Hal Cruttenden: Dishing it out at Theatre@41, Monkgate, but can he take it?
THE best of the Edinburgh Fringe, from stand-up comedy to new theatre, is bound for Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, this autumn.
Comedy performers will be led off by Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You panellist Hal Cruttenden in Hal Cruttenden Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It on September 6, followed by four-time Edinburgh Award nominee Kieran Hodgson in Voice Of America on September 27, when he explores how a scared world feels about the USA and impersonates a bunch of old prospectors and former Presidents.
Creepy Boys were nominated for this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for their show Slugs. Now they bring their original madcap self-titled show to York on October 3. John Robertson Plays With His Audience, on November 16, is the latest show from the cult Dark Room host, packed with unpredictable improv and crowd work.
Kieran Hodgson: Voicing fears prompted by the USA
Innovative theatre comes in the form of a one-man Animal Farm, solo adaptation of Orwell’s prophetic novel, performed by Sam Blythe on September 20.
Theatre@41 chair Alan Park says: “Prior to the Edinburgh Fringe, we welcomed a number of stand-ups previewing their shows in the Halfway To Edinburgh season in July, including eventual Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Nicoresti, and it’s great to see more of these artists having success at the Fringe.
“The ethos of the Edinburgh Fringe resonates with our own belief in supporting new and emerging performers, so we’re really pleased to be welcoming these brilliant shows to our theatre this autumn.”
John Robertson: Playing with his York audience on November 16 Picture: Mark Dawson
Running from July 13 to 19, Halfway To Edinburgh featured Sam Nicoresti, Josie Long, Lulu Popplewell, Molly McGuinness, Phil Ellis, Hayley Ellis, Susan Riddell, Kate Dolan, Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, plus Nina Gilligan in her 2024 Fringe show Goldfish.
“We were absolutely thrilled to bring such a fantastic calibre of comedic talent to York with Halfway To Edinburgh,” says Alan. “The festival was a unique opportunity for York audiences to experience the excitement and innovation of the Edinburgh Fringe without leaving the city. It was the perfect chance to see some incredible shows before they hit the big stage in Scotland.”
Tickets for the autumn season are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
ACTORS took to the stage in tuxedos in John Godber’s debut play Bouncers in 1977. Now, more than 70 plays and 48 years later, he swaps the sticky-floored nightclub for the sophisticated pomp and ceremony of Black Tie Ball’s stuck-up party world.
Premiering at Harrogate Theatre from September 10, writer-director Godber’s sequinned satire for our rotten times is set on the glitziest night of the year as he explores relationships, secrets and the drunken dramas when all the great and the good want to be there.
“The Bentleys are parked; the jazz band has arrived, and the magician is magic, so pick up your invite for this fundraising frenzy,” says John, introducing the night when the hotel staff – short staffed alas – will recount an entire evening at breakneck speed from arrival at seven to carriages at midnight, recalling the fast-moving physical theatre of Bouncers being told through the eyes of the four doormen of the apocalypse.
“The raffle is ready, the coffee is cold, the service is awful, the guest speaker is drunk, and the hard-pressed caterers just want to go home. Behind the bow ties and fake tans, there are jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs. This is upstairs meets downstairs through a drunken gaze.”
In trademark Godber visceral style, the staff will “re-create events in front of your very eyes, so there will be tuxedos in the mix,” says John, who writes from experience of such formal and formulaic occasions.
“I’ve been to a lot of these black-tie events. It’s interesting to write about as the play takes a cock-eyed look at the event from the point of view of staff, who are depleted and inexperienced and they’ve had to call back in a guy who’s just finished his shift,” he says.
“Three of them have never worked at the hotel before; they’ve been drafted in as agency staff, and the manager is a Spanish guy, Emilio Sanchez, who ‘can’t be seen in public’! The owner, Sir Graham, an extremely wealthy hotel businessman, who lives in Madeira, has turned up at the ball, which heightens everyone’s pulse.
“The Black Tie Ball is one of multiple events taking place at the same time in the hotel: there’s also a literary event; a boxing event in the spa; a prom in another room. The hotel is full, so there’s major pressure on the staff.”
Godber recalls his mother working in service at Carlton Towers. “Why she would want to go into service, I don’t know,” he sighs.
The cast will play 20 characters, from the staff to the jazz band, the manager and owner to assorted guests. “We’ve got the whole gamut,” says John. “When I was developing the play, I realised that all the world’s a stage at a hotel, so we do have a murder, with the police arriving, and we do have affairs and Mr and Mrs Smiths signing in. I’ve corralled most of the tropes of the hotel world.”
Upstairs meets downstairs at under-staffed, overworked hotel in John Godber’s sequinned satire Black Tie Ball, on tour from September 10
First inspired by reading the naturalistic works of Henrik Ibsen, Godber favours this form of storytelling that gives his plays authenticity. “As I career towards 70 [next birthday, May 18 2026], I think I can say it’s a style that I’ve made my own,” he says.
“Funnily enough I’ve been looking at writing about women’s rugby for telly but I’ve been hitting a brick wall, whereas writing with naturalism I kind of find so easy, like when I did all that time writing for Grange Hill and Brookside, the Up’n’Under film and BAFTA short films, but I really enjoy the elasticity of writing for theatre because it’s theatrical and the audience is right there – and it’s live.
“Is that because of where I’m from and always being active as a kid? Theatre is equivalent to a sporting experience. As Alan [Ayckbourn] used to say: the greatest thing to hear is ‘you should have been here last night’…when you know it worked but you haven’t any idea how tonight will go.”
At events such as black tie balls, as elsewhere, John has his radar switched on. “All the time my radar is scanning everything. That’s the gift to the playwright, if there is one,” he says. “You are ‘quintessentialising’ an experience.”
His best writing is marked by a need to respond to what’s going on around him, fuelled by anger. “To be honest, as you get older, it’s very hard not to get angry because there’s so much hogwash about. Let’s not bring up Trump, Ukraine, Gaza and UK immigration. Just look locally at what’s going in,” he says.
“There’s enough to be angry about, but if there’s a sleight of hand to writing a play, you don’t lead with the anger first. You think, with Ibsen, Chekhov, Ayckbourn and I’ve got to say Pinter too, ‘that was funny, but not just funny ha-ha’. Any good comedy in theatre is laced with sanguine and sour reality.”
