YORK’S Queen of Burlesque, Freida Nipples, returns to Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight for Baps and Buns Burlesque at 7pm.
She will be joined by cabaret artists, from drag queens to acrobats, for a fun night of debauchery and glamour in Acomb, hosted by Freida, who has run shows at York Theatre Royal, The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse and Impossible York over the past six years. and more.
“The big question is, are you ready for it?” she teases. Tickets include a welcome drink on arrival, with a non-alcoholic option available. For tickets, go to: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Ghosts In The Garden: Returning for fourth season with more locations and more wire-mesh ghosts
GARDEN ghosts, Yorkshire landscapes, campsite class division, awful auntie antics and ridiculous improv comedy herald the arrival of the arts autumn for Charles Hutchinson.
Installation of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, haunting York until November 5
GHOSTS In The Gardens returns with 45 ghosts, inspired by York’s past, for visitors to discover in the city’s public gardens and green spaces, with the Bar walls, St Olave’s Church and York Railway Station among the new locations.
Organiser York BID has partnered with design agency Unconventional Design for the fourth year to create the semi-translucent 3D sculptures out of narrow-gauge wire mesh, six of them new for 2024. Pick up the map for this free event from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street and head to https://www.theyorkbid.com/ghosts-in-the-gardens/ for full details.
Rievaulx Abbey, mixed media, by Robert Dutton in A Yorkshire Year at Nunnington Hall
Exhibition of the week: A Yorkshire Year, Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, until December 5
THE changing landscape of the Yorkshire countryside and coastline is captured by Yorkshire artists Robert Dutton, from Nunnington, and Andrew Moodie, from Harrogate, in a diverse collection of seasonal images at the National Trust house.
Dutton presents a dramatic interpretation of the untamed expanses of Yorkshire, from meandering freshwater rivers and hidden woodlands to the stark beauty of the moors. Moodie directs his attention to the undulating valleys of the Yorkshire Dales, as well as coastal villages. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission prices apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall
Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch
Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Harrogate Theatre, until Saturday; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 9 and 10; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 13 to 16
WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they were expecting four days of hill running and total de-stress. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.
The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta and Annie Cordoni’s Stella in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet
Children’s show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, today to Sunday
CHILDREN’S author David Walliams and Birmingham Stage Company team up for the fourth time. After adaptations of Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, here comes actor-manager Neal Foster’s stage account of Awful Auntie.
As Stella (Annie Cordoni ) sets off to visit London with her parents, she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, not everything Aunt Alberta (Foster) tells her turns out to be true. She quickly discovers she is in for the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie! Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The Halls Of Ridiculous: Spinning their improv comedy at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Scott Akoz
Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Club presents The Halls Of Ridiculous, Cal Halbert and Tony Cowards, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
NORTHERN comedy The Halls Of Ridiculous, namely Chris Lumb (from BBC Three’s Russell Howard’s Good News) and Phil Allan-Smith (from BBC One’s This Is My House), push the boundaries of improv, sketch and character creativity with their quick-thinking scenes, zany special guests and quirky approach to performance.
Cal Halbert is one half of The Mimic Men, the UK’s only impressionist double act; host Tony Cowards is a rapid-fire gag merchant with an arsenal of one-liners, delivered by a likeable everyman character. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Just Us And A Piano: 1812 Theatre Company singers stage two fundraisers for Helmsley Arts Centre
Fundraising musical theatre concert of the week: 1812 Theatre Company, Just Us And A Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm
SINGER Julie Lomas and pianist Neil Bell bring together a grand piano and an ensemble 1812 Theatre Company singers to celebrate the world of musical theatre, from the Broadway classics of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers, through to Cabaret, Wicked, My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Hamilton and the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Singers Amy Gregory, Esme Schofield, Florrie Stockbridge, Joe Gregory, Julie Lomas, Kristian Gregory, Natasha Jones, Oliver Clive and Phye Bell will be raising funds for Helmsley Arts Centre. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Honey & The Bear: Tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people and a passion for nature at Milton Rooms, Malton
Ten Year Anniversary Tour: Honey & The Bear, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm
BRITISH folk and roots duo Jon Hart (guitar, bass and bouzouki) and Lucy Hart (guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo, mandolin and percussion) are joined by guests Evan Carson (percussion) and Archie Churchill-Moss (melodeon).
Conjuring stories in song, Honey & The Bear tell tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people they admire and their passion for nature, as heard on third album Away Beyond The Fret, released last November. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Josh Widdicombe: Taking stock of the little things that niggle him in Not My Cup Of Tea
Gig announcement of the week: Josh Widdicombe, Not My Cup Of Tea Tour, Hull City Hall, October 2 2025, and York Barbican, February 28 2026
PARENTING Hell podcaster and comedian Josh Widdicombe, droll observer of the absurd side of the mundane, will take stock of the little things that niggle him, from motorway hotels to children’s parties, and explain why he has finally decided to embrace middle age, hot drinks and doing the school run in his 58-date tour show, Not My Cup Of Tea.
