Tag: Friargate Theatre York

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 27, from Gazette & Herald

Christina Meehan, left, Karen Holmes and Pippa Duffy in rehearsal for Calendar Girls The Musical at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

THE York Mystery Plays on waggon wheels, Calendar Girls in the round, early music beyond borders and Jim Hacker’s lust hurrah promise high summer times for Charles Hutchinson.

Make a date with: Calendar Girls The Musical, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until July 25

AS director Paul Robinson reveals: “Our new in-the-round staging of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls brings the audience into the heart of the Rylstone Women’s Institute, making this true story of friendship and determination feel more personal and immediate.

“This intimate production will create a unique, shared experience, reminiscent of gathering around a community hall or a close friend’s living room, allowing for a deeper connection to the characters and creating a collective, communal atmosphere that fully immerses everyone in the moving story of these ‘ordinary women’ doing something quite extraordinary.” Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Cathy Sara’s Villeyn and Thomas Frere’s Jongleur in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Mistero Buffo at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: John Shepherdson

2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on Friday and  Saturday

TWO wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe to tell tales destined to turn the city upside down. Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, Paul Birch’s two-hander production for York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.

Written by Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo, translated by Ed Emery and performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara, this 1969 take on the Mystery Plays will appeal to Fringe theatregoers with a taste for subversive and unapologetic comedy with bite. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.

Kirkgate in floral splendour for summer at York Castle Museum. Picture: Gareth Buddo

Flower power of the week: Summer at York Castle Museum, in bloom until September 6, open Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm

YORK Castle Museum is capturing the essence of ‘grand days out’ and celebrating iconic summers across two contrasting centuries this summer season.  Drawing on the breadth of the museum’s social history collection, Victorian York Galas and the Swinging ’60s are the programme’s key focus with games, crafts and seasonal decorations providing nostalgia and summer fun for visitors.

Further highlights include Last Stop Before Kirkgate, Novo Theatre’s immersive experience replicating a 19th century coaching inn and arrival into York, and Yorkshire artist Pippa Dyrlaga’s paper-cut hot air balloons, telling the story of balloon rides during the galas. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.  

The Choir Of Man: “The best trip to your local you’ll ever have”…at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: The Other Richard

Foot-stomping musical celebration of the week: The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Friday, 4pm and 8pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

SET in the The Jungle pub on stage, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.

The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardis as Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston: Presenting A Gentle Air with tenor Paul Agnew and lutenist Sergio Bucheli on July 9 at 2026 York Early Music Festival

50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, Friday to July 11

THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.

Opening with Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, presented by I Fagiolini, and closing with Solomon’s Knot’s rendition of Bruhns’s St Mark Passion, the festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.

Tribute show of the week: The Rat Pack, Las Vegas Live!, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

DIRECT from London’s Leicester Square Theatre, The 02 and a Royal Command Performance, David Alacey stars as Frank Sinatra alongside West End favourite Tim Harwood as Dean Martin and former Coronation Street and Hollyoaks star Ashley Campbell as Sammy Davis Jr in the original Rat Pack tribute show, now celebrating its 25th record-breaking year of re-creating their Las Vegas heyday at The Sands. BBC musical director Mac Shone will be at the piano alongside the Buddy Greco All-Stars. Box office:  01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk. 

Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre and the Guild of Scriveners’ The Massacre of The Innocents in the 2026 York Mystery Plays. Picture: John Saunders

Theatrical event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, Sunday, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset in the Shambles Market, tonight, 7.45pm  

THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.

A special midsummer performances of five plays will be held in Shambles Market tonight, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the interactive show Doomsday. Tickets: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

Clive Francis and Simon Rouse in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Michael Wharley

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed by Michael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Riding Lights revive Dario Fo’s riotous twist on Mystery Plays in subversive comedy Mistero Buffo at Friargate Theatre

Cathy Sara’s Villeyn and Thomas Frere’s Jongleur in Riding Lights’ Mistero Buffo at Friargate Theatre. Picture: John Shepherdson

TWO wild strangers will roll into York today for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe, tasked with telling tales destined to turn the city upside down.

Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, artistic director Paul Birch’s production of Mistero Buffo for York’s Christian theatre company, Riding Lights, will tear into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.

Translated by Ed Emery from Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo’s 1969 Communist take on the Mystery Plays, this subversive and unapologetically seditious comedy will be performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara.

Premiered by Fo as a solo piece, Mistero Buffo was last performed by Riding Lights with a cast of four in July 2003 under the direction of late founder and artistic director Paul Burbridge, who had once performed the play in solo mode himself. 

Now it will be staged as a two-hander. “We’ve taken it that the Jongleur and Villeyn are the two central characters, building our show around that relationship, with the Jongleur – a character who came from commedia dell’arte – being the person who’s empowered to speak out,” says director Paul Birch.

“We’re staging Mistero Buffo 100 years since Dario Fo’s birth, using  Emery’s translation but they’ve let us introduce some more topical satire,” says director Paul Birch. “So we’ve gone from Italian car factories to AI and zero hours contracts. The Jongleur character is speaking truth to power now, rather than to the 1960s. It will be very obvious that’s it’s here and now, in this space, though we’re not doing it in the Yorkshire dialect.”

Paul was drawn to Mistero Buffo by Riding Lights’ long association with the York Mystery Plays and dramas where religion overlaps with politics. “For me personally, because it uses Biblical storytelling, and as a company we’re seeing how religion gets into bed with politics, and we’re faced with seeing that in America now, I see it as a distortion of faith. That’s what’s happening with faith and politics now.”

Thomas Frere says: “When you start to read the script, there are phrases that jump out at you, where you think, ‘it could have been written now with its stories of bosses trying to take advantage of people, though it was written in the 1960s’.”

Cathy Sara says: “People are people, and to me it’s the people who are victims when power is applied; how hopeless they feel, though there is always hope – but who’s going to speak up for you and who’s going to speak out?”

Mistero Buffo designer Ollie Brown, left, and director Paul Birch

Thomas rejoins: “It will be interesting to see how these stories go down because we don’t really know  at this stage. I honestly don’t know how the audience will react.”

Paul says: “The audience for our touring shows is very different from an audience at Friargate Theatre in our home city. With this show, they may come as beloved Mystery Plays followers, who might be shocked by something in Fo’s play, which shifts how you react. One moment you will laugh; the next moment you may feel differently.”

Cathy rejoins: “That’s what’s unsettling about this play, where you now question what’s true, what’s the truth.”

