Great Ayton photographer Joe Cornish, left, and Gisborough counterpart Simon Baxter at last Saturday’s launch of All The Wood’s A Stage at Nunnington Hall. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
NORTH Yorkshire photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter’s exhibition All The Wood’s A Stage takes its inspiration as much from Shakespeare as nature.
The title is a spin on All The World’s A Stage, the opening line of Jacques’ Seven Ages Of Man soliloquy in As You Like It, prompting Joe and Simon to mirror theatre’s format by present their show in four acts, or four ages/stages of trees, in three top-floor rooms and the linking corridor against the backdrop of Nunnington Hall’s gardens and trees in late-summer seasonal change.
“Trees and woodland may seem sedate, but drama unfolds slowly, staged over seasons, years, decades, even centuries,” reads one statement on the exhibition walls, where the photographs are divided into Emergence, Interference, Transience and Performance.
Joe, from Great Ayton, and Simon, from Gisborough, present trees as “actors on the woodland stage”, representing the three forms of Shakespeare’s plays: comedy in their branch formations; history in their rings of life; tragedy in their fate, whether deforestation, heat stress, climate change, or the crass felling of the Sycamore Tree Gap near Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023 that led to prison sentences for Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.
“We must learn to reconnect with nature, and woodland is a good place to start,” say the photographers. “Trees are critical actors in nature whose time on this planet far exceeds our own.” 360 million years, to be precise.
All The Wood’s A Stage, by Simon Baxter
Joe and Simon had first used the term “All The Wood’s A Stage” in their Woodland Sanctuary exhibition at the Moors Centre, Danby, in 2022. This time their focus spreads beyond Yorkshire to take in the South, Snowdonia, the Lake District and Scotland too in “celebration of the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodland and forests across the UK”.
Exhibition curator Laura Kennedy, Visitor Experience and Programming Manager at Nunnington Hall, says: “All The Wood’s A Stage invites us to see trees as silent performers on nature’s stage – inviting us to observe, listen and reflect.
“Trees provide joy, peace, and inspiration; they are the lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity, and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death, and renewal.
This exhibition promises a truly uplifting experience, inviting visitors to fall in love with woodland life all over again.”
Both photographers attended last Saturday’s launch of 65 photographs for sale, complemented by two short films, to the noises-off accompaniment of the day’s incessant downpours. They work on their exhibitions and accompanying books in tandem – they live ten miles from each other – discussing potential themes, selecting each other’s photographs for the shows, printing together, but always photographing separately, even on joint excursions.
Dancing Trees, by Joe Cornish
“We think it’s important to listen to nature, and to express empathy, which comes from knowledge, but to have access to knowledge has to come from experience. For me, being in nature, among trees, has helped with my wellbeing,” says Simon.
“Through my photography, I’m doing justice to the woods, as a celebration of what they’ve done for me through their power to heal. It’s a celebration to say I love this natural world so much, not because it creates a great photograph but because I feel better among trees, and I want to share that wonder – and if nature can revert you to a different state of mind, it’s a very powerful thing.”
Joe and Simon see their work as holistic. “We know of the performative aspect of trees, sometimes as leading characters, sometimes as supporting cast, and if trees are the primary actors, where do we fit in? We are the audience,” says Joe.
He is delighted to be exhibiting at Nunnington Hall. “To have our work on show in this beautiful place, it’s like a sanctuary,” he says. “The National Trust has been very supportive of the arts, and I really hope that the trust can continue to play its leading role in providing spaces for artists to show their work.
“I see photography as a political act, and I slightly bristle at the thought that we just take pretty pictures. What we do is take pictures to offer a sense of hope.”
Woodland wanderers Joe Cornish, left, and Simon Baxter
Joe has experienced has own drama when filming for an exhibition with a theatrical structure. “I broke my neck falling off a mountain at Assynt [north of Ullapool in the Northwest Scottish Highlands],” he says. “I was hit by a gust of wind so hard that, even with my camera equipment on my back, I was knocked off my feet and fell quite a long way,” he recalls. “It was such a dangerous place, I had to walk for a mile but then the pain became unbearable.”
Joe was taken to hospital by mountain rescue helicopter. “Luckily I hadn’t damaged my spinal cord,” he says. “I’ve camped on the top of that mountain since then, which felt like an act of redemption.”
The trees, the woods, their theatre of life, will keep calling him and Simon back again and again.
Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter, All The Wood’s A Stage, on show at Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, until March 29 2026. Opening hours: 10.30am to 5pm daily; last entry, 4pm; from October 1, closed on Mondays.
Normal admission prices apply, including entry to the exhibition, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives. To book tickets, go to: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.
Cornish and Baxter’s self-published accompanying book, All The Wood’s A Stage, is on sale at £30 at Nunnington Hall, along with copies of Woodland Sanctuary. Visitors can buy prints on display too.
Cooper Robson: Slam champ, left-wing, left-field loudmouth from Heaton, heading for Say Owt Slam in York
NOW in its 11th year, Say Owt Slam brings former slam champion Cooper Robson back to York for a special-guest full set at The Crescent, York, on October 3.
In 2008, a Spike Milligan anthology and the tiny book of Che Guevara sat beneath a Christmas tree. At this moment, a little left-wing, left-field loudmouth called Cooper was born in the north east.
Combining hard-hitting poetry and side splitting comedy, Cooper loves chatting b***ocks. Winner of the Geet Muckle Slam 2023, third at the both the England Slam Championships 2023 and FeltNowt NAOTY 2025, he has a trophy that says “good at using his mouth and that”(ask ya ma).
Equipped with “more meter than Mo Farrah, more nonsense than a sapling touching Tolkien-tree, and spouting more sh*** than a government coastal policy, Cooper Robson is a gobsh*** from Heaton,” his profile states.
Say Owt Slam’s poster for Cooper Robson’s special guest appearance at The Crescent on October 3
Explaining the concept of Say Owt Slam, Say Owt artistic director Henry Raby says: “It’s a raucous evening of poet versus poet in a fun night of verse. Poets have three minutes to wow you, the audience. Expect poetry with humour and heart, comedy and charisma, stories and sizzling spoken word, hosted by the lovable Say Owt gang celebrating 11 years of performance poetry.”
