The cast for An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical gathering for rehearsals
AN Officer And A Gentleman The Musical will play the Grand Opera House, York, from June 4 to 8 in in the Curve, Leicester touring production.
Directed by North Yorkshire-raised Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster, with choreography by Joanna Goodwin, the show is on tour from February 23 to November 16, visiting the Alhambra, Bradford, from tonight to Saturday.
Based on Taylor Hackford’s 1982 film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger, An Officer And A Gentleman’s story of love, courage, and redemption follows the emotional journey of fearless young pilot officer candidate Zack Mayo and the captivating Paula Pokrifki, whose fiery spirit matches his own.
A book by screenplay writer Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen will be accompanied by the songs of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper and Blondie, topped off by the award-winning (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong, the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes hit from the film.
Georgia Lennon as Marie Osmond in her previous Grand Opera House appearance in The Osmonds: A New Musical in August 2022. Picture: Pamela Raith
Luke Baker leads Foster’s cast as Zack Mayo, joined by Georgia Lennon – last seen on the Grand Opera House stage as Marie Osmond in the world premiere tour of The Osmonds: A New Musical in August 2022 – in the role of Paula Pokrifki.
Further principal roles go to Jamal Crawford asGunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, Paul French as Sid Worley, Sinead Long as Lynette Pomeroy, Melanie Masson as Esther Pokrifki, Tim Rogers as Byron Mayo, Olivia Foster-Browne as Casey Seegar and Lucas Piquero as Eduardo Cortez.
Set and costume design are by Michael Taylor; musical supervision and orchestration by George Dyer; lighting design by Ben Cracknell; sound design by Tom Marshall; wig, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox and casting by Debbie O’Brien.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees in York are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.Also Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2pm Wednesday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; box office, 01274 432000 or bradford-theatres.co.uk
Nikolai Foster’s touring cast for An Officer And A Gentleman
Hairspray’s 2024-2025 touring cast: Heading to the Grand Opera House, York, this autumn
BLOSSOMING North Yorkshire talent Alexandra Emerson-Kirby will make her professional stage debut in the lead role of Tracy Turnblad on the 2024/2025 UK and Ireland tour of Hairspray. The Grand Opera House, York, awaits her from October 28 to November 2.
Alexandra’s passion for musical theatre was nurtured at Scarborough’s YMCA Theatre. From there, she trained professionally at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Woking, graduating recently in musical theatre and dance.
Alongside her will be fellow professional theatre debutante Michelle Ndegwa, playing Motormouth Maybelle after her selection from last November’s 3,000 open auditions hopefuls for the tour’s run from July 16 to next April.
Soul and gospel singer Nedgwa is best known for her vocals for the Gorillaz and has recorded with Billy Porter, Gregory Porter, Shapeshifters, Leeds band Yard Act, Becky Hill, Rita Ora, and Deseri too.
She has performed at Coachella, Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and her touring, festival and concert work includes backing vocals for Lizzo, Jorja Smith, Emeli Sande, Becky Hill, Nubya Garcia, Wizkid, TLC, Liam Gallagher, Ray BLK, Nina Nesbit, Shakka, Tom Odell and Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall.
Brenda Edwards, who played Motormouth Maybelle in three productions under Paul Kerryson’s direction, now joins him to co-direct the latest tour. Choreography will be by Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie, artistic director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
Based on John Waters’ cult 1988 film that starred Divine and Ricki Lake, Hairspray The Musical features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan.
The 2002 Broadway premiere won eight Tony Awards; the 2007 West End premiere at the Shaftesbury Theatre picked up four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical.
Revelling in such songs as Welcome To The 60s, You Can’t Stop The Beat and Good Morning Baltimore, Hairspray traces the progress of ambitious heroine Tracy Turnblad, who has big hair, a big heart and big dreams to dance her way onto national American television and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.
When Tracy becomes a local star, she decides to use her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance and interracial unity in Baltimore, but can she win equality – and Link’s heart – without denting her hairdo?
Kerryson and Edwards’s touring cast will include Neil Hurst, who played big lad Dave in The Full Monty on tour at the Grand Opera House last October, now cross-dressing as Tracy’s mum, Edna Turnblad.
Returning to the York stage too will be Joanne Clifton, this time as former beauty queen, TV show producer, devious taskmaster and racist snob Velma Von Tussle.
The 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion appeared previously at the Grand Opera House as Princess Fiona in Shrek, Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Show, welder Alex Owens in Flashdance and Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Further roles will go to Solomon Davy as Link Larkin; Declan Egan as show host Corny Collins, Katlo as Little Inez, Reece Richards as Seaweed and Allana Taylor as Amber Von Tussle.
Adam Kay: If laughter is the best medicine, head to the Grand Opera House
SHORT plays, doctor’s tales, pop memories, life 11,000 years ago, women in word and song, egg hunts and a Sondheim celebration put the spring into Charles Hutchinson’s step as a new season arrives.
