Councillor Robert Webb, Kayleigh Oliver (playing Barbara Castle), Rachael Maskell MP, Martyn Hunter (playing Harold Wilson) and Councillor Anna Perrett at Sunday’s rehearsal run of Made In Dagenham
YORK Central MP
Rachael Maskell and West End musical theatre star Scott Garnham, from Malton,
popped along to Sunday’s rehearsal run of Made In Dagenham.
The session was
open to York Residents Festival visitors as the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company
prepared for their fundraising musical production in aid of the Joseph Rowntree
Theatre.
Presented by the
JoRo’s in-house company, Made In Dagenham tells the true story of the beginning
of the equal pay for women movement, focusing on the Ford strike at Dagenham in
the 1960s.
The choice of show
could not be more relevant because the York performances coincide with the 50th
anniversary of the passing of Barbara Castle’s Equal Pay Act of 1970.
The Cortina girls and Buddy Cortina, from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company show, with Malton actor Scott Garnham, from the original West End production. of Made In Dagenham. Left to right: Lucy Plimmer, Jenny Jones, Ben Huntley, Scott Garnham, Karen Brunyee and Ashley Ginter.
The subject of equal pay and discrimination is close to Rachael Maskell’s heart, as the Labour MP spent many years as a union rep campaigning for equal rights. Re-elected at the December 12 General Election, she has been appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights.
Addressing the
company on the Rowntree Theatre stage, Ms Maskell said: “This is an
inspirational story you are telling, and it remains a story of women at work
today. If we don’t speak out, how do we expect things to change?”
She described the women of Dagenham as “sparky women who would not take no for an answer”, and urged the JoRo company to “go out there and keep fighting”.
Scott Garnham, who
has performed many times on the Rowntree Theatre stage, appeared in the original London production of Made in
Dagenham in the role of Buddy Cortina.
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s fabulous machinists of Dagenham meet York Central MP Rachael Maskell and York councillors Robert Webb and Anna Perrett
In York last week for Friday’s tribute show The Best Of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons at the Grand Opera House, on Sunday Scott said: “To come and support this local community theatre is really important to me. I learned a lot of my stagecraft here in this building.
“The venue is a real hub for performers of all ages and backgrounds, and theatre is a very unifying experience. I’m so pleased that the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company have chosen to do this show as their annual fundraiser. It’s the story of a truly inspirational group of women, many of whom I had the great pleasure to meet.”
Despite its gritty
subject matter, Made In Dagenham is described as a heart-warming story, full of
humour, coupled with wonderful music. Although the show is not suitable for
young children, on account of “some very strong language”, the company hopes to
introduce a wide new audience to the sparky women of Dagenham.
Next week’s production runs from February 5 to 8 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are available on 01904 501935, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or in person from the Haxby Road theatre’s box office.
The tour poster for Viva La Divas starring Katya Jones, Nadiya Bychkova and Janette Manrara. Picture: Colin Thomas
STRICTLY Come Dancing professional trio Janette Manrara, Katya
Jones and Nadiya Bychkova will be on tour this summer, making a
song and dance of Viva La Divas at the Grand Opera House, York, on June 16.
Collaborating with the original producers of Viva La Diva, first
performed in 2007 with dancer Darcey Bussell and singer Katherine Jenkins, this
glamorous show will pay tribute to stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood,
Broadway and West End musical theatre, modern pop divas and female icons with
the greatest impact on the Strictly dancers.
In this all-singing, all-dancing musical extravaganza, Katya, Nadiya and
Janette will star with a cast of dancers and singers as they celebrate Marilyn
Monroe, Madonna, Beyonce, Judy Garland, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez and many
more.
Running from June 14 to July 16, the tour has further Yorkshire dates at
Halifax Victoria Hall on June 23 and Bridlington Spa on the last night.
Miami-born Janette Manrara became a Strictly professional in 2013 after performing at the 2009 Academy Awards, appearing in season five of the American version of So You Think You Can Dance, being a principal dancer on Glee and starring in the stage show Burn The Floor for three years.