“That’s my favourite type of stand-up: really niche observations about silly little things that you wouldn’t think about. I’ve got no interest in the big topics.” Box office: joshwiddicombe.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk; hulltheatres.co.uk.
Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in York Theatre Royal’s production of Little Women. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
GARDEN ghosts, a coming-of-age classic, a political groundbreaker, astronaut insights and an awful aunt stir Charles Hutchinson into action as autumn makes its entry.
Play opening of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, September 21 to October 12
CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s repertory cast in Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.
Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Steve Wynn: A night of stories and songs at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb. Picture: Guy Kokken
York gig of the week: Steve Wynn, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True: A Night Of Songs And Stories, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, September 21, 7.30pm
STEVE Wynn, founder and leader of Californian alt. rock band The Dream Syndicate, promotes his first solo album since 2010, Make It Right (Fire Records), and his new memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (Jawbone Press), both released on August 30.
Touring the UK solo for the first time in more than ten years, his one-man show blends songs from and inspired by the book with a narrative structure of readings and storytelling. Expect evergreens and rarities from The Dream Syndicate’s catalogue, coupled with illuminating covers and reflective numbers from the new record. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Ghosts In The Garden: Returning for fourth season with more locations and more wire-mesh ghosts. Picture: Gareth Buddo/Andy Little
Installation of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, haunting York until November 5
GHOSTS In The Gardens returns with 45 ghosts, inspired by York’s past, for visitors to discover in the city’s public gardens and green spaces, with the Bar walls, St Olave’s Church and York Railway Station among the new locations.
Organiser York BID has partnered with design agency Unconventional Design for the fourth year to create the semi-translucent 3D sculptures out of narrow-gauge wire mesh, six of them new for 2024. Pick up the map for this free event from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street and head to https://www.theyorkbid.com/ghosts-in-the-gardens/ for full details
Points Of View, stainless steel, by Tony Cragg, at Castle Howard. Picture: Nick Howard
Last chance to see: Tony Cragg’s Sculptures, Castle Howard, near York, ends September 22
TONY Cragg’s sculptures, the first major exhibition by a leading contemporary artist to be held in the grounds and house at Castle Howard, closes on Sunday after a successful run since May 3 that has seen a 12 per cent rise in visitor numbers since the equivalent period last year.
On show are large-scale bronze sculptures in the gardens plus works in wood, glass sculptures and works on paper, some being displayed for the first time in Great Britain. Opening hours: grounds, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm; house, 10am to 3pm. Tickets: 01653 648333 or castlehoward.co.uk.
Making her point: Lauren Robinson as politician Jennie Lee in Mikron Theatre’s premiere of Jennie Lee. Picture: Robling Photography
Political drama of the week: Mikron Theatre Company in Jennie Lee, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, September 22, 4pm to 6pm
IN Marsden company Mikron Theatre’s premiere of Jennie Lee, Lindsay Rodden charts the extraordinary life of the radical Scottish politician, Westminster’s youngest MP, so young that, as a woman in 1929, she could not even vote for herself.
Tenacious, bold and rebellious, Lee left her coal-mining family in Scotland and fought with her every breath for the betterment of all lives, for wages, health and housing, and for art and education too, as the first Minister for the Arts and founder of the Open University. She was the wife of NHS founder Nye Bevan, but Jennie is no footnote in someone else’s past. Box office: mikron.org.uk/show/jennie-lee-clements-hall.
Crime novelists Ajay Chowdhury, left, and Luca Veste team up for The Big Read in York and Harrogate on Monday
Book event of the week: Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival presents The Big Read, Acomb Explore Library, York, September 23, 12.30pm to 1.30pm; The Harrogate Inn, Harrogate, September 23, 2.30pm to 3.30pm
THE North’s biggest book club, The Big Read, returns next week with visits to York and Harrogate on the first day, when visitors can meet the festival’s reader-in-residence, Luca Veste, and fellow novelist Ajay Chowdhury, who will discuss Chowdhury’s Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year, The Detective.
More than 1,000 free copies of tech entrepreneur, writer and theatre director Ajay Chowdhury’s 2023 novel from his Detective Kamil Rahman series will be distributed across the participating libraries. Entry is free.
Astronaut Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican
Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm
BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage to share stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.
From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of space flight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta and Annie Cordoni’s Stella in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet
Children’s show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, September 26 to 29
CHILDREN’S author David Walliams and Birmingham Stage Company team up for the fourth time. Ater adaptations of Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, here comes actor-manager Neal Foster’s stage account of Awful Auntie.
As Stella (Annie Cordoni ) sets off to visit London with her parents, she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, not everything Aunt Alberta (Foster) tells her turns out to be true. She quickly discovers she is in for the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie! Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Annie Cordoni’s Stella and Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie. Picture: Mark Douet
AFTER directing Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, Neal Foster is at the helm of his fourth David Walliams stage adaptation and playing the lead too for the first time in Awful Auntie.
