Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil with her fashion house mincing minions Casper (Charles Brunton) and Jasper (Danny Hendrix) in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
NOT everything is black and white with Alsatians, just like with Border Collie sheepdogs, but if one film has shaped a general affection for a breed, then 101 Dalmatians has done a fantastic PR job.
Yes, Dalmatians can be loyal, loving, intelligent, good with children and pets; good watchdogs too, but they can be aggressive towards other dogs, or timid, and easily distracted in training.
Let’s be honest, that popularity comes down to the spots. If a fashion designer were to design a dog, chances are they would go dotty for Dalmatians. Cruella De Vil does exactly that, of course, at her Haus of De Vil fashion house but not as an accessory for the walkway.
No, the fashionista villain of Dodie Smith’s ever-popular tale of wagging tails wants their pelts for her latest fabulous fur coat in 101 Dalmatians, the canine caper re-told here in musical form with music and lyrics by Douglas Hodge and book by Johnny McKnight from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris.
Re-imagined from the 2022 outdoor production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London, Runaway Entertainment’s touring show is led by Kym Marsh, Hear’Say pop singer, Coronation Street soap star, Waterloo Road regular, Strictly 2022 alumna and Morning Live presenter.
What a canny piece of casting she is in her first musical lead-singing role, as she turns to the dark side for the first time at 48, knocking spots off other Cruellas with the De Vil in the detail of her vampish performance, full of pantomimic villainy, spitefully humorous putdowns and dramatic, powerhouse singing that peaks with the Act One climax, Bring Me Fur.
“She’s the most fun character ever,” said Marsh, in an appraisal that might raise eyebrows, given that Cruella is a knife-wielding canine killer, but she is right. More lairy than scary in demeanour, her fiendish “Cruella times ten” is a vainglorious baddie in pantomime tradition, commanding in presence but in need of being taken down.
Marsh, who is given wonderfully sharp costumes by designer Sarah Mercade, is the star turn in Bill Buckhurst’s raucous production, but the show is built on Jimmy Grimes’ puppetry, Lucy Hind’s choreography, Hodge’s humorous songs and McKnight’s love of jokes as cheesy and daft as panto puns. Oh yes, and there are puppies aplenty, of course.
Sorry to keep making comparisons with pantomimes, but characters are played and dressed with those broad, bold strokes, from Samuel Thomas’s gawky Tom Dearly, in his slightly-too-short trousers and specs, to Emmerdale star Jessie Elland’s matching Danielle Dearly in polka-dot coat and specs, their clothing patterns looking as if they were drawn with a child’s eye for exaggeration.
Likewise the spry comedy double act of Cruella’s fashion-hound acolytes, her dimwit nephews Casper (Charles Brunton) and Jasper (Danny Hendrix), could be torn from any of this winter’s upcoming pantos, although they would be equally at home in Shakespeare’s comedy romps.
The ensemble of canine puppeteers are on singing duty too, led by Linford Johnson’s Pongo (you may remember him from Alan Ayckbourn’s The Girl Next Door at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre) and Emma Thornett’s Perdi (last seen in York in Gus Gowland’s musical Mayflies at the Theatre Royal in May 2023). Thornett has one terrific, moving scene where her Perdi will not give up on saving the ailing, frozen-cold Button as the night-time snow falls.
The Dalmatians, 101 of them by the finale, are a dotty delight, keeping the ensemble on their toes as they multiply. Hodge’s songs are fun and funny, albeit that the tunes are somewhat workmanlike pastiches, but the likes of The Pub Song, the insistent Litterbugs and I Can Smell Puppy hit the right note.
In a crowded musical market, 101 Dalmatians is not quite Premier League. Nevertheless it definitely surpasses the energy level of a typical Dalmatian, a breed that requires more than 40 minutes of exercise per day. These ones give the run-around for two hours.
101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Livy Potter as Katy, left, and Alice Rose Palmer, as mum Natalie, in Louise Beech’s How To Be Brave at Gilling East Village Hall and Helmsley Arts Centre
FROM a devilish yet dotty canine musical to comedians having their moment, a film festival to glowing ghosts, Charles Hutchinson spots plenty to light up dark days ahead.