Among her Strictly highlights was lifting the Christmas Glitter Ball trophy twice with celebrity partners Aston Merrygold and Melvin Odoom. Looking ahead to the summer tour, Janette says: “I’m so excited to be touring the UK with two of my best friends, Katya and Nadiya – and what a show it’s going to be.
“We’ll be celebrating the glitz, the glamour and style of the greatest
divas in showbiz. We’re going to have so much fun bringing this show to
audiences across the UK and I can’t wait. It’s going to be a blast.”
Before making her Strictly debut in 2016 , Russian dancer Katya Jones and her dance partner Neil Jones won the WDC World Show Dance Championships and three titles at the World Amateur Latin Championship.
After her Strictly partnership with politician Ed Balls in 2016, for her second series Katya was partnered with actor Joe McMadden, the pair duly lifting the Glitterball Ball trophy as 2017 champions.
“To tour Viva La Divas across this beautiful country this summer with two incredible dancers, who happen to be my very close friends, is a dream come true,” says Katya.
“How the three of us managed to keep everything a secret for
so long I’ll never know. Finally, we can shout it from the roof tops:
girls on tour! It’s going to be epic.”
Ukrainian-born Nadiya Bychkova made her Strictly debut in 2017 as a
two-time world champion and European champion in ballroom and Latin ‘10’ Dance,
partnering former England goalkeeper David James in the 2019 series.
“I’m thrilled to be part of the Viva La Divas tour this summer,” she
says. “We have an incredible team working on what will be a dazzling show that
I can’t wait for audiences everywhere to see.
“It’s going to be a stunning spectacle full of the elegance, style and
attitude, befitting of the greatest divas’ legacies. And to be touring with two
incredible friends in Janette and Katya is simply the dream team.”
Tickets for the tour go on general sale at 10am on Friday at ticketmaster.co.uk and vivaladivasshow.com; York tickets on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Berwick Kaler, playing the dame in his last York Theatre Royal pantomime, The Grand Old Dame Of York, last winter. Picture: Anthony Robling
IT ended, as it only could, with the dame’s return to the
stage. In civvies, this final time, but not in civil mood as he wouldn’t let it
rest on the final night of Sleeping Beauty.
More like civil war. Us and them. Pantomime’s version of
Brexit, except with a different result, the majority, if not all, in the house,
wanting them to remain, not leave, when “one man” and “the board” have decided
it is time to move on. Get panto done, differently, with a new 2020 vision.
Dame Berwick didn’t name the “one man” who went to mow them
down, but he was referring to York Theatre Royal executive director Tom Bird,
newly cast as the panto villain. “I’ll give them three days” [to change their
minds], the grand dame vowed in a tone harking back to the Scargill and Red
Robbo days of union versus management.
“I don’t want to do him any harm…but he’s wrong”, said Mr
Kaler, surrounded by “the family”, the rest of the Panto Five, Martin, Suzy,
David and AJ, their fellow cast members and the crew, buoyed at each unscripted
but barbed line by an adoring home crowd, who cheered and booed his rallying
speech like they had throughout the show.
He even kissed the wall to express how much he loved this
theatre, getting down on his knees at one point too, arms outstretched, in appreciation
of his loyal subjects.
“A house does not make a home. A family does,” read one
letter read out earlier by the panto Queen, Martin Barrass, in his Bile Beans
can regalia in the shout-outs. “Please, Mr Bird, reconsider. Save our panto,”
pleaded a second, and there were plenty more.
“Yah boo to York Theatre Royal. We won’t be back,” hissed
one, read by the luverly Brummie AJ Powell.
Emotions were running high, as they had been for Martin Barrass, breaking down theatre’s fourth wall to speak from the heart at every performance since news broke a fortnight ago that Berwick Kaler, already retired from playing the dame, would not be asked to co-direct or write the 2020 show. “This cast and this band” would not be back either, said Barrass. “A decision that is nothing to do with us. If it was, we would be back each year until we drop.”
Martin Barrass in his role as Queen Ariadne in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Anthony Robling
Back to Dame Berwick, who found himself feeling “more emotional” now, in this house of York winter of discontent, than in his valedictory speech at The Grand Old Dame Of York last February. Not for himself, he said, but for all those on stage with him who had given so many years – “some for half their lives” – to the Theatre Royal.