Comedy versus tragedy, John: which is the greater of theatre’s two faces? “I think comedy makes a wider point than tragedy. For me, the catharsis of a great tragedy is over quicker; sometimes comedies last longer in the brain.”
John Godber Company in John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Harrogate Theatre, September 10 to 13; CAST, Doncaster, September 17 to 20; Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, September 30 to October 1; Hull Truck Theatre, October 14 to 18; Bridlington Spa, November 3 and 4; Pocklington Arts Centre, November 6 to 8; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 12 to 15.
Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Doncaster, 01302 303959or castindoncaster.com; Huddersfield, 01484 430528or thelbt.org;Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Bridlington, 01262 678 258 or bridspa.com; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541or sjt.uk.com. Alternatively, visit thejohngodbercompany.co.uk.
Who’s in the Black Tie Ball cast?
LONG-TIME John Godber collaborator William Ilkley (War Horse, Trigger Point) will be joined Dylan Allcock, from Godber’s 2024 play The Highwayman, and Yorkshire actors Levi Payne and Jade Farnill.
Jade is a member of the Godber Theatre Foundation, an initiative run by the John Godber Company since 2020 to support emerging actors from East Yorkshire into professional roles and opportunities. Each year, members are supported into roles in new touring productions by the Yorkshire company.
Oh No! Have we missed Harland Miller’s XXX exhibition of Letter Paintings at York Art Gallery? No, this weekend is the last chance
HARLAND Miller’s XXX finale and Fangfest’s 25th anniversary, a comic convention and a cosmic piano are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as August makes way for September.
Do not miss: Harland Miller, XXX, York Art Gallery, ends on Sunday, open daily 10am to 5pm
THIS weekend is the last chance to see York-raised Pop artist and writer Harland Miller’s return to York Art Gallery with XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.
Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.
Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter: Premiering their shiny new musical comedy, Astro-Norma!, at York Explore today
Intergalactic musical family adventure of the week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, York Explore Library and Archive, Library Square, York, today, 11am and 2pm
FROM the creators of Green Fingers and the spooky HallowBean comes Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, wherein Norma dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, although children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very important piano recital coming up.
But what bizarre-looking contraption has just crash-landed in the garden? Is it a bird? Or a plane? No… it’s a piano?! No ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true? Join Fladam duo Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter for a 45-minute show full of awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots and interplanetary puns. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives.
You, Me And Who We’ll Be: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge’s exhibition at Nunnington Hall
Children’s exhibition of the week: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge, You, Me And Who We’ll Be, Nunnington Hall, near York, until September 7
ENTER the colourful worlds of children’s illustrators Josie Brookes and Tom Madge. Through bold, eye-catching artwork, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne duo creates stories that explore the many ways we can help and understand each other, make friends and build relationships.
Discover your own helpful superpower in the Big Small Nature Club or join best friends Nader and Solomiya on a journey to find home. A dress-up station lets you share in the adventures of Molly the Flower. Before you go, help the story grow by adding your own artwork to the interactive gallery. Tickets: Normal admission charges at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.
York Unleashed Comic-Con: Special guests, stage talks, cosplay masquerade, attractions and merchandise market at York Racecourse
Convention of the week: York Unleashed Comic-Con, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, Sunday, 11am to 5pm
UNLEASHED Events welcomes Tom Rosenthal, Tim Blaney, Peter Davison, Phil Fletcher and special guest Atticus Finch Wobbly Cat to a comic convention featuring stage talks, cosplay masquerade and plenty more.
Comic artists and authors Jim Alexander, Elinor Taylor, Blake Books, Jessica Meats, Paolo Debernardi and Ben Sawyer are appearing too. Attractions include Doctor Bell, Bumblebee Camaro, Johnny 5, Milestone 3D, Imagination Gaming, Battle Ready Academy, Mos Eisley Misfits, Tom Daws Dimple Magician, Rexys Reviews and Iconic Movie Scenes, plus a market selling merchandise and collectables from favourite franchises. Tickets: unleashedtickets.co.uk.
SmART art: One of 100 artworks for sale at the pop-up SmART Gallery at York Racecourse
Art event of the week: SmART Gallery, Racecourse Road, York, YO23 1EU, Sunday, 11am to 2.30pm
SUNDAY’S outdoor, inclusive community art gallery, SmART Gallery, will raise money for the Christmas appeal run by Crisis, the homeless charity, and voluntary work in Sierra Leone next Easter.
The event features more than 100 pieces of art work produced by the York community. Blank canvases are sold for £10, then returned once the art work has been created in any medium. Browsers can submit a secret bid on the day for anything they would like to buy. Any unsold artwork will remain on the fence opposite York Racecourse’s main entrance for five months for all to enjoy.
Austentatious: Improvising new Jane Austen novel from audience suggestions at Grand Opera House, York
Improv show of the week: Show And Tell present Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Grand Opera House, York, September 5 and 6, 7.30pm
AS seen every week in the West End since 2022 and in York in a sold-out show in January, the all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from the audience. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this riotous, quick-moving comedy comes with guaranteed swooning.
The revolving Austentatious cast includes numerous award-winning television and radio performers, such as Cariad Lloyd (QI, Inside No.9, Griefcast, The Witchfinder),Joseph Morpurgo (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee), Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Graham Dickson (After Life, The Witchfinder) and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Pottery workshop at 25th anniversary Fangest Festival of Practical Arts in Fangfoss
Silver anniversary of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, East Riding, September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day
FANGFOSS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fangfest with the All Things Silver flower festival; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and artists aplenty exhibiting and demonstrating their work.
Opportunities will be provided to try out the potter’s wheel, spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free; more intensive workshops require booking in advance. Look out too for the circus skills of children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, and the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust mobile museum. Admission is free.
Suede: Returning to York Barbican next February on Antidepressants tour. Picture: Dean Chalkley
Show announcement of the week: Suede, Antidepressants UK Tour 2026, York Barbican, February 7 2026
AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede will make a rather hastier return on their 17-date January and February tour. Brett Anderson’s London band will be promoting tenth studio album Antidepressants, out on September 5 on BMG.
“If [2022’s] Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Anderson. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. This is broken music for broken people.” Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/suede26.
REVIEW: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Sept 6 *****
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), left, with Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
ELEVEN years since first encountering the National Theatre’s remarkable War Horse at the Alhambra, Bradford, a return visit brought out all the awe, wonderment and anger anew at Leeds Grand Theatre amid the turbulence of 21st century conflicts, conflagrations and ever more warmongering.