Touring play of the week: Other Lives Productions in How To Be Brave, Gilling East Village Hall, tomorrow, 7.30pm, and Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
IN 1943, Merchant Seaman Colin Armitage’s cargo ship was torpedoed by an Italian Navy submarine in the South Atlantic. He scrambled aboard a life raft. Fifty days later, HMS Rapid rescued him.
Colin was the grandfather of How To Be Brave playwright Louise Beech. Sixty-four years after his ordeal, Louise’s daughter, Katy, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to distract her during insulin injections Louise began to tell the story of Colin’s bravery and determination to survive.
Scenes in this resulting play alternate between the life raft and a house in Hull as York actors Jacob Ward and Livy Potter take the lead roles in Kate Veysey’s production. Box office: Gilling East, gillinjgeastevents@hotmail.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700.
Man of The Moment: Ali Woods, playing York Barbican on his debut stand-up tour
Comedy men of The Moment: Mo Gilligan, In The Moment, York Barbican, tomorrow,8pm; Ali Woods, At The Moment, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
THE moment has arrived for two comedy tour dates with similar show titles, first up the host of Channel 4’s The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan, Londoner Mo Gilligan, on his In The Moment World Tour 2024.
The following night, half-English, half-Scottish comedian, podcaster and content creator Ali Woods plays York on his debut stand-up tour. At 30, this viral online sketch sensation has finally fallen in love with an amazing lady. “Come on an embarrassing and cathartic journey of teenage angst, relationship fails and learning how to live in the moment,” he says. Tickets update: available for both shows, whereas An Audience With Monty Don (November 11), Jamie Cullum (November 12), Sarah Millican: Late Bloomer (November 14) and Suzi Quatro ( November 15) have sold out already. Box office: yortkbarbican.co.uk.
Artist CJP with his work The Majestic Oak at Art Of Protest Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week: From Little Acorns Grow Mighty Hopes: An Exhibition of Hand-drawn Natural Wonders, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, until November 16
ART Of Protest is the first gallery to show CJP’s work The Majesty Oak in an exhibition of original and rare limited-edition artwork. Look out for the Art Of Protest York Special Edition, only available to be ordered until November 16, featuring the River Ouse-dwelling Tansy Beetle, an elusive insect featured on a resplendent mural near York railway station.
“This is an amazing opportunity to own a truly unique celebration of British fauna with a very special York twist,” says gallery owner Craig Humble. “CJP will add a Tansy Beetle to each piece, along with the gold leafing of the branches.”
Very definitely Pride Of Prejudice * (*Sort Of), sending up Jane Austen affectionately in Isobel McArthur’s play at York Theatre Royal
Theatrical flourish of the week: Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MEN, money and microphones will be fought over in Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), the audacious retelling of a certain Jane Austen novel, where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance but it’s party time, so expect the all-female cast to deliver such emotionally turbulent pop gems as You’re So Vain and Young Hearts Run Free.
Writer Isobel McArthur directs this new production of her West End hit, Olivier Award winner for best comedy. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In the driving seat: Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
Dog show of the week: 101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm today, Thursday and Saturday matinees
KYM Marsh’s Cruella De Vil leads the cast for this musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians. Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is re-imagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
When fashionista Cruella De Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups in a story brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
3 Missing 10 Hours, directed by Fanni Fazakas, showing in the Animation programme at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024
York festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York city centre, today to Sunday, and UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, Guildhall, York, Thursday to Saturday
THE BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival returns for its 14th year under the direction of Cherie Federico, this time integrating the tenth anniversary of York’s designation as Great Britain’s only UNESCO City of Media Arts. Fifteen venues will play host to 300 film screenings in 12 genres, Virtual Realty and Gaming labs, plus 60 panels, workshops and discussions. For the full programme and tickets, head to asff.co.uk.
The UNESCO EXPO will showcase the region’s creative sector, working in film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design, with the chance to try out new projects and speak to creatives. Entry to the Guildhall is free.
Ghosts After Dark: New nocturnal complement to the Ghosts In The Gardens installation in York Museum Gardens
Nocturnal event of the week: Ghosts After Dark, York Museums Gardens, tomorrow to Sunday, 6.30pm to 9.30pm; last entry, 8.30pm
YORK Museums Trust and the York BID present the inaugural Ghosts After Dark, showcasing York’s rich tapestry of historical figures with light, sound and storytellers for four nights only.