“I’ve been told I can’t tell you the truth, so I can’t say
the truth…but I want to because…I’m b****y furious,” he said. “I don’t want to
be political or anything…but someone tell the management that this wonderful,
wonderful theatre has been a repertory theatre for 275 years.
“It’s a repertory theatre and that means we put on our own
shows for the local population. It’s York’s theatre.”
After reading a letter of support sent that morning to “Berwick
Kaler, Acomb”, he resumed: “I just can’t understand that someone can do this to
something that does not need fixing…
…We have made money for this theatre for years. How can one man do this to us? I don’t understand it.”
“Anyway, they’ve got three days,” he repeated, before leading
company and audience through “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know
when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny
day.”
The final curtain fell, as it always must, but where and when might that sunny day reunion take place? What will happen to Dame Berwick’s three-day deadline? Will he rise again on the third day, and if so, to say or do what amid this collateral dame-age? Watch this space, as newspapers are wont to say.
As for that “one man”, Tom
Bird, he and the York Theatre Royal management will announce next winter’s show
on February 3. The end and the new beginning all in one.
York Town Crier Ben Fry hails the York Dungeon’s five millionth visitor, Denise Pitts, and her mother, Jeanette
THE York Dungeon is celebrating its five millionth visitor since opening
its doors in Clifford Street, York, in 1986.
Denise Pitts hit the jackpot as the landmark intrepid visitor when she took her mother, Jeanette, to York for her birthday celebrations and accusations of naked dancing!
Their trip to the theatrical dungeon attraction made that day extra special when they were given VIP treatment: coffee and cake while they waited for their tour to begin, free pictures and goody bags.
“The experience was great,” said Denise. “We loved that the show was
informative with a dash of terror and a hint of humour; also some unexpected
surprises along the way! Thoroughly enjoyable.
“My mum was put into a cage for pleading insanity when accused of naked
dancing and she found this absolutely hilarious. The actors were great and
really got into their characters.
“We would highly recommend this attraction when visiting York and would
like to thank everyone for making us feel so special.”
Dungeon manager Stuart Jarman said: “The York Dungeon has been a
must-see since opening in 1986 and over the past 34 years we have welcomed,
scared and provided amazing immersive experiences to five million visitors.
“This is a significant milestone in the history of the York Dungeon and
it was great to surprise Denise and Jeanette as the visitors that hit the
milestone, particularly with the help of York Town Crier Ben Fry.”
Looking ahead to 2020’s attractions, Stuart said: “2020 is another
exciting year for the York Dungeon with a new show for the February half-term, War
Of The Roses: The Bloody Battle, Guy Fawkes in May and Séance in October for
Halloween.”
Storyteller John Osborne performing You’re In A Bad Way
STORYTELLER, poet and BBC Radio 4 regular John
Osborne returns to Pocklington Arts Centre on February 13 to present his
beautiful, funny and uplifting new show about music and dementia.
Last March, he performed a double bill of John Peel’s
Shed and Circled In The Radio Times in Pocklington. Now, inspired by seeing a
friend’s father face a dementia diagnosis and the warmth, positivity and
unexpected twists and turns the family went through, he has put together You’re
In A Bad Way.
“This is the fifth theatre show I’ve made and it’s
definitely my favourite,” says Osborne. “I loved performing it every day
at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer, and I’m really excited to be taking it on
tour.
“For the past few years, I’ve made storytelling
theatre shows that are funny, true stories of things that I feel are important
to people. This one is a story about what happened to my friend’s dad when
he was diagnosed with dementia a couple of years ago.”
Osborne continues: “It was a really interesting
thing to observe, because although it was horrific and terrifying and sad,
there was so much warmth and positivity and unexpected twists and turns.
“As soon as I started writing the show, it came
together so beautifully and audience members who have had their own personal
experiences of caring for people with dementia have been incredibly positive
about the show having been to see it.”
The poster for John Osborne’s show You’re In A Bad Way
Osborne spent time at a dementia care centre in
Edinburgh to ensure he was fully informed about the experience of caring for
someone with dementia.
