Tag: Everyman York

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More Things To Do in York & beyond when Pride comes before a full week of delights. Hutch’s List No. 25, from The York Press

Angels Of The North: Headlining the main stage on Knavesmire at York Pride 2025

YORK Pride and celebrations of Northern Soul and British comedy greats are right up Charles Hutchinson’s street for the week ahead.  

Festival of the week: York Pride, Parliament Street to Knavesmire, York, 12 noon to 6pm

NORTH Yorkshire’s largest LGBT+ celebration and York’s biggest free one-day festival, York Pride 2025, takes to the streets for its biggest, boldest and most fabulous event yet today, led off by the Pride Parade that will follow a new path through the streets from Parliament Street at midday.

On Knavesmire, the festival’s main stage will be headlined by Angels Of The North (6pm) and on the bill too will be Ryan Petitjean (1.10pm), tribute act Pet Shop Boys, Actually (1.35pm), Marcus Collins (2pm), Eva Iglesias (2.30pm), York drag superstar Janice D (3.35pm), La Voix (4pm), West End queen Kerry Ellis (5.15pm), The Cheeky Girls (5.35pm) and plenty more. Find the full line-up at yorkpride.org.uk/line-up.

Duncan Honeybourne: Performing the last concert of York Late Music’s 2024-2025 series this afternoon

Season’s finale: York Late Music presents Duncan Honeybourne, piano, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm

PIANIST Duncan Honeybourne performs new commissions commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of the influential French composer Erik Satie, written especially for this afternoon’s programme by Philip Grange, Fred Viner, Sarah Dacey, Andrew Hugill, Steve Plews, Sarah Thomas, Simon Hopkins, Jenny Jackson and others, some of whom will be heard at Late Music for the first time.

Each composer has been asked to provide a new miniature piano solo influenced or inspired in some way by Satie and their works will be interspersed with a selection of Satie’s own pieces, such as Gnossiennes and Gympnopédies. Box office: latemusic.org/duncan-honeybourne-piano/ or on the door.

Film event of the week: John Barry From York With Love, Everyman York, York, today at 2.30pm and 4pm

JOHN Barry From York With Love, Sean Parkin’s unauthorised documentary of the early career of the York-born film composer, will have two private screenings at Everyman York this afternoon.

Private, yes, but tickets are available, although for copyright reasons, those tickets are for the after-viewing party at The Crescent community venue. The film viewing is free but there will be no entry without an after-show ticket. Doors open at Everyman at 2pm; the after-view party is at 3.45pm. All profits go to the Future Talent charity. A further screening follows at 4pm. Tickets: fienta.com.

Lady Nade: Paying tribute to Nina Simone at Helmsley Arts Centre

Celebration of a legacy: Lady Nade Sings Nina Simone, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm,

KNOWN for paying homage to those who have influenced her journey  profoundly, Lady Nade holds Nina Simone in high regard  for leaving behind a legacy of liberation, empowerment, passion and love through her extraordinary body of work.

As a black woman, Lady Nade acknowledges Simone’s trailblazing role in paving the way for artists of her generation. Her high-energy performance is a heartfelt dedication to recreating the transformative sound that blended popular tunes of the era into a distinctive fusion of jazz, blues, gospel, and folk music. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The fez, the spectacles and the bow tie: Damian Williams’s Tommy Cooper, Bob Golding’s Eric Morecambe and Simon Cartwright’s Bob Monkhouse in The Last Laugh. Picture: Pamela Raith

Comedy legends of the week: The Last Laugh, Grand Opera House, York, June 10 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

WHO will have The Last Laugh at the Grand Opera House, York, when British comedy triumvirate Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper and Bob Monkhouse reconvene in a dressing room in Paul Hendy’s play?

Find out in the Edinburgh Fringe, West End and New York hit’s first tour stop as Bob Golding, Damian Williams and Simon Cartwright take on the iconic roles in this new work by the Evolutions Productions director, who just happens to write York Theatre Royal’s pantomimes too. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Keeping the faith in Northern Soul: Chloe McDonald, left, and Martha Godber in John Godber’s Do I Love You?, on the dancefloor at York Theatre Royal from June 10

Weekender of the week: John Godber Company in Do I Love You?, York Theatre Royal, June 10 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; post-show discussion on June 13

THE John Godber Company is on its third tour of John Godber’s hymn to keeping the faith in Northern Soul, with the same cast of Martha Godber, Chloe McDonald and Emilio Encinoso-Gil.

