Yotam Ottollenghi: letting the flavour flood out in his new book and York talk
CHEF, restaurateur and food writer Yotam
Ottolenghi will reflect on A Life In Flavour and provide cooking inspiration at
York Theatre Royal on September 17.
Ottolenghi, who is of Italian-Jewish
and German-Jewish descent, will discuss the tastes, ingredients and flavours
that excite him and how he has created a career from cooking.
In the 7.30pm event, coinciding with
the publication of his latest cookbook, Ottolenghi Flavour, he will “offer
unique insights into how flavour is dialled up and why it works, from basic
pairings fundamental to taste, to cooking methods that elevate ingredients to
great heights”.
Under discussion too will be his life
and career, from how his upbringing – he was born to a chemistry professor and high-school principal in West
Jerusalem – has
influenced his food, to opening six delis and restaurants in London.
Yotam Ottolenghi: “flavour-forward, vegetable-based recipes” in his September 3 book
Ottolenghi, 51, is chef-patron of the
Ottolenghi delis, NOPI and ROVI restaurants. He writes a weekly column in the
Guardian’s Feast magazine and a monthly column in The New Yorker and has
published the cookbooks Plenty and Plenty More, his collection of vegetarian
recipes; Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Jerusalem, co-authored with Sami Tamimi; NOPI:
The Cookbook with Ramael Scully; Sweet, his baking and desserts collection with
Helen Goh, and Ottolenghi Simple, his 2018 award winner book with Tara Wigley
and Esme Howarth.
Ottolenghi’s appearance at York Theatre
Royal will come a fortnight after Penguin Books publish his new cookbook of “flavour-forward,
vegetable-based recipes”, Ottolenghi Flavour, wherein he and co-writer Ixta Belfrage break down the three factors
that create flavour.
Please note, there is the chance to buy a copy with your ticket (£15 and upwards) for this Penguin Live evening. Ottolenghi will conduct a book-signing session after the talk. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ayama Miyata as Aiko and Minju Kang as Okichi in Northern Ballet’s Geisha. Picture: Guy Farrow
GEISHA, the first of two world premieres to mark Northern Ballet’s 50th anniversary, opens tonight at Leeds Grand Theatre.
Telling the
emotional story of two young women whose lives are torn apart in the midst of a
collision between East and West, the ballet is choreographed and directed by
Kenneth Tindall, creator of the Leeds company’s 2017 hit, Casanova, and short
works such as The Shape Of Sound.
Running
in Leeds from this weekend until March 21 before a national tour that sets off
at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre from March 24 to 28, Geisha is an
original ballet inspired by true events.
Okichi
and Aiko are two young geisha with an unshakeable bond who find themselves
on different paths when their world is irrevocably changed after the first
arrival of the Americans in Japan. While Aiko finds happiness in her new life,
Okichi’s life is devastated and she returns as a ghostly apparition to wreak
her revenge.
Geisha is
performed to an original score by Alexandra Harwood, played live by
Northern Ballet Sinfonia. Sets and costumes are designed by Christopher Oram, who
designed Casanova too, with lighting by Alastair West. The scenario has been
written by Kenneth Tindall in collaboration with TV and film
writer Gwyneth Hughes; historical consultant Lesley Downer completes
the creative team.
Leeds tickets are
on sale on 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com; Sheffield, 0114 249
6000 or sheffieldtheatres.co.uk. Age guidance: 12 plus.
Choreographer and director Kenneth Tindall in rehearsal for Northern Ballet’s Geisha. Picture: Emily Nuttall
Here,
Kenneth Tindall, Northern Ballet dancer from 2003 to 2015, choreographer in residence and
director of Geisha, answers questions on his new production.
What led you to choose Geisha for
your second full-length ballet, Kenneth?
“When [artistic director] David
Nixon invited me to create a new full-length ballet for Northern Ballet’s 50th
anniversary year, we had a lot of discussion about what the title should be.
“Of course you have to consider
how the tour will work and the necessity for it to be successful at the box
office, but we were also mindful of it being the 50th anniversary and choosing
a title that could tie in with that.
“In Northern Ballet’s history, the
company has staged two versions of Madame Butterfly, including one
choreographed by David himself, which I’ve always been inspired by, but I
didn’t want to recreate a ballet that he’d done so well and built a loyal
audience for.
“Instead, we came up with the idea
for an original ballet about geisha based on true events. I lived and worked in
Japan for a year and it’s a culture that I’ve always been fascinated with. The
mystery behind the world of geisha is a fantastic prospect for a creative and
really sparks the imagination.”
When did you first become
interested in the culture of geisha?
“My interest in geisha was first
piqued many years ago when I read [Arthur Golden’s] Memoirs Of A Geisha. That
was my first introduction to geisha and I quickly realised that there was so
much more to it.
Ayama Miyata and Minju Kang in Geisha. Picture: Guy Farrow
“I found it to be a beautiful
first source that captured my imagination and led me into much deeper research.
I remember reading the book in the bath and just being fascinated by the way it
was written: the colours, the landscape, the feeling, the weather, and just the
honour in it all.
“It’s like a whole other world, so
opposite to us in most ways that it’s almost hard for a western mind to get
around.”
Why choose an original story for
Geisha rather than an existing one?
“One of the things that I’m most
proud of about Northern Ballet is that they continue to try to do new stories.
Not tried and tested scenarios, but completely original and wholly new stories
that the audience don’t know.
“I think that it’s incredibly
brave of Northern Ballet because it’s a really difficult thing to market. I
believe that through the years of doing original ballets like this and
producing such great work, the company attracts people to the theatre and
hopefully a new audience to the art form as well.”
What were your first steps in the
creation of Geisha?
“The first thing I did was
establish who was going to create the story with me. Every time I step into a
new project, I’m also looking to push my creative process in at least one new
direction, so that I can learn something and develop my own skills and ideas
for future projects.
Northern Ballet in rehearsal in Leeds for Geisha
“On Casanova I worked with Ian
Kelly to create the scenario and I loved that process. I thought it was really
interesting to have a novelist and playwright involved and it led to quite a
complex story.
