Safeena Ladha, left, Eugene McCoy, Tom Byrne and Maddie Rice in a scene from The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
FIERY Angel’s spiffing touring production of The 39 Steps is back on the road after eight years, although Patrick Barlow’s rollercoaster ride through John Buchan’s tale of murder, suspense and intrigue and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller is never far from a Yorkshire stage.
In that touring hiatus, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre has staged it twice (in 2018 and 2023) and Harri Marshall directed York Settlement Community Players at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in November 2021.
Yet not everyone has strapped in previously for Barlow’s delirious, dextrous delight of a comic misadventure. “Brilliant theatre,” kept coming a voice from the dress-circle row behind, experiencing its ingenuity for the first time at Wednesday’s matinee.
Eugene McCoy, left, Safeena Ladha and Tom Byrne in Fiery Angel’s touring production of The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
Mischief Theatre have a had a field day since the 2012 premiere of The Play That Goes Wrong, with clever, chaotic comedy rooted in mishaps, clowning pratfalls and exquisite comic timing. Yet Barlow’s play – and indeed North Yorkshire company North Country Theatre’s original 1996 concept by Simon Corble & Nobby Dimon that inspired it – pre-dates the Go Wrong brand, debuting at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, in June 2005.
It has gone right ever since, especially under the direction of Maria Aitken in Fiery Angel’s tours, and now in the hands of 2024 tour director Nicola Samer, still true to the Aitken template but not exactly. The same, but Samer, as it were.
Tom Byrne, familiar to The Crown devotees from playing Prince Andrew aged 22 to 32 in the Netflix series, now turns his hand to another posh chap, the unflappable Richard Hannay in a helter-skelter play that hitches the storytelling of Buchan to the thrills, spills and daring set-pieces of Hitchcock’s thriller and then entrusts 139 roles to a cast of only four, most of them shared between Eugene McCoy’s Clown 1 and Maddie Rice’s Clown 2.
Tom Byrne: From Prince Andrew in The Crown to Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps
In the ennui of August 1935, Byrne’s lanky Hannay is in an emotional stew in his lonely, rented Portland Place pad, slumped in his leather armchair, pencil-slim moustache downturned, contemplating ending it all, in desperate need of… well, love, as it turns out later.
More immediately, this dashing, clipped and proper fellow must “find something to do…something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless. Something – I know! A West End show! That should do the trick!”
Barlow instantly establishes the “meta-theatre” of a play that revels in the possibilities and limitations of theatre, even in self-deprecation at what naysayers consider its ridiculousness, its bloated self-importance, as well as its wonder.
On the run: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay seeeks to escape the constabulary in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
Hannay heads to the London Palladium for some excitement, but not the kind of excitement that ensues. The gun-firing, mysterious German fräulein in the box opposite him, Annabella Schmidt (Safeena Ladha), demands he must take her home, only to drop dead in his lap, knifed in the back.
Hanney takes flight – or rather a train ride – to Scotland, now murder suspect number one, in urgent need of crucial information to extricate himself from such accusations.
Policemen, secret agents, a farmer, a mysterious professor and assorted women stand in his way, delicered with breathless speed, breathtaking brilliance and comedic brio by the loose-limbed McCoy and the nimble Rice, the first woman to play Clown 2 in a Fiery Angel tour.
Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay: In need of “something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless” in the opening scene to The 39 Steps. A night at the theatre awaits. Picture: Mark Senior
What’s more, as well as evoking Charlie Chaplin and even Samuel Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting For Godot, both are in cross-dressing mode, equally as likely to play a woman or a man, whatever a scene demands, Rice even performing two roles at once, turning back and forth in a half-and-half costume.
Ladha multi-tasks too, reappearing as an alluring, feisty femme fatale and a shy but obligingly helpful farmer’s wife.
Byrne’s handsome hero lets the darker side of Hannay poke through the surface, but the theatrical sleight of hand prevails, not least in the bargain-basement re-enactment of Hitchcock’s familiar scenes, topped off by a North By North West shadow-play spoof.
The Fiery Angel tour poster for The 39 Steps
The second act slows a tad, but Barlow’s witty, period-pastiche dialogue keeps you on the edge, either suspenseful or in fear of another pardonably terrible pun. All the while, Samer’s cast must battle against the odds, improvising props and scenery, whether with stepladders for a bridge, or chairs for a car, moving the furniture on and off, and defiantly keeping their head above water, even when a ringing phone or dry-ice Scottish mist is miscued.
As the thrilling twists and turns of this Hitchcock homage somehow go off without a hitch, Byrne, Ladha, McCoy and Rice make a fabulous four, never missing a step in the cause of comedy.
Fiery Angel presents The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, cutting a dash until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Leading lights: Riding Lights’ new executive director Oliver Brown, left, and artistic director Paul Birch outside Friargate Theatre in York
RIDING Lights Theatre Company today announces the appointment of its new artistic director, Paul Birch, and executive director, Oliver Brown.
They will serve as joint chief executive officer of the national touring theatre company, based at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York.
Playwright, sketch writer, improv comedy trailblazer and theatre director Paul Birchrejoins the company as artistic director after holding early roles as its youth theatre director and associate director of education and community.
He succeeds Paul Burbridge, co-founder of the Christian theatre company and artistic director since its foundation in 1977, who died after a short illness in April 2023.
As a freelance writer-director, his work has been produced in many theatres nationwide, expanding into audio dramas and a practice focused on improvisation, collaborating with improvisers from all over the world.
Paul has developed a track record of applied theatre-making and was artistic director of Out Of Character, a York company comprising artists with lived experience of mental illness, for eight years.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with Riding Lights for over 20 years. Paul Burbridge was a great mentor to me and offered me many early opportunities in acting, writing and directing,” he says. His influence and inspirational teaching in theatre-making has had a profound and lasting impact on my work.
“The creativity of Riding Lights has always been about making work with and for all kinds of people in all kinds of places; often those hardest to reach. I’m looking forward to finding new artistic ways to create powerful and joyful theatre in that spirit.”
Riding Lights’ new executive director, Oliver Brown, left, and artistic director Paul Birch in the black-box studio theatre at Friargate Theatre, York
Oliver Brown FRSA, at present associate director at Riding Lights,takes up the post of executive director after holding senior leadership roles in production and operations at venues including Hull Truck Theatre and CAST in Doncaster. He is the elected vice-chair and trustee director of the Association of British Theatre Technicians.
His first encounter with Riding Lights was in 1999, when the teenage Oliver knocked on the door of Friargate Theatre, soon after it opened, asking for a technical work placement. Over the subsequent decades, he has worked as a freelance technical and stage manager for the company on many occasions.
“After being a part of Riding Lights for nearly 25 years, I am delighted to be joining the company once again as executive director, having spent my summers at its annual residential summer school, my early years up a ladder amongst the lights in Friargate Theatre, and out on national tours,” he says.
“Along with Paul, I am looking forward to Riding Lights’ 50th anniversary in 2027 and planning for the future.
“I am passionate about communicating faith and social justice issues through theatre and community work – a tradition in which Riding Lights is a leader, and one in which I will be honoured to play a part as we develop the evolving vision of Riding Lights.”