Paul suggests: “The imagined in Mistero Buffo can be truthful, so it’s slippery, but I hope people find the play empowering and feel inspired to make provocative work that criticises as well as celebrates. I think it’s really exciting for Riding Lights to be part of doing that. It certainly floats my political boat!”

Cathy asserts: “Theatre has the chance to ask questions, but where we don’t have to give all the answers. I think theatre is more honest than that, rougher than that.”

Paul  adds: “There’s a lot of direct address in Mistero Buffo, and plenty of audience involvement in the storytelling, so the audiences will become complicit in it and aren’t just witnesses. That’s why this production has a very different feel from when it was last done here – and Ollie Brown’s in-the-round setting will definitely have an impact on that.”

Riding Lights are delighted and excited to be participating in the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe. “It’s all part of York being the city of festivals, which has always been a good tourist ploy,” says Thomas. “When they come to the city, there’s always something for them to do – and theatre companies should always reach out to them, as well as playing to local people.”

Paul says: “I feel that ‘festival’ and ‘festivities’ are good words to describe this play, where people can come to the theatre and  see this kind of punky play in a city where things can grow in back alleys.

“With this Fringe production, we really want to see if there’s a way for us to make interesting and provocative work like this that’s not reliant on us touring it.” Watch this space.

Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, York, today, tomorrow, then July 1 to 4, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on July 3 and 4. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.

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Dominic Goodwin recalls variety’s golden days in solo comedy show Twice Nightly on tour in Helmsley, Richmond and York

Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of variety guises in Twice Nightly

DOMINIC Goodwin, one-time manager of Helmsley Arts Centre, pantomime dame and actor, returns to his old stamping ground with his first one-man comedy show in a celebration of the glory days of variety on Friday and Saturday.

Written and performed by Goodwin and directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere, Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety.

Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson), Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller.

“It’s been an honour to perform these stars’ material, and even more so to have the backing of the families,” says Dominic, who will be on tour until July 25, including further North Yorkshire performances at the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, on July 10 and 11 and Friargate Theatre, York, on July 17 and 18.

Dominic Goodwin at his most colourful in Twice Nightly

Here Dominic discusses Twice Nightly, variety’s golden age and going solo with CharlesHutchPress.


Introduce the show, Dominic…

“Freddie Francis has been a second spot comic for 30 years, touring the country on every variety bill going. We find him in 1956 recalling his life spent touring the halls; the ups, the downs, the riotous, the fantastic and the downright silly!

“He recalls his days entertaining the troops during the Second World War, playing at the infamous Glasgow Empire, and we discover what really happened when a speciality act lost her snake on stage!!

“Ultimately Twice Nightly is a fading memory of the variety stage. The death of something that has been part of everyone’s life for decades is now on the decline. Where will Freddie go when he finishes this tour? Who will he go back to, and ultimately who really cares?”

What are your own memories of the golden era of variety? Did you see any of the icons on stage?
“Oh how I wish I had! I’ve only ever seen them in YouTube clips. The sheer diversity of the acts on offer was extraordinary. From singers to comics, contortionists to animal acts like Rumba the man-eating lion! And even a guy who would walk on stage with a live bull!”

Who are your variety heroes?
“It would have to be Jimmy James – he of the “box routine” fame – and Norman Evans. Norman was the forerunner of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough with their Ada & Cissie act. Norman did his ‘over the garden wall’ sketches with his character of Fanny Fairbottom. Very funny sketches and at the time there was nothing like it.

“I suppose the ultimate variety star would be Max Miller. He had the longest stage life and was top of the bill for longer.”

What has been the gestation of Twice Nightly from idea to stage?
“I originally wrote it in 2015 and performed in Scotland with a cast of eight, when [Easingwold actor, songwriter and magician] Phil Grainger was in it, but the intention was always to do it as a one-man play.”

Dominic Goodwin’s Dr Watson, left, and Julian Finnegan’s Sherlock Holmes in Kirkbymoorside company Pyramus and Thisbe Productions’ 2021 revival of Stuart Fortey’s two-hander Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour

What was the attraction of performing a solo show when we have often seen you in double acts previously?
“My friends at The Swallow [Scotland’s smallest theatre at Ravenstone, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway], have asked about a return of Twice Nightly for a few years and after the success of Switcheroo last year I decided the time was right, while I was still young enough to tackle a one-man play!”

Why is the show called Twice Nightly?
“In the heyday days of variety, the shows would be performed twice nightly, at 6pm and 8pm, so the title kind of fits!”

Which variety acts feature in Twice Nightly?

“The show includes routines from amongst others, Max Miller, Rob Wilton, Jimmy James and Norman Evans, and renditions of many of the popular songs of the time, such as The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, Happy Days Are Here Again and Goodnight Sweetheart.”

What form has the “backing of the [variety act] families” taken for Twice Nightly?
“That has been amazing! Firstly, the Max Miller Appreciation Society has been very helpful. They’ve given me permission to use his gags, and on the matinee of the week I’m doing in Brighton they have booked the theatre out for a social event! So they’ll all sit and watch the show and then we’ll have a little do.

“Jimmy James’s granddaughter has given me permission to do the box routine, and she is actually coming to the show on Thursday (25/6/2026) at Grantham! I had quite an online trawl to find her.

“The Norman Evans routine was written by Ronnie Taylor, who died in the 1970s, and all his scripts and ephemera went to the V&A, but his two daughters have also given me permission to perform a Fanny Fairbottom sketch!”

Dominic Goodwin in the role of Norman Evans’s variety character Fanny Fairbottom

Why did the good old days of variety die out? 

“Things changed, The Beatles, Cliff Richard etc. People wanted something different. When Johnnie Ray came to the UK in 1956, that was the beginning of the end. Then of course the introduction of television, people could see their favourite acts while sitting in their living rooms.”

Have you worked with director Thomas Frere previously and why did you pick him to direct Twice Nightly?
“Thom is a dear good friend and a top-notch director. We’ve worked together a few times now, although always as co-actors, from panto in 2009 to Switcheroo in 2025. This is the first time he’s sat in the director’s seat and I wouldn’t hesitate to hook him again.

“He knows instinctively what will work and what won’t. His understanding of the relationship between actor and audience is top-notch.

“We’ve together worked to give the show its shape and form. He’s also very well aware of when it’s time to stop for the day in the rehearsal room. Doing a one-man show is pretty knackering and generally he wouldn’t let me go on after 4pm.”

