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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Ayckbourn delivers love letter to theatre. Hutch’s List No.31, from Gazette & Herald

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play, Show &Tell. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 90th play and the Fangfest arts weekend lead Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the weeks ahead.

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 5 to October 5

BILL Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will be the cast for the 90th play by Scarborough writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, a love letter to theatre entitled Show & Tell.

In a delightfully dark farce that lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis, Jack is planning a big party for his wife’s birthday. Pulling out all the stops, he has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home. Unfortunately, Jack is becoming forgetful in his old age, rendering him unable to remember all the details of the booking.

The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees, desperately needing a well-paid gig – and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky, however and something does not feel quite right. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum, pictured in 2023

We will remember them: Allied Air Forces Memorial Day, Yorkshire Air Museum, Halifax Way, Elvington, near York, Sunday, from 1.45pm

THE Yorkshire Military Marching Band will lead the 1.45pm parade featuring standard bearers from 16 Royal British Legion and RAF Association branches in one of the biggest events in the museum’s calendar.

Representatives of the RAF will join with counterparts from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France in honouring the bravery and sacrifices of the allied air crews who flew from the airfield during the Second World War, many of whom did not survive. The day will climax with a 2.15pm service in the main hangar, under the nose of Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th. Open to museum visitors and invited guests.

Busted: Concluding the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal gig of the week: Busted, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates open at 6pm

BUSTED close Cuffe & Taylor’s summer of outdoor gigs in Scarborough 22 years after first bouncing into the charts with the pop-punk energy of What I Go To School For and a year on from releasing Greatest Hits 2.0, an album of re-recorded hits with guests to mark the reunion of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.

Expect number one smashes Crashed The Wedding, Who’s David, Thunderbirds Are Go and You Said No to feature in Saturday’s set list, along with Year 3000, Air Hostess, Sleeping With The Lights On, Loser Kid and Everything I Knew. Support comes from Skinny Living and Soap. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/busted.

William Dalrymple: Reflecting on India’s impact on the ancient world in his Grand Opera House talk

History talk of the week: William Dalrymple, How Ancient India Transformed the World, Grand Opera House, York, September 2, 7.30pm

HISTORIAN William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world: exporting religion, art, science, medicine and language along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific, creating a vast and profoundly important empire of ideas.

Dalrymple explores how Indian ideas crossed political borders and influenced everything they touched, from the statues in Roman seaports to the Buddhism of Japan, the poetry of China to the mathematics of Baghdad. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Tales of a foster parent in her Peacock show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Peacock, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 5, 8pm

KIRI Pritchard-McLean has had a busy few years, hosting Live At The Apollo, fronting the BBC Radio 4 panel show Best Medicine, co-hosting the All Killa No Filla podcast, starting a comedy school and becoming a foster parent. 

After a couple of the eggiest gigs of her career in boardrooms to social workers, a show about being a foster carer has been signed off, wherein she lifts the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Tribute acts at the treble: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now re-heat the hits at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 7, 7pm

THIS tribute triple bill brings together Coldplay It Again replicating the look, sound and spirit of a Colplay show, Stereoconics’ faithful versions of Stereophonics’  songs and Oasis Here Now’s devotion to the style and swagger of Oasis in their Nineties’ heyday, just as the Gallagher brothers announce their first gigs since 2009 for next summer. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Gerry Grant: Demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery

Festival of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near York, September 7 and 8. 10am to 4pm

TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend.

The festival features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, the Story Craft Theatre Company, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops in needle felting, wood carving, spinning and embroidery. Entry to Fangfest is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martins School.

Bjorn Again: Thanking Abba for the music in York and Hull on their 2025 tour

Gig announcement of the week: Bjorn Again, York Barbican, September 28 2025, and Connexin Live, Hull, October 29 2025

AFTER festival appearances at Wilderness and Glastonbury this summer, Bjorn Again announce a British and Irish tour from September 26 to November 2 2025, taking in York Barbican on the third night and Connexin Live, Hull.

Founded in 1988 in Melbourne by Australianmusician/manager Rod Stephen, the tribute show carries the endorsement of Abba’s own Agnetha Fältskog. Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, rocked-up, light-hearted ABBA satire, the show is in its 37th year, having seen more than 100 musicians and vocalists and 400 technical crew/support staff contribute to 5,500 performances in 75 countries. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk and connexinlivehull.com.