“I never
planned to write about something as personal as dementia, and have never
written about a big topic before, but this felt like such a beautiful story
that I wanted to tell,” he explains. “Just because you’ve been diagnosed with something, it doesn’t mean it’s
the end.
“The things we know about dementia
are so sad, but within that there are some special moments. Every time I
perform the show, I feel like I learn new things about dementia.”
Describing the tone of You’re In A Bad Way, Osborne
says: “As it’s such a big topic, I’ve tried to make the show funny and life
affirming and relatable.
“I don’t want it to be sad or serious; I think it’s
important for it to be a good story to someone who has no association with
dementia, as well as being sensitive to those who live surrounded by the
illness.”
Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer says:
“I was fortunate to see this show at the Edinburgh Fringe last August and
thought it was just so beautifully written and truly uplifting, I knew we had
to bring it to Pocklington. It tackles a tough topic with such humour and
warmth, it really is a must-see.”
Tickets cost £10 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk or £12 on the door, with a special price of £9 for a carer of someone with dementia.
Mamma Mia! is on its way to Leeds Grand Theatre on its 20th anniversary tour
MAMMA Mia! will return to Leeds Grand Theatre from November 24 to December 5 on the tour to mark 20 years since the Abba musical’s London premiere.
Tickets will go on
general sale on January 29 on 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com.
Built around the music
and lyrics of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus,Mamma Mia!revels
in Judy Craymer’s vision of staging the story-telling magic of Abba’s songs
with a sunny, funny tale of a mother, a daughter and three possible dads
unfolding on a Greek island idyll.
To date, Mamma Mia! has been seen by more than 65 million people in 50
productions in 16 languages. In 2011, it became the first Western musical
to be staged in Mandarin in China.
Mamma Mia!became the eighth longest-running show on Broadway,
where it played a record-breaking run for 14 years and it continues to play in
London’s West End at the Novello Theatre, where the 20th anniversary
fell on April 6 2019.
The first British tour of Mamma Mia! visited Leeds Grand
Theatre from May 30 to July 8 in 2017.
Pepper & Honey: opening Visionari’s Studio Discoveries season on February 4
WHAT happens if the audience selects
the shows? Find out when York Theatre Royal presents a week of theatre in the Studio
chosen by the Visionari community programming group.
This will
be Visionari’s second such season of Studio Discoveries, this one featuring six
shows from February 4 to 8.
“What if the story was retold by the woman at its heart? ” asks Debbie Cannon in her version of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
Pepper & Honey, on February 4 at
11am and 2pm, is a new play from Not Now Collective, told through the baking of
Croatian pepper biscuits – known as paprenjaci – that will be baked live in
front of the Studio audience as the story of Ana’s preparations to start a new
life in the UK unfolds. Babes-in-arms are welcome and biscuits are included.
Debbie Cannon is both writer and
performer of Green Knight, on February 5 at 6.30pm, a one-woman version of the
medieval poem Sir Gawain And The Green Knight. “It’s Christmas at Camelot and a
monstrous green warrior issues an unwinnable challenge to Arthur’s finest knight.
But what if the story was retold by the woman at its heart?” asks Debbie.
One of Picasso’s women in Picasso’s Women on February 5
Picasso’s Women, on February 5 at
8.30pm, looks at Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s life through the voices of his
wives, mistresses and muses. The three monologues feature French model
Fernande, Russian ballerina Olga and 17-year-old mistress Marie-Therese.
Originally produced for the National
Theatre and BBC Radio 3, the women’s stories provide an insight into the
influence these women had on Picasso’s life and art.
Nathaniel Hall in First Time: humorous but heart-breaking
After last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe
debut, HIV+ theatre-maker and activist Nathaniel Hall is on tour, presenting a
humorous but heart-breaking show about growing up with HIV in First Time on
February 6 at 7.45pm.
The show is based on Nathaniel’s
personal experience of living with HIV after contracting the virus from his
first sexual encounter aged only 16. First Time accompanies Hall’s on-going activism
to break down the stigma associated with the disease through talks,
participatory projects, education and outreach.