If you fancy pitting your pithy wits in a Say Owt slam, send an email to info@sayowt.co.uk. “We prioritise people living in York and the surrounding villages,” says Henry.
Tom Chambers’ Detective Chief Inspector Morse in Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts. Credit: Johan Persson
TOM Chambers returns to the York stage on Tuesday for the first time since appearing in Torben Betts’s ghost story chiller-cum-psychological thriller Murder In The Dark at the Theatre Royal.
In that September 2023 premiere tour he waded through the quagmire of playing washed-up pop star Danny Sierra, a deeply unlovable, self-pitying alcoholic.
Now he plays another chap who likes a drink, the “high-functioning alcoholic” Detective Chief Inspector Morse, an altogether more popular fellow – “the nation’s favourite detective”, as co-producer Simon Friend calls the erudite opera, crossword and real ale enthusiast from Colin Dexter’s novels and 13-year television series, developed by Anthony Minghella and Kenny McBain in 1987, starring John Thaw.
Chambers is appearing in Simon Friend Entertainment and Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s new touring co-production of the first stage play in the Morse franchise, written by Alma Cullen in 2010 after penning episodes as The Secret Of Bay 5B (1989), The Infernal Serpent (1990), Fat Chance (1991) and The Death of The Self (1992) for the ITV series.
Tom Chambers’ washed-up pop star Danny Sierra in Torben Betts’s psychological thriller Murder In The Dark, on tour at York Theatre Royal in September 2023. Picture: Pamela Raith
“I am absolutely thrilled to be bringing to the stage the nationally loved character of Inspector Morse,” says Tom. “Played by John Thaw in the TV series, it is an iconic role which audiences clearly loved alongside the Morse murder mysteries.
“This brand-new production is a tantalising tale, rich in story and character and even unpicks some of Morse’s closely guarded personal life. It’s going to be a fabulous evening of entertainment.”
In Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, a chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress dies suddenly on stage mid-performance. Morse embarks on a gripping investigation, one that begins as a suspicious death inquiry but takes a darker turn when the legendary inspector, in tandem with Detective Sergeant Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years earlier.
“We’re at Richmond Theatre this week after opening Birmingham three weeks ago,” says 2008 Strictly Come Dancing winner Tom, who is reuniting with director Anthony Banks after collaborating on the 2020/2021 tour of Dial M For Murder.
Tom Chambers’ Detective Chief Inspector Morse with Teresa Banham’s Ellen in Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts. Picture: Johan Persson
“It’s a brilliant piece of writing by Alma Cullen, who wrote for the TV series: beautifully written – very slick, very smooth – so it’s like watching Morse on TV with lots of short scenes, but now like Tetris on stage, where we’ve worked on the stage movement like in a ballet.
“The show has been working really well. I’m just amazed how much the audiences love Morse, and the relationship between Morse and Lewis [played by Waterloo Road alumnus Tachia Newall] is so well expressed too.”
Audiences have warmed to Tom’s portrayal of Morse. “Being the youngest of five, I’m a natural pleaser,” he says. “But I definitely feel that it’s also about what John Thaw brought to the role. Somebody pointed out I’m playing Morse at exactly the same John Thaw started playing him. [It turns out this is not correct, Chambers is 48, Thaw was 44]. John stayed looking that way for decades!
“John brought his natural brilliance to it, and I feel it’s written in a way that you can imagine his Morse saying it, so you don’t want to swim against the tide. It feels nourishing, comforting, like soul food, where you know Morse and what it will be like and it feels a pleasure to be there. It’s like a two-way relationship [with the audience]. We give a sense of John Thaw without being a copy.”
Partners in tackling crime: Tom Chambers’s Detective Chief Inspector Morse, right, with Tachia Newall’s Detective Sergeant Lewis in Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts. Credit: Johan Persson
House Of Ghosts has the structure of a story within a story, where Morse is transported back to 25 years earlier, surrounded by actors from a production of Hamlet in university days. “It’s satisfyingly intricate,” says Tom. “One of the delights is that information unravels in such a clever way that audiences feel complete when it’s finished, and the music fits in beautifully too.
“It’s one of the favourite pieces that I’ve done because I’ve really enjoyed trying to be the opposite of performing. Watching John Thaw, who was so ‘unpolicemanlike’, it’s made me realise that the craft of acting is to be as relaxed as possible but with intention – you can still feel your heart beat, and your jugular on your neck, especially on first nights. I just love the dialogue too, and Morse’s attitude; how he’s analogue, not digital. Just charming.”
Tom, by the way, has many fond memories of York. “My aunty, Shirley O’Brien, is from York. We’d always end up in the Minster,” he says.
Simon Friend Entertainment and Birmingham Repertory Theatre present Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, Grand Opera House, York, September 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Anthony Banks’s touring production of Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, playing Grand Opera House, York, from tomorrow
York oboe player Desmond Clarke: Performing on Navigators Art’s YO Underground #5 bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse
FOOD for thought for heading out and about as York Food & Drink Festival opens and Inspector Morse is on the case in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.
Navigators Art presents YO Underground #5, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK arts collective Navigators Art’s regular fulcrum of left-field new music, words and performance returns this weekend with a focus on ethnic instruments, acoustic-electronic improvisation, words and guitar-based fusion, plus passionate new songwriting.
Expect bold, beautiful and adventurous sounds from flautist Carmen Troncoso, York oboe player Desmond Clarke and Osc~, No Spinoza and a new York ‘supergroup’, the NSC Sound Union, combining members of Soma Crew and Namke Communications. Admission is £6 at www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance) or £10 on the door.
Sam Blythe: Taking on a multitude of roles in George Orwell’s Animal Farm at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Solo show of the week: Sam Blythe in Animal Farm, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
CELEBRATING 70 years of its publication on August 17 1945 and 30 since the first performance of Guy Masterson’s solo adaptation of George’s Orwell’s satirical allegorical dystopian novella, Sam Blythe takes up Masterson’s mantle on stage.