Riding LightsTheatre Companyhas been making and touring theatre informed by a Christian faith for 47 years, making it one of Great Britain’s most productive and long-serving independent theatre companies. Its productions have been seen across the world, from the United States of America, through Europe, to Israel and Palestine.
John Emmett, chair of the board of directors, says: “I am delighted that Paul and Ollie have agreed to join Riding Lights. Both of them have a long association with the company and understand well Paul Burbridge’s remarkable legacy. I am confident that they will build on this in fresh and exciting ways to create theatre which entertains, challenges and inspires.”
Friargate Theatre has announced an autumn season of theatre, stand-up and improv comedy, storytelling, music, film and family shows that opens on September 5. For full details and bookings, head to: friargatetheatre.co.uk. Box office: 01904 613000.
Riding Lights is in rehearsal for Cups On A String, a new play by York playwright Bridget Foreman, directed by David Gilbert for an eight-week autumn tour across the UK, to be staged in partnership with Transforming Lives for Good, a charity that brings hope and a future to struggling children.
The brochure cover artwork for Friargate Theatre’s autumn return
Riding Lights: the back story
RIDING Lights Theatre Company was founded in 1977 by Paul Burbridge, Murray Watts and Nigel Forde and has been based in York ever since.
Riding Lights opened Friargate Theatre, in Lower Friargate, York, in 1999. It has since operated as the company’s office and rehearsal space and has two performance spaces: one a ground-floor cabaret-style space seating around 60 people; the other an upstairs black-box studio theatre seating 100.
World premieres in recent years have includedAfrican Snow, a co-production with York Theatre Royal (York Theatre Royal, West End transfer and national tour); Augustus Carp Esq. by Himself (Friargate Theatre); Dick Turpin (Friargate Theatre) and an adaptation of Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men In A Boat (national tour, co-produced with Northcott Theatre, Exeter).
In Summer 2012, Riding Lights, in tandem with York Theatre Royal and York Museums Trust, produced the epic-scale, outdoor production of the York Mystery Plays in York Museum Gardens.
Frequently characterised by quirky satire, Riding Lights’ productions challenge audiences to engage with topical themes and issues, often examining the reverberations of historical events in today’s society.
Classic plays such as Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (two national tours), Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (the inaugural production at Friargate Theatre), Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo (Friargate Theatre and national tour) and Max Frisch’s The Fire Raisers (Bridewell Theatre, London) have found fresh and arresting relevance in Riding Lights productions.
Freddie Hayes as the dark and mysterious Magic Lady. Picture: Michael Julings
YORK puppeteer and storyteller Freddie Hayes warms up for her Edinburgh Fringe return with a home-city preview of her outrageous new character comedy show, The Magic Lady, on Monday night at Micklegate Social.
“After a smash-hit run with Potatohead in 2022, I’m thrilled to be going back to the Fringe and really excited about returning to York to perform my full-hour comedy, clown and puppetry magic show,” says the playful yet poignant York performer and theatre-maker, who will head to the Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds on Tuesday for a further preview.
Expect magic and mayhem, hypnotism and ridiculous props as Freddie invites you to “enter the magic circle for your appointment with the Magic Lady in an unforgettable night of comedy, clowning and puppetry”, directed by Ecole Gaulier-trained clown Mikey Bligh Smith of The Lovely Boys.
What lies in store? “After a long and arduous career treading the boards as a glamorous assistant to some of the greats, it is the Magic Lady’s turn to rise from the ashes and dazzle the audience with a mix of chaotic comedy and questionable magic that will leave you spellbound.” says Freddie, 2022 winner of the Most Bizarre Moment in Theatre Award.
“This haphazard showbiz loon will be surprising, exorcising, escapologising and taking back what was hers once before. Watch out for the famous levitation trick! Houdini who?”
Freddie Hayes in the guise of Potatohead
Introducing her Magic Lady, Freddie says: “I’m always creating characters, and she’s sort of been brewing for a while. She wears an Eighties’ cocktail dress, and the dress came before the character. I found it in a vintage shop and first wore it at a New Year’s Eve party a couple of years ago, when it was the talk of the town!
“She’s another alter ego of mine. I was interested in the role of the old Hollywood assistant, who in this case becomes the Magic Lady. That was always her dream, but she’s a deluded illusionist. She believes she was part of the Broadway world when in fact she’s in Blackpool.
“She acts very posh, putting on airs and graces; there’s a bit of Hyacinth Bucket [from Keeping Up Appearances] about her; a bit of Joanna Lumley in there, but maybe underneath all that, she’s a northerner.”
The Magic Lady has been taking shape at London gigs at the Moth Club, Hackney, and the Soho Theatre, along with the Machynlleth Comedy Festival in Wales and her first hour-long full preview at The Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol.
Freddie has shared a bill with puppeteer Nina Conti too. “She’s a bit of a hero of mine. We didn’t swap notes but she did say I was funny,” she recalls.
“I always like to have a bit of the gothic and the macabre in a show,” says puppeteer and theatre-maker Freddie Hayes
“I love using puppets. I think I will always have a puppet in my shows in some sort of way. If it’s a shadow or a sock, it will always be part of my performance style – and I still have a few puppet surprises for this show. I like to keep them as surprises.”
Does the Magic Lady have a name? “She does but she will never say what it is,” says Freddie. “She’s a dark and mysterious character, quite twisted, and she alludes to the fact that she sawed one of her husbands in half. I always like to have a bit of the gothic and the macabre in a show!
“She’s has loads of affairs and she likes to put it around that she was the understudy to Liza Minnelli [as David Guests’s lover] and how she broke Bobby Davro’s heart.”
Expect the unexpected. “Every night will be completely different, playing to how the audience are feeling, or if someone is misbehaving,” says Freddie. “I like to throw the script out of the window as I’m always keen to interact. Watch out!”
Tuesday’s performance brings Freddie to the Hyde Park Book Club. “It’s where I do my regular slot with The Lovely Boys & Friends, whose line-up includes Mikey Bligh Smith, my director. We met on the comedy circuit in Leeds, where we were all doing weird stuff, so we were bound to meet,” she says.
“We’ve worked together for a long time, and he was there at the start of my creation of The Magic Lady. We do a lot of writing exercises together, when I usually throw in really outrageous ideas and say, ‘do you think that’s a good idea or not?’, so he guides me in the right direction.”
What a card: Freddie Hayes’s Magic Lady, up to her old tricks again. Picture: Michael Julings
She is drawn to “chaotic comedy”. “I suppose I just like unpredictability, to have no idea of what the person on stage is going to come out with and I love it when things take a different take to what you expect.”
Such characteristics mark her own performances, this time promising “questionable magic”. “I’d say this show becomes more magic with a ‘k’, not a ‘c’, so there’s a witchy side to the Magic Lady.
“She’ll be doing some magic tricks…and there’s a bit of exorcism with my other character, Clair Voyant. Some hypnotism as well. She’s trying to cover all the bases!”
Summing up the show, Freddie says: “It give you lots of old-school showbusiness meets chaotic clown fun; lots of The Good Old Days meets Vic & Bob [Reeves & Mortimer].”