“This time I decided I wanted a TV
and film writer to help me edit the scenario and form the character arcs, but
we also really needed a specialist in the subject to help us fully respect the
culture.
“That led me to Gwyneth Hughes to
actually write the scenario with, and Lesley Downer to oversee the process and
make sure we were on the right track.”
How did you form the scenario for
Geisha?
“Gwyneth Hughes and I came
together and threw a hundred ideas into the air to see where they would land.
We began to disregard ideas we thought wouldn’t make a ballet or that we felt
weren’t interesting enough or were too westernised.
Then Gwyneth asked me if I knew
the story of Okichi, which I didn’t. I don’t believe the story of Okichi is
very well known in the west but, in her hometown of Shimoda, there’s a statue
of her.
“I think it’s incredible that this
woman, who had a sort of fall from grace and was perceived totally differently
in the 19th century, now has a statue where people come to pray.
“You never know what the legacy
will be of the choices you make. What makes Okichi’s story more interesting for
me is that the legend is so vague, there are many versions of it, which leaves
it open.
Minju Kang in Geisha. Picture:Guy Farrow
“This meant we had a structure for
the story and then our imagination could run wild. That’s what excited me about
Okichi’s story and one of the reasons we chose it. It then also allowed us to
incorporate another aspect of Japanese culture with the Obon Festival of the
dead.
The Obon Festival is visually
stunning and quite overwhelming in some ways. If you take a moment to stop and
think about life and death, the idea that you could meet the people that are no
longer in your life, the thought is so powerful.
“It just seemed such a natural fit
to include the Obon Festival. Over this three-day period, we are able to
resolve the conflict that happened in the real world in the first act and then
be able to sustain the point of view of Okichi in the second act through her
spirit.”
What are the key themes of Geisha?
Above all, Geisha is about two
young women who happen to be geisha, and the sisterhood they share. We see the
lives of these two women turned upside down with the arrival of the Americans,
which was really a turning point in the history of Japan.
“The geisha world as a backdrop is
stunning and visual, and something that works really well in theatre, but the
interest is actually in who the characters are beyond that.
“The ballet includes themes of
life and death, love, loss, redemption and revenge, which are universal themes
that any culture can understand.”
Minju Kang in rehearsal for Geisha. Picture: Emily Nuttall
What are the challenges of
creating a ballet with an original scenario versus one based on an existing
story?
“It has pros and cons. If you
choose a story like Romeo & Juliet, you’ve got fantastic theatre.
Everything is there for you. The duets, the death, the drama, the excitement,
the love, the connection, the families – it’s Shakespeare, it is incredible.
“There’s the reason it’s survived
for so long and there are so many reinterpretations of it, because at its
foundation, it’s a masterclass of storytelling.
“Having said that, I feel that as
a young choreographer it’s my job not to keep going back to these existing
texts or resources and think about new stories instead. The pressure is coming
up with a story that’s good enough. You’re effectively starting from the
beginning, but it means you get to tailor-make work for ballet.”
What has it been like working with your creative team?
“I feel that honest collaboration is a key component to
whether something will succeed or not. I like to have an idea but stay
open-minded, so that it could go in a new direction.
“I chose my creative team for their incredible skills and I
wanted them invested in the project and for them to challenge me. As I
mentioned earlier, I chose Gwyneth Hughes to write the scenario with and Lesley
Downer as our historical consultant.
“It’s fantastic to work with Christopher Oram on the designs
again as we have a relationship from Casanova, and now we get to start again on
a higher level and push this project even further.
Minju Kang during rehearsals for Geisha. Picture:Emily Nuttall
“It’s the same with our lighting designer Alastair West.
We’ve worked together so often now that for Geisha we started lighting
conversations very early and began visualising what could be possible.
“Our composer, Alexandra Harwood, has gone above and beyond.
I’ve spent so many hours at her house going through ideas and she’s re-written
many scenes; she has such a passion and energy for the project.”
What does it mean to you to create a new ballet for
Northern Ballet’s 50th anniversary year?
“My first performance with Northern Ballet was when I was
eight years old. I was at Central School of Ballet and was picked out of the
school to perform in Romeo & Juliet and A Christmas Carol. “When I later
got a job at the company, it was a dream come true. I worked up to première dancer
and honestly never thought past that. Now it’s the 50th anniversary and I’m
choreographing the first première of the year, it’s a little overwhelming.
“When I was asked to do Casanova, I was just so delighted to
be given the opportunity but now I’m making a second full-length [ballet], I
appreciate what an absolute privilege it is. When I look at where the company
is now and the dancers we have, it’s so humbling to think I’m being given the
opportunity to work on this level.
“I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and praying ‘long may
it continue’ because there are a lot of stories I want to tell, and I just hope
that people will allow me to tell them.”
How do you feel that your relationship with the company
has evolved now that you have created multiple works for Northern Ballet?
“I’ve been choreographing work for Northern Ballet for
almost a decade now and each time my relationship with the company just goes
further. It’s like the dancers have learnt my language and are so well versed
in it that everything is so much quicker and that it allows us time to go
deeper into the process and try new things.
“I like to think that I’ve got a shed full of tools that are
sharpened in the finest manner, with all my special handholds on them and I
know exactly how to use them. So now, with that in mind, where do we go? And
that’s both the terrifying and exhilarating part of it.”
Minju Kang in Geisha. Picture: Guy Farrow
Q and A with Northern Ballet first soloist Minju Kang,
from Seoul, South Korea, who has created the lead role of Okichi in Geisha.
What research have you done to prepare for this role,
Minju?
“I did a lot of research online and was able to find
information about the true story of Okichi. I looked at pictures of Shimoda,
where she’s from, and saw the statue they have of her there.
“I also searched for information and images about geisha in
general and their history. I watched the movie of Memoirs Of A Geisha and
though the story in our ballet is very different, it was very interesting to
see a visual representation of geisha on screen.”