Michael Morpurgo’s source novel was ostensibly a tale for children, as was Michelle Magorian’s Second World War story Goodnight Mister Tom, but Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris’s theatrical tour de force is a show for everyone.
The most successful play in the history of the National Theatre, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide, War Horse is a complete piece of theatre, replete with technical aplomb, extraordinary puppetry, grand design and foundation-shaking sound to complement Nick Stafford’s beautiful, powerful storytelling.
For all those theatrical tools, the story is king, told with imagination and wonder beyond even the cinematic scope of Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film version.
More remarkable still, Morpurgo’s central character is a horse, whose journey is charted from Devon farm to the fields of the Somme, in the service of first the British and then the Germans in the First World War.
Directors Elliott and Morris and designer Rae Smith had the original vision, put into flesh by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company’s Adrian Kohler. Not so much flesh as leather tack and a wooden see-through framework that exposed the three puppeteers, gloved and dressed to add to the sense of equine power in life-sized Joey, whose transformation from colt to magnificent beast is a coup de theatre that takes the breath away.
From the highly physical ensemble acting of revival director Katie Henry’s cast to the deafening sounds of war (by sound designer Christopher Shutt) and the omnipresent animation and projection designs of Nicol Scott and Ben Pearcy that depict war so devastatingly, every last detail counts. Anne Marie Piazza’s singing of John Tams’s affecting folk songs is even more haunting for its female interpretation.
At the core is the bond of a boy and his horse, Tom Sturgess’s stoical farm boy Albert Narracott and noble Joey, as boy becomes man all too young in the most brutal passage of rights in the trenches. War divides but it also unites, bringing out the best and worst on all sides (as Morpurgo’s equal focus on the Germans emphasises).
Co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, this “all-new tour” for 2024-2025 is a triumph once more. The National Theatre and British theatre at their best.
National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until September 6, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Writer-director Matt Aston, left, and The Wedding Present’s David Gedge at the Recepetion: The Wedding Present Musical press night. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
WHEN York writer-director Matt Aston first suggested making a musical from The Wedding Present’s songs of love, loss and longing, Leeds songwriter David Gedge was intrigued.
“I’d never imagined my songs being used in a musical – I know nothing about the format and I’m not even sure I like it – but I loved how Mamma Mia! reimagined ABBA, and I’ve always been up for trying new things,” he said. “I’m excited to see how the show brings the songs to life in a new way.”
Performed by Aston’s cast of predominantly young actor-musicians and a community quintet of dancing waitresses, Reception: The Wedding Present Musical certainly does that.
And maybe we should not be surprised because Gedge already had expanded his template from trademark thrashing guitars to Cinerama’s more cinematic, French-infused pop and a BBC Big Band re-tooling of the Weddoes’ songs. The sudden burst of Rebecca Levy’s saxophone at one point is a nod to that reinvention.
Caught on camera: Rebecca Levy’s Estrella, left, Amara Latchford’s Sally and Zoe Allan’s Rachel in Reception: The Wedding Present Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Can indie rock songs work in theatre? Aston was sure they could: “The BBC Big Band arrangements for the songs were astonishing, as different as you could possibly imagine but David’s lyrical and conversational storytelling still shone through,” he said. “His lyrics are cinematic, emotional and rich with story – they felt naturally theatrical.
“Then later seeing Wedding Present and Cinerama concerts backed with 16-piece orchestras and full choirs helped cement the thought that the songs could work perfectly in a musical.”
Reception is not a jukebox musical. Instead its structure and style is closer To Sunshine On Leith, Stephen Greenhorn’s 2007 show for the Dundee Rep Ensemble that interwove The Proclaimers’ rousing songs into the story of two young Scottish soldiers returning to their families in Edinburgh after serving in Afghanistan. A TMA Award for Best Musical and Dexter Fletcher’s 2013 film version followed. Reception has work to do to match that.
Just as Charlie and Craig Reid’s songs for The Proclaimers are full of acerbic wit, wry observation, lovelorn yearning and narrative detail, so too are Gedge’s arch, romantic yet often disappointed songs of love and loneliness, life’s high hopes and low blows, break-ups and breakdowns, chance and no chance.
When Harry met Rachel: Lawrence Hodgson-Mullings and Zoe Allan in Reception: The Wedding Present Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
In the Weddoes’ 40th anniversary year, Matt Aston utilises both Wedding Present and Cinerama songs and a new Gedge composition, Hot Wheels, within his “coming-of-age story of love, friendship, growing up, regret and reconnection that heads back to the sticky dance floors and crimped hair of 1980s’ Leeds”.
That northern story begins at the end in 1990, the rivals at war in an ill-fated love triangle, before heading back to the innocence of 1985, the year when Leeds University mathematics student Gedge formed The Wedding Present.
That summer, a group of Leeds student friends is celebrating the dying embers of university days, with plans afoot, but life’s paths will meet cul de sacs, dead ends, U turns, bumps in the road, as Gedge’s songs know only too well.
Events entangle, unfold and entangle again at a graduation ceremony, funeral, wedding and reception over a span of five turbulent, formative and transformative years. “You should always keep in touch with your friends…or should you,” asks Aston, quoting a Wedding Present song title as he explores how we grow together and apart.
Zach Burns’ Joe and Hannah Nuttall’s Jane in Reception: The Wedding Present Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
In creative consultant Gedge’s presence on press night, the audience have taken their seats either at Wedding Guest tables – each delineated with the cover of a Wedding Present album – or on the banks of seating behind, facing Hannah Sibai’s end-on stage that takes the open-plan form of a wedding reception with white decor, dance floor and balloons, complemented by the striking triptych projections of Lee Thacker that mirror his black-and-white illustrations for Gedge’s autobiography Tales From The Wedding Present.
Lawrence Hodgson-Mullings’ Harry is going out with Zoe Allan’s North Easterner Rachel; his best friend, Richard Lounds’s John, is urging him to head to Seattle. Keep an eye on him. Friends Sally (Amara Latchford), Jane (Hannah Nuttall) and Estrella (Rebecca Levy), forever armed with her Camcorder, are always on hand.
