Evie Pickerill’s Spirit of the Ring in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
CBBC host Evie Pickerill is not only dashing around in two roles in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal this festive season, she also is popping up in the CBeebies pantomime, Beauty And The Beast.
“I’m playing the Robin,” she says. Not the first role that springs to mind in that story. “She’s Belle’s best friend, who’s a bird, so I got to fly! I’ve never flown across a stage before, so I was quite nervous about it but I loved it – and the costume was incredible! Now I’d love to do it again, maybe playing Tinkerbell.”
Evie headed up to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre to record the televised pantomime before starting rehearsals for Aladdin. “We performed it live for two days at this huge, wonderful theatre. It’s been running in cinemas and you can see it on iPlayer in December as well as on CBeebies.”
The Theatre Royal rehearsals reunited Evie with choreographer Hayley Del Harrison, who had choreographed the CBeebies pantomime too. “She worked on my arm movements for the Robin, and it’s been lovely to work with her again in York, and with Juliet [director Juliet Forster] too, after she directed me in CBeebies’ Romeo And Juliet in 2021, when I played Juliet,” she says.
“Working for Evolution Productions at York Theatre Royal is big-boy panto; they’re the king of panto,” says Evie Pickerill
A principal presenter on the children’s television channel since 2018, she is the fourth CBeebies participant in the Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions co-production, following in the steps of Andy Day, Mandy Moate and James “Raven” McKenzie.
“That’s big shoes to fill,” she says. “Playing the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp is my first time on the York stage but I’ve been to York a handful of times and love it here.”
Her previous pantomimes were in her native Midlands. “I played Cinderella at The Grand, Wolverhampton, and Leicester de Montford Hall and Snow White at Wolverhampton, where everything was made locally for the show and we had an eight-piece orchestra and an ice rink with skating, though my Snow White escaped having to skate,” recalls Evie.
“To play the title role in my home town was a pinch-me moment. I’ve been watching shows there since I was young, so I’ve come full circle. I only wish my grandparents could have been there as they used to take me to shows, but my old teachers did come.”
Lift-off: Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp with the ensemble in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
Aladdin has presented differences aplenty from her past shows, not least “the luxury” of much longer rehearsals. “After doing panto for Imagine at Leicester and in-house at Wolverhampton, working for Evolution at York Theatre Royal is big-boy panto; they’re the king of panto. We’ve done a lot of character work, which is different from the other pantos I’ve done,” says Evie.
“I’m playing a different kind of role too: with the Spirit of the Ring, there’s a bit comedy, a bit of silliness. It’s also been nice to have the ‘safety blanket’ of Juliet and Hayley being there, but everyone has been so inviting.
“Robin [dame Robin Simpson] is so funny and Paul [villain Paul Hawkyard] is a delight to work with. I do lots of scenes with him.”
Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp with Sario Solomon’s Aladdin in a scene from Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
In addition to the CBeebies pantomime, Evie has filmed Dodge’s Christmas Wish at Thursford, the home of the Christmas Spectacular in Norfolk. “It’ll be on CBeebies and iPlayer,” says Evie. “I play myself in this one. The synopsis is that Dodge, the dog in the CBeebies’ house, would like to give Father Christmas a present because no-one ever does that.
“So, we head off to the North Pole, but I won’t reveal who’ll be playing Father Christmas as it’s so exciting!”
Settled into York for the festive season, Evie feels very much at home in pantomime. “I first went when I was seven or eight and straightaway I said to my parents, ‘that’s what I want to do’,” she says. “I left home at 18 to go to drama school in Liverpool, doing the acting course at LIPA, and I’ve never looked back.”
Aladdin runs at York Theatre Royal until January 5 2025. No performances on December 19, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Invitation to the ball: Grand Opera House announces Cinderella for next winter
TICKETS will go on sale at noon on Friday for next year’s Grand Opera House pantomime in York. The Cumberland Street theatre will present Cinderella from December 6 2025 to January 4 2026 in its fourth collaboration with UK Productions.
As with this winter’s panto, Beauty And The Beast, the show will feature a script by Jon Monie, winner of Best Script at the 2019 Great British Pantomime Awards.
Promising side-splitting comedy, lavish settings and adorable miniature ponies, Cinderella will be “more fun than you can shake a pumpkin at”. Star casting is to be announced but “expect stars from the West End and screen”.
Laura McMillan, the Grand Opera House theatre director, says: “As we open the spectacular Beauty And The Beast, we’re delighted that UK Productions will be returning next year with the most beloved of pantomimes of all time, Cinderella. I’m sure adults and children alike will be spellbound by this magical new show.”
UK Productions producer Martin Dodd says: “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without pantomime, and pantomime wouldn’t be pantomime without Cinderella. We are delighted to be presenting this fabulous story at York’s beautiful Grand Opera House, building on the success of this year’s musical pantomime, Beauty And The Beast.”
To take advantage of early bird ticket savings, book by Saturday, February 1 2025 to save £8 per ticket on select performances and seats.
Beauty And The Beast will run until January 5 2025 with a West End cast featuring CBBC’s BAFTA award-winning Dani Harmer, from Tracy Beaker and Strictly ComeDancing, as Fairy Bon Bon; dameLeon Craig, fromEverybody’s Talking About Jamie, as Polly La Plonk,Jennifer Caldwell, from SIX The Musical, as Belle, andSamuel Wyn-Morris, fromLes Misérables, as The Prince. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
York Theatre Royal’s promotional poster for dame Robin Simpson’s return in Sleeping Beauty in 2025
ROBIN Simpson will return for his sixth season as the dame in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime for 2025-26, Sleeping Beauty, billed as “an enchanting tale of adventure, fun and spellbinding magic for the whole family”.
Co-produced with regular partners Evolution Productions, the show will run from December 2 2025 to January 4 2026, with “stunning costumes, gorgeous sets, dazzling special effects and all the spectacular magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime”.
The show will be written by Evolution producer Paul Hendy and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, the team behind Aladdin this winter, Jack And The Beanstalk in 2023, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan in 2022, Cinderella in 2021 and the community-touring Travelling Pantomime in Covid-shadowed 2020.
Forster says: “We’ve been delighted to see so many people returning year after year to enjoy the magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime. We are so proud of the quality of the pantos we make and can’t wait to continue our panto adventures with Sleeping Beauty. It’s so brilliant to have Robin on board again too to bring the hilarity and fun as our dame!”
Hendy says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with the fabulous team at York Theatre Royal again for our spectacular production of Sleeping Beauty. We are delighted Robin will be returning as our wonderful dame, and we can’t wait to share with you more exciting casting news in the New Year!”
Simpson enthuses: “I am overjoyed to be playing the dame in next year’s Sleeping Beauty. I love the York audiences and it’s such a special place to perform every year at Christmas time. I’m looking forward to all the high jinks the dame will get up to in Sleeping Beauty!”
Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Early birds who book before the end of March 2025 can benefit from a price freeze on ticket prices, with options ranging from £15 to £43.50.