Doctor in the House: Adam Kay: Undoctored, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm
BILLING himself as “the nation’s twelfth-favourite doctor”, This Is Going To Hurt author Adam Kay follows a record-breaking Edinburgh Fringe run and West End season with a tour of tales from his life on and off the wards.
Expect Kay’s ‘degloving’ story to feature “because people ask for refunds if they don’t hear it”. Post-show, he will be signing books. Last few tickets: atgtickets.com/york.
Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women at The Basement
Navigators Art & Performance presents: GUNA: Live!, Views and Voices of Women, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, March 23, 7pm
TO complement Navigators Art & Performance’s City Screen exhibition for International Women’s Week, the York arts collective hosts an inspiring evening of music, spoken word and comedy that explores, celebrates and promotes the creativity of women and non-binary artists.
The line-up of mostly York-based performers features poets Danae, Olivia Mulligan and Rose Drew; performance artist Carrieanne Vivianette; global songs and percussion from Soundsphere; original music from Suzy Bradley; comedy from Aimee Moon and a rousing appearance by multi-faceted York musician and artist Heather Findlay. Box office: bit.ly/nav-guna.
Lush stories: Miki Berenyi’s book, Fingers Crossed, under discussion at York Literature Festival
Book of the week: Miki Berenyi In Conversation: Fingers Crossed, York Literature Festival, The Crescent, York, March 24, 3pm
MIKI Berenyi, former lead singer, rhythm guitarist and founder member of London shoegaze/dream pop band Lush discusses her memoir, Fingers Crossed, and her career, recounting her experiences as a trailblazing woman fronting a seminal late-1980s group. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Livy Potter: Performing in Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill in Yorkshire Trios at York Theatre Royal
York theatre event of the week: Yorkshire Trios, York Theatre Royal Studio, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.45pm, both sold out
YORK company Next Door But One brings together York actors, writers and directors to produce original, short pieces of theatre, five to 15 minutes in length, on the theme of Top Of The Hill. Cue tales of motherhood, grief, love, war and even Kate Bush.
Badapple Theatre’s Kate Bramley and Connie Peel direct Nicola Holliday in Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast; Livy Potter performs Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill under Harri Marshall’s direction; Jacob Ward directs Claire Morley in Yixia Jiang’s Outliving and Bailey Dowler appears in Jules Risingham’s Anorak, directed by Tempest Wisdom. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Curators Andrew Woods, left, Adam Parker and Emily North with Mesolithic remains of a wooden platform and materials used for fire-making in the Yorkshire Museum’s Star Carr exhibition. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross
Exhibition opening of the week: Star Carr: Life After The Ice, Yorkshire Museum, York; open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm
EXCAVATED in the Vale of Pickering, the Star Carr archaeological site provides the first evidence in Great Britain of the beginnings of home, a place where people settled and built places to live.
The Yorkshire Museum’s interactive exhibition brings together artefacts from “the Mesolithic equivalent of Stonehenge” to give an insight into human life 11,000 years ago, a few hundred years after the last Ice Age, such as how they made fires. On display are objects from the Yorkshire Museum Collection, from antler headdresses and a decorated stone pendant to the world’s oldest complete hunting bow and the earliest evidence of carpentry from Europe. To book tickets, go to: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.
Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre
Musical revue of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Sondheim We Remember, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 27 to 30, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember’s selection of music from Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway shows, film scores and television specials.
Taking part too in this celebration of the New York composer and lyricist will be show director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Nick Sephton, Catherine Foster and Matthew Warry. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The National Trust’s guide to Easter activties, egg hunts et al, at Nunnington Hall
Easter Egg Hunt of the fortnight: Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, today until April 7, 10.30am to 5pm; last entry, 4.15pm.
FAMILIES can enjoy a fun-packed visit to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall throughout the Easter school holiday, when children can take part in an Easter egg hunt trail around the freshly mown garden, with activities to be completed such as an egg and spoon race, archery and boules, before receiving their egg.
Children can enjoy drawing and painting in the creative hub; take part in seed planting in the cutting garden; explore the Lion’s Den play area, with its obstacle course, rope bridge and climbing frame; learn about composting and spend time in the bird-watching area. On March 31 and April 1, additional garden activities include races on the main lawn and bird-feeder making. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.
Wet Wet Wet and special guest Heather Small: Teaming up at York Barbican in 2025
York gig announcement of the week: Wet Wet Wet & Heather Small, York Barbican, October 13 2025
WHEN Wet Wet Wet headlined a festival in Dubai, who should they bump into but Heather Small, the big voice of M People. She duly accepted their invitation to be the special guest at all dates on their 2025 tour.