How does Japanese culture compare to South Korean
culture? Are there things you can relate to? “We’re neighbouring countries
and while there are things that are similar, much is so different. I feel close
to it because I am from an Asian culture, but as part of creating Geisha I’ve
learned so much that I didn’t know that is different in Japan, like there is a
certain way to bow and to kneel.
“For me, though, when I play a character, I completely
forget about my nationality, my age and everything else and focus on my
character’s journey.”
Does South Korea have anything like geisha?
“In South Korea we have kisaeng, which are very similar, so
I already had an idea of what being a geisha was about. Kisaeng are basically
entertainers trained in the arts and they dance and play instruments like
geisha do.”
Minju Kang applying make-up for Guy Farrow’s photo-session for Northern Ballet’s Geisha
This is the first time you’ve had a role created on you.
How has that experience been?
“At first it was overwhelming because you want to be good
and it’s a big responsibility. It became really special, though, because I have
been able to put something personal into the role.
“Working with Kenneth Tindall and the ballet staff has been
real teamwork and we really trust each other, so it was easy for me to open up
and not be afraid to give what I have. It’s been such a joy.”
Do you have a favourite scene in Geisha, or a favourite
piece of choreography?
“I enjoyed creating the scene with Townsend Harris –
although it isn’t a happy scene for my character! When we first began creating
it, Kenny [Kenneth Tindall] showed us the movement he wanted, and we tried to
copy it and build up from there.
“But it was so important to tell the story clearly we talked
about it at length in the studio and focused on the small things. It was less
about the movement, and more about a little look, or how I sit down, or the way
he grabs me. I had no idea how much of a difference these little things make.
When the scene was finished there was a real sense of achievement.”
How would you describe the really emotional journey your character has to go on?
“Okichi is a very supportive person. She feels she’s
achieved what she wanted to achieve and now has a sister in Aiko who she fully
supports. Because she’s been through it all herself, she can guide her better
and is very protective in some ways.
Minju Kang at Northern Ballet’s Geisha photo shoot. Picture: Justin Slee
“She’s there for everyone but then, when she needs help
after the Americans arrive, she feels that they are not there for her in return
and she can’t share all she wants to share because she feels ashamed.
“She ends up in a very dark and lonely place. In the second
act when she comes back as a ghost, she doesn’t even understand at first that
she’s dead, she thinks it’s a nightmare.
“Imagine seeing your own dead body – she feels sick at first
but then that turns into anger because she can’t reach the people she loves any
more.
“Her anger is focused on the Americans and when she takes
her revenge, she doesn’t even think about it. It’s only afterwards she realises
the hurt she has done to Aiko, the person she loves the most.”
Is it hard for you to portray that range of emotions within
a two-hour show?
“Yes definitely! The end of the first act is especially
intense. It’s strange how emotion can affect your body, you feel really heavy.
It doesn’t necessarily affect me off stage; I go home, I’m fine, I’m happy, but
in that moment on stage, I’m so committed to that journey that Okichi is going
through and I feel all the emotions.
Riku Ito and Minju Kang in Northern Ballet’s Geisha. Picture: Guy Farrow
Do you enjoy the acting side of your job?
“I do really enjoy it because you get to create another
version of yourself that you never knew existed and share that with the
audience. The fact that you can find something inside of you to create that
character, it’s just like magic.”
Do you like your costumes? Are they easy to dance in?
“They’re amazing. I have about five kimono and they’re all
so beautiful, the colours and designs, but also how they’re made and so
comfortable to dance in. I could wear them every day!
“It’s an amazing visual when you see the whole cast in their
costumes, and the geisha have beautiful fans which have been sourced from Japan
by [leading soloist] Ayami Miyata’s aunt.”
What is your process to prepare for a performance?
“I’m sure every dancer would say that they don’t want to be
rushed. I give myself plenty of time, about two to three hours to get ready. I
make sure I’ve gone out before to get some food, but I don’t like to eat a full
meal before a show.
“I do get nervous and I use mindfulness to help with that. I
talk to myself a lot in my head and get very quiet to save energy, stay calm
and get focused on the performance. I even talk to myself when I’m on stage,
encouraging and reassuring myself, and when something has gone well, I can’t
hide it on my face.”
Minju Kang and Riku Ito in rehearsal for Geisha. Picture: Emily Nuttall
How important is live music to your performance?
“Music is so important for me, it’s half of the performance.
Having a live orchestra is a collaboration and you can feel the connection
between the dancers, the conductor and the orchestra, you can feel the support.
You’re dancing with them.
“It’s like you’re on this journey together and it’s so
special. It’s very different to performing to recorded music. Recorded music is
around you but with live music, the music gets inside you.”
How does it feel to be part of Northern Ballet’s 50th
anniversary year?
“There are people who have been in the company longer, so,
for me, it’s an honour to be part of it. When I learn about the history, I feel
really proud of what this company has achieved and where they are now.
“You can feel the work people have put in to take this
company to where we are and that’s really touching.”
Minju Kang’s back story
Minju, from Seoul, South Korea, trained at Seoul Arts High
School, Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts and the Hamburg Ballet
School.
She performed with Bundesjugendballett for two years before
joining Northern Ballet in 2016. Her roles with the Leeds company have included
Victoria in Victoria, Cinderella in Cinderella, Marilla in The Little Mermaid
and Mina in Dracula.
Watch this space: British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake to speak at York Theatre Royal in the week of his book launch
BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake will re-live his six-month mission to the International Space Station in his Limitless show at York Theatre Royal on October 11.
Touching down at 7.30pm, Major Peake will
reveal what life in space is really like: the sights, the smells, the fear, the
exhilaration and the deep and abiding wonder of the view from space.
In addition, he will reflect on the surprising
journey that took him there as he tells the story of his path to becoming the
first Briton in space for nearly 20 years – and the first ever to complete a space-walk
– in 2015.
Those tales will cover his time training
in the British Army and as an Apache helicopter pilot and flight instructor
deployed to Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Afghanistan.
Major Peake also will discuss how it felt to be selected for the European Space Agency from more than 8,000 candidates and the six years of training that followed; learning Russian on the icy plains of Siberia, and coping with darkness and claustrophobia in the caves of Sardinia and under the oceans of the United States.