Family ticket discounts can be booked for £90 (for three including at least one child) and £120 (for four including at least one child.) Schools discounts are available when booking via the St Leonard’s Place box office.
YTR Members receive an extra ten per cent off up to four tickets. For details of how to join YTR Membership, visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or contact the box office.
Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly with the magnet of love in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: SR Taylor Photography
THIS is York Theatre Royal’s fifth collaboration with regular pantomime award winners Evolution Productions. On Tuesday, a sixth was confirmed for next year when Sleeping Beauty will stir from December 2 2025 to January 4 2026 with Robin Simpson once more as the dotty dame and tickets on sale already.
The partnership is well grooved with tropes established in the writing of Evolution’s Paul Hendy and the casting and direction of Juliet Forster. Not only Simpson’s gregarious, teasing dame but also the presence of a CBeebies star each year; animals, whether live with Zeus the scene-stealing Border Collie last year or in rather more heavy-footed Welly the Elephant puppet form this time; plenty of set-piece spectacle and the obligatory ghost scene (here with the dame’s ghost gag bench).
A profusion of songs across the pop ages shares equal space with a love of putting the pun into punchlines and a preference for verbal wit over physical slapstick, although the latter still has its place.
There is, too, an awareness of changing times and sensitivities, so while we still have a Spirit of the Ring and Genie of the Lamp (both played by CBeebies’ ever-playful Evie Pickerill, chasing her tail breathlessly and singing heartily), now Widow Twankey’s Chinese laundry has made way for Dame Dolly’s Pun shop.
The decision to change ‘Abanazar’ to ‘Ivan Tobebooed’ may be rather more to do with Hendy’s love of a daft name than any PC correctness. Paul Hawkyard, returning to exuberant York villainy after a winter away doing panto in Dubai, had predicted as much at September’s press launch.
Hawkyard has such comic mischief about his burly, volcanic-voiced frame, whether playing Bottom in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mardy to Simpson’s Manky in their Ugly Sister double act in Cinderella, or now Ivan, you find yourself wanting to cheer as much as boo him.
Your reviewer would have liked to have seen more scenes with Simpson’s Dame Dolly in comic combat with and Hawkyard’s Ivan, given their rare stage chemistry, affirmed once more by their will-they-won’t-they-kiss shenanigans, but maybe the plot did not permit more of such golden moments.
The comedy is shared out between Pickerill’s double act, Simpson’s sassy, sometimes saucy Dame Dolly, Tommy Carmichael’s daft son Charlie and physical comedy specialist Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s PC World on his return to York after his dextrous turn as Inspector Fox in Around The World In 80 Days-ish this summer.
Armitt-Brewster’s officious officer rather out-stars the affable Carmichael, with better lines, better gags, funnier body movements too, but the children warm to Carmichael’s cheekiness and he plays his part alongside Armitt-Brewster and Simpson in the show’s best call-and-respond set-piece, as fractious as a rap battle when conducted with presses of a button to release a recorded line from a familiar pop hit to express their feelings.
The dame’s audience pick for humiliation, one Adam from the front row, plays his part in a headset in this scene and has an even bigger moment on stage earlier on when delivering a series of deliberately clunky punchlines in a joke shop routine with ‘Terry-Bull’ timing.
Fresh from playing Sonny in the UK tour of Grease, Sario Solomon is a delightfully ever-positive Aladdin, as uplifting as his carpet ride and singing like a dream too, and he is matched by Emily Tang’s Princess Jasmine, thoroughly modern in outlook in being drawn to the personality, not the bank balance.
Clear storytelling and good values (rather than heavy-handed moral messaging) are always strong features of creative director Juliet Forster’s direction, alongside the abundant humour, complemented by Hayley Del Harrison’s sparky, sparkling choreography.
Morgan Brind’s costumes stand out more than his set designs, especially the dame’s merry-go-round of ever-dafter attire. Look out too for one shop sign: Sherlock Combs, Barber, a cut above the norm.
Hendy’s script finds room for cutting observations on York’s parking and potholes and takes pot-shots at Hull and the Grand Opera House pantomime too, and never has he had more fun with a pun in a show where the second half surpasses the first, as should always be the case. All New Adventures Of Peter Pan and Jack And The Beanstalk were superior but there is still plenty to enjoy in Aladdin.
Aladdin runs at York Theatre Royal until January 5 2025. Box office:01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Quinn Richards in Be Amazing Arts’ promenade production of A Christmas Carol in Malton
’TIS the season for pantomime, festive exhibitions, ghost stories, a snow bear and an elf as Charles Hutchinson welcomes winter.
Promenade festive experience of the week: Be Amazing Arts in A Christmas Carol, Malton’s streets and buildings, starting at Kemps Books, until December 23
MALTON theatre-makers Be Amazing Arts return for a fourth season of immersive A Christmas Carol performances “truly made for all the senses”, where Charles Dickens invites you to a reading of his latest work, transforming into Ebenezer Scrooge (Quinn Richards) for a promenade production, written by Roxanna Klimaszewska, with a cast featuring Katy Rattigan, Kirsty Woolf and David Lomond.
The ticket price includes a food platter from The Cook’s Place as revellers celebrate with the ghost of Christmas Present and a warm winter drink to toast to the goodwill of Christmas. Ticket advice: book promptly as past years’ shows sold out. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/beamazingarts/1275175.
Isobel Staton’s Mary in York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity for York. Picture: John Saunders
Christmas message of hope of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust presents A Nativity for York, St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, tomorrow and Friday, 7.30pm; St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
PAUL Toy’s community production recalls when the Mystery Plays were banned in the 17th century for being too Roman Catholic. Performers were forced to perform illegally in the houses of sympathisers, always looking out for establishment forces.
“Although A Nativity for York reflects the experience of those dedicated but frightened performers, the story itself mirrors the trouble many people are experiencing today: a homeless couple, seeking shelter, with their new-born child being forced to flee to another country, but there is news of great hope and joy,” says Toy. Box office: 0333 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/nativitytickets or on the door.
Wicked return: Paul Hawkyard takes to the dark side again as Abanazar in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal
Look who’s back: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025
PAUL Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Abanazar to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note) in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy. Look out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Changing of the old guard to the new: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday to January 5 2025
EXIT the Dame Berwick Kaler, Martin Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell era. Enter Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer as Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell, from SIX The Musical, as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris, from Les Miserable, as The Prince; comedian Phil Reid as Louis La Plonk; dame Leon Craig, from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as his larger-than-life mum, Polly La Plonk; Phil Atkinson, from The Bodyguard, as dastardly Hugo Pompidou and David Alcock, from SAS Rogue Heroes, as Clement. George Ure directs 2019 Great British Pantomimes Award winner Jon Monie’s script. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The principal players in Rowntree Players’ pantomime Mother Goose at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Let the egg puns get cracking: Rowntree Players in Mother Goose, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 10 to 13, 7.30pm; December 14, 2pm and 7.30pm
MEET Jack (Gemma McDonald), head of hens at Chucklepatch Farm, with its newest addition to the coop, Priscilla the goose (Abbey Follansbee). Joined by mum Gertrude Gander (alias Mother Goose, Michael Cornell) and his sister Jill (Laura Castle), they head out on their panto adventure.