Freddie Hayes in The Magic Lady, Micklegate Social, Micklegate, York, EdFringe preview, July 29, 7.30pm. Box office: billetto.co.uk/e/freddie-hayes. Hyde Park Book Club, 27-29 Headingley Lane, Leeds, EdFringe, July 30, 7.30pm. Box office: billetto.co.uk/e/freddie-hayes; hydeparkbookclub.co.uk. Edinburgh Fringe, Hoots @Potterrow, Big Yurt, August 2 to 11, 6pm. Box office: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/freddie-hayes-the-magic-lady
Magic in the making: Freddie Hayes in The Magic Lady. Picture: Michael Julings
Putting it in black and white: from top, Finlay Butler, Kristian Barley, Kit Stroud, Rebecca Butler and Maia Beatrice in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
FROM a musical in black and white to circus skills, outdoor comedy to racecourse music showcases, Charles Hutchinson picks his high-summer highlights.
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
EXPERIENCE the explosive love and rivalry in 1950s’ New York City in Bernstein & Sondheim’s musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As romance blossoms between teens from opposing gangs The Sharks and The Jets, the relationship is – spoiler alert – fated to end in tragedy. Steve Tearle’s production for NE Theatre York features a black-and-white design and cultural references from the 1950s to the present day. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Barn Owl, by Bryn Parry CBE, in the Sculpture In The Landscape exhibition at the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, The Hutts, Grewelthorpe. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
Exhibition of the week: Sculpture In The Landscape, Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, The Hutts, Grewelthorpe, near Ripon, until November 3
THE 2024 Sculpture In The Landscape exhibition showcases 60 works for sale by artists across the United Kingdom, complementing the permanent sculptures on show at the Himalayan Garden.
Visitors are invited to explore the intricate sculptures set against verdant landscapes. From monumental installations to delicate works of art, each piece offers a perspective on the intersection of creativity and nature. Normal garden entry applies. Tickets: 01765 658009 or himalayangarden.com
Brainfools in Cabaret Cirque Enchanté at Pocklington Arts Centre
Magical and mind-boggling circus feats of the week: BrainFools present Cabaret Cirque Enchanté, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 6pm, and Saturday, 10.30am
BRAINFOOLS’ collective of National Centre for Circus Arts graduates and their friends bring a collaborative imagination to their versatile, immersive and visually enriching performance of enchanted circus, dance and humour.
The ensemble sets an evocative scene, evoking the cabaret flair of the 1920s with a jazz-flavoured musical score and a compere introducing family-friendly acts. In addition, in conjunction with Burnby Hall Gardens, Brainfools will host circus skills workshops for young people tomorrow and Friday. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Kaiser Chiefs: A night at the races in York. Picture: Cal McIntyre
Under starter’s orders: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Kaiser Chiefs, Friday, 8.45pm to 10.30pm, and S Club, Saturday, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
LEEDS indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who mounted the exhibition When All Is Quiet at York Art Gallery in 2018-2019, return to York on Friday when the emphasis will be on I Predict A Riot, not Quiet. Expect Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby et al, plus songs from this year’s Easy Eighth Album, after the evening race card.
Saturday afternoon’s racing will be followed by British pop favourites S Club, these days featuring Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens. Here come S Club Party, Never Had A Dream Come True, Bring It All Back, Reach, Don’t Stop Movin’, Have You Ever, Two In A Million, Say Goodbye, You’re My Number One, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You and more besides. Raceday tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Martin Carthy: Folk trailblazer. Picture: The Press, York
Moorland gig of the week: Martin Carthy, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, Saturday, 7.30pm
“WHAT we like most about Martin Carthy is that to us he’s a local hero who will once again take the high road from Robin Hood’s Bay to Farndale, jewel in the crown of the North York Moors National Park, to renew his acquaintance with The Band Room,” says gig promoter Nigel Burnham.
Carthy, 82, who has enjoyed trailblazing folk partnerships with Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick, wife Norma Waterson and daughter Eliza Carthy, brings to the stage more than half a century of experiences and stories as a ballad singer, groundbreaking acoustic and electric guitarist and insatiably curious interpreter and arranger of other artists’ material and trad songs. Box office: thebandroom.co.uk.
John Watterton: Celebrating the works of Jake Thackray and Les Barker at Milton Rooms, Malton
Unsung legends celebration of the week: John Watterton: An Evening Without Jake Thackray Or Les Barker!, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday 7.30pm
YORK guitarist and vocalist John Watterson keeps alive the spirit of Leeds singer-songwriter, poet, humourist and journalist Jake Thackray through his catalogue of songs that he describes as simultaneously “painfully funny, sad, tragic, rude, irreverent, incisive and happy”.
In this new show, Watterton also features the work of another “unsung legend”: Mancunian former accountant Les Barker, who discovered a talent for writing silly poems that he performed at folk clubs. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The View: Returning to the concert platform after a five-year hiatus
Return of the week: The View, The Crescent, York, August 2, 7.30pm
RESCHEDULED from June 15, Under The Influence presents Dundee indie-rock returnees The View in a night of Hats Off To Buskers classics, from Same Jeans to Wasted Little DJs and Superstar Tradesma, plus material from their first album in eight years.
Recorded with Grammy Award-winning producer Youth at Space Mountain, Granada, Exorcism Of Youth was released last August on Cooking Vinyl. Five years on from their departing gig at Dundee’s Caird Hall, original members Kyle Falconer (vocals/guitar), Kieran Webster (bass/vocals) and Pete Reilly (guitar) are back on the road. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Bill Bailey: Comedy on the coast on August 2
Coastal gig of the week: Bill Bailey, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 2; gates open at 6pm
COMEDIAN, actor, musician, presenter, Never Mind The Buzzcocks team captain, Black Books sitcom star and 2020 Strictly Come Dancing champion Bill Bailey heads to the East Coast with his surrealist fusion of stories, poetry and wordplay that takes aim at the modern world’s absurdities, as aired in his Thoughtifier arena tour.
A veteran of the UK festival circuit, with appearances at Latitude, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Sonisphere and the Eden Project, Bailey will have his array of weird and wonderful instruments on tap too for playful pastiches of Tom Waits, Kraftwerk et al. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Chrissie Hynde: The great Pretender will lead her band at York Barbican in October. Picture: Vi Price
Gig announcement of the week: The Pretenders, York Barbican, October 31
THE Pretenders are extending their sold-out British tour, adding a new date in York, in the wake of releasing Relentless, their 14th UK Top 40 entry and highest-charting record in 23 years, last September.
Fronted as ever by Chrissie Hynde, 72, the band is joining Foo Fighters on their American tour in July and August. Tickets for York Barbican go on sale on Friday at 10am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-pretenders/.
Putting it in black and white: Back row, Rebecca Jackson’s Maria, Finlay Butler’s Tony and Kit Stroud’s Riff; front, Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Maia Beatrice’s Anita. Picture: NETheatre York
DIRECTOR Steve Tearle follows up his best NETheatre York show so far, Fiddler On The Roof, with a bravura take on West Side Story at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tomorrow (24/7/2024) to Saturday.
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s musical, inspired by Shakespeare’s tragic tale of forbidden love, Romeo And Juliet, is set in 1950s’ New York City, where the Sharks and the Jets, two working-class gangs, clash in a violent turf war, but Steve is taking a fresh approach.