As with the previous three children’s plays, and indeed myriad Horrible Histories shows too, Birmingham Stage Company is heading for York, playing the Grand Opera House from today (26/9/2024) to Sunday.
“It’s been ten years since we started working with David, and we’ve done four of his books now,” says Neal, long-standing actor-manager, director and writer/adaptor for the Birmingham company.
“He’s been a brilliant person to work with, so generous, so interested; he’ll do anything to help; he’s there at rehearsals, he’s there on opening night. He looks at my scripts with a really helpful professional colleague’s eye, and it’s been a wonderful ten years.”
Neal continues: “I think he has always appreciated how we capture the tone of his work and how we understand how comedy works on stage. I’ll send him drafts and he’ll send notes. I think it works because I get his humour and I knew it would work on stage from the moment I read the books.”
“We’re both fans of Roald Dahl and heavily influenced by him, and Birmingham Stage Company has done more Dahl shows than any other companies in the world.”
Awful Auntie novelist David Walliams. Picture: Charlie Clift
One David Walliams story had been adapted by another company before the Birmingham bond was forged. “He had not been entirely happy with that show and thought maybe it was not the right road to go down again. When we approached him, he liked our track record with the Horrible Histories shows, and that gave him the confidence to run with us.
“Gangsta Granny was then so successful that David was happy to put his books in our hands and has been delighted with the work we’ve done. The stories are very funny, he has a fantastic, wicked sense of humour, but there’s always something important going on in the stories too. It’s no surprise that you will see adults with tears in their eyes at the end because he writes in that way.
“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do them, and why they work so well on stage is that David is a performer too and so the stories are naturally theatrical.”
Awful Auntie sends Stella to London with her parents, but she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, only her Aunt Alberta (Foster’s role) can tell her what has happened, but not everything Alberta says turns out to be true, whereupon Stella discovers she is infor the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie.
Neal is savouring playing Aunt Alberta. “I’ve been doing it since March,” he says. “One of the first shows I did with Birmingham Stage Company was Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine, where I played Grandma, one of my favourite parts, and there’s a resonance with that role in Alberta because she too loves being wicked and naughty.
“In the end, Grandma was just rather nasty, but in this one, Alberta turns out to be a serial killer, probably psychopathic, but what makes it so wonderful is that she’s not just wicked but very funny too.
Neal Foster: Birmingham Stage Company actor-manager, director and adaptor, now playing Aunt Alberta in Awful Auntie, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
“It’s a great privilege to play one of David’s leads, having adapted and directed the previous shows. It’s been a great joy to play a part this time, knowing I could do it, and though it would be hard to pull it off, I knew it would lend itself to being played by a man, applying the strength of a man, because Alberta is quite brutal.”
Neal “loves the science of comedy in making it work”. “David’s tone is like Chekhov’s comedies: it makes audiences laugh and cry, where you feel sad at some parts, laughing at the characters but at the same time sympathising with them,” he says.
“Here Aunt Alberta is very funny but menacing. She’s entertaining; she’s dangerous, but she’s NOT terrifying. Menacing, yes, but at the same time David is providing children with an adventure.”
That is the key to Birmingham Stage Company welcoming children as young as five to Awful Auntie. “With all those wicked characters in Roald Dahl’s work, for example, we wouldn’t give them thatlabel, but they probably are psychopathic,” he says.
“When you’re playing Alberta, you realise she doesn’t seem to care and is lethal in what she does, having her psychopathic responses, but it’s not something young audiences need to know, whereas as an actor you’re aware that she’s basically an absolute nutter!”
Birmingham Stage Company in David Walliams’s Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, today, 6.30pm; Friday, 10.30am and 6.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 6.30pm; Sunday, 11am. Age guidance: Five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
“Marmee is a really fascinating character to play,” says Kate Hampson of her role in Little Women. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
YORK actress Kate Hampson returns to the York Theatre Royal stage on Saturday for the first time since her title role in the August 2022 community play The Coppergate Woman.
She will play Marmee, mother to the March girls, in creative director Juliet Forster’s repertory production of Anne-Marie Casey’s re-telling of Louisa May Alcott’s cherished American novel Little Women, presented in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
She is joined in this coming-of-age story of growing up in New England during the American Civil War by This Town star Freya Parks as headstrong daughter Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and fellow returnee York actress Laura Soper as piano-playing Beth.
“It’s been a really challenging but joyful rehearsal period, working with Juliet again, and I can’t wait to play it to audiences – and I get to walk to work each day!” says Kate in a lunchtime break. “The cast are all fantastic, each bringing something new and unique to their roles. We’re all getting on really well, working with voice coach Yvonne Morley to get the accent right and united, because it’s not only a different [American] accent but an accent from a different time, and we have to sound related to each other.”
Describing Marmee’s matriarchal role, Kate says: “What’s really striking is that for most of the play, she’s a single mother, and that’s a hard task. She’s presented as wholesome and deeply loving, caring for each child equally, encouraging each of them to achieve their full potential, but she’s also Victorian, stiffer, more formal, than today.