Wet Wet Wet will be returning to York Barbican after their January 31 2024 double bill with Go West on the Best Of Both Worlds Tour. In the line-up will be founding member and bassist Graeme Clark, long-standing guitarist Graeme Duffin and singer Kevin Simm, The Voice UK winner and former Liberty X member, who joined the Scottish group in 2018. Tickets: axs.com.york.
In Focus: Children’s show, Millennium Entertainment International in There’s A Monster In Your Show, York Theatre Royal, March 26 to 28, 1.30pm and 4pm
There’s A Monster In Your Show composerTom Fletcher with his children, Buzz, Buddy and Max, and a monster puppet
THE Easter holiday festivities at York Theatre Royal kick off with Tom Fletcher’s new family musical There’s A Monster In Your Show.
Based on Fletcher and Greg Abbot’s Who’s In Your Book? picture-book series for Puffin, the 50-minute performance for three-year-olds and upwards is billed as an “interactive, high-energy adventure for big imaginations” that leaps from page to stage with the aid of lively original music
Adapted for the stage by Zoe Bourn and directed by Miranda Larson, the show features new music by McFly band member Fletcher and Barry Bignold. Expect playful fun aplenty for your littlest ones as their favourite characters come to life in a performance packed with interactive moments to enjoy together.
In the story, performers are preparing to start their show but quickly discover they are not alone on stage. Little Monster wants to be part of the fun too, promptly extending an invitation to his friends Dragon, Alien and Unicorn to join him. Cue comedy and chaos as they help to create a magical show, learning about the joy of books and friendship along the way.
Fletcher says: “I’m so excited to see There’s A Monster In Your Book come to life on stage. The whole journey is incredibly exciting. Theatre is such an important way to introduce children to the arts and There’s A Monster In Your Show is the perfect first theatre trip for pre-schoolers and their families. I’m so looking forward to seeing their reactions first hand.”
The 1.30pm show on March 28 will be a Relaxed Performance that aims to reduce anxiety around theatre visits to help everyone have an enjoyable time. All are welcome, but especially people with sensory or communication difficulties or a learning disability. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ben Murrell and Gil Sidaway in There’s A Monster In Your Show. Picture: Pamela Raith
In the wink of an eye:Matt Freeman’s Guinevere in Le Navet Bete’s King Arthur. Picture: Craig Fuller
LE Navet Bete translates as “the daft turnip”. Cue fruit and vegetables being lobbed at the stage at the outset of this latest comic caper of precisely organised chaos from a trio of Exeter theatre-makers who met in student days and retain that anarchic spirit in the tradition of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson in The Young Ones and Bottom.
Making their fifth visit to York Theatre Royal, this one finds company regulars Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman working with Peepolykus’s like-minded John Nicholason as co-writer and director, conjuring a re-telling of the legend of King Arthur as never told before, played faster and looser than all those Horrible Histories.
What’s the story, more daft than gory? King Arthur “knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilization will be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history. But when three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy…a legend in born.”
From a camper-than-camp opening pastiche of Queen’s infamous I Wanna Break Free video, through Kelis’s re-shaken Milkshake to The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army in the interval, the pop hits repurposed medieval style kept on coming as the plot not so much thickens as chases itself around a tree like a squirel.
Add prog-rock, jazz fusion, orchestral score, medieval sitcom segues and re-imaginings of Cher, and no wonder composer and sound designer Jonny Wharton sums it up as ridiculous.
Thwack attack: Al Dunn, left, Matt Freeman and Nick Bunt in Le Navet Bete’s smash-hit King Arthur. Picture: Craig Fuller
Monty Python And The Holy Grail comes to mind as another influence, but like those cycling Shakespeareans The HandleBards, Le Navet Bete have developed their own style of physical comedy, one founded in the fast-moving, faster-witted comic camaraderie and delightful tomfoolery of the multi-role playing Bunt, Dunn and Freeman.
For all the measured order behind their comical disorder, they revel in the unpredictable nature of breakneck live theatre, the mishaps and malfunctions beyond the mayhem, the ad-libbing and the corpsing, joined gleefully by set and costume and designer Fi Russell on constant stage management duty, popping on in stealthy Milk Tray advert black to remove a mis-thrown stool at one point.
Le Navet Bete cram a lot into their Camelot, here represented in a castellated design by the playful Russell with doors aplenty in farce tradition, a water trough and a bucket on a rope: all signposts of pratfalls and slapstick to come.
More than 50 costumes, even a pantomime horse, play their part as the likes of Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and Percival are woven into a plot that spins ever more plates – and when a frying pan is to hand, what else would you do but belt someone in the face with it?! Pan-tomime of a different kind.
Should you miss day three of this riotous romp in York today, head to Cast in Doncaster on June 8, 7pm, or June 9, 11am and 3pm. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Doncaster, 01302 303959 or castindoncaster.com.Suitable for legend-loving children and adults alike.