“NETheatre is known for creating innovative musical theatre and this production is no different,” he says. “We wanted to create this classic as a timeless piece of theatre as we feel the story itself is as relevant today as it was when the musical was written in the Fifties. We won’t have mobile phones but it will resonate with our modern age.
“Our show will be set at ‘anytime’, not a specific time, so we’re using costume references from the 1950s to the present day to emphasise that timelessness. Our design will be mainly black and white, using colour only to highlight crucial moments in the story. The first time you see colour is when the action moves into the gym, and whenever something tragic happens we’ll use colour.”
That story revolves around the boundary-breaking love of Tony (played by Finlay Butler), from the Jets, and Maria (Rebecca Jackson), whose hot-headed brother Bernardo (Kristian Barley) belongs to the rival Sharks gang. Events take a dramatic twist for leader Riff (Kit Stroud) after a rumble between the Jets and Sharks goes drastically wrong, leading Tony to take matters into his own hands.
Steve Tearle’s Doc and Finlay Butler’s Tony in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. “Doc has always thought of Tony as his family,” says Steve. “When Tony got out of prison, Doc took Tony in to live with him and look after him”. Picture: NETheatre York
“In our version, the story runs from 5.34pm on Friday evening and ends at 2.31am on Sunday morning to make it even more of a tragic rush,” says Steve. “The time line will be projected throughout the show.”
He is revelling in directing this landmark musical. “My love of West Side Story started when I was nine when my mum and dad first took me to the pictures in Sunderland to see it, and it’s been a favourite ever since with so many fantastic songs – Maria, America, Cool, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere, Jet Song, Gee, Officer Krupke – probably more than have featured in any other musical,” says Steve.
“The film set off my love of musical theatre that kicked off my career, giving me the confidence to appear in The Sound Of Music at the Sunderland Empire, aged 11, playing Kurt. My inspiration for singing, everything, is that film.
“But I never thought I’d be able to stage West Side Story because I was always comparing what I could achieve with the impact of that amazing film.”
What changed? “I went to see the show on Broadway in 2019 and that gave me the springboard to do a different take on it, not as ‘dancey’, not as polished, but very raw, very emotional, and that inspired me to come up with this concept, focusing on the acting,” says Steve. “Our show will be raw, full of dancing, climbing and fighting.
Melissa Boyd’s Roselia Sanchez, left, and Maia Beatrice’s Anita in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. “Anita and Roselia are best friends but Roselia isn’t as keen as Anita about living in America,” says Steve
“I think of this musical as a play with music, rather than as a musical, where we’re concentrating on the characterisation and the stories, and on stories that are not usually explored in depth, such as Doc and Tony, who lives with him after prision, looking at what their relationship is, and the story between Bernardo and Maria too.
“We’ve not changed a word but what I have done is strip it back, so it uses the least props I’ve ever used, making it as raw as the emotions, showing the struggles they all go through to be in a gang. The stage will be pretty much bare, with no wings, three scaffolding towers (for the balcony scenes), eight chairs and one bed, and we’ll use white lights and strobe lighting.”
Steve is directing a cast of 35 aged 11 to 60-plus. “Look out for Snowboy, who’s played by Zachary Pickersgill. He has hardest lines in the show and he’s only 11,” he says. “We’ve reconstructed the gangs as gangland and gang warfare is like today, with generals, runners and look-outs.
“Everyone will be in black and white, and to tell the gangs apart, it will come down to movement: the Puerto Rican Sharks’ dancing will be more fluent; the Jets will be more jive based.
“Our first rehearsals were all about getting into character before we started rehearsing lines, initially keeping Jets and Sharks apart in the reherarsal room.”
NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The Jets in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. Picture: NETheatre York
Cast:
Rebecca Jackson, as Maria; Finlay Butler, Tony; Kit Stroud, Riff; Maia Beatrice, Anita; Kristian Barley, Bernardo; Stephen Tearle, Doc; Erik Jensen, Lt Schrank; Rich Musk, Office Krupke; Scott Barnes, Mr Gladhand.
The Jets
Sam Brothy, Action; Callum Richardson, Baby John; Erin Greenley, Anybody’s; Missy Barnes, A-Rab; Toby Jensen, Big Deal; Zachary Pickersgill, Snowboy; Courtney Batey, Graziella; Amy Legerton, Velma; Neve Greenley, Thelma; Ellie Roberts, Cynthia; Greg Roberts, Diesel; James Robert, Miguel; Alice Atang, Natalia.
Shed Seven: 30th anniversary homecoming celebrations continue at York Museum Gardens this evening
OPEN air concerts by Shed Seven, Kaiser Chiefs, S Club and James are the sound of summer as West Side Story and The 39 Steps turn up the heat too in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for the week ahead.
York festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Shed Seven, this evening; gates open at 5pm
SHED Seven play the second of their sold-out 30th anniversary homecoming concerts tonight, promising a different set list to Friday’s show, special guests and a choir from Huntington School, Rick Witter and Paul Banks’s old schoolyard.
The Sheds will be on stage from 8.40pm to 10.30pm. Support slots go to Apollo Junction, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Brooke Combe, 6.35pm to 7.05pm, and The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm. Sugababes’ festival-closing concert on Sunday was cancelled in April.
Gary Louris: The Jayhawks’ singer, guitarist and songwriter plays solo at The Crescent, York, tonight
American solo act of the week: Gary Louris, of The Jayhawks, supported by Dave Fiddler, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm
OVER three decades, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gary Louris has co-led Minneapolis country rock supremos The Jayhawks with Mark Olson, as well as being a member of alt.rock supergroup Golden Smog, forming Au Pair with North Carolina artist Django Haskins in 2015 and releasing two solo albums, 2008’s Vagabonds and 2021’s Jump For Joy.
He has recorded with acts as diverse as The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Roger McGuinn, Maria McKee, Tift Merritt and The Wallflowers too. As an alternative to the sold-out Sheds on Saturday, look no further than this American rock luminary. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
The Unthanks: Sisters Rachel and Becky perform in an 11-piece line-up at Milton Rooms, Malton
Folk gig of the week: Ryedale Festival, The Unthanks, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
THE Unthanks bring the rich colours of their 11-piece ensemble to the Ryedale Festival. Blending traditional music from their native North East with the influence of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, King Crimson and Tom Waits, they stand as the most innovative English folk band in modern history.
Join sisters Rachel and Becky as they display an approach to storytelling that makes easy bedfellows of social commentary and sophisticated harmony, cool minimalism and moving empathy, tradition and adventure. Tickets update: for returns only, contact ryedalefestival.com/event/42-the-unthanks.
Putting it in black and white: from top, Finlay Butler, Kristian Barley, Kit Stroud, Rebecca Butler and Maia Beatrice in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
EXPERIENCE the explosive love and rivalry in 1950s’ New York City in Bernstein & Sondheim’s musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As romance blossoms between teens from opposing gangs The Sharks and The Jets, the relationship is fated to end in tragedy, spoiler alert. Steve Tearle’s production for NE Theatre York will feature a black-and-white design. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
One of Anna Matyus’s works from her exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Anna Matyus, Helmsley Arts Centre, until August 9
ANNA Matyus’s work explores the powerful spiritual resonance of historical sacred buildings and their setting in the landscape. Using etching and collagraph printmaking techniques and a colourful palette, she seeks to bring to life the powerful geometry of the often-faded motifs and time- worn patterns and symbols of historic artefacts found in the masonry and ancient tiles of these sacred sites.