Rachel’s brother Joe (Zach Burns) has a slow-burning thing for Jane in the second love story, while Latchford’s Sally has ‘previous’ with John. Rachel and Joe’s Dad (Matthew Bugg) is the one seasoned adult amid all the young folks with all the life experience of Shakespeare’s young lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Gedge has described his lyrics as “typically little stories”; little, yes, but universal, in the way that love is. Aston’s anxious characters are everyday types, experiencing teething problems in coltish lives that are more prosaic than poetic. Post-university red-brick students on a learning curve in life.
They are not the gilded youth of Evelyn Waugh’s Oxford spires, but provincial average Joes and Janes. Not particularly bright (unlike Chris Davey’s sometimes intrusive lighting), not particularly witty, nor particularly interesting or enlightening, but we recognise them in kitchen-sink dramas and soaps.
Caitlin Lavagna’s vicar Emma leading the funeral ceremony in Reception: The Wedding Present Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Reception’s combination of storytelling, impactful projection and drama-filled song peaks with the suspense of Act One’s closing scene on Brighton pier, suspense that is broken by the unexpected, rug-pulling opening to Act Two: a funeral that plays out in full, led by vicar Emma (Caitlin Lavagna), to establish a better balance of chat and song.
What Reception does have throughout is a restless energy, to match The Wedding Present in concert, captured in the choreography of York’s Hayley Del Harrison as much as in the fractious exchanges in Aston’s dialogue, where the wittiest moment comes in a late cameo by Jack Hardy’s Keir/Keith/Kevin – no-one is ever sure of his name – who turns out to be Keir Starmer in his Leeds University days.
As you would want from a musical, what works best by far are Gedge’s songs, delivered in myriad settings by musical director Marie McAndrew, from string quartet to piano, accordion to flute, Ukrainian folk band to full-on guitars by instrument-swapping actor-musicians in fine voice, emphasising the melody and diversity of his love songs to accompany his home truths.
My Favourite Dress takes on new poignancy as a despairing, broken-hearted ballad for Burns’s Joe and Nuttall’s Jane. As John Peel once said: “The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the rock’n’roll era. You may dispute this, but I’m right and you’re wrong!” Reception affirms that again and again.
Perfect Blue Productions and Engine House Theatre in Reception, The Wedding Present Musial, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Crosbt Road, Holbeck, Leeds, until September 6. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or at leedsplayhouse.org.uk. Wedding Guest table packages are available.
Coming on leaps and bounds: The community ensemble in gymnastic action in Reception: The Wedding Present Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Wharfemede Productions artistic director Helen “Bells” Spencer, right, leading a rehearsal for Musicals Across The Multiverse
THE musical multiverse is on the move but with the visionary creative team of director Helen “Bells” Spencer and co-creator and musical director Matthew Clare still at the helm.
After the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company staged Musicals In The Multiverse as its “most ambitious concert production ever” in June 2023, now Helen’s Wetherby-founded company, Wharfemede Productions, takes up the multiverse mantle for Musicals Across The Multiverse, featuring a stellar cast of performers drawn from across Yorkshire’s vibrant talent pool.
Promising to be “even more inventive and boundary-pushing”, this out-of-this-universe sequel will take over Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from September 10 to 13, with its “nod to the Marvel franchise and the Spiderverse”.
“Musicals Across The Multiverse is a bold and exhilarating theatrical experience that reimagines your favourite musical theatre numbers like never before,” says Wharfemede Productions artistic director Bells, whose daily diary combines being a consultant psychiatrist with motherhood and her multiple theatrical pursuits.
“Step into a multiverse where the classics you know and love still exist, but not as you remember them. You’ll hear the songs that you know and love, but with their traditional presentation turned on its head, so they’re different but still recognisable.
Musical director Matthew Clare, right, in rehearsal with Wharfemede Productions cast members for Musicals Across The Multiverse
“Think unexpected style swaps, minor to major key switches, surprising gender reversals, era-bending reinterpretations, genre mash-ups and more, offering audiences a witty, heartfelt journey through the many worlds of the multiverse.
“Inventive, genre-defying and packed with surprises, Musicals Across The Multiverse is a celebration of creativity and theatrical flair that promises to delight, challenge and thrill audiences. This is musical theatre recharged, remixed and ready to take you on an interdimensional journey you won’t forget.”
Bell is “absolutely thrilled” to be working with Matthew again. “He’s incredibly talented,” she enthuses. “Collaborating with him is always a joy. He’s not only a brilliant musician and composer, but also an endlessly inspiring creative partner. His ability to take an idea and elevate it into something truly original is nothing short of magic.
“Our friendship and shared passion for musical theatre have been at the heart of developing this piece. We both love exploring the ‘what ifs’ of familiar stories and pushing the boundaries of traditional performance. We’re not afraid to take risks, flip conventions on their head, and do things a little differently – and that spirit of playful reinvention is what Musicals Across The Multiverse is all about.”
In Bells’ cast will be Abbie Law; Ben Holeyman; choreographer Connie Howcroft; David Copley-Martin; Ellie Carrier; Emilia Charlton-Mathews; Emily Hardy; Emma Burke; Jack Fry; Jai Rowley and James Ball.
Musicals Across The Multiverse choreographer Connie Howcroft, right, working on moves with Zander Fick, Ben Holeyman, Abbie Law and Lauren Charlton-Matthews
So too will Kirsty Barnes; Laertes Singhateh; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Matthew Warry; Mickey Moran; Naomi Mothersille; Nick Sephton; Richard Bayton; Rosy Rowley; Tess Ellis; Zander Fick and Bells herself.
“Our cast is nothing short of phenomenal,” she says. “This time we have multiple new additions from the production of Les Miserables I did this summer at Leeds Grand Theatre, and it means we now have a lovely mix of people from York and Leeds, who haven’t done a show together before, making it a really unique mix.
“They’ve thrown themselves into this wild, imaginative world with energy, humour and heart. Rehearsals have been full of laughter, creativity, and genuine moments of magic. Watching this show come to life with such an amazing group of performers from across Yorkshire has been a total privilege.
“Hopefully this format is something we can continue to grow. We’re now talking with The Carriageworks about taking shows there as well as to York.”
Bells and Matthew’s original concept for the parallel universes of this musical multiverse emerged from a conversation among York’s musical theatre performers about songs they would love to sing but would never have the opportunity to do so in a fully staged musical production, on account of, for example, the gender or the age of the character in the original setting.
