Frances Marshall’s Allistra Clay, left, Elizabeth Boag’s Devaney Dyer, Leigh Symonds’s Octavius and Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83 in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
YOU might think it would be impossible for Alan Ayckbourn still to come up with a first in his seventh decade as a playwright.
Wrong! You should know better! Play number 92 is his inaugural courtroom drama, but one set in a dystopian future in a first of its own: the first murder trial of a non-human in the year 2194, with the undercurrent of a detective story bubbling away too.
In a riff on the infamous promotional tagline for Ridley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction horror movie Alien, Ayckbourn pronounces that “in space no-one can hear you dream”: the first indication of the play’s lament for the decreasing role of the arts, whether theatre or music, whether Shakespeare or Tchaikovsky, on the educational curriculum now, let alone 168 years henceforward.
Latterly, Ayckbourn has switched between writing about the past and the future, but all the while commenting on the present that constantly disappoints, even disturbs, him.
Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83 and Olivia Woolhouse’s Hermione Quinque re-enacting the the tomb scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet in the courtroom in The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Rather than the grouchiness of ornery old age, his writing remains vibrant, innovative, full of wit and wisdom, surprise and mischief, more sage than rage in delivery at 87.
You will hear his recorded voice too in his original soundscape for The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, whether pronouncing the request for mobile phones to be switched to mute or announcing the journey from the surface to Defence Suite 19 of the Subterranean Hub 19, 27 levels down in the Citrus Legal Complex, and later, for Act II, some days later, to Courtroom 3 on Level 3 of Kevin Jenkins’ futuristic set design.
The Citrus Corporation runs everything, both the lay of the parched land and the law of the land, now that central government has been replaced by big corporations. It is uncomfortably close to today’s march of AI, the rise of the tech brothers and Elon Musk brandishing his Doge chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
On Earth, or Terra as it is now called, trees and house plants are confined to museums, music has been replaced by bleeps and beats (isn’t that happening already?!) and Shakespeare is no longer taught to the likes of Elizabeth Boag’s Devaney Dyer, the Firebrand Corporation’s Yorkshire-blunt chief engineer, whose skills are in her hands.
Alan Ayckbourn: First courtroom drama in his 92nd play. Picture: Tony Bartholomew, 2020
She is repairing Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83, a war hero from recent days, to prepare this battered military-issue android to face trial for killing a 13-year-old girl who had been in his care since her parents took their own lives.
RSDO 83’s reconstruction is being overseen by Leigh Symonds’s Assistant Arbiter Octavius, a sanguine humanoid court official, who learns new words, aphorisms and phrases each day in a running joke by Ayckbourn that delights in the vagaries of the English language.
This is typical of the slower-than-usual release of accumulative humour in Ayckbourn’s script, where so much exposition is necessary to set up the milieu: a world outwardly unfamiliar and yet redolent of the woes and wars of today.
Once the characters and their characterisation, their tropes and mannersisms, become familiar, their interaction leads to drama that is both gravely serious and yet waspish in its wit underneath the troubled surface.
Leigh Symonds’s Assistant Arbiter Octavius, left, keeps his head down as Russell Richardson’s judge, Arbiter Jefferies, makes his point. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
RSDO 83 may be the accused in the legal landmark case, but humanity is on trial as Ayckbourn asks the question: What makes us human? Art, music, literature, as much as science, is the answer of a playwright who has long been fascinated by science fiction.
Allistra Clay (York actress Frances Marshall) is appointed RSDO 83’s defence counsel on the grounds that she will know nothing about the case, as she is from Titan. Titan, however, is milk and honey by comparison with the Earth. Not caught up in the war, it still values music and literature, and so she can call on her knowledge of Romeo And Juliet for this new tale of Romeo Oscar and a girl called Juliet that will mirror the tragic path of Shakespeare’s play.
The case for the defence will be laid out with the aid of Olivia Woolhouse’s Hermione Quinque, a waitress picked from multiple theatre trainees to play Juliet. This is the cue for Ayckbourn’s in-jokes about there being nothing new in most actors being unemployed or forming a company called Spare Parts.
