Mark Simmonds rehearsing for the role of Albert Einstein in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Picture: John Saunders
PARIS. 1904. Wine o’clock, on a not-so ordinary evening at the Lapin Agile. So begins the absurdist play by American comedian, actor, writer, playwright, producer and musician Steve Martin, to be staged by York Settlement Community Players next week.
In Montmartre’s iconic cabaret bar favoured by struggling artists, anarchists and intellectuals alike, two soon-to-be legends find themselves sitting next to each other. Spanish-born Cubist painter, sculptor and theatre designer Pablo Picasso and German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, pumped up with egos as big as their intellects, have plenty to discuss.
As the streets outside grow darker, the cafe is lit up with dizzying debate about the promise of the 20th century, but events take a surreal turn when a certain blue suede shoe-wearing singer from the future shows up. Yes, Elvis is not leaving but, rather, entering the building.
The challenge of directing Martin’s work as he plays fast and loose with history over 80 unbroken minutes falls to Natalie Roe in her first production since taking over from Livy Potter – now to pursue her acting career full time – as Settlement Players’ chair last month.
“This is his most famous play, an off-Broadway hit from 1993 that I’ve been looking to be performed in the UK,” says Natalie. “I saw it at Keene Stage College [the liberal arts college] in New Hampshire, when I was on an international exchange from York St John University (which had really attracted me to the university).
“I had a friend in the cast, another exchange student, from Ghana – us international students really stuck together! – who was playing the role of Freddy, and I loved it.”
Why? “It’s very funny. It has jokes that you don’t immediately get, which is unnerving, but equally if something is funny, it still makes you laugh 20 years later,” says Natalie.
“What I liked is that it was a mix of very silly humour and very intellectual humour and it has a lot to say about both art and science.
“The question is: how will these two great personalities, Picasso and Einstein – both young at this time before they become famous – get on when they meet in a bar in Paris. Steve Martin plays with this idea, where Picasso is as much a mathematician as Einstein is an artist.”
To add to the spice, in the triangular structure the renascent Martin favours once more as co-writer of the mystery comedy-drama series Only Murders In The Building, throws “arguably the greatest musician of the 20th century” into the mix. “That’s possibly Steve Martin’s way of dealing with genius and innovation, by having a time-travelling Elvis turn up!” says Natalie.
James Lee in the rehearsal room as he prepares to play Pablo Picasso on the cusp of creating Cubism. Picture: John Saunders
“We also have the bar staff, Freddie, the owner, Germaine, Sagot, the art dealer. Many of them are real historical characters, like Freddie, who did own the bar that Picasso used to frequent in Montmartre.
“Picasso was hanging out at this bar in Paris; Einstein was working in the Patent Office in Berne, so it is conceivable that they met!”
What Steve Martin delivers is a meeting of minds on October 8 1904, when both men are on the cusp of changing the world through ideas. Einstein will publish his theory of relativity in 1905; Picasso will paint his revolutionary work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907.
“There’s a lot of referencing to what they think will happen in the 20th century, so you do get the idea that Steve Martin is at the same time looking back over what happened over the next 90 years,” says Natalie.
“In talking about what might happen, the value of art is discussed in terms of what is the meaning behind a painting, and is a piece of art worth more than it costs to buy it. Is one person’s opinion worth more than someone else’s, and in turn that thought chimes with Einstein’s theory of relativity.”
Martin’s Pablo Picasso is “quite critical of Einstein and his theories at the beginning of the play,” says Natalie. “Picasso’s issue is that he knows he’s on the cusp of something but he doesn’t know what it is. Part of his journey is his discovery of what turns out to be Cubism, and in Martin’s play it could be argued that his meeting with Picasso and of course Elvis from the future ignites his mind.”
Billed only as The Visitor rather than by name in the cast list, the Elvis in Picasso At The Lapin Agile has to be “iconic, almost like a Fairy Godfather”, says Natalie. “Young Elvis too. As part of the audition process, I made every actor do an Elvis impression.” She chose York actor Ray Raper, a regular player in Settlement Players’ Direct Approach performances when aspiring directors directs new works in a pub setting.
Settlement stalwart Mark Simmonds plays Einstein. “He’s very energetic,” says Natalie. “He studied Mathematics, which I didn’t know beforehand, but he seemed to ‘exude Maths’! You have to believe he could do all those equations – and you do!”
For Pablo, she picked James Lee, one of the York scene’s fast-rising talents. “He has a lot of stage presence. Pablo is a tricky part because it’s comedic, it’s poetic, but it’s also moody – and I knew straightaway that James had what I was looking for.”
York Settlement Community Players in Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 29 to November 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Age recommendation: 14 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
“You have to keep to the script but I can add my own flavour.,” says comedian Nathan Caton of playing the Narrator, his theatre debut in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show. Picture: David Freeman
WEST London comedian Nathan Caton is donning the trademark blue smoking jacket as the Narrator in the latest tour of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show.
This week, you will find him quick on the quip and punchy with the putdown, and sassy and saucy too, at the Grand Opera House on his return to York in his new guise.
“I’ve been to York a fair few times,” says Nathan, who launched his comedy career at the age of 19 while studying architecture at Anglia Ruskin University . “Because I’m a stand-up comedian I play all over the UK, and I’ve played The Basement at City Screen and 1331 in York.”
Now, 20 years on from cutting his comedy teeth, he follows in the footsteps – and high heels – of Nicholas Parsons, Stephen Fry, Steve Punt, Dom July, Philip Franks, Joe McFadden, Alison Hammond and many more in playing the unflappable Narrator.
“No pressure!” he says of taking on such an iconic role. “It came about quite randomly. Out of the blue, I got an audition call from my agent, and I thought. ‘OK, I want to do some theatre work’.
“But until this summer, I wasn’t aware of what Rocky Horror was. I’d only heard the name. I did the audition, thinking ‘I’m probably not going to get it’; ‘I’ll probably never hear from you again’. But I got the call and the rest is history! I’ve been doing it since the middle of August.”
How did Nathan prepare for the role? “I watched the Rocky Horror Show Live [the 2015 40th anniversary recording from the Playhouse Theatre in London] on You Tube with Stephen Fry and Emma Bunton and two others as the Narrator [Editor’s note: Anthony Head, Adrian Edmondson and Mel Giedroyc also appear on the Narrator credit list].
“I thought, ‘OK, this is what I’m going to be doing? OK, what am I letting myself in for?’! My wife’s reaction was it would be fun to do. She knows me better than I know myself – and the woman is always right.”
Nathan fits the part and that jacket to a T. “The role works perfectly for me as a comedian with a stand-up background,” he says. “Audience shout-outs. That’s my bread and butter. Coming back at them if they say anything, and trust me, they do! The audience’s timing with their comments is formulaic, but it’s manna from heaven for me.”
Matching how a stand-up show can change and be refined as a tour progresses, Nathan says his role as Narrator has progressed since August. “It’s like riding a bike. The more you do it, the better you get. You get into the groove and you can make it your own,” he explains.