“This is musical theatre recharged, remixed and ready to take you on an interdimensional journey you won’t forget,” says director Helen Spencer
“We pride ourselves in Wharfemede Productions on being an inclusive and welcoming artistic space for all,” says Bells. “The concept for this show allows our wonderfully talented and diverse cast to perform songs that explore and celebrate who they are, to push some of the traditional musical theatre boundaries and ultimately honour some of the best musical songs ever written.
“What’s been really lovely, working with Matthew, is how we can not only swap the gender in a song but also the feel of a song or the genre to match the gender swap. There isn’t a single song in this show that’s in its original format, which is an amazing challenge, but Matthew is such a genius in doing the musical arrangements.
“Santa Fe, from Disney’s Newsies, for example, was made famous by Jeremy Jordan in the Broadway musical, but is now being sung by Kirsty Barnes, who has just starred as Sister Mary Robert, the postulant in Sister Act, with LIDOS at The Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds.
“Matthew describes the arrangement as ‘written in the style of Chopin’s Preludes’, so it’s much more lyrical with piano and cello that really changes the song.”
Reflecting on lessons learnt from the first iteration of the musical multiverse, Bells says: “The changes made to songs really excited everyone, and we’re always looking to push things further, like in the mash-ups, where we’ll have A Million Dreams, from The Greatest Showman, pared with How Far I’ll Go, from Disney’s Moana, and Defying Gravity, from Wicked, with Go The Distance, from Hercules.
Hands across the multiverse in the Long Marston Village Hub rehearsal room
“We got really good feedback on the close-harmony singing last time, singing that’s challenging but really lovely to do, so we’ll be doing more of that , and we’ll also have maybe four more solos than before as we had so many people auditioning and the standard was so high.
“I’m also really excited about using British Sign Language again, as we did last time with Jack Fry for Cell Block Tango, from Chicago. Now we’ll be using it from Listen from Dreamgirls.
“Another highlight will be Zander Fick singing Sally Bowles’s Cabaret in a darker, more modern male version, where there will be no jazz hands to be seen.”
Among further “very different” interpretations will be Connie Howcroft’s rendition of the Genie’s Friend Like Me from Disney’s Aladdin. “It’s very clearly not a cartoon and not male!” says Bells.
“We also have a couple of major-to-minor key swaps that turn positive songs into ‘villain’ songs. Don’t Rain On My Parade is so well known that changing the key makes it so different and so challenging to sing – and it’s not only a genre swap but a gender swap too. It’s now more of an aggressive, very funky song, performed by Ben Holeyman.
The Wharfemede Productions cast for Musicals Across The Multiverse
“Emma Burke, who played Cosette in Les Miserables this summer, will do a very moving version of Anthem from Chess, in a gender and genre swap, highlighting the role of the Women Land’s Army in the Second World War.”
Look out too for three sets of mothers and children – Bells and Laertes Singhateh, Rosy and Jai Rowley and Emilia and Lauren Charlton-Mathews – singing Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia!
“It”s lovely for us to sing such a gorgeous song together,” says Bells. “Every mother feels that sense of pride yet loss at their children growing up.”
Matthew Warry will join Laertes, Jai and Lauren in The Place Where The Lost Things Go – “the Emily Blunt one” – from Mary Poppins Returns. “It’s a switch from Mary Poppins singing it, so now we have children singing an adult’s song,” says Bells.
As rehearsals take shape at Long Marston Village Hub, Bells concludes: “We can’t wait to share this unique, genre-bending show with you. Come and see what happens when musical theatre gets turned on its head – and support community theatre at its most daring, dynamic and joy-filled.”
Wharfemede Productions present Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Out of this universe: Wharfemede Productions’ poster for Musicals Across The Multiverse
You, Me And Who We’ll Be: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge’s enchanting exhibition at Nunnington Hall
CHILDREN’S outdoor adventures and diverse exhibitions, improvised Austen and American folk blues are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as August makes way for September.
Children’s exhibition of the week: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge, You, Me And Who We’ll Be, Nunnington Hall, near York, until September 7
ENTER the colourful worlds of children’s illustrators Josie Brookes and Tom Madge. Through bold, eye-catching artwork, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne duo creates stories that explore the many ways we can help and understand each other, make friends and build relationships.
Discover your own helpful superpower in the Big Small Nature Club or join best friends Nader and Solomiya on a journey to find home. A dress-up station lets you share in the adventures of Molly the Flower. Before you go, help the story grow by adding your own artwork to the interactive gallery. Collages, prints and animation add up to plenty to inspire children. Tickets: Normal admission charges to Nunnington Hall apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.
Kate Stables of This Is The Kit: Playing The Crescent in York tomorrow
York gig of the week: This Is The Kit, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
THIS Is The Kit is the pseudonym of Winchester-born, Paris-dwelling songwriter, banjo strummer and pinhole camera aficionado Kate Stables, who makes albums of “cataclysmic honesty and welcoming tonal embraces” that place companionship at a premium.
Stables will be accompanied in her experimental folk quartet by bass player Rozi Plain, drummer Jamie Whitby-Coles and guitarist Neil Smith, as she was at The Citadel, the former Salvation Army HQ in Gillygate, York, in November 2021. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com/events.
Mandi Grant: Launching There Are Places To Remember exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, tomorrow
York art preview of the week: Mandi Grant, There Are Places To Remember, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, 6pm to 9pm
BE among the first to see South Bank Studios artist Mandi Grant’s new collection There Are Places I Remember on the bakery walls in Acomb. On show will be lyrical paintings of shapes, colour and textures in a combination of oil, acrylic and wax techniques.
Wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Tickets are free but please register to attend at eventbrite.com/e/mandi-grant-art-preview-evening-tickets-1515431479349?aff=oddtdtcreator. Mandi’s exhibition will run until October 23.
Nunnington Hall: Playing host to Dawn Of The Dinos
Children’s adventures of the week: Dawn Of The Dinos, Nunnington Hall, near York, until August 31, 10.30am to 5pm
ENTER the Nunnington that time forgot with outdoor dinosaur-themed games around the gardens and main lawn for the family as you don your explorer’s hat and stomp around with your favourite dinosaurs.
In addition, around the gardens you can find a quiet creative hub with art supplies and children can enjoy the Lion’s Den play area, where little explorers can climb up, over and wobble along a natural obstacle course, including tree-stump steps, a rope bridge and a wooden climbing frame to conquer. Inside the house, family-friendly art events and activities are running too. Normal admission applies, with free entry for National Trust members and under fives at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/events.