Inspired by Godber’s devotion to Northern Soul, Do I Love You? follows three twentysomethings, slumped in the drudgery of drive-through counter jobs, who find excitement, purpose and their tribe as they head to weekenders all over, from Bridlington Spa to the Tower Ballroom, Chesterfield to Stoke. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Making a last stand: Pickering Musical Society bids farewell to musicals in Hello, Dolly! Picture: Robert David Photography

Goodbye to musicals: Pickering Musical Society in Hello, Dolly!, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, June 10 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

PICKERING Musical Society is preparing to raise the curtain on its final full-scale musical production, after more than a century, citing rising production costs and falling membership.

Set in the energetic bustle of 1890s’ New York, Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! follows the irrepressible Dolly Gallagher Levi (society favourite Rachel Anderson) – a witty matchmaker, meddler and “arranger of things” – as she decides to find a match for herself. Box office:  01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk or in person from the box office on Tuesdays, 11am to 1pm.

Podcaster Blindboy Boatclub

Podcaster of the week: The Blindboy Podcast Live, York Barbican, June 10, 7.30pm

POLYMATH, author, screenwriter, songwriter, musician, producer and academic Blindboy Boatclub is on the biggest tour yet of his storytelling podcast, wherein he follows the Irish tradition of the Seanchaí, intertwining history, fiction, cultural critique and politics.

Drawing on his knowledge and chronic curiosity to democratise topics such as art, psychology, politics, science and music, Blindboy gives his insight into complex issues. Look out for a surprise special guest too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The invitation to Mark Hearld’s book signing on Thursday at Janette Ray Booksellers

Book signing of the week: Mark Hearld at Janette Ray Booksellers, 8, Bootham, York, June 12, from 4.30pm

YORK artist, ceramicist and York Open Studios stalwart Mark Heard will be signing copies of his book, Raucous Invention, The Joy Of Making, published in a beautiful new edition by Thames & Hudson. Mark will be on hand from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

Released on June 5, the newly expanded edition of Hearld’s monograph bursts with more than 400 colour illustrations and fresh insights in a vivid journey into the heart of his creativity and love of the animal world.

Christopher Simon Sykes’s photograph of Mick Jagger in concert on the Rolling Stones’ Tour of the Americas in 1975, on show at Sledmere House from June 13

Exhibition launch of the week:  On Tour With The Rolling Stones 1975, A 50th Anniversary Exhibition of Photographs by Christopher Simon Sykes, Sledmere House, Sledmere, near Driffield, June 13 to July 6, except Mondays and Tuesdays, 10am to 5pm

IN June 1975, Christopher Sykes, of Sledmere House, joined the Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas, known as T.O.T.A ’75: his first rock’n’roll itinerary as a snapper after specialising in photographing stately home interiors.

“You know going on tour is not like country life, Chrissie,” advised Mick Jagger on his first day of accompanying the Stones on their three-month tour of North America and Canada, playing 40 shows in 27 cities. The photos were used in a tour diary published the following year, and this exhibition showcases a selection of the best of the behind-the-scenes and stage pictures in the Courtyard Room. Tickets: sledmerehouse.com.

In Focus: Chalky The Yorkie at No 84 Sandwich Bar, Micklegate Arts Trail, York

Artist Chalky The Yorkie stands behind his Tiki bar at No 84 Sandwich Bar, created for the Micklegate Arts Trail

ROVING, rock’n’roll-loving York artist Chalky The Yorkie has always had a canny eye for spotting locations for his installation pieces.

Raise a glass to his latest artwork, the outdoor, Polynesian-style Tiki bar at No 84 Sandwich Bar, Julian Smith’s deli and cafe in Micklegate, created for the 2025 Micklegate Arts Trail but destined to remain in place after the festival ends on June 15.

“Last year Julian had a conversation with me about how it would be great to have a bar out here, at the back, which was full of bins at the time,” recalls Chalky. “So the bar was the first idea, but then, when we were thinking about the Arts Trail, two friends had suggested I should  incorporate bikes, and another said it would be great to do something for the environment, repurposing things out of skips and the old bicycles.

Chalky The Yorkie’s Tiki bar installation poem on the plight of cyclists

“So what I’ve come up with is a bar built with scrap wood and salvaged wood  after I was donated some leftovers by a builder to create the Re-Cycle Tiki Bar, to give something back to the planet. David Burton gave me one bike, along with one from his childhood and another was provided by Recycle York, in Walmgate.