What are your happiest memories of your time as manager of Helmsley Arts Centre?
“Running the youth theatre for so many years and watching youngsters really get to grips with texts; meeting some top-class names, like Jonathan Miller, Nicholas Parsons and Robert Powell, and working alongside people who had a real love of the arts centre and its aims.”

Finally, Dominic, why should we see Twice Nightly?
“Come along for a laugh. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, you’ll go away having had a high old time. If you want to laugh, go! It’s not a show to be viewed as a piece of history; it’s full of fun, with an added dollop of pathos thrown in for good measure.”

Pyramus and Thisbe Productions presents Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Helmsley Arts Centre, June 26 & 27, 7.30pm; Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, July 10 & 11, 7.30pm; Friargate Theatre, York, July 17 & 18, 7.30pm.

Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Richmond, 01748 825252 or georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk; York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

Dominic Goodwin making his point in Twice Nightly

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REVIEW: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Christmas Inn Trouble, on tour, then Friargate Theatre, York, Dec 20 to 24 ****

Jared More and the more-and-more-roles-playing Katie Coen in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s alternative Nativity play, Christmas Inn Trouble. All pictures: Tom Jackson, Jackson Portraiture

CHRISTMAS Inn Trouble is Riding Lights’ second festive show since the York faith theatre practitioners’ 2024 re-launch and the first since artistic director Paul Birch and executive director Oliver Brown teamed up as co-chief executive officers.

As is customary, Riding Lights are heading off around the country, this time taking in Barrow-in-Furness, Mold, Bulwell, Lliswerry, Cheltenham, Chiswick, Hadleigh, Colchester, South Benfleet, St Albans and closer to home, Easingwold, before a five-day finale back home at their Friargate Theatre headquarters.

First up was a brace of performances at St Peter’s Church, Norton, playing to 600 children from Norton Community Primary School, perched two child per chair, in the afternoon before a public show at 5pm, when plenty of children were present again, introduced with delightedly expressive enthusiasm by Reverend Jenny Buckler, who moved to God’s Own Country from Somerset in 2021.

Last winter, Birch wrote A Christmas Cracker, his first play since taking the Riding Lights reins, rooted in the transformative power of storytelling, delivered with Birch’s trademark comedy plus puppetry aplenty.

Katie Coen’s shepherd in Christmas Inn Trouble

Description and detailed plot progression played a stronger hand than visual, magical wonder under Erin Burbridge’s direction. This time, Birch is in the director’s chair, at the helm for Rachell Price’s fast-moving, fun, physical, fizzing two-hander for all the family that is a definite upgrade on A Christmas Cracker in its comedic impact while being as strong as ever on delivering “a magical new twist on the Nativity that turns the traditional tale on its head”.

After soothing the white-noise technical gremlins that stopped the start in its tracks – handled  with admirable aplomb by cast members Katie Coen and University of York-educated Jared More – the hour-long show quickly finds its rhythm as bother aplenty afflicts The Bethlehem Inn and Spa.

The taps are leaking, the rats, squeaking, the rooms, fit to burst as the Bible story meets Fawlty Towers in the sparring of More’s hotel manager and the multi-role playing Coen’s dogsbody, doing all the graft. If she is more Polly than Sybil, More definitely has the flavour of Basil, from moustache, gait and height to oversized tie, temperament and oleaginous air.

His performance, however,  is not mere Fawlty pastiche. Instead, he makes his manager a befuddled, exasperated character of his own as he awaits the arrival of a special guest.

Over-stretched: Jared More’s manager tries to handle multiple phone calls when the inn is already fully booked for Christmas

Given the date, we know who that “guest” might turn out to be, even if the manager is none the wiser, as all the clues build up in Coen’s portfolio of characters, turning herself into a grouchy, rascally Roman guard, Joseph (good with a hammer and wood), Mary (only too happy to take over the cow shed), a shepherd and a “Professor”, Price’s variation on the (un)Wise Men.

All are played with comic zest, all the better for Coen’s interaction with More that clicks instantly. They make for a highly humorous double act, but More reveals another side when, spoiler alert, cradling the baby.

Writer Price is alive to the power of puppetry and pooping noises being guaranteed to bring the young house down, and how they laugh at a cheeky donkey popping out of the myriad cupboards doors to bite More on the backside or grab and eat his bookings diary. The more the donkey does so, the louder the laughs grow. Likewise, the squelching boots of Coen’s shepherd are irresistibly comical, the more she walks.  

Caitlin Mawhinney’s set is colourful and playful. The Spa sign is a loose-fitting add-on for a new facility, sure to fall off; the manager’s desk revolves around the stage at pace; the phone is sky blue, old-fashioned, but with a modern ring tone for the children to recognise. In the tradition of farce, two doors are in constant use; the cupboard ones even more so.

Riding Lights Theatre Company’s co-chief executive officers Oliver Brown and Paul Birch, director of Christmas Inn Trouble

“Our aim is to make theatre make a difference by creating unforgettable, entertaining theatre in response to current issues and the hopes and fears of the world we share,” says Brown. Christmas Inn Trouble does exactly that, not in a preachy, heavy-handed way, but with lightness and a sense of wonder at the abiding message of the magical Christmas story.

Mawhinney’s set and costume design are a joy, complementing the tone of Price’s storytelling with a palette of matching pleasures, while Patrick Burbridge’s songs are as much fun for the performers as they are for the audience.

Christmas Inn Trouble lives up to its vow to “bring you the Nativity like you’ve never seen it before!”, setting up families so joyfully for Christmas Day.

Riding Lights Theatre Company in Christmas Inn Trouble, The Galtres Centre, Easingwold, December 13,  2pm; Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, December 20, 1.30pm and 4pm, December 21 to 24, 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm. Box office: Easingwold, https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/mbbjvlpojddg; York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/christmasinntrouble.

Behind you: The scene-stealing donkey brings a smile to Katie Coen’s Professor, one of the (un)Wise Men by another name in Christmas Inn Trouble

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as the heat is on for summer entertainment. Hutch’s List No. 27, from The York Press

Out of the woods and into The Basement for Navigators Art’s Making Waves Live!, Sounds Of The Solstice today

BEST Musical multiple award winner Dear Evan Hansen and a Eurovision spoof light Charles Hutchinson’s fire as the June heat rises.

Midsummer festival of the weekend: Navigators Art presents Making Waves Live! Sounds Of The Solstice, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, 4pm to 10pm 

FAVOURITE Navigators Art poets, comedians, singers and bands from the past two years will be complemented new friends in sessions from 4pm to 6.30pm, then 7.30pm to 10pm.