“There’s a softness to her but there’s also that Victorian formality, which was the behaviour of the time. So you can’t go too gentle and soft in the role, even though she’s a great mum. It’s the way she gives them their autonomy that’s beautiful to watch. She lets her daughters make up their own minds, not collectively, but individually, seeing them as each being very different with very different needs.”
Kate continues: “Marmee is a really fascinating character to play. She’s a challenge because she’s often portrayed as this warm, kind woman, full of wisdom, the perfect mother, and to some extent she is that, but she’s multi-faceted, and I’m keen to explore that, especially in her relationship with Jo. Like when Jo says, ‘I have this rage’, and Marmee says, ‘I had this rage too and I had to learn to suppress it’.
“She’s very pragmatic, she knows the limitations, and yet she wants her daughters to ‘dream big’, but she had that rage and sadness that she couldn’t do the things she wanted to do. She is both very loving and good at imparting knowledge, getting her daughters to solve their problems themselves, rather than spoon-feeding them.”
Kate has enjoyed shaping her interpretation of Marmee’s role in the rehearsal room. “You get this thing with character development where you start in one place, take it to another place, and then you have to bring it back to what feels the right place, pulling it back by thinking ‘would I be standing like this?’ or ‘would I be so affectionate at this point?’,” says Kate.
“It’s lovely to have had the time to do that, and I feel that on the first night, it’ll be where I want it to be, but characters always develop further in the run, when you find new things and the relationships develop too.”
Reflecting on the abiding popularity of Louisa Alcott’s story, Kate says: “I think she was so progressive as a writer. You only have to look at her own life, how she lived it, her relationship with her parents. She was progressive, she was feminist and she was brave.
“People can still identify with that. There are still the same issues on life’s journey; the ups and downs of family relationships in that world still prevail. There’s also the challenge to modern audiences, where they have to think: how can we continue to strive to be better and strive for more equality, especially in societies where there is still none. Both remain relevant goals, because it’s not finished, it’s not done.”
Urging York audiences to attend Little Women, Kate says: “Come and sit in a beautiful space and be entertained by a classic play told in a new way. You want people to enjoy it but to go away with questions to answer because the story still resonates.
“It deals with universal themes of family, love and loyalty, the good times and the bad times, so though it’s historical, you can make it relevant to today, resonating with the experiences we have to deal with or might yet have to face.”
Little Women, York Theatre Royal, September 21 to October 12. Performances: 7.30pm, September 21, 24 to 28, October 1, 3, 5 and 8 to 12; 2pm, September 25 and 26, October 2, 3 and 10; 2.30pm, September 28, October 5 and 12; 6.30pm, October 4 and 7, and 7pm, October 2 (fundraising gala). Post-show discussion: October 11. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
* The special fundraising gala performance on October 2 will raise vital funds for York Theatre Royal’s continued work as a producing theatre and for the development of future community projects.
Lauren Robinson in the role of Labour MP Jennie Lee in MIkron Theatre’s world premiere of Lindsay Rodden’s Jennie Lee. Picture: Robling Photography
JENNIE LEE is “the radical MP you have never heard of”, until you venture out to Mikron Theatre Company’s world premiere of Lindsay Rodden’s play at Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, on Sunday afternoon.
Marianne McNamara directs a cast of actor-musicians Eddie Ahrens and Marsden company debutants Georgina Liley, Lauren Robinson, and Mark Emmons in Jennie Lee, a play with original songs, wherein writer-lyricist Rodden charts the extraordinary life of the groundbreaking Scottish politician, Westminster’s youngest MP at 24, so young that, as a woman aged under 30 in 1929, she could not even vote herself.
Tenacious, bold and rebellious, Lee left her coal-mining family in Cowdenbeath and fought with her every breath as the Labour MP for North Lanarkshire for the betterment of all lives, for wages, health and housing, and for art and education too, as the first Minister for the Arts and founder of the Open University. Oh, and she was the wife of NHS founder Nye Bevan, but Jennie is no footnote in someone else’s past.
Alongside this formidable couple, Sunday’s audiences will meet Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and a whole host of other characters in a typically entertaining, enlightening and educational show by Mikron, peppered with songs by Sonum Batra in the music hall and Twenties’ Flappers style.
Jennie Lee: Labour MP for North Lanarkshire at 24. Picture: Open University Archive
Introducing her premiere, Lindsay Rodden says: “When I first decided to find out about the remarkable life of Jennie Lee, I knew very little about her. I knew about her commitment to bettering the lives of her class, how striking and fascinating she seemed, and that she was usually known, if she was known at all, as the wife of Aneurin Bevan.
“What I didn’t know then was that this daughter of a coalminer, who became an MP at an age when, as a woman, she couldn’t even vote herself, lived a long and fascinating life, bore witness to all the horror and pride of the 20th century, and made history herself.”