Ticketholders will have the exclusive chance to experience York Museum Gardens like never before, by choosing their own path to explore 46 ghostly sculptures, hidden around the gardens and lit dynamically against an atmospheric background of smoke and sound. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/ghosts-after-dark/.
Fishermen’s Friends: Playing York Barbican this week, then returning next October
Gig announcements of the week: Fisherman’s Friends, York Barbican, October 3 2025
IN celebration of performing sea shanties for more than 30 years across the world, Fisherman’s Friends will head out from the Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac to play a British tour split between 2025 and 2026.
York will come early, booked for night number two next October on a 32-date itinerary announced even before they have played their sold-out Barbican gig on Friday this week on their Rock The Boat tour, promoting fifth album All Aboard. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil in her giraffe suit in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
THE musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians arrives at the Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday, led by Kym Marsh’s villainous Cruella De Vil.
Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is re-imagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
When fashionista Cruella de Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups in a story brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies.
After making her name in the Popstars reality TV pop band Hear’Say in 2001, playing barmaid and landlady Michelle Connor in Coronation Street for 13 years from 2006 and partnering with Graziano di Prima in the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing, Merseysider Kym is turning to the dark side at 48 in 101 Dalmatians The Musical.
“I enjoy playing [villainous] roles because they’re so far removed from me, so you have to really try and get into the head of that person,” she says of playing the dog-murdering Cruella.
At the wheel: Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
“Trying to get into the head of a person who wants to skin puppies to wear is especially alien to me because I’m such a huge dog lover! I’ve got two of my own, and I adore them.”
Villains do not come more fabulous than Cruella De Vil. “I think people are going to absolutely love her,” says Kym. “The costumes are so brilliant, and when she walks on, she’s just in command of everything. She’s the the most fun character ever.”
Look out, above all, for Cruella’s trademark black-and-white hairdo. “But there won’t be just one wig,” reveals Kym. “There’s going to be several changes and it’s not just what you expect from her. We’re like Cruella De Vil times ten!”
Her role requires her to perform big musical numbers on stage after many years of concentrating on other pursuits. “If you don’t sing, you forget,” she says.
Did she not sing in her role in last year’s tour of the Take That musical Greatest Days? “I didn’t have a lot to sing [in that],” she clarifies. “There were no solos, and nothing hugely taxing. Whereas in this, I’ve got my own songs, and there’s a lot to learn.”
Kym had to combine rehearsals for 101 Dalmatians with filming commitments for her role as canteen worker Nicky in the latest series of BBC school drama Waterloo Road. Then again, she is no stranger to juggling tasks, ever since she started out as a performer while raising two children as a single mother.
“When she walks on, she’s just in command of everything,” says Kym Marsh of playing Cruella De Vil. “She’s the the most fun character ever.” Picture: Johan Persson
Her parents encouraged her determination to succeed. “I fell pregnant at a very young age and my parents were like ‘this is even more reason for you to continue and carry on pursuing your dream, and make the life that you want, not just for you but for the children’. I was very much spurred on and encouraged, and I’m thankful for that,” she says.
Popstars, the 2001 ITV series that spawned the Hear’Say line-up of Kym, Suzanne Shaw, Noel Sullivan, Myleene Klass and Danny Foster, kicked off the wave of talent shows that led to Pop Idol, The X Factor and The Voice UK.
Kym recalls those “unique and very strange” days as a learning experience unlike anything that anyone had undergone before. “We were guinea pigs and people were watching thinking, ‘what’s going to happen now?’. People were very much waiting for us to fail, and every move we made, there was a comment about it,” she says. “The press back then were very different to how they are now. They’re much more well behaved.”
Her move into acting emerged “by accident”. When Hear’Say folded after only 20 months, citing “abuse from the public” as the primary reason for their demise, Kym set a solo career in motion but was dropped by her record label, despite her 2003 album Standing Tall peaking at number nine in the UK charts and spawning two Top Ten singles, Cry and Come On Over.
While contemplating whether to pursue another deal, she was offered the role of Annette in a West End production of Saturday Night Fever. “Once I started to do that, I remembered my love of acting, which I had as a teenager but had not pursued because I felt like I could make money singing in pubs and clubs,” she says.