Later, he will top those quips with Hermione saying she could do her part in the trial again as she had been better in rehearsal. You can sense Ayckbourn’s years of experience in the rehearsal room pouring out into this biting dialogue.
Hayden Wood’s prosecutor, Ronal Lime-Tyler, grills the defendant, Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Yet he is wearing the equivalent of a judge’s black cap in passing sentence on mankind’s failings in Act Two, where Russell Richardson’s jaunty judge, Arbiter Jefferies, and Hayden Wood’s smarmy, smug prosecutor, Ronal Lime-Tyler, come to the fore, pitched against Marshall’s eloquent, meticulous Clay.
Stacey’s RSDO 83 and Woolhouse’s Hermione play out Romeo And Juliet’s fatal tomb scene: a play within a play that adds to the devastating impact of both. When Symonds’s Octavius borrows the closing couplet from Shakespeare’s tragedy, ”For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo”, its sentiment applies as much to Ayckbourn’s characters.
The poster, with its image of an android warrior holding the hand of young girl looking out over a desert, makes no mention of writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, but his name runs through every scene like a seaside stick of rock. Once more, his writing will be music to your ears.
The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 3. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
ON the subject of names: here are the latest additions to Alan Ayckbourn’s notebook of nomenclatures across 92 plays: Octavius, Allistra, Ronal, Devaney, Romeo and Hermione are used for the first time in The Trial Of Romeo Oscar.
The poster for Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar
A Winter Adventure: Receiving a frosty reception, but in a good way at JORVIK Viking Centre
SNOW outside, and now snow inside too, as Norse god Skadi brings snow and ice to AD960 Coppergate at the JORVIK Viking Centre, where sub-zero temperatures are forecast to take up residence until February 22 2026, the official end of the Viking winter.
A Winter Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses, mirroring modern York’s preparations for the festive season.
JORVIK Viking Centre is run by York Archaeology, whose director of public engagement, Gareth Henry, has directed this year’s displays and technological innovations.
“We changed the season inside JORVIK for the very first time last winter, and the public’s reception was amazing. Everyone loved seeing the 10th century inhabitants of Viking-age York coping with a cold winter, so we’ve brought it back for this winter season – and added more changes too” says Gareth.
“This year, our Ljósálfar – Norse elves – have a few more tricks up their sleeves to make the whole JORVIK experience even more immersive as we introduce a brand-new ‘wow’ to the experience.
“For the first time ever, visitors will be able to peer through a time portal, into the blacksmith’s house that we excavated on this site in the 1970s, seeing what it would have been like to live there, even before they get on board a time sleigh to travel back in time for themselves.”
Festive chat at A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre
York company Bright White’s new interactive Time Portal now opens the visit to JORVIK, once visitors have descended to stand at 10th century street level. This introductory show, using the most up-to-date time vortex technology, provides a window to the city populated by Nordic settlers 1,000 years earlier.
The portal takes visitors to the Viking-age dwelling on display under the glass floor beneath their feet when it was still the home and workshop of a 10th century blacksmith.
Visitors then alight a Time Sleigh for a tour around the backstreets, transformed into a winter wonderland by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow. Cold blue lighting adds an extra frisson of excitement, as mist rolls in off the river and onto the quayside.
The Viking-age residents are wearing their extra-warm woollen cloaks and knitted hats, while the produce on the market stalls on Coppergate now offers winter fare for the residents’ stew pots.
“Once off the ride, visitors can warm themselves by the fare in our storytelling Skald’s house, to hear about how the hardy Vikings survived in the winter months, and hear sagas and tales of Yuletides past,” says Gareth.
In the cutting-edge upgrade to JORVIK’s existing time travelling technology, “time engineers” Bright White have worked with the JORVIK team since March to create the virtual world to be seen behind the interactive temporal portal, making the buildings and interiors of Viking-age Coppergate as authentic as possible.