“My final prints explore and record the dynamic rhythms of three-dimensional architectural form, layered with their decorative and symbolic adornment in a graphic expression of awe and wonder,” she says.
Safeena Ladha, left, Eugene McCoy, Tom Byrne and Maddie Rice in a scene from The 39 Steps, back on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior
Comedy play of the week: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to July 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
PATRICK Barlow’s award-garlanded stage adaptation of The 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 roles between them in 100 dashing minutes as they seek to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller while staying true to John Buchan’s 1915 book.
Tom Byrne – Falklands War-era Prince Andrew in The Crown – plays on-the-run handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
James: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time next Friday. Picture: Paul Dixon
Coastal gig of the week: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26, gates 6pm
JAMES follow up Scarborough appearances in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by continuing that three-year cycle in 2024, on the heels of releasing the chart-topping Yummy, their 18th studio album, in April.
“I’m very pleased that we will be playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer – our fourth time in fact,” says bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come. It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” Support acts will be Reverend And The Makers, from Sheffield, and Nottingham indie rock trio Girlband!. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/james.
Kaiser Chiefs: A night at the races in York. Picture: Cal McIntyre
Under starter’s orders: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Kaiser Chiefs, July 26, 8.45pm to 10.30pm, and S Club, July 27, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
LEEDS indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who mounted the exhibition When All Is Quiet at York Art Gallery in 2018-2019, return to York next Friday when the emphasis will be on I Predict A Riot, not Quiet. Expect Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby et al, plus songs from this year’s Easy Eighth Album, after the evening race card.
Next Saturday afternoon’s racing will be followed by British pop favourites S Club, these days featuring Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens. Here come S Club Party, Never Had A Dream Come True, Bring It All Back, Reach, Don’t Stop Movin’, Have You Ever, Two In A Million, Say Goodbye, You’re My Number One, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You and more besides. Raceday tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Unflappable: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
PATRICK Barlow’s inventive comedy thriller The 39 Steps – the one with four fearless actors, 139 parts and 100 minutes of chaos, calamity and one cool head – returns to York next week on its first tour in eight years.
Ahead of its return to the West End, the Tony and Olivier Award winner plays the Grand Opera House from July 23 to 27, with a cast led by Tom Byrne, whose credits include Netflix series Bridgerton and Black Mirror and the role of Falklands war-era Prince Andrew in The Crown.
On the road from April to August 3, after a two-week launch in Hornchurch, Byrne plays old-school handsome hero Richard Hannay, replete with the stiffest of upper lips, boundless English pluck and unflappable pencil-slim moustache as he hurtles through encounters with dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women in Barlow’s dapper and dastardly clever fusion of taut thriller and comic release.
“We’ve toured to about 20 theatres, doing a bit of a [theatre architect] Frank Matcham tour so far, playing some incredibly beautiful theatres, and it does seem to sit nicely in all sorts of spaces, especially the more classical ones, like the Grand Opera House” says Tom. “We’re now 120 performances into the tour, so we’ve got over that first night thing!”
Combining novelist John Buchan’s 1915 secret-service thriller Thirty-Nine Steps with a helter-skelter, harum-scarum attempt to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps – notable for introducing a music hall turn, a noir-cool blonde, handcuffs and the Forth Bridge to the story – Barlow’s comic caper must be steered by a short-handed cast of Byrne’s Hannay, Safeena Ladha’s Annabella Schmidt/Pamela/Margaret, Eugene McCoy’s Clown 1 and Maddie Rice’s Clown 2.
Not only must Byrne’s Hannay navigate his way through the hairpin bends of Buchan’s book and Hitchcock’s film, but also he finds himself murder suspect number one when a mysterious German woman, Annabelle Schmidt, dies in his arms after insisting on leaving the London Palladium by his side, desperate to impart vital information.
On the run: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay seeks to evade the police in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
“I’d never seen The 39 Steps when I read the script, but immediately Patrick Barlow’s script struck as me as being very witty, reminding me of a lot of the British comedy I grew up with,” says Tom.
“It ticks loads of boxes, being quintessentially a spy thriller, where Patrick then weaves in the metatheatrical elements of storytelling.
“My part, amidst all the hilarity, is a very layered, three-dimensional character, and I just really responded to its combination of plenty of laughs but plenty of psychological drama too – and it’s quite romantic!”
In the opening scene, Hannay has newly returned to his lonely Portland Place abode, tired of life and its mounting pile of problems. Feeling anything but alive in 1935. Suicidal even. “Patrick’s play is thought of as this really quite cosy, beloved, light-hearted comedy, but it begins with this monologue that welcomes you into the drama with a man on the edge of ending things,” says Tom.
“It’s quite remarkable that in spite of that opening, the play manages to maintain its levity, but without its potential for seriousness, it would count for nothing. That’s part of my job: to make sure the truth of the story can be honoured, which then enhances the comedy. You have to have those high stakes.
“What’s kind of surprising is that Patrick has been quite loyal to the film, then he adds another layer of enjoyment for those who love their Hitchcock as we create ‘Eater egg moments’ with nods to his other films.”
“I always felt I had a character like this in my locker,” says Tom Byrne
Tom is full of admiration for Barlow’s imagination in creating comic mayhem that nevertheless flows like a David Gower cover drive. “It’s a testament to how well it’s written that it’s so seamless in managing to make all the different elements happen simultaneously, yet for the performers it feels pretty simple when we’re on stage- thought maybe that’s because I’m playing just one role!” he says.
The comedy may be British in character, “but there’s also so much that’s universal: so much of that visual style of comedy is available for anyone from eight to 80 to enjoy. There’s something that’s completely approachable about the comedy for anyone from any background,” reckons Tom.
Playing Richard Hannay takes Tom’s acting into new territory. “I haven’t done anything like this before; it’s been very new for me though I always felt I had a character like this in my locker, having an affinity for such characters from growing up loving Blackadder, which was one of my reference points – loosely – for the role,” he says.
“I haven’t had the chance before to play someone like Hannay for a sustained period, which has been great to do– and it’s also changed over time, beginning with certain intentions and then you do 120 shows, and it becomes a process of trial and error, where the audience somewhat guides you in certain decisions. Instinctively you learn what seems to be working better.”
To finish, the subject matter turned to Tom playing Prince Andrew from the age of 22 to 32 in The Crown, against the backdrop of the “Epstein Scandal” playing out across the media. “I didn’t really have to engage with it,” he says. “To be honest, it was surreal. The Newsnight special [the Emily Maitlis interview] happened at that time, and I made a point of not watching it.
“But doing The Crown was a great experience and I was incredibly lucky to work with the people I did.”
The 39 Steps, cutting a dash at Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Kiefer Moriarty with fellow cast members Ambika Sharma, left, and Maria Gray in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
YORK Theatre Royal’s Around The World In 80 Days keeps coming around again, returning this summer for a third run, this time under a new-ish title.