“I’ve been fortunate in that the producer has been great in letting me put my spin on it. Yes, you have to keep to the script but I can add my own flavour.” [Editor’s note: How right he is. Nathan’s tongue-in-cheek asides and close-to-the-knuckle political jests were one of the joys of Monday’s press night.]
His style? “Cheeky but charming – I hope that’s how it comes across,” he says. “You need to have a somewhat commanding voice too, leading the audience in the story so that they stay tuned into you.”
Nathan is working for the first time with Australian star Jason Donovan, who plays sweet transvestite transsexual scientist Dr Frank N Furter on the tour.
“The only time he was in my existence was watching him as a kid when he was in Neighbours,” he says. “He’s a lovely guy. Because I was new to the show, when I first came in, he said, ‘the audience is mad, but it’s so much fun’.
“I was very nervous at the start. I felt very much like a fish out of water, seeing the rest of the cast who are so talented. They sing and dance and act, and all I do is go on stage, chat for a while, the audience giggle, and then I go off!
“I felt like, ‘clearly I’m the least talented guy here’, but they have been so supportive.”
The latest Rocky Horror tour has dates until next summer but “I’ll have a bit of a break for a stand-up tour that I’ve been working on for next spring,” says Nathan, who will be on the solo road from May 1 to 24.
“It’s called My Big Fat Blasian Wedding – a combination of ‘Black’ and ‘Asian’ – and the show is basically me having a mental breakdown about how expensive my wedding was.”
Or, to quote Nathan’s tour publicity: “It’s official. Nathan’s married and off the market – sorry ladies… and gentlemen! What should’ve been the happiest time of his life turned out to be the most stressful and expensive time ever. The end result? Well, it was either therapy or turn it into comedy. Nathan chose the latter…”
In a nutshell, he puts it this way: “You know what they say: ‘Happy wife, happy life, just not a happy bank manager’!”
Nathan Caton appears as the Narrator in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show at Grand Opera House, York, tonight at 8pm, tomorrow and Saturday at 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/York. Also playing Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, November 25 to 30. Box office: sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
The nearest city to York that Nathan will be bringing his My Big Fat Blasian Wedding tour will be Newcastle [The Stand Comedy Club, May 9 2025].
Nathan Caton: the back story
Nathan Caton: Taking on Narrator’s role in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show
BORN in Hammersmith, he grew up in Greenford, Ealing, West London. Active on comedy circuit since tender age of 19 – he is 39 now – having taken first steps while studying architecture at Angia Ruskin University.
He has since built his career on combining personal, confessional material with up-to-date social and political anecdotes, after playing Edinburgh Fringe, finishing as runner-up in Amused Moose Comedy Search and winning 2005 Chortle Student Comedian of the Year award within his first year.
Appeared on BBC’s Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, Eurogedden and Russell Howard’s Good News and Comedy Central’s Live At The Comedy Store. Finalist on FHM’s Stand-Up-Hero (ITV 4) . Starred in his own BBC Radio 4 sitcom, Can’t Tell Nathan Caton Nothin’. Written for TV shows Rastamouse and Royal Television Society Award-nominated Jojo & Gran Gran.
Performed five Edinburgh Fringe solo shows. Toured to Dubai, New York, Mumbai and Montreal. Embarked on numerous UK tours. Last tour, Let’s Talk About Vex, was filmed for a comedy special. Next tour, My Big Fat Blasian Wedding, will be on the road from May 1 to 24 2025.
Now playing Narrator’s role on 2024-2025 tour of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show in Bromley, High Wycombe, Fareham, Malvern, Bath, York, Glasgow, Cardiff, Woking, Blackpool and Sheffield. Box office: RockyHorror.co.uk.
The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster
A NAUTICAL Yorkshire drama, a scene-stealing Shakespearean dog, a long-lasting folk duo and a “bit of rough” comedian spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest for the week ahead.
World premiere of the week: The Whitby Rebels, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until November 2, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
IN Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.
This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. Bea Roberts’s new play tells their true story, boat on stage et al. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Nick Patrick Jones’s Proteus, left, and Mark Payton’s Duke of Milan in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona. Picture: John Saunders
Comedyplay of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
‘TWO Gents’: possibly Shakespeare’s first play and definitely the only one with a part for a dog. But can the newly employed performers at Monkgate Music Hall pull off their production?
Under-rehearsed knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians must pool their skills in Tempest Wisdom’s dazzling take on this rarely performed comedy, delivered by York Shakespeare Project. “Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York musical actress Rachel Higgs in the poster for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Songs For A New World
Unconventional musical of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON the heels of last week’s debut NCEM collaboration with fellow York company Wharfemede Productions, The Last Five Years, Black Sheep Theatre perform another Jason Robert Brown work, 1995’s Songs For A New World.
Defying conventional musical theatre formats, Brown and original director Daisy Prince say the non-linear show is “neither musical play nor revue”, but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle” that explores such universal themes as hope, faith, love and loss in its emotionally charged songs. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.
Our Star Theatre Company cast members outside York Minster on October 15, when the Ledbury company staged Death(s) At Sea at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. On Friday they will be in Pickering
Sea, sailors and seriously bad acting: Our Star Theatre Company in Death(s) At Sea, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
A SMALL theatre company is performing its new murder mystery Death At Sea, but despite the cast’s best efforts, everything goes wrong in the telling of a thriller set on a small ship carrying only five passengers and its captain.
When one passenger, Mr Inus, is found dead, the others speculate and turn on each other until the real murderer is caught…but that isn’t how this play (within a play) goes! Props fail, the set falls down, actors get drunk and suffer concussion, and conversations in the wings reveal too much. Can they make it to the end before one of them really kills someone? Find out in Eleanor Catherine Smart’s nautical drama on Friday. Box office: 01751474833or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrej Uspenski
Dance show of the week: Company Wayne McGregor, Autobiography, V102 and V103, York Theatre Royal, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm
GENETIC code, AI and choreography merge in a Wayne McGregor work that reimagines and remakes itself anew for every performance. Layering choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks McGregor’s DNA data,Autobiography “upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”.
Now, AISOMA, a new AI tool developed with Google Arts and Culture – “utilising machine-learning trained on hundreds of hours of McGregor’s choreographic archive – overwrites initial configurations to present fresh movement options to the performers, injecting unfamiliar and often startling content into the choreographic ecosystem”. “Life, writing itself anew,” explains McGregor. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
While & Matthews: Playing Hunmanby on closing night of 30th anniversary tour
Folk gig of the week: While & Matthews, Hunmanby Village Hall, near Filey, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of the longest-lasting female folk duo, singer-songwriters Chris While and Julie Matthews, concludes this weekend at Hunmanby Village Hall, where they sold out two years ago. Together they have played more than 2,500 gigs, appeared on 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.
Chris (vocals, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and percussion) and Julie (vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki) released their 13th studio album, Days Like These, on Fat Cat Records last month. Once again they cover a wide range of topics and the full spectrum of human emotions on 12 tracks. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Arthur Smith: Grumpy old man of comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre
Comedy turn of the week: An Audience With Arthur Smith, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
COMPERE, playwright, panellist, performer and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart Arthur Smith worked previously as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher and teacher. He even advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.