Frustrated with life on the farm and desperate for showbiz, Gertrude gives up the Wolds for the bright lights of Doncaster. However, ever-nasty landlord Demon Darkheart (Jamie McKeller, alias Dr Dorian Deathly from the Deathly Dark Tours ghost walk) and his assistant Bob (Laura McKeller) will stop at nothing to collect rent, but dishy farmer Kev, the King of Kale (Sarah Howlett) and Fairy Frittata (Holly Smith) will not let the dark side rule in a rollicking romp directed by co-writer Howard Ella. Tickets update: Down to last few tickets or limited availability for most performances on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Tom Mordell’s Polaris the Snow Bear and Danny Mellor’s Sammy the Seal in Badapple Theatre Company’s Polaris The Snow Bear. Picture: Karl Andre
Children’s play of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in Polaris The Snow Bear, The Mount School, York, Saturday, 3pm and on tour in Yorkshire and beyond until January 5 2025
MEET Polaris, the travelling snow bear and star of Kate Bramley’s new family Christmas show for Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company. On his journey to find renowned naturalist Mr Hat-In-Burrow, many complicated and comedic adventures ensue as Polaris (Tom Mordell) tries to put everything right, saving the Polar world in time for Christmas with the help of reluctant sidekick Sammy the Seal (Danny Mellor). For Yorkshire dates and tickets, go to: badappletheatre.co.uk or 01423 331304.
Time to deliver: E(s)mereld(a) The Elf And Father Christmas at Milton Rooms, Malton
Festive family show of the week: Epic Adventure Parties present E(s)mereld(a) The Elf And Father Christmas, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm; Sunday, 10.30am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm
IN Malton company Epic Adventure Parties’ interactive show, E(s)mereld(a) The Elf And Father Christmas, the friendly Elf must sort out all the Christmas letters in time. She means well but alas she can become very muddled. Can your family help her?
Each show lasts around 20 minutes, to be followed by family visits to Father Christmas and a gift for every child. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/epicadventureparties.
Guy Masterson in his solo performance of A Christmas Carol, on tour at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Solo ghost storyteller of the week: Guy Masterson in A Christmas Carol, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 11, 7.30pm
OLIVIER Award winner Guy Masterson, veteran of such solo works such as Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm and Shylock, presents his spellbinding take on Charles Dickens’s festive fable, adapted and directed by Nick Hennegan with original music by Robb Williams.
Noted for bringing multiple characters to life, Masterson conjures Scrooge, Marley, the Fezziwigs, the Cratchits, Tiny Tim et al in his dazzling, enchanting performance. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Isobel Staton’s Mary in York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity for York on dress rehearsal night at The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton. Picture: John Saunders
IT is time for pantomime, festive exhibitions, ghost stories, Elvis blues and a snow bear, as Charles Hutchinson welcomes winter.
Christmas message of hope of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust presents A Nativity for York, The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, December 5 and 6, 7.30pm; St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, December 7, 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
PAUL Toy’s community production recalls when the Mystery Plays were banned in the 17th century for being too Roman Catholic. Performers were forced to perform illegally in the houses of sympathisers, always looking out for establishment forces.
“Although A Nativity for York reflects the experience of those dedicated but frightened performers, the story itself mirrors the trouble many people are experiencing today: a homeless couple, seeking shelter, with their new-born child being forced to flee to another country, but there is news of great hope and joy.” Box office: 0333 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/nativitytickets or on the door.
Rob Cotterill as The Mad Hatter in Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s Alice In Wonderland
Through the rabbit hole: Pop Yer Clogs Theatre in Alice In Wonderland, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
FOLLOW young Alice on her adventures underground as she navigates her way through an imperfect and unfamiliar world. Discover a place where absurdity is the norm, logic is turned on its head and animals can talk in York company Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s flamboyant staging for age five upwards.
Join her as she encounters many weird, wonderful and colourful characters, from the Queen of Hearts to the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. Answers to riddles are non-existent, tales lack morals and injustice looms large in this Lewis Carroll tale, full of fantasy, imagination and fun, where every time is “tea-time” and nothing is ever really as it seems. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Wicked return: Paul Hawkyard’s Abanazar in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin
Look who’s back: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, December 3 to January 5 2025
PAUL Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Abanazar to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note) in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy. Look out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Changing of the old guard to the new: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, December 7 to January 5 2025
EXIT the Dame Berwick Kaler, Martin Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and AJ Powell era. Enter Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer as Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell, from SIX The Musical, as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris, from Les Miserable, as The Prince; comedian Phil Reid as Louis La Plonk; dame Leon Craig, from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as his larger-than-life mum, Polly La Plonk; Phil Atkinson, from The Bodyguard, as dastardly Hugo Pompidou and David Alcock, from SAS Rogue Heroes, as Clement. George Ure directs 2019 Great British Pantomimes Award winner Jon Monie’s script. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
James Swanton: Christmas ghost stories from the pen of Charles Dickens
Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Ghost Stories for Christmas, York Medical Society lecture hall, until December 5, 7pm
YORK actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society to tell Charles Dickens’s Ghost Stories for Christmas. “Each of them brims with Dickens’s genius for the weird, which ranges from human eccentricities to full-blown phantoms,” he says of his hour-long shows. “Dickens’s anger at social injustice also aligns sharply with our own – and in this age of rising austerity and fascism, we’re feeling the bite more than ever,” he says.
December 5’s performance of The Haunted Man has sold out; hurry, hurry to acquire tickets for A Christmas Carol on December 2, 3 or 4. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
R M Lloyd Parry: MR James Project storyteller
More ghosts in York: Nunkie Theatre Company, Count Magnus, Two Ghost Stories by M R James, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE ghost stories of M R James amuse and terrify as powerfully today as they did when first written more than a century ago. Nunkie Theatre Company brings two of these spine-chillers to life in R M Lloyd Parry’s thrilling one-man show.
In Count Magnus a travel-writer’s over-inquisitiveness leads to a diabolical chase from darkest Sweden to rural Essex. Denmark is the setting for Number 13, where a hotel room with the famously unlucky number conceals a ghastly, baffling secret. Tickets update: SOLD OUT.
Tom Mordell’s Polaris the Snow Bear and Danny Mellor’s Sammy the Seal in Badapple Theatre Company’s Polaris The Snow Bear. Picture: Karl Andre
Children’s show of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in Polaris The Snow Bear, The Mount School, York, December 7, 3pm, and on tour in Yorkshire and beyond until January 5 2025
MEET Polaris, the travelling snow bear and star of Kate Bramley’s new family Christmas show for Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company. On his journey to find renowned naturalist Mr Hat-In-Burrow, many complicated and comedic adventures ensue as Polaris (Tom Mordell) tries to put everything right, saving the Polar world in time for Christmas with the help of reluctant sidekick Sammy the Seal (Danny Mellor).