York company Cosmic Collective Theatre in Heaven’s Gate
Inspired by true events, Heaven’s Gate,
on February 7 at 7.45pm, is an intergalactic new show from Cosmic Collective
Theatre that imagines the final hour of four members of a real-life religious
UFO group.
The excitement is palpable as they
prepare for their graduation into the Kingdom of Heaven but soon the cracks
begin to appear. “Whatever you do, don’t say the C-word – ‘Cult’,” says writer,
director and performer Joe Feeney, a York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre alumnus,
along with fellow cast member Anna Soden.
Preacherman in One Foot In The Rave, the closing show of Visionari’s Studio Discoveries programme
Visionari’s final choice is One Foot In
The Rave, on February 8 at 7.45pm. Written and performed by Alexander Rhodes, it
follows a disillusioned Jehovah’s Witness as he breaks free from the cult and
lands on the ecstasy-fuelled floors of 1990s’ clubland. Shunned by everyone he
knows, he is not prepared for what lies ahead.
Looking forward to the season ahead, York Theatre Royal producer Thom Freeth says: “It’s been amazing working with Visionari over the past few months to select and bring together a really impressive line-up of unique Studio shows. The group have chosen shows that will undoubtedly appeal to regular theatregoers and new audiences alike.
Cyberdog in One Foot In The Rave
“We’re pleased to be showing
award-winning work as part of the week, alongside work by an exciting new York company,
Cosmic Collective Theatre. Whether you’re out to sample the intensity of Nineties’
clubland, gain an insight into the life of Picasso or just enjoy a complimentary
Croatian biscuit, we think you’ll have a fantastic experience in our intimate
Studio theatre.”
Tickets for Studio Discoveries shows are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the box office. The price is £10 per show or £8 each if booking for two or more shows.
Emma Lucia’s Girl and Daniel Healy’s Guy performing Falling Slowly in Once The Musical. Pictures: Mark Senior
DANIEL Healy and Emma Lucia are playing the lead roles together in Once The Musical not once, but twice.
They first did so in the regional premiere in Autumn 2018 at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch.
Now, that production’s director and musical director, the regular team of Peter Rowe and Ben Goddard, have reunited the duo for the first British tour that opened this month (January) and will play the Grand Opera House, York, from February 3 to 8.
First a cult, micro-budget Irish film written and directed by John Carney in 2007, then a Broadway, West End and Dublin show, Once The Musical tells the uplifting yet yearning story of the hopes and dreams of two lost souls, a jilted Dublin street busker and a more positive Czech musician, who unexpectedly fall in love across five short days in the Southern Irish capital city.
“I’ve managed to fool a few people with my Irish accent, thinking I really must be from Dublin,” says Scotsman Daniel Healy:
The touring cast of 16 will be led by Scotsman Healy as Guy and Lucia, from Durham, as Girl, whose chemistry was apparent immediately when press and media were invited to meet the company three weeks into rehearsal at Toynbee Hall in London’s East End: a question-and-answer session introduced with rousing renditions of Irish pub and ceilidh songs and the show’s opening scene.
This peaked with Healy and Lucia’s performance of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová’s Oscar-winning signature song Falling Slowly, with all the actor-musician cast playing their part around them, “leaning into the story” in the pub setting.
Daniel’s relationship with Once goes back to “a long time ago”. “My first run-in with the show was when I was doing a show in LA [Los Angeles] called Backbeat and I had an audition for the Broadway version of Once but couldn’t do it because of various reasons,” he recalls.
“But then I understudied the lead and played one of the main characters, Eamon [the music studio manager where Guy and Girl record their album] in the London production, when I understudied Ronan Keating.”
Daniel Healy’s Guy, Emma Lucia’s Girl and Samuel Martin’s Bank Manager in Once The Musical
Daniel is a singer-songwriter in his own right, and friendship with the Boyzone singer turned into a co-writing partnership that elicited Keating’s single Breathe. “After he heard one of my songs, Ronan said, ‘I’d really like to write with you’, so I ended up writing six songs with him and touring with him in his band,” he says.
Emma saw Daniel in Once in the London production. “I was still at Mountview drama school, and doing Beautiful, the Carole King musical, on tour at the time [making her professional debut as Marilyn and understudying the lead role],” she says.