Haus of De Vil: Kym Marsh’s Cruella De Vil in her fashion house in 101 Dalmatians The Musical. Picture: Johan Persson
A few small TV roles ensued, followed by the chance to play Michelle Connor in Coronation Street, a soap-opera opportunity that initially was confined to only four episodes. Kym made such an impression, however, that she was asked to return, becoming one of the best-loved characters.
“I never in a million years thought or expected [that was how things would go],” she says. “I’ve been very fortunate, as I’ve been given some amazing opportunities, and had a lot of people believe in me, even if I didn’t necessarily believe in myself.”
She is now a daytime TV presenter too, hosting the BBC’s flagship lifestyle show Morning Live since its launch in 2020. When offered the job, she had “huge impostor syndrome”, having never done a live TV gig and only a couple of presenting slots for the BBC.
Four years on, she feels part of a TV family, working with co-host Gethin Jones. “I was very fortunate to be paired with him, because he’s a very generous co-presenter,” she says. “He took me under his wing, and I’ve learned so much from him.”
101 Dalmatians will keep Kym on the road until January 5 2025. What next? She has ambitions to do more meaty TV dramas and films but is content to see where life leads her.”One minute I’m serving chips and beans in the canteen at Waterloo Road, and the next thing I’m Cruella wearing [pretend] giraffe skin,” she says. “It’s a bizarre life I live!”
101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 5 to 9, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Skylights: York band headline York Barbican for the first time tonight
FROM Skylights to Ghosts After Dark, a fiesta of film to a musical dog show, Charles Hutchinson spots plenty to light up these November nights.
York gig of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm
ANTHEMIC York indie band Skylights play their biggest home-city gig to date this weekend with support from Serotones and Pennine Suite.
Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here. So to headline will be the perfect way to finish a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.” Box office update: Standing tickets still available at ticketmaster.co.uk.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, tonight
Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, Peter Brush, Faizan Shan and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
PEAK District comedian, television regular, Upstart Crow actor and self-help podcaster Rob Rouse, who trained as a geography teacher at the University of Sheffield, makes a rare York appearance with his hyperactive, loveable brand of comedy.
Harrogate Comedian of the Year 2012 Peter Brush combines a slight, bespectacled frame and scruffy hair with quirky one-liners and original material, delivered in an amusingly awkward fashion. Manchester comic Faizan Shah’s material makes light of growing up in an immigrant household with the mental health challenges it brings. Organiser Damion Larkin hosts as ever. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Artist CJP with his work The Majestic Oak at Art Of Protest Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week: From Little Acorns Grow Mighty Hopes: An Exhibition of Hand-drawn Natural Wonders, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, until November 16
ART Of Protest is the first gallery to show CJP’s work The Majestic Oak in an exhibition of original and rare limited-edition artwork. Look out for the Art Of Protest York Special Edition, only available to be ordered until November 16, featuring the River Ouse-dwelling Tansy Beetle, an elusive insect featured on a resplendent mural near York railway station.
“This is an amazing opportunity to own a truly unique celebration of British fauna with a very special York twist,” says gallery owner Craig Humble. “CJP will add a Tansy Beetle to each piece, along with the gold leafing of the branches.”
Pride And Prejudice * (*Sort Of): Making merry mayhem with Jane Austen’s novel at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic
Theatrical high spirits of the week: Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), York Theatre Royal, November 4 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MEN, money and microphones will be fought over in Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), the audacious retelling of a certain Jane Austen novel, where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance but it’s party time, so expect the all-female cast to deliver such emotionally turbulent pop gems as Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.
Writer Isobel McArthur directs this new production of her West End hit, Olivier Award winner for best comedy and Emerging Talent Award winner in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, now featuring University of York alumna Georgia Firth in the cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
On the spot: 101 Dalmatians The Musical takes up canine residence at the Grand Opera House from Tuesday. Picture: Johan Persson
Dog show of the week: 101 Dalmatians The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 5 to 9, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
KYM Marsh’s Cruella De Vil leads the cast for this musical tour of Dodie Smith’s canine caper 101 Dalmatians. Written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, the show is re-imagined from the 2022 production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.