Further Yorkshire dates include: tonight, 7pm, Kilham Village Hall; December 1, 7pm, Old Girls’ School, Sherburn in Elmet; December 3, 7pm, Green Hammerton Village Hall; December 11, 7.30pm, Bishop Monkton Village Hall; December 17, 6pm, The Cholmeley Hall, Brandsby; December 28, 2pm, Ampleforth Village Hall, and December 30, 4.30pm, East Cottingwith Village Hall. Full details and tickets: badappletheatre.co.uk or 01423 331304.
Gifts of Christmas on display at the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre
Christmas exhibition of the week: Gifts Of Christmas, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 19, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday; last admission 4pm
BAR Convent is sparkling with a dazzling tree decorations and new exhibition on this year’s festive theme of Gifts of Christmas. On show is a collection of digital art inspired by Viborg, where heritage intersects with cutting-edge technology, while young creatives from Blueberry Academy, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, St George’s RC Primary and York College (ESOL students) are exploring the theme too. Glass cabinets showcase pop-punk tributes to the Book of Kells and the works of William Blake. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.
1812 Theatre Company’s poster for Pinocchio at Helmsley Arts Centre
1812 pantomime for 2024: 1812 Theatre Company in Pinocchio, Helmsley Arts Centre, 2.30pm matinees, December 7, 8, 14 and 15; 7.30pm evening shows, December 7, 10 to 14
HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs 1812 Theatre Company in Tom Whalley’s version of Pinocchio. Geppetto (Oliver Clive), an old toy maker, always longed for a son of his own. One starry night, helped by the Blue Fairy (Nicky Hollins) and a cheeky little Jiminy Cricket (Millie Neighbour), his wish comes true and his latest puppet, Pinocchio (Esme Schofield), comes to life.
However, the magical puppet catches the eye of evil showman Stromboli (Ben Coughlan). Aided by Dame Mamma Mia (Martin Vander Weyer) and her hapless son Lampwick (Joe Gregory) from the pizzeria, will Pinocchio learn in time what it takes to be a “real boy”? Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
One Knight with you: Steve Knight in his Elvis Christmas Special at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
To avoid a Blue Christmas, book now: Elvis Christmas Special, Tribute by Steve Knight, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 22,7.30pm
STEVE Knight embodies the spirit and energy of Elvis Presley as he brings a Christmas flavour to his tribute act that has played Las Vegas to London. Presented by Wryley Music, he combines spot-on vocals with a dynamic stage presence and an uncanny resemblance to the King of Rock’n’Roll. Backed by a full band, he takes a festive journey through Elvis’s greatest hits. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
In Focus: Jo Walton’s exhibition, Steel, Copper, Rust, Gold, Verdigris, Wax, at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York
Jo Walton setting up her exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb. Behind her is one of her artworks and graffiti artist Sam Porter’s wall painting of an Eastern Bluebird. “The bluebird is beautiful, though some people think it’s a Kingfisher, which is crazy, isn’t it!”
WHEN Rogues Atelier artist, interior designer, upholsterer and Bluebird Bakery curator of exhibitions Jo Walton asked poet Nicky Kippax to put words to images she had sent her, she responded with “The heft of a cliff and a gathering of sea fret”. Spot on, Nicky.
Into the eighth month of recovery from breaking her right leg, Jo is exhibiting predominantly large works that utilise steel, copper, rust, gold, verdigris and wax in Nicky’s bakery, cafe and community centre, in Acomb Road, Acomb, York, whose interior she designed in 2021.
Jo has curated exhibitions in the bakery by Mark Ibson, Rosie Bramley, Liz Foster, Carolyn Coles, Rob Burton and Robin Grover-Jacques, but not shown her own work there until now. Why? “I have my own space [at Rogues Atelier] too, and I’ve also been juggling with the availability of other artists,” she reaons.
Jo’s creative year has been shaped by her leg break. “I was visiting Mark Ibson’s gallery at the old blacksmith’s in Bishop Wilton, when I walked around the back with my daughter and I just fell over. That was at the end of April, just after York Open Studios,” she says.
“I’m only just walking OK now. I’ve still got a slight limp. I had to have a pin put through my ankle, and a plate inserted too, as well splints. Everything in my life came to a complete standstill. All the work and holiday plans stopped, though I did manage to get a couple of paintings done for North Yorkshire Open Studios, going round on my “scooter” to get them completed.”
Earlier in the year, Jo had done an upholstery re-fit upstairs at Ambiente Tapas, in Goodramgate, York, and designed the interior for the new Bluebird Bakery in Butcher Row, Beverley.
For her Acomb exhibition and winter shows at Rogues Atelier, Jo “has been able to work properly at full tilt since September, mainly making smaller pieces”. “But I also had to catch up on so many upholstery orders, delivering what I’d promised but I’d had to put off while I recuperated.
“At Bluebird Bakery, there’ll be big works, all 80cms by 80cms, while all the smaller pieces will be on show at Rogues Atelier, when we do our winter open studios shows along with PICA Studios today [November 30] and tomorrow [10am to 5pm both days], then December 7 [10am to 5pm] and December 8 [11am to 5pm].”
Looking ahead to 2025, Jo will be exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, in Stonegate, York, in July after being offered a solo show by owner and curator Terry Brett. The exhibition will combine Jo’s big artworks with ceramic vases and vessels and dried metal arrangements to evoke how all the pieces would complement each other in a home setting.
Prompted by putting Nicky Kippax’s poetry on the walls by her artworks in the past, “I’m planning to incorporate her words in the paintings, which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” says Jo. “It was the sort of work that first attracted me as an art college student in Harrogate and then at Bradford University.”
As Neil Young once sang, rust never sleeps, certainly not in Jo Walton’s art.
Jo Walton, Steel, Copper, Rust, Gold, Verdigris, Wax, on show at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until January 23 2025
Jo Walton: back story
Jo Walton, at Rogues Atelier Art Studio, on the get-around “scooter” that enabled her to complete works for her North Yorkshire Open Studios exhibition after breaking her right leg in a fall
GRADUATED from Bradford University with degree in Fine Art in 2005. Founded community arts centre in Walmgate, York, and delivered community art projects at York Art Gallery.
In 2012, she founded Rogues Atelier Art Studio in Fossgate, York, where she creates abstract land/sea/colour-scapes focusing on horizons, using gold, silver, copper, metal leaf, oil paint and wax, playing with oxidation – rust, verdigris – on plastered wooden panels.
Her work is inspired by extensive travel, sailing in her twenties and delivering yachts, preceded by her childhood years living in Australia.
Jo participates regularly in York Open Studios, Staithes Art and Heritage Festival, Saltaire Open Village and, more recently, in North Yorkshire Open Studios. She has held solo exhibitions at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, and has been commissioned to curate exhibitions there.