In this intimate and inspirational conversation, the York audience will hear exclusive stories from Major Peake’s time in space on the International Space Station as he shares his passion for space and science, and the evening will conclude with the chance to ask questions in a Q&A session.
Major Tim Peake on a visit to the UK Schools Space Conference at the University of York in November 2016
The Limitless: In Conversation with Astronaut
Tim Peake event takes its title from his upcoming autobiography, Limitless, to
be published by Century on October 15.
Every ticket for this Penguin Live show – one of only five on the autumn tour – includes a signed copy of the former barman’s £20 memoir; box office, 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Major Peake is due to address children from
more than 100 schools in a flying visit to the UK Schools Space Conference on
Friday, March 20 at the University of York’s department of physics, where children
will present work linking the space industry and education.
Major Peake will share his experiences
in space, most notably the Principia mission that involved a spacewalk to
repair the International Space Station’s power supply with NASA astronaut Tim Kopra;
driving across a simulated Mars terrain from space; helping to dock two
spacecraft and orbiting Earth almost 3,000 times.
Major Peake attended the schools space conference at the university previously in November 2016 and gave a public lecture there on the highs and lows of life aboard the International Space Station in September 2017.
The Soyuz TMA-19M descent module, the capsule that transported Major Peake safely back to Earth, went on display at the National Railway Museum, York, in January 2018, complemented by a space-age virtual reality experience narrated by the astronaut himself.
“The health and safety of the team and our audiences always comes first,” says Badapple Theatre Company artistic director Kate Bramley
BADAPPLE Theatre Company are postponing their spring premiere of Elephant Rock amid the creeping spread of Coronavirus.
The “decline in audience confidence for travelling to events following confirmation of Covid-19 as a global pandemic” has prompted Kate Bramley’s company, from Green Hammerton, York, to call off the April 16 to May 31 tour, now re-arranged for the autumn.
Badapple Theatre Company in 2016 production The Last Station Keeper. Picture: Karl Andre
“These are unprecedented times and while the current advice is for
events to continue as normal, we are conscious this could change at any point,”
says Kate.
“The financial risk of the project for us and our partner venues
has become prohibitive. Postponing now, before our actors are in rehearsal, is
much less stressful for them as they can plan more effectively around their own
families.”
Kate continues: “Of course, the health and safety of the team and
our audiences always comes first, so we understand people’s reluctance to book
tickets for shows scheduled in April. We have already managed to rearrange most
of the tour performances for September and October 2020, so we look forward to
seeing our audiences later in the year.”
Badapple Theatre Company’s Theatre On Your Doorstep logo
Purveyors of “theatre on your doorstep”, Badapple were to have
toured Elephant Rock to 30 venues to mark their 21st anniversary with
founder and artistic director Bramley’s 21st original script for the
North Yorkshire company.
Badapple’s previous shows have toured to predominantly rural areas,
all written and directed by Bramley, who was born in Yorkshire, grew up in
Cornwall and worked as associate director for Hull Truck Theatre before
embarking on her own theatre business.
Danny Mellor and Anastasia Benham in Badapple Theatre’s 2019 Christmas show, The Snow Dancer. Picture: Karl Andre
Not only has Bramley sustained a long career as a playwright and a
director, but she also has built a company that employs three permanent members
of staff and countless actors, musicians and technicians every year.
In a sector that relies heavily on external funding from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery UK and charities, more than 50 per cent of Badapple’s tours are self-funded, meaning box-office sales speak for themselves. The company had been offered project support of up to £15,000 towards the spring tour.
Harri Marshall and Jake Williams: the partnership behind the next stage of Technical Difficulties
YORK theatre director Harri Marshall and
associate artist Jake Williams are to hold a group interview session on March
21 for their new work, Technical Difficulties.
The open meeting will be held at Theatre @41
Monkgate, York, from 10.30am to 1pm to add research to their verbatim piece on
relationships and technology and how this has evolved over the years.
“We’re inviting the Yorkshire community to share their experiences about relationships when we host interviews that day,” says Harri, a deaf director, who directed York Settlement Community Players’ production of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes last October.
“By gaining new stories and opinions, we’ll be able to enhance and enrich the script by adding voices from different communities and create a play that’s ultimately for everyone. If you’d like to be involved in the group session, please follow our social media links (see below).”
Harri continues: “After the new interviews have been added to the script, we’ll cast the six roles with local actors, rehearse and go on to perform the piece, not only in a Yorkshire preview, but we’ll also take it to the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe.
“We feel this project is really exciting as it’s not only made for
an audience but by the audience too.”
Defining Trechnical Difficulties, Harri says: “It’s a verbatim
play about the search for human connection in an increasingly digitised world,
where we unpick what it means to fall in and out of love as well as all the
technical difficulties about relationships.
“I first created the play two years ago at the Oxford Playhouse
with the Young Playmakers, led by Renata Allen. Like much of my work, it relies
heavily on collaboration with the performers and the participants, who have
given their voices to this script.
“Staying true to their original words by using verbatim
techniques, we bring to life their experiences of relationships through
ensemble work, movement and an immersive audience experience – such as rhetoric
and shared stories – unlocking the dramatic potential of documentary theatre.”
The documentary form of theatre has always inspired Harri’s work,
both as a director and writer. “I feel that verbatim theatre is an art form
that doesn’t dictate what the audience should think,” she says.
“Rather, it works with them through shared experience to create a
piece of work that discusses and debates an experience or topic that’s shaped
by the writer, then shared through the medium of theatre. To me, theatre is
about shared story-telling that brings us together, which ultimately is what
verbatim aims to do.”
Harri continues: “The piece creates a sense of belonging between
the actors and the audience, as relationships, while very personal and unique
to each individual, can be relatable and offer insight on the full spectrum of
relationships. This shared experience makes the production real in a way that
no other genre of theatre can replicate, creating a rich tapestry of shared
experiences and genuine voices that unite the audience and allow them to see
reflections of themselves within the characters on the stage.