Jake Xerxes Fussell: North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer making York debut on September 3
American folk music for anxious times: Jake Xerxes Fussell, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 3, 7.30pm
PLEASE Please You & Brudenell Presents promote the York debut of North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer Jake Xerxes Fussell, whose intuitive creative process draws from traditional music and archival field recordings, incorporating elements of Southern folk song and blues into new works for the anxious modern world.
Folklorist Fussell released his fifth album, When I’m Called, last summer as his first on Fat Possum Records. He teamed up again with producer James Elkington to write and record music for Max Walker-Silverman’s feature film Rebuilding, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Austentatious: Improvising new Jane Austen story from audience suggestions at Grand Opera House, York
Improv show of the week: Show And Tell present Austentatious, An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Grand Opera House, York, September 5 and 6, 7.30pm
THE all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from the audience. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this riotous, quick-moving West End hit comedy guarantees swooning.
The revolving Austentatious cast includes numerous award-winning television and radio performers, such as Cariad Lloyd (QI, Inside No.9, Griefcast, The Witchfinder),Joseph Morpurgo (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee), Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Graham Dickson (After Life, The Witchfinder) and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Pottery workshop at Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts
Silver anniversary of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, East Riding, September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day
FANGFOSS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fangfest with the All Things Silver flower festival; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and artists aplenty exhibiting and demonstrating their work.
Opportunities will be provided to try out the potter’s wheel, spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free, while others are more intensive workshops that require booking in advance. Details of these can be found at facebook/fangfest or Instagram:@fangfestfestival. Look out too for the circus skills of children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, and the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust mobile museum. Admission is free.
Anton Du Beke: Making a song and dance out of Christmas at York Barbican
Show announcement of the week: Anton Du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 21, 5pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke will return to York Barbican with his festive show, Christmas with Anton & Friends, whose debut tour visited York on December 10 last year. Anton, 59, will be joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers to create an evening of song and dance with added Christmas dazzle, concluding with a big medley.
“I loved doing the shows so much last year – they were simply magical – so I genuinely can’t wait to get on the road and do it all again,” says the King of the Ballroom. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Glynis Barber’s Salome Otterbourne in Fiery Angel’s 2026 production of Death On The Nile, bound for Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jay Brooks
GLYNIS Barber and Bob Barrett are to join Mark Hadfield’s Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile at the Grand Opera House, York, from March 3 to 7 2026.
Barber will play Salome Otterbourne and Barrett will take the role of the Belgian detective’s trusted friend Colonel Race in the UK & Ireland tour of the European premiere of Ken Ludwig’s new stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1937 thriller.
Death On The Nile will reunite Ludwig, director Lucy Bailey and producers Fiery Angel, whose sell-out tours of Christie’s And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express visited the Grand Opera House in November 2023 and March 2025 respectively.
Glynis Barber became a household name when she starred opposite Michael Brandon in the television series Dempsey And Makepeace. Further TV credits include series regulars Norma Crow in Hollyoaks, Gertrusha in NBC’s The Outpost and Glenda Mitchell in EastEnders, as well as Jean McAteer in The Royal, DCI Grace Barraclough in Emmerdale, Fiona Brake in Night & Day and Soolin in Blake’s 7.
Her previous brushes with Agatha Christie came when she starred as Cora van Stuyvesant in Agatha Christie’s Marple: Endless Night and as Lola Brewster in Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side.
Her recent theatre credits include The Best Man (West End), Stalking The Bogeyman (Southwark Playhouse), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (West End) and The Graduate (UK Tour).
Completing his Agatha Christie hat-trick at the Grand Opera House: Bob Barrett’s Colonel Race in Lucy Bailey’s touring production of Death On The Nile, heading for York next March. Barrett played Doctor Armstrong in And Then There Were None in 2023 and Monsieur Bouc in Murder On The Orient Express in 2025. Picture: Jay Brooks
“I couldn’t be more excited to be returning to the stage and working with the brilliant team at Fiery Angel and director Lucy Bailey,” said Glynis. “This iconic play from Agatha Christie’s phenomenal body of work keeps audiences on the edge of their seat and I can’t wait to be part of a cast that will bring this gripping drama to theatres all over the UK and Ireland.”
Bob Barrett is best known as Sacha Levy in the long-running Holby City, a role he played from 2010 to 2022. On film, he played George Bryan in John Madden’s Shakespeare In Love. On stage, he played the Grand Opera House in And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express.
“To have the chance of being in one Agatha Christie tour, getting to work with the incomparable team of Lucy Bailey and Fiery Angel, was special,” said Bob. “To get to be in three is a great privilege I shall never forget.”
What happens in Death On The Nile? On board a luxurious cruise under the heat of the Egyptian sun, a couple’s idyllic honeymoon is cut short by a brutal murder. As secrets buried in the sands of time finally resurface, can the world-famous detective Hercule Poirot untangle the web of lies and solve another crime?
DirectorLucy Bailey will be joined in the production team by designer Mike Britton, lighting designer Oliver Fenwick, sound designer Mic Pool, movement director Liam Steele and associate director Lucy Waterhouse. Helena Palmer is the casting director.
TheUK & Ireland Tour is presented by Fiery Angel in association with Agatha Christie Limited. Further casting is to be announced.
Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, March 3 to 7 2026, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Age guidance: 12 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The 2026 tour poster for Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile
Meet Prince Charming and Cinderella, Tobias Turley and Rachel Grundy, in UK Productions’ Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York
WEST End performers Tobias Turley and Rachel Grundy are joining the pantomime cast for Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York, from December 6 to January 4 2026.
Turley, breakoutstar of ITV’s Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, will play Prince Charming, opposite musical theatre actress Grundy as Cinderella in the UK Productions show.
Somerset-born Turleyrose to fame as the winner of the 2023 series, captivating audiences with his commanding vocal performances. Since then, he has lit up stages in Mamma Mia! The Musical, Heathers The Musical, Hot Messand West Side Story.
This winter he will bring his velvet voice and romantic flair to a festive performance that “promises to sweep audiences off their feet”. “I’m really looking forward to stepping into the role of Prince Charming in York this Christmas,” says Tobias. “It’s a fantastic story, and I can’t wait to be part of the fun and festive magic of panto season.”
Grundy’smusical theatre credits span the West End and major UK tours. Known for her vocal power and stage charm, she has played Janet in The Rocky Horror Show, Brooke in Legally Blonde: The Musical, and Dinah in Starlight Express.