Jessica Baglow’s Lady Macbeth and Ash Hunter’s Macbeth
WHEN shall we meet Amy Leach’s Macbeth again? Only two years to the month since its Leeds Playhouse premiere.
Sixty-nine schools from across Yorkshire attended the 2022 run, “introducing more than 5,000 students to the excitement and lasting resonance of Macbeth – and giving some of them their first electrifying experience of live theatre,” as artistic director and chief executive James Brining recalls in his programme notes.
Even more school-friendly matinees have been fitted in for the return of GCSE Eng Lit set text Macbeth, supported by a programme of resources and activities to “bring additional depth and breadth to students’ appreciation of this incredible play”.
Striking up a pre-show conversation with the student in the neighbouring back-row seat at Thursday’s lunchtime matinee, she had first seen a version of Macbeth when she was ten and it had since become her favourite play. Now she is studying its psychology on her GCSE course.
And what a psychological thriller to be watching to elucidate those studies, in a theatre full to the brim with excited school uniforms, all enraptured from start to finish by Leach’s vision of all-inclusive theatre-making. Theatre for all the senses, all audiences, all performers, deaf, visually impaired, included. Each performance has integrated audio description.
Think of modern theatrical retellings of historical stories with nods to concert culture, and up pops SIX The Musical, the Spouse Girls’ revenge of Henry VIII’s wives. Another controversial king, Macbeth, is now framed in a setting that would not be out of place in a stadium rock show.
A huge drawbridge hangs heavy over Hayley Grindle’s stage. Searchlights scan the auditorium from metallic towers spread out like a forest. Fog enfolds. Deafening noise bursts through the air. For those about to rock, however, stop. You notice a puddle of water; muddy ground; grit too. Something witchy this way comes.
Enter the weather-watchful Witches (Charlotte Arrowsmith, Karina Jones and Elkanah Wilder, all from 2022), spinning opening words that are re-shaped, re-ordered, with rhythms afresh, their sound as important as their meaning.
What’s this? Macbeth (Ash Hunter, last seen on Yorkshire boards as Heathcliff in Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights at York Theatre Royal) and Lady Macbeth (the returning Jessica Baglow) are cradling a new-born baby, only for the bairn to die within a heartbeat.
In the Playhouse’s wish to “explore the damaging physical, spiritual and psychological effects of treachery on those who seek power at any cost”, Leach has put child loss, lineage and legacy at the heart of the Macbeths’ behaviour, the acts of murder, the need to eliminate all threats to their ill-gotten power.
Leach then takes it even further, Baglow’s Lady Macbeth being pregnant when she beseeches “unsex me here” and later suffering a miscarriage as blood seeps through her nightgown. Come the finale, Leach adds prescient text to give a foretaste of Banquo’s son, Fleance, becoming king as the Witches had prophesied.
Those Witches typify Leach and Brining’s “commitment to accessible and inclusive theatre-making”, as does the participation of the blind Benjamin Wilson as audio description consultant.
Supernatural soliciting: Elkanah Wilder, Karina Jones and Charlotte Arrowsmith’s Witches in Amy Leach’s Macbeth. Picture: Kirsten McTernan
Among the witches, Karina Jones is visually impaired and Charlotte Arrowsmith is profoundly deaf, while Elkanah Wilder “interrogates multifaceted sociopolitical oppressions from a queer and disabled lens”.
Here, Shakespeare’s “weird sisters” are neither weird, nor alien, in the way they are often played, but are as wild as the landscape instead.
Arrowsmith also plays Lady MacDuff, partnered once more by the profoundly deaf Hull actor Adam Bassett as MacDuff. Paul Brown’s Lennox vocally interprets the sign language, complementing the intensity of Bassett’s expressive face, hands and arms with the staccato rhythms of his speech.
Learning of, spoiler alert, his wife and children’s deaths is even more shocking, heart-rending, in this form of news delivery: theatre at its unique best, living and breathing in the rawness of the moment.
Not only do lighting designer Chris Davey’s searchlights induce a sense of paranoia (later turning from white to red after yet more murdering), but relentlessly oppressive natural elements prevail too, along with the sound and fury of machismo war.
These are all big, muscular, mud-and-blood splattered men, ready to rut like stags, except for Aosaf Afzal’s King Duncan; their physicality being emphasised by Georgina Lamb’s movement direction and Claire Lewellyn’s fight direction. Likewise, Nicola T Chang’s sound design adds to the cacophony.
Macbeth’s vaulting ambition may in part be represented by the drawbridge, crowned when on top of it, but broken beneath it, but Leach’s production is deeply human amid the technology.
In the relationship of Hunter’s reactionary Macbeth and Baglow’s more intuitive Lady Macbeth, the shifting sands become less about calculating mind games, controlled initially by her, more about brute physicality and brutal will, imposed by him, as intense love and mutual hopes are snuffed out in the face of ultimate destiny being beyond their control, whether shaped by supernatural witchcraft or the resurrection of natural order.