“I thought I should create a memorial, taking the term ‘Re-cycle’ to highlight the plight of cyclists who lose their lives in accidents or come off their bikes and get injured in cycle lanes.”

Artist Chalky The Yorkie with No 84 owner Julian Smith at the Tiki bar

Originally Chalky considered designing a 1950s’ bar but then settled on a colourful Tiki bar. “The primary  colours are there to match traffic lights, with red, amber, though it’s more yellow than amber, and green. I went for yellow, because it’s a more definitive colour,” he says. “The blues I use signify the pain of loss in a cycling accident.”

Incorporated in the installation too are Beaumont ceramics of exotic birds and figures, acquired from York Catering Supplies, in Walmgate, butterfly motifs, floral decorations and tinkling bells. “I like the Buddhist convention of chiming bells in remembrance of people as part of their memorial ceremonies,” says Chalky.

Welcoming Chalky’s installation, Julian says. “Chalky is part of the fixtures and fittings here. He even came around for our Christmas dinner!

It Can Happen To You – Take Care: Chalky The Yorkie’s Re-cycle memorial to cyclists

“We’re taking part in the Micklegate Arts Trail because it’s all about traders promoting local artists whose work they like, with Navigators Art giving us a platform to do that. Jasmine Foo has never exhibited  before, and  we picked her crochet work because my wife is a knitter. We’re delighted to be showing Sinead Corkery and Jude Redpath too – and Chalky’s cheeky Tiki bar is the icing on the cake.”

Inside the deli, look out too for Chalky’s day and night paintings of No 84, both featuring the family pet, Sid the dog, in the upstairs window.

Chalky The Yorkie’s painting of No 84 Sandwich Bar, Walmgate, York, at night

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when truth will out for tips for trips on days ahead. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The Press

Dawn French: Frank confessions of a comedian at York Barbican

FRENCH comedy, a very English murder thriller, state-of-the-nation politics and police procedures stir Charles Hutchinson into action for the week ahead.

Comedy gigs of the week: Dawn French Is A Huge Twat, York Barbican, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm

HER show is so named because, unfortunately, it is horribly accurate, says self-mocking comedian and actress Dawn French. “There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery,” she explains. 

“I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life.” Tickets update: Limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Tonight, meanwhile, Sarah Millican plays a Work In Progress gig at Pocklington Arts Centre at 8pm. Sold out already alas.

A scene from Original Theatre Company’s touring production of Torben Betts’s new play, Murder In The Dark, starring Tom Chambers and Susie Blake. Picture: Pamela Raith

Thriller of the week: Original Theatre Company in Murder In The Dark, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

TOM Chambers and Susie Blake star in Torben Betts’s new ghost story chiller cum psychological thriller, set on New Year’s Eve, when a crash on a deserted road brings washed-up singer Danny Sierra and his dysfunctional family to an isolated holiday cottage in rural England.

From the moment they arrive, inexplicable events begin to occur…and then the lights go out, whereupon deeply buried secrets come to light. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Robin Simpson: Pantomime dame and storyteller, bringing Magic, Monsters and Mayhem to York tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Joel Rowbottom

Children’s show of the week: Magic, Monsters and Mayhem with Robin Simpson, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tomorrow, 4.30pm

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime dame Robin Simpson – he will be playing Dame Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk this winter – switches to storyteller mode to journey back to magic school on Sunday afternoon.

He will be telling stories of wonderful creatures, exciting adventures and “more magic than you can wave a wand” as he places the audience in charge of an interactive show ideal for Harry Potter fans.  Suitable for Key Stage 2, but smaller siblings are welcome too, along with Potter-potty grown-ups. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

Hannah Baker, left, Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens and Rachel Hammond in Mikron Theatre’s A Force To Be Reckoned With. Picture: Anthony Robling

Police spotted operating in the vicinity: Mikron Theatre in A Force To Be Reckoned With, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, tomorrow, 4pm

IN Amanda Whittington’s new play for Marsden travelling players Mikron Theatre, fresh from police training school, WPC Iris Armstrong is ready for whatever the mean streets of a 1950s’ northern market town can throw at her.