Jo is known for her industrial-styled commercial interiors, designing for bars and shops. She designed and project-managed The Angel On The Green, Bishopthorpe Road, and Bluebird Bakery, in Acomb Road, Acomb, Shambles Market, York, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, and Butcher Row, Beverley.
A note on rust in Jo Walton’s work
Jo Walton’s artwork on show at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
THE method to preserve and prevent further rusting of the metal plate has been researched, tried and tested by Jo for more than 12 years, to the point where she is certain of its durability. The first successful pieces are in her home, where she reports no change.
“I’ve been fascinated by rust forever,” she says. “Growing up in Australia with the red dust and the searing heat burning everything, I was fascinated by rusted metals and especially by the colours they gave off: those absolutely beautiful colours.
“Then I got rust spots on my jeans that wouldn’t come out. I thought, ‘there might be something in this’, so I looked at printing with rust, which took a while to work out. People liked them, and once I began printing onto metal plate, people loved them – especially men.
“What I’m playing with in my works is the shine of the gold through the matt of the paint. I’m using oil paints, whereas the classic iconic art used egg tempera. It’s painted on to gold metal leaf, so it’s textured, painted black and then polished.
“When I went to Bradford University, my first instinct was to paint almost in the iconic style, but it was the time of Tracey Emin and the Young British Artists, which was a sad time to go to university to study Fine Art if you wanted to do traditional techniques, like I did!
“They were all into modern art, but if I’d stuck to my feelings about the traditions of art, I would never have done the rust works!”
To beard or not to beard? Paul Hawkyard, left, will retain his, but Robin Simpson will shed his to play Dame Dolly in Aladdin. Picture: SR Taylor Photography
IT could be disconcerting interviewing the dame in week two of rehearsals for Aladdin when Robin Simpson’s beard remains in imperial flourish, especially when his playing style is the antithesis of rough and ready.
Be assured, the whiskers will be long gone when the Yorkshireman begins his fifth York Theatre Royal pantomime next Tuesday, this time playing Dame Dolly rather than the traditional role of Widow Twankey in a nod to acknowledging modern-day sensitivities and cultural diplomacy.
As ever, Robin’s dame will be lovable. “I’ve never been a big fan, even in normal life, of putting people down. Dames can be quite cruel but I would never do that,” he says. “When I pick out a man in the audience to be in the spotlight at each show, what I want afterwards is for him to go, ‘I’m so glad I was chosen because I had a great time’.
“My dame personality also comes from performing in front of children a lot [Robin does solo storytelling shows too], accepting their offers [suggestions and comments], working with what they give you, incorporating it, making it work. The aim has to be to give everyone a good time, when it can be too easy in pantomimes to make someone feel they’re being picked on. You don’t need to do that. I believe the dame should be nice.”
Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre’s first poster image for Aladdin, released in January
His style epitomises the new age of the York Theatre Royal pantomime crafted since 2020 by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and award-winning Evolution Productions director and script writer Paul Hendy.
“Our panto does appeal to both adults and children,” says Robin. “You have to have something for the adults, nothing too specific, but ‘bum jokes’ too for the children. You need fabulous costumes and you have to do the story properly, while having a side-wink to the audience that says ‘ we know this is all crazy’!
“We always have an eye on being entertaining for children: you can’t have the baddie being too scary or the dame being too rude!”
On the subject of the villain, Robin will be renewing his badinage with fellow West Yorkshire actor Paul Hawkyard, who returns to the dark side at the Theatre Royal as Abanazar after a gap year appearing in pantomime in Dubai instead last winter.
Robin Simpson’s Manky, left, and Paul Hawkyard’s Mardy, the scheming stepsisters, in Cinderella at York Theatre Royal in 2021
Simpson and Hawkyard first revelled in their award-nominated panto double act when things turned ugly as stepsisters Manky and Mardy in Cinderella in 2021. “It’s great to have him back,” says Robin, who also played Mrs Smee to Paul’s Captain Hook in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan! in 2022.
“It’s nice to have that familiarity, and to have similar scenes and routines to past shows, like the ghost gag bench but with a different song. Some of the same catchphrases and punchlines too: the more that people come and see the shows, the more they’ll say, ‘that’s the thing they do’, but you don’t want to force them. They have to be natural.
“The audiences have been great since we started, and hopefully we’ve been growing that audience each year with the shows going from strength to strength. However each one is put together by Juliet and Paul, their decision to cast a CBeebies star each time has worked really well: it’s really wonderful to have Evie Pickerill this year. She’s such a delight to work with – and what great singing voice she has too.
“We have a strong ensemble and we’re a team of really committed people. Pantomimes can be lazy but that’s not the case with here, where Juliet and Paul put everything into constantly finding something funny that appeals to the widest audience.”
Robin Simpson in children’s storyteller mode
Robin’s dame loves to be the dispenser of “lots of fun”. “I’ve been playing dame for eight years now, three in Huddersfield [at the Lawrence Batley Theatre] and now five here, and of all the roles in pantomime, it’s certainly the most interesting one for me as you haven’t got the limitations on you that the leading man and the leading girl have.
“I don’t have to carry the show. That’s up to Aladdin and co. They have the emotional story and earnestness. I can just come on, say a few jokes and fall over. At my age, that’s what I like, though I don’t mean to do it a disservice. The gender reversals in theatre have been going on for many years. They’ve always been part of the theatre tradition.”
Robin has returned to York after working with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, heading from Scotland to the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and OVO, St Albans too on tour. “It’s taken up pretty much my year,” he says. “I did seven months, a proper old-fashioned rep season, with the seventh month at the Wolsey in Ipswich in a co-production of Footloose.
“I was the Reverend and I really enjoyed being put in a musical, which is not something I’m usually considered for. It was good to be out of my comfort zone,” he says.
Robin Simpson having “lots of fun” in rehearsal for his fifth dame’s role at York Theatre Royal in Aladdin. Picture: SR Taylor Photography
“Though I was also in another musical in the season: Beautiful, the Carole King musical, playing Donny Kirshner, Carole’s manager, who managed The Monkees too. We had the same cast for three shows, with me playing Sir John Middleton and Mrs Ferrars in Sense And Sensibility…”
…Mrs Ferrars, you say? “I think they must have heard I played the dame! It was all very much multi-role-playing with only eight of us in the cast. She has only one scene, so none of your pantomime rouge for Mrs Ferrars. We didn’t have time for that.
“She’s really dislikeable! A horrible tyrant of a woman!” Totally unlike Robin’s dame.
York Theatre Royal presents Aladdin from December 3 to January 5. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Aladdin cast members Tommy Carmichael, left, Paul Hawkyard, Evie Pickerill, Robin Simpson and Emily Tang outside York Theatre Royal. Picture: Ant Robling
STARS of the 2024-2025 pantomime Aladdin have gathered for a launch day at York Theatre Royal.