A career in stand-up comedy was the only one that could follow a build-up like that, he decided, since when he has appeared on quiz shows and Loose Ends, been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith and presented BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures. He describes himself as Radio 4’s “bit of rough”. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Pat Fulgoni Blues Experience: Returning to Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Pat Fulgoni Blues Experience, Milton Rooms, Malton, October 31, 8pm
SINGER Pat Fulgoni returns to Ryedale Blues Club with his band of Jacob Beckwith on guitar, Rory Wells on bass, Sam Bolt on keys and Zebedee Sylvester on drums.
Expect soaring soulful vocals over vibey guitar and piano-orientated blues in a set originals complemented by renditions of Ray Charles, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson. Box office: 01653 692240 or themiltonrooms.com.
In Focus: The English Civil War comes to Nunnington Hall this half-term
Nunnington Hall: Recalling the English Civil War over the autumn half-term. Picture: Andrew Davies
VISITORS to Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, can dive back in history to the time of the English Civil War throughout the autumn half-term.
From Saturday, October 26 to Friday, November 1, you can train up to become a soldier, with family games such as archery and hobby-horse races, or become a spy for the Royalist side by cracking the secret message in a code breaker trail.
For one weekend only, on November 2 and 3, the grounds of the National Trust property will be turned into an English Civil War encampment by the United Kingdom’s longest-running re-enactment society, The Sealed Knot.
Families will be invited to try on armour, chat to costumed re-enactors and watch show-stopping musket drills happening throughout the day.
Inside the house, children can enjoy playing with the shadow puppet theatre and the Civil War-themed crafts.
Sarah Nolan, visitor experience officer at Nunnington Hall, says: “We’re delighted to bring the UK’s oldest, and Europe’s biggest, re-enactment society to Nunnington and allow our visitors to experience history at its most immersive.
The Sealed Knot: Taking part in the English Civil War activities at Nunnington Hall. Picture: Levitt Parkes
“There’s a fantastic link between Nunnington Hall and the English Civil War, as it’s where Roundhead soldiers lived during the siege of nearby Helmsley Castle, 380 years ago!
“We’ve put together a host of children’s activities to choose from, offering a fun day out for all the family.”
In addition, Nunnington Hall is decorated for autumn and a range of seasonal treats is available in the tearoom.
Normal admission applies for access to the house, gardens and all activities; entry is free for National Trust members and under fives.
Nunnington Hall is open every day until Sunday, November 3, from 10.30am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission applies with free admission for National Trust members and under fives.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall,
Jason Donovan’s Dr Frank N Furter, centre, returning to Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show after 25 years
RICHARD O’Brien’s schlock-horror rock’n’roll musical comedy sextravaganza usually returns to York every three years. Even quicker this time.
Last here in March 2022, on a tour when Kristian Lavercombe clocked up his 2,000th performance as flesh-creeping servant Riff Raff, the focus on the 2024 travels falls on Australian treasure Jason Donovan as he sparks fishnet fever anew in high heels, gothic make-up and alluringly dark, Byronic wig.
Twenty-five years since he last played sweet transvestite transsexual scientist Dr Frank N Furter, this tour is his Rocky 2, and he delivers it with knockout panache.
“Rocky now plays to my strengths, less musical theatre, more edgy, a little bit rock’n’roll. More me really!” he said in his tour interview. ““I’m in touch with my feminine side but I come from a masculine sensibility. The character embraces both sides of me: a strength and a vulnerability, as well as danger and denial.”
A fixture on the British entertainment scene since his Neighbours soap days in the late 1980s, Donovan knows his audience, knows the fruity lead role inside out, and is as at ease with lipstick, powder and paint as he was in his last musical theatre role at the Grand Opera House, playing drag queen Mizti Del Bra in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert in November 2015.
Mitzi and Frank N Furter share an agent provocateur’s sense of danger in all they do, matched by Donovan’s delight in his delicious sauciness, with just the right application of B-movie ham/camp.
You know when The Rocky Horror Show is in town, nights when the men dress more like women on a weekend hen party in York. Glittering Cult of Rocky devotees are out in force in burlesque fancy dress, while Horror Show freshers are swept along on a tide of giddy joy, willingly submitting to initiation to their Frank N Furter rites of passage. And once bitten, they are never shy to do the Time Warp again and again.
Would it be sacrilege to say that The Rocky Horror Show is not as good a show as it is an experience? In truth, the shock of the once new has been usurped by the superior, more rounded Spring Awakening and Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, where there is no lull in momentum or quality of song in the second half. Rocky Horror, by comparison, suddenly rushes to the finishing line with a pile-up of bodies reminiscent of a Jacobean tragedy.
What Rocky Horror has to its advantage is trigger points for audience participation like no other musical theatre show, the only equivalent being that great British staple, pantomime. No wonder, Jason Donovan has called it “panto for adults”. Spot on, Jason. A Weimar pantomime, to be precise.
Fifty-one years since its premiere, with its bravura embrace of transvestism, freedom of self-determination and homosexuality, Rocky Horror feels freshly resonant in this age of gender fluidity, to complement the perennial tropes of infidelity and loss of innocence. The tone remains totally, defiantly tongue in cheek, the expression bold in all matters sexual, sartorial and satirical (like an episode of Fleabag).
What happens in O’Brien’s uproarious send-up of horror and sci-fi B-movies? A newly engaged, squeaky-clean American college couple, geeky Brad Majors (Connor Carson) and sweetheart Janet Weiss (Lauren Chia), lose their way in the Transylvanian woods, then their virginity under the seductive powers of Donovan’s castle-dwelling Dr Frank N Furter.
In a show propelled by song, set-piece, colourful character and carnal pleasure, under Christopher Luscombe’s lustrous direction, O’Brien’s plot loudly echoes Frankenstein in Frank N Furter’s drive to create a new life in the form of the glitter-dusted, ripped Rocky (Morgan Jackson).
Songs are raucous, raunchy and riotous in their pastiche of Fifties’ rock’n’roll, like The Cramps would later deliver too. Equally important are the audience rituals, often in response to the Narrator, the time-honoured recipient of the audience’s often-scripted, sometimes improvised abuse.
The likes of The Now Show comedian Steve Punt and actor Philip Franks have donned the blue smoking jacket at the Grand Opera House, and now Let’s Talk About Vex comedian Nathan Caton fills those shoes and later high heels. Blessed with a voice as deep as James Earl Jones, he is a cool dude, urbane, unflappable, quick to respond to any audience saucery (CORRECT) and equally quick with topical comments. What a canny piece of casting.
Welcome too to a new Riff Raff in Job Greuter, as deadpan and unnerving as he should be. Job, well done. Likewise, the Grand Opera House ushers and usherettes, dressed up to the max.
Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, 8pm, tonight, Wednesday and Thursday; 5.30pm and 8.30pm, Friday and Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster. All pictures: Tony Bartholomew
THE Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, is staging the world premiere of Bea Roberts’ The Whitby Rebels, boat on stage et al, until November 2.
In Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.
This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland.
Kieran Foster, left, Jaqcueline King, Jacky Naylor and Duncan MacInnes in the SJT rehearsal room
Their voyage is a classic story of British eccentricity and determination to rival Eddie the Eagle’s Olympic exploits, bus driver Kempton Bunton stealing the portrait of the Duke of Wellington or crane operator Maurice Flitcroft playing golf in the British Open.
Writer Bea Roberts says: “What appealed to me about this true story to begin with is that it felt like an Ealing comedy or a Carry On film – it’s got this fantastically silly edge: this group of pensioners being chased by the Royal Navy!
“But it’s also really remarkable as a story of incredible adventure, of daring, of bravery and of people doing something really rather audacious and brilliant.”
Jacqueline King, left, Duncan MacInnes, Kieran Foster and Louise Mai Newberry at sea off the Scarborough coast
Director Paul Robinson says: “I’m so excited to bring this local story to life, particularly as many people will remember it and the film which followed starring Bob Hoskins. And I can’t wait to see the audiences’ faces when they see a boat on stage!”
SJT artistic director Robinson directs a cast of Keith Bartlett, Kieran Foster, Jacqueline King, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor and Louise Mai Newberry.
The Whitby Rebels is designed by Jessica Curtis, with lighting design by Sally Ferguson; sound design by composer and sailor’s son Simon Slater; movement direction by Georgina Lamb; wardrobe supervision by Julia Perry-Mook and fight director by Kaitlin Howard. Tom Hill is the nautical consultant. Box office: 01723 370541 or at www.sjt.uk.com.
Duncan MacInnes, Keith Bartlett and Kieran Fosterin rehearsal for The Whitby Rebels
Puppeteer Wilf Tomlinson and a bare-footed Lara Stafford (Launce) in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona. Picture: Tony Froud
WHAT can a dog puppet do that a human can’t? Find out in York Shakespeare Project’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from tomorrow to Saturday.
‘Two Gents’ is possibly the first play Shakespeare ever wrote and certainly the only one with a part for a canine.
Settling into a mission to bring all Shakespeare’s plays to York on a second cycle, these facts could have presented YSP with some interesting challenges. Luckily YSP found a director eager to deliver a fascinating take on this 1593 comedy.
Originally from the United States of America, Tempest Wisdom studied theatre at the University of Chicago before pursuing a Masters degree in theatre-making at the University of York.
Already making their mark on the York theatre scene as the creator and host of the bi-monthly Bard at the Bar, a Shakespeare karaoke night at Micklegate Social, now Tempest is bringing their enthusiasm and talent to YSP’s autumn production.
“I’m setting The Two Gentlemen Of Verona in a Victorian music hall,” says Tempest. “A bawdy, raucous place where a host of variety acts will come together to stage the play.”
Theatre@41 will be transformed for the occasion, giving cast members the exciting challenge of becoming variety performers, each delivering their special act as well as lines from Shakespeare’s play, including Launce with his performing dog, Crab.
Nick Patrick Jones’s Proteus and Mark Payton’s Duke Of Milan in the rehearsal room. Picture: John Saunders
“The play-within-a-play structure combines Shakespeare’s signature wit with the razzle-dazzle and slapstick of an evening of variety,” says YSP chair Tony Froud. “A live pianist will add to the Victorian feel of the evening; Shakespeare’s characters will seamlessly rub shoulders with classic music-hall songs, such as Champagne Charlie and The Lass Of Richmond Hill, as the newly assembled company of knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians pool their skills to bring together this rarely-performed comedy.”
Tempest explains the rationale behind the music-hall setting. “Two Gentlemen is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, and you can already see the characteristic zaniness of his comedies beginning to take shape: cross-dressing, love songs, ribald humour.
“In my opinion, the best Shakespeare productions use their setting to complement the themes and tone of the text, and I thought a music hall, with its quick pace, slapstick and bawdiness, would be the best way to bring that zaniness to its full potential.”
The Two Gentlemen Of Verona is known by some as the play enjoyed by Dame Judi Dench’s Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Shakespeare In Love. The Queen is particularly taken by the performing dog, Crab, who, in time honoured fashion, outshines the actors.
The appearance of a dog is one of the most famous features of the play. In YSP’s production, Crab will be a puppet, built and brought to life by the capable hands of York theatre-maker and puppeteer Wilf Tomlinson.
“Working with Wilf is a joy,” says YSP cast regular, Lara Stafford, who plays Crab’s owner, Launce. “Crab might not have any lines but he’s got a huge presence; it’s a complete double act, and we’re having a great time in rehearsal. There are a lot of things human actors aren’t allowed to do that dog puppets can get away with. It’s going to be very funny.”
In the spotlight: director Tempest Wisdom
Tempest Wisdom
Where are you from?
“My answer changes depending on how much time you have! My father served in the Marine Corps through the entirety of my childhood, so I had a typical ‘military brat’ upbringing, moving across the world every couple of years.
“To this day, I haven’t lived anywhere longer than four years, and that was an anomaly. That’s all going to change, though: rehearsals for this production began on my third Moving-To-York anniversary, and if I have my way, I’ll be sticking around for several more.”
Where did you study and what part did Shakespeare play in your education?
“I went to school at the University of Chicago, where I had the honour of studying with the Shakespeare scholar David Bevington. He came to every production the Shakespeare troupe on campus ever put on, and would host a wine-and-cheese dramaturgy night at his home for the team.
“One of the highest compliments I have ever received was from him, when I played Antipholus & Antipholus in a vaudeville production of The Comedy of Errors (from which I have stolen shamelessly for Two Gents. If by any chance the director of that show ever reads this article: hello, Jacob, I’m not sorry!)
“Professor Bevington came up to me afterwards and told me it was one of his favourite student productions he’d ever seen. There are many people back in the States that I wish could see this show, and he is foremost among them.
“More recently, I received my Masters in Theatre-Making from the University of York.”
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for The Two Gentlemen Of Verona at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
What first drew you to performing and now directing Shakespeare?
“I’ve been performing and studying Shakespeare since I was 11 years old, when I was cast in a bit part in a school production of Romeo & Juliet. I was given the iconic ‘Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?’ line in Act I, Scene I… and I completely flubbed it!
“To me, the fun of directing Shakespeare in particular, and really any exciting script, is in the storytelling. These are densely packed texts on both the macro and micro level, and it’s my job as director to puzzle out how to unpack as much as possible, to use the mechanics of the stage to reveal, highlight, comment or inflect.
“In many ways it’s the same with clowning: the challenge is to tell a story to the audience as clearly as possible. In this case, the text and the clowning have brought out the best in each other. I find that happens very often with Shakespeare: the man knew how to write for clowns!”
What gave you the idea to give Two Gents a Victorian variety act/music hall setting?
“Like I said, I think a strong sense of physical comedy and clown in a performance of Shakespeare really allows the text to sing. In this case, I mean that literally: this performance features a poem from the text set to original music composed by our music director, Stuart Lindsay.