Hunter’s Macbeth is as physical in his language as in his pugilist’s body, his soliloquies carrying the force of punches amid the fevered actions of his bloody rise and fall. He is so spent – “Enough, enough, I am done” – that he lays down to let Macduff administer the final blow.
Above all, Leach puts Lady Macbeth’s motives under the spotlight, and if purists feel she has gone too far in doing so, the reality is that Baglow’s performance is all the better, more rounded, for it.
Risk-taking change can be liberating, rather than be judged as taking liberties, as Leach’s emboldened Playhouse productions affirm, from Romeo And Juliet to Macbeth X 2.
What’s more, there is no damned spot to ‘out’ here. Leach’s Macbeth was already beyond blemish in 2022 and is even better in 2024.
Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse, today at 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Le Collectif de Blues: Making their Ryedale Blues Club debut
BLUES and the yellow brick road, New Orleans jazz and Sondheim, egg hunts and art workshops, an album launch and a pop double bill make Charles Hutchinson’s latest list.
Blues gig of the week: Le Collectif de Blues, Milton Rooms, Malton, tonight (21/3/2024), 8pm
FOR the first time, Ryedale Blues Club presents the straight-up, no-nonsense Chicago blues of Le Collectif de Blues at the Milton Rooms. Expect a “killer harp, low key, small amps, no effects” brand of blues. “Just as it should be,” they say. Hull blues and rock musician Steve Fulsham is on the bill too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Alligator Gumbo: New Orleans jazz from Leeds in Helmsley
Jazz gig of the week: Alligator Gumbo, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
PERFORMING everywhere from rowdy bars to prestigious jazz festivals since 2011, Leeds combo Alligator Gumbo play jazz from the hey-day of the New Orleans swing/jazz era, in particular the “Roaring Twenties”, when music was raw and largely improvised with melodies and solos happening simultaneously.
Striving to keep the New Orleans sound alive, Alligator Gumbo play the popular songs that defined this time and place. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Baby boom: Ryedale Youth Theatre choreographer Lauren Hood, front left, producer/director Chloe Shipley and musical director Rachael Clarke with their babies and The Wizard Of Oz cast members
Ryedale musical of the week: Ryedale Youth Theatre in The Wizard Of Oz, Milton Rooms, Malton, March 27 to 30, 7.15pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
REHEARSALS were paused for several weeks when three key members of Ryedale Youth Theatre’s production team took time out to be with their new arrivals. Choreographer Lauren Hood had a baby son, musical director Rachael Clarke, a daughter, and producer/director Chloe Shipley, a son. Choreographer Rachel Morris is having a baby too, due after the show’s run.
Rehearsals resumed in February for L Frank Baum’s musical story of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow and their journey along the yellow brick road to meet the Wizard of Oz. Box office: yourboxoffice.co.uk.
Sam Hird: Heading home to York to sing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre
Musical revue of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Sondheim We Remember, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 27 to 30, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember’s selection of music from Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway shows, film scores and television specials.
Taking part too in this celebration of the New York composer and lyricist will be show director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Catherine Foster, Andrew Roberts, Nick Sephton and Matthew Warry. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Bassist Kai West’s poster for Bull’s two-day album launch at The Crescent
York album launch of the week: Bull at The Crescent, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm
BULL, York’s “finest purveyors of jangling indie joy”, launch second album Engines Of Honey with a brace of home-city shows, supported by FEET and Vehicle on Friday, then Fat Spatula and Eugene Gorgeous on Saturday.
Vocalist/songwriter Tom Beer, guitarist Dan Lucas, drummer Tom Gabbatiss, keyboard player Holly Beer and bassist Kai West promise entirely different sets for each night with no repeats. What’s more, they are making a day of it on the Saturday with a free daytime jamboree from 2pm, featuring an art fair, Ben Crosthwaite’s music quiz, bingo with Jade Blood, Bull’s homemade curry and a memoraBullia exhibition, plus post-gig DJs. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
The National Trust guide to Easter activties
Easter egg hunt of the fortnight: Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, Saturday to April 7, 10.30am to 5pm; last entry, 4.15pm.
FAMILIES can enjoy a fun-packed visit to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall throughout the Easter school holiday, when children can take part in an Easter egg hunt trail around the freshly mown garden, with activities to be completed such as an egg and spoon race, archery and boules, before receiving their egg.
Children can enjoy drawing and painting in the creative hub; take part in seed planting in the cutting garden; explore the Lion’s Den play area, with its obstacle course, rope bridge and climbing frame; learn about composting and spend time in the bird-watching area. On March 31 and April 1, additional garden activities include races on the main lawn and bird-feeder making. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.