“It’s the idea of reflection that the audience will take away with
them, allowing a better understanding of how we form our relationships, be that
sexual or platonic. In our current society, with all its political upheaval and
anger, it’s more important than ever to understand how we communicate to each
other, which is why this play is important to share with the city of York.”
The artwork for Technical Difficulties
The creative duo behind Technical Difficulties:
Harri Marshall is a deaf
director, working in York. Since 2016, she has directed seven productions, in
venues such as the Theatre Royal, Winchester, Canal Café Theatre, London, and John
Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkgate, York. in York, where she directed ‘The Red
Shoes’ for the York Settlement Community Players.
Jake Williams has joined
Harri, as an associate artist, on her journey to continue to turn Technical
Difficulties into a fully fledged piece of work. As a founding member of Out Of
Bounds Theatre, he has produced and performed theatre and street arts since
2017. At the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, he produced and performed in 44 Inch Chest at
theSpace on North Bridge.
How you can be involved in the next stage of Technical
Difficulties:
For more details and updates, or if you have any questions, go to:
SLUG and Caterpillar are starving and the only leaf left in the garden is just out of reach.
So begins Slime, Sam Caseley’s squelchy, squishy, surreal, slimy play for two to five-year-old children at the De Grey Ballroom, York Theatre Royal, on April 15 at 10.30am, 1pm and 3.30pm.
Directed by Ruby Thompson, The Herd Theatre’s show is a playful interactive adventure where young theatregoers and their families can expect to “get stuck in with slime” as they help Slug and Caterpillar to work together to form an unlikely friendship, despite their differences.
Just out of reach: the only leaf left in the garden for Slug and Caterpillar
Slug thinks they should work together,
but Caterpillar has other ideas, saying slugs are gross, covered in gooey slime
and have terrible taste in music.
The Hull company’s fully immersive and accessible experience will transform the De Grey Ballroom into a “Slime-tastic undergrowth for all”, with British Sign Language integrated throughout.
“This isn’t a traditional play performed in a
traditional theatre,” says Ruby, the director. “We’re delighted to host a
unique theatrical experience for the very young. During the show, children and
their grown-ups can be as loud as they want: giggle, dance, wriggle and talk.
We can’t wait to welcome York audiences into the undergrowth, created by designer
Rūta Irbīte.”
“Slugs are gross, covered in gooey slime and have terrible taste in music,” says Caterpillar in The Herd Theatre’s Slime
Playwright and composer Sam adds: “Slugs are amazing and their slime is like no other material on Earth, but they get such a bad rep. So, we’ve made a show that confronts this prejudice, and in doing so explores how we judge others before we know them. And you get to invade the stage and play with Slime at the end.”
Defining their brand of theatre, The HerdTheatre say they “make innovative shows about the world young people live in today”. At the heart of everything is collaboration as they play, chat, imagine, share, and create with groups of children.
Slime has only has 12 words in the show, and every word is spoken and signed by the characters in British Sign Language. Furthermore, every performance of Slime is relaxed. “The audience area is well lit. It’s OK to come, go and make noise if you need to,” say The Herd, whose 45-minute play is followed at each performance by 15 minutes of Slime play.
Tickets for the three performances with British Sign Language and Relaxed Performance access cost £8 on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tom Tom club: the two Toms in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Tom’s Midnight Garden, Jimmy Dalgleish, left, and Jack Hambleton, with Olivia Caley’s Hatty. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen
SPRING is on its way, gardens are perking up, good timing for Pick Me Up
Theatre to stage Tom’s Midnight Garden from tomorrow at Theatre @41
Monkgate, York.
Who better to direct David Wood’s adaptation of Philippa Pearce’s beloved book than the York company’s artistic director Robert Readman, a garden and gardening enthusiast, as a visit to his Bubwith abode would affirm.
In Pearce’s 1950s’ story, Tom is sent away sent to stay with his Aunt
Gwen and Uncle Alan in their upstairs flat in a big Victorian house after his
brother Peter catches the measles and is now quarantined.
Lonely and bored, Tom has little to do until one night he hears the
hallway grandfather clock strike 13. Creeping downstairs to investigate, he
throws open the back door to…no longer a small yard but a large and beautiful
garden instead.
Something strange is happening: every time the clock strikes 13, Tom is
transported back in time to the secret garden. There he befriends an unhappy
Victorian orphan, Hatty, and a series of adventures ensues, but what is behind
the magical midnight garden?
“It’s such a magical story, all to do with time,” says Robert. “I love
how it jumps between a young boy’s dull life in the 1950s, and his adventures
with Hatty in the 1880s.”
“The lighting and sound will be vital to the transformation between the
two times; the characters dress according to the era they’re from, and there’ll
also be a lot of mime in the show, so it’ll be a mixture of the real and the
unreal, with the cast doing roles from the two eras.”
Ed Atkin as Peter, left, Jimmy Dalgleish as Tom, Olivia Caley as Hatty, Jack Hambleton as Tom and Beryl Nairn as Aunt Grace in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Tom’s Midnight Garden
To convey the two
contrasting worlds with his black-box design, director-designer Readman has
constructed two platforms, one at either end, one for Peter’s bedroom, one for
Tom’s, with a doorway to each one and the hallway clock at Tom’s end.
“It’s nothing like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden,
which was written in Victorian times, whereas Tom’s Midnight Garden is
a tale of children stuck in the drabness of the 1950s creating an exciting
world by travelling back to Victorian days, and that’s what we’re conveying in
both the design and the performances.”
Reading the book as a child and now re-reading it in preparation for the
Pick Me Up production, Robert says: “What struck me is that it’s all to do with
children’s imaginations. It’s a piece about how children can conjure up
adventures with make-believe.
“It’s a beautiful book that can be read by adults just as much as by
children; it treats children as being intelligent in their own right, and I
love how it takes you on a journey where there’s both sweetness and sadness, so
everything is doubled.”
Company regular Jack Hambleton and Pick Me Up newcomer Jimmy Dalgleish
will share the role of Tom; Olivia Caley will play Hatty, and Ed Atkin, Peter.