“Then I heard there was going to be a production of Once in Ipswich, and I know the musical director, Ben Goddard, from doing a couple of classes led by him at Mountview.
“You’d do all the songs you’d thought of doing for auditions and he’d give you tips and advice.”
Emma landed the role of Girl after two auditions, and it was only then that she met Daniel for the first time for rehearsals.
” I’ve always loved theatre,” says Emma Lucia. “My dad used to do a lot of am-dram and I knew it was something in my life I always wanted to do”
“Peter and Ben auditioned us separately and they must have felt we would have chemistry once we were put together,” she says. The partnership worked a treat – “we get on really well” – and there was immediate talk of a tour.
“But we needed a producer,” says Emma. “I didn’t think it was going to happen, so it was a quite a surprise when it did, but we’re so pleased,” says Daniel.
“The producers have given Peter and Ben complete control as they loved the show as it was in Ipswich.”
Hearing Emma’s Czech accent on stage in the rehearsal room and then her North Eastern one in the interview reveals how much work she put into preparing for the role. “I’d only met one person from the Czech Republic in my life, and briefly at that, so I contacted the Czech Embassy and they put me in touch with two Czech girls who were here for six months and loved the show!” she says.
It’s not like I’m playing Titus Andronicus, but I do empathise more with the human struggle than the musical one,” says Daniel Healy
“So, we met for a cup of coffee and talked about the show, and I recorded their voices and asked any questions that I felt I needed answering.”
Likewise, Daniel’s Dublin accent sounds spot on. “I think, without being big-headed, I’ve got an ear for accents,” he says. “I’d ask Irish friends too, and it’s all about not being afraid to ask.
“Though being Scottish doesn’t make it easier to learn because, when accents are close to each other, like these two, they’re actually more difficult to separate…but I’ve managed to fool a few people with my Irish accent, thinking I really must be from Dublin!”
Daniel and Emma’s instrumental skills are as important to their roles as their singing and acting. “My dad’s a guitarist, and I did musical theatre from the age of five, and TV dramas and films too, and I’ve now got a parallel career as a singer-songwriter,” says Daniel.
Emma Lucia as Girl in Once The Musical, playing the Grand Opera House, York, in early February
“I could never call myself a busker, but I have busked in the past, but I sympathise more with Guy’s struggle with not having the courage to follow through with his dreams when you hope you can make it as a singer-songwriter.
“It’s not like I’m playing Titus Andronicus, but I do empathise more with the human struggle than the musical one.”
Emma’s path to Once began with an itch to dance from the age of three. “I just couldn’t stand still,” she recalls. “Then I picked up on playing the piano [the instrument she plays in Once] at five years old.
“I’ve always loved theatre. My dad used to do a lot of am-dram [amateur dramatics] and I knew it was something in my life I always wanted to do.”
Exuding an air of positivity, she feels a strong connection with her role as Girl. “She sees it as her mission to help other people, and I empathise with that as I love to do that myself,” says Emma.
Once The Musical runs at Grand Opera House, York, from February 3 to 8. Box office: 0844 871 3024, at atgtickets.com/York or in person from the Cumberland Street theatre.
Elizabeth Crarer in rehearsal for the lead role in The Ballad Of Maria Marten. All pictures: Giorgis Media
GOODBYE Polstead, say hello
to The Ballad Of Maria Marten, the new name for Beth Flintoff’s captivating
drama that first toured in 2018.
Directed by Hal Chambers in
tandem with Ivan Cutting, an all-female cast will embark on a spring tour next
month, starting off at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre before touring to
Ipswich and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Elizabeth Crarer returns to
the title role for this re-telling of a real-life Suffolk murder mystery in
Summer 1827.
In a red barn, Maria Marten
awaits her lover. A year later, her body is found under the floor of the barn
in a grain sack, barely identifiable, and the manhunt begins.
Suzanne Ahmet and Emma Denly during rehearsals
Maria’s story sent shock
waves throughout the country. The Red Barn Murder, as it became known, was
national news, inspiring writers and filmmakers down the ages.
Here was the sort of
gruesome tale that had all the hallmarks of a classic crime drama: a missing
body, a country location, a disreputable squire and a village stuck in its
age-old traditions.