No end to winter conditions at JORVIK Viking Centre until February 22
Research and development was conducted in the R&D lab at the Guildhall, in tandem with York company XR Stories, inviting schools and families to give feedback, complemented by the training of the JORVIK actors by Gordon Meredith that enables each live interpreter to bring their own interpretation to the Skald storytelling.
“Everything you hear and see at the Time Portal comes through our collaboration with the JORVIK Viking Centre team and York Archaeology,” says Bright White founding director Chris Walker.
“This is the first time we have worked with the trust [York Archaeology], but we have created other very popular attractions, such as Yorkshire’s Jurassic World at the Yorkshire Museum, which also uses XR [Extended Reality], combining Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.”
Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk. Tickets cost £17.50 for adults, £14, students, £12, children or £49 for a family ticket (two adults and two children) or £56 (two adults and three children), with under–fives admitted free of charge.
Tickets are valid for unlimited repeat visits for a whole year, enabling visitors to enjoy A Winter Adventure as well as a more conventional visit when the JORVIK snow melts away in late-February.
“This is a brilliant add-on for anyone visiting York for the Christmas markets, providing a winter wonderland experience to boost the Christmas spirit – and, of course, we also have a great range of wines and spirits, as well as unusual jewellery and drinking horns, that make perfect gifts,” says York Archaeology head of operations, Mark Jackson. “It’s also a brilliant option for children celebrating birthdays – a great treat for them and a group of friends.”
Keep an eye on what will be happening at JORVIK Viking Festival 2026
As ever, the 2026 Jorvik Viking Festival will mark the traditional end of winter, running from February 16 to 22 in the latest Viking invasion 1160 years after they first arrived.
For seven days, Norse influence will be spread across the city centre as Viking enthusiasts from around the country and beyond descend on York for Europe’s largest Viking Festival. Around 500 Viking re-enactors are expected to help welcome as many as 50,000 residents and visitors for living history, crafts and combat within the city walls.
“Funded by York Archaeology, JORVIK Viking Festival has become one of the anchor events in York’s tourism calendar, bringing in the crowds during what would previously have been a very quiet time for the city,” says Mark Jackson.
“We will be celebrating the end of winter with our traditional blend of February feasting and fighting – and invite everyone to come along to join us.”
Mark continues: “We know that there is always high demand when we release tickets, especially for events like the Feast, which make brilliant Christmas presents, so we’ll be releasing tickets for different events at different times over the coming weeks.
“Of course, there are a host of events at the heart of the festival – including a large Viking encampment in Parliament Street and the traditional March to Coppergate – which are entirely free to attend with no tickets required. But be sure to mark the date in your diary!”
For more details of JORVIK Viking Festival 2026, visit jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk. Please note, A Winter Wonderland was sold out for the 2025 festival week, so festival visitors are advised to book early for A Winter Adventure to avoid disappointment.
COPPERGATE takes its name from being the Viking street of cup makers.
Green Father Christmas on the Victorian street of Kirkgate at York Castle Museum. Picture: History Riot
In Focus: A Very Yorkshire Christmas at York Castle Museum, York, until January 4
YORK Castle Museum is brimful of festivity after opening its festive season, A Very Yorkshire Christmas, on November 15 with an invitation to “embrace the .
Inspired by Yorkshire Christmases through the ages, this year the museum celebrates Christmas from the 17th century to the 1980s, with period decorations and a packed programme of live performances, music and cookery demonstrations in the Castle Kitchen for all to enjoy.
Snowy scenes and festive delights await on Kirkgate, the famous Victorian street now lined with sweet-scented fir trees. Take a photo in the Kirkgate sleigh and take home a memory of 19th century Christmas.
Experience a Victorian Christmas with authentic decorations and live performances of traditional carols every Monday. Browse the shop windows to find a range of Victorian Christmas objects from the York Castle Museum collection. Play Victorian parlour games, such as the Grandmother’s Trunk memory game.