Bringing all of Orwell’s multiple characters to vivid life, Blythe transforms into Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, Boxer, Clover, Mollie, Benjamin, Muriel, the Sheep, Dogs, Cows, Hens and the Cat in a performance designed to shock, enchant, bewitch and bewilder, ringing out Orwell’s prescient warning that politicians through the ages, and of all creeds and colours, will often let power corrupt them. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Rebecca Vaughan’s Lady Susan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Seamus Flanagan
Magnificently crafted tale of manipulation and manners of the week:Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions return with a new solo comedy show, Jane Austen’s 1794 tale of manipulation and manners. Directed by Andrew Margerison, company regular Rebecca Vaughan plays devil-may-care widow Lady Susan, oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica, long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine, family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia.
At the vanguard of Vaughan’s wickedly humorous adaptation is the charming, scheming and witty Lady Susan, taking on society and making it her own, but has this coquette met her match? Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Skosh chef-proprietor Neil Bentinck: Cookery demonstration at St Crux Hall on September 27 at 1pm at York Food & Drink Festival
Festival of the week: York Food & Drink Festival, cooking until September 28
HIGHLIGHTS of this autumn’s York Food & Drink Festival include 70 street food and produce stands in Parliament Street; the Entertainment Marquee on Parliament Street, serving a bill of Live for St Leonard’s Hospice music acts; more live music in St Sampson’s Square, and demonstrations, events, tastings, and sampling at St Crux Hall.
Further events will be two taste trails; the Food Factory in St Crux Hall and Museum Gardens; the Pork Pie competition in Bedern Hall; Curry & Comedy at the NCEM; Yahala Mataam’s refugee pop-up restaurant night and cookery school; Tang’s festival debut; Jorvik Viking Centre’s activities with an historic twist and the Meet The Makers drinks fair. For the full festival programme, head to: yorkfoodfestival.com.
One of Simon Baxter’s photographs from All The Wood’s A Stage, his joint exhibition with Joe Cornish at Nunnington Hall. Picture: Simon Baxter
Ryedale exhibition launch of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, Nunnington Hall, near York, from today to March 29 2026
ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.
Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.
The poster for The Return Of The Legends, featuring Strictly Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waites, at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: The Return Of The Legends, starring Brendan, James, Pasha, Vincent and Ian, York Barbican, today, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite follow up 2024’s Legends Of The Dancefloor with new Latin, tango, rumba and ballroom routines and more Strictly stories in The Return Of The Legends. Joined by a supporting cast, they deliver a night of dancing, camaraderie, music and laughter. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Robert Took, Georgina Liley, Catherine Warnock and James McLean in Mikron Theatre’s Hush Hush!, on tour at Clements Hall, York
Touring play of the week: Mikron Theatre in Hush Hush!, Clements Hall, York, Sunday, 4pm
IN a daring theatrical mission, Marsden’s Mikron Theatre Company infiltrates the clandestine world of wartime code-breaking in Lucie Raine’s Hush Hush!, exposing the vital contributions of the unsung heroes of Bletchley Park’s Hut 3, whose ingenuity and unwavering resolve helped secure victory.
Peggy Valentine arrives at Bletchley in 1940, 18 years old, headstrong and gifted. Finding herself in a world of boffins, soldiers and debutantes, Peggy must shoulder the burden of high-pressure war work while navigating a new world of feuds, friendships and growing up in a frame of absolute secrecy. Mikron’s crack team of actor-musicians, Georgina Liley, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and familiar face James McLean, blends original songs, live music and compelling storytelling. Box office for returns only: 01484843701 or email admin@mikron.org.uk.
Tom Chambers as Detective Chief Inspector Morse in the first Inspector Morse original stage play, House Of Ghosts, at Grand Opera House, York
Murder mystery of the week: Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, Grand Opera House, York, September 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre and Simon Friend Entertainment are touring the Inspector Morse franchise’s debut original stage play, House Of Ghosts, penned by Alma Cullen, directed by Anthony Banks and starring Tom Chambers.
A chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress dies suddenly on stage during a performance, prompting Detective Chief Inspector Morse to embark on a gripping investigation. What begins as a suspicious death inquiry takes a darker turn when the legendary inspector, in tandem with Detective Sergeant Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years earlier. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kieran Hodgson: Voicing his thoughts on the USA
Comedy gig of the week: Kieran Hodgson: Voice Of America, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 26, 8pm
AMERICA. What happened, man? Ever since he was a little loser kid in a little loser country (yes, England), Holmfirth-born Kieran Hodgson has been putting on an American accent and dreaming a big American dream.
Nowadays, however, it’s not so simple. Didn’t America go completely bananas? Didn’t he get too old for dreaming? And when Hollywood comes calling, does Kieran actually sound American after all? Here he assesses how a scared world feels about the USA and impersonates a bunch of old prospectors and former Presidents. Box office for returns only: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The horror, the horror: Dead Northern returns to City Screen Picturehouse
Film event of the week: Dead Northern presents The Festival of Horror, City Screen Picturehouse, York, September 26 to 28
IN “the world’s most haunted city”, Dead Northern hosts three days of film and live events, taking in music, social activities, food, drink and merchandise. Friday Frights opens with a 10.30am showcase of student short films and videos, followed by UK premiere of Sun at noon with a Q&A.
The 2pm short film showcase focuses on Teeth, Claws, Tentacles and Clowns. At 4pm the Dead Talks talk reveals Dracula’s mysterious connection to York under the splendid title of Who Are You Calling A Count?! A mystery Dracula classic film re-surfaces at 5pm and the UK premiere of Hellhouse LLC: Lineage is booked in for 7.30pm. The night concludes with the Welcome Social & Quiz with the Independent Horror Society.
Saturday Screams kicks off with the Flesh & Bone short film showcase at 10.30am, followed by the world premiere of A Mother’s Recall at noon and the Twisted Tales short film showcase at 1.45pm.
The 3.30pm UK film premiere will be Home Education, concluding with a Q&A, and the 5.30pm classic feature will be the 40th anniversary release of A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.
7.30pm’s Signature Live Event will be Spirits By Spirits; the 8.45pm feature film will be The Beast Of Riverside Hollow, with a Q&A, and the night ends with the VIP Awards Party at 11pm.
Day three, Sunday Shock The 28th, launches with the 10.30am classic feature, 1981’s Evil Dead, followed by the UK premiere of Nightfall – A Paranormal Investigation at noon and the Spectres & Shadows short film showcase at 1.30pm.