Present were Robin Simpson, who will return for his fifth panto season as the dame, this time playing Dame Dolly rather than the traditional role of Widow Twankey, and fellow Yorkshire actor Paul Hawkyard, renewing his badinage with Simpson as villainous Abanazar after a gap year from the Theatre Royal show, appearing in pantomime in Dubai instead last winter.
There too were Evie Pickerill, the latest CBeebies presenter to join the Theatre Royal-Evolution Productions co-production, cast as the Spirit of the Ring; Emily Tang, who will play Princess Jasmine, and Tommy Carmichael, whose role will be Charlie.
Absent from Tuesday’s media event was Saria Solomon, otherwise engaged on tour playing Donny in the musical Grease, but he had attended a launch already in June to promote his title role in the York panto, to be directed once more by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and written by Evolution director Paul Hendy, winner of the Best Script award for Aladdin at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, in the UK Pantomime Association’s 2024 Pantomime Awards.
The first name to be confirmed for Aladdin was Robin Simpson, as early as during last winter’s run of Jack And The Beanstalk, wherein his Dame Trott followed up his Mrs Smee in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan and Ugly Sister Manky in a Pantomime Awards-nominated double act with Hawkyard’s Mardy. In the socially distanced first winter of Covid, he had first played the Theatre Royal’s dame in The Travelling Pantomime that toured to community centres around York.
“It’s nice they have that faith in me not to put people off,” he says of being the first poster face of the promotional campaign for Aladdin.
Hello, Dolly: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly, starring in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal this winter. Picture: Ant Robling
After his partnership with Zeus, the scene-stealing Border Collie, in Jack And The Beanstalk, Robin will resume striking comedy sparks with Paul Hawkyard. “Paul’s very uncontrollable,” he says. “He doesn’t follow orders, but he does work for treats. It’s nice to have him back, and it’s always nice to be back at the Theatre Royal.
“A few years ago I wouldn’t have envisaged that I’d be doing panto for ten years now, because before that I didn’t really do panto, as the kids were young and I liked to be at home with them for Christmas.
“I understudied Berwick [Kaler] here one year. The Huddersfield panto came along, and then I started working here with the ‘pandemic panto’ when theatres were in flux, and it’s a joy to be back again for Aladdin.”
Guess who Paul Hawkyard played in his panto season away from York. “I was the dame! I went to Dubai over the Christmas period to appear in Beauty And The Beast there – and it was gorgeous,” he says. “As you’re rehearsing, in between scenes if you’re not in that scene, you can dive into the swimming pool and relax – but make sure to remove your flip-flops before you go back into the rehearsal room.”
Now Paul will be returning to the dark side as Abanazar after playing Captain Hook in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan. “It’s great to be back with Robin. We keep in touch with each other, like painting a portrait of his mam’s dog,” says wildlife artist Paul. “It’s lovely to be back working with Juliet [Forster] too, and it’s been so uplifting to have had messages from people saying they’d missed me last year.
“Being welcomed by York is a good feeling, and it’s such a good panto because the standard is so high: the costumes, the scenery, Paul’s script, the speciality acts. It’s another level.
Paul Hawkyard’s Abanazar on the York Theatre Royal stage. Picture: Ant Robling
“And the lovely thing about me and Robin is that it’s not just the chemistry on stage. He’ll stay over at my home if he’s passing by when he’s doing his story shows.”
Evie Pickerill, one of the principal presenters on the children’s television channel CBeebies since 2018 and a regular CBBC host too, follows Andy Day, Mandy Moate and James “Raven” McKenzie in joining the Theatre Royal panto ranks. “That’s big shoes to fill,” she says. “Playing the Spirit of the Ring will be my first time on the York stage but I’ve been to York a handful of times and love it here.
“I played Cinderella at The Grand, Wolverhampton, and Leicester de Montford Hall and Snow White at Wolverhampton, and this will be a different kind of role. With the Spirit of the Ring, there’s a bit of comedy, a bit of silliness.
“After doing panto for Imagine and in-house at Wolverhampton, working for Evolution at York Theatre Royal is big-boy panto; they’re the king of panto. Apparently we’ll be doing a lot of character work, which is different from the other pantos I’ve done.”
Before rehearsals begin for Aladdin, Evie will be heading up to Edinburgh to record the CBeebies pantomime at the Festival Theatre and then returning to the BBC studio. “I’m playing the Robin in Beauty And The Beast,” she reveals. The Robin, Evie? “She’s Belle’s best friend, and she flies – and I’ve never flown across a stage before. That’s exciting!”
Evie loves pantomime. “I first went when I was seven or eight and straightaway I said to my parents, ‘that’s what I want to do’,” she says. “I left home at 18 to go to drama school in Liverpool, doing the acting course at LIPA, and I’ve never looked back.”
Aladdin will run at York Theatre Royal from December 3 to January 5 2025. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Evie Pickerill’s Spirit of the Ring. Picture: Ant Robling
HE’S bad and he’s back. Paul Hawkyard will return to the villain’s role in the 2024-2025 York Theatre Royal & Evolution Productions pantomime after a year’s hiatus.
The towering Leeds-born actor and wildlife artist will play Abanazar in creative director Juliet Forster’s production of Aladdin, written by Evolution director Paul Hendy in a new York adaptation of the script he premiered at The Marlowe, Canterbury, last winter with Strictly Come Dancing alumnus Kevin Clifton as the baddie.
Clifton, by the way, is among The Marlowe’s record-breaking eight nominations for the UK Pantomime Association’s 2024 Pantomime Awards for Best Newcomer to Pantomime for his debut as Ivan Tochachacha, in essence Abanazar re-booted with a dancing moniker.
Writer Hendy was nominated too for Best Script, alongside Best Pantomime (over 900 seats), Best Dame, Best Lead, Best Magical Being, Best Supporting Artist and Best Contribution to Music.
Leeds-born actor Paul Hawkyard
The winners will be announced in an awards ceremony at G Live, Guildford, on June 18, when York Theatre Royal will be represented by Jack And The Beanstalk cast members Mia Overfield and Anna Soden.
Overfield is nominated in the Best Early Career Newcomer category for her role as Jack in her panto debut, a year after completing her musical theatre studies at Arden School of Theatre, Manchester.
In her home-city panto, Soden played Dave the talking cow, a very different kind of pantomime cow, in a scene-stealing turn that has led to her nomination in the Best Supporting Artist category.
Meanwhile, back to Aladdin in York, where Hawkyard will be renewing his fruitful, feisty pantomime partnership with regular dame Robin Simpson, returning for his fifth successive Theatre Royal panto.
Rev-olution: Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard roar onto stage in their irreverent Ugly Sister double act Manky & Mardy in York Theatre Royal’s Cinderella
Hawkyard and Simpson received a UK Pantomime Awards nomination for their Ugly Sister double act Manky & Mardy in 2021-2022’s Cinderella, then bonded in baddie badinage over the next winter as Captain Hook and Mrs Smee respectively in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan.