Beautifully decorated trees and twinkling garlands accompany the layer of snow on the cobblestones, transporting visitors to a Christmas reminiscent of Dickensian England.
The poster for A Very Yorkshire Christmas at York Castle Museum
Championing the ancient winter festival of the “Riding of the Yules” and carrying a leg of lamb spiced with rosemary, a tambourine and a bell, Green Father Christmas will be wandering the street on Saturdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until Christmas Ever, topped up with an additional appearance on Tuesday, December 23.
Green Father Christmas will be delighting visitors with Victorian games, songs and tales of winter feasts and traditions, climaxing with the Dance of Spring.
“I’ve been through plenty of names,” says Green Father Christmas. “I started out as Nicholas, Bishop Nicholas in the 4th century, Saint Nicholas, Sir Christmas, now Father Christmas. In 1616, Ben Jonson called me Old Christmas. I consider the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to be me!”
The Ran Tanners and Paul the Historical Musician return for the much-loved Sunday Sounds. Throughout November and December, Sundays feature festive tunes played on traditional instruments throughout the museum.
Peer into the period rooms to see how some homes in the 17th and 18th centuries were decorated for Christmas. You might see familiar seasonal favourites in the 1940s’ and 1980s’ kitchens.
Chris Cade’s Scrooge on Kirkgate. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions
Storycraft Theatre’s Jane Bruce, left, and Cassie Vallance: Performing interactive stories of Ralf the Robin at York Castle Museum
Visit the Castle Kitchen on Thursdays and Saturdays until December 20 for live baking demonstrations of historic Tudor and Georgian mince pie recipes, the former made with meat, mace and cloves, the latter with almonds, rosewater, apple, prunes and currants. There will often be samples to try and recipe cards to take home.
The Sixties Street features festive decor, most notably tinsel trees, toys and Christmas songs straight from the 1960s.
In Kirkgate, Chris Cade’s Scrooge returns for one-man performances of A Christmas Carol, running on Fridays from today to December 12. His much-loved nighttime performance, An Evening With Ebenezer Scrooge, returns on Wednesday, December 10, with mulled wine and mince pies, complemented by musical accompaniment from the Ran Tanners.
In a new event for 2025, Ghost Stories for Christmas, by Edwrydian Tales, takes place on Sunday, December 14 at 7pm. This event takes visitors back to traditional practices of passing long winter nights in front of the fire sharing stories of the supernatural.
A range of activities will be taking place throughout the winter, for adults and children alike. Storycraft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance and Jane Bruce will be at the museum on Tuesdays to present interactive stories featuring Ralf the Robin and his puppet friends.
Christmas on Kirkgate at York Castle Museum. Picture: Anthony Chappel Ross
This magical storytelling experience is suitable for little ones, with 20-minute performances running three times a day until Tuesday, December 16. On Saturday, December 20, Thin Ice Press will be hosting a drop-in card making session. Visit between 10.30am and 3.30pm to design and print your own Christmas cards, inspired by the Victorian cards on display.
For more luxurious seasonal crafting, guided workshops are available for adults. Join Mandy on Saturday, November 22 or Wednesday, December 10 for wreath making, either for your door or as a beautiful centrepiece for your table.
Try your hand at lino printing and create your own Christmas cards and decorations. Led by artist Becky Long-Smith, the Christmas card workshop will take place on the Saturday, November 29 and decorations on Friday, December 12.
Saturday, December 6 provides the chance to make your own Christmas crackers, complete with printed jokes and a small gift, ideal for adding a handmade touch to your holiday table.
Have a go at bauble marbling on Saturday, December 13. Create beautiful patterns and take home a set of colourful decorations for your tree.
Bespoke Green Father Christmas hanging decoration at York Castle Museum. Picture: Anthony Chappel Ross
Materials and refreshments will be provided for these craft workshops. Head to the website for more details and to book your place on these Christmas workshops.
In the gift shop, look out for the bespoke Green Father Christmas bauble, designed especially for York Castle Museum.
