JUST a normal week? No, paranormal, more like, as a ghost story pumps up the spooks. Fear not, a hope-filled musical, dances of love, loss and legacy and soul, folk and funk gigs are Charles Hutchinson’s picks too.
New ghost to haunt “Europe’s most haunted city”: 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, spooking until Saturday, 7.30pm fright-nightly; 2.30pm today (1/5/2024) and Saturday; 3.30pm, Friday
JENNY believes her new London home is haunted, hearing a disturbance every night at the same time, but husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben.
Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is drawing closer, so they decide to stay up… until 2:22 in the morning… and then they’ll know in The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s paranormal thriller, wherein secrets emerge and ghosts may, or may not, appear. Fiona Wade, George Rainsford and Vera Chok join The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness in Matthew Dunster & Isabel Marr’s cast. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Musical of the week: Come From Away, Leeds Grand Theatre, running until May 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
IRENE Sankoff and David Hein’s four-time Olivier Award-winning musical tells the remarkable true story of 6,579 air passengers from around the world being grounded in Canada in the wake of 9/11. Whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts.
As spirited locals and global passengers come together to forge friendships, we meet first female American Airlines captain, the quick-thinking town mayor, the mother of a New York firefighter and the eager local news reporter in a celebration of hope, humanity and unity. Box office: 0113 2430808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Farewell tour of the week: Alexander O’Neal, Time To Say Goodbye, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
AFTER nearly five decades, Mississippi soul singer Alexander O’Neal is hitting the road one final time at 70 on his Time to Say Goodbye: Farewell World Tour, accompanied by his nine-piece band.
O’Neal will be undertaking a journey through his career with the aid of never-before-seen-photos, testimonies and tributes, all set to the tune of such hits as Criticize, Fake and If You Were Here Tonight. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre in Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
YORK Theatre Royal is the final venue on Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s first British tour since 2022 with a visceral triple bill of works by international dance makers Dane Hurst, Miguel Altunaga and Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis.
Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love opens with South African choreographer and former Phoenix artistic director Hurst’s reimagining of Mozart’s Requiem in response to pandemic-induced grief. Two world premieres follow: Afro-Cuban choreographer Altunaga’s first Phoenix commission, the daring Cloudburst, and Texas-born Jarrell Willis’s Terms Of Agreement. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Workshop of the week: Comedy vs Climate Change, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday and Sunday
THIS weekend Comedy vs Climate Change hosts a brace of workshop projects for 18 to 30-year-olds from North Yorkshire with the aim of raising awareness of climate issues and funds for environmental causes, as well as finding hope in climate humour that shapes a greener, better and fairer future.
Saturday’s 2pm to 5pm session provides an introduction to stand-up and joke writing; Sunday’s 10am to 1pm session focuses on improv and character development. Both use humour to explore environmental issues based around local rivers. Ring 01653 696240 or go to themiltonrooms.com to book a place.
Funkiest gig of the week: Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart, Pocklington Arts Centre, May 9, 8pm
SUPREME bassist Jah Wobble’s two-hour show takes in material from his work with John Lydon in Public Image Ltd and collaborations with Brian Eno, Bjork, Sinead O’Connor, U2’s The Edge, Can’s Holger Czukay, Ministry’s Chris Connelly and Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker.
Born John Wardle in 1958, he was renamed by Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, who struggled to pronounce his name correctly. Wobble has combined elements of dub, funk and world music, especially Africa and the Middle East, in his songwriting and has written books on music, politics, spirituality and Eastern philosophy too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Folk gig of the week: Gigspanner Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, May 10, 7.30pm
IN the wake of his departure from Steeleye Span, fiddle player Peter Knight has turned his full attention to the Gigspanner Trio, a ground-breaking force on the British folk scene.
Knight, who first performed with the fledgling Steeleye line-up in 1970, is joined in his trio by percussionist Sacha Trochet and guitarist Roger Flack. Together, they combine self-penned material with arrangements of music rooted in the British Isles and beyond. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Half-term show announcement of the week: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 28, 2.30pm
FIRST written as a song in 1953, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly was a chart-topping hit for singer and actor Burl Ives before being adapted into a best-selling book by Pam Adams a few years later, one still found in schools, nurseries and homes across the world.
To mark the nursery rhyme’s 50th anniversary, children’s author Steven Lee has created a magical musical stage show for little ones to enjoy with their parents that combines the charming nonsense of the rhyme with his own “suitably silly twists”. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.