Charlie Spencer’s Thurio, left, and Nick Patrick Jones’s Proteus in the rehearsal room at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: John Saunders
“So, clown was my first port of call when thinking about staging Two Gents. In terms of the music hall specifically, this play features such a zany cast of characters, many of whom only show up for a scene or two, and I wanted to highlight each and every one of them as a series of variety acts.
“There are plenty of interesting thematic resonances between this setting and the text, particularly when it comes to the sexual politics of 16th-century courtly romance and the prudishness for which the Victorians are known; the ideas Shakespeare is exploring around the construction of a public persona and the codification of celebrity that occurred in large part as a result of the national popularity of the music hall, and the evolving social codes around how women were allowed to exist in public.
“But to be completely honest with you, the primary thought that went into the choice was ‘how much fun would it be if…?’
“And, not to spoil anything, but the play-within-a-play framework gives us leeway to question and push back against some assumptions that Shakespeare’s text makes.”
How would you describe an evening at Bard at the Bar to the uninitiated?
“I need to start by saying that Bard at the Bar was not my idea. I lived in Seattle before I came here, where Bard in a Bar was my absolute favourite social event. When I left, I missed it so terribly, and I felt so strongly that York would love this sort of thing that I sought the blessing of the creator, Anthea Carns, to bring it with me.
“Bard at the Bar is Shakespeare, ‘karaoke’ style. What that means is I choose a play and pick out a couple key scenes, which are then performed sight-unseen by volunteers on the night.
“Everyone has a script in one hand, a drink in the other, and mischief on the brain. Recently we’ve had a love sonnet performed to a dog, a fight involving a chair being thrown (a stage fight, of course, not a real one), an a cappella rendition of Tom Jones’s It’s Not Unusual, and lots and lots of dirty jokes.
“It takes place on the last Sunday of every other month in The Den at the Micklegate Social, and both lovers of Shakespeare and those completely unfamiliar with his work have told me how much fun it is.
“I unfortunately had to cancel the last one because I caught Covid, but I’m pleased to announce that we are back on for November 24 (7pm), when we’ll be doing ‘The Scottish Play’ [Macbeth]. The best place for updates on that project is @bardatthebar_york on instagram and eventbrite.”
Who’s in the York Shakespeare Project cast for ‘Two Gents’?
Effie Warboys’ Silvia and Pearl Mollison’s Outlaw mid-rehearsal. Picture: John Saunders
Proteus: Nick Patrick Jones
Valentine: Thomas Jennings
Silvia: Effie Warboys
Julia: Lily Geering
Chairwoman: Jodie Mulliah
Pianist: Stuart Lindsay
Panthino: Charlie Barrs
Speed: Liz Quinlan
Launce : Lara Stafford
Crab: Wilf Tomlinson
The Duke of Milan: Mark Payton
Thurio: Charlie Spencer
Antonio: Stuart Green
Lucetta: Anna Gallon
Sir Eglamour: Jonathan Cook
The Outlaws: Pearl Mollison, Kay Maneerot and Celeste North Finocchi
York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Tuesday (cut-price preview) to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.“Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest.
Mark Payton’s Duke of Milan, left, and Charlie Spencer’s Thurio. Picture: John Saunders
The bliss before the blister: Chris Mooney’s Jamie and Helen Spencer’s Cathy in their wedding-day clench
THIS is the first of a brace of shows by Tony Award-winning Jason Robert Brown, maker of musical theatre reflecting modern-day America, presented by Matthew Peter Clare’s Black Sheep Theatre Productions.
The first, Brown’s emotionally charged, to-and-fro 2001 two hander The Last Five Years, is being staged this week in collaboration with Wharfemede Productions, the new York company set up by Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton.
The second, Brown’s “very theatrical song cycle” from 1995, Songs For A New World, follows next Thursday to Saturday.
In one of those remarkably busy theatre and concert weeks that York loves to serve up, CharlesHutchPress caught the dress rehearsal, from a front-row table in St Margaret’s Church, home to the NCEM, with its desirably clear acoustics and hyper-sensitive sound system.
Bare walls and a stone floor are not a naturally theatrical setting, the venue being set up for concerts as its name would suggest, but singing feels very much at home, from the moment Helen Spencer and Chris Mooney stretch their cords with their vocal warm-ups.
Given its belated York premiere in November 2022 by White Rose Theatre’s cast of director Claire Pulpher and Simon Radford, Brown’s intense, fractious, intricately structured He Said/She Said love story suits a traverse setting, adding to the friction, the electric crackle, of two accounts of a five-year relationship, told on raised platforms – each sparsely equipped with one white seat and a black box – from opposite ends of the stage and time frame.
The background to The Last Few Years is that Brown drew on the trials and tribulations of his own failed marriage to Theresa O’Neill. So much so that she sued him on the grounds of the musical’s story violating non-disparagement and non-disclosure agreements within their divorce decree by representing her relationship with Brown too closely.
For Brown, read successful young novelist Jamie Wellerstein, Random House’s rising poster boy. For, well, let’s not say O’Neill, but any struggling actress, read Cathy Hiatt, from Ohio.
Brown’s sung-through musical has the novel structure of Spencer’s Cathy telling her side of the story from the end of the relationship backwards, while Mooney’s Jamie does so from the start forwards, as he lands a publishing deal at 23.
The songs take the form of internal monologues, alongside the occasional phone call, delivered mostly with the other partner having left the stage (for one of multiple costume changes), except for the burst of heart-pumping fireworks of a duet where they meet centre stage, touch for the first time, exchange marriage vows and rings and swap ends to continue on the same trajectory.
This alienating structure, so challenging to actors in how to evoke the bond, tactility and heat of love – the changes in the chemistry, physics and biology of a relationship – emphasises there will be no middle ground in this relationship, no alternative paths. In a storyline travelling in two directions, nothing can stop the crash.
In rehearsal with guest director Susannah Tresilian, Mooney and Spencer worked on breaching that chasm, the black hole, that had to be filled through vocal and facial expression, and sometimes by the other being present on stage, but doing their own thing silently.
The singing is demanding in that way so much of Stephen Sondheim’s repertoire can be, where melody takes a back seat to recitative, (the form of accompanied solo song that mirrors the rhythms and accents of spoken language), whether upbeat in Jamie and Cathy’s courtship songs or in broken-hearted ballads.
Under those tremors and volcanic outpourings, Clare leads his seven-piece from the keyboards, the waves of beautiful and mellifluous arrangements breaking against the rocks of the relationship in song.
The intensity of a two-hander magnifies how the relationship can be interpreted in different ways. In Simon Radford’s hands at Theatre@41, his peacock Jamie was more unreasonable, making you wonder whether these two would ever have lasted five years or whether they were polar opposites never meant to travel in the same direction.
More often, Jamie is portrayed as the one trying everything to save the relationship, to spark up Cathy, in a gentler interpretation of the role. This is where Mooney pitches his Jamie, aware of his foibles, unable to resist temptation as the fame blossoms, deceitful, yes, but regretful too. You can see why this is the well-worn path through this character, not so harsh.