For a full list of activities, head to yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk. Times for individual workshops and performances will be advertised online or at the museum on the day.
As a charity, all general admission and workshop tickets help York Museums Trust to care for its significant and varied collections and buildings.
Christmas at York Castle Museum: A Very Yorkshire Christmas runs until January 4 2026. For a full list of daily activities, seasonal workshops and events, as well as opening times and tickets, visit www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.Open Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm.
Edwyrdian Tales to present Ghost Stories for Christmas at York Castle Museum
Edwyrdian Tales storyteller Matthew Wood
MATTHEW Wood, Edwyrdian Tales’ purveyor of particularly Victorian/Edwardian gothic, ghostly, spooky horror tales in the flesh and online, presents Ghost Stories for Christmas at York Castle Museum on December 14 from 7pm.
Frances Marshall, who runs historical researchers and performers History Riot, says of Wood: “He’s one of our freelance actors, who started his online storytelling in the 2020 Covid lockdown and now operates his Edwyrdian Tales company.
“He came to Barley Hall last year and this year I encouraged him to try York Castle Museum. His show really is something people will love at this time of year and Matt’s style is brilliant. It’s a bit like M. R. James and indeed uses a lot of his material.”
Edwyrdian Tales’ evening of haunting ghost stories set during Christmastide will feature bone-chilling tales from classic authors of the age, not only by James but by Marjorie Bowen too in a 90-minute performance designed to conjure the spirits of Christmas.
“With the world of Victorian horror to go at, Matt’s round-the-country tours could be a part of his life for many years, so while there’s only one performance in York in 2025, I suspect he will be back,” says Frances.
History Riot to lead family-friendly Tales From The Trail at York Castle Museum
HISTORY Riot will return to York Castle Museum daily from December 27 to January 3, except New Year’s Day, with an array of family-friendly Tales From The Trail performances throughout each day.
Join two madcap Victorian characters for an urgent shopping trip on the Victorian street of Kirkgate this festive season. “Prepare for mystery, silliness and stories about the variety of items that they pick up along the way,” says company director Frances Marshall.
“History Riot’s team consists of historical researchers, musicians, writers, directors, videographers, performers and educators,” says York actress Frances.
“We exist to connect people with the UK’s past, to inspire audiences to feel a fresh sense of identity with the place in which they live and the historical sites they visit.
“Our events are ambitious, accessible and inclusive, pushing the boundaries of historical interpretation while remaining mindful of the sensitive sites we work in.”
Explaining History Riot’s modus operandi, Frances says: “We started as a result of Covid. We’d all worked in the heritage industry for a while – for me it was my ‘muggle job’ when not acting, but I really grew to care a lot about it.
“Basically, we wanted to do history better! And to make it more accessible to everyone, so that it isn’t elitist or somehow removed from the people of the UK in 2025.
“We tell female stories – as unsurprisingly these still aren’t told or taught as much as they should be! – and stories of diverse heritage in Britain, LGBTQ+ history, but often we work these into any story we are telling, rather than one sole focus!”
History Riot work primarily with Historic Royal Palaces (Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace) but also with English Heritage.
“We hold the contract for schools at Historic Royal Palaces, providing education sessions across three sites from Key Stage 1 all the way up to A-level.
“York is quite new to us, but it’s what I’ve wanted for a long while. We’ve worked with York Museum’s Trust for a couple of years now and most recently on the Viking North exhibition, where we’ve provided live performance worked into the exhibition.
“We’ve found them to be really forward thinking when it comes to what we do and happy to embrace theatre in the midst of heritage.”
Frances concludes: “I would personally love to expand more in York. I’ve been slightly delayed by small child, and then also my own acting career, predominantly the siren call of Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
“I do commute down to run our work in the south. But even though heritage is big in York, I think there’s a lot of room for really great professional performance and performers in it!”
Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees support A Very Yorkshire Christmas at Castle Museum
Mikey Arnold, Debbie Tabart and Louis Downes of Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees
COPMANTHORPE company Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees are supporting York Museums Trust by supplying the trees for the Christmas display in the Victorian street of Kirkgate at York Castle Museum.