“At the beginning, it’s quite hard to like Tom because he complains
quite a lot and seems ungrateful, but then you can see that he was just feeling
lonely and was missing his brother,” says Jack.
“His friendship with Hatty shows how caring and thoughtful he is, and he
also shows his curiosity and intelligence when approaching the puzzle of how
his time travel is possible.”
“All Hatty wants to do is have adventures and not grow up,” says Olivia Caley, pictured with Jimmy Dalgleish, left, and Jack Hambleton, who will share the role of Tom
Jimmy, similar in stature to Jack but differing in his interpretation of
the role according to Readman, says: “Stuck inside at his aunt and uncle’s
house, Tom is lonely and ‘longs for someone to play with’.
“Tom is very playful and somewhat cheeky! He’s intelligent, adventurous
and loyal to his new friend Hatty. He’s very inquisitive and a logical thinker
as he tries to work out that he’s somehow able to go back in time!”
Summing up Victorian Hatty’s character, Olivia says: “She’s a curious
and playful young girl with a great imagination, despite her sad upbringing.
All Hatty wants to do is have adventures and not grow up!”
Ed plays not only Peter, but Hubert and “Voice” too. “But I spend most
of my time as Peter, who’s got measles, so he has to spend all his time in bed.
The letters written by Tom are his only entertainment, which means he’s
fascinated by the stories that are sent to him.”
Given that time travel is so central to Tom’s Midnight Garden, if they
each could go back in time to one era to live in, what would it be and
why? “Probably Ancient Egypt as I’m fascinated by how they lived and how much
they achieved,” says Jack. “I would love to know how they really built the
pyramids and how much influence the gods had on their lives.”
“The Tudor era because I would love to live among the people of the
court of Henry VIII and experience the grandeur the scandal and politics
of his life,” reckons Jimmy.
“I actually experienced what it was like to be a young girl in the
Regency era in a short film called Mr Malcolm’s List,” reveals Olivia. “So, I’d
probably want to travel back to that era. The dresses were beautiful, and I
loved getting to wear them! Not so much the corsets!”
Pick Me Up Theatre’s poster for this month’s production of Tom’s Midnight Garden
Ed picks the 1960s. “This was such an exciting time in the development
of the music industry,” he reasons. “I just think it would have been so
fascinating to learn about music at a time when it was constantly changing and
being upgraded.”
While on the subject of music, Ed has written a beautiful score for
violin, cello and piano for musical director Tim Selman’s forces. “It
definitely draws on the theme of ‘time no longer’,” he says.
“I took inspiration from the likes of Vaughan Williams and Benjamin
Britten, who wrote music that was modern at the time but also harked back to
the Victorian Romantic styles.
“Additionally, I tried to incorporate the idea of childhood and
playfulness into what I wrote, so lots of the music is fun and slightly quirky.
However, it’s all shrouded in a sense of mystery.”
Not only director
Readman has a love of gardens, so do his cast principals. “Some gardens are very magical,”
says Jack. “I particularly like gardens with hidden corners and
an air of mystery, such as Castle Howard and Beningbrough Hall.”
Jimmy concurs: “A garden is
a place where anything can happen,” he says. “A garden inspires imagination and
can subsequently transport you to a whole new world of your own creation
away from the stresses and strains of ordinary life, and that in itself is
magical!”
Olivia enthuses: “I absolutely think gardens are magical!
There’s so much scope for the imagination. When I was little, I was always
playing in my garden, so I can really relate to Hatty on that.”
Gardens can be magical, especially for a child, suggests Ed. “There’s a
moment in the play where Tom and Hatty go through a ‘secret passage’. This
feeling of exploring a new world is one I remember well from playing in such a garden when
I was younger,” he says.
Let the clock strike 13. A garden awaits.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Tom’s Midnight Garden, John Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, tomorrow (March 13) until March 21. Box office: 01904 623568; at pickmeuptheatre.com or in person from York Gin, 12, Pavement, and the York Theatre Royal box office.
Ghost Stories from the past: lecturer Professor Goodman making a point (when Simon Lipkin played the role in London in this picture)
REVIEW: Ghost Stories, presented by Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, scaring all and sundry at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york
IT is not every play day that the writers send out a polite
request to reviewers, and normally it would be a red rag to that most bullish
of breeds: the hacked-off hack.
However, the seriously bearded duo of Andy Nyman and Leeds-born
Jeremy Dyson, he of the deeply, madly, darkly twisted League of Gentlemen, do
have a point.
Ghost Stories has been around for a decade now, going global
and being transformed into a film too, but all the while “it has meant so much
to us that critics the world over have kept [secret] the plot and secrets of
our show when writing about it,” they say.
“We appreciate it makes life a little trickier for you by not
divulging [the] plot, but because of your help, Ghost Stories remains a rare thing: a modern experience you have to
see ‘spoiler-free’.”
Spoiler alert: there will be no spoiler alerts in this review
to blow the cover of their audacious spooky conceit. What your reviewer can
reveal, however, dear reader, is that he first saw this immersive fright-fest
at the Ambassadors Theatre – a typically compressed, crowded, everyone-close-to-the-stage,
venerable West End locale – only last autumn, and frankly it was just as joyously,
seat-of-the-pants, phew, glad-to-have-got-through-that scary, second time
around at the Grand Opera House on Tuesday night.
Not-so-secret request: writer-directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson
Even when knowing what was coming next. Much like returning
to a favourite fairground ghost train or high-speed ride. In fact, that even added
to the experience, and apparently others share that view, gleefully inviting
the uninitiated to join them to break their Ghost Stories virginity. Just do as
Andy and Jeremy say: tell them nothing, except maybe pass on this message: “We
hope you have a great night and maybe even scream a bit.”
A bit? In reality, there is as much laughter as screaming in
response to the brilliantly executed storytelling, stocked with its 15-rated “moments
of extreme shock and tension”. “We strongly advise those of a nervous
disposition to think very seriously before attending,” says the programme cover,
which is a tad late for a warning and amounts to more of a dare.