Blessed with bags of stage presence and an ear for the importance of stillness, Spencer maker her Cathy a woman of stronger mettle, even if she has to open the show with her confidence shot, consumed by loneliness and insularity.
What gradually emerges from those broken wings is the butterfly, one who revels in flights of happiness, shows more than a flash of humour and handles the actor’s familiar lot of failed auditions stoically, until the searing pain of rejection delivered in Jamie’s parting letter.
A stark, frank reading of love’s vicissitudes, its sometimes all too brief candle, The Last Five Years makes for a more mature, adult relationship drama than Romeo And Juliet, although sharing its sense of the forlorn, as Brown’s songs and Money and Spencer’s performances draw you in without you taking sides.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, today at 7.45pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office:Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.
The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood), left, peruses the Anarchist’s case file as Inspector Burton (Paul Osborne) interrupts him in Black Treacle Theatre’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist . Picture: John Saunders
FROM ‘Rocky 2’ for Jason Donovan to a music-hall spin on Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gents’, Charles Hutchinson looks at a mighty crowded week ahead.
Last chance to see: Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Of An Anarchist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
YORK company Black Treacle Theatre stage Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s uproarious 1970 Italian farce in a new adaptation by Tom Basden, creator of Plebs and Here We Go, who updates the setting to the rotten state of present-day Britain.
Shining a satirical light on bent coppers, politicians and everything in between under Jim Paterson’s direction, the riotous drama is set in a police station where a suspect has “accidentally”’ fallen to his death, but did he jump or was he pushed? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter (Andrew Isherwood’s Maniac) is brought in for questioning. Cue cover-ups, corruption and (in)competence. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
Dinosaur World Live: Invading York Theatre Royal on Monday and Tuesday
Children’s show of the week:Dinosaur World Live, York Theatre Royal, October 21, 4.30pm; October 22, 10.30am and 4.30pm
DARE to experience the dangers and delights of dinosaurs in this mind-expanding, “roarsome” interactive Jurassic adventure, winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best Family Show.
Grab your compass and join Dinosaur World’s intrepid explorer on a venture across uncharted territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing, life-like dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, not least every child’s favourite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. A post-show meet and greet offers brave explorers the chance to make a new dinosaur friend. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jason Donovan, centre, as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, back at its regular York haunt, the Grand Opera House, next week
Touringmusical of the week: The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, October 21 to 26, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday, Saturday, 5.30pm and 8.30pm
AUSRALIAN actor, pop singer and soap star Jason Donovan returns to the Grand Opera House in a musical theatre role for the first time since playing drag act Mitzi Del Bar in Prisclla, Queen Of The Desert in November 2015.
“Rocky is panto for adults,” says Jason, 56, who is reprising his role as sweet transvestite Dr Frank N Furter on tour, after 25 years, in Richard O’Brien’s cult send-up of horror and science-fiction B-movies as squeaky clean American college couple Brad and Janet end up in the mad, seductive scientist’s Transylvanian lair. Box office: atgtickets.york.com.
Tempest Wisdom: Directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
Play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
‘TWO Gents’: possibly Shakespeare’s first play and definitely the only one with a part for a dog. But can the newly employed performers at Monkgate Music Hall pull off their production?
Under-rehearsed knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians must pool their skills in Tempest Wisdom’s dazzling take on this rarely performed comedy, delivered by York Shakespeare Project. “Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Steve Huison as his alter ego, working men’s club cabaret host Squinty McGinty, at The Crescent, York
Cabaret turn of the week, Steve Huison, Crescent Cabaret, The Crescent, York, October 23, doors, 6.30pm for 7.30pm start
AFTER exhibiting oil portraits of actors and musicians at Pyramid Gallery this summer, actor, artist and The Full Monty star Steve Huison presents The Crescent Cabaret in his guise as Squinty McGinty, “Agent to the Stars”, more usually to be found hosting Cabaret Saltaire.
Promoted in tandem with Pyramid Gallery owner and musician Terry Brett, who will make a stage appearance with Ukulele Sunshine Revival, this charity event will raise funds for Refugee Action York from meat raffle ticket sales at Huison’s affectionate, if outrageous, spoof of a typical northern working men’s club. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrej Uspenski
Dance show of the week: Company Wayne McGregor, Autobiography, V102 and V103, York Theatre Royal, October 25 and 26, 7.30pm
GENETIC code, AI and choreography merge in a Wayne McGregor work that reimagines and remakes itself anew for every performance. Layering choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks McGregor’s DNA data,Autobiography “upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”.
Now, AISOMA, a new AI tool developed with Google Arts and Culture – “utilising machine-learning trained on hundreds of hours of McGregor’s choreographic archive – overwrites initial configurations to present fresh movement options to the performers, injecting unfamiliar and often startling content into the choreographic ecosystem”. “Life, writing itself anew,” explains McGregor. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Nadia Reid: Making her Band Room debut on the North York Moors
Moorland gig of the season: Nadia Reid, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, October 26, 7.30pm
THE Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham first tried to book New Zealand singer-songwriter sensation Nadia Reid on her first British tour in 2017. “Persistence has paid off,” he says, welcoming her to “the greatest small venue on Earth” as part of a series of intimate, magical solo shows.
Noted for her evocative lyrics and introspective, folk-infused soundscapes, Reid has been described as “an understated, wise guide through uncertain territory”, drawing comparison with Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Gillian Welch and Sandy Denny. Latest album Out of My Province took her to Matthew E White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where producer Trey Pollard surrounded her songs in luminous washes of southern country soul. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.
Elbow: First headliners confirmed for second season of Live At York Museum Gardens, staged by Futuresound Group next summer
Gig announcement of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3 2025
GUY Garvey’s Mercury Prize-winning Bury band Elbow are confirmed as the first headliner for Futuresound’s second Live At York Museum Gardens concert weekend, after the sold-out success of Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary shows and Jack Savoretti this summer.
Elbow will be supported by Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution. Box office: futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333.
Recommended but sold out: James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 24 to 30, 7pm
James Swanton: sell-out run of The Signal-Man at York Medical Society. Picture: Jtu Photography
“SOMETHING unprecedented has happened: we’ve sold out the entire run over a month in advance! A first in my experience,” says York gothic actor and storyteller James Swanton ahead of the home-city leg of his Halloween Dickens show, The Signal-Man, with The Trial For Murder “thrown in for fun”.
“The Signal-Manis one of the most powerful ghost stories of all time and certainly the most frightening ever written by Charles Dickens. It’s paired here with The Trial For Murder, in which Dickens treats the supernatural with just as much terrifying gravity.”
James adds: “We’re privileged to be a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants for their annual Ghost Week celebrations.”
What happens in The Signal-Man? “A red light. A black tunnel. A waving figure. A warning beyond understanding. And the fear that someone – that something – is drawing closer,” says the storyteller of Dickens’s darkest explorations of the spirit world.
Over the past year, James has played monsters in The First Omen (20th Century Studios) and Tarot(Sony), as well as the title roles in two BBC chillers: The Curse Of The Ninth in Inside No. 9 and Lot No. 249, Mark Gatiss’s annual ghost story, a performance that spurred the Telegraph reviewer to call James “the scariest man on TV this Christmas”.