Lindsay continues: “Her life was full of drama and theatre, and I knew I had to put it on the stage. In fact, I could have written three plays from her 88 years of struggle and triumph, and telling her story with a cast of just four – luckily supremely talented! – actors has been quite the challenge.
“Jennie faced down Churchill in the Commons on her first appearance, she travelled all over the world, and she gave us the Arts Council and the Open University as we know them. She was clever, erudite, stylish and funny, stubborn and sharp too. I wish I had known her. Putting her on the stage is the next best thing.”
Jennie Lee playwright Lindsay Rodden
Lindsay was delighted to be invited to write a second play for Mikron after her evocation of the wild and wonderful world of the weather, Red Sky At Night, toured nationwide in 2022.
“It was about six months after the tour that Marianne and I were talking about ideas for the future, and I said I’d love to do another play but with a different approach as one of the things that Mikron is really good at is shining a light on the corners of history that have been ignored,” she says.
Jennie Lee would be that subject, by chance coinciding with Tim Price’s premiere of Nye, the story of Nye Bevan’s dream of the NHS, at the National Theatre, London. “And apparently there’s also going to be another play about Jennie Lee in Scotland towards the end of the year [Matthew Knights’ Jennie Lee: Tomorrow Is A New Day, produced by Knights Theatre]. It’s fantastic that she’s featuring in three plays in one year – and about time too. Her life was so long and so eventful, she really needs three plays to even scratch the surface.”
Mikron is a suitable vehicle for telling Jennie’s story, she says. “There’s something about the Mikron performance style that realty lends itself to leaping on this rollercoaster ride through 80 years, the incredible unfolding of the 20th century, with such zip and music too.
Mikron Theatre Company’s cast of Eddie Ahrens, Georgina Liley, Lauren Robinson and Mark Emmons in Jennie Lee. Picture: Robling Photography
“But there’s no way we could tell every aspect of her life, but one thing I decided not to do was concentrate on her relationship with Nye – they married when she was 24 and he was 31 – though he is in the play.”
Lindsay notes how Jennie was encouraged to become involved in politics through her education. “Her parents decided to set her free from housework and the kitchen to go to university, so that nurturing of her mind began very early on. I could see where the roots everything she achieved came from.
“She grew up with poverty all around her, seeing the treatment of women around her, the terrible health problems that arose from that and the terrible difficulties in finding medicine to deal with those problems. We should all be proud of what Jennie achieved for better health and education.”
Mikron Theatre Company in Jennie Lee, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, Sunday, 4pm to 6pm. Box office: mikron.org.uk/show/jennie-lee-clements-hall.
John Hegley: Two poetry peformances at Helmsley Literary Festival. Picture: Jackie di Stefano
HELMSLEY Literary Festival leads off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations to fill the cultural diary, joined by drag, folk and blues acts and an American coming-of-age classic.
Festival of the week highlight: Helmsley Literary Festival, Helmsley Arts Centre, John Hegley, New & Selected Potatoes, Saturday, 7pm to 8pm; I Am A Poetato, Sunday, 11am to 12 noon
POET, comic, singer, songwriter and spectacles wearer John Hegley heads to Helmsley with two shows, the first being his seriously funny, cleverly comic “best of golden oldies compilation with some new stuff” about love, family, France, art, the sea, dogs, dads, gods, taxidermy, carrots, glasses and…potatoes.
Second gig I Am A Poetato features An A-Z of Poems about People, Pets and other Creatures! Spelling it out for Helmsley, he promises Hedgehogs. Elephants. Laughing. Mandolin. Singing. Luton. Even a cardboard camel with moving parts. Yo! For full details of two days of talks, signings, readings, open mic and a quiz, with Hegley, Anne Fine, Joanne Harris, Harriet Constable and The Chase’s Paul Sinha, visit helmsleyarts.co.uk. Box office: 01439 771700.
Bianca Del Rio: Discussing politics, pop culture and political correctness at York Barbican
Drag show of the week: Bianca Del Rio, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
COMEDY drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio heads to York on her 11-date stand-up tour. Up for irreverent discussion will be politics, pop culture, political correctness, current events, cancel culture and everyday life, as observed through the eyes of a “clown in the gown”, who will be “coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I’m still dead inside”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ryan Adams: Heading back to York Barbican on Friday
Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm
NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Harp & A Monkey: Songs of everyday life, love and remembrance at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Folk gig of the week: Friday Folk presents Harp & A Monkey, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
GREATER Manchester song-and-storytelling trio Harp & A Monkey specialise in poignant, uplifting and melodic short stories, both original and traditional, about everyday life, love and remembrance. In a nutshell, the extraordinary ordinary, from cuckolded molecatchers and a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli to care in the community, medieval pilgrims and Victorian bare-knuckle boxers.
This versatile collective of artists, animators, storytellers and multi-instrumentalists has undertaken bespoke songwriting for soundtrack, film and art projects for the likes of Sky Arts and the Department of Sport, Media and Culture. Fylingdales Folk Choir will perform too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
York actress Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Play of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to October 12
CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s new production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.
Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Seedling, by Sarah Sharpe, on show in Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th anniversary show at Blossom Street Gallery
Exhibition of the week: Leeds Fine Artists Celebrating 150 Years, Blossom Street Gallery, York, until October 31
LEEDS Fine Artists is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition at its regular York host, Blossom Street Gallery, featuring an inspirational collection of work demonstrating a wide range of styles and different media.
Taking part are: Sharron Astbury-Petit; Dawn Broughton; Jane Burgess; Mark Butler; Pete Donnelly; Alison Flowers; Roger Gardner; Margarita Godgelf; Dan Harnett; Peter Heaton; Nicholas Jagger; Michael Curgenven; Catherine Morris; Martin Pearson; Clare Phelan; Trevor Pittaway; Neil Pittaway; Annie Robinson; Annie Roche; Sarah Sharpe and John Sherwood. Opening hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.
Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican
Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm
BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage with his stellar new show, sharing the collected stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.
From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of spaceflight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Lightning Threads: Showcasing their debut album, Off That Lonely Road, at Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 26, 8pm
SHEFFIELD blues-rock trio Lightning Threads are influenced by the great rock musicians of another time, drawing comparisons with The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors.
Tom Jane, guitar and vocals, Sam Burgum, bass and vocals, and Hugh Butler, drums and keyboards, have been nominated for Best Album in the 2024 Blues Awards for their November 2023 debut, Off That Lonely Road, recorded with Andrew Banfield, of Superfly Studios, and graced by Kelly Michaeli’s gospel vocals. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Finn East’s Dewey Finn: Reasserting his golden talent to amuse. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg
AS the new school year settles its feet under the table, School Of Rock opens for alternative lessons in life: music to the ears of anyone who believes that education should add up to more than Rishi Sunak’s vision of compulsory Maths to the age of 18.
After John Godber’s Teechers and Willy Russell’s Our Day Out both espoused the value of looking outside the box to stimulate children’s minds and actions, a more innocent force does so in School Of Rock in the idiot-savant form of Dewey Finn (Finn East).
Kicked out of his band, this failed rock-god guitarist is now in danger of being booted out of best mate Ned Schneebly’s (James Robert Ball) flat for pushing his freeloading beyond the tolerance of Ned’s insufferable, controlling partner Patty Di Marco (a suitably shrill and shrewish Amy Barrett).
Down but not yet out, he pretends to be teacher Ned to take up a substitute teacher’s post at posh and proper prep school Horace Green, immediately jettisoning Maths, tests and gold stars for lessons in the history of rock. Heavy rock, hard rock, not the swiftly dismissed Taylor Swift and Kanye.
Dewey is committing identity fraud, but he has a rebellious charm, the cheeky big kid within him encouraging his young charges to express themselves, all the more so in the hands of Finn East, who may have shades of Jack Black (from Richard Linklater’s 2003 film) in his performance but bags of personality of his own making, built on his instinctive comic timing and irrepressible stage presence.
He just happens to be a cracking rock singer too, and these are big, big rock songs, challenging to sing in the compositions of Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock.
Crucial too, in the guise of Dewey, is his interaction, his easy connection with the multitude of children that makes up the Next Generation of the title: led by the supremely talented young band of Charlie Jewison’s knee-slide guitarist Zack Mooneyham, Daniel Tomlin’s geeky keyboard wizard Lawrence Turner, Zack Denison’s all-action drummer Freddie Hamilton and Matilda Park’s ace “bass face” Katie Travis (Park having mastered bass in a matter of weeks).
Plenty of children’s roles add to the joy in Julian “Downton Abbey” Fellowes’ ebullient script (rooted in Mike White’s screenplay), from Theo Rae’s fashion-fixated Billy Sandford to Molly Thorne’s bossy Summer Hathaway and Eady Mensah’s shy Tomika, from Team Gibson (with performances being shared with Team Fender, the names referring to makes of guitar).
Adults tend to play second fiddle, except for Megan Waite’s operatic-voiced head teacher, Rosalie Mullins, so repressed and orderly until Dewey brings out the Stevie Nicks butterfly from her dowdy chrysalis, and Dewey’s flatmates, Barrett’s ever-exasperated Patty and Ball’s Ned, a bundle of nerdy nerves that craves release in reconnecting with his past. Look out too for late replacement Flo Poskitt’s comical cameos as Ms Sheinkopf and Mrs Sandford.
School Of Rock is described as “technically challenging”, partly on account of having two bands, not only the burgeoning young players but musical director Stephen Hackshaw’s band that plays in the theatre boxes, rather than the pit, at one point stepping forward to watch the young’uns in the climactic Battle of the Bands.
The first night is not without technical hitches in the sound balance, but these are ironed out quickly, and in every way this is a show with high production values, from Nik Briggs’s direction, bringing out such confident, expressive, energetic performances in his next generation, to Danielle Mullan-Hill in her rock choreography, peaking with Stick It To The Man.