The UK premiere of Tabula Rasa will be shown at 2.45pm; the 4.15pm screening of He Kills At Night will include a Q&A, and Inside The Mind will be the theme of the 6pm short film showcase. In Dead Talks Part II at 7.30pm, the Independent Horror Society welcomes special guests for When Horror Struck Again, a discussion on underrated sequels.
The festival concludes with a classic feature, 1987’s Evil Dead II. For more details on Dead Northern Part VI 2025 Horror Film Festival, visit deadnorthern.co.uk/dead-northern-2025-horror-film-festival.
In Focus: York Printmakers’ 10th Anniversary Handmade Print Fair, York Cemetery, today and tomorrow
Russell Hughes discussing monoprinting. Picture: Chris Kendall Photography
THIS weekend York Printmakers celebrates a decade of creativity, collaboration and craftsmanship with its 10th Annual Print Fair, designed for lovers of original art and handmade processes.
This year’s fair reflects the group’s continuing mission: to keep traditional printmaking alive, accessible and valued.
Over the past decade, York Printmakers has grown into a vibrant collective of more than 40 artists, all committed to the authenticity of printmaking. The fair showcases a wide range of techniques — from linocut to collagraph, screen print to woodcut — all created by hand.
“People are often surprised to learn the difference between a reproduction and a handmade print,” says founding member Sally Clarke. “At our fair, you get to see the blocks, the plates, the tools — and meet the people who made them.
“In a world where everything is easily copied, our fair champions the original: prints made by hand, with care and intention.”
Bridget Hunt describing how to make a collograph plate. Picture: Chris Kendall Photography
This year’s milestone event reflects on ten years of artistic evolution, celebrating the unique voices of long-standing members while championing the newer members to the collective: artists whose fresh perspectives and experimental approaches are helping to shape the future of the craft.
“It’s always a pleasure to welcome new members, especially those just discovering printmaking or beginning their creative journey,” says long-standing member Russell Hughes. “They bring energy and new ideas that inspire even the most experienced among us. And in return, we’re able to share knowledge and techniques that have stood the test of time. That exchange is what keeps the group dynamic and evolving.”
Visitors can explore a rich variety of work, meet the makers and buy original prints directly from the artists.
York Printmakers’ 10th Anniversary Handmade Print Fair, Chapel and Harriet Room, York Cemetery, Cemetery Road, York, September 20 and 21, 10am to 5pm. Free entry.
York Printmakers’ poster for this weekend’s print fair at York Cemetery
Over the rainbow: Erin Childs’ Dorothy Gale performing the opening number in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz
APOLOGIES for taking so long to be off to see the Wizard – Prague holiday prevailed – but there is still time to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Grand Opera House.
That road starts outside the auditorium, a lovely welcoming touch by York Stage, whose abundantly colourful production is directed and produced by Nik Briggs, with fabulous ensemble choreography by Damien Poole and thrilling, resourceful musical direction by Jessica Viner, whose birthday happened to fall on the performance attended by your reviewer.
Such is the attention to detail that the Tannoy interval music includes Carry On Wayward Son by…Kansas, and it is to Kansas that we must head for L Frank Baum’s one heck of a weird story, so memorably converted from his 1900 novel to a film wonderland for Judy Garland as over-the-rainbow farm girl Dorothy Gale in 1939.
Vintage performance: Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man
A-level student Erin Childs takes that iconic ruby slipper-clicking role in York Stage’s show, in tow with Toto, played by Briggs’s dog Freddie, leaving his mark on the production in more way than one with an urgent deposit, and, once on that yellow brick road by Elanor Kitchen’s puppet, handled so dextrously by puppeteer Sarah Jackson. No such mishap for the puppet.
Childs’ Dorothy hits the heights from the off with her rendition of Over The Rainbow, familiar yet with a finale that brings more resonance to the words. Kansas accent spot on, fringe flopping over her eyes, she leads Briggs’s high-spectacle staging of John Kane’s Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation with appropriate pluck and persistence, although her speaking voice tends towards being high pitched at times.
After the spectacular tornado de force of the storm scene, propelled by Adam Moore’s magical evocation of a twister that tosses Dorothy’s bed hither and thither, she is joined on the journey to Emerald City by Florence Poskitt’s Scarecrow, Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man and Finn East’s Lion (having played the Guard in Pick Me Up Theatre’s 2018 production).
Magical: Carly Morton’s Glinda
Poskitt, one half of musical duo Fladam, is a supremely expressive physical comedic talent, perfectly suited to the wobbly legged, woolly thinking Scarecrow, but every so often her lines were wont to lose clarity as sentences lengthened. Nevertheless, her performance is a work of clowning joy.
Hutchinson’s Tin Man conducts himself like a matinee idol from a Hollywood cigarette card series with just the right air of camp. Even better is Finn East’s Lion, his natural stage warmth, playfulness and show-stealing presence on full throttle. If I Were King Of The Forest had always been one of the lesser tunes in Harold Arlen and EY Harburg’s score…until now, when East parades his full vocal range like a latterday Meat Loaf.
Carly Morton’s Aunt Em/Glinda spars splendidly with Emily Alderson’s curmudgeonly Miss Glutch and green-with-envy Wicked Witch of the West, while Ian Giles picks up where he left off in reprising his Pick Me Up dual roles as Professor Marvel and the Wizard Of Oz with avuncular aplomb, aided by a giant screen representation of the Wizard’s face with Giles’s distinctively thick head of hair.
The green party: a stylish ensemble scene in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz
Ensemble supporting roles for Munchkins, Winkies and more besides are played with abundant energy by adults and juniors alike, at their best in Munchkinland and especially The Jitterbug.
Briggs calls on the costume wizardry of Charades and Sheffield Theatres, as well as York Stage resources, while Shone Productions’ set is top notch too. The poppy field dance is a particular delight.
Viner works her musicians to full capacity, taking on such familiar songs with relish as York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz feels very much at home at the Grand Opera House.
York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Flo Poskitt’s Scarecrow, left, Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man, Erin Childs’ Dorothy Gale and Finn East’s Lion in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz
Alison times three in Fun Home: Libby Greenhill as ‘medium’ Alison, Claire Morley as Alison and Hattie Wells as ‘small’ Alison. Picture: Mike Darley
APOLOGIES for the tardiness of this review, delayed by five days of binging on Prague culture. Nevertheless, it is not too late to see Pick Me Up Theatre’s York premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s award-garlanded musical Fun Home.