Joining forces with fellow WPC Ruby Weston, they make an unlikely partnership, a two-woman department, called to any case involving women and children, from troublesome teens to fraudulent fortune tellers. Box office: 07974 867301 or 01904 466086, or in person from Pextons, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma: Songwriters at the double at Pocklington Arts Centre

Songwriting bond of the week: Kathryn Williams & Polly Paulusma: The Big Sky Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, Tuesday, 8pm

AS label buddies on One Little Independent Records, Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma met on a song-writing retreat. They wrote songs together and tutored courses at Arvon Foundation and as their friendship developed and strengthened, they supported each other over lockdown.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that they would tour together at some point. Finally, those Thelma and Louise dreams – hopefully without the killing or the cliff finale – come true on a month-long itinerary, playing solo sets and uniting for a few songs. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Mike Skinner: The Streets’ composer-turned-filmmaker discusses his debut film in Q&A appearances at Everyman Leeds and Everyman York

Streets ahead: Mike Skinner’s film The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light and Q&A, Everyman Leeds, September 21, 8pm; Everyman York, September 25, 7pm

THE Streets’ Mike Skinner presents his debut feature film, the “neo-noir” clubland thriller The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, in an exclusive Q&A tour to Everyman cinemas.

Birmingham multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Skinner funded, wrote, directed, filmed, edited and scored his cinematic account of the seemingly mundane life of a DJ whose journey through London’s nightclubs turns into a tripped-out modern-day murder mystery. Each screening will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with Skinner, giving an insight into the music and story behind the film. Box office: thestreets.co.uk.

Mark Thomas: Comedian stars in Ed Edwards’s one-man play England And Son at York Theatre Royal Studio

Political drama of the week: Mark Thomas in England And Son, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 22, 7.45pm; September 23, 2pm and 7.45pm

POLITICAL comedian Mark Thomas stars in this one-man play, set when The Great Devouring comes home: the first he has performed not written by the polemicist himself but by playwright Ed Edwards.

Edinburgh Fringe award winner England And Son has emerged from characters Thomas knew in his childhood and from Edwards’s lived experience in jail. Promising deep, dark laughs and deep, dark love, Thomas undertakes a kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, Thatcherite politics and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working-class boy who just wants his dad to smile at him. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rowntree Park, by Jo Rodwell, one of 26 printmakers taking part in the York Printmakers Autumn Fair

Print deadline: York Printmakers Autumn Fair, York Cemetery Chapel and Harriet Room, September 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm

IN its sixth year, the York Printmakers Autumn Fair features work by 26 members, exhibiting and selling hand-printed original prints, including Russell Hughes, Rachel Holborow, Michelle Hughes, Harriette Rymer and Jo Rodwell.

On display will be a variety of printmaking techniques, such as linocut, collagraphs, woodcut, screen printing, stencilling and etching. Artists will be on hand to discuss their working methods and to show the blocks, plates and tools they use.

Sir Alan Ayckbourn: The truth will out when he takes to the SJT stage tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

In Focus: Theatre event of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Truth Will Out, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow, 2.30pm

IN a rare stage appearance, Sir Alan Ayckbourn plays Jim in a rehearsed reading of his Covic-crocked 2020 SJT premiere Truth Will Out, joined by John Branwell, Frances Marshall and the cast of his 89th play, Constant Companions.

Truth Will Out is an up-to-the-minute satire on family, relationships, politics and the state of the nation, wherein everyone has secrets. Certainly former shop steward George, his right-wing MP daughter Janet, investigative journalist Peggy and senior civil servant Sefton do.

Enter a tech-savvy, chippy teenager with a mind of his own and time on his hands to bring their worlds tumbling down, and maybe everyone else’s along with them, in Ayckbourn’s own “virus” storyline, written before Coronavirus stopped play.

“It’s ‘the one that got away’, with most of the cast in place, and we even did a season launch,” says Sir Alan. “The play was one of my ‘What ifs’: what if a teenager invented a virus that brought the whole thing down. A ‘virus’ play, like Covid, with the virus escaping and the play ending in the dark, waiting till dawn.”

Racism, trade unionism and infidelity all play their part in Truth Will Out too. “It’s a melting pot of wrongdoings,” says Sir Alan. Tickets update: limited availability on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

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The Streets’ Mike Skinner to hold Q&As at exclusive Everyman screenings of debut film The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light in Leeds and York on Sept 21 & 25

Mike Skinner: Debut film and The Streets’ new album in tandem

THE Streets’ Mike Skinner will present his visionary debut feature film, The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, in an exclusive Q&A tour to Everyman cinemas this autumn.

The “neo-noir” clubland thriller will be shown at Everyman Leeds on September 21 (Screen 2, capacity 230, 8pm) and Everyman York on September 25 (Screen 1, capacity 200, 7pm).