Her Cinderella will bring a mix of modern sparkle and heartfelt storytelling to the classic fairytale heroine. “I’mover the moon to be playing Cinderella in York this Christmas!” says Rachel. “Panto season is always such a magical time, and it’s a dream come true to don the glass slippers in such a stunning city. I’ll be sweeping from the Shambles to the stage – and I can’t wait to bring some sparkle to the beautiful Grand Opera House!”
Josh Brown, venue director for the Grand Opera House York, says: “Tobias and Rachel come with strong West End credentials and will be a huge hit in York. We’re thrilled to welcome such exceptional talent to the Grand Opera House stage in what will be another hugely popular, show-stopping panto from UK Productions.”
Taking on the role of the Fairy Godmother will be musical theatre performer, singer and Coronation Street alumna Lisa George, who played Beth Tinker on the Weatherfield cobbles for a decade.
Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons, Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother and Luke Attwood’s Harmony Hard Up and Brandon Nicholson’s Melody Hard Up in Cinderella
Casting spells, commanding laughs and guiding the heroine on her journey to the ball, she will be equal parts maternal, magical and mischievous in a performance of grace, gusto and glitter.
Comedy performer Jimmy Bryant will bring buckets of warmth, cheek and infectious energy to Buttons. Stealing scenes (and shoes) will be the Ugly Sisters, played with outrageous flair, sky-high heels and industrial-strength hairspray by West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson.
Here comes a “double dose of diva energy, armed with cutting one-liners, scandalous shade and a wardrobe so fierce it should come with flashing lights and a fire hazard warning”.
They promise to wreak havoc with style and to sabotage the slipper with flair, delivering their Harmony and Melody Hard Up double act with “costume changes quicker than a royal scandal, insults wrapped in rhinestones and comedic timing so sharp it could slice through a pumpkin carriage”.
“Cinderella and Prince Charming better watch their backs,” warn Attwood and Nicholson. “Because this year, it’s not about finding the shoe, it’s about stealing the spotlight. We’ve got the looks, the legs and the lungs to belt a ballad from Bootham to Blackpool. York, darling, prepare yourselves…the real stars of the ball have arrived!”
At the heart of Cinderella will be a new script by Jon Monie, winner of Best Script at the Great British Pantomime Awards, whose writing combines snappy dialogue and set-pieces with nods to pantomime traditions, contemporary wit and magical storytelling.
Martin Dodd, of UK Productions, enthuses: “This year’s Cinderella is supercharged with energy, glamour and world-class talent. With stars of the West End and screen lighting up the stage, this production is bursting with magic, music and mayhem. From jaw-dropping vocals to laugh-out-loud comedy, it’s pantomime at its absolute finest, unmissable, unforgettable and undeniably spectacular!”
“Tickets are flying faster than Cinderella’s coach at midnight; don’t be the one left holding a pumpkin,” says Ryan Harper, head of marketing and communications. “Book now, or risk missing the most magical, side-splitting, show-stopping event in York this Christmas!”
Comedian Tommy Cannon’s poster for his Keeping The Magic Alive night of reminiscences at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
BLUE skies and outdoor activities, veteran comedy and American folk blues stir Charles Hutchinson into action.
Comedy night of the week: An Audience With Tommy Cannon, Keeping The Magic Alive, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight, 7.30pm
BEST known as one half of comedy duo Cannon & Ball, national treasure Tommy Cannon presents a night of entertainment and nostalgia with the billing of “Legend, Laughter & Legacy – Live On Stage” as he shares stories from his 50-plus career in showbusiness, many in tandem with Bobby Ball.
Expect behind-the-scenes secrets, career highlights and heartfelt reflections on his life on and off screen, delivered with charm, warmth and wit. Recollections from the golden days of British television to his stage work and appearances on hit shows will be topped off with special surprises (maybe a song), archive clips and a Q&A, when you can ask Tommy anything. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Kirkgate decorated for summertime at York Castle Museum. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross
Museum activities of the week: Summer At York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York, until August 31, Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm
INSPIRED by the vibrant and colourful Victorian galas of bygone years, enjoy live music, street performances, seasonal crafts and interactive trails in York Castle Museum’s bustling summer programme.
Victorian street Kirkgate is transformed into a traditional summer scene from 19th century York. On Sundays, live musical entertainment can be heard in the yard; on Tuesdays, The Silly History Boys perform circus skills; History Riot perform regularly as Phinneas Fickletickle returns with his Totally Tremendous Time-Travel Tincture. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.
The Blue Room, original painting, by Horace Panter, from Blue Sky Paintings show at RedHouse Gallery, Harrogate
Exhibition of the week: Horace Panter, Blue Sky Paintings, Journeys Across America, RedHouse Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, until September 18
BLUE Sky Paintings is the new travelogue exhibition by The Specials bassist and Pop Art painter Horace Panter, combining paintings from his ongoing Americana series with new oversized prints. “The myth still beckons. America and its dream,” he says. “As a musician, touring America means basically playing where the water is. The ‘Flyover States’ (that enormous bit in the middle) are the bits that fascinate me these days.
“In recent years, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time in both Texas and South Dakota. Photos from these visits constitute the subject of many of the pieces in this exhibition. Of course, the commonality across the collection is the blue sky. I’m drawn to the intensity of the colour, the light and shade, and always aim to represent its fullness.” Opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Camp manoeuvres: Living History Weekend at Eden Camp Modern History Museum
Family fun days of the week: Living History Weekend, Eden Camp Modern History Museum, Old Malton, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
STEP back in time at Eden Camp, where the past comes alive with re-enactors around every corner in the Living History Weekend programme of displays, talks and activities.
Meet with medics; try out authentic ration recipes; explore a Sherman Tank and its escape hatch, and enjoy live music in the engine shed, with space aplenty to show off dance moves. Why not dress up in Forties fashion to become part of the weekend? Box office: edencamp.digitickets.co.uk.
Kate Stables of This Is The Kit: Playing The Crescent next Thursday
York gig of the week: This Is The Kit, The Crescent, York, August 28, 7.30pm
THIS Is The Kit is the pseudonym of Winchester-born, Paris-dwelling songwriter, banjo strummer and pinhole camera aficionado Kate Stables, who makes albums of “cataclysmic honesty and welcoming tonal embraces” that place companionship at a premium.