His Dickens work includes sell-out seasons of the Christmas Books at the Charles Dickens Museum, London, and his one-man play Sikes & Nancy at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios.
Are you too late for tickets for The Signal-Man? Fear not, James will be returning to York Medical Society from November 25 to 28 and December 2 to 5 for his annual performances of Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, suitable for age eight upwards. Tickets for these 65-minute 7pm performances are on sale on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
One ghost story will be told each night: November 25 to 27 and December 2 to 4, A Christmas Carol; November 28, The Chimes; December 5, The Haunted Man.
In Focus: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, York, Oct 24 to 26
Co-director and actor Mikhail Lim in one of myriad posters for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ production of Songs For A New World
YORK company Black Sheep Theatre Productions completes its October double bill of Jason Robert Brown productions with his 1995 theatrical song cycle Songs For A New World.
Tony Award-winning composer Brown is best known for his musicals Parade, 13 and The Last Five Years, the 2001 two-hander staged by Matthew Peter Clare’s company in collaboration with Wharfemede Productions at the NCEM last week.
First produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in New York, Songs For A New World defies conventional musical theatre formats. As described by Brown and original director Daisy Prince, the show is “neither musical play nor revue” but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle.”
“While it lacks a linear plot, the production explores universal themes such as hope, faith, love, and loss through a powerful collection of emotionally charged songs,” says Matthew, the production’s co-director, musical director and producer.
Black Sheep Theatre’s re-imagined production speaks directly to the growing uncertainty and tension of today’s political and social climate. Co-director Mikhail Lim and the creative team have crafted a fresh and relevant interpretation, designed to “resonate with audiences navigating the complexities of modern life”.
Songs For A New World cast member Rachel Higgs
This version expands the original cast of four to feature eight performers from York and beyond, creating a rich and multifaceted rendition.
“We believe this show will be a breakthrough in York’s theatre scene, offering something fresh, exciting, and deeply engaging,” says Mikhail. “The music alone will make audiences want to listen on repeat, but the show also connects emotionally, tugging on heartstrings and encouraging a renewed contemplation of today’s world.
“We hope audiences leave the theatre not only moved by the performances but also reflecting on the deeper themes we explore.”
After staging William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, now Black Sheep Theatre has worked meticulously on every aspect of Songs for A New World.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Songs For A New World
“The team is confident that this production will be a definitive version of Brown’s iconic work, delivering a truly unforgettable experience to all who attend,” says Matthew.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music,St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Creative team: Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare
Co-director: Mikhail Lim Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh
Cast: Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger; Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.
“The Rocky Horror Show now plays to my strengths, less musical theatre, more edgy, a little bit rock’n’roll. More me really!” says Jason Donovan, pictured centre
JASON Donovan is returning to one of his most famous roles: Frank-N-Furter in Richard O’Brien’s anarchic musical, The Rocky Horror Show. Next stop, Grand Opera House, York, from October 21 to 26.
Why? “In a nutshell, I’m a fan,” says the Australian singer, actor and erstwhile soap star, now 56. “I love the show; I love the music; I love the character. I was touring my own show about five years ago and included Sweet Transvestite from Rocky as a key moment in my musical career. It went down a storm.”
When he read there would be a 50th anniversary production, he emailed producer Howard Panter, saying he would love to be involved. Cue Jason’s Frank-N-Furter, first back home in Australia, in Sydney and Melbourne, and now on a UK tour since mid-August.
Richard O’Brien’s cult musical tribute to horror and science fiction B-movies from the 1930s to the early 1960s tells the story of a newly engaged, clean-cut American college couple Brad and Janet. Caught in a storm, they end up at the gothic Transylvanian lair of mad transvestite scientist, Dr Frank-N-Furter, just in time for the unveiling of his new creation, Rocky, a Frankenstein-style monster complete with blond hair and a tan.
Since 1973, the show has played to 30 million people globally in 20 languages. Now, Jason returns to a role he first played more than 25 years ago. “To be honest, I can’t really remember much about 1998 but that’s another story,” he says. “I don’t feel uncomfortable, though, playing him at 56 – and, of course, I have personal reasons for being grateful to the show.”
“The character of Frank N Furter embraces both sides of me: a strength and a vulnerability, as well as danger and denial,” says Jason Donovan
The stage manager on that late-1990s’ touring production was a young woman called Angela Malloch. “I’d be backstage waiting to go on, and I’d get chatting to Ange, ” recalls Jason. Friendship turned into romance but the relationship hit the buffers.
Shortly afterwards, however, Angela found out she was pregnant. Ultimatum time. “If the relationship had any chance of working, she told me, and if I was going to have any involvement in the life of our child, I would have to give up the self-indulgent hedonistic lifestyle of the ’90s and take greater control of my life. And I did.”
The couple, who finally married in 2008, have three children: actress Jemma, 24; TV producer Zac, 23, and Molly, still at school, aged 13.
Jason, meanwhile, has gone from small-screen fame as Scott Robinson in the Australian soap Neighbours to chart-topping pop stardom and onwards to musical and theatre roles: Joseph and Pharaoh in Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; two stints as drag artist Mitzi in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert The Musical; music mogul Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet, the demon barber himself in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street and Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech.
Jason Donovan: Heading to York Barbican on his Doin’ Fine 25 tour in 2025. Picture: Eugene Hyland
Dr Frank-N-Furter, above all, occupies a special place in his heart. “One of the reasons I love Rocky is because it’s a short show.” Explain, Jason! “It says everything it needs to say and nothing more. There’s no unnecessary padding. It means nobody gets bored and you leave them wanting more.”
What about climbing into fishnet stockings and high heels seven times a week? “In many ways, very easy, I put on the costume and there’s Frank all over again,” he says. “I’m in touch with my feminine side but I come from a masculine sensibility. The character embraces both sides of me: a strength and a vulnerability, as well as danger and denial.
“Look, I come to the role as an actor. I always dreamed of fronting a rock band and this is about as close as I’ve got. When I put on those high heels, I become that rock’n’roll star. It makes me feel powerful, tall, in charge.
“And audiences love it. As I look out from the stage, I see a beautiful landscape of people wearing outrageous costumes. It’s not hard to see why: in many ways, Rocky is panto for adults. The costumes are just as much a part of the show as the characters and the music.”
Touring surely means wear and tear to his back? “I spend a lot more time in physio these days, something I’ve put in as an appendix in my contract! I’m in my mid-50s. I’m aware of having to look after myself,” he says.
Jason Donovan’s Mitzi Del Bra in his last appearance at the Grand Opera House in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert The Musical in November 2015
Does that require regular exercise? “Yes, but not obsessively so. Mental health and physical fitness go hand-in-hand for me. This life is a long journey, you hope. My dad gave me the tool of a good work ethic linked to physical activity,” he says.
“I don’t go to the gym: I’m not interested in lifting weights. But I swim. I ride my bike. I stretch. I steam. I do those things more or less on a daily basis. In fact, they’ve become a borderline addiction. And, of course, doing the show is a work-out in itself: I put a lot of energy into my performance.”