Artist Nicola Hutchinson: Hosting two days of workshops at Helmsley Arts Centre
Workshop of the week: A Creative Art Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, Monday and Tuesday, 10am to 3pm
ARTIST Nicola Hutchinson embarks on an enchanting journey through a world of creativity this Easter holiday in a two-day workshop for children aged eight to 11, focusing on exploration and discovery.
These sessions offer the chance to learn new skills and techniques in a relaxed setting, with a variety of art materials provided to experiment with drawing, painting, and collage skills. All levels and abilities are welcome; snacks and drinks are provided; please dress to get messy. Tickets: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
York gig announcement of the week: Wet Wet Wet & Heather Small, York Barbican, October 13 2025
Wet Wet Wet with special guest Heather Small: Playing York Barbican in October 2025
WHEN Wet Wet Wet headlined a festival in Dubai, who should they bump into but Heather Small, the big voice of M People. She duly accepted their invitation to be the special guest at all dates on their 2025 tour.
Wet Wet Wet will be returning to York Barbican after their January 31 2024 double bill with Go West on the Best Of Both Worlds Tour. In the line-up will be founding member and bassist Graeme Clark, long-standing guitarist Graeme Duffin and singer Kevin Simm, The Voice UK winner and former Liberty X member, who joined the Scottish group in 2018. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at axs.com.york.
Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre
ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from March 27 to 30.
Taking part too in this celebration of New York composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will be director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Catherine Foster, Nick Sephton and Matthew Warry.
Planned originally for 2020 before Covid intervened – and Sondheim’s death on November 26 2021 at the age of 91 – Pick Me Up’s show features music from his Broadway shows, film scores and TV specials. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s company of singers for Sondheim We Remember
Pick Me Up will make a swift return to Theatre@41 with a second Sondheim show, his 1984 musical collaboration with playwright and director James Lapine, Sunday In The Park With George, from April 5 to 13.
Inspired by Georges Seurat’s pointillist painting Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, the musical follows Seurat (played by Adam Price) in the months leading up to the completion of that famous work.
Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists and neglects his lover Dot (Natalie Walker), not realising that his actions will reverberate over the next 100 years.
Performances will start at 7.30pm on April 5, 6 and 9 to 13, plus 2.30pm on April 6, 7 and 13. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Picture pose: Pick Me Up Theatre’s Emma-Louise Dickinson, as Celeste, adds to the scene in Georges Seurat’s painting Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Sunday In The Park With George
Neil Warnock: Football chat at York Barbican on May 31
FOOTBALL gaffer Neil Warnock will give a donation from every ticket sold for his Are You With Me? show at York Barbican to the York City FC Foundation.
Warnock, who left his latest post at Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiere League after only 33 days as interim manager on March 9, will be in York on May 31 for a show rearranged from June 15 2023.
The record-breaking boss – a specialist in promotion chasing and relegation fire-fighting alike – has committed to supporting the community projects of each professional club in the towns and cities he will be visiting for six shows in May and June.
“I love going around the country talking about my career and football in general, trying to make people smile along the way,” says Warnock, 75, who lives in Cornwall.
“To now also be raising funds for the very important community projects York City foundation undertake makes the night extra special. It’s a fabulous club and city, and I can’t wait to be there with a few very special guests too, including some legends of the club.”
Warnock made four appearances as a winger for York City in 1978. He worked as a chiropodist for eight years and went on to be the official Guinness World Records holder for achieving the most promotions in football – eight in total – including taking Scarborough FC into the old fourth division of the Football League as GM Vauxhall Conference champions in 1986-87. He has managed 17 different clubs over 44 years, including Sheffield United and Leeds United, overseeing more than 2,000 games.
Darren Kelly, York City’s general manager, says: “We are delighted and very grateful to Neil for this generous gesture to donate ten per cent of every ticket sold for his show in York.
“Neil is a real legend of football, and I am sure York City fans will turn out in numbers to see the show and in the process support the very important work the York City foundation does in the community.”
THE deadline to register for auditions for Rowntree Players’ summer production of Grimm Tales is Friday, March 22.
The auditions for the July 11 to 13 run at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, are open to anyone aged 14 or over (on or before the audition date).
Auditions will be held on Sunday (24/3/2024) from 1pm to 4pm at Door 84, Lowther Street, York. To register your interest and to request an audition pack, send an email to info@rowntreeplayers.co.uk.
Adapted by Carol Ann Duffy and dramatised by Tim Supple, Grimm Tales takes a journey through six of the bizarre, whimsical stories collated by the Brothers Grimm: Snow White; The Golden Goose; Ashputtel; The Magic Table, The Good Donkey & The Cudgel In The Sack; Musicians Of Bremman and Hansel & Gretel.
The small cast will play numerous roles, each tale being introduced and linked by the Narrator, who will address the audience directly. Once each story begins, mush of the action will be narrated by the characters themselves, necessitating the performers to be able to deliver narrative clearly as well as perform dialogue and be confident with switching between the two.