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Fangfest’s celebration of practical arts welcomes 30 exhibitors, workshops, archery, storytelling and a teddy bear trail

Dave Atkin, of Woodwyrm, at work on carving wood

TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend in Fangfoss, near York.

The festival of practical arts features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery with Aaron Shooting Archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, Story Craft Theatre, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops.

Among the exhibitors will be Caroline Wagstaff, ceramics and pebble glass; Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, photography with a twist; International Feltmakers Association member Liz Riley, of Everything Felt, felting; Lorina Lynne, jewellery; Pete Thomson, of  Spirit of the Wood, woodwork; Woodwrym, wood carving and trinket boxes; Shan Williams, woven items; Crafty Alfredo, ceramic mosaics; Laura Thompson, illustrations; Tanja Entwistle, glass; and Rosie Glow, terrazzo homeware, soaps and prints.

Rosie Glow: Maker of terrazzo homeware and soaps

Most of the stalls will be in The Orchard of Fangfoss Hall, making the 2024 event more centralised than in past years.

“This year there are more opportunities than ever for visitors to learn a new craft,” says event co-organiser Lyn Grant, of Fangfoss Pottery. “Over the weekend there’ll be a number of workshops, lasting about two hours each, for the public to participate in: needle felting with Brenda Christison, of Felty and Fabulous (10.30am, Saturday); spoon carving with Woodwyrm (11.15am each morning); yarn spinning with Catherine Djimramadji (September 8, 10.30am) and hand embroidery with textile artist Hayley Mills-Styles (September 8, 2pm, upstairs at Fangfoss Pottery).

“Although these are more suitable for older children and adults, there’s a workshop specially geared for children aged five and upwards on the Sunday. Hosted by Thread and Press at 11am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 3.30pm, this is to make and sew a Barn Owl Sock Puppet, decorated and painted.”

Gerry Grant demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery

A small charge applies for all these workshops, which must be booked in advance. Details can be found on the Fangfest Facebook page.

One of the youngest exhibitors, photographer Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, will demonstrate his lensball technique and talk visitors through his editing processes, wherein he transforms his original photographs into images with a modern twist. His work will be available as fine-art giclee prints, framed photographs and greetings cards.

To accompany their selection of replica medieval tiles across the weekend, Tanglebank Tiles will demonstrate designs and techniques in the medieval style. Gerry Grant will demonstrate Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery; Laura Thompson Design and Illustration, watercolour painting.

Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance, left, and Janet Bruce: Making their Fangfest debut

Story Craft Theatre are taking part in Fangfest for the first time. York theatre-makers Cassie Vallance and Janet Bruce will perform a magical and adventurous story for two to eight-year-olds featuring music, games and puppetry on both days at 2.30pm in the Fangfoss Hall orchard. Admission is free.

On the Teddy Bear Trail, visitors and trail finders will be asked to find the nine letters attached to some of the teddies, rearrange them to form a word and collect a prize at the finish point.

On the Sunday morning, at 11.30am, Haigha Lore will be enchanting The Orchard with Anglo-Saxon storytelling, songs, music, poems and ritual, using Anglo-Saxon, Middle English and modern English to weave together poems and extracts from the 5th to the 13th century to re-imagine the lost world of the dark ages in Tales of the Kings.

Archery at Fangfest

Look out for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, with a chance to meet the team and watch some of the dogs in training.  

More information on the festival, including exhibitors, timings of activities and workshops, can be found on facebook/fangfest or on Instagram, fangfestfestival.

Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, ten miles east of York, September 7 and 8, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martin’s Primary School, Fangfoss.

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York River Art Market returns with more artists than ever wanting to take part

Laura Joy’s poster for the 2024 York River Art Market summer season

YORK River Art Market returns for its ninth summer season this weekend on the riverside walkway at Dame Judi Dench Walk.

Organised by artist and York College art tutor Charlotte Dawson, York’s answer to the markets on the Parisian Left Bank will be held on August 3 and 4, 10 and 11 and 17 and 18 from 10am to 5pm.

Along the riverside railings, up to 30 artists and makers per day will be exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, T-shirts, shaving products and much more. “We care that each of the six events are never the same, and so we host a different variety of creatives at each one,” says founder and director Charlotte. “That means there is always something for everyone’s creative tastes and budget.