When fashionista Cruella De Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, trouble lies ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of tail-wagging young pups in a story brought to stage life with puppetry, choreography, humorous songs and, yes, puppies. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
3 Missing 10 Hours, directed by Fanni Fazakas, showing in the Animation programme at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024
York festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York city centre, November 6 to 10, and UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, Guildhall, York, November 7 to 9
THE BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival returns for its 14th year under the direction of Cherie Federico, this time integrating the tenth anniversary of York’s designation as Great Britain’s only UNESCO City of Media Arts. Fifteen venues will play host to 300 film screenings in 12 genres, Virtual Realty and Gaming labs, plus 60 panels, workshops and discussions. For the full programme and tickets, head to asff.co.uk.
The UNESCO EXPO will showcase the region’s creative sector, working in film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design, with the chance to try out new projects and speak to creatives. Entry to the Guildhall is free.
Ghosts After Dark: New nocturnal complement to the Ghosts In The Gardens installation in York Museum Gardens
Nocturnal event of the week: Ghosts After Dark, York Museums Gardens, November 7 to 10, 6.30pm to 9.30pm; last entry, 8.30pm
YORK Museums Trust and the York BID present the inaugural Ghosts After Dark, showcasing York’s rich tapestry of historical figures with light, sound and storytellers for four nights only.
Ticketholders will have the exclusive chance to experience York Museum Gardens like never before, by choosing their own path to explore 46 ghostly sculptures, hidden around the gardens and lit dynamically against an atmospheric background of smoke and sound. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/ghosts-after-dark/.
Rag’n’Bone Man: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer
Gig announcements of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, July 6, and Rag’n’Bone Man, July 11 2025
“I THINK I’ve got the best reggae band in the world,” says UB40 legend Ali Campbell, who last played Scarborough OAT in 2021. “They are all seasoned musicians, who have spent all their lives in professional bands, and I feel so confident with them.” Support acts will be Bitty McLean and Pato Banton.
Triple BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award winner Rag’n’Bone Man, alias Rory Graham, will follow up his 2023 Scarborough OAT show with a return next summer in the wake of his third album, What Do You Believe In? entering the charts at number three last Friday. His special guest will be Elles Bailey. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Show announcement of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17 2025
Gary Oldman reflecting on his first steps in professional theatre in the York Theatre Royal dressing rooms on his March visit
OSCAR winner Gary Oldman will return to York Theatre Royal, where he began his career as a pantomime cat, to direct himself in Krapp’s Last Tape next spring: his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.
The April 14 to May 17 2025 production of Samuel Beckett’s one-act monodrama was set in motion when Slow Horses star Oldman paid a visit to the St Leonard’s Palace theatre in March, when he met chief executive Paul Crewes.
“When Gary visited us at the beginning of the year, it was fascinating hearing him recount stories of his time as a young man, in his first professional role on the York Theatre Royal stage.,” says Paul.
“In that context when we started to explore ideas, we realised Krapp’s Last Tape was the perfect project. I am very happy that audiences will have this unique opportunity to see Gary Oldman return to our stage in this brand new production.”
Making plans: Actor and director Gary Oldman in discussion with York Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewes in the York Theatre Royal main house auditorium
Ticket prices start at £25, with priority booking for the York Theatre Royal Director’s Circle opening on November 6, YTR Members’ priority booking from November 11 and public booking on November 16, all from 1pm. To become a member and access priority booking, head to: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/support-us/.
After graduating from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, Londoner Oldman started out in the repertory ranks at York Theatre Royal in 1979 in such plays as Privates On Parade and She Stoops To Conquer and playing the Cat in Berwick Kaler’s third York pantomime, Dick Whittington, that Christmas.
Dame Berwick later told the Guardian in an interview in 2018: “Gary has gone on to become one of our greatest screen actors but I’m afraid he was a bit of a lightweight when it came to pantomime.
“He kept fainting inside the costume. On at least three occasions I had to turn to the audience and say, ‘Oh dear, boys and girls, I think the poor pussy cat has gone to sleep’!”
Gary Oldman as the Cat with dame Berwick Kaler, centre, in the 1979-1980 York Theatre Royal pantomime Dick Whittington. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Oldman, now 66, posted on Instagram: “My professional public acting debut was on stage at the York Theatre Royal. York, for me, is the completion of a cycle. It is the ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home.
“The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.”