Taking pride of place is the magnificent 16ft Nordman Fir, decorated beautifully with a mixture of baubles and Victorian-inspired paper decorations. The smell of the trees evokes nostalgia and immerses visitors in a Dickensian-style Christmas.
The team at Moor Lane Farm, friends Mikey Arnold, Louis Downes and Debbie Tabart, oversaw the installation of the grand fir tree at ahead of opening on November 15.
This hands-on approach is at the heart of everything they do, with the trio taking on all aspects of the business themselves from organising and selling, to packing and delivery and beyond.
Mikey and agricultural engineer Louis started the business as teenagers in 2017, aged 17 and 15 respectively, “when we couldn’t even drive and each put in £500”, since when the business has grown year on year to provide trees to places such as York Castle Museum, Shambles market, York Theatre Royal, Moxy York hotel and the Fox and Roman pub in Dringhouses, as well as donating trees to St Catherine’s Dementia Care Home in Shipton by Beningbrough.
Carla Starkey, immersive interpretation producer at York Museums Trust, says: “Christmas on Kirkgate has become a much-loved tradition at York Castle Museum, and we are so grateful to have worked with Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees to create an even more magical experience with the most beautiful fir trees lining the street.
“We cannot thank them enough for their support and were honoured that they were willing to hang the last bauble on the large 16ft tree as part of the installation.”
Mikey, from Moor Lane Farm, says: “We are delighted to support York Castle Museum this year with stunning Christmas trees from our farm. The business has grown over the last nine years from just a few trees to what we hope will be an amazing festive season this year.
“Christmas is something we are all extremely passionate about and we put our all into providing a magical experience for everyone when they are choosing a tree. It’s a privilege to see our hard work paying off and to display our incredible trees in prominent locations in York.”
As a charity, York Museums Trust relies on ticket sales and donations to care for the buildings and collections, but also on the generosity of businesses such as Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees. Through the support of visitors and York businesses, the trust can continue to provide magical Christmas experiences year after year.
Moor Lane Farm Christmas Trees is open daily for the festive season, from 8.30am to 6.30pm, offering complimentary hot chocolate while you browse for the ideal tree. For more information, visit www.moorlanefarmchristmastreesyork.co.uk.
Check mate: Paul Kemp’s Ben Wilkes, left, cowers as Bill Champion’s Jack Bothridge terminates their chess match in Show & Tell. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
IN the words of Alan Ayckbourn, “Show & Tell is about something which has preoccupied me for the last 60 years and probably more – theatre.”
In those years, the Scarborough writer-director has chalked up 90 plays – and still more are on their way. His SJT play for 2026 is written already and he is part way through 2027’s premiere too.
Play number 90, Show & Tell, is a “love letter to theatre”: the joy of theatre, the pleasure of writing and directing for Ayckourn at 85; the abiding delight for his audience in his abiding wit, social and cultural observation, foresight and insight, mischief-making and rug-pulling darker undercurrents.
Show & Tell is among his most playful in its celebration of the possibilities presented by ‘the play’ as an artform, here refracted through a backward glance at its back pages and his own too. A play full of play and full of plays, and indeed a play within a play.
All this is wrapped up in dark farce that “lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis,” as Sir Alan puts it. How much do we “show and tell”; how much do we conceal?
In this case, retired West Yorkshire managing director Jack Bothridge (grizzled, irascible Ayckbourn regular Bill Champion) has invited Homelight Theatre Company actor Peter Reeder (Richard Stacey) to the Bothridge family hall to tie up arrangements for a birthday party performance for his wife.
Unfortunately, belligerent Jack has no recollection of making any arrangements, mistaking the unnerved Peter Reeder for a meter reader. What’s more, Jack is not so much forgetful as in the incipient stages of dementia, in a hinterland between assertive clarity and confusion, as Ayckbourn exposes the misogyny, gruff bluntness, delusion and self-entitlement born of running a family business often on a capricious whim.