Hawkyard and Simpson first worked together in the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre company at the Eye of York, sharing a dressing room from the day they started. In 2022, they reunited for Harrogate Theatre’s HT Rep season of three plays in three weeks, Simpson appearing in all three, Abigail’s Party, Gaslight and Men Of The World; Hawkyard in the first and last.
They will be joined in Aladdin by CBeebies and CBBC presenter Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring. Further casting will be announced shortly.
Tickets for Aladdin’s run from December 3 to January 5 2025 are on sale on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
She likes to moove it, moove it: Anna Soden’s Dave the talking cow in Jack And The Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor
YORK Theatre Royal pantomime stars Mia Overfield and Anna Soden are in the running for the 2024 UK Pantomime Awards.
Mia is nominated in the Best Early Career Newcomer category for her role as Jack in her panto debut in Jack And The Beanstalk, a year after completing her musical theatre studies at Arden School of Theatre,Manchester.
In her home-city panto, Anna played Dave the talking cow, a very different kind of pantomime cow, in a scene-stealing turn that led to her nomination in the Best Supporting Artist category.
Mia Overfield’s Jack with the giant Blunderbore in Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: S R Taylor
Anna, who grew up in York, was a member of York Youth Theatre for a decade and was part of the young people’s ensemble for Theatre Royal shows, including The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum and the 2006 panto Cinderella.
In 2020, she appeared as the bass guitar-playing Fairy in York Theatre Royal’s socially distanced Travelling Pantomime, toured to York community centres under Covid restrictions.
The awards ceremony, held in association with Stagecoach, will take place at G Live, Guildford, on June 18 after the 70 judges had their busiest year yet in the awards’ third year, collectively visiting 259 venues to see 728 performances across the UK.
Reason to be cheerful: 2024 UK Pantomime Awards nominees Mia Overfield and Anna Soden. Picture: S R Taylor
Among them, Jack And The Beanstalk was the third pantomime produced on the Theatre Royal stage in partnership with panto specialists Evolution Productions, directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and written by Evolution’s Paul Hendy.
After Cinderella, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan and Jack And The Beanstalk, the team will reunite for the 2024-2025 Theatre Royal pantomime, Aladdin, from December 3 to January 5, when Robin Simpson will return for a fifth winter as the Dame, joined by CBeebies and CBBC presenter Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring.
Evie, who has guest starred on Blue Peter, has been hosting CBeebies since 2018 and during that time she has performed leading roles in their Christmas and Shakespeare productions too.
Evie Pickerill: CBeebies presenter will reunite with York Theatre Royal pantomime director Juliet Forster for Aladdin
Aladdin director Juliet Forster will be directing her for a second time. “I’m absolutely delighted to be welcoming Evie to York Theatre Royal’s stage this Christmas. I worked with Evie on CBeebies’ Romeo & Juliet– she made a wonderful Juliet and was a joy to work with.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing her bring her unique, lovable style to pantomime. We are so lucky to have her, and York audiences are in for a treat!”
Aladdin writer and Evolution producer Paul Hendy enthuses: “We’re delighted Evie Pickerill will be joining Robin Simpson in our spectacular production. I’ve been lucky enough to see Evie in pantomime before and know that she’s going to bring a sparkle and flare to the show that our audiences will adore! This really is shaping up to be our biggest and funniest show ever!”
Evie is no stranger to pantomime, having played Cinderella and Snow White previously, and she also performed in the musical Shout! at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after first appearing in the show during her Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts studies. Last year she hosted her first radio show on Heart North West.
Alongside her passion for the arts, Evie is a supporter of several children’s charities, taking part in fundraising events for Comic Relief and Children In Need and becoming a champion for Place2Be in 2022.
Making Mischief: Peter Pan Goes Wrong at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Pamela Raith
FROM Peter Pan mishaps to pantomime, rabbit obituaries to classic rock, prawn cocktail comedy to Eighties’ pop star nostalgia, Charles Hutchinson delights in all manner of arts events.
Theatrical calamity of the week…but in a good way: Mischief Theatre’s Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 16 to 20, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
FROM the mayhem-makers of The Play That Goes Wrong and the BBC television series The Goes Wrong Show comes Mischief Theatre’s riotous spin on a timeless classic in the West End hit Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
As the hapless members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society return to the stage, once more they must battle technical hitches, flying mishaps and cast disputes as they strive to present J M Barrie’s awfully big adventure, but will they ever make it to Neverland? Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
RIP Lee Scratch Perry from Bertt deBaldock’s book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three
Book signing launch of the week: Bertt deBaldock’s Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, January 16, 4.30pm to 7pm
PYRAMID Gallery owner, curator and artist Terry Brett launches his latest collection of cartoon rabbit portrait tributes to celebrities and remarkable individuals who have passed away in the 108-page book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three.
The cartoons are drawn by Bertt deBaldock (Terry’s alias) at the time of the individual’s death and assembled with Terry’s tributes or memories of the person in a volume covering September 2021 to December 2022. The book is free but donations are invited in aid of Refugee Action York.
All in for Aladdin: The cast for Pickering Musical Society’s 2024 pantomime
Pantomime extra time: Pickering Musical Society in Aladdin, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, January 18 to 28, 7.15pm, except January 22; 2.15pm, January 20, 21, 27 and 28
PICKERING Musical Society has added two extra performances of Aladdin, now opening on January 18, rather than January 19, while a Sunday matinee on January 21 is a new addition too.
Director Luke Arnold’s cast includes Pickering panto favourites Marcus Burnside as Widow Twankey, Stephen Temple as simple son Wishee Washee, Danielle Long as principal boy Aladdin, Courtney Brown as principal girl Princess Lotus Blossom, Paula Paylor and Rachel Anderson as comedic double act Minnie Wong and Winnie Wong and John Brooks as the villainous Abanazar. Box office: 01751 474833 or thelittleboxoffice.com/kirktheatre.
The poster for One Night Of Classic Rock at the JoRo, York
New collaboration: The BJMC & Steve Coates Music Productions, One Night Of Classic Rock, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 20, 7.30pm
THE long-established BJMC (Bev Jones Music Company) is teaming up with new company Steve Coates Music Productions. Their first collaboration draws on Coates’s jukebox for a night of thunderous anthems from everyone’s favourite rock bands, such as AC/DC, Queen, Tina Turner, Status Quo, Eagles, Meat Loaf, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac.