All the cast will perform several characters, sometimes even in one story, so versatility and quirkiness are a must.
For the audition day, auditionees will not be required to prepare anything in advance. A script will be provided on the day and everyone will be expected to read a variety of characters, grouping performers in different combinations.
Casting will be for the Narrator, four male and four female roles, in each case one role aged 40 plus, two, 25 to 40, and one under 25.
Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at rowntreeplayers.co.uk.
Bass player Kai West’s poster for Bull’s two-day album launch for Engines Of Honey at The Crescent
COMEDY legends and Arthurian tales, Welsh rock firebrands and a bullish album launch, an Italian dance champion and spa town illuminations have Charles Hutchinson reaching for his diary.
York album launch of the week: Bull at The Crescent, March 22 and 23, 7.30pm
BULL, York’s “finest purveyors of jangling indie joy”, launch second album Engines Of Honey with a brace of home-city shows, supported by FEET and Vehicle on Friday, then Fat Spatula and Eugene Gorgeous on Saturday.
Vocalist/songwriter Tom Beer, guitarist Dan Lucas, drummer Tom Gabbatiss, keyboard player Holly Beer and bassist Kai West promise entirely different sets for each night with no repeats. What’s more, they are making a day of it on the Saturday with a free daytime jamboree from 2pm, featuring an art fair, Ben Crosthwaite’s music quiz, bingo with Jade Blood, Bull’s homemade curry and a memoraBullia exhibition, plus post-gig DJs. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Rolling out a barrel of laughs: Al Murray at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy at the treble at Grand Opera House, York: Al Murray, Guv Island, Sunday, 7.30pm; An Evening With The Fast Show, Tuesday, 7.30pm; Frank Skinner, 30 Years Of Dirt, Thursday, 7.30pm.
STANDING up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, is back “to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to” in Guv Island.
An Evening With The Fast Show sold out suitably fast. Original cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir mark their 30th anniversary with behind-the-scenes insights into their television characters and catchphrases, recreating favourite moments too. Two nights later, Brummie comedian and TV and radio presenter Frank Skinner reflects on his own 30-year landmark. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Fast talking: An Evening With The Fast Show at Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday
Please Please You presents: C Duncan, Rise at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm
THE son of two classical musicians, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland-trained multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter C Duncan – ‘C’ stands for Christopher – plays solo at Rise.
The Glaswegian musician will be performing songs from his four albums: 2015’s Mercury Prize-nominated Architect, 2016’s The Midnight Sun, 2019’s Health and 2022’s Alluvium, recorded at his home studio at Helensburgh. He is an artist too, painting all the artwork for his Bella Union releases. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Feeder’s poster for their Black/Red tour, visiting York Barbican on Tuesday
Welsh invaders of the week: Feeder, supported by Girlband!, York Barbican, Tuesday, 8pm
ANTHEMIC Newport rock band Feeder mark their 30th anniversary with a spring tour and the April 5 release of a new studio double album, Black/Red, on Big Teeth Music.
Accruing seven million record sales, Grant Nicholas and Take Hirose’s group chalked up 20 Top 40 hits from 1997’s High to 2008’s We Are The People, and the likes of Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Feeling A Moment, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day, Fear Of Flying and Lost And Found surely will feature in their set. Leeds Brudenell Social Club awaits on April 7 at 8pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
Leigh Francis: Leeds comedian heads to York on My First Time tour
Yorkshire comedian of the week: Leigh Francis, My First Time, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.45pm
LEEDS comedian, radio presenter and Bo’ Selecta! sketch show regular Leigh Francis is the scabrous, scatological, sometimes rubber-faced humorist behind the characters Keith Lemon, The Bear, Avid Merrion and Amanda Holden’s ‘gran’, Myrtle, along with celebrity impressions of David Dickinson, Ant and Dec and Louis Theroux.
All feature in Francis’s debut venture into the live environment in a tour show that combines sketches with buckets of audience interaction. “Come see me being other people live for the first time!” he says. Also playing Hull City Hall, March 22; Leeds Grand Theatre, April 6. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Giovanni Pernice: Let him entertain you at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Giovanni Pernice, Let Me Entertain You, York Barbican, Thursday 7.30pm
GIOVANNI Pernice, the Sicilian dancer from Strictly Come Dancing and BAFTA winner, returns to York Barbican on his 2024 tour, Let Me Entertain You.
Pernice, dancer, performer, showman and Guinness World Record holder for jive kicks and flick to boot, will be joined by fellow professional dancers and West End performers in a show of non-stop action. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Le Navet Bete: History in the re-making in King Arthur at York Theatre Royal
Legend of the week: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur, York Theatre Royal, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AFTER Treasure Island and Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Le Navet Bete head back to York Theatre Royal for a retelling of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, in their inimitable comedic style. Camelot is in trouble, and Arthur knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history.