Birmingham multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Skinner, 44, funded, wrote, directed, filmed, edited and scored his cinematic account of the seemingly mundane life of a DJ whose journey through London’s nightclubs turns into a tripped-out modern-day murder mystery. He designed the special effects too.

Each screening at 13 Everyman cinemas nationwide will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with Skinner, who will provide an insight into the music and story behind the film.

Noted for turning the mundane into the extraordinary in examining life’s nuances, Skinner’s musical project, The Streets, will release an accompanying 15-track album – his first under that moniker since 2011’s Computers And Blues – that bears the same name as the film and is intrinsic to its development by providing the soundtrack to the story. While neither the album nor the film could exist without each other, both can be enjoyed separately, advises Skinner.

“Ultimately, it’s all the fruits of a decade on the DJ circuit,” says The Streets’ Mike Skinner of his film and album project. Picture: Ben Cannon

“It has been seven long years working on this film and album,” he says. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and after dipping my toe in with some shorts and music videos, I felt I was ready.

“I tried to go the traditional route for a bit, but it’s always served me better to follow my instincts and just get on with it myself, so I’ve directed it, acted in it, edited, sound mixed, funded, produced it all, as well as written it. The album doesn’t exist without it.

“Ultimately, it’s all the fruits of a decade on the DJ circuit, watching people in clubs and back rooms, testing out beats and basslines to see what connected – and putting it all together into The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light.”

Tickets for the film tour are available via The Streets’ website, thestreets.co.uk, where The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light can be pre-ordered ahead of its October 20 release on 679 Records/Warner Music UK.

The track listing will be: Too Much Yayo; Money Isn’t Everything; Walk Of Shame; Something To Hide; Shake Hands With Shadows;
Not A Good Idea; Bright Sunny Day; The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light; Funny Dream; Gonna Hurt When This Is Over; Kick The Can; Each Day Gives; Someone Else’s Tune; Troubled Waters and Good Old Daze.

The Streets’ 11-date autumn tour will take in two Yorkshire gigs: Shefield O2 Academy on October 28 and Leeds O2 Academy on November 4. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk/the-streets-ticket/.

The poster for Mike Skinner’s Q&A tour to accompany Everyman’s exclusive screenings of his debut film The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
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York writer Patrick Kelly launches debut novel A Hard Place, an ill-fated love story rooted in pre-Troubles Northern Ireland

Patrick Kelly: Journalist, editor and now novelist

YORK journalist and editor Patrick Kelly’s first foray into “the novel-writing business”, A Hard Place, will be launched in the Upstairs Bar at Everyman York, Blossom Streetr, York, at 6pm tonight (12/12/2022).

Inspired by his own childhood in Belfast, his ill-fated love story is set against the backdrop of a political event that foreshadowed the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Inside every journalist is a novel, the saying goes – even if Austrian writer and journalist Karl Kraus (1874-1936) quipped “and if he’s smart, he’ll keep it there” – and now Patrick is joining that club, bringing all his experience of long service to the fourth estate.

What’s more he is doing so in York, the city where Kate Atkinson, Matt Haig and Fiona Mozley’s novel-writing talents blossomed.

“There’s an awful lot of writing going on in York, and that’s helpful if you’re going to write a novel – which I discovered was a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be,” says Patrick.

“As a journalist, you think it will just be writing a long story, but it turns out it’s a completely different animal.

“What I found useful in this city is that there are lots of writers and writers’ groups, and I must praise Lizzi Linklater, who was a creative writing tutor at the University of York (and is now Teaching Fellow for Creative Writing at the university’s Centre for Lifelong Learning at Heslington).

“She convened this little group that met once a month at the library [now York Explore] and encouraged each other in our writing.”

How did Patrick find the novel-writing experience? “It can be very lonely writing, and even if you’re writing from home as a journalist, part of the job is going out and meeting people,” he says. “Writing a novel, you have to create an atmosphere of your own, but the great thing about being part of a group is that you do it in an atmosphere where you’re willing to accept criticism, and that criticism is informed criticism from people who are doing the same things as you are.

“When you show your writing to friends and family, they usually say, ‘I don’t like it, but I don’t know why,’ whereas fellow writers can spot common mistakes or things that don’t sound quite right.”

Lizzi Linklater’s group morphed into another one. “Now there are two or three around York, and York St Jon University now does a creative writing programme with poetry readings in various places around the city,” says Patrick.

So, to the business of writing A Hard Place. “I knew I didn’t want to write a Troubles novel,” he says. “That’s been done to death, and there are some appalling novels…as well as good ones.