“York River Art Market’s relaxed and vibrant atmosphere has been compared to the Left Bank and we welcome everyone. Admission to the market is free of charge to come along and browse or buy directly from an array of Yorkshire-based artists.”

Looking forward to this weekend, Charlotte says: “Each year presents fresh challenges, but just don’t say the ‘W’ word [the weather}!” Fear not, Charlotte, sunny intervals and a gentle breeze are forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Charlotte Dawson: York River Art Market founder-director and jewellery designer

“We’ve had more artists and makers than ever wanting to take part – quite a change from our early days. We get hundreds applying now and I do the selection process with a heavy heart, as we can’t feature everyone. We have a reserve list and people are already asking about next year.”

Why is it so popular, Charlotte? “This area of York lends itself to such an event, working in harmony with the York Museum Gardens, the eateries around here, and the whole ambience by the riverside,” she says.

“I think the river is great for a sense of wellbeing, especially for the artists who are spending the day there, saying ‘it’s so relaxing here’. There’s an ambience you can’t get anywhere else in the city.

“York River Art Market really does celebrate art and York’s creative talent, but not only York, as we have artists and makers from Yorkshire among our variety of new participants, such as Ounce Of Style [Lee Henry], a funky graphic designer and illustrator with a food obsession, who works in really bold colours, and Taken Twice, from Derbyshire, who uses that name because she creates jewellery inspired by ancient Greece and Rome,  which is interesting for York with our Roman history.”

Among the returnees will be digital photomontage artist Adele Karmazyn; architectural illustrator Elliot Harrison (York 360); Gerry and Lynn Grant of Fangfoss Pottery; Katrina Mansfield, from PICA Studios in Grape Lane, who specialises in creating “fluid art animal inks” on Yupo paper, and Lincoln Lightfoot, whose surrealist  B-movie poster pastiches “tap into the present condition of fear that our news media and politicians perpetuate in a post Covid-19 world”.

Woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood: Travelling from Italy for York River Art Market on August 10 and 11

York artist Emma Whitelock, who took part in the first York River Art Market and now exhibits internationally, including in New York, will be returning to the riverside this summer.

Travelling the farthest to take part is woodburning artist Anna Kirsty Wood, who is heading from Frascati, Italy, with a suitcase full of art to stay with her mother in York. She will be showing her original artwork and prints, created from fragments of memories pieced together and hand-burned on to wood, on August 10 and 11.

Busker and folk singer Deb Simpson is likely to pop up at some point, just as she has in past years, and York singer-songwriter Heather Findlay, from the York duo The Bee Tellers, will be busking on August 18. “She’s an artist too, and hopefully she’ll be showing her work next year,” says Charlotte.

To find out the line-up of artists and makers for each of the six days, head to York River Art Market’s Facebook site, facebook.com/YorkRiverArtMarket. Click on More, then Events, then Discussion.

This year’s poster was designed by the aptly named illustrator and maker Laura Joy, of Laura Joy Design, who will be attending all six events this summer. Artistic joy does indeed await on the banks of the River Ouse from this weekend. 

Copyright of The Press, York

Heather Findlay: Busking on August 18. Picture: Adam Kennedy


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Thirty artists and makers to demonstrate skills at Fangfest practical arts weekend. Sunflowers to bloom for charity too

Lyn Grant creating ceramic sunflowers for Fangfest at her Fangfoss Pottery studio

SUNSHINE, sunflowers but no showers! Such are the hopes of villagers, artists, creative businesses and stall holders at Fangfoss, near Pocklington, as their annual Fangfest arts festival approaches.

Held over the weekend of September 2 and 3, from 10am to 4pm each day, the plans for Fangfest have been finalised with the promise of new attractions aplenty to complement the regulars.

Making its festival debut will be the charity sunflower trail. Residents have been asked to grow sunflowers or to be creative and make some. A winner will be chosen for the best-grown sunflower and another for the most creative sunflower, culminating in the public being asked to judge their favourite overall winner.

“A sunflower is the symbol of the Hidden Disabilities charity and any money raised will be donated to Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, a hidden disability that needs support,” says Fangfest stalwart Lyn Grant, of Fangfoss Pottery.