Stables will be accompanied in her experimental folk quartet by bass player Rozi Plain, drummer Jamie Whitby-Coles and guitarist Neil Smith, as she was at The Citadel, the former Salvation Army HQ in Gillygate, York, in November 2021. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com/events.
Mandi Grant: Launching There Are Places To Remember exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Art preview of the week: Mandi Grant, There Are Places To Remember, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, August 28, 6pm to 9pm
BE among the first to see South Bank Studios artist Mandi Grant’s new collection There Are Places I Remember on the bakery walls in Acomb. On show will be lyrical paintings of shapes, colour and textures in a combination of oil, acrylic and wax techniques.
Wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served. Tickets are free but please register to attend at eventbrite.com/e/mandi-grant-art-preview-evening-tickets-1515431479349?aff=oddtdtcreator. Mandi’s exhibition will run until October 23.
Jake Xerxes Fussell: American folklorist singer, guitarist and songwriter at the NCEM
American folk music for anxious times: Jake Xerxes Fussell, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 3, 7.30pm
PLEASE Please You & Brudenell Presents promote the York debut of North Carolina singer, guitar picker and composer Jake Xerxes Fussell, whose intuitive creative process draws from traditional music and archival field recordings, incorporating elements of Southern folk song and blues into new works for the anxious modern world.
Folklorist Fussell released his fifth album, When I’m Called, last summer as his first on Fat Possum Records. He teamed up again with producer James Elkington to write and record music for Max Walker-Silverman’s feature film Rebuilding, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Christmas cheer: Anton Du Beke to return to York Barbican with festive friends
Show announcement of the week: Anton Du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 21, 5pm. Also Royal Hall, Harrogate, December 1, 7.30pm, and St George’s Hall, Bradford, December 17, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke will return to York Barbican with his festive show, Christmas with Anton & Friends, whose debut tour visited York on December 10 last year. Anton, 59, will be joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers to create an evening of song and dance with added Christmas dazzle, concluding with a big medley.
“I loved doing the shows so much last year – they were simply magical – so I genuinely can’t wait to get on the road and do it all again,” says the King of the Ballroom. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Bradford, bradford-theatres.co.uk.
Harry Summers’ Reverend Planter and Stuart Lindsay’s Doug O’Graves in York Shakespeare Project’s Sonnets In Bloom at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York. All pictures: John Saunders
SONNETS In Bloom 2025 is the ninth iteration of York Shakespeare Project’s summer sonnet celebration. Make that Sonnets In Full Bloom at the flower fete in the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where the emphasis is on the new.
New director, Josie Connor; new scenario writer Natalie Roe; nine debutants among the 12 sonneteers; seven Shakespeare sonnets making their YSP bow among the 13 featured here.
Welcomed with a complimentary drink, the audience takes its place on benches and seats arranged in circular fashion around the churchyard, to the muffled accompaniment of evening street sounds from Goodramgate’s restaurants and bars.
Oliver Taylor’s broken-hearted forager Arti Choke
YSP’s Sonnets have taken myriad forms: sonnet walks around the city centre and Dean’s Park; sit-down sonnets under Covid social distancing; sonnets in the Bar Convent gardens. Holy Trinity, favourite York church of the loved-up Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister, has been a regular host, and this time war, more than love, is in the air.
More specifically, an alternative version of the war of the roses breaks out among the competitors in a fractious regional leg of Summer In Bloom. Given the profusion of puns among Roe’s humorous character names, perhaps it could be renamed Punfight At The OK Floral. Hoe hoe.
First of those horticultural names is the cactus-loving Reverend Planter (Sonnets’ debutant Harry Summers in genial mood), who will oversee the “arrival of participants with their prized entries, some more competitive than others. But where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?” All in good time, all in good time, although all will be revealed within a fast-moving hour.
Difference of opinion: Tom Langley’s Ally Lottment, left, and Benjamin Rowley’s Pete Shoveller clash in Sonnets In Bloom
Under YSP’s format, each colourful character will move seamlessly from amusing introductory scene/mood/motive-setting chatter – either with a fellow character or breaking down theatre’s fourth wall in direct address to Rev Planter’s flock – to performing an apt sonnet from Shakespeare’s repertoire of 154. In the vicar’s case, “When I Consider Everything That Grows”.
The sonnets, the characters, the names, keep a’coming. Next, James Tyler’s Tom Martow, proud Yorkshire marrow connoisseur (“to marrow, and to marrow, and to marrow”). Then Stuart Lindsay’s gravely serious Scottish sexton Doug O’Grafves, dour digger of depths and confirmed misanthropist.
Next comes the interplay of returnee Grace Scott’s May Blooms, fantastic flower arranger and generational rose grower; Lily Geering’s Lily White, unfailing friend to May; Benjamin Rowley’s Pete Shoveller, poet and patient but tongue-tied pursuer of Lily, and Sonnets returnee Emilie Knight’s Rose Thorn, May’s ruthless rival. Annie Dunbar’s Blossom Springs, conscience-stricken apprentice to Rose, becomes entangled in the floral furore too.
Tipsy-topsy-turvy encounter with wine: Xandra Logan’s Inny Briation
Bubbling away is the intrigue of the appearance/non-appearance of Stuart Green’s Freddie Firm-Carrot, celebratory gardening superstar. In a running joke, Tom Langley’s Ally Lottment, disdainful PA to Firm-Carrot, keeps being mistaken for his absent boss, before Firm-Carrot turns up at last, his lack of interest in his brief for the day indicated by calling Goodramgate “Goodramsgate”.
Debutant Oliver Taylor catches the eye with his lovelorn Arti Choke, kitchen warlock and broken-hearted forager, while returnee Xandra Logan makes the most of the boozed-up indiscretions of Inny Briation, home winemaker and anywhere, anytime wine-drinker.
Connor directs with momentum and a sense of mischief, matching the fun in Roe’s script, and fittingly the whole cast assembles for the final sonnet, delivering one line each of “That Time Of Year Thou May’st In Me Behold”, book-ended by a joint first and last line in a communal floral finale.
Celebrity selfie: Grace Scott’s May Blooms with Stuart Green’s gardening superstar Freddie Firm-Carrot
Coming next from YSP after this summer’s display of flower power will be Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, “the play that outsold Shakespeare”, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 22 to 25 (box office, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, tonight, 6pm and 7.30pm; tomorrow, 4.30pm, 6pm and 7.30pm.