Do note this, however. Anyone who leaves once the ghosts have
started their work for the night is not allowed back in, and nor is there an
interval. So, the strongest advice is to think very seriously of heading to the
loo beforehand, should that fear of a discomfort break be more likely to make
you nervous.
Unlike Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman In Black, Ghost Stories
is not one ghost story but three ghost stories, wrapped inside an over-arching,
far darker psycho-drama that begins with Joshua Higgott’s Professor Phillip Goodman,
a parapsychologist in obligatory brown corduroy, delivering a lecture, glass of
water and dry wit at hand.
In a theatre with its own ghost, opposite the York Dungeon tourist attraction with its love of gory history, and in “Europe’s most haunted city” with a ghost tour around every corner, even a ghost bus ride and a York Ghost Merchants shop to counter the spread of Pottervirus in Shambles, Goodman should be feeling very much at home as he guides us through the history of our fascination with ghosts and expert ghost analysis of the past. So far, so para-normal.
All of this is a way to trap us into a false sense of
security/strap us in for the very bumpy ghost rides ahead, each more alarming
than the last, as lecture and lecturer seep in and out of each suspenseful story.
The night-watchman on his guard in Ghost Stories (again pictured in the 2019 London production)
Without giving anything away, these involve a seen-it-all-before night-watchman in a depository (Paul Hawkyard); a novice motorist in a car at night in a murky wood (Gus Gordon) and a flashy father-to-be in a nursery (Richard Sutton, still as outstanding as he was in the London run). What happens next? Relax, Andy, relax Jeremy, my bitten lips are now sealed.
Except to say, writer-directors Nyman and Dyson and fellow director Sean Holmes work their ghostly magic deliciously devilishly in tandem with Jon Bauser, a sleight-of-hand magician of a designer, far outwitting Hammer Horror.
James Farncombe’s lighting adds heart-stopping menace to the juddering frights, hand-held torches and all; Nick Manning’s disturbing, disorientating, jagged, sometimes deafening sound design assaults you from all sides, and Scott Penrose’s climactic special effects are terrifically terrifying.
Do keep what happens secret, but don’t keep the show secret. It
deserves big houses, being all the better, the more who share the experience, even
amid the worrisome shadow of Coronavirus.
”Sweet dreams, Andy and Jeremy,” say the ghost-story weavers
as they sign off their letter to the fourth estate, politely teasing to the
last.
Sweet dreams? Lovers of gripping theatre, devotees of the paranormal world, your nightmare would be to miss Ghost Stories, especially on Friday the 13th. You won’t rest until tickets are safe and secure in your hand.
Denis Conway’s Otto Quangel and Jay Taylor’s SS Officer Prall in Alone In Berlin
Review: Alone In Berlin, York Theatre Royal/Royal & Derngate Northampton, at York Theatre Royal, until March 21. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
IT is rare to have a perspective on the
Second World War from within Germany itself, presented on stage or screen.
What’s more, Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret
was a Broadway musical rooted in Anglo-American Christopher Isherwood’s semi-autobiographical 1945 novel The Berlin Stories, set in Weimar
Republic Berlin in 1931 with the Nazi Party on the rise. There could be no more
cynical voice than that of the nightclub Emcee; entertainment at any price.
This year, New Zealander Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, a
satirical account of the last year of World War Two, as seen through the eyes
of a ten-year-old Hitler Youth enthusiast in a German town, garlanded
nominations aplenty in the Hollywood awards season but opprobrium in equal
measure. How did it end? With the boy and a newly free Jewish girl dancing to
David Bowie’s Heroes, sung in Deutsche.
Joseph Marcell’s Inspector Escherich, Clive Mendus’s Benno Kluge and Jessica Walker’s Golden Elsie in Alone In Berlin
Alone In Berlin is a different beast altogether, still with
songs (more of which later), but far removed from the powder and paint, mirage and
murk of Weimar cabaret or a small-town boy’s loss of innocence. The source
novel, based on a true story, was written by a German, the maverick Hans
Fallada, responsible for Little Man, What Now? too.
Also known aptly as Every Man Dies Alone, it was published in
1947 – the year Fallada died of a morphine overdose – but not in English until
2009.
Since then, there has been Vincent Perez’s 2016 film with
Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson and now this York Theatre Royal and Royal
& Derngate Northampton co-production, translated and adapted by playwright
and political satirist Alistair Beaton and directed by James Dacre, the
Northampton theatre’s artistic director.
We watch it through the 2020 filter of grim, vulnerable
times, in a year of floods, storms, immigration intolerance, Brexit’s cold
shoulder, myopic political leaders, and now the creeping spread of Coronavirus.
“This is war,” an exhausted Italian doctor said yesterday.
Resistance movement: Charlotte Emmerson’s Anna and Denis Conway’s Otto Quangel in Alone In Berlin
On the one hand, there is heightened awareness of the need
for collective responsibility, but, on the other, a fear that other factors may
over-power it, and where does that leave individual action as we wash our hands
ever more feverishly? We are indeed, as everyone is in Fallada’s book, very
much alone, and seemingly not in control of our destiny.
Such a feeling prevails in Alone In Berlin, where the central
question is whether an individual can make a difference through courageous acts
of protest when standing up against the drowning tide of Nazism.
Hard-working carpenter Otto Quangel (Denis Conway) and worn
housewife spouse Anna (Charlotte Emmerson) have just learnt that their only son,
Marcus, has died in action, honourably serving the fatherland, the letter says,
but they see no honour in it. Nor does his fiancée Trudi (Abiola Ogunbiyi), who
joins the Resistance movement, although the subsequent arc of her story shows how
ultimately alone everyone is under duress.
Yes, they had voted for Hitler – more precisely Otto told Anna
which way to vote, she says – with Hitler’s promise of jobs to end the
Depression, but they had since grown disillusioned. Their boorish, bragging bully
of a neighbour Borkhausen (Julius D’Silva), feels empowered to persecute the
Jewish woman next door; he and petty criminal Benno Kluge (Clive Mendus) are
exploiting the vulture opportunities of Nazism’s tyrannical grip.