After cutting his teeth in York, New Cross-born Oldman went on to act at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, the Royal Court, London, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He then swapped theatre for film with break-our roles as Sid Vicious in Sid And Nancy (1986), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1992) and Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
He later played Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film franchise and Commissioner Jim Gordon in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, won the 2018 Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and is now starring as obnoxious MI5 boss Jackson Lamb in the latest Apple+ series of British spy thriller Slow Horses.
Gary Oldman (third from the left in hat and glasses) in Privates On Parade at York Theatre Royal in 1979: one of his first professional performances after graduating from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, in Sidcup, Kent, with a BA in Acting. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Oldman has been considering going back to the stage for a long time. “I have never been far from the theatre and, in fact, have been discussing plays and my return to the theatre for nearly 30 years,” he posted.
What happens in Krapp’s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett at his most theatre of the absurd? Each year, on his birthday, Krapp records a new tape reflecting on the year gone by.
On his 69th birthday, Krapp, now a lonely man, is ready with a bottle of wine, a banana and his tape recorder. Listening back to a recording he made as a young man, Krapp must face the hopes of his past self.
The melancholic, tragicomic role was premiered in 1958 by Patrick Magee and has been played by the likes of Albert Finney, Harold Pinter, John Hurt, Stephen Rea and Kenneth Allan Taylor, the long-running Nottingham Playhouse pantomime dame, writer and director, at York Theatre Royal in 2009.
Gary Oldman’s Cat in the 1979-1980 York Theatre Royal pantomime Dick Whittington. Picture: York Theatre Royal
Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989): the back story
IRISH writer, dramatist and poet, specialising in theatre of the absurd. Wrote in English and French. Principal works for the stage included Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape and Waiting For Godot. Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Gary Oldman: Further screen appearances
TINKER, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Academy Award and BAFTA nominations); Mank (Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations); Oppenheimer; The Book Of Eli; Meantime; The Firm; Prick Up Your Ears; Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead; State Of Grace; Romeo Is Bleeding; True Romance; Leon/The Professional; The Fifth Element; Immortal Beloved and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, among many others.
Worked with directors Stephen Frears, Oliver Stone, Frances Ford Coppola, Luc Besson, Alfonso Curon, Chris Nolan, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher and Paulo Sorrentino.
Did you know?
IN 1995 Gary Oldman and producing partner Douglas Urbanski founded a production company, producing Oldman’s screenwriting and directorial debut, Nil By Mouth, winner of nine majot awards from 17 nominations.
Selected to open the main competition for the 1997 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, where Kathy Burke won Best Actress. The same year, Oldman won Channel Four Director’s Prize at Edinburgh International Film Festival, British Academy Award (shared with Douglas Urbanski) for Best Film and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.
In Focus:Other Lives Productions in How To Be Brave, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm, and on tour
Livy Potter as Katy, left, and Alice Rose Palmer as mum Natalie in Louise Beech’s How To Be Brave
ON March 19 1943, just after midnight, Merchant Seaman Colin Armitage’s cargo ship, the Lulworth Hill, was torpedoed by an Italian Navy submarine in the South Atlantic. He scrambled aboard a life raft. Fifty days later HMS Rapid rescued him.
Colin was the grandfather of How To Be Brave playwright Louise Beech. Sixty-four years after his ordeal, Louise’s daughter, Katy, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to distract her during insulin injections Louise began to tell the story of Colin’s bravery and determination to survive.
The story inspiring ten-year-old Katy to be brave in the face of her diabetes is a true one. She has said that Grandad Colin’s experience made her determined to carry on when she wanted to give up and die: “If Grandad Colin can survive an ordeal like that, I can do anything. I can do these injections,” she said. And she has never faltered.
Director Kate Veysey with Rose’s seagull Gilbert
“We hope that by presenting this story we can inspired audiences in the East Riding and beyond,” says director Kate Veysey, a familiar name from both York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre and Next Door But One productions.
Scenes alternate between the life raft and Katy’s house in Hull as York actors Jacob Ward and Livy Potter take the roles of Colin Armitage and Rose (Katy, given a pseudonym), joined by Lex Stephenson as carpenter Ken Cooke, on the raft, Alice Rose Palmer as Natalie (alias mum Louise) and Alison Shaw as nurse Shelley. Age guidance: ten upwards (the show contains moderate bad language). Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Lex Stephenson, as Ken Cooke, left, and Jacob Ward, as Colin Armitage, in Other Lives Productions’ How To Be Brave