“I wanted to focus on Northern Ireland before the Troubles and maybe explain how the Troubles came to be, and also what it was like growing up there at that time.

“I left in 1973, pretty much at the start of the Troubles, but I had five years’ experience of what it was like before I left at 18 to study History and Politics at Warwick University.”

Those studies could be called on all these years later when writing the book. “It’s about looking at the evidence,” he says.

Patrick had grown up as a Roman Catholic living in a Protestant area of east Belfast. “Everything was more mixed in those days than it is now, which is one of the legacies of the Troubles,” he says. “Communities have become more divided, physically, geographically and politically.

“As a child, I would play with both Protestant and Catholic children. You went to a Catholic school, but your neighbourhood was mixed. I mainly played with Protestant children, and we all went to watch the Protestant football team because they were the local club.

“Those were the days when you were lifted over the turnstiles by friendly adults, and I saw George Best play at Windsor Park. He was a beacon on a dark day, a shining light who transcended the whole Protestant-Catholic thing.

“There’s now a programme to replaces sectarian murals with ones that are more acceptable: Bestie, Van Morrison, CS Lewis, because he was born in east Belfast.”

Patrick vowed to write about not only the roots of the Troubles but also about the society that existed in Northern Ireland at the time and just how different it was. “The storyline is based on a true incident, when the Northern Irish government employed an English academic, Sir John Lockwood, to decide on the siting of a new university,” he says.

“He was a knight of the realm, a Latin scholar, a man who had experience of setting up universities…in colonial Rhodesia, South Africa and Nigeria. So, he was the obvious man to go to Northern Ireland!

“He comes along with a bunch of his mates from English academia and a smattering of locals, but not a single Catholic among them.”

The assumption was that Derry/Londonderry would be the obvious place to site the university. “But the committee, at the end of their deliberations, decided not on Derry, the largest centre of population after Belfast, but on Coleraine, a small Protestant town some 20 miles from Derry, which had lobbied hard, and it caused a huge outcry.

“In the book, I try to be fair to Sir John, who was trying to do his best in a difficult situation he didn’t really understand, but it emerged that people high up in the Unionist Party had persuaded the Northern Ireland government not to place it in Derry.

“The reason being that they didn’t want a Catholic city to prosper, which having a university there definitely would have helped it to do. This was the 1960s, when the idea of an influx of politically minded students into a Catholic city was not considered desirable – though Derry now has a campus that’s part of the University of Ulster.”

In A Hard Place, Sir John Lockwood employs the entirely fictional David McMaster, a young English Oxford graduate, recruited in 1965 to help look for a site for the new university in Ulster. “His job is to act as secretary to the committee and to be Sir John’s eyes and ears in Northern Ireland when he’s elsewhere,” says Patrick.

“So, this young man, intelligent but naïve, finds himself at a complete loss within this world, but he makes a friend who shows him the ropes and, more importantly, he falls in love with a young Catholic girl, Catherine Connolly, and it’s their ill-starred love story that’s at the core of the book.

“He’s Protestant but not religious at all; she’s Catholic, religious, but quite critical and radical in her views, a political firebrand. Through their relationship, they learn something from each other.”

Patrick says that “when you start writing, you’re not entirely certain what they will do”, “but I I knew from the beginning of their relationship that it would not work out. I think I even say in the blurb on the back that it’s not going to be a happy ending.

“They’re in their 20s, she’s a student, reading English Literature, and they meet at the Maritime Hotel, in Belfast, where Van Morrison used to have a residency, when he was in the band Them, (so there’s a scene where Van sings Gloria).

“Anyway, I wanted to say something about how Northern Ireland was changing at the time, how young people were throwing off the shackles of their elders and enjoying a different kind of music – and who knows where it might have led, had it been allowed to develop [in Derry].

“I try to suggest what could have happened. If you think of all the new universities being built in the 1960s, like in York and Warwick, when the idea was to bring a new dynamic, to create a future economy and a society that was highly educated, open to the world and to new horizons.

“That was the political consensus at the time, for the Conservatives and Labour, that what you needed to do to prosper was to invest in education. So there’s something in the book about a lost opportunity, though I’m hoping the book is not a polemic.

“It’s not meant to be polemical; it’s a novel about a time and a place when opportunities were opening up but in Northern Ireland that vision was closed down because of a narrow, sectarian view of the world, which sadly triumphed briefly.”

Explaining the title, Patrick says: “It’s an acknowledgement of both being between a rock and a hard place and in that hard place. The reason I went with that title is that I thought it captured how the protagonist, David, experienced Northern Ireland in the end.”

Patrick has settled on the self-publishing route, in tandem with Silverwood Books, with A Hard Place being available in paperback at £10.99 and on Kindle at £3.99, initially via Amazon. Orders also can be made directly to Patrick at patrickkelly1@hotmail.co.uk or www.jornalistpatrickkelly.com.

Patrick Kelly’s book launch for A Hard Place takes place at Everyman York, Blossom Street, York, tonight (12/12/2022) at 6pm. Drinks and nibbles provided. RSVP to patrickkelly1@hotmail.co.uk.

Patrick Kelly biography

Born and brought up in Belfast, Patrick has been living in York for many years. He is a freelance journalist and editor, who has contributed to many newspapers and magazines in the United KIngdom and Spain, including the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Independent On Sunday, Irish Times, Evening Standard, New Statesman and The Times.

He has written regularly on the arts for Museums Journal, Arts Industry and a number of other publications.

He is a former board member of York Theatre Royal, York Music Hub and York at Large.

Simon Loxley’s book cover for Patrick Kelly’s A Hard Place

A Hard Place synopsis

PATRICK Kelly’s ill-fated love story is set against the backdrop of a political event that foreshadowed the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

David McMaster returns to Belfast after discovering a cryptic, posthumous note from his friend Roddy, whom he last saw 40 years ago.

As a young English Oxford graduate in 1965, David had been recruited to help look for a site for a new university in Ulster. David is excited by the job, one he sees as a kind of undercover operation.

But he finds Belfast strange and unwelcoming, until he befriends Roddy and falls in love with Catherine Connolly, a political firebrand from a working-class Roman Catholic family.

However, David fails to tell her why he is in Northern Ireland and as their relationship develops, his secret is a burden, particularly as the university becomes the cause of a major sectarian row.

A quarrel between Roddy and Catherine exposes David’s subterfuge and Catherine leaves. After failing to find her at a rowdy political meeting in Derry, David has to be rescued and bundled on a plane back to London. He never sees Catherine again, but thanks to Roddy’s note, he eventually learns of her fate.

The book cover was designed by Felixstowe graphic designer Simon Loxley.

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More Things To Do in and around York with fishermen, Irishmen and a Scotsman. List No. 48, courtesy of The Press, York

Getting Away With Murder(s) documentary filmmaker David Wilkinson at the gate of Auschwitz 1

AS the Grand Opera House reopens, diaries are starting to fill to pre-pandemic levels, much to the delight of a post self-isolating Charles Hutchinson.

Film world premiere of the week: Getting Away With Murder(s); Everyman York, Blossom Street, York, tonight, 6.30pm to 10.30pm

IT has taken 18 years for Yorkshire filmmaker David Wilkinson to bring his documentary, Getting Away With Murder(s), to the big screen.

Exploring an overlooked aspect of the Holocaust, he reveals that “almost one million people in 22 countries willingly carried out the unprovoked murder of 11 million innocent men, women and children but 99 per cent of those responsible were never prosecuted”.

Wilkinson, who examines the reasons behind the disregard for justice, will take part in a post-screening Q&A. Box office: everymancinema.com.

Fisherman’s Friends: Hooked on sea songs at York Barbican

They inspired a film and now they are back: Fisherman’s Friends: Unlocked & Unleashed, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7pm

CORNISH “buoy band” Fisherman’s Friends – combined aged 401 – re-emerge from lockdown for their Unlocked & Unleashed tour.

As celebrated in the film that shares their name, for 40 years they have met on the Platt of Port Isaac’s harbour to sing the songs of the sea.

In the line-up are lobster fisherman Jeremy Brown; writer, shopkeeper and master of ceremonies Jon Cleave; smallholder and engineer John ‘Lefty’ Lethbridge; Yorkshire-born builder John McDonnell; Padstow fisherman Jason Nicholas; filmmaker Toby Lobb and the new boy, former ambulance driver Pete Hicks. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

One Night In Dublin: One night in York for Irish songs aplenty at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Irish gig/jig of the week: One Night In Dublin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

SATURDAY night is the chance to spend One Night In Dublin – in York – when “Murphy’s Irish Pub” opens its doors at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Join in the craic as the lively Irish tribute band covers such Irish staples as Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, Dirty Old Town, Irish Rover, Seven Drunken Nights and Whiskey In The Jar. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Gary Meikle: Scottish comedian in Surreal mode at York Barbican

This experience really is “Surreal”: Gary Meikle: Surreal, York Barbican, Sunday, 8pm

DELAYED from April 8 to this weekend, playfully dark cheeky-chappie Scottish comedian and “viral sensation” Gary Meikel presents his second tour show in York.