However, amid all the
hysteria, Maria’s own story becomes lost – until now. Chambers and Flintoff’s
spine-tingling re-telling rediscovers her tale, bringing it back to vivid, urgent
life.
Joining Crarer’s Maria in
the cast will be Suzanne Ahmet, who SJT audiences may remember from her
appearances there with Northern Broadsides in Hard Times and They
Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, together with Emma Denly, Jessica Dives, Sarah
Goddard, and Susanna Jennings.
Cast members Jessica Dives and Sarah Goddard
Flintoff, a freelance
playwright and theatre director from Hampshire, says: “As soon as I was
approached to write the story of Maria Marten, I was intrigued. I hadn’t heard
about her murder but was fascinated to hear about not just the story itself,
but how it has been told to us.
“From the moment of the
trial, the focus was on the murderer, not Maria. No-one seemed to be looking
carefully at the intricacies of her life, beyond the basics. So, I wanted to
tell the story entirely from her point of view.
“We are often presented
with stories of women as ‘victims’, rather than as interesting, complicated
people who had hopes and dreams, friends and lives of their own.”
Suzanne Ahmet and Elizabeth Crarer rehearsing The Ballas Of Maria Marten
The 2020 production is produced by Eastern Angles Theatre Company and Matthew Linley Creative Projects, in association with the SJT. Producer Matthew Linley says: “This thrilling true-life tale is as joyful as it is murderous. I’m delighted to be working with Eastern Angles and the Stephen Joseph Theatre to bring Polstead back to life as The Ballad Of Maria Marten.”
Eastern Angles specialise in
combining heritage with theatre to make regional stories and hidden histories
come to life on stage.
The Ballad Of Maria Marten will run in the Round at the SJT from February 11 to 15 at 7.30pm nightly, plus matinees at 1.30pm on February 13 and 2.30pm on February 15. Tickets, priced from £10, are on sale on 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Alan Ayckbourn: 84th full-length play Truth Will Out will be premiered this summer at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
THE truth is out. Alan Ayckbourn’s 84th full-length play will
be premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, this summer.
Truth Will Out, Ayckbourn’s up-to-the-minute
satire on family, relationships, politics and the state of the nation, will run
on various dates in the SJT programme between August 20 and October 3.
Written and directed
by the former SJT artistic director, it follows hot on the heels of Ayckbourn’s
80th birthday play, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, in 2019.
“Everyone has secrets,” entices the new play’s
synopsis. “Certainly, former shop steward George, his right-wing MP daughter
Janet, investigative journalist Peggy, and senior civil servant Sefton, do.
“And all it’s going to take is one tech-savvy
teenager with a mind of his own and time on his hands to bring their worlds
tumbling down – and maybe everyone else’s along with them. A storm is brewing…”
Jemma Churchill and Naomi Petersen in Alan Ayckbourn’s 80th birthday play, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, at the SJT in September 2019. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
As is customary in the SJT summer season, Ayckbourn also will direct an Ayckbourn
revival, this time his 20th play, the very dark Just Between
Ourselves, premiered at the Library Theatre,
Scarborough, on January 28 1976, followed by its London premiere at the Queen’s
Theatre on April 20 1977.
Ayckbourn calls it one of his “winter” plays,
written in the winter months, like Ten Times Table and Joking Apart, wherein he
attributed their darkness to being penned at this time of year.
Booked into the SJT diary for performances on
various dates from June 18 to October 3, Just Between Ourselves dissects man’s
inadvertent inhumanity to woman.
Dennis thinks he is a master at DIY and a perfect husband. In reality,
he is neither of those things. When he decides to sell his car, Neil turns up
as a potential buyer, wanting it for his wife Pam’s birthday.
The two couples become unlikely friends, aided and abetted by Dennis’s meddling live-in mother, Marjorie. A collision course is inevitable in “the one with the car”, set in a garage and a garden over four successive birthdays.
Northern Broadsides head from Halifax to Scarborough with Quality Street in May
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson will direct The Ladykillers, Graham
Linehan’s spin on the 1955 Ealing comedy motion picture screenplay by William
Rose, by special arrangement with StudioCanal and Fiery Angel, London.
