughout. Claire Jowett, a stalwart of so many groups, offers untiring leadership of the strings. One member, James Sanderson, slips in and out of the pit as player of the magic bells when not singing First Priest, a unique double act.
The singers clearly relish such a strong foundation. Foremost among them is Heather Watts, who returns to deliver another impeccable Queen of Night, fiery coloratura spiced with menacing gesture, a thrilling performance by any standards. David Valsamidis makes a witty, amiable Papageno, whose superb diction is allied to a warm baritone. Unlike some, he never forgets his audience.
Alexandra Mather is a fetching Pamina, whose emotions are conveyed not only by her clear soprano but also by complementary facial expressions, a valuable asset. Her Tamino is Hamish Brown, who takes the role that illness denied him last time round. His tendency to jerky movement undermines his princeliness, but his accurate if pinched tenor covers the ground well.
Monostatos might suit his personality better. That role goes to Ian Thomson-Smith, last time’s Papageno. He sings it musically but without quite the venom this nasty character demands. The Sarastro of Mark Simmonds is clad much like an orthodox priest; his bass is a little underpowered at the bottom of the range, but otherwise firm and decisive.
David Valsamidis: “Makes a witty, amiable Papageno” in his York Opera debut. Picture: Benjamin Lindley
Lesser roles are covered with distinction, reaffirming the company’s strength in depth. Clive Goodhead is an authoritative Speaker, doubling as an Armed Man (here described as Guardian of Fire), while Elizabeth Vile is a vivid Papagena.
I was much taken by the three Genies, Victoria Beale, Hannah Just and Maggie Smales – standing in for the usual ‘Boys’ – blending superbly like their rich white brocades, breeches and tricorns. Equally impressive are the spear-carrying Three Ladies, Annabel van Griethuysen, Rebecca Smith and Maggie Soper, a determined trio.
The chorus seems to have acquired some new blood and sounds fresh and committed. They are also very disciplined, moving with intent but keeping still when merely onlookers, which is easier said than done. I had forgotten how rich Maggie Soper’s costumes are, distinctive and a feast for the eye. A word, too, for Eric Lund’s nicely varied lighting.
John Soper’s own masonic-style permanent set fits the bill well: two panels of stars and planets divided by gold triangles and circle, with a chessboard platform in front. If it were a little closer to front-stage, some of the solo voices would resonate better than they do from further back. His production is now even more slick than before and more clearly organised; he merely needs to get some of the spoken dialogue better projected. But this is a cheering evening in so many ways and deserves widespread support.
Review byMartin Dreyer
Maggie Soper’s costumes in York Opera’s The Magic Flute: “Distinctive and a feast for the eye”. Picture: Benjamin Lindley
Queen drummer Roger Taylor: Musical advisor on We Will Rock You
WE Will Rock You, “the Queen musical”, will rock up at the Grand Opera House, York, from February 14 to 19 2022.
“The show is live, dangerous and more than anything else: it rocks,” says guitarist Brian May of the futurist comedy musical that combines Queen’s songbook with a book by Ben Elton, of The Young Ones, Blackadder and Upstart Crow fame.
Since 2002 more than 15 million theatregoers in 17 countries have seen a show fashioned by Elton around 24 Queen numbers, such as We Are The Champions, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Don’t Stop Me Now, Under Pressure, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust and the title song.
We Will Rock You tells the story of a globalized future without musical instruments where a handful of rock rebels, the Bohemians, fight against the all-powerful Global soft company and its boss, the Killer Queen, in the cause of freedom, individuality and the rebirth of the age of rock.
Ben Elton: Writer of the book for “the Queen musical”, We Will Rock You
Scaramouche and Galileo, two young outsiders, cannot come to terms with the bleak conformist reality, joining the Bohemians to embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and rock.
The idea for the musical emerged from a meeting between Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and Queen musicians May and Roger Taylor in Venice in 1996. De Niro’s daughter was a fan of the ubiquitous British band, prompting De Niro to ask if the rock legends had ever thought of creating a musical based on their songs.