Guitarist Mickey Moran combines leading a six-piece band with joining Annabel Van Griethuysen, Clare Meadley, Jack Storey-Hunter, Chris Hagyard and Ruth McNeill as the show’s lead singers. Box office for returns only: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail on the menu at Theatre@41, Monkgate
From Russia with love of comedy on Valentine’s Day: Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 14, 8pm
RUSSIAN-BORN Olga Koch turned 30, achieved a master’s degree, went on an adult gap year, suffered salmonella, lost herself, found herself and washed it all down with a delicious prawn cocktail. “Think less Eat Pray Love and more Shake Scream Cry,” she says, ahead of her return to Theatre@41 after previous visits with Homecoming in October 2021 and Just Friends in October 2022. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
B C Camplight: Playing The Crescent after releasing his break-up album The Last Rotation Of Earth
Gig announcement of the week: BC Camplight, presented by Please Please You & Brudenell Presents, The Crescent, York, March 15, 7.30pm
DOES a curse dictate that Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio cannot move forward without being knocked back? Or that the greatest material is born out of emotional trauma? While making his 2023 album, The Last Rotation Of Earth, Christinzio’s relationship with his fiancé crumbled after nine inseparable years.
This break-up amid long-term struggles with addiction and mental health led to an extraordinary album of heartbreak, “more cinematic, sophisticated and nuanced than anything” that New Jersey-born BC has done before. Hear the results in York. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Martin Kemp: Trading in his bass guitar for taking to the decks for a night of Eighties’ pop hits and dancing
Nostalgia on the horizon: Martin Kemp, The Ultimate Back To The 80’s DJ Set, York Barbican, March 29, doors, 7.30pm
SPANDAU Ballet bassist and EastEnders star Martin Kemp takes to the decks to spin “all the best of the hits” from the Eighties in an unstoppable singalong. Dig out your best Eighties’ attire, grab your dancing shoes and prepare to enjoy a night of pure Gold! Yes, fancy dress is encouraged, he advises.
“It’s amazing! People absolutely lose themselves, singing to every word,” Kemp told ITV’s Good Morning show. “It’s the most euphoric atmosphere I have ever been in, in my life!” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: York singer-songwriter, now based in London, returns to Yorkshire to play Leeds. Picture: Harry Pearson
New year, new album, new tour: Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, April 4, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich follows up Dirty Hit Records’ February 9 release of his fifth album, Some Things Break, with a nine-date spring tour that opens in Leeds.
First up is Ben’s new single, New York, a song that came from a writing session with labelmate Matty Healy, from The 1975. Healy asked his permission to perform it at a one-off show, opening for Phoebe Bridgers in 2021, and now comes Ben’s version. Box office: brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.
In Focus: Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime, Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Acomb, January 18 to 26
The Three Pigs in Blue Light Theatre Company’s Nithered!: Simon Moore, left, Kevin Bowes and Kristian Barley
BLUE Light Theatre Company’s tenth anniversary pantomime, Nithered!, is a frosty fairytale adventure by regular writer Perri Ann Barley to match the wintry weather in York.
Formed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff, they performed their debut pantomime in 2013. “It was supposed to be a ‘one-off’ production to raise funds for a colleague who had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease but was so successful that it’s still going to this day, and we’ve even branched out into performing plays too,” says Nithered! director Craig Barley.
“Since that first panto, more than £22,000 has been raised for our chosen charities: the Motor Neurone Disease Association (York) and York Against Cancer. Extra performances have been added over the years to accommodate more people, due to our shows’ ever-growing popularity, and there’s also a waiting list for people wanting to join the cast.
Acomb Working Men’s Club has housed the show since 2013. “It’s been our home for so long as they gave us the space for free for so many years, so we could maximise our charitable donations,” says Craig.
“We can seat 200 and offer use of the bar, meaning a relaxed performance which has received so much good feedback. New audience members are pleasantly surprised when they arrive and see the size, layout and the room all dressed up accordingly – putting them immediately at ease and into the panto spirit.”
All ten pantomimes have utilised the same production team: co-producers Perri and Craig, alongside choreographer Devon Wells and stage manager Dave Holiday. “Between us, so much has been achieved on the tiny stage at Acomb Working Men’s Club, from magic carpets to levitating witches!” says Craig.
The (Riding) Hoods in Nithered!: Kathryn Donley, left, Chelsea Hutchinson and Kalayna Barley
The cast still consists of Yorkshire Ambulance staff along with other talented performers from in and around York.
“We like to do things a little differently, creating a brand-new storyline every year, among other things,” says Craig. “But at the same time adding some traditional elements, such as the Dame, played by Steven Clark, who writes additional script material too, and the villain, Glen Gears, who has been with the company since the very beginning. Both of them are very much audience favourites.”
Introducing the storyline in Nithered!, Craig says: “The usually bright and happy village has been shrouded in a permanent frost by the evil Snow Queen (played by Perri Ann Barley), who has enlisted the Big Bad Wolf’ (Glen Gears) to govern the land on her behalf and to keep the population down.
“Mother Goose (Brenda Riley) and the villagers are struggling to cope with the never-ending winter and, with the Wolf around, they are living in constant fear for their safety. Things take a dramatic turn when one of the Three Pigs (Simon Moore, Kevin Bowes, Kristian Barley) is kidnapped by the Wolf.”
Whereupon the villagers decide to take matters into their own hands and head out on a very risky rescue mission. They enlist the help of the Fairy Godmother (Steven Clark), who finds herself in a face-off with the Snow Queen herself, but who will prove to be the most powerful?
“Will the villagers overcome the Big Bad Wolf? Will the everlasting winter come to an end? To find out, come join us and step right into the weird but wonderful world of Nithered!,” says Craig.
The Three Bears in Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime: Linden Horwood, left, Harry Martin and Richard Rogers
The cast also features Richard Rogers, Linden Horwood, Julie Shrimpton, Nicky Moore, Pat Mortimer, Zoe Paylor, Chelsea Hutchinson, Kalayna Barley, Kathryn Donley and Harry Martin, plus new members Aileen Stables and Audra Bryan.
“With this being our tenth anniversary, the team have really gone all out to give the audience an amazing experience and cannot wait for everyone to see it.”
Looking ahead, this summer Blue Light will present Murder At Reptilian Park, a new comedy murder mystery by Perri Ann Barley, to be staged in conjunction with the Galtres Centre in Easingwold. “It will run there from June 20 to 22, including a Saturday matinee, bringing us a whole new audience and new challenges,” says Craig. Tickets will be on sale soon on 01347 822472 or at galtrescentre.org.uk.
“Perri masterfully crafts our unique pantos, giving audiences new and interesting storylines featuring some familiar characters, which take them away from some of the other tired classic panto stories to give our audiences an experience like no other, ” says Craig. “That’s why so many return year after year.
“Perri is now working with London Playwrights [a resource for emerging playwrights] as she branches out to try and make her passion for writing a career. Not only this, but she’s also in talks with another professional theatre in Yorkshire, but more about that later.”
Blue Light Theatre Company in Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Front Street, Acomb, York, January 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26, 7.30pm; January 20, 1pm matinee. Tickets: £12 adults, £10 concessions, £8 children. Box office: 07933 329654 or bluelight-theatre.co.uk. All proceeds go to Motor Neurone Disease Association York and York Against Cancer.
The poster artwork for Blue Light Theatre Company’s 2024 pantomime, Nithered!