Lighting designer Adam Moore and sound designer Ian Thomson evoke the atmosphere of a rock gig, the lighting rig absolutely looking the part, topped off by fireworks fizzing at the finale. Briggs’s set and costume design rock, and Phoebe Kilvington’s hair and make-up is the icing on the cake.
The accents are uniformly spot on too in this all-American celebration of music, friendship and the power of self-expression, where the young cast all deserves gold stars and Finn East reasserts his golden talent to amuse.
York Stage presents School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
York Beethoven Project: Reassembling today to workshop and play Symphony No. 3, Eroica
A BIG orchestra, a psychedelic inflatable crab, veteran singers, a blues troubadour and a Spanish guitarist rub shoulders in Charles Hutchinson’s cultural diary.
Groundbreaking concert of the week: York Beethoven Project, An Evening of Revolutionary Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 7.30pm
TODAY’S York Beethoven Project Come and Play workshop day climaxes with tonight’s performance of Beethoven’s No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55: Eroica in the project’s first pubic concert. The 40-piece orchestra will be the biggest ever to play the JoRo.
In addition, The White Rose Singers will be performing revolutionary musical theatre songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Carousel, James Robert Brown and more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at work in Peashom Park for his Jason Beside The Sea exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, today until January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm.
LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.
Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.
How long ago? Paul Carrack celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first hit at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury
Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm
IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he wrote How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.
“‘How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.” His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
David Essex: Career-spanning concert at York Barbican
Rocking on: David Essex, York Barbican, September 17, doors 7pm
PLAISTOW singer, composer and actor David Essex, 77, plays York on his 20-date British tour, his first since 2022. His set list will span his entire repertoire, drawing on his 23 Top 30 hits and a career that has taken in playing Jesus in Godspell, Che in Evita, That’ll Be The Day, Silver Dream Machine and his own musicals Mutiny! And All The Fun Of The Fair.
The likes of Rock On, Lamplight, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You A Star, A Winter’s Tale and Oh, What A Circus will surely feature. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Charlie Parr: Showcasing blues and folk songs of community and communing with nature at Pocklington Arts Centre
Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm
RAISED in Austin, Texas, and now living in the Lake Superior port town of Duluth, folk troubadour and bluesman poet Charlie Parr has recorded 19 albums since 2002, this year releasing Little Sun, full of stories celebrating music, community, and communing with nature.
Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the songs of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Iago Banet: Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist plays solo in Helmsley. Picture: Sue Rainbow
Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm
IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.
Featured on BCC Radio 2’s The Blues Show With Cerys Matthews, this solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist has played such festivals as Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz, displaying skill, complexity and versatility in his fusion of gypsy jazz, blues, Americana, country, Dixieland, swing, pop and folk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Ryans Adams: Heading back to York Barbican
Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, September 20, doors 7pm
NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Setting up camp: Julian Clary extends his western-themed tour into 2025. Harrogate and York await
Show announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm
JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”
Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.
In Focus: Rehearsed reading of Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Sunday, 3pm
The Stephen Joseph Theatre artwork for Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention
THE first ever public performance of the AI-futuristic Father Of Invention, written by Alan Ayckbourn in lockdown, will be given in a fundraising rehearsed reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough on Sunday (15/9/2024) at 3pm.
Ayckbourn directs a cast of Bill Champion, Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall from his 90th play, Show & Tell, joined by Ayckbourn alumni Liza Goddard, Elizabeth Boag, Laurence Pears and Naomi Petersen. This will be the first time the Scarborough writer-director, 85, has heard the work read aloud.
“Take a look at their rollcall of Ayckbourn-written-and-directed shows – we reckon they’ve racked up an impressive 39 between them,” says SJT press officer Jeannie Swales. “We haven’t counted last year’s reading of Truth Will Out, only shows that had a full production either here at the SJT or at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, including Show & Tell. Mind you, that’s still not quite half of the Ayckbourn canon of 90!”
One of a handful of dramas penned by Ayckbourn in the creative cocoon of his Scarborough home during the pandemic, Father Of Invention takes its title from its central character of technology magnate Lord Onsett, who has passed away.
“Lord Onsett was an entrepreneur who made billions from the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence,” says Sir Alan. “His company introduced the now ubiquitous Artificial Sentient Lifeforms, which carry out vast swathes of jobs for humanity from cleaning to security.
“His family are gathered to discuss how his enormous estate will be divided but as ever with Lord Onsett, there are a few surprises in store…”
Leading the gaggle of familiar faces will be “our old friend” Liza Goddard, who has appeared in Ayckbourn premieres of If I Were You, Snake In The Grass, Life & Beth, Communicating Doors, Life Of Riley and The Divide.
The omnipresent Bill Champion has roles in Comic Potential, Haunting Julia, GamePlan, FlatSpin, RolePlay, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Intimate Exchanges, Woman In Mind, Absurd Person Singular, Surprises, Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Henceforward…, No Knowing, By Jeeves, Season’s Greetings, The Girl Next Door, Welcome To The Family and now Show & Tell to his name.