Jason says vocals were “never my strongest point back in the day”. “But since Joseph, I’ve worked really hard and through 30 years of strengthening my vocal cords – they’re a muscle like anything else – I’ve become a better singer. Rocky now plays to my strengths, less musical theatre, more edgy, a little bit rock’n’roll. More me really!”
What’s next for Jason post-Rocky? “I’ve got my Doin’ Fine 25 tour. That’s 35 concerts across the UK and Ireland,” he says. “It’s a greatest hits show, a celebration of 35 years of work.” York Barbican awaits next March.
The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, October 21 to 26, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday and Saturday, 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.york.com. Jason Donovan: Doin’ Fine 25, York Barbican, March 8 2025, 8pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk
DEL Boy in a musical, a Dungeon murderess, a Greek teen tragedy and gruesome Tower tales promise entertainment and enlightenment, advises Charles Hutchinson.
New attraction of the week: The Black Widow, York Dungeon, Clifford Street, York, daily from 10am
HERE comes this Hallowe’en season’s new show at York Dungeon. Be prepared to encounter the grim tale of Britain’s first female serial killer: Mary Ann Cotton.
A north easterner with a propensity for lacing tea with a drop of arsenic, the Black Widow was convicted of only one murder but is believed to have killed many others, including 11 of her 13 children, and three of her four husbands. Box office: thedungeons.com/york/tickets-passes/. Pre-booking is essential.
Sam Lupton’s Del Boy on a date with Georgina Hagen’s Raquel in Only Fools And Horses The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York
“Plonker” musical of the week: Only Fools And Horses The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today and Saturday
BASED on John Sullivan’s long-running BBC One series, his son Jim Sullivan and comedy treasure Paul Whitehouse’s West End hit, Only Fools And Horses The Musical, combines 20 songs with an ingenious script.
“Join us as we take a trip back in time to 1989, where it’s all kicking off in Peckham,” reads the 2024-25 tour invitation. “While the yuppie invasion of London is in full swing, love is in the air as Del Boy sets out on the rocky road to find his soul mate, Rodney and Cassandra prepare to say ‘I do’, and even Trigger is gearing up for a date (with a person!).” Box office for the last few tickets: atgtickets.com/york.
Chris Mooney and Helen “Bells” Spencer in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, the debut collaboration between Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions
Debut of the week: Wharfemede Productions & Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.45pm
HELEN Spencer and Nick Sephton launch their new York company, Wharfemede Productions, in tandem with Black Sheep Theatre Productions, by staging The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown’s emotive musical story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.
Combining only two cast members, York theatre scene luminaries Chris Mooney and Spencer, with a seven-piece band, expect an intimate and emotive evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.
Alexander Flanagan-Wright in Helios, his modern take on the Fall of Phaeton, performed under the Great Hall dome at Castle Howard
Theatrical event of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, The Great Hall, Castle Howard, near York, today, 5pm and 7.30pm
A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. In a play about the son of the god of the sun, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound round the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.
“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” says writer-performer Alexander Flanagan-Wright, who presents his delicate tale with a tape-player beneath the Great Hall dome’s mural, painted by 18th century Venetian painter Antonio Pelligrini, whose depiction of the Fall of Phaeton was the thematic inspiration behind Helios. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
Alison Weir: Gruesome tales of executions, beheadings and Royal intrigue from 900 years at the Tower Of London
Literary event of the week: Kemps Bookshop Presents Alison Weir – Ghosts & Gruesome Tales Of The Tower, Milton Rooms, Malton, tonight, 7.30pm
IF any place could lay claim to a host of tortured souls and ghosts, it would be the Tower of London. Historian Alison Weir regales her Malton audience with chilling ghostly tales of grim events, bloody deeds, intrigues and violent deaths the Tower has witnessed over 900 years and the ghosts that reputedly haunt it. After her talk, she will take questions and sign copies of her books. Box office: 01653 696240 themiltonrooms.com.
Mary Bourne, left, and Jessa Liversidge: Uplifting journey of song in Songbirds at Helmsley Arts Centre
Songbirds: A Celebration of Female Musical Icons, with Jessa Liversidge and Mary Bourne, Helmsley Arts Centre, October 25, 7.30pm
DEVISED and performed by vocalists Jessa Liversidge, from Easingwold, and Mary Bourne, from Kingston upon Thames, Songbirds is an uplifting journey of song, celebrating “some of the most iconic female singers and songwriters ever known”, from Carole King and Annie Lennox to Kate Bush and Adele. Special guests include HAC Singers and Easingwold Community Singers. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Nadia Reid: Making her Band Room debut on the North York Moors
Moorland gig of the season: Nadia Reid, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, October 26, 7.30pm
THE Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham first tried to book New Zealand singer-songwriter sensation Nadia Reid on her first British tour in 2017. “Persistence has paid off,” he says, welcoming her to “the greatest small venue on Earth” as part of a series of intimate, magical solo shows.
Noted for her evocative lyrics and introspective, folk-infused soundscapes, Reid has been described as “an understated, wise guide through uncertain territory”, drawing comparison with Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Gillian Welch and Sandy Denny. Latest album Out of My Province took her to Matthew E White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where producer Trey Pollard surrounded her songs in luminous washes of southern country soul. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.
Elbow: Headlining first day of second season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts
Show announcement of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3 2025
GUY Garvey’s Mercury Prize-winning Bury band Elbow are confirmed as the first headliner for Futuresound’s second Live At York Museum Gardens concert weekend, after the sold-out success of Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary shows and Jack Savoretti this summer.
Elbow will be supported by Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution. The York exclusive postcode presale (for YO1, YO24, YO30, YO31 and YO32) goes on sale today at 10am at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333?pre=postcode. General sales open at 10am on Friday at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333.
In Focus: Nunnington Hall Autumn Festival, October 19 and 20
Nunnington Hall: Autumn garden tours next weekend
VISITORS to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, can enjoy the manor house being decorated for autumn next weekend.
The garden team will be running garden tours and apple-juicing demonstrations, and there will be an opportunity to do autumn-themed crafts.
Programming and partnerships officer Elena Leyshon says: “We’re delighted that our annual Autumn Festival will be returning to Nunnington Hall this year. Visitors can explore the hall decorated for autumn and join our garden team on orchard and wildlife tours, and live apple-juicing demonstrations.
“We’ll have a range of local makers and creators demonstrating and selling their work, from willow weaving to felting.
“There will also be some delicious autumnal treats in the tearoom to enjoy, so come along and enjoy a sweet treat in our tearoom and celebrate the best of the autumnal season with us.”
Robert Dutton and Andrew Moodie’s exhibition, A Yorkshire Year, continues at Nunnington Hall and will be be open to visitors over the festival weekend.
Nunnington Hall Autumn Festival, October 19 and 20, 10.30am to 5pm each day, with last entry at 4.15pm. Visiting stalls will be on site until 4pm. No booking is required. Normal property admission applies, with free admission for National Trust members and under fives.