Well, hopefully not too late to acquire a ticket for tonight or tomorrow. York Medical Society’s Theatre Room is one of York’s more compact performance spaces (capacity 60, for lectures; 45, for cabaret; 24, for board meetings). And now 40 for Fun Home.
Director-designer Robert Readman gives the portrait-bedecked room more of a drawing-room entertainment vibe, or maybe a parlour. Make that a funeral parlour, as a funeral home – or ‘Fun Home’ as the Beckdel family call their unconventional Pennsylvanian abode – is where ‘small’ Alison and brothers Christian (Oliver Smith) and John (Teddy Alexander) play and make up songs amid the coffins.
Young Alison (Hattie Wells) is one of three Alisons in Fun Home, whose story is drawn from cartoonist Alison Beckdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Omnipresent is adult Alison (Claire Morley), at the age of the 43 – the same age that her father, suicidal spoiler alert, stood in front of a truck – looking back on her childhood and her coming out at 19 at university in New York (‘medium’ Alison, played by 16-year-old Libby Greenhill).
“It’s such a moving and unusual story and I love the score and the book,” says Readman, who rates five-time Tony winner Fun Home among his very best productions.
He is not wrong. Hattie Wells reveals a precocious talent, so confident on stage already, singing brightly and delivering a spot-on American accent, as her Alison shows a preference for jeans over dresses and a love of drawing. Her solo rendition of Ring Of Keys, is a high-point of a musical that eschews an interval to achieve maximum impact.
Likewise Libby Greenhill shows maturity beyond her years in her account of ‘medium’ Alison, with her love of literature and first love for fellow student Joan (Britney Brett), expressed so humorously and passionately in the song I’m Changing My Major To Joan. She is particularly impressive in the scenes where she craves her parents’ response to telling them by letter that she is a lesbian.
Alison’s mother, Helen (Catherine Foster, in fine singing voice), is a professional actress, but the focus is on her home life, where husband Bruce (Dale Vaughan) is a towering mass of complexities, contradictions, gaslighting control and linear, intolerant thinking, yet with a teacher’s love of literature, a reckless streak and an expressive sideline in house restorations.
Doors to the Theatre Room are kept open for the corridor sounds of Bruce kicking out in anger, shouting in foul-mouthed froth at his wife and introducing ‘small’ Alison to her first dead body, adding to their shock value.
Bruce is homosexual, and not a closet one, openly hitting on students (played by Cain Branton) without regard for his wife’s feelings. Vaughan’s frank, fearless, frightening performance is one of the best on the York stage this year.
Everything is observed by Morley’s Alison, drawing and writing captions for her memoir, trying to make sense of it all, not least her father’s suicide, and she does so with a mixture of humour and tragedy in Morley’s first musical since her All Saints schooldays. And she really can sing! Who knew!
Oh, and if you miss tonight or tomorrow’s shows, you could always head to Manchester for the Royal Exchange production from July 3 to August 1 next summer.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm Content guidance: Themes of LGBTQ+, suicide and strong language. Parental guidance: 12 plus. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/pickmeuptheatre.com.
Russell Richardson’s Gerald Mallett, left, and Iskandar Eaton’s Daniel in Alan Ayckbourn’s Earth Angel at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
INTRODUCING his 91st play, writer-director Alan Ayckbourn says: “We have to remember there are still good things floating about in the world today, though it’s often hard to see them. But the good is still there if we look for it.”
You might well put Ayckbourn’s annual world premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre on that list, but let’s consider his point – and note the Scarborough knight’s reference to “today”.
Latterly, his comedy dramas have tended to reflect on the past or look to the future, but Earth Angel is a play for today and of today, albeit its world of conspiracy theories, poisonous well of social media and scathing putdowns of anyone deemed “too nice” will only become more omnipresent. As for modern policing, Ayckbourn has plenty to say.
Earth Angel is a mystery and state-of-the-nation’s morals litmus test wrapped inside a domestic drama set in West Yorkshire. Not for the first time, Ayckbourn and his designer, Kevin Jenkins, give us a kitchen and a sitting room – or, rather, two sitting rooms, one for each half, in an open-plan theatre-in-the-round setting where the front door and inside and outside walls are cut off half way up.
It won’t wash: Elizabeth Boag’s nosey neighbour Norah, perplexed by Daniel’s evasive answers in Earth Angel. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Mystery number one: who is Daniel (British/Malaysian actor Iskandar Eaton, originally from Sheffield, in his SJT debut)? All in Milk Tray Man black, he is helping well-meaning nosey neighbour Norah (Ayckbourn regular Elizabeth Boag) with the washing-up after the funeral wake for Amy, school teacher, former folk singer and hippy spiritualist wife of Gerald Mallett, fellow teacher and 15 years her senior.
Gerald (SJT newcomer Russell Richardson) is sitting alone in the sitting room as Daniel and Norah talk of the lovely service and the vicar’s even lovelier appraisal of Amy as an Earth Angel. Norah, like the audience, becomes increasingly curious as to whom and what Daniel is.
He was there to comfort Gerald, he explains, but admits he did not know Gerald until today, confirming he was not a former pupil. Curiouser and curiouser, thinks Norah, who doesn’t want Gerald to be on his own tonight.
Gerald, however, rather warms to the natural simpatico of Daniel, seeing Norah’s fussing and fretting off the premises. Perhaps Daniel is the Earth Angel? Norah, however, alerts fellow busy-body Hugo (Hayden Wood), who insists on staying on Gerald’s sofa, his laptop his perma-partner, his tunnel vision, as he looks into who Hugo may be. Eyes down for a full house of nonsense.
Wither of discontent: Liza Goodard’s Maxine and Stuart Fox’s Adrian in Earth Angel. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Hugo, a deliciously satirical Ayckbourn character written in frustrated response to those who only have eyes for their screen, is a modern-day irritant who may be in the room and yet is not in the room, his mind elsewhere. In his case, the electronic web of intrigue.
In keeping with today’s self-righteous world, he never listens to anyone, except to the rumours spreading through the internet wildfire. Where once there were Chinese whispers, idle chit-chat and pub gossip, now it is the tap, tap, tap drip-feed of electronica that is all pervasive – and persuasive.