When three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy, however, a legend is born in a new comedy for the ages, suitable for the whole family. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jamie Cullum: All that jazz at York Barbican in November. Picture: Charles Gall
Yorkgig announcement of the week: Jamie Cullum, York Barbican, November 12
DID you know that Jamie Cullum failed his Grade 4 piano exam and can barely read music? Nevertheless, the Rochford-born pianist, now 44, became the biggest-selling British jazz musician of all time. This autumn he will play 14 British dates, visiting York as his only Yorkshire destination. Tickets will go on sale on March 22 at 10am at axs.com/york.
In Focus: BEAM Light Festival, Harrogate, today, dusk (6.30pm) to 10pm
James Bawn’s light installation at the Cenotaph war memorial in Harrogate for the BEAM Light Festival. Picture: Charlotte Graham
COMMISSIONED by Harrogate International Festivals, Element 3 Design is illuminating Harrogate town centre with a light installation trail of spa-town locations, landmarks and green spaces, some iconic, others unexpected, ten in total.
Visitors and locals alike will see Harrogate in a completely different light in this new festival, as James Bawn follows up his 2019 light show by using lighting beams, projections and soundscapes to animate the likes of the Cenotaph and Crescent Gardens, while Valley Gardens trees will be lit with dancing twinkling lights. No need to book, just show up!
Supported by Future 50, North Yorkshire Council, Visit North Yorkshire and Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID), the Beam Light Festival festival is free: no need to book, just show up!
Business owners and the Harrogate community are encouraged to create their own lights for display in their windows to enhance the trail.
Beam follows on from such Harrogate large-scale outdoor events as the Fire Garden and the post-pandemicFire & Light Festival. Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, says: “Harrogate BID are thrilled to continue our close partnership with Harrogate International Festivals and Beam will be another fantastic occasion to celebrate this further.
“With anticipated increased footfall and spend for our members, a new and unique Harrogate experience delivering our objective of a ‘Vibrant Town’, we cannot wait to see Beam come to fruition and really put Harrogate on the map.”
Councillor Simon Myers, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for culture, arts and housing, says: “Beam demonstrates the importance of free-to-attend events to animate our communities and ensure access to the arts for the widest possible audiences.
“Large events like this are an opportunity to celebrate the spaces which we live and work in and enjoy, and Beam is sure to present the town in a brand new light.”
Fiona Movley, chair of the Future 50 Appeal, says: “Harrogate International Festivals’ Future 50 Appeal was created to ensure the widest possible access to the arts for our community, and to develop artists of the future. We are excited to light up our town and shine a light on the creative talent we have in our region.”
The ten locations for the BEAM Light Fesival
1. Valley Gardens
WORKING with sound artist Dan Fox, the Elgar Walk within the Valley Gardens will be transformed with a Glittering Grove. Thousands of specks of light dance across trees and paths creating a sparkling path as you head towards the sculpture that will have a single light beam hitting the clouds above.
2. Crescent Gardens
USING searchlights to cast patterns across the sky, the lights and soundscape will create a magical spectacle. At the heart of the installation is the iconic Cupid and Psyche statue from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which brings the timeless tale of love and transformation to life.
3. Picture Frame/Montpellier Hill
SEE yourself in a different light as the Picture Frame is picked out in different colours to accentuate the design. Strike a pose!
4. Cenotaph & Field of Light
THE Cenotaph war memorial will be illuminated with narrow beams of light to make a solemn and dignified artwork paying tribute to the sacrifices of those who served.
A field of light created by solar jars will glow in the darkness. As the sun sets and the jars come to life, the area will be transformed into a magical sea of twinkling lights.
5. St Peter’s Church
SUBTLE lighting to highlight the beautiful architecture will provide a serene and contemplative atmosphere for visitors to reflect and find solace in this tranquil space among the illuminated surroundings.
6. Jubilee Memorial
SEE Queen Victoria bathed in colour to accentuate the architecture of this memorial commemorating the 1887 Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
7. Victoria Shopping Centre
A DYNAMIC lighting design, complemented by a carefully curated soundscape, will elevate the architecture of this building inspired by the work of Palladio in Italy 450 years ago.
8. The Exchange Building
THE central stairwell of The Exchange will be illuminated to be seen from miles around. Searchlights on the roof will cast beams of light into the night sky, further accentuating the impact the building has had on the townscape.
9. Library Gardens & Library
THE Library Gardens will be lit carefully, playing with light and shadow, whilst the Carnegie Library will tell stories through light projection on the front of the building.
10. Cedar Court Hotel
A COLOURFUL animated light will wash the building in colour, illuminating the beautiful architecture.
Lit up in words: James Bawn’s Harrogate 1571 sculpture, created in 2019 and now part of the BEAM festival. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