Adapted and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster from Jules Verne’s 1873 novel, the circus-themed production was first staged under Covid social-distancing restrictions on a circus trailer, visiting playing fields on all four corners of York in 23 days in August 2021.
That tour concluded in the Theatre Royal main house, where the Theatre Royal’s subsequent co-production with Tilted Wig opened its 2023 tour of England, Scotland and Wales on home turf in early February.
Now Forster’s adaptation returns with a new name, Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, and a new cast of Kiefer Moriarty as circus Ringmaster and globe-travelling Phileas Fogg, York actress Maria Gray as world record-chasing American investigative journalist Nellie Bly and Acrobat, Ambika Sharma as Aouda and Trick Rider, David Abecassis as Passepartout and Clown and completing the cast is Rowan Armitt-Brewster as detective Fix and Knife Thrower.
“The first time, it was right off the back of Covid, staged mainly on school playing fields, ending with the last four days inside the Theatre Royal, all with social distancing,” recalls Juliet. “Then we had only the first three days of the tour, so we feel it was a show that we hadn’t yet fully shared with Theatre Royal audiences.
“When Paul Crewes joined as chief executive last October, he mentioned that he’d really loved the show, so now it’s back with the addition of aerial work this time, which had been too much of a complication before, when we were dependent on the Covid restrictions, but we knew it could work indoors.”
Juliet’s adaptation introduces the real-life character of young journalist Nellie Bly, who actually did circumnavigate the world and in less time than the fictional Fogg. Her version sets up the pair as rival around-the-world travellers, putting the now largely forgotten Nellie Bly in the spotlight.
“Jules Verne’s story is a lot of fun as the characters race against time to complete a full circuit of the Earth, and in this version, fact and fiction also go head-to-head as Nellie Bly puts in an appearance,” says Juliet.
“It’s a joyful, very energetic, very silly and highly acrobatic re-telling of the story, delivering the kind of experience that live theatre does best.”
Crucial to the show’s success is the multi-role-playing format as the rag-tag band of travelling circus performers embarks on a daring mission to recreate the unflappable Phileas Fogg’s bid to traverse the globe in 80 days, embracing different modes of transport to navigate the frantic race. Expect aerial feats and acrobatics, hoop work and even feigned drunkenness from the versatile company
To the fore is Kiefer Moriarty’s Ringmaster and Phileas Fogg. “I saw Kiefer in Magic Goes Wrong and was looking for actors who’d been in Mischief’s ‘Go Wrong’ shows, as they understand how comedy works,” says Juliet.
“We met, he signed up, and I look forward to him bringing his own thing to his roles. He’s part of an entirely new cast, who can all bring their own angle, while keeping the DNA of what we know works well.”
Kiefer, who memorably held his breath for 12 minutes under water in Magic Goes Wrong, will be parading circus skills. “I’ve done whip-cracking skills before and I’ll be riding a mini-clown’s bike, which I rode for the first time at the press launch,” he says.
“I’ve never seen a live performance of Around The Days, but I’ve seen the David Niven film, which was my father’s favourite film, so we watched it quite often! I saw the Jackie Chan one as a kid, which was an OK film, I suppose, as the politest way to put it, and then there was the David Tennant one for the BBC that I haven’t seen. But performing in it will be my first live experience of it.”
He loves the thrill of live performance, whether in Magic Goes Wrong or now in Around The World In 80 Days-ish. “That’s where the magic happens, when the choreography is going right, the magic is going right, and I really love the choreography, getting involved with getting it in place,” says Kiefer.
“I’ve seen the trailer for this show [from the past productions], and there are some amazing set-pieces in it that I can’t wait to do.”
Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, York Theatre Royal, July 18 to August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 2pm, July 24, 25, 29, August 1; 2.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3; 5.30pm, July 23, 30; 6.30pm, July 19, 26, August 2; 7pm, July 18, 24, 25, 31, August 1; 7.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Shed Seven: Playing sold-out concerts in York Museum Gardens on Friday and Saturday
SHED Seven’s 30th anniversary open-air concerts are the headline act on Charles Hutchinson’s arts and culture bill for the week ahead. Look out for global travels, Gershwin celebrations and a Hitchcockian comic caper too.
York festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Jack Savoretti, tomorrow; Shed Seven, Friday and Saturday
ANGLO-ITALIAN singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti opens the inaugural Live At York Museum Gardens festival at the 4,000-capacity gardens tomorrow, when the support acts will be Northern Irish folk-blues troubadour Foy Vance, York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich and fast-rising Halifax act Ellur.
Both of Shed Seven’s home-city 30th anniversary gigs have sold out. Expect a different set list each night, special guests and a school choir, plus support slots for The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, The Lottery Winners and York band Serotones on Friday and Doherty, Brooke Combe and Apollo Junction on Saturday. Sugababes’ festival-closing concert on July 21 was cancelled in April. Box office: seetickets.com/event/jack-savoretti/york-museum-gardens/2929799.
Claire Martin: Celebrating Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Kenny McCracken
Jazz gig of the week: Ryedale Festival, Claire Martin and Friends, Rhapsody In Blue – A Gershwin Celebration, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
LONDON jazz singer Claire Martin leads her all-star line-up in a celebration of George Gershwin’s uplifting music and the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody In Blue, a piece that changed musical history.
In the band line-up will be pianist Rob Barron, double bassist Jeremy Brown, drummer Mark Taylor, trumpet player Quentin Collins and saxophonist Karen Sharp. Box office: themiltonrooms.com or ryedalefestival.com.
Maria Gray in the role of The Acrobat in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Theatrical return of the week: Around The World In 80 Days-ish, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to August 3
PREMIERED on York playing fields in 2021, revived in a touring co-production with Tilted Wig that opened at the Theatre Royal in February 2023, creative director Juliet Forster’s circus-themed adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel returns under a new title with a new cast.
Join a raggle-taggle band of circus performers as they embark on their most daring feat yet: to perform the fictitious story of Phileas Fogg and his thrilling race across the globe. But wait? Who is this intrepid American travel writer, Nellie Bly, biting at his heels? Will an actual, real-life woman win this race? Cue a carnival of delights with tricks, flicks and brand-new bits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Katie Leckey and Jack Mackay: Co-artistic directors of Griffonage Theatre, alternating roles in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter
Fringe show of the week: Griffonage Theatre in The Dumb Waiter, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Griffonage Theatre follow up February’s debut production of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope with Harold Pinter’s 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter, directed and designed by Wilf Tomlinson.
Two hitmen, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment, but why is a dumbwaiter in there, when the basement does not appear to be in a restaurant? To make matters worse, the loo won’t flush, the kettle won’t boil, and the two men are increasingly at odds with each other. Unique to this production, actors Jack Mackay and Katie Leckey will alternate the roles of Ben and Gus at each performance. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
One of Anna Matyus’s artworks on show at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Anna Matyus, Helmsley Arts Centre, until August 9
ANNA Matyus’s work explores the powerful spiritual resonance of historical sacred buildings and their setting in the landscape. Using etching and collagraph printmaking techniques and a colourful palette, she seeks to bring to life the powerful geometry of the often-faded motifs and time- worn patterns and symbols of historic artefacts found in the masonry and ancient tiles of these sacred sites.