Jessica Walker’s Golden Elsie, centre, with Charlotte Emmerson’s Anna and Denis Conway’s Otto Quangel in the shadows
What would you do in such testing circumstances? Keep your
head down? Keep making coffins as carpenter Otto now is? Or start a campaign of
civil disobedience, as Otto decides he must, no matter how small the defiant act,
prompting him and then Anna to write to write messages on postcards he stealthily
distributes across Berlin, calling on fellow Germans to resist?
Most fall into the hands of the authorities, represented in
Fallada’s suffocating story by Gestapo officer Inspector Escherich (Joseph
Marcell), a veteran policeman, adapting to do what he must do to survive, and his
superior, SS Officer Prall (Jay Taylor), ambitious, merciless, the embodiment
of all the very worst Nazi stereotypes.
Once the trail leads to Otto – spoiler alert – the most
telling scene has Otto confronting Escherich’s expediency. “You don’t believe
in anything,” he scolds him. That shocks Escherich to the core, and in turn it
challenges us too, to cling to our beliefs, to cling to hope for the better path,
to defy, to resist, if necessary, and to go it alone as the starting point, but
with conviction that others will follow.
Dacre’s meticulous, methodical production is one of very high production values, and devastating performances by Conway, Emmerson and Marcell in particular, but it is not wholly successful.
Omnipresent angelic statue: Jessica Walker’s Golden Elsie
Beaton’s script sometimes sails close to the prosaic, and Jessica Walker’s omnipresent angelic statue Golden Elsie, matching the black and white of Jonathan Fensom’s stark set and Nina Dunn’s video designs, will be a divisive figure for audiences.
Essentially a one-woman Greek chorus, she is more reporter than commentator, and while she may echo Weimar cabaret in style, Orlando Gough has given her dissonant, flatlining operatic songs, always eluding a tune and relentless as toothache. This is probably deliberate, but the sheer number of songs is a drag on the play’s momentum.
Jason Lutes’s illustrations from his graphic novel Berlin are used brilliantly, Charles Balfour’s lighting is in turn dazzling, oppressively dark and intimidating; Donato Wharton’s sound design is exemplary.
Ultimately, Alone In Berlin, will have an impact beyond those
fault lines in its telling. It will make you think, reflect, whether alone, or
better still, together in the bar afterwards. Hopefully, too, it will make you want
to make a difference, to push back against the crush, to be the first flutter of
the butterfly’s wing.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre charity chairman Dan Shrimpton, centre, receives the £10,000 award from the J&C Joel workforce at the York theatre
THE Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, has won £10,000 in a nationwide competition run by the Theatres Trust and international stage equipment company J & C Joel.
The Sowerby Bridge company has replaced all the stage curtains and upgraded the scenery-moving equipment to facilitate “even bigger and better” shows at the Art Deco community theatre in Haxby Road.
Graham
Mitchell, the JoRo theatre’s company secretary, fundraising and events director
and charity trustee says: “We’re very grateful to everyone at J & C Joel
and at the Theatres Trust for the work done. The award’s timing could not be
better, as we’re expanding the range and number of shows we host. Coming just
after being voted York’s Best Entertainment Venue in Minster FM’s Listener
Choice awards, this is an immense boost.”
Dan Shrimpton,
the JoRo charity’s chairman, believes the award will make a huge difference to operating
the theatre. “Our audiences will be able to see ever more imaginative settings
for plays and musicals, and, of course, the annual Rowntree Players pantomime,”
he says.
“The
theatre was built in 1935 by Rowntrees for the benefit of their employees and
the citizens of York, so that everyone could experience a wide variety of
affordable entertainment, either by taking part or by just coming to watch
shows, concerts and films.
“We
have big plans to improve our facilities over the next few years to make the
theatre a truly vibrant asset for York, as originally intended by Seebohm and
Joseph Rowntree. It really is a community asset run for the people of
York, by the people of York”.
J&C Joel employees assessing the task in hand at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
James
Wheelwright, J & C Joel’s chief executive, says: “We celebrated our 40th anniversary
last year and we wanted to mark it in a special way. We worked with the
Theatres Trust, the national organisation protecting and advising theatres, to
create the competition.
“The
Joseph Rowntree Theatre won from a very wide field of theatres from up and down
the country because we loved what they are doing as a community run theatre,
providing affordable entertainment to the people of York and beyond – and who
also have big plans for the theatre’s future.”
Tom Stickland, theatres
adviser at the Theatres Trust, says: “The Joseph Rowntree Theatre is a great
example of the transformational effect that committed community groups can have
on theatres. The Theatres Trust is pleased to be in a position to link up
generous industry specialists like J & C Joel with community theatres, so
that they can offer this vital support.”
Run entirely by
volunteers, the JoRo welcomed 50 hirers last year, who staged 135 performances.
The theatre is used by more than 35 York groups, as well as several professional
touring companies and performers.
This week,
the JoRo is playing host to the York Community Choir Festival until Saturday.
Jessa Liversidge: performing her Songbirds show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre on April 5
York St John University Musical Production Society will present Guys
& Dolls, March 19 to 21; Bev Jones Music Company, Calamity Jane, March 25
to 28; Flying Ducks Youth Theatre, Crush The Musical, April 2 to 4; Jessa
Liversidge, Songbirds, a celebration of female singing icons, April 5.
For tickets
and more details of upcoming shows, go to josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.Box office: 01904 501935.
Did you
know?
J&C Joel was established in 1978 in Sowerby Bridge, near
Halifax, founded by John Wheelwright whose family had been involved in the
textile industry for more than 150 years.
The business exports to more than 80 countries worldwide,
providing products such as front-of-house theatre curtains, stage backdrops,
cycloramas, gauzes, acoustic drapes, projection screens and stage engineering
solutions. J&C Joel has offices in the UK, Europe, Africa, the Middle East,
Asia and Australasia.
The Theatres Trust is the national advisory public body for theatres, championing the future of live performance by protecting and supporting theatre buildings that meet the needs of their communities.
The trust provides advice on the design, planning, development and sustainability of theatres, campaigning on behalf of theatres old and new and offering financial assistance through grants.