Paul Kemp has made his mark in This Is Where We Came In, Drowning on Dry Land, Private Fears In Public Places, The Champion Of Paribanou, Woman In Mind, My Wonderful Day and The Divide, this summer adding Show & Tell to that list.
York actress Frances Marshall has appeared in premieres of A Brief History Of Women, Joking Apart, Season’s Greetings, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Elizabeth Boag in Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Roundelay, Confusions, Hero’s Welcome, The Divide, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Naomi Petersen in By Jeeves, Joking Apart, Better Off Dead, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, Haunting Julia, The Girl Next Door, Constant Companions and Truth Will Out.
All money raised from the rehearsed reading will go towards the SJT’s New Work Fund, helping the theatre to present new work on its two stages and to nurture new talent.
Ticket availability is “limited”. Hurry, hurry, to book on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Check mate: Paul Kemp’s Ben Wilkes, left, cowers as Bill Champion’s Jack Bothridge terminates their chess match in Show & Tell. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
IN the words of Alan Ayckbourn, “Show & Tell is about something which has preoccupied me for the last 60 years and probably more – theatre.”
In those years, the Scarborough writer-director has chalked up 90 plays – and still more are on their way. His SJT play for 2026 is written already and he is part way through 2027’s premiere too.
Play number 90, Show & Tell, is a “love letter to theatre”: the joy of theatre, the pleasure of writing and directing for Ayckourn at 85; the abiding delight for his audience in his abiding wit, social and cultural observation, foresight and insight, mischief-making and rug-pulling darker undercurrents.
Show & Tell is among his most playful in its celebration of the possibilities presented by ‘the play’ as an artform, here refracted through a backward glance at its back pages and his own too. A play full of play and full of plays, and indeed a play within a play.
All this is wrapped up in dark farce that “lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis,” as Sir Alan puts it. How much do we “show and tell”; how much do we conceal?
In this case, retired West Yorkshire managing director Jack Bothridge (grizzled, irascible Ayckbourn regular Bill Champion) has invited Homelight Theatre Company actor Peter Reeder (Richard Stacey) to the Bothridge family hall to tie up arrangements for a birthday party performance for his wife.
Unfortunately, belligerent Jack has no recollection of making any arrangements, mistaking the unnerved Peter Reeder for a meter reader. What’s more, Jack is not so much forgetful as in the incipient stages of dementia, in a hinterland between assertive clarity and confusion, as Ayckbourn exposes the misogyny, gruff bluntness, delusion and self-entitlement born of running a family business often on a capricious whim.
Champion is in terrific form here as a latter-day Lear, while Ayckbourn’s study of the generation that soils and spoils a family business is spot on in a nod to Ibsen and Arthur Miller. Look at Jack’s bullying treatment of Ben Wilkes (Paul Kemp), who ran his formal clothing department and is now his carer, outwardly as loyal as Lear’s Gloucester.
Writer-director Alan Ayckbourn in the Stephen Joseph Theatre poster for his 90th play, Show & Tell
However, there is much more to the reserved Wilkes than first meets the eye, caught wonderfully by Kemp, the essence of the gradual “show and tell” in Show & Tell. His shattering revelation, told to the sympathetic ear of actress and company manager Harriet ‘Harry’ Golding (Frances Marshall) is a gem of a quietly detonating scene.
Kemp’s Wilkes becomes embroiled in the other side of the story: Ayckbourn’s depiction of the world of theatre, past and present. Through the tribulations of the ailing Homelight Theatre Company, desperately in need of Jack’s booking, Ayckbourn hones in on the dramas faced by companies post-Covid, the struggle to draw an audience, the battle between artistic ambition and exigency.
He comments too on the fad for changing a company name to meet changing times, in this instance from the pioneering Front Room Theatre to the more inclusive-sounding Homelight. He duly recalls the groundbreaking days of Centre 42, the radical project of Arnold Wesker and Charles Parker, one said to have “inflicted the most damage on theatre since Cromwell”.
Act Two recalls Ayckbourn’s 1984 play A Chorus Of Disapproval in going behind the scenes, but crucially too it draws on Ayckbourn’s earliest days at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, directing a French farce in 1961 when artistic director Stephen Joseph told him his budget was “technically nothing…and if you push me, £5”.
In theatre tradition, by now joined by Olivia Woolhouse’s insouciant actress Steph Tate, Kemp’s Wilkes steps in when needs must, the cue for Stacey’s exasperated Reeder to act like a spoiled child in the readthrough and Kemp to scene-steal gloriously.
What follows this character-revealing shenanigans is the play within the play: a full-scale French farce, A Friend Indeed, in Ayckbourn’s knowing pastiche of the artform, played straight but inherently over-the-top in full period costume.
Theatre laid bare, life laid bare, warts and all, yet delivered with a love of the stage that never dims.
Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 5. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