Looking to “get away with talking about anything that will have you laughing at things you probably shouldn’t be”, punchy storyteller Meikle draws material from his own experiences, not least his unique family dynamic.

New show Surreal covers such topics as evolution, social media, how to deal with burglars, single mums, bee sex and small-man syndrome. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Exploration of family, myth and memory loss: Second Body’s Max Barton and Jethro Cooke in Styx at Theatre At The Mill

Residency of the week: Second Body in Styx, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday and Tuesday, 8pm

SECOND Body duo Max Barton and Jethro Cooke present their theatre-concert exploration of family, myth, memory loss and Max’s grandma, now with remixed music and bearing wounds wrought by 18 months of disrupted human connectivity.

“What does it mean to lose the memories that make us who we are?” they ask. “How can we continue to be ourselves when we are separated from our loved ones.” Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.

Back in Black: Robert Goodale and Antony Eden in the ghost story The Woman In Black, haunting the Grand Opera House, York, from Monday. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Re-opening of the week: Grand Opera House, York, for The Woman In Black, Monday to Saturday

AFTER 547 days, the Grand Opera House, York, steps out of the darkness and into The Woman In Black from Monday.

In PW Productions’ latest tour of Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story, Robert Goodale plays Arthur Kipps, an elderly lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over his family by the spectre of a “Woman in Black” for 50 years now.

Antony Eden is the young Actor he engages to help him tell that story and exorcise his fears, but soon reality begins to blur and the flesh begins to creep. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

Bird song: Henry Bird, pictured in his Vampires Rock days, will be the special guest for You Can’t Stop The Beat

Community concert of the week: You Can’t Stop The Beat, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm

GENERATION Groove and Community Chorus are joined by special guest Henry Bird, the well-travelled York singer and guitarist for Tuesday’s fundraiser.

“Concerts and performances have been on hold for well over a year and we’re all delighted to be back getting you singing and even dancing and raising money to help the wonderful Joseph Rowntree Theatre go from strength to strength,” say the organisers. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Waitress: Serving up a slice of musical pie at Leeds Grand Theatre from Tuesday

Musical of the week outside York: Waitress, Leeds Grand Theatre, September 14 to 18

MEET Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of some joy in her life. When a hot new doctor arrives in town, life turns more complicated and challenging, but with the support of her workmates Becky and Dawn, she finds that laughter, love and friendship can provide the perfect recipe for happiness.

Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson’s comedy musical stars Lucie Jones as Jenna, Emmerdale’s Sandra Marvin as Becky, Evelyn Hoskins  as Dawn and Busted’s Matt Willis as Dr Pomatter. For tickets:  0113 243 0808 or at leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Destiny calling: Kirk Brandon’s Spear Of Destiny are heading to The Crescent in York

Cult band you really should see: Spear Of Destiny, The Crescent, York, September 19

LEADING Spear Of Destiny for 38 years now, Kirk Brandon heads out on their Worldservice@35 tour on the back of releasing last November’s lockdown album.

Brandon’s post-punk band – featuring Adrian Portas (New Model Army/Sex Gang Children), Craig Adams (Sisters Of Mercy/The Cult /The Mission), Phil Martini (Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind) and saxophonist Clive Osborne – re-recorded 1985’s WorldService album during 2020.

The WorldService@35 tour features the album and B-sides in full plus an extended career-spanning encore at three Yorkshire shows: York, then Leeds Brudenell Social Club on September 21 and The Welly, Hull, September 25.

Pie thrower: Jonathan Pie will vent his anger at the truth vacuum at the Grand Opera House, York

Angriest man of the month award: Jonathan Pie, Fake News (The Corona Remix), Grand Opera House, York, September 19, 7.30pm

JONATHAN Pie, the no-holds-barred fictitious political broadcaster alter-ego of Tom Walker, is resuming his Fake News tour that began in 2019 and had to twiddle its agitated thumbs through lockdown.

In that hiatus, Walker continued to post Jonathan Pie content to his social-media channels, whether commenting on the global reaction to the 2020 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement or woke culture.

Now he unleashes his righteous rage once more on stage. Tickets for the York slice of Pie are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.