“My final prints explore and record the dynamic rhythms of three-dimensional architectural form, layered with their decorative and symbolic adornment in a graphic expression of awe and wonder,” she says.
Gary Louris: The Jayhawks’ singer, guitarist and songwriter plays solo at The Crescent on Saturday, York. Picture: Steve Cohen
American solo act of the week: Gary Louris, of The Jayhawks, supported by Dave Fiddler, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
OVER three decades, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gary Louris has co-led Minneapolis country rock supremos The Jayhawks with Mark Olson, as well as being a member of alt.rock supergroup Golden Smog, forming Au Pair with North Carolina artist Django Haskins in 2015 and releasing two solo albums, 2008’s Vagabonds and 2021’s Jump For Joy.
He has recorded with acts as diverse as The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Roger McGuinn, Maria McKee, Tift Merritt and The Wallflowers too. As an alternative to the sold-out Sheds on Saturday, look no further than this American rock luminary. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Cutting a dash but in a hurry: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior
Comedy play of the week: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to July 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
PATRICK Barlow’s award-garlanded stage adaptation of The 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 roles between them in 100 dashing minutes as they seek to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller while staying true to John Buchan’s 1915 book.
Tom Byrne – Falklands War-era Prince Andrew in The Crown – plays on-the-run handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
James: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time on July 26. Picture: Paul Dixon
Coastal gig of the week: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26, gates 6pm
JAMES follow up Scarborough appearances in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by continuing that three-year cycle in 2024, on the heels of releasing the chart-topping Yummy, their 18th studio album, in April.
“I’m very pleased that we will be playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer – our fourth time in fact,” says bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come. It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” Support acts will be Reverend And The Makers, from Sheffield, and Nottingham indie rock trio Girlband!. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/james.
Katie Leckey: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Jack Mackay in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. York-based actor and director, originally from Belfast. Co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, studying MA Theatre-Making at University of York. Loves exploring the absurd and the obscure through clowning, physical theatre and snappy dialogue. Excited to make acting debut for Griffonage, having had a blast directing Patrick Hamilton’s Rope earlier this year
YORK company Griffonage Theatre follow up February’s production of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope with Harold Pinter’s 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from Thursday to Saturday.
Two hitmen, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment, but why is a dumbwaiter in there, when the basement does not appear to be in a restaurant? To make matters worse, the loo won’t flush, the kettle won’t boil, and the two men are increasingly at odds with each other.
Unique to this madcap/macabre production, directed and designed by Wilf Tomlinson, actors Jack Mackay and Katie Leckey will alternate the roles of Ben and Gus at each performance.
Here, co-artistic directors Jack and Katie and fellow University of York student Wilf answer CharlesHutchPress’s questions collectively.
What attracted Griffonage Theatre to Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter?
“Firstly, it’s a good play! Short and snappy! We were raring to get another show on in the summer, but Jack’s just finishing his third year and Katie and Wilf are finishing up an MA in Theatre-Making.
“Rope was a very long and involved process, so we were looking for something a little slimmer and lighter that we could perform while our schedules were so busy. We wanted to have the chance to really dive into something in detail and we felt like this play, being one of the most well-known two-handers ever, was worth a shot!
“Pinter is a giant of British theatre, and he’s part of the creative pantheon that we all love very dearly. Pinter, Beckett, Kafka, etc. – they’re our bread and butter. The phrase ‘comedy of menace’, which is very closely associated with Pinter, appealed very strongly to the kind of madcap/macabre fusion we’re trying to champion with Griffonage Theatre.
“Drawing out humour in darkness (and darkness in humour) wherever it can be found has always been part of our mission statement, so we thought one of his one-acts would be perfect. As it turns out, The Dumb Waiter might be shorter, but it’s definitely not light. We found that out quite quickly!
“Pinter is masterful with his tonal shifts: the play is hysterical one minute and really dark and gritty the next, just the way we at Griffonage like our plays. There’s humour, yes, but such a powerful sense of abstraction, confusion, and of course a very sinister element that creeps in slowly over the course of the play.
“And we’ll be switching roles every night, so the atmosphere shifts completely with every performance. We were definitely attracted to the idea of bringing something to life in a way that differs every time.
“The rehearsal process has been so rewarding in bringing that complexity to the surface. It’s been a delight to discover. Hopefully audiences experience the same kind of discovery as we did.”
“Gus is a junior hitman. He’s nervous about the job. Which is rough, because things are about to get a lot stranger,” says Griffonage Theatre’s character profile on Facebook
Pinter has come back into favour. Why?
“We feel like there’s a kind of revolutionary cynicism in Pinter’s work that’s definitely appealing to modern audiences. In a wider political context, things have been quite scary recently and are still on dark paths in various parts of the world. Authoritarianism in particular looms large.
So much of Pinter’s writing is a critique – whether directly or obliquely – of unquestioned/unquestionable authority. You can certainly read The Dumb Waiter like that, though there’s a lot more going on in there, too.
“We’re a global, social, online society now, so audiences have never been more aware of those kinds of cultural trends. They’re looking for stories that express the frustration and anxiety that they feel day-to-day, but at the same time they’re also yearning for a bit of levity. Doom and gloom is all right, but if everything’s going to hell anyway, we should probably have a laugh while it does!
“Pinter speaks very strongly to that impulse. It’s the same reason we love Beckett so much.”
What are the strengths of a short play (one act, 55 minutes) as opposed to a longer one?
“In terms of the obvious, a shorter play means that a tighter turnaround on a busy schedule isn’t so frightening. Plus, you have time to unearth the depths of the text when you’re rehearsing a one-act play.
“There’s a lot of scholarship on Pinter, and we’ve luckily had time to square the wealth of critical writing about The Dumb Waiter with our own understanding of the play.
“In more creative terms, the strengths of a one-act lie in its conciseness. It’s commonly said that the measure of a good scene is in its efficiency: its ability to convey a lot of information and emotion in a short space of time. And, of course, 55 minutes is basically the perfect amount of time to build tension without it becoming gruelling. One act, no interval, no escape. It becomes a bit of a pressure cooker. The Dumb Waiter nails that for us.”
What does an early Pinter play say to a modern audience?
“This play in particular has a lot to say about how we distract ourselves from the realities of life with oversaturated guff. These two men are involved in some very shady and violent business, but they don’t ever discuss it. Instead, they just postulate and jabber.
“Not to read into it too much, but as people living in an age of distraction, we’re dealing with a lot of the same questions that Ben and Gus have. They’re very concerned with trivia, banter, cross-talk. There’s a powerful sense of avoidance – the fear of looking danger in the eye. And yet the more it’s avoided, the greater the fear becomes.
“Ben is the senior partner. He runs things around here. Or does he? The dumbwaiter would beg to differ,” reckon Griffonage Theatre in their Facebook character profile
“Fast-talking comedies are in right now – just look at Succession – but it’s the underlying anxiety behind that fast-talking that really pushes the buttons of modern audiences. That same kind of dynamic is present in The Dumb Waiter especially. Why are we here? Why do we continue to do our jobs if we are unhappy or unsettled? Who really is upstairs?
“We are all seeking some sort of answer, but it’s all too easy to make a cuppa and chat about football or a sensationalised story the media are pushing at us rather than open that can of worms. But of course, it could mean nothing at all.
“If you could ask him, Pinter would say you have to watch the play yourself and find out what it means for you individually. We’ve taken that approach as actors/directors, interpreting it our own way, and I hope we can lead the audience to do that as well.”
On a theatrical history note, The Dumb Waiter was written in 1957 but not premiered until 1960, after both The Room and The Birthday Party. How do the plays compare?
“The Dumb Waiter is quite an unconventional play. It forms a loose trifecta with The Room and The Birthday Party, but both of those plays have coming-and-going – the injection of strangers into a familiar space. That’s the source of the menace, and along the way there’s a lot of playing with the typical comedy-of-manners scenario.
“The Dumb Waiter is not like that. It’s pure claustrophobia. It’s two men in a high-pressure environment with no option of leaving. There’s a growing and pervading sense of entrapment. Any external figures are kept deliberately shadowy, ambiguous, almost eldritch in nature.
“We’ve drawn a lot of similarities between it and Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, which is much more famously idiosyncratic, but there’s much to compare. Two men, waiting alone for someone to arrive.
“You could say it’s like Godot in a box. Perhaps that was a little harder to market than something more knowingly subversive like The Birthday Party. But it’s forged its own place as one of Pinter’s finest, if not his magnum opus.”
What is the symbolism of the dumbwaiter [a small freight elevator or lift to carry food] in The Dumb Waiter?
“We don’t want to give too much away for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, but suffice to say that the play keeps things very ambiguous. We’ve been treating the dumbwaiter almost like a character of its own (which is helped by the fact that a real person is operating it backstage).
“There’s a nice metatextual angle there – a hidden figure manipulating the events onstage. You could see it as a representation of faceless, arbitrary authority. Its ‘dumbness’ is definitely part of that – it seems to delight in creating confusion without explanation. In terms of what it actually represents, the possibilities are endless. We hope everyone will have their own kind of reaction to it.”
Where are the “angry young men” of British playwriting today, Jack?
“They’re out there! Don’t worry about that. But it’s no secret that theatre’s in a difficult place at the moment, and the main obstacle to young people is that it’s getting increasingly more difficult to bring shows to a wider audience.
Jack Mackay: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Katie Leckey in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. Author, actor and theatre-maker based in York. As co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, he directed their debut show Poe In Pitch Black and starred as Rupert Cadell in Rope. His debut bookl, Gloam, a horror novel for children, will be published internationally in the autumn of 2025
“A lot of it relies on marketing, which relies on funding, and funding is hard to get. But we’ve worked a lot recently with local writers – a lot of them are students like ourselves, and there’s a great deal of fire and passion and a desire to understand our world and maybe even change it.
“Katie and I are strong believers in the necessity of art as a vehicle for that. And the York theatre scene is very welcoming to new talent. We have a lot of love for Theatre@41 for that reason. Very soon we’ll be making our own original work, and it’s our mission to help provide young playwrights with a platform to get their voices heard, too.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Jack?
“The alternating-roles idea started because we couldn’t choose which character we liked more, so we had the hare-brained idea of just playing both. Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller did it [in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein], so why not us?
“It certainly ramped up the challenge. But when we got into rehearsal, it developed into so much more than a gimmick. We take a character-first approach to production, so we got really into the nitty-gritty of taking apart both Ben and Gus and figuring out who they are.
“When we realised we had different ideas about that, we rejoiced. We suddenly understood that our different impulses about the way these men feel about their situation (and how much they know/understand) meant that every show would be different.
“Everything – from line delivery to the actual physical blocking onstage – changes when we swap roles. It’s a testament to Pinter’s excellence as a playwright that such a short and deceptively simple text can be so malleable.
“It’s given us a lot to chew on as performers, but it’s revealed such a fertile ground for interpretation in the text itself. It’s quite transformative.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Katie?
“SO MUCH. This has been the most fascinating rehearsal process I’ve ever been a part of, as we get to see how the other person interprets the exact same character totally differently. Sometimes I’ll watch Jack make a blocking or delivery choice and think ‘Why is Gus/Ben doing that? He wouldn’t do that!’
“But then I remember that Jack’s interpretation of Gus/Ben is a completely separate entity to mine. There’s been a few times, too, where Jack has done something and I’ve loved it so much that I try to vary it and put my own character’s spin on it, to see what the outcome is.
“I think The Dumb Waiter is one of only a few plays where this technique can really be effective, as Pinter tells us so little about the men and their situation, so there’s a lot of free rein for an actor to glean what they want from each tiny, seemingly insignificant thing.
Director/designer Wilf Tomlinson. York-based theatre-maker born and raised in North Yorkshire with a background in acting and singing, The Dumb Waiter marks his professional directoral debut. Having studied collaborative devising at university, he specialises in object theatre and puppetry
“Obviously, in each variation the lines are the same, but each time we perform it, it has a completely different feeling to it, and the blocking is different too. I think this approach has enabled us to actively think about what we are guiding the audience to believe about what is happening in the play, and what it means, if anything at all.”
What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Wilf?
“From a director’s standpoint, the process of alternating roles has allowed us to create two distinct characterisations for each character. Physicalisation is distinct between each character and each actor, as a result of the differing knowledge that we decided each character has.
“Katie is a much colder and unscrupulous Ben, whereas Jack is fighting with himself the whole way through. Katie’s Gus is a bit airheaded and doesn’t catch on, whereas Jack’s gets suspicious.
“Focusing on these character distinctions from the start of the rehearsal process was effective dramaturgically in creating two entirely different performances that can be performed night to night.”
What will be your design for The Dumb Waiter, Wilf?
“Our main aim was to create an atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobia. We’ve opted for a thrust configuration and utilised the balcony space in Theatre@41’s John Cooper Studio so that some members of the audience are actually looking down, as if into a pit.
“We’ve tried to make the space seem cramped and claustrophobic for our performers, with the audience essentially as voyeurs looking in. In the same vein, I’ve tried to design the set itself in the vein of a rusty dilapidated shack, which jars with the idea that this is supposed to be a café prep room. It’s abandoned and misused: a literal black box of tension and confusion for Ben and Gus.”
What’s coming next for Griffonage Theatre?
“We’re all finishing university soon, and we’re very excited to take Griffonage to the next step, and the next step after that! We’ve recently started a Writer’s Room, where local writers can come together, share their work and learn from each other, and that’s been a really exciting development for us.
“Some are beginners looking to learn the basics; others are totally invested in performing their work and come to us for beta readers and workshopping. In 2025, we’re hoping to provide those creatives a platform to show off their work and get audience feedback. Championing people who are passionate and driven to create – that’s always been one of our main goals.
“We’re also hoping to branch out a bit and offer some acting workshops in and around York soon. Oh, of course a few plays are brewing, too. Something about a diva with no hair, and another about a spirit who’s not so good at haunting spring to mind…
“Very soon, we’re starting work on adapting, workshopping and devising something from the ground up: theatre with an ensemble focus. York’s got such a wonderful base of creative people that we just can’t wait to get better acquainted with. In the meantime, follow us at facebook.com/griffonagetheatre to keep up to date! We hope The Dumb Waiter surprises and delights.”
Griffonage Theatre in The Dumb Waiter, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