Taking part will be folk song duo Adderstone, poet Becca Drake, comedian Cooper Robson, storyteller Lara McClure, punk/jazz trio Borgia, psychedelic band Soma Crew; Will Martin; Jessica Van Smith; Cai Moriarty & Mason Chetnik, Mike Amber and more. Box office:  bit.ly/nav-events.

The Wild Murphys: Performing One Night In Dublin for one night in York

Irish craic of the week: One Night In Dublin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THE Wild Murphys revel in sing-along Irish classics Galway Girl, I’ll Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town, Whiskey In The Jar, The Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band and many more in two hours of song and humour.

Songs by The Pogues, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, The Fureys, Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys receive the fiddle and accordion treatment. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Flowers And Friendship Bracelets: Celebrating Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo’s pop power at Grand Opera House

Pop party of the week: Flowers And Friendship Bracelets, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday

FLOWERS And Friendship Bracelets combines music, dance and excitement in “the ultimate pop concert in celebration of the biggest hits from the hottest artistes of the moment”. The songs of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter will climax with a huge pop party finale. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia: Absolute Focus programme on santoor and tabla at the NCEM on Sunday evening

Indian classical concert of the week: Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia, Absolute Focus, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 6.30pm 

HUSBAND and wife duo Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, on santoor, and Jax Ahluwalia, on tabla, perform their Absolute Focus programme at the NCEM. These former students of  the late Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Ustaad Tari work on diverse projects, from Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon and Disney series to live theatre, while introducing Indian classical music to audiences around the world in concerts of meditative introspection and energy-filled heights. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Looking to fit in: Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Last chance to see: Dear Evan Hansen, Grand Opera House, York, June 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees

THE Grand Opera House will be the last English port of call on the UK tour of Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levinson’s Olivier, Tony and Grammy Best Musical award winner.

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder that inhibits his ability to connect with his peers. After the death of fellow student Connor Murphy, Evan (played by Ryan Kopel) entangles himself in an unwieldy fib, claiming he was Connor’s secret best friend. Thrust ever deeper into a web of lies, he gains everything he has ever wanted: a chance to belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Ione Cummings’ Antonia in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann. Picture: John Saunders

Opera of the week: York Opera in The Tales Of Hoffmann, York Theatre Royal, June 25 to 28, 7.15pm plus 4pm Saturday matinee

ELIZABETH Watson and John Soper direct York Opera in Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, based on three short stories by German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Tenors Karl Reiff and Hamish Brown perform the title role on alternate nights; Hoffmann’s evil enemies will be played by Ian Thomson- Smith and Mark Simmonds and his love interests will be sung by Stephanie Wong (Olympia), Ione Cummings (Antonia) and Katie Cole (Giulietta). Alexandra Mather takes the role of Hoffmann’s loyal friend, Nicklaus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Light Opera Company cast members in rehearsal for Neil Wood’s production of Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

Eurovision celebration of the week: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat – Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm, June 25 to 27 and July 1 to 4; 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5

AUSTRALIAN composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie’s high-octane, electrifying musical Eurobeat: The Pride Of Europe celebrates the vibrant energy and spirit of the continent. Expect non-stop, infectious Eurobeat rhythms, dazzling visuals and a show to leave audiences breathless. 

Prepare to dance and soak up the fun of an annual European song contest where audience participation decides the winner. Neil Wood directs a cast led by Annabel van Griethuysen as hostess Marlene Cabana and Zander Fick as master of protocols Bjorn Bjornson. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Just like hat: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre’s guys rehearsing Guys And Dolls for next week’s Joseph Rowntree Theatre run

Burgeoning talent of the week: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre in Guys And Dolls, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 26 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MALTON company Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre heads to York to present Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ musical fable of Broadway, Guys And Dolls.

Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy finds gambler Nathan Detroit seeking the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck. Into the story venture his girlfriend, nightclub performer Adelaide, fellow gambler Sky Masterson and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Snow Patrol: More likely sun than snow on return to Yorkshire coastline on Friday

Coastal gig of the week: Snow Patrol, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 27; gates open at 6pm

SNOW Patrol visit Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday for the first time since July 2021. The Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band will be led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time members Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, and Johnny McDaid, piano. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Danny Lee Grew: Mind-boggling magic at Friargate Theatre, York

Magic show of the week: Danny Lee Grew, 24K Magic, Friargate Theatre, York, June 27, 7.30pm

CLACTON-ON-SEA magician Danny Lee Grew presents his new mind-boggling one-man show of magic, illusion, laughs, gasps and sleight of hand sorcery. 24K Magic showcases the kind of magic usually seen on television, but now live, in the flesh and under the most impossible conditions. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as laughter returns to waterside landmark. Hutch’s List No. 19, from The York Press

Pease in our time: John Pease tops bill at Patch’s new Funny Fridays comedy forum at the Bonding Warehouse

A NEW comedy night in a bygone location and Shakespeare on a council estate stand out in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for cultural exploration.

Laughter launch of the week: Funny Fridays, Patch, Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, May 9, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start

LIVE comedy returns to the Bonding Warehouse for the first time since the days of the late Mike Bennett presenting the likes of Lee Evans and Ross Noble under the Comedy Shack banner. Stand up for Funny Fridays, hosted by York humorist Katie Lingo (alias copywriter Katie Taylor-Thompson) with an introductory price of £6.50.

On her first bill will be Kenny Watt, Tuiya Tembo, BBC New Comedy Awards semi-finalist Matty Oxley, Saeth Wheeler and Edinburgh Fringe Gilded Balloon semi-finalist John Pease. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets.

Sean Heydon: Magical sleight of hand at the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club tonight

Magical comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Sean Heydon, Big Lou, Oliver Bowler and MC Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

LAUGH Out Loud headliner Sean Heydon has performed to A-list celebrities and blue-chip companies, as well as at comedy clubs, with his combination of madcap comedy,  sleight-of-hand magic and illusions for more than 15 years.

Big Lou offers a modern twist on old-school joke telling in the Les Dawson style; comedian, actor and writer Oliver Bowler discusses life experiences on the mean streets of Bolton; regular host and promoter Damion Larkin keeps order. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Anastacia: Playing York Barbican on her Not That Kind 25th anniversary tour

Anniversary tour of the week: Anastacia, Not That Kind Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.45pm

CHICAGO singer-songwriter Anastacia , 56, heads to York on her European tour marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album Not That Kind and its breakthrough hit  I’m Outta Love.