Champion is in terrific form here as a latter-day Lear, while Ayckbourn’s study of the generation that soils and spoils a family business is spot on in a nod to Ibsen and Arthur Miller. Look at Jack’s bullying treatment of Ben Wilkes (Paul Kemp), who ran his formal clothing department and is now his carer, outwardly as loyal as Lear’s Gloucester.
Writer-director Alan Ayckbourn in the Stephen Joseph Theatre poster for his 90th play, Show & Tell
However, there is much more to the reserved Wilkes than first meets the eye, caught wonderfully by Kemp, the essence of the gradual “show and tell” in Show & Tell. His shattering revelation, told to the sympathetic ear of actress and company manager Harriet ‘Harry’ Golding (Frances Marshall) is a gem of a quietly detonating scene.
Kemp’s Wilkes becomes embroiled in the other side of the story: Ayckbourn’s depiction of the world of theatre, past and present. Through the tribulations of the ailing Homelight Theatre Company, desperately in need of Jack’s booking, Ayckbourn hones in on the dramas faced by companies post-Covid, the struggle to draw an audience, the battle between artistic ambition and exigency.
He comments too on the fad for changing a company name to meet changing times, in this instance from the pioneering Front Room Theatre to the more inclusive-sounding Homelight. He duly recalls the groundbreaking days of Centre 42, the radical project of Arnold Wesker and Charles Parker, one said to have “inflicted the most damage on theatre since Cromwell”.
Act Two recalls Ayckbourn’s 1984 play A Chorus Of Disapproval in going behind the scenes, but crucially too it draws on Ayckbourn’s earliest days at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, directing a French farce in 1961 when artistic director Stephen Joseph told him his budget was “technically nothing…and if you push me, £5”.
In theatre tradition, by now joined by Olivia Woolhouse’s insouciant actress Steph Tate, Kemp’s Wilkes steps in when needs must, the cue for Stacey’s exasperated Reeder to act like a spoiled child in the readthrough and Kemp to scene-steal gloriously.
What follows this character-revealing shenanigans is the play within the play: a full-scale French farce, A Friend Indeed, in Ayckbourn’s knowing pastiche of the artform, played straight but inherently over-the-top in full period costume.
Theatre laid bare, life laid bare, warts and all, yet delivered with a love of the stage that never dims.
Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 5. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
A plethora of poets for the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s online film project and summer school
NINE British poets are teaming up with Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre to present three short films showcasing their work.
Taking part are Toby Campion, Martin Daws, Hayley Green, Ray Hearne, Zara Jayne, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, Otis Mensah, Nima Taleghani and Beverley Ward.
The three films will be online for a month from 5pm on August 11, 13 and 15, each marking the end of a day of Summer School classes from the SJT. Each one will feature three poets discussing their work and reading at least one of their poems.
Curator Nadia Emam says: “These films feature some fantastic poets from all over the UK, performing a couple of their poems but also including a short interview about them and their work.
“Viewers will get to watch a poetry performance, but also hear a little more about the journey of each poet, which I hope will be an inspiration to anyone curious about writing poetry and making a living from it themselves.”
The nine poetry videos and interviews have been shot individually under lockdown conditions and then edited and tied together into three films by Sheffield filmmaker Brett Chapman.
Curator Nadia Emam also will lead an hour-long performance poetry workshop at 3pm each day at the Summer School. She was a member of the SJT’s Youth Theatre and is now an actor, poet and director in Sheffield, where she is a Crucible Theatre supported artist.
In addition to Nadia’s poetry workshop and the films, the SJT Summer School includes:
Tuesday, August 11: Movement and street dance with Marcquelle Ward and puppetry with Andrew Kim, for nine to 13 year olds;
Thursday, August 13: Musical theatre with Alex Weatherhill and HowTo Do Accents with Alix Dunmore, for 14 to 18 year olds;
Saturday, August 15: Conducting an orchestra (a beginner’s guide) with Shaun Matthew and public speaking with York-born SJT actress Frances Marshall.