Shirley Davis Dew’s acrylic painting of sunflowers, for sale by silent auction for charity at Fangfest

Fangfoss artist Shirley Davis Dew has produced an acrylic painting of sunflowers for a silent auction to raise funds. Bids of £20 plus are welcome in person to Sally Murray at the Carpenters Arms pub or via DM (direct message) on their Instagram page, @carpenters_arms_fangfoss.

Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts 2023 will play host to a mixed-media pattern design workshop, run by York textile artist Rosanna Johnson. Workshops will be held at 11.30am and 2pm each day and participants will produce a piece of art to take home. Workshop tickets must be booked in advance at eventbright.com; search for Ros Johnson Fangfest or visit the festival’s social media pages for links.

Drop-in craft activities will take place throughout the weekend, ranging from children’s card marking and throwing a pot on the wheel to pottery painting and a collaborative mixed-media mural to name but a few.

More than 30 artists and craft workers will be demonstrating and exhibiting their work across the weekend, including woodworking, rocking horse-making, felting, painting, wire sculpture, medieval tile techniques, jewellery, peg loom-weaving and much more.

Angela Cole, from Yorkshire Willow Baskets, who will demonstrate her weaving skills by the Fangfoss village green on September 3

The York Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers will hold weaving and spinning demonstrations. Look out for Shan Williams, working on her loom to create a rug over the weekend; Orsi, from FaTuz Personal Wooden Gifts, demonstrating pyrography techniques, and Angela Cole, from Yorkshire Willow Baskets, showing her weaving skills by the village green on the Sunday.

Emma, Eve and Lily, from the Handmade In Fangfoss family of crafters, will show how they create jewellery, cards, gifts and artwork inspired by nature, birds and flowers through their polymer clay, lino printing and mixed-media techniques.

Dave Atkin, from Woodwyrm, will use an axe and a selection of knives to demonstrate spoon and bowl carving and will discuss his techniques and inspirations.

Richard Gibson, from Wolds Wire Sculpture, in Thixendale, will bring a range of his open wire sculptures for display, while also working on a piece. He will share his love of nature, wildlife and the Wolds in his work, noted for its focus on movement.

Jewellery designer Mo Burrows: Demonstrating Japanese technique of kumihimo braiding

Richard Moore, from Tanglebank Tiles, will demonstrate various stages in decorating tiles and the tools used to create designs using the Sgraffito technique. In his work, he hand-makes glazed terracotta tiles in a medieval traditional style, featuring replicas of Old English floor tiles and illustrations from 13th and 14th century manuscripts.

Contemporary jewellery designer Mo Burrows will demonstrate the Japanese technique of kumihimo braiding. In her designs, Mo uses a variety of techniques and materials, including copper work, intricate beading, kumihimo and wirework, to produce both delicate and bold pieces, and she also restyles and remodels clothing into fashion pieces.

Fangfoss designer and illustrator Laura Thompson will demonstrate watercolour techniques for beginners, encouraging you to have a go yourself, as well as leading the card-making collage workshop for children.

Rosie Glow will be working with jesmonite to show how she makes her terrazzo coasters and answer any questions on the process. She creates colourful terrazzo homewares, such as trays, candle holders and soap dishes, and also makes vegan soap bars for face and body.

Spinning at Fangfest

Pete Thompson, of Spirit Of The Wood, will display tools and raw materials to explain his process and techniques for hand-crafting sculptural turned wooden pieces, created from sections of unprocessed wood. His designs incorporate natural faults, such as knots and cracks, as part of the finished piece.

Liz Riley, of Everything Felt, will demonstrate traditional felt-making techniques, including use of colour and texture in flat felting and 3D sculpture. She creates wearable and usable artworks, defined by strong colour combinations, using hand-dyed wool, silks and yarn to make felt scarves, bags, hats, wall hangings, homewares and 3D vessels.

Anna Byelova, who creates detailed handmade bags, Motanka dolls and textile landscapes, will discuss her techniques, the history of Motanka dolls and from where she draws her creativity.

Beyond crafts, further festival attractions will be a classic car collection on the village green; a flower festival in St Martin’s Church on the theme of pantomimes; traditional fairground rides, the Stamford Bridge History Society and archery sessions, run by Erik Aaron Shooting in the Rocking House Garden.

Taking a bow: Archery at Fangfest

The Busking Spots will provide a full programme of live music featuring ukuleles, a shanty crew, young celloists and a pop choir.