Further singles Not That Kind, Paid My Dues, One Day In Your Life,  Left Outside Alone and Sick And Tired charted too, as did 2001 album Freak Of Nature (reaching number four) and 2004’s chart-topping Anastacia, 2005’s Pieces Of A Dream, 2008’s Heavy Rotation, 2014’s Resurrection and 2015’s Ultimate Collection Her special guest will be Casey McQuillen. Box office: for returns only, yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Newton Faulkner: Unveiling new songs from his upcoming Octopus album at The Crescent, York

“No technological funny business” of the week: Newton Faulkner, Feels Like Home Tour 3, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

LET Reigate singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner describe his York gig: “Folks, I give you the Feels Like Home Tour 3. We’re talking no technological funny business in my set-up. I love switching my focus back to just playing and singing. I also cannot wait to introduce you properly to the new material and my new head.”

Often Faulkner has found himself in his home studio working solo, but not for this next record, nor for this tour. His new phase is full of collaboration, one where “seeing these songs come to life on stage is going to be nothing short of joyous” ahead of the September 19 release of Octopus. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape on his return to York Theatre Royal after 45 years. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York musician Steve Cassidy: Once he worked with John Barry and producer Joe Meek, now he plays with his mates on regular nights at the JoRo

Return of the week: Steve Cassidy Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

YORK singer, songwriter, guitarist and former head teacher Steve Cassidy will be joined by special guests when he lines up as usual with John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele, guitar and vocals, Brian Thomson on percussion and George Hall on keyboards.

Expect rock and country songs, as well as instrumental pieces, selected especially for this evening. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mark Holgate’s Oberon and Suzy Cooper’s Titania, centre, with Sam Roberts’s Demetrius, left, Amy Domeneghetti’s Helena, Will Parsons’ Lysander and Meg Olssen’s Hermia in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Reinvented play of the week: York Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees

YORK pantomime golden gal Suzy Cooper turns Fairy Queen Titania opposite York-born Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mark Holgate’s Fairy King Oberon in Nik Briggs’s debut Shakespeare production for York Stage.

In his first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs relocates the Bard’s most-performed comedy from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s bumpy path is played out to a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw and Nineties and Noughties’ dancefloor fillers, sung by May Tether. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Katherine Toy in rehearsals for AKA Theatre’s The Flood, on tour in York, Hull and Leeds. Picture: Cian O’Riain

Premiere of the week: AKA Theatre Company in The Flood: A Musical, Friargate Theatre, York, May 9 and 10, 7.30pm; Godber Studio, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, May 13, 7pm; Leeds Playhouse Burton Studio, May 14 and 15, 8pm

AKA Theatre Company’s premiere of Lucie Raine and Joe Revell’s musical The Flood blends live music and heartfelt storytelling based on true accounts of facing up to disaster in West Yorkshire in 2015.

 “This is a story about what it means to come together when everything falls apart,” says writer-director Raine, who uses a cast of five actor-musicians. “It’s not just a play. It’s a tribute to resilience and creativity, inspired by Hebden Bridge and its people. It’s a celebration for all communities who have faced adversity and emerged stronger.” Box office: York, ticketsource.co.uk; Hull, hulltruck.co.uk; Leeds, leedsplayhouse.org.uk. 

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Putting the retro into today’s hits at York Barbican

Nostalgia for today: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Magic & Moonlight Tour 2025, York Barbican, May 7, doors 7pm

AFTER chalking off their 1,000th show, retro collective Postmodern Jukebox are on the British leg of their Moonlight & Magic world tour. Enter a parallel universe where modern-day hits are reimagined in 1920s’ jazz, swing, doo-wop and Motown arrangements. Think The Great Gatsby meets Sinatra At The Sands meets Back To The Future.  Dress vintage for the full effect. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

In Focus: York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi, today at 1pm; Trio Agile and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, today at 7.30pm

Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi

YORK Late Music plays host to two concerts today, the first featuring bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Marianna Cortesi  this afternoon as Sounds Lyrical presents settings of poets Hugh Bernays, John Gilham, Richard Kitchen and Alan Gillott by composers Thomas J Crawley, Robert Holden, Jenny Jackson, Katie Lang, Dawn Walters and James Else.

The concert comprises: Elizabeth Lutyens’ Refugee Blues (Auden); David Blake’s Morning Sea (CP Cavafy); Dawn Walters’ Pre-dawn (Richard Kitchen); Jenny Jackson’s Collecting Stones (Richard Kitchen); Robert Holden’s Flaneur (John Gilham) and Katie Laing’s Maker (Richard Kitchen).

Then come Thomas J Crawley’s Leather Heart (Hugh Bernays); James Else’s Retras IV (Alan Gillott); Tim Brooks’s Jeer (Lizzie Linklater); David Blake’s Voices (CP Cavafy) and Stephen Dodgson’s Various Australian Bush Ballads, 2nd Series. The programme also includes music by David Blake and Elizabeth Lutyens.

Northern School of Contemporary Dance dancer Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma: Performing with Trio Agile tonight

TONIGHT’S concert marks a first collaboration between York Late Music and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Trio Agile and NSCD’s Freedom Dances programme.

Bringing together the freedoms of dance, music and rhythm, Trio Agile combine their experimental flair and improvisatory talent with four dancers from the Leeds school, Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma, Darcy Bodle, Genevieve Wright and Maya Donne.

The 7.30pm performance blends a range of styles from across the globe in a shared expression of the power and joy of the arts, including new works from Indian composer and performer Supriya  Nagarajan, Angela Elizabeth Slater, David Lancaster, Steve Crowther, David Power, Athena Corcoran-Tadd and James Else.

Curated by James Else in partnership with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, the programme comprises: Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Prelude; Angela Elizabeth Slater,  Weaving Colours; Paul Honey, Une Valse Assez Triste; James Else, Freedom Dances and David Lancaster, The Compendium Of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.

Then follow Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Pas de Deux; Tom Armstrong, Aunt Maria’s Dancing Master; Paul Honey, Pizzìca; Athena Corcoran-Tadd,  To You; Supriya Nagarajan,  Mohanam Raga; Steve Crowther,  Once Upon A Time Harlequin Met His Columbine; David Power,  Something In Our Skies; Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Light Dances and Athena Corcoran-Tadd , Hope Is A Boat.