Frances Marshall, pictured in Alan Ayckbourn’s Seasons Greetings at the SJT, will host a Summer School session on public speaking
The SJT’s online Summer School costs £18 per day for all three sessions. Individual sessions can be booked at £7 each. To book, go to: sjt.uk.com/event/1050/online_summer_school_
The poets in profile:
Toby Campion: Poet, playwright, former UK Poetry Slam Champion and World Poetry Slam finalist. His debut collection, Through Your Blood, was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize.
Recipient of the 2019 Aurora Prize for Poetry, he has performed around the world, at Glastonbury Festival and on The Arts Show with Jonathan Ross. He will read Oyster and Nits.
Martin Daws: Active as a spoken-word poet for more than 20 years, performing in the UK, USA and Eire, delivering commissions and residencies and publishing two collections. He was Young People’s Laureate for Wales, 2013 to 2016, and will read Under The Slates, Weekend: Saturday Afternoon and Together.
Hayley Green: Originally from Nottingham, now based in Scarborough, she performs across the UK and Europe. She teaches poetry and creative writing in schools, colleges and communities, using poetry and creative writing to explore self-harm, mental health, sexuality, gender and identity, often the focus of her own poetry and performance. She will read Changing Rooms and Playtime.
Ray Hearne: His poem A Sing Song For Stainless Steel was cut into 14 benches in Sheffield city centre. Now he is working with a stonecutter in Barnsley to devise words for a Grimethorpe Trail.
His songs have been performed and recorded by the late Roy Bailey, Kate Rusby and Coope Boyes and Simpson. The Ballad Of Wentworth and Elsecar awaits publication in autumn 2020. He will read Werewolves Of Rotherham and Living On Broad Yorkshire Street.
Zara Jayne: Started writing at the age of ten when she had her first poem published in Cosmic. Her poems have appeared in the charity magazine Sense and in the book A Blind Bit Of Difference; a short play was put on at a London theatre.
She performed in Martha, Josie And The Chinese Elvis at the SJT in 2019 and will read Ghostlight and A Dirty World.
Zara Jayne, left, as Brenda-Marie, with Emma Churchill, as Josie, in Martha, Josie And The Chinese Elvis at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2019.
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan: Educator, writer and poet from West Yorkshire. Her work disrupts narratives of history, race, knowledge and power, interrogating the political purpose of conversations about Muslims, migrants, gender and violence.
She works to provide herself and others with “the tools to resist systemic oppression by unlearning what society and the education system have instilled in us”. She will read British Values.
Otis Mensah: Self-proclaimed mum’s house philosopher and rap psalmist, offering an alternative take on contemporary hip hop and spoken word.
Shedding light on “existential commonalities through vulnerable expression”, he uses aesthetic language to paint worlds of thought. Appointed the first poet laureate of Sheffield by former Lord Mayor and MEP Magid Magid, he will read Ode To Black Thought and Shifting Sands.
Nima Taleghani: Actor, writer and workshop facilitator. Theatre and screen credits include Romeo And Juliet and The Merry Wives Of Windsor(RSC), Hatton Garden (ITV) and Casualty (BBC).
A selector and London Ambassador for the National Student Drama Festival, Nima will read King Arthur and This City.
Beverley Ward: Writer, facilitator and coach who writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction and is passionately in love with the creative process of writing.
She has run writing workshops for adults and children for more than 20 years and has her own writers’ workshop in Sheffield and a retreat in Bridlington.
She has published poems, stories and two books: Archie Nolan: Family Detective, for children, and the memoir Dear Blacksmith. She will readWhat If, The Swing In An Empty Playground and Poem For Kids Leaving Primary School.
The curator: Nadia Emam was awarded a placement last year with the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme at the SJT, where she curated the poetry evening Still I Rise, celebrating female poets. Her debut poetry film won the WEX Short Film Competition and was part of BFI’s Northern