Refreshments will be available all weekend, provided by Jubilee Park in Rocking House Yard and at the Carpenters Arms, where landlady Sally Murray will have a full bar as well as hosting Ainsty Ales in the car park.

“Fangfest is a fun day out for all the family, run as a village enterprise with everyone helping out in one way another,” says Lyn Grant. “Entry to the festival is free and there’s something to interest everyone, no matter their age. By supporting the festival, visitors will be helping the village celebrate everything great about creative crafts in Fangfoss and its surrounding area.”

For more information and the full line-up of exhibitors, visit Fangfest’s Instagram pages at Fangfestfestival or Facebook pages at @Fangfest.

Fangfoss designer and illustrator Laura Thompson: Hosting the card-making collage workshop for children
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More Things To Do in and around York in the embers of the summer festival season. List No 46, courtesy of The Press, York

Liam Gallagher: Tomorrow’s headliner at Leeds Festival

SUMMER ends with Leeds Festival, apparently, but Charles Hutchinson begs to differ by highlighting plenty more reasons to be cheerful as nights start to lengthen.

Biggest crowd of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, tomorrow (27/8/2021) to Sunday

AFTER a gap year in Covid-crocked 2020, Leeds Festival returns from tomorrow with a sold-out crowd at full capacity. 

Among the first day’s top acts are headliners Lian Gallagher and Biffy Clyro, Gerry Cinnamon, Wolf Alice, Blossoms and Doncaster’s Yungblud.

Saturday’s names to watch are Stormzy, Catfish And The Bottlemen, AJ Tracey, Mabel, Sam Fender and Sports Team. Sunday promises Post Malone, Disclosure, Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats and Slowthai.  

Shed Seven: Topping the all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on Saturday

On the other hand, Yorkshire’s gig of the week is…Shed Seven at The Piece Hall, Halifax, Saturday.

YORK favourites Shed Seven at last can go ahead with their all-Yorkshire bill after 2020’s two postponements and a move from June 26 to August 28 this summer.

The dates may change but the bill remains the same: York’s on-the-rise, rousing  Skylights, Leeds bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present and the Brighton Beach DJs on the decks.

Never mind the clash with Leeds Festival. “Let’s just say our fans are not their demographic,” says the Sheds’ Rick Witter.

Andrew Harrison: Performing Nigel Forde’s one-man show, The Last Cuckoo, at Stillington Mill, near York, tomorrow night

Bird song of the week: Sea View Productions in Nigel Forde’s The Last Cuckoo, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, tomorrow, 7.30pm.

ON his return home from his irascible ornithologist uncle Harry Baskerville’s ’s funeral, Duncan Campbell begins the slow, sad process of working through its effects in The Last Cuckoo, a one-man show about loss, hope and birds.

As he does so, he finds within the ghostly confines of this remote coastal cottage a way into a world he never knew existed: the entrance into a life he never dared hope for. However, this awareness brings with it costly choices and, most daunting of all, the possibility of real change.

Penned exquisitely by Warter poet and writer Nigel Forde, former presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Bookshelf, this beautiful theatre piece will be performed by Riding Lights Theatre Company alumnus Andrew Harrison, directed for Sea View Productions by Robin Hereford. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.

The Carpenters Experience: Tribute show to Karen and Richard at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Tribute show of the week: The Carpenters Experience, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

IT’S Yesterday Once More as British singer Maggie Nestor and eight musicians capture the smooth American sounds of Richard and Karen Carpenter. 

Expect echoes of Karen’s silky contralto, Richard’s pretty piano and seamless harmonies in a big production featuring Close To You, We’ve Only Just Begun, Top Of The World, Rainy Days And Mondays, Solitaire, Goodbye To Love, For All We Know and Only Yesterday. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Being Frank: Stephen Tompkinson in Educating Rita, on tour at York Theatre Royal from Tuesday. Picture: Matt Humphrey

Theatre show of the week in York: Educating Rita, York Theatre Royal, August 31 to September 4

WHEN married hairdresser Rita enrols on a university course to expand her horizons, little does she realise where her journey will take her.

Tutor Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drinker, less than enthusiastic about taking on Rita, but soon they learn how much they have to teach each other.