The musicians will be: Susie Hodder-Williams, flutes; Chris Caldwell, saxophone and bass clarinet; Richard Horne, vibraphone and percussion; Supriya Nagarajan, voice, and Paul Honey, piano.  

Chris Caldwell, Susie Hodder-Williams and composer James Else will give a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with a complimentary glass of wine or juice.

Tickets are on sale at latemusic.org or on the door.

In Focus: The Wedding Present return to Leeds University roots to play Stylus on May 9, 7.30pm

Returning home: Former Mathematics degree student David Gedge outside Leeds University Union, where he will lead The Wedding Present in a 40th anniversary performance at Stylus

DAVID Gedge returns to Leeds University with The Wedding Present, playing Stylus to mark 40 years since he formed the band in his days of studying  Mathematics on the campus.

Billed as “Back To Where It All Began”, this Leeds University Union gig brought David back north from his Brighton home on April 14 to re-visit early landmarks in The Wedding Present story to promote both this anniversary celebration and York writer-director  Matt Aston’s upcoming musical Reception, inspired by Gedge’s songs for The Wedding Present and Cinerama. More on that August 22 to September 6 show at The Warehouse, Slung Low’s theatre space in Holbeck, later.

The Stylus gig will be the first of two Yorkshire engagements for The Wedding Present in quick succession. On May 10, Gedge’s band will be hooking up with Peter Hook & The Light (Best of Joy Division & New Order) The Farm and Spear Of Destiny on the Interzone bill at Scarborough Spa.

“We did it in Newcastle  last year too. It seems to be Peter Hook’s festival – Interzone is a Joy Division song, isn’t it,” says David. Doors open at 4pm with tickets available at seetickets.com and scarboroughspa.co.uk.

Charles HutchPress met up with David on the day of the photo-shoot, over a light bite in the university student union refectory, the scene of many a gig down the years.

“If I’m honest with you, I studied Mathematics here because I found it quite easy,” he says. “I remember  at school finding Maths lessons a doddle. I just clicked with it. My other A-levels were Biology and Physics, and I never knew how I would then use it, but being in a band band is what I’d always wanted to do, really from the age of five, where there are photographs of me playing the recorder, pretending to be in a band.

“From schooldays onwards, I was always in bands. The simple answer is I never decided to do it; it was just always going to be the case.  I thought, ‘I’ll go to university, doing Maths will be dead easy and I’ll have a lot of time to do other things’.

“It turned out to be more difficult than I expected and a lot of work, so I kind of regretted doing it – but I got a 2.2, then started to do a MSc, but then the band took off.”

Rising from the ashes of The Lost Pandas, The Wedding Present “kind of existed from 1983-84 but with different line-ups”. The first single, Go Out And Get ‘Em, Boy!, emerged in May 1985 – hence this 40th anniversary gig – with vocalist and guitarist Gedge and bassist Keith Gregory by then being joined by fellow Leeds University alumni Peter Solowka (guitar) and Shaun Charman (drums).

“Actually our first gig was in Allerton Bywater, a mining village half an hour from here, at The Shires Club. The second, third and fourth were here, at the university. We’ve played the Refectory at least once, maybe twice; the Tartan Bar, the R H Evans Lounge and the Riley Smith Hall, as we were getting bigger.

“This will be the first time we’ve played Stylus. We haven’t played the university for years, as we usually play either the O2 Academy or, for a smaller gig, the Brudenell Social Club.”

David has never kept count of how many musicians have passed through the Wedding Present ranks in the past four decades. “I don’t know how you define it, because sometimes you need a stand-in and we’ve had musicians come in as extra players,” he says.

At Stylus, David will be fronting a line-up he had had in place for a couple of years: Vincenzo Lammi on drums; Paul Blackburn on bass and Rachael Wood on guitars (and vocals too). “Weirdly, like me, they’re all based in Brighton, though Vinny is from Sheffield,  Paul, from Southport, and Rachael, from Derby, so we’re all northerners. Brighton’s a nice place to be, but it’s expensive.”

Playing in The Wedding Present after 40 years “feels the same”. “It hasn’t changed. The strange thing is, if it’s 40 years, you think of The Rolling Stones or Status Quo, but actually, no, it’s The Wedding Present now.

“Rock’n’roll was a youth culture, but those who who enjoy it now are our age and are still going to gigs, so the whole genre has grown.”

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Lost in time, mysterious Punch Porteous finds new home at Friargate Theatre

Punch Porteous writer Robert Powell and creative practitioner Ben Pugh

WRITER Robert Powell and creative practitioner Ben Pugh are reviving Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! at Friargate Theatre, York, from tomorrow to Saturday as part of York Literature Festival.

Originally commissioned by All Saints North Street for its October 2023 premiere with support from York Theatre Royal, Powell’s poetic multi-media experience depicts Punch Porteous, a mysterious and ordinary man with an extraordinary predicament, lost in time in York, where he is catapulted unpredictably into different eras from c.70 to c.2025 while the city shape-shifts around him.

“He keeps waking up at various points of the city’s past, dazed and confused, but also with a disturbing knowledge that he’s been there before,” says Canadian-born Robert.

Punch seems to remember Romans, Vikings, Saxons, seeing Henry VIII and meeting Dick Turpin. Now a prophecy says he is to appear at the site of an ancient Friary to find his lost wife Eve – and tell all in Powell and Pugh’s imaginative journey in words, music, film and sound featuring the recorded, “disembodied”  voice of York poet Kitty Greenbrown, as well as Powell as Narrator, Nicholas Naidu as Alistair and Imogen Wood as Beatrice.

Nicholas Naidu, as Alistair, and Imogen Wood, as Beatrice, in Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! Picture: Ben Pugh

Inspired by the history of York, Robert first recounted a story of Punch in his poem Punch Porteous Goes To York Races, with further poetic stories in his 2023 commission for York Civic Trust, Time Town, Some Poems Of York.

“We’re totally delighted to be bringing Punch back,” says Robert. “I thought Punch had some more breath left in him after All Saints and we had the sense that there was more of an audience to see it.

“Friargate Theatre is an artistic asset to York with new management, and what better place could we find to stage it: a theatre space, rather than a church, though it was the church [All Saints North Street] that commissioned it, and the church provided a rich, deeply resonant space.

Kitty Greenbrown: Lending her voice to this week’s performances of Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!

“We’re also delighted to be taking part in York Literature Festival, which I was part of for a long time. We talked to Friargate Theatre first, absolutely the right place for it, and then approached the festival about featuring a piece based on poetry, and they responded very positively, especially when you consider they don’t usually have plays.”