This in-house production, playing on various dates between July 9 and
August 15, will re-tell the story of the sweetest of sweet little old ladies, alone at home but for a parrot with
a mystery illness. Both of them are at the mercy of a ruthless gang of criminal
misfits, who will stop at nothing to achieve what they want. Surely there can
only be one possible outcome?
Linehan’s writing credits include Father Ted, Black
Books, The IT Crowd, Count Arthur Strong and Motherland. Now comes The
Ladykillers, to be directed by Robinson with the stylish madcap humour that he
brought to The 39 Steps in 2018.
Meanwhile, the SJT has confirmed South Yorkshireman
Nick Lane will write the winter show for The Round for the fifth year in a row
after his off-the-wall Christmas adaptations of Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol, Alice
In Wonderland and Treasure Island.
Lane’s idiosyncratic take on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Snow
Queen will be directed by Robinson, with music and lyrics once more by Simon
Slater, for a run from December 3 to 30.
Katie Arnstein in Sexy Lamp: playing the SJT on May 26
The SJT’s own productions will be complemented by a busy season of visiting
shows, such as The Canary And The Crow on May 7 and 8, Middle Child’s
grime and hip hop-inspired gig theatre show about the journey of a working-class
black child accepted into a prestigious grammar school.
In Where There’s Muck There’s Bras, on May 7, North
Yorkshire stand-up poet Kate Fox offers a comical and thought-provoking insight
into “the real Northern Powerhouse: Northern Women – the sung and the unsung”.
On May 9, Roald Dahl And The Imagination Seekers presents
a thrilling story told through performance, games and
creative play that explores such extraordinary Dahl tales as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The BFG and The
Twits.
Quality Street, new artistic director Laurie Sansom’s directorial debut for Halifax company Northern Broadsides, will be on tour at the SJT from May 12 to 16. This Broadsides production is a rare revival of Peter Pan author JM Barrie’s delicious farce, a play so well known in its day that it gave its name to the ever-popular British chocolates, made in Halifax since 1936.
Key date for Alistair McGowan: piano and comedy on May 21 at SJT
Alistair McGowan: The Piano Show on May 21 combines the satirical Evesham
comedian’s impressionist skills with his new-found prowess on the piano.
In It’s Miss Hope Springs, on May 23, self-confessed “blonde bombsite” Ty Jeffries plays the piano and sings mind-bogglingly catchy numbers from her all-original self-penned repertoire.
Scarborough’s Elvis tribute act, Tony Skingle, presents Elvis – The ’68 Comeback on May 24. Two nights later, Sexy Lamp asks: “Have you ever been treated like an inanimate object?” in Katie Arnstein’s show that combines comedy, original songs and storytelling to “shed a bright light on how ridiculous the industry can be and why Katie is refusing to stay in the dark”.
Sexy Lamp is pitched “somewhere between the comedy of Victoria Wood, the
comfort of going for a drink with your best mate, and the high drama of Hamlet
(although it is nothing like Hamlet”.
Hope springs eternal : It’s Miss Hope Springs plays SJT on May 23
Anglo-Japanese theatre company A Thousand Cranes visit Scarborough with The Great Race! on May 29 and 30. This thrilling story of how the Eastern Zodiac calendar was created is billed as “the perfect show for children in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics”.
Forged Line Dance Company’s Treasure, on June 3, will be a fearless and
physical dance performance that explores “our innate human fascination with our
seas and coastlines”.
In Chores on June 20, two brothers must hurry to clean their
room before their mum comes back. What could possibly go wrong in a circus-comedy
for the whole family, all the way from Australia?
Great Yorkshire Fringe favourites Morgan & West serve up Unbelievable
Science on September 19, when they combine captivating chemistry,
phenomenal physics and bonkers biology in a fun-for-all-the-family science
extravaganza.
Mischievous magical science double act Morgan & West in Unbelievable Science on September 19
Tickets for all shows are priced from £10 and will go on general sale from Friday, March 13, preceded by priority booking for the theatre’s membership scheme, The Circle, from March 6, on 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