Directed by Max Roberts, Willy Russell’s comedy two-hander stars Jessica Johnson as Rita and Stephen Tompkinson as Frank. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Curtains! Another catastrophe is imminent in Magic Goes Wrong, Mischief and Penn & Teller’s calamitous comedy caper at Leeds Grand Theatre

Theatre show of the week ahead outside York: Magic Goes Wrong, Leeds Grand Theatre, casting a spell from August 30 to September 4

BACK with another comedy catastrophe, this time dusted with magic, Mischief follow up The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery with a show created with   Penn & Teller, no less.

A hapless gang of magicians is staging an evening of grand illusion to raise cash for charity, but as the magic turns to mayhem, accidents spiral out of control and so does the fundraising target.

On tour for the first time, the show is written Penn Jillette, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Teller and directed by Adam Meggido. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or at leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Fangfest co-organiser Gerry Grant dunking a raku ceramic in water

Top of the pots: Fangfest, Fangfoss, September 4 and 5, 10am to 4pm each day

FANGFEST, the celebration of pottery, crafts, art and scarecrows in Fangfoss, ten miles east of York, returns next month after a Covid-enforced hiatus in 2020.

To keep the family event as Covid-safe as possible, much of the festival organised by Gerry and Lyn Grant, of Fangfoss Pottery, will be taking place outdoors.

The weekend combines art, pottery, illustration, jewellery, printmaking, archery, wood carving, textiles, willow weaving, classic cars, East Yorkshire history, food and scarecrows. Entry is free.

Kate Winslet, left, and Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite, showing at the Yorkshire Fossil Festival in Scarborough

Dinosaurs, stones and more in Yorkshire Fossil Festival’s fistful of films: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 10 and 11

FOR the first time, the Stephen Joseph Theatre is teaming up with the Yorkshire Fossil Festival SJT to bring five palaeontology-inspired films to the McCarthy screen.

Highlights include September 10’s 8pm screening of stop-motion wizard Ray Harryhausen’s 1969 dinosaur classic, The Valley Of Gwangi, introduced by palaeo-artist James McKay, who hosts a post-screening Q&A too.

Further films on September 10 will be Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur (2pm) and Jurassic Park (5pm); September 11, The Land Before Time (2pm and 5pm) and Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan (8pm). Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.

Fish’n’quips: George Egg serves up his Movable Feast on tour in October

Meals on wheels, jokes on a plate, here comes George Egg’s cracking tour show…

COMEDY and cooking combine when anarchic cook George Egg serves up his Movable Feast on tour in Yorkshire in October.

Determined to make food on the move, Egg offers his guide to cooking with cars, on rail tracks and in the sky.  “It’s time for Planes, Trains and Automob-meals (sorry),” he says. 

Sprinkled with handy hacks, the 7.30pm shows conclude with the chance to taste the results on the three plates. Tour dates include Stillington Village Hall, near York, October 10; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 13, and Terrington Village Hall, near Malton, October 17. Box office: georgeegg.com.

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Fangfest returns for September weekend celebration of arts and crafts in Fangfoss

Fangfoss Pottery potter Gerry Grant dunking a raku ceramic in water

FANGFEST, the celebration of pottery, crafts, art and scarecrows in Fangfoss, will return on September 4 and 5 after a Covid-enforced hiatus in 2020.

“We didn’t hold it last year but we carried out a questionnaire around the village to see what the residents thought about holding it this year,” says Lyn Grant, who co-organises the festival of practical arts with husband and fellow potter Gerry Grant in the village ten miles east of York.

“There were a few who didn’t want it to go ahead, but the majority did, and that’s why it’s back! The original idea of Fangfest was to try and get visitors to be involved and perhaps encourage them to pick up a craft or hobby. So, many of the exhibitors will be demonstrating and talking about their work with opportunities for people to have a go themselves.”

To keep Fangfest 2021 as Covid-safe as possible, much of the festival will take place outdoors. “At Fangfoss Pottery, at The Old School, we’re holding a ‘Play with Clay Zone’ in the pottery garden under gazebos, where visitors can have a go on the wheel, paint and decorate a little pot and make their own version of the ‘Lambton Worm’. These activities will be free,” says Lyn.

Scarecrows at a past Fangfest

“Inside the pottery, we have re-organised things. For the first time in 46 years, Gerry will move his wheel to enable pottery-throwing demonstrations to take place safely. Outside, there’ll be raku-firing demonstrations.”

The weekend of art and crafts for all the family will combine art, pottery, illustration, jewellery, printmaking, archery, wood carving, textiles, willow weaving, classic cars, East Yorkshire history, food and scarecrows. Entry will be free.

An archaeology display spanning the Stone Age to Victorian times will be on show in St Martin’s Church, featuring artefacts found in the area, with some available to be handled, plus a “Guess the mystery objects” section. Outside the church, members of a history society from Stamford Bridge will discuss their work.

“Fangfoss residents will be showing just how artistic they are when it comes to making scarecrows and there’ll be a scarecrow trail around the village,” says Lyn. “That’s why you’re invited to make a Lambton Worm. Lambton and his worm are going to be my scarecrow this
year.

A pottery-making session at Fangfoss Pottery

“There’ll be plenty of art and crafts on display, spread around the village green and down at the Rocking Horse Shop in Main Street. Taking part will be willow workers, felt makers, medieval tilers, stained-glass workers and decorative forged-iron makers, to name but a few.

“At the Rocking Horse Shop, you can watch how rocking horses are made. Beyond the shop there’ll be an opportunity to have a go at archery. Look out too for a small classic car show on The Green.”

Refreshments will be available at the Carpenters Arms and the Jubilee Park
Committee will host a barbecue and serve teas in the Rocking Horse yard.

Fangfest will run from 10am to 4pm each day and will be opened officially by Geoff Sheasby, Pocklington’s Town Crier for 20 years, on the Saturday. He will judge the scarecrows and award a special prize, although a public vote will be held too. Tony Dew will award the best “Fangs” prize.

For more information, go to: facebook/fangfest.

Emma with her Best Scarecrow prizes for her scarecrow at the 2019 Fangfest
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Potter Gerry Grant has just taken his most bizarre commission…and it’s a smash hit

Gerry Grant making one of the pots for smashing at Fangfoss Pottery

IT sounds potty, but Fangfoss potter Gerry Grant is making pots expressly to be broken.

“I’ve just landed my most unusual job yet,” he says. “I’ve been commissioned by York company Pick Me Up Theatre to make some props for next week’s production of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?.

“What’s so unusual about this request is that they’ve asked me to make a selection of very large pots that will be smashed to pieces on the stage.”

These pots are made for breaking: Gerry Grant with the pottery that Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast will pick up to smash at next week’s performances

Presented by Pick Me Up at the John Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, from February 25 to 29, Edward Albee’s American play centres around Martin Gray, a successful, middle-aged architect who has just turned 50 and leads an ostensibly ideal life with his loving wife, Stevie, and gay teenage son, Billy.

However, when he confides to his best friend that he also is in love with a goat named Sylvia, he sets in motion events that will destroy his family and leave his life in tatters.

Albee’s domestic drama ponders the limits of an ostensibly liberal society, showing a family in crisis to challenge audience members to question their own moral judgment of social taboos.

The Goat cast members Bryan Bounds, Will Fealy and Susannah Baines

Director Mark Hird says: “The pottery plates, vases and bowls are an integral part of the show. They represent wealth, prosperity and order in a seemingly perfect household.

“They are expensive works of art collected by world-famous architect Martin Gray to furnish the living room of the family’s New York home – and they’re smashed when Stevie confronts Martin after discovering his affair with Sylvia, the goat.”

Gerry has run Fangfoss Pottery for 43 years with wife Lyn Grant at The Old School, Fangfoss, near York, and never before has he received such a destructive commission.

“The pots have been specially made and fired to break easily,” says potter Gerry Grant. “I do hope they perform the task well”

“I’ve tried for more than 40 years to produce pots that are sturdy and not easily broken. Now I’ve been asked to do the opposite! The pots have been specially made and fired to break easily. I do hope they perform the task well.”

The Goat caused controversy but was a big hit – much like the pottery breaking – with Broadway audiences when it opened in 2002. So much so, it won the Tony Award for best play, 40 years after writer Albee won the same prize for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf.

Next week marks its York premiere, when Gerry will witness his pots being broken on the 41 Monkgate stage. “I’m looking forward to seeing the play,” he says. “I’m sure it will be a smashing production”.

Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at pickmeuptheatre.com and on 01904 623568.