Robert has re-written his drama to take in the history of the Friargate Theatre site as a friary. “We now have Punch ‘predicting’ that it was friarage from the tenth century up until Henry VIII’s boys tore it apart, leaving only the wall along the river. We will now be reopening the Friarage, with Punch determined to get there from Baile Hill.”

How will the audience experience differ from the All Saints premiere? “I think that being in a theatre space, rather than a church, the audience will need to use their imagination more, and we will need to work their imagination more to imagine the historic buildings of York, whereas previously we had the incredible prop of the church building,” says Robert.

Robert Powell in his role as Narrator for Punch Porteous – Lost In Time! Picture: Ben Pugh

“Now we have to use our ‘prop’ box to bring to life this semi-visible everyman who had bumped into some famous people but mainly lived among the ordinary people of York, creating that sense of Punch being grounded and having a working man’s sensibilities.”

Describing Punch’s character, Robert says: “He’s comic but serious; he gets drunk but is very philosophical. He’s seen a lot and suffered a lot, as the people of York have.

“With Dick Turpin, for example, what happens is that he becomes like a fairytale figure, but in Punch Porteous, Punch remembers attending Turpin’s public execution, seeing the horror of his feet turning in the air, so I’ve tried to bring the harsh reality to folk tales. Turpin’s death would have been horrendous.

“In Punch Porteous, I’m conveying the friction between the heritage myth and the darker reality that people have had to live with in York over the centuries.

The poster for Punch Porteous – Lost In Time at Friargate Theatre, York

“It’s a story told in a somewhat different way from the historical, heritage way that the story of the city is so often told. So, in a sense, without being too heavy about it, I wanted to disrupt that norm, to think about history from the ‘ordinary’ perspective that most of us experience it from.

“Writers can bring an understanding of history where I think there’s a role for the imagination that runs parallel with the facts. It’s not enough to have the testimonies and the photographs. You need your imagination to bear witness. Hilary Mantel thought a lot about this, about the role of fiction to engage with people, as opposed to documentary evidence. Where documentary leaves off, the imagination takes over, but rooted in experience.”

Robert loves the experience of walking through York, “passing through veils, where one minute you are in the 21st century, and then in the past”. “As a Canadian boy, from an early age, I had a hunger for what York offered,” he says. “Here I am, this little kid in Ottawa, digging in the fields next door, hoping to find Roman remains, so I had to come to York to do that. It’s been a very personal journey for me, and York gives you that in a very intense way.

“What is a Canadian doing fooling around with York’s precious history? To me, from that perspective, as a writer, it’s a heavenly place to be, and as a writer, I’m fascinated by time. Punch Porteous is a great opportunity to have someone who slips and slides through York and time, and so though I’m not originally from York, I hope it has resonance for true Yorkists.”

The cover to Robert Powell’s latest poetry collection, Time Town, Some Poems of York

Punch Porteous may have further life beyond this week’s performances. “I’ve had this niggling thought that might bring a further bit of spark to the exercise,” says Robert. “Was Punch Porteous a real person?

“Since my tales of Punch were inspired by a story told to me about an actual York man called Punch Porteous in the 1920s, who won a small fortune at York Races, it would be fun to ask The Press readers if they’ve ever heard of such a person. I would love to hear from you and I can be reached at https://www.rjpowell.org/.

“I would love Punch Porteous to become one of the urban myths of York and hopefully we are moving in that direction.”

York Literature Festival presents Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, tomorrow until Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

For Ben Pugh’s film trailer of Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, head to:  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ky2ym8uovcqisjmyahpjt/Punch-Trailer-1.mov?rlkey=0twzzrbektny13v2tu3oe2hkz&dl=0

Robert Powell: Writer, curator and cultural consultant with background in the arts, place-making, photography and journalism. Picture: Owen Powell

Robert Powell: the back story

WRITER, curator, and cultural consultant with more than 40 years’ experience in the arts, built environment, community engagement and media in England, Scotland and his native Canada.

Director of Stills Gallery of Photography in Edinburgh from 1986 to 1989. Worked for Canada Council for the Arts from 1989 to 1997.

Director of Beam, arts, architecture and education charity in Wakefield, from 1997 to 2015, working with many leading artists, architects, and urban designers.

Established Wakefield Lit Fest, festival of reading & writing, in 2012. Made Honorary
Fellow of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) in 2017.

Robert’s creative writing has been published widely in Canada and UK. Since 2007, produced five poetry collections, plus performances and film-poems inspired by buildings, rivers and other places.

In 2018, artist in residence with Kone Foundation at Saari, Finland. In 2019, undertook community-based artistic project on Irish border during Brexit negotiations.

In 2023-24, writer in residence with York Civic Trust. Wrote and performed in Punch Porteous – Lost In Time!, poetic drama inspired by history of York, at All Saints North Street.

Resident in York for ten years, based in South Bank. Latest publication, Time Town, Some Poems of York, features poetry about a Georgian museum and a man lost in time from his York Civic Trust residency.

The first knock-out Punch poem by Robert Powell: Punch Porteous Goes to York Races

ONE Saturday afternoon, in summer 1930,
at York Races, Punch won a fortune, £17,
tramped back into town, bought a tin hip bath
and took it to the Red Lion, where Uncle John’s wife Rose
was publican and the boatmen-gypsies supped;
required of John to fill it full with drink, then
helped him and two others lurch it, slopping
on cobbles in the early evening light,
to the tram stop, calling on all and sundry
Come take wine with me!
though in truth it was ale;
and cupping its contents for free
to drivers, passengers, passers-by;
and the bath, once emptied,
by a drunken Punch
tossed into the Foss.
Gaze down from the bridge, they say,
in certain light, on certain days,
in the shallows, in the depths,
you can still see it,
among the vagrant
shopping carts,
the swans.

© Robert Powell

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REVIEW: A Christmas Cracker, Riding Lights Theatre Company, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, today & tomorrow ***

Grace Hussey-Burd’s Ebenezer Sneezer, left, and Claire Morley with Cracker the dog at Saturday morning’s performance of Riding Lights Theatre Company’s A Christmas Cracker

AFTER a winter tour of schools, writer and artistic director Paul Birch’s first play since taking the reins of Riding Lights Theatre Company heads home to Friargate Theatre for its finale.