We Will Rock You was born, with May and Taylor on board as musical advisors. Tickets for next February’s run are on sale at 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Sandra Piques Eddy: “Brings a nimble soprano to Dinah in Trouble In Tahiti”. Picture: Richard H Smith
LEONARD Bernstein’s music is always dance-infused and largely dance-inspired, as we are powerfully reminded by this double bill of Trouble In Tahiti coupled with the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
Bridging the two is ten minutes of poetry with percussion, in Halfway And Beyond, written and recited by Khadijah Ibrahiim. All of which offered the perfect opportunity for Opera North to rekindle its relationship with fellow Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre.
Matthew Eberhardt’s production of Tahiti, revived from 2017, keeps everything neatly in period – 1950s’ American suburbia – with Charles Edwards’s revolving sets replete with billboard life-style ads, complemented by the period outfits by Hannah Clark.
The relentless jocularity of the smooth ‘Greek chorus’ Trio of Laura Kelly-McInroy, Joseph Shovelton and Nicholas Butterfield, with their close-harmony advertising-style jingles, contrasts pungently with Sam and Dinah’s humourless marriage and failure to identify with son Junior.
Their American dream – all the latest household gadgets topped off with chlorophyll toothpaste – is turning sour. Sam may even be tempted to stray at work, with Kelly-McInroy quite the frisky secretary.
Quirijn de Lang’s clean, macho baritone neatly fits the slick all-American guy whose life is bound up with muscle-building and making deals. Sandra Piques Eddy brings a nimble soprano to Dinah, wondering why her perfect lifestyle is letting her down even as she yearns for the Technicolor escapism of the title film.
Quirijn de Lang as Sam and Sandra Piques Eddy as Dinah in Trouble In Tahiti. Picture: Richard H Smith
While Island Magic has all the fizz you would expect, it is her wistful There Is A Garden that really touches the heart. Anthony Hermus conducts with boundless energy but finds touches of nostalgia when needed.
Ibrahiim’s poem deals with belonging and alienation and gains a cutting edge from the accompanying percussion, which is spare but telling. Its topic makes an ideal transition between the opera and the dance; it also offers Phoenix Dance a good opportunity to warm up.
Bernstein’s nine Symphonic Dances are keenly reinterpreted in the choreography of Dane Hurst, who brings his own South African experience of apartheid to bear on the original Jerome Robbins dance style, all wide stances and swaying torsos.
The athleticism is breath-taking, but the passion and poignancy of conflict, Jets against Sharks in West Side Story, has fiery depth. The 11 dancers of Phoenix deliver stunning ensemble, which must owe a good deal to the orchestra’s innate feel for the music’s tortuous rhythms: Hermus’s enthusiasm shines through.
Now that the two companies are back together, let us hope to see something of these dancers in a full-length opera. That would really be something.
Now on tour to Newcastle, Salford and Nottingham until November 20.
The Battersea Poltergeist: From podcast to live show with the audience as Dr Watson to the host and experts’ Sherlock Holmes
WHAT is The Battersea Poltergeist? Tonight’s show at the Grand Opera House in York – always a great haunt for ghost stories – will answer that question.
Writer, journalist and 2:22: A Ghost Story playwright Danny Robins will be leading the investigation at 7.30pm as part of a nine-date tour in Halloween season as his hit podcast comes out to play with live audiences. In tow will be his resident experts, paranormal investigators Ciaran O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow.
Fronting this year’s BBC docu-drama podcast on “Britain’s strangest ever haunting” case, Robins told the terrifying true story of Shirley Hitchings, the focus of frenzied poltergeist activity in and around her family home at Number 63, Wycliffe Road, Battersea, London, from 1956 onwards, starting when she was 15.
The Hitchings’ poltergeist case went on to span 12 years, making national newspaper headlines with its story of strange noises, flying objects, exorcisms and ghostly communication at the now demolished house. An attempt was even made to contact the poltergeist on live prime-time TV on the BBC and it was discussed by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons.
“It’s a great story, a story that when I came across it, straightaway I knew it was special, and the real thrill is that it’s an ordinary family going through such an extraordinary experience,” says Danny.
The Battersea Poltergeist series duly became Apple’s number one drama podcast worldwide, as what began as an eight-part BBC Radio 4 series, featuring Toby Jones and Dafne Keen, turned into a genre-busting podcast phenomenon by notching up nearly three million streams and downloads.
After a bidding war, Hollywood horror specialists Blumhouse – makers of Insidious, Get Out and Paranormal Activity – have snapped up the rights for a TV adaptation, now actively in development with Robins as an executive producer.
“The podcast just caught a moment,” he says. “It’s about this family trapped in their house, and people connected with that, at a point when we were all becoming very claustrophobic in our houses.
“We’re living in these crazy, chaotic and, sadly, death-filled times, and I think we want ghost stories. We’re looking for answers. We’re hitting on those moments like you saw after the First World War, after the Second World War, these kinds of uncertain times, when people become interested in the paranormal. I think we’re seeing a very definite boom in interest in the paranormal and ghost stories.”
To some degree, says Danny, The Battersea Poltergeist – Live will be “like the podcast come to life” as it delves even deeper into the paranormal cold case of the poltergeist the Hitchings family nicknamed “Donald”.
“It’ll be me and the experts, Ciaran and Evelyn. Shirley will play a part in it too, either by video, as will be the case in York, or, fingers crossed, she’ll be there in the flesh for the London date, but she has diabetes now, so she has to be careful, especially with the Covid situation,” he reveals. “She’s elderly and we can’t take her around the whole country with us, but we’re really excited about her playing a role in each show.
“The show will be us talking about the case, but we’ll also have this amazing visual element. We’ll be able to use the big screen on stage to show a whole load of the evidence we have, photographs, newspaper cuttings and video of witnesses.”
The Battersea Poltergeist is an ongoing story. “We’re still getting chilling new evidence coming in,” says Danny. “I’ve got this incredible new pair of witnesses who have terrifying new stories and insights only just discovered. We’re going to share those stories for the first time on stage; totally new information that we’ve not been able to reveal in the podcast. Could they hold the final clues to solving this supernatural mystery?
“With my theatrical head on, I want it to be a fun, spooky night out, particularly as these tour shows are falling around Halloween. It’ll be the full bells and whistles, the Woman In Black–style moments of darkness and screams and poltergeist sounds – and that makes it a delicious live experience on stage, where we can show things in a way we couldn’t in the podcast.”
Whether placing themselves in #Team Sceptic or #TeamBeliever, tonight’s audience members are invited to play their part as supernatural sleuths for the night, with the opportunity to put questions to Danny and the experts about the case in a question-and-answer session. “With the audience as our co-investigators, we can be Sherlock Holmes to their Dr Watson,” he says.
Is it necessary to have heard the podcast before coming tonight, Danny? “Absolutely not! Our starting point, whether you have heard about The Battersea Poltergeist or not, is to approach it with an open mind. Let’s explore together. Fundamentally, it’s a fun, if scary night, and there’s something special about sitting in a darkened theatre with a shiver going down your back,” he says.
“I feel this story is a mystery that keeps on giving. I’ve been examining the case for two years and I’m still learning more – as will the York audience!”
The Battersea Poltergeist radio series takes the form of a documentary drama. “One of the influences was Ghost In The Water, a 1982 BBC drama that purported to be a documentary, and our story was almost the opposite in that it’s a documentary that people thought must be a drama because it’s such an extraordinary story,” says Danny.
“There’s something really exciting about being on a ghost hunt, and on stage the haunting will unfold as I tell the story throughout the evening, with the opportunity to ask questions. Each night, I’m totally prepared that someone might have a brilliant brainwave that could solve the mystery!
“For anyone who is sceptical or thinks they’re not really interested, all I would say is we have stories from people who were living in the street at the same time.”
Where does Danny stand on sceptics? “The interesting thing with the podcast is that listeners were pretty much divided between sceptics and believers, and so it’s almost like an Agatha Christie locked-room drama,” he says.
“If you’re a believer or a sceptic, either way you think, ‘how can this case go on for 12 years; how did it go on for so long?’, as we look at the psychological side of it and at the impact of the elements in the story. People just love trying to solve a mystery.”
Analysing why the British are so drawn to ghost stories, Danny suggests: “It’s because we’re deeply frightened of death, and for us ghost stories are both a comfort and cause of anxiety, whereas other societies are better at processing death.
“The less that organised religion is part of our lives in Britain, the more that ghosts are part of our psyche, leading to a boom in intertest in ghost stories in drama, on screen and in books, and also a worrying rise in exorcism in Christian culture. There’s also a threat to our lives in the Covid climate, where we’re having to confront our mortality in ways we haven’t for decades.”
Should you be wondering what Shirley Hitchings will be contributing on video tonight, Danny says: “We filmed her on October 18, when I asked her series of questions culled from what people asked on social media. Hopefully, we may have Shirley on the phone too.”
2021 has been a remarkable year for Danny Robins, bringing not only the success of The Battersea Poltergeist podcast, but the August 3 to October 16 hit run of 2:22: A Ghost Story at the Noel Coward Theatre, London.
“I’d already started writing it quite a while before I began working on the Shirley Hitchings story,” he says. “It was a process that took about five years, and I’ve been obsessed with ghosts for all of my life.
“When I researched 2:22, I put out a question, asking if anyone had seen a ghost, and so many stories came in that I thought, ‘these stories should be told’, so that led to the Haunted podcast series, and then I was told this amazing story of The Battersea Poltergeist.”
Meanwhile, the writing of 2:22: A Ghost Story reached the finishing line, and a cast was sought by director Matthew Dunster. Step forward pop star Lily Allen for her West End debut in Robins’ contemporary haunted-house thriller.
“Landing Lily for the role of Jenny was amazing,” says Danny. “Out director just had an instinct that Lily would be good, and our casting director was working with Lily’s mum [theatre producer Alison Owen].
“We managed to get a script to Lily, who happened to be at that stage of thinking, ‘what should I do next?’, and she turned out to be a wonderful actress.”
The Battersea Poltergeist – Live, Grand Opera House, York, tonight (2/11/2021), 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 7615or at atgtickets.com/york. For a trailer, head to: youtu.be/jVi15MTkjeE
Danny Robins: Writer, journalist, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist podcast and playwright, whose 2021 debut West End play, 2:22: A Ghost Story, starred Lily Allen.
Co-created BBC Radio 4 sitcom Rudy’s Rare Records with Sir Lenny Henry, writing four series and adapting it into his first stage play, Rudy’s Rare Records, co-commissioned by Birmingham Rep and Hackney Empire, again starring Henry.
As a comedy writer, he created BBC series Young Dracula and We Are History and The Cold Swedish Winter for BBC Radio 4. His Haunted podcasts for Panoply explored real-life ghost stories; his new podcast series for BBC Sounds, Uncanny, launched on October 20, featuring real-life stories of ghost and UFO encounters.
Evelyn Hollow: Scottish writer and paranormal psychologist for TV shows and podcasts, who holds a Master of Research degree in Paranormal Psychology. Trained as a travel writer by Lonely Planet, she was a resident author at Esoterica Zine and occult columnist for Corvid Culture and has taught writing classes at everywhere from universities to arts festivals.
A former psychology lecturer, she now gives guest lectures on paranormal history and the quantum physics of anomalous phenomena.
Ciaran O’Keeffe: Applied psychology professor, who provides a sceptical voice to various paranormal TV and radio shows, such as Most Haunted, Ghost Adventurers, Celebrity Ghost Hunt Live, The Battersea Poltergeist and Haunted.
Associate head of school of human & social sciences at Buckinghamshire New University, responsible for programming several crime degrees: BSc (Hons) in criminological psychology, BSc (Hons) in psychology & criminology and MSc in applied forensic psychology.
Areas of expertise are parapsychology and investigative psychology, leading to involvement in many unusual projects: physiological effects of infrasound at the Royal Festival Hall; ghost investigation of Hampton Court Palace; exorcism training day; hostage negotiation simulations; lie detecting for the film Spy Game.
Working with Global Ghost Gang of researchers on the book Ghosted! Exploring The Haunting Reality Of Paranormal Encounters for publication in early 2022.
Definition of Poltergeist
An indestructible ghost or spirit of chaos, responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved.
The Young’uns in The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff. Picture: Pamela Raith
The Young’uns in The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm, 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
AT 17, the under-age Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes were drawn to the sound of singing in the back room of The Sun Inn in Stockton-on-Tees. They burst into song, harmony singers so natural that The Young’uns were born there and then.
Music had bypassed them at school, but they wondered why sea shanties, folk songs of real stories and home truths, had never been taught there.
In the 1930s, Johnny Longstaff left school at 14, suffered burns in an industrial injury in his first job at a smelting factory, and left Stockton at 15 in search of work. Told he was too young to join the Hunger March to London, he nevertheless followed its path, half a mile back, until he was discovered and allowed to take part, and then stayed in London.
By 17, he had already taken on Oswald Mosley’s Fascists – and the police – in the Battle of Cable Street and was on his way to the Pyrenees, against the rules, to train as part of the British Battalion of the International Brigade to join the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War.
What the two paths share is a refusal to take No for an answer, to react to rejection, to find a way to make connections. The Young’uns have gone on to win a BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards three times; Johnny Longstaff’s story of working-class-hero political activism is the stuff of six hours of Imperial War Museum recordings, a Young’uns album and now a piece of gig theatre that burns with the same north-eastern fire that lit up Sting’s Tyneside shipbuilding musical The Last Ship.
There are four voices to this performance, first directed by Lorne Campbell in his days as artistic director at Northern Stage, Newcastle, as he brought a theatrical symmetry to Cooney’s songs while retaining the trio’s immediacy as always moving, sometimes humorous, storytellers in song.
The impassioned harmony singing, as beautiful as it is stirring and lyrical, is interwoven with their own storytelling and that fourth voice: extracts from those 1986 recordings in Longstaff’s Middlesbrough home that inspired Cooney’s songs.
Jack Rutter: Deputising for Michael Hughes at The Young’uns’ York Theatre Royal performances
What a potent combination it becomes: the songs make powerful statements on their own right, as with the political songwriting of Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello or Christie Moore, all the more so for the instinctive harmonies (imagine The Proclaimers with an extra voice), and then, even more resonant are the recollections of Johnny Longstaff, who has the last word, in song as his 1986 recording of The Valley Of Jarama takes over from The Young’uns live rendition.
In the absence of Michael Hughes, indisposed as he is now a full-time teacher on half-term leave, Huddersfield traditional singer Jack Rutter steps in to suffuse the harmonies, whether a cappella or augmented by keyboards, guitar or Eagle’s urgent accordion.
Campbell told The Young’uns, “don’t worry, you won’t have to act”, but nevertheless there is superb movement direction to this performance; much humour, especially from Eagle, and an awareness of how to tell the story to maximum effect, particularly from Cooney.
In an earlier life, The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff was performed with a backdrop of Johnny Longstaff, but Campbell called on Teesside animator Scott Turnbull to add his imagery to the already potent brew, and as Campbell promised, it takes the show to a heightened level by accompanying the songs and stories with a combination of beauty, industrial grit and even cartoon humour.
Towards the finale, Johnny Longstaff’s recordings have him talking with such conviction and humanity about the importance of the Spanish Republicans taking on General Franco, almost 50 years after he was there, going days without food, being served a family cat as his supper, living off oranges and being the endangered messenger at the front.
He met Churchill on his return at Westminster, who wondered if he would bring such dedication and zeal to fighting Nazism. At first, however, he was not allowed to serve in the Second World War, having gone against the Government’s neutral position by going to Spain. Once more, he would not take No for an answer.
Oh, for the honesty, the desire to make a difference, the guts and the quest for betterment for all to surge through today’s politicians. Post-war, Johnny settled for the quieter life as a civil servant, Labour voting to the last, but still full of that drive in his recordings. Thanks to his son, Duncan Longstaff, passing on a photograph and a list of Johnny’s achievements to The Young’Uns, his story is being championed loud and proud in song.
Three performances to go in York: make sure to be there; no excuses. Amid all the ghost talk of Halloween this week, and this show’s inclusion in the Theatre Royal’s Haunted Season, Johnny Longstaff is anything but a ghostly presence; his voice so full of life and belief as it reverberates down the years.
York Musical Theatre Company cast members Cat Foster, left, Henrietta Linnemann, John Haigh, Richard Bayton, Helen Spencer and Rachel Higgs dress the part for Hooray For Hollywood! at Nola in York
YORK Musical Theatre Company will offer escapism to Hollywood’s golden era after release from the pandemic lockdowns at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
The classic American cinema of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s will be explored in song in the slick and sophisticated six-hander Hooray For Hollywood! from November 8 to 10.
Devised and directed by Paul Laidlaw, the piece was first staged at York Theatre Royal Studio in 2007, and now Laidlaw reignites his show with a cast of six – Richard Bayton, Cat Foster, John Haigh, Rachel Higgs, Henrietta Linnemann and Helen Spencer in a nostalgic, whirlwind journey through the sounds of a bygone era from the MGM, Warner Bros, RKO and Universal studios.
Richard Bayton, left, and John Haigh raise a glass to Hooray For Hollywood! at Nola
“Packed with a classic collection of love songs, torch songs and comic numbers, Hooray For Hollywood! covers iconic artists such as Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to name just a few,” says Laidlaw, who recalls the premiere 14 years ago.
“We’ve actually performed the show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre before, as well as at the York Theatre Royal Studio. As we head into our 120th year next year, it felt right to be a bit nostalgic and look back at some of our original pieces that audiences loved and revive them for new audiences.
“We loved performing The World Goes ’Round a few years ago and this show has a similar feel in that it’s a small cast and is fast paced and slick but will take the audience on a magical musical journey.”
Cocktail time for York Musical Theatre Company cast members Rachel Higgs, left, Henrietta Linnemann, Cat Foster and Helen Spencer at Nola
In the lead up to next month’s performances, Laidlaw’s cast members have been Puttin’ on the Ritz in a photo-shoot at the Nola jazz restaurant and bar in Lendal, designed to evoke the glitz and glamour of vintage Hollywood.
“Housed in the old congregational chapel on Lendal, the gold, mirrored decor of Nola was the perfect setting as the cast of six brushed up their white tie, tails and top hats – so to speak! – and posed with martini glasses in the 1920s’ Art Deco atmosphere,” says publicity officer Anna Mitchelson.
“Richard, Cat, John, Rachel, Henrietta and Helen are now deep into rehearsals for the show, learning intricate harmonies and weaving famous Hollywood melodies together in a unique and clever way.”
Tickets for the 7.30pm performances cost £15, £12 for age 18 and under, on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
A scene from Quinneys in the making by University of Leeds theatre and performance students
CITY Screen, York, will play host to a special screening of Quinneys, Dr George Rodosthenous’s film adaptation of Horace Annesley Vachell’s long-dormant play, on November 24.
As part of the Year of the Dealer, an Arts & Humanities Research Council project organised by the University of Leeds and led by Dr Mark Westgarth, actors from the university’s theatre and performance programme have made the full-length feature film.
Quinneys is a comedy-drama of love, money, social climbing and fakes and forgeries set in the world of antique dealing. Written in 1915 by Vachell (1861-1955) and based on the real-life antique dealer Thomas Rohan (1860-1940), the original play tells the story of Joseph Quinney, a hard-nosed Yorkshire antique dealer, stubborn but endearing and keen to see his daughter marry well.
The stage play was hugely popular in its day with performances all over the world but it was last performed more than 70 years ago. This new film version is the first in almost 100 years.
Please note, the 5.30pm to 8.30pm event on November 24 is private and fully subscribed and will be preceded by a wine and canapes reception.