While Hugo is piling up the conspiracies – is Daniel a zombie, a serial killer or maybe an alien? – Gerald’s stuck-up sister, intransigent, insufferable magistrate Maxine (Ayckbourn favourite Liza Goddard) and her grouchy, old-school, know-it-all husband, ex-policemen Adrian (fellow Ayckbourn stalwart Stuart Fox) are turning up from Doncaster to stick their oar in, fanning the flames of the ever more absurd speculation.
Post interval, in Act Three, the sitting room is now the cushion-laden one in Norah’s house, where the impromptu surveillance squad of co-conspiracists are plotting what to do with Daniel – and recoiling at the disgusting coffee made by Norah (a running joke in Ayckbourn tradition).
Who can be trusted? Conspiracist Hugo (Hayden Wood) at odds with Gerald (Russell Richardson) in Alan Ayckbourn’s 91st play, Earth Angel. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
They are making a meal of everything; Daniel, meanwhile, is making the perfect breakfast for a grateful, trusting Gerald, but still the mysteries remain. Who exactly is Daniel and who is the real Earth Angel?
One answer is provided as Ayckbourn’s tone turns darker, as he is wont to do in Ibsen vein, but still he pumps up the farce too in his latter-day theatre of the absurd. The other, you must decide for yourself, but it affirms that opening sentiment of the good still being there if you look for it. It feels a nourishing finale, in more ways than one.
Throughout, you can delight in director Ayckbourn’s mastery of movement around the 360-degree stage amid the shifting sands of his plot. As ever, he has cast superbly, both in familiar faces Goddard, Fox and especially Boag, and in those new to Ayckbourn at the SJT, Richardson’s free-spirited Gerald, Wood’s taciturn meddler and Eaton’s quietly impressive Daniel.
Alan Ayckbourn’s Earth Angel runs at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 11, then on tour until November 8. Scarborough box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Raising their voices: Rachael Wooding, left, Jessica Daley, Emma Crossley, Bobbie Little, Syndey Isitt-Ager, Kayla Carter, Ashleigh Gray and Caroline Sheen in York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera
AFTER Sir Gary Oldman’s spring return to York Theatre Royal after 35 years in the banana-munching, tape-spooling Krapp’s Last Tape, here comes the second Theatre Royal coup of 2025.
Again opening with a week of previews before press night, Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives The Musical is receiving its world premiere.
This has HIT written all over it. Isitt is the BAFTA-winning writer-director behind the Nativity! film and stage show franchise and the Stock Aitken Waterman musical I Should Be So Lucky. Likewise, Military Wives is a highly successful brand already, with a Gareth Malone TV series, a Christmas number one single and the 2019 film.
Military Wives writer-director Debbie Isitt in the rehearsal room. Picture: Danny With A Camera
Now Isitt’s musical brings together the best Isitt ingredients – comedy, high emotion, colourful, populist characters – fused with the pop appeal of chart hits and power ballads, and the Military Wives true story already familiar to many.
York is an apt location for this world premiere, given the long history of Strensall and Imphal Barracks and the proximity of Catterick Garrison up the A1. Last night’s press night was preceded by a special pre-show foyer performance by the Military WAGS Choir from Catterick Garrison, and the presence of military wives in the audience had a palpable impact on the response throughout.
All this will be music to Debbie Isitt’s ears. She had maximised the authenticity of her storyline by her detailed research, meeting wives from barracks and Military Wives choir members.
In the line of fire in Afghanistan: Billy Roberts, left, Joe Kelly and Adrian Hansel’s soldiers in Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera
What results is a nascent musical that already feels complete, that ticks every box, that is much more than a mere jukebox musical, that has broad appeal, all-important momentum, comedy and tragedy in tandem.
The show carries the content warning of “including depictions of war and violence in a military conflict and themes of bereavement”. Plus haze/theatrical smoke. Tick. Pyrotechnics and loud noises/explosion effects. Tick. Strong language. Tick. Prop firearms. Tick. You have been warned. Tick.
Military Wives is billed as a “funny, feel-good story of female empowerment and the perfect harmony of laughter, emotion and fun in a joyous celebration of female friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes”. That might suggest the target audience is female, but to a man, every man around your reviewer was drawn to its winning formula too.
Across the divide: Caroline Sheen, left, Ashleigh Gray, Syndey Isitt-Ager, Emma Crossley, Jessica Daley, Rachael Wooding, Billy Roberts, Joe Kelly and Adrian Hanselin a scene from Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera
The words “joy” and “feel-good” jump out, but what makes Military Wives more than that is that it never hides away from the reality of war: the fear of death, of no return, of PTSD, of loss of faith, of the loneliness of absence, of the importance of letters in the dearth of physical contact.
All life (and death) is here on Katie Lias’s set of boxes, barbed wire and poppies as Isitt introduces us to the wives and their soldier husbands as the men head out to Afghanistan. Bex (Emma Crossley) and soldier partner Paula (Bobbie Little), struggling with IVF; Faith (Kayla Carter) and Luke (Adrian Hansel), questioning his faith (but not Faith); potty-mouthed, chain-smoking Krissy (Rachel Wooding), at loggerheads with Dale (Billy Roberts); posh, wasp-tongued Susannah (Caroline Sheen), “Snuffle Bottom” to husband Simon (Roberts), the colonel.
Jessica Daley’s ever-harassed Jenny and Stewart Wright’s ever-chirpy Dave the Welfare Officer in Military Wives The Musical. Picture: Danny With A Camera
We also meet newly-weds Sarah (Sydney Isitt-Ager) and Adam (Joe Kelly), yet to go on honeymoon; pregnant Terri (Ashleigh Gray); mother-of-five shopkeeper Jenny (Jessica Daley), the can of Pringles of the barracks (“have one and she can’t stop”).
On hand at all times is Dave, the welfare officer, (Stewart Wright), always perky, always coming up with a new idea, always available to help, and throughout he is Isitt’s primary source of humour (along with the putdowns of Wooding’s Krissy).
Into this world, where the women have been living separate lives behind closed doors, comes choir leader Olive (Bobbie Little) to bring them together through song. Isitt in turn brings together all social classes and the frictions that go with that, leading to a superlative Spice Girls gag.
Ann Summers’ night for the Military Wives: Emma Crossley, left, Rachael Wooding, Ashleigh Gray, Kayla Carter, Jessica Daley, Syndey Isitt-Ager and Caroline Sheen. Picture: Danny With A Camera
All the while, on the choir’s journey from Bicester show to the Royal Albert Hall, songs are suddenly interjected with gunfire and explosions in Afghanistan, climaxing in the Act One cliffhanger with parallel dramas of childbirth on a hilltop and a medical emergency on the warfront. The shadow of death is never far away, but so too are revelations of past loss, infidelity, dementia and fatherhood.
George Dyer, arranger, orchestrator, musical supervisor and musical director, is on superb form at the piano, for Adele, Coldplay and Pink hits alike, matched by the moving, amusing performances of Isitt’s West End cast –and that is surely where Military Wives will be heading.
Maybe a tour first, given that this world premiere was made in association the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, and Buxton Opera House. Just as Seven Brides For Seven Brides and The Railway Children made their way from York Theatre Royal origins to London, so will Military Wives.
Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until September 27, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rebecca Vaughan’s Lady Susan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Ben Guest
JANE Austen’s Lady Susan, supreme chamber musicians, nature photography and Inspector Morse’s stage debut keep September busy for Charles Hutchinson.
Magnificently crafted tale of manipulation and manners of the week:Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow and Friday, 7.45pm, Saturday, 2pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions return with a new solo comedy show, Jane Austen’s 1794 tale of manipulation and manners. Directed by Andrew Margerison, company regular Rebecca Vaughan plays devil-may-care widow Lady Susan, oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica, long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine, family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia.
At the vanguard of Vaughan’s wickedly humorous adaptation is the charming, scheming and witty Lady Susan, taking on society and making it her own, but has she met her match? Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Classical festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival 2025, Friday to Sunday
YORK Chamber Music Festival artistic director Tim Lowe brings the cream of European string playing to York for three days. Taking part in five concerts at the National Centre for Early Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, and St Olave’s Church will be Charlotte Scott and Jonathan Stone, violins; Helene Clement and Gary Pomeroy, violas; Lowe and Jonathan Aasgaard, cello, and Katya Apekisheva, piano. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.
Comedy gig of the week: Russell Kane, Hyperactive, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
WHIRLWIND physical comedian, presenter, actor and author Russell Kane is out on the road again with his latest tour carrying a safety warning: “Wear strong underwear. Pants will be spoiled”. This show will be high-energy, high-octane and hyper-active. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Film event of the week: Mother Vera with Q&A, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 6pm
IN a hidden Orthodox monastery in Belarus, Mother Vera weaves the inner world of an unorthodox young nun with the community that saved her life. After 20 years as a monastic, Vera faces deep inner conflict. Now, she must confront her past and trust her instincts to find the liberation she desires.
Friday’s screening of Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson’s winner of Best Documentary at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival – shot in black and white – will be accompanied by a question-and-answer session with Tomlinson, conducted by Aesthetica writer and curator Rachel Pronger. Box office: picturehouses.com/cinema/city-screen-picturehouse.
Americana gig of the week: The Coal Porters, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm
THE Coal Porters, who claim to be the world’s first “alt-bluegrass” act, will be led as ever by Sid Griffin in Pocklington, a day after celebrating his 70th birthday.
Prominent figures in the UK Americana and bluegrass scene for 17 years, Griffin’s band are back in the saddle this autumn for eight dates. Their songs showcase the power of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and doghouse bass, all harmonised with four-part vocals and melodies. Box office: sidgriffin.com/tour; ticketsource.co.uk.
Ryedale exhibition launch of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, Nunnington Hall, near York, from Saturday to March 29 2026
ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.
Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.
Dance show of the week: The Return Of The Legends, starring Brendan, James, Pasha, Vincent and Ian, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite follow up 2024’s Legends Of The Dancefloor with new Latin, tango, rumba and ballroom routines and more Strictly stories in The Return Of The Legends. Joined by a supporting cast, they deliver a night of dancing, camaraderie, music and laughter. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Murder mystery of the week: Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, Grand Opera House, York, September 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre and Simon Friend Entertainment are touring the Inspector Morse franchise’s debut original stage play, House Of Ghosts, penned by Alma Cullen, directed by Anthony Banks and starring Tom Chambers.
A chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress dies suddenly on stage during a performance, prompting Detective Chief Inspector Morse to embark on a gripping investigation. What begins as a suspicious death inquiry takes a darker turn when the legendary inspector, in tandem with Detective Sergeant Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years earlier. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, The Della Grants, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 25, 8pm
LEICESTER band The Della Grants’ songs seamlessly bridge the gaps between blues, rock and Americana. Since their inception in 2014, they have made a name for themselves among industry professionals and fellow musicians for their song-writing ability and performances. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Rebecca Vaughan’s Lady Susan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Ben Guest
DYAD Productions sweep into York Theatre Royal Studio with Rebecca Vaughan’s new solo comedy account of Lady Susan, Jane Austen’s 1794 tale of manipulation and manners, from Thursday to Saturday. Helmsley Arts Centre follows on Sunday.
Directed by Andrew Margerison, multi-role-playing London company regular Vaughan will switch between devil-may-care widow Lady Susan, oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica, long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine, family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia.
At the vanguard of Vaughan’s adaptation of Austen’s wickedly humorous depiction of Georgian society and the women trapped within it – their struggles, desires, temptations and manipulations – is the charming, scheming and witty Lady Susan, taking on society and making it her own, but has “the most accomplished coquette in England” met her match?
Here Rebecca Vaughan and Andrew Margerison discuss Lady Susan, Jane Austen, GK Chesterton and solo shows with CharlesHutchPress.
What attracts you to Austen’s women, as opposed to, say, to the Brontë sisters?
Rebecca: “I do actually love both! And I see Austen and the Brontës as all fabulous, but very different beasts. Austen’s writing is so witty and economical, and her commentary on society is biting and incisive. Her female characters reveal so much about the social mores of the time, and the ways in which women are trapped by society.”
Andrew: “They’re all wonderful and have created incredible work. Certainly in this case, one of the things that really piqued my interest was the comedic element.
“Whilst they’re all using satire in their works, the sharpness of the satire in this particular piece along with the very modern feeling characters was a match made in heaven from a creative standpoint, to really gift us some very interesting, engaging and mostly unknown material.”
“Creating a far darker character in Susan reveals so much about the ways in which Georgian society treats widows, even higher up in society.” says Rebecca Vaughan. Picture: Seamus Flanagan
GK Chesterton said of Lady Susan: “I for one would have willingly left Lady Susan in the wastepaper basket.” Why is Chesterton wrong and where would you place Lady Susan?
Rebecca: “Chesterton is so wrong! Lady Susan is of course a very different piece to any of Austen’s other work – but that’s what makes it so fascinating. The space between the letters and the epistolary nature of the work only add to the humour.
“The dissonance between Lady Susan’s machinations and Catherine’s increasing frustrations are hilarious (and this is certainly borne out with the audiences reactions to our show).
“Also, creating a far darker character in Susan reveals so much about the ways in which Georgian society treats widows, even higher up in society, especially those without a son to inherit property. Whilst Lady Susan was created by a younger Austen, there’s a freshness to it which is so apparent, and which audiences really respond to.”
Andrew: “Chesterton is wrong simply because it would seem that he can’t see the characters for the wonderful cross-section of society that they represent. They’re naive, cutting, foolish, pompous, entitled, maligned, ignored, raised up and mistreated. For all those reasons they belong on your bookshelf and on your stages!”
On the other hand, Margaret Drabble said of Lady Susan, Austen’s first full-length novel: “In no other novel is Jane Austen so evidently writing at a turning-point in the morals of the nation. The machinations of the wicked, witty and beautiful heroine clearly identify it with the outspoken and ribald 18th century.” Discuss…
Rebecca: “Absolutely! It’s thought that she finished the novel in 1794, and it certainly feels more of a Georgian piece than a Regency piece. There are more references to sexuality (and sensuality) and Lady Susan herself is outspoken and powerful in a way even Lizzie Bennet isn’t [in Pride And Prejudice].
Rebecca Vaughan in multi-role-playing mode in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Seamus Flanagan
“She’s aware of herself and those around her and has the maturity to understand the situation she’s in, and thus try to use everything in her armoury to survive. It’s the 18th century nature of the novel we were drawn to – and really wanted to bring this into our adaptation.”
Andrew: “I think that’s an absolutely accurate insight into the character of Lady Susan. As we know, Jane Austen was fascinated by her own times and had the most incredible eye making her the consummate commentator on society. Her ability to transform what she observed into narrative and character are hugely impressive.”
Austen’s writing style is magniloquent/grandiloquent/detailed. How do you transfer this into action on stage?
Rebecca: “It’s the absolutely detailed nature of her language which makes it so easy to transfer to the stage. Austen is so clever at writing dialogue which fits perfectly into the mouths of each character, and when spoken aloud, reveals so much of what that character is about.
“Whether it’s overblown, or languid, or almost tripping over itself, she’s an absolute genius at fitting the language to the character – which makes it perfect for theatre.”
Andrew: “We make that transfer with a lot of time in the rehearsal room! We start from our adaptation and no matter what’s on the page, nothing is sacred. More often than not, it’s very clear what works when one lifts it off the page and breathes it into being.
“Austen is so clever at writing dialogue which fits perfectly into the mouths of each character,” says Rebecca Vaughan. Picture: Seamus Flanagan
“There’s a natural simpatico with the moment presented on stage whereby one recognises if it sounds ‘right’ or not. Which isn’t to say you can’t go backwards and forwards with ideas and alternatives, but quality will out!”
What are the strengths of solo shows that Dyad Productions stages so consistently? Cost effective to tour, for sure, but it must be more than that?
Rebecca: “We’re fascinated about going back to the origins of theatre, and the storytelling nature of witting in a dark room and hearing a story told. By the breaking of the fourth wall, which forms such a part of our solo work, we can create a space where the audience is absolutely part of the action, and not just passively watching it.”
Andrew: “I’d suggest that we all go to the theatre to experience something. A connection of some variety with the work being shown. Breaking the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience is a fantastic method in which to connect. The audience from the very start becomes party to the piece, an integral player and that connection cannot be undersold in its importance.”
Does it ever become lonely on stage?
Rebecca: “I do absolutely love sharing a stage with other actors – and it’s certainly easier being on stage with loads of others! – but there’s nothing like sharing the story each night directly with the audience. The audiences bring such variety and it’s a real honour to be able to share these great stories. So no, no loneliness at all!”
Hospital drama incoming: Dyad Productions will be teaming up with Company Gavin Robinson to create General Medical Emergency Ward 10 next spring
What’s coming next for Dyad Productions?
Rebecca and Andrew: “We’re touring three other shows this autumn: That Knave, Raleigh (about Elizabeth I’s dandy warrior, Sir Walter Raleigh) in October and November across the UK and Northern Ireland, then two Christmas shows, Christmas Gothic and A Christmas Carol in November and December.
“Then, next spring, we’re collaborating with Company Gavin Robertson to devise and create a very different piece, where there’ll be three of us on stage!
“To give you an idea of it: imagine a pastiche and parody of every hospital soap opera/drama you can think of, called simply General Medical Emergency Ward 10! It’s going to be lots of silly fun!”
Dyad Productions in Lady Susan, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight and tomorrow, 7.45pm; Saturday, 2pm. Also Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or nhelmsleyarts.co.uk.
Dyad Productions: the back story
“In the dark between life and death, a haunted woman tells strange and terrifying tales”: Rebecca Vaughan in Female Gothicin 2021
THIS year marks Dyad Productions’ 16th year of touring in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
“Specialising in high-quality literary adaptations as well as original work, we’re always thrilled to bring something fresh and new to often believed well-known works,” states the London company.
Producer, actor and writer Rebecca Vaughan has adapted and performed in Austen’s Women, A Room Of One’s Own, Orlando, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, I, Elizabeth, Dalloway, Christmas Gothic, and Female Gothic.
Andrew Margerison has directed Dyad’s A Christmas Carol and Frantic Assembly’s Macbeth and Fatherland.
Lady Susan was created in collaboration with The Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead, where Dyad Productions are the resident company.