Billed as “an alternative, unusual way into the Nativity story”, this one-hour play for family audiences is rooted in the transformative power of storytelling, delivered with Birch’s trademark comedy plus puppetry aplenty.

CharlesHutchPress attended Saturday morning’s show, when understudy Claire Morley took the role of  Cracker the dog’s puppeteer and grouchy farmer Mrs McGinty opposite Grace Hussey-Burd’s “world-famous” storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer.

For the 1pm performance, York actress Morley would be switching to Ebenezer, accompanied by Holly Cassidy in the other roles. “My head is full of words,” she said of the task ahead.

And “full of words” aptly sums up Birch’s playful play, where description and detailed plot progression play a stronger hand than visual, magical wonder under Erin Burbridge’s direction, although a somewhat incongruous climactic bout of fisticuffs with accompanying sound effects hits a physically comical note, as do the sporadic interjections of a “turbulent turkey”.

Hussey-Burd’s Ebenezer, in top hat, tails and multi-coloured waistcoat, is lost at the start, snow in her silver boots, and motley-looking mutt Cracker, her chatterbox canine companion, by her side, head bursting with strange ideas about Christmas, always offering an unpredictable, often cheeky  word in the ear like Basil Brush.

Holly Cassidy with Cracker the dog and Ebenezer Sneezer’s story basket. Picture: Tom Jackson

Without permission, as the shed doors open out like the inside of Dr Who’s Tardis, they take shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn. On the wall is a No Singing sign, last seen in York in Shaun Collinge’s long reign as landlord at The Maltings, in Tanner’s Moat, (newly transformed into the Irish pub The Dubliner, replete with live music, by the way).

Mrs McGinty is as grumpy as that other Ebenezer on a winter’s night, Scrooge, but gradually we learn why in a Birch story that champions “the importance of love, the importance of perseverance”, while highlighting the dangers of misinformation, disinformation and misunderstanding.

In doing so, as Birch seeks to “make sense of the world, not by providing answers, but by seeing new opportunities through new ideas”,  he passes topical comment on a pernicious planet quick to judge and misjudge, especially on social media. One that puts the extreme into X streams of abuse, for example.

Ebenezer and Cracker will be allowed to stay if the nimble story-spinner can warm flinty Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart with the glad tidings of a tremendous tale. If not, they will be booted back out into the storm.

Mrs McGinty has an even more crotchety fellow villain of the piece in Deadly the dastardly donkey, who puts the unstable in the stable, with a pronounced aversion to festive comfort and joy. Again, do not judge a book by its cover, however, as Mrs McGinty turns storyteller with revelations of her past and Deadly’s too.

Wrapped inside is the story of the Nativity – Riding Lights is a Christian theatre company – and Birch has certainly found an alternative way to tell it, perhaps a tad too complex to sustain the full concentration of the four-year-olds in the audience, but engagingly, entertainingly and energetically told by Hussey-Burd and Morley.

Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, at 11am, 1.30pm and 6pm, today; 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm, tomorrow. Box office: 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/achristmascracker.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond at the height of Christmas cheer. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 46, from Gazette & Herald

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Deborah McAndrew’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 18 to 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol: Festive favourite makes its return to Leeds Grand Theatre

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for HAC Around The Tree, the last show of 2024 at Helmsley Arts Centre

Festive celebration of the week: HAC Around The Tree, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN the Helmsley Arts Centre Singers, 1812 Theatre Company, 1812 Youth Theatre, Ryedale Writers and invited guests for an evening of theatre, music, poetry and prose around the Christmas tree. The bar will be serving mulled wine and mince pies to spark up the festive spirit in Helmsley Arts Centre’s last event of 2024. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Step Into Christmas: Festive hit after festive hit at York Barbican

Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let It Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in the Nave of York Minster

Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm

THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.

Gary Stewart: Presenting tributes to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Gary Stewart presents Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

SCOTTISH-BORN Easingwold musician Gary Stewart presents Weetwood Mac and his Graceland band in a celebration of two career-defining works, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, from 1977, and Paul Simon’s Graceland, from 1986. “With combined sales of more than 50 million worldwide, both albums have stood the test of time and are cherished to this day,” says Stewart.

“Littered with gossip and controversy, Rumours and Graceland elevated their artists to new heights of popularity, inspiring the popular music canon for decades to come. This evening celebrates a time of artistic discovery and re-creates the excitement of the era, with these seminal albums lovingly interpreted by some of today’s finest touring musicians.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at York Barbican

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Special, York Barbican, featuring Mike Newall, Friday, 8pm

MANCUNIAN Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin. Two support acts feature too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The Snowman: Two screenings with a live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Mat Jones in A Christmas Carol, Friargate Theatre, York, tonight ***1/2

Storyteller Mat Jones. Picture: Vintage Verse

IN the tradition of Charles Dickens himself, solo storytelling performances of his festive fable A Christmas Carol abound on the Yorkshire winter calendar.

After York Gothic actor James Swanton’s annual return to York Medical Society and doyen of the one-man show Guy Masterson’s spellbinding account with music by Robb Williams at Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Bedfordshire actor Mat Jones visits Friargate Theatre for two nights.

Into the black-box theatre setting Jones places a black lectern and a single smidgeon of a candle, as stingy as miserly Scrooge would allow Bob Cratchit.

Heralded from the dark by a plaintive violin, Jones arrives on stage in white shirt, brocade waistcoat, flourishing bow tie, dark trousers and polished black leather shoes. He will not add a single prop, relying entirely on variety of voice and storytelling powers, complemented by occasional sound effects for a banging door, church bells and graveyard crows.

Five months of preparation have gone into this two-act presentation built around Dickens’s own original performance text condensing the ghost story into 90 minutes. Dickens gave 127 “lively and emotional” public readings of this work from 1853 to 1870, noted for his “altering of expression, accent and gesture to play the characters”.

Jones follows that template in his meticulous, measured, authentic account, as strong on movement as characterisation as he conducts the seamless flow between narrator and Scrooge’s troubled yet redemptive night of haunting encounters with Jacob Marley and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come.

From the Fezziwigs to the Cratchits, he conjures the Victorian world, the grief-stricken Bob returning from his son Tiny Tim’s grave being a particularly affecting moment.

Humour plays its part too, both in description and mannerism, in a performance that testifies to the power of kindness as a heart is transformed from cold to warm and spirits bring out the best in the human spirit. God bless us, every one, that Dickens’s story comes alive anew, as resonant as ever, every Christmas.

Mat Jones: A Christmas Carol, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, tonight at 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk.