Tag: George Stagnell

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the Halloween spooks and ghost train rides. Hutch’s List No. 48, from The York Press

Film critic Mark Kermode: Book talk and gig with his band Dodge Brothers at York Theatre Royal in the Beyond the Frame strand of Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025. Picture: Julie Edwards Visuals

THE 15th Aesthetica Short Film Festival tops the bill in a week when Sir Gareth Southgate and David Walliams are keen to talk too,  as Charles Hutchinson highlights.

Festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, all over York, November 5 to 9

NOT so much a film festival as a “screen and media event”, in its 15th year, York’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival is bigger and broader than ever. Not only more than 300 shorts, features, documentaries, animations and experimental films, but also the VR & Games Lab; masterclasses and panels; workshops and roundtables; networking and pitching; Listening Pitch premieres; the inaugural New Music Stage and Aesthetica Fringe shows; Beyond the Frame events at York Theatre Royal; the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO and the Podcasting strand. For the full programme and tickets, go to: asff.co.uk.

Joseph Egan’s club boss Fat Sam from the Team Bugsy cast for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone

Young swells of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, until November 8, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, both Saturdays and Sunday

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of more than 40 young performers in Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s Jazz Age musical, replete with the film songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand Slam and Bugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Mark Steel: Addressing the leopard in his house at York Theatre Royal tonight

“Leftie, working-class, BBC Radio 4 favourite” comedy gig of the week: Mark Steel: The Leopard In My House, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

COMEDIAN, nation-travelling radio presenter and writer Mark Steel has not so much an elephant in the room as The Leopard In My House. Under discussion is his battle with throat cancer, one that he is winning (thankfully) and that has spawned his new comedy tour show. Cancer, by the way, has done nothing to dull the edge of Steel’s trademark acute political and cultural observations.

“This show is the story of my year, of wonderful characters and often tricky but bafflingly positive experiences,” says Steel. “Doing the show doesn’t quite make me glad that it happened, but it definitely makes up for it quite a bit”. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Magpies: Launching new EP at the NCEM

Folk gig of the week: The Magpies, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

THE Magpies, the folk trio that hosts The Magpies Festival at Sutton House, near York, every summer, combine rich harmonies with fiddle-led fire and lyrical storytelling, wherein Bella Gaffney (banjo, vocals), Holly Brandon (fiddle, vocals) and Ellie Gowers (guitar, vocals) meld Anglo and American traditions.

Tonight’s intimate gig marks the launch of this autumn’s EP, The One Thing That I Know. Lead single Painted Pony is a stirring tribute to the St John and St Lawrence rivers of Canada: a song that flows with memory, movement and the quiet majesty of nature’s imprint. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

George Stagnell in the short film Bomb Happy, part of an Everwitch Theatre double bill

Theatre and film memorial of the week: Everwitch Theatre in Bomb Happy VE Day double bill, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 3pm

PRESENTED in the lead-up to Remembrance Sunday, whose focus this year falls on 80th anniversary of VE Day, Bomb Happy has been created by writer-performer Helena Fox and actor-vocalist Natasha Jones, of Everwitch Theatre.

From D-Day to VE Day, this powerful one-hour double bill of live performance (30 minutes) and short film (30 minutes) brings to life the verbatim accounts of two working-class Yorkshire Normandy veterans, highlighting the lifelong impact of post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep trauma, not only on war veterans but on their families too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Leading light Mad Alice: Welcoming passengers to her Ghost Train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Train ride of the week: Mad Alice’s Ghost Train, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Pickering Station, Sunday, 6.15pm and 8pm

JOIN York ghost walk hostess Mad Alice as she takes a spine-tingling ghost-train ride through the haunted heart of the North York Moors from Pickering to Levisham and back again in an hour-long eerie adventure. “I’ll be joined by Jonny Holbek, from York Light Opera Company, and professional actor Joe Standerline to help me tell stories in the carriage,” says Mad Alice. “Plus a few extra ‘ghosts’, who are actually either NYMR volunteers or York Light members – and even my own niece!”

All on board to learn of the mysterious ghosts that still haunt the carriages and stations; hear of supernatural tales and folklore of the land, and enjoy a special retelling of Charles Dickens’s ghost story, The Signal Man, all while sipping Mini Mad Alice’s Bloody Orange Gin & Tonic from York Gin (age 18 upwards). Box office for waiting list only: nymr.co.uk/Event/ghosttrain.

Sir Gareth Southgate: Discussing his new book Dear England at York Barbican…and the subject of James Graham’s play of that title at Leeds Grand Theatre

Ex-England manager at the double: In Conversation with Gareth Southgate, Lessons In Leadership, York Barbican, November 3, 7.30pm;  National Theatre in Dear England, Leeds Grand Theatre, November 4 to 8, kick-off at 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

SIR Gareth Southgate, of Swinsty Hall, Fewston, Harrogate, makes the comparatively short trip to York Barbican to discuss his eight years of leading England’s footballers on the world stage with a revolutionary management style that combined calm empathy with mental resilience, courageous integrity with strong accountability.

David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate, in trademark waistcoat, in James Graham’s play Dear England, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Mark Brenner

He will discuss his new book Dear England: Lessons In Leadership, a title shared with James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play (and forthcoming television drama) that takes its name from Southgate’s open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Sturzaker plays Southgate, Samantha Womack, team psychologist Pippa Grange, in this “inspiring, at times heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting story” of England, penalties, lost finals and a new-found national identity. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

David Walliams: An evening of frank chat and outrageous anecdotes at York Barbican. Picture: Charlie Clift

Candid comedic conversation of the week: An Evening With David Walliams, York Barbican, November 4, 7.30pm

SKETCH comedian, prolific author, talent show judge and English Channel swimmer David Walliams presents an evening of laughter, storytelling and surprises, discussing his Little Britain breakthrough,  Come Fly With Me and his days on Britain’s Got Talent.

Expect the stories behind legendary TV sketches and reflections on his myriad books and the highs and lows of a career. Prepare for candid conversation and outrageous anecdotes, topped off with the chance to put questions to Walliams in the Q&A. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ben Rosenfield and Laura McKeller in The Wetwang Hauntings – Live. Picture: Emma Warley

Halloween horrors and jump scares of the week: Neon Crypt & The Deathly Dark Tours present The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 4 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BETWEEN 1986 and 1993, a series of often violent hauntings rocked the small Yorkshire town of Wetwang. The cases went cold and all the records were lost…until now! Join York ghost walk guide Dr Dorian Deathly as the Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours team digs into the history and horrors of these cases. “This show is not for the faint of heart,” he forewarns. Suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Nik Briggs: York Stage director back on stage to play a contestant in The Great British Bake Off Musical

York musical premiere of the week: York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, November 5 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BAKING battles, singing sponges and a sprinkling of hilarity is the recipe for York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical, rising to the occasion under the direction of Nik Briggs, who also makes a rare stage appearance as one of the Bake Off contestants.

Expect a sweet and savoury symphony of British wit and oven mitts, propelled by a menu of  jazz hands and jubilant original songs that capture the essence of the Bake Off tent, from nerve-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become fruitful reality. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Katie Leckey: Directing Griffonage Theatre’s three nights of Kafka’ strangest short stories in the House of Trembling Madness cellar in Lendal

Deliciously disturbing stories of the week: Griffonage Theatre, Kafka By Candlelight, The House Of Trembling Madness, Lendal, York, November 5 to 7. 6.30pm and 8.30pm  

“NO rest for the week,” say Griffonage Theatre, York’s purveyors of the madcap and the macabre, who are performing Kafka By Candlelight in the cavernous belly of the House Of Trembling Madness cellar as part of Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s debut  Aesthetica Fringe, featuring 25 shows across the city.

This one showcases five of Franz Kafka’s strangest short stories, told disturbingly in the darkness with the audience in masks (optional). “Dare to join us?” they tease. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/kafka-by-candlelight-tickets-1815618316259.

York actor, writer and director Constance Peel: Presenting Service Please at Aesthetica Fringe 2025

In Focus: Introducing Constance Peel, Service Please, Aesthetica Fringe, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, November 4 and 7, 8.30pm; Micklegate Social, Micklegate, York, November 9, 2pm and 8pm

CONSTANCE (Connie) Peel, York-born director, producer, writer and performer, will present her debut one-woman show Service Please as part of the inaugural Aesthetica Fringe.

“I’ve been working as an assistant director and performer in theatre professionally for the past two years, since graduating from the University of York,” says Connie, 24. “This show explores the reality of working in hospitality, including the harassment and sexism you can face as a young woman.”

Service Please is billed as “a relatable and comedic monologue that follows Lara, a creative writing graduate, who hopes to write the next best-selling fantasy romance novel. There’s only one thing standing in her way, her casual waitressing job that keeps the money coming in.”

“We’ve all been there, but Lara wasn’t ready for the stressful and chaotic reality of working in the service industry,” says Connie, introducing her monodrama. “Can Lara keep her sanity and get her big writing break or will she crumble under the pressure of understaffed shifts, creepy comments and customers who say their only food allergies are ‘women’?”

Hospitality is the fastest-growing economic sector, worth £93 billion to the UK economy. “But it’s under severe pressure with more than 100,000 job losses predicted by the time of this month’s Budget, due to National Insurance rises (according to UK Hospitality),” says Connie.

“It’s evident working in the sector that to continue profits and keep up with the cost of living, food prices and discounts both need to increase while labour hours decrease. Being a server has never been more stressful and unpredictable and this experience (as other working-class experiences) is so often overlooked by theatre.” 

Sexual harassment is an epidemic in the hospitality industry too, says Connie. “As many as 47 per cent of workers having experienced it – and 69 per cent witnessed it in 2021 (Culture Shift).

“These statistics, though informative, mask the personal cost to the individuals harassed and abused. My play presents interpretations of my own personal experiences, including those with harassment, and they’re an unfortunate part of the job when working as a waitress.

“They shouldn’t be, and awareness of this experience even in Fringe-scale theatre is always beneficial to the cause.” 

Lastly, says Connie, Service Please tells the story of an artist with no clear way into her industry. “This is the most personally accurate part of my script. I wrote and performed the 50-minute monologue while producing and marketing it alone for its six-day debut run at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe, where it won plaudits from critics and top reviews.

“Though this is hopeful for creatives, both in the execution of the play and my own story behind it, I wanted to show the emotional toll of struggling as an artist, especially as in the past five years there has been one third fewer art jobs (directly impacting my career).

“It was important that I brought this show back to where my career started, in York where I graduated from the University of York and where I’ve been working for the past three years between York and Leeds. I hope this production and my story makes people see the importance of a small-scale play like this in today’s society.” 

For tickets, go to: ticketsource.co.uk.

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Everwitch Theatre present Bomb Happy D-Day 80, Hank & Smudger’s Stories at Shepherds Hall, Lealholm, tonight

George Stagnell, playing D-Day veteran Dennis “Hank” Haydock, in a scene from In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, filmed in Duncombe Park woodland

EVERWITCH Theatre will stage Bomb Happy D-Day 80: Hank & Smudger’s Stories, an evening of film and wartime spoken word, for a second time tonight.

First presented at Helmsley Arts Centre on June 1 in the lead-up to the 80th anniversary commemorations in Normandy, France, on June 6, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park and Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat will be presented at Shepherds Hall, Lealholm, near Whitby, at 7pm when a full house will attend.  

Looking ahead, Everwitch writer and director Helena Fox says: “After putting on the Helmsley and Shepherds Hall performances as our preview showings, we’re in the process of planning a tour next year to venues in the North to commemorate VE Day 80.

“We anticipate from the interest shown so far for these to include atmospheric non-arts venues, for example, historic Bamburgh Castle and the Second World War-themed  Eden Camp Modern History Museum. The film is being entered into international festivals too.”

The premiere at Helmsley Arts Centre drew a full house too, including York actor George Stagnell, making a quiet entrance after travelling up from his London home to watch his film role.

He had first appeared in the 2017 tour of Helena Fox’s Bomb Happy, a play inspired by the playwright’s conversations in 2016 with Yorkshire Normandy veterans. She had since returned to those conversations to create two new pieces for the 80th anniversary, opening the Helmsley show with Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat, a live performance of verbatim spoken word and nostalgic a cappella song, presented by Fox in tandem with singer Natasha Jones.

They brought to life anew the first-hand accounts of D-Day veteran Private Ken “Smudger” Smith, from Armley, Leeds, those words echoing down the years as they charted the lifelong impact of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and sleep trauma.  

The first showing of black-and-white images from Ken Smith’s personal photo collection that followed his journey during an equally traumatic time in the Middle East after victory in Europe made Smith’s observations all the more resonant. Can a soldier ever find peace after the atrocities of war?

There followed, for that one night only, a new short story of an act of reconciliation for the 80th anniversary of D-Day: Our Mum, Our Dad, And A Door Handle, written and performed by Dorothy Bilton, daughter of Bomb Happy D-Day veteran Bert Barritt, whose experiences had featured in Bomb Happy.

Helena Fox, left, and Natasha Jones

George Stagnell had played Private Ken “Cookey” Cooke, from York, in Fox’s play. Cookey, the last of the Bomb Happy veterans still alive, had hoped to make the Helmsley performance, but in the end his energies were poured into attending the D-Day commemorations, where his television interviews were as poignant and lucid as ever.

For In the Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, he switched to Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock, conscripted at 18 from Sheffield to serve as a Sherman tank gunner in the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards.

Written and directed by Fox, her debut 30-minute film was shot by Jay Sillence of York company InkBlot Films on location in the woodland of Duncombe Park, near Helmsley, in July 2022. On the hottest day of the year. Pretty much in one continuous take, re-takes kept to a minimum with film stock running low.

Stagnell has previous form for wartime memoir, performing a remarkable one-man adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful at the John Cooper Studio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York in March 2017 and later at the Edinburgh Fringe.  Next came Bomb Happy and later, in 2021, a performance piece about Hank Haydock at Duncombe Park, where the young conscript had trained.

Stagnell is not an experienced film actor, but he has the attributes of stillness, presence, focus, in his understated yet weighted performance, allied to a mellifluous voice and mesmeric eyes, made for the big screen.

He looks the period part too, and he serves the words of Hank Haydock wonderfully well, especially when filmed in close up, as well as when striding through the woodland, looking skywards, as rueful as truthful in his demeanour.  

As Robert Laurence Binyan wrote in his poem For The Fallen, published in The Times on September 21 1914, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning/We will remember them.” Now, the archivist works of Helena Fox, the profound performance of George Stagnell, will do likewise in honouring those that served, ensuring their words, their foreboding, yet their camaraderie too, shall live on.  

Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, Hank & Smudger’s Stories, Shepherds Hall, Lealholm, near Whitby, 7pm. For returns only: 01947 897011. All the Shepherds Hall hosting fee will be donated to the Royal British Legion.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as Pride comes out to play. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 23 for 2024, from The Press, York

Angels Of The North: Headlline drag act at York Pride today

PRIDE pageantry and wartime memoirs, open studios and open-air Status Quo lead off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.

Celebration of the week: York Pride, Knavesmire, York, today

NORTH Yorkshire’s biggest LGBT+ celebration opens with the Parade March for equality and human rights from Duncombe Place, outside York Minster, at 12 noon, processing through the city-centre streets, up Bishopthorpe Road to the festival’s Knavesmire site.

Pride events will be spread between the main stage, Queer Arts’ cabaret tent, Polymath’s dance tent and a funfair, complemented by a licensed bar and marketplace. Among the main stage acts will be headliners Angels Of The North, alias winner Ginger Johnson, Tomara Thomas and Michael Marouli, from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 5, plus Max George, Big Brovaz & Booty Luv, Jaymi Hensley, Janice D and Eric Spike.  Full details: yorkpride.org.uk.

Into the woods: George Stagnell as Dennis “Hank” Haydock in the short film In The Footsteps of Hank Haydock, premiered at Helmsley Arts Centre tonight

D-Day landmark of the week: Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock (film premiere) and Sleep/Re-live/Wake Repeat (live performance), Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm

TO commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Bomb Happy playwright Helena Fox has created two poignant, lyrical new works telling the stories of two Yorkshire Normandy veterans from conversations and interviews she held with them in 2016.

Featuring York actor George Stagnell, the short film In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park was shot on location in the Duncombe Park woodland with its lyrical account of Coldstream Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock’s experiences in his own words. In Sleep/Re-Live/Wake/Repeat, playwright Helena Fox and vocalist Natasha Jones bring to life the first-hand experiences of D-Day veteran Ken “Smudger” Smith and the lifelong impact of PTSD and sleep trauma through spoken word and a cappella vocals. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

York artist Adele Karmazyn: Taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios

Art event of the week: North Yorkshire Open Studios 2024, today and tomorrow, June 8 and 9, 10am to 5pm

STRETCHING from the coast to the moors, dales and beyond, 169 artists and makers from North Yorkshire’s artistic community invite you to look inside their studios over the next two weekends.

Taking part in and around York will be Robin Grover-Jacques, Adele Karmazyn, Anna Cook, Boxxhead, Simon Palmour, Duncan McEvoy, Evie Leach, Jane Atkin, Jane Dignum, Jen Dring, Parkington Hatter, Jo Walton, Kitty Pennybacker, Lu Mason, Robert Burton, Lincoln Lightfoot, Sharon McDonagh, Claire Castle, Rosie Bramley, Emma Welsh, Lesley Peatfield, Gonzalo Blanco and Freya Horsley. For full details, go to: nyos.org.uk. A full brochure is available.

Isobel Staton: Directing Cain and Abel for A Creation For York, today’s York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust promenade production

York community play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Creation For York, around Micklegate, York, today, from 2pm and 3.30pm

YORK Mystery Plays Supporters Trust stages a trilogy of 20-minute plays from the Creation cycle, directed by Katie Smith, Dan Norman and Isobel Staton under Dr Tom Straszewski’s mentorship.

The promenade procession starts with Smith’s The Creation Of Man at St Columba’s, Priory Street, at 2pm and 3.30pm, and progresses to Holy Trinity, Micklegate, for Norman’s The Fall Of Man at 3pm and 4.30pm, then onwards to St Martin’s Stained Glass Centre, Micklegate, for Staton’s Cain And Abel at 4pm and 5.30pm. Tickets: ympst.co.uk/creation.

The poster artwork for Navigators Art & Performance’s night of live music, spoken word and comedy, The Basement Sessions #4, at City Screen Picturehouse

Navigators Art & Performance at York Festival of Ideas (festival running from today until June 14)

YORK arts collective Navigators Art & Performance presents the Micklegate Art Trail, a collaboration between shops, restaurants, artists, makers and community groups, from today until June 23, 10am to 4pm, including a special exhibition at Blossom Street Gallery. Tomorrow is the “official” launch day with activities in participating venues from 11 am.

Tomorrow comes As I Walked Out One Evening, An Exploration of W H Auden’s Poetry in Words, Music and Performance with York musicians, poets and performers at Museum Street Tavern, York, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. On June 8, The Basement Sessions #4 offers a night of music, spoken word and comedy at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse at 7pm with Percy, Amy Albright, Cai Moriarty, Danae, Suzy Bradley, Kane Bruce, Rose Drew and John Pease. Tickets and full festival details: yorkfestivalofideas.com.

Rain or shine: Francis Rossi, left, leads veteran band Status Quo at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tomorrow

Coastal gig of the week: Status Quo, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Sunday, gates 6pm

DENIM rock legends Status Quo open the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, where they played previously in 2013, 2014 and 2016. Led as ever by founder Francis Rossi, who turned 75 on Wednesday, they must pick their set from 64 British hit singles, more than any other band. The support act will be The Alarm. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/statusquo.

Georgia Lennon, as Paula Pofriki and Luke Baker as Zack Mayo in An Officer And A Gentleman, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Musical of the week: An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, June 4 to 8, 8pm, Tuesday, 7.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday, plus 2.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees

NORTH Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster directs Leeds-born actor Luke Baker as fearless young officer candidate Zack Mayor in the Curve, Leicester touring production of An Officer And A Gentleman.

Once an award-winning 1982 Taylor Hackford film, now Douglas Day Stewart’s story of love, courage and redemption comes re-booted with George Dyer’s musical theatre arrangements and orchestrations of pop bangers by Bon Jovi, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie and the signature song (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Guy Rhys, centre, as Captain Ahab in Simple8’s Moby Dick, setting sail at York Theatre Royal next week

Touring play of the week: Simple8 in Moby Dick, York Theatre Royal, June 6 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

SEBASTIAN Armesto’s stage adaptation captures the spirit of Herman Melville’s novel – romantic, ambiguous and rich with allegory – for Simple8, specialists in creating worlds out of nothing in bold new plays that tackle big ideas with large casts.

Armed with sea shanties played live on stage, planks of wood, tattered sheets and a battered assortment of musical instruments, the ensemble of actors and actor-musicians, led by Guy Rhys’s whale-seeking Captain Ahab, brings Moby Dick ingeniously to life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In Focus: Northern Silents presents G W Pabst’s film Diary Of A Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, at NCEM, York, June 11

“From the pit of despair to the moment of personal awakening”: Louise Brooks’s

TRAILBLAZING New York raga pianist Utsav Lal will provide the live score for Diary Of A Lost Girl, a rarely shown gem of German silent cinema starring Louise Brooks, at the National Centre for Early Music, York, on June 11 at 7.30pm.

Premiered in Vienna, Austria, on September 12 1929, and now screened by Northern Silents, G W Pabst’s film traces the journey of a young woman from the pit of despair to the moment of personal awakening.

Directed with virtuoso flair by Pabst, Diary Of A Lost Girl (PG, 104 minutes) represents the final pairing of the Czechia-born Austrian filmmaker with American silent screen icon Louise Brooks, mere months after their first collaboration in the now-legendary Pandora’s Box, for which Brooks had arrived in Berlin on October 14 1928 to play alluring temptress Lulu.

In Diary Of A Lost Girl, she is pharmacist Robert Henning’s innocent daughter Thymian, who is traumatised by the suicide of housekeeper Elisabeth after her father expels her from the house.

Even more so when Henning’s assistant rapes Thymian. Pregnant, she refuses to marry her assailant, prompting her outraged father to sendher to a reformatory for “wayward women”, where a cruel regime prevails. Henning, meanwhile, makes advances towards new housekeeper, Meta, who insists Thymian should not be allowed to return home.

Thymian escapes with her friend Erika but discovers that her child has passed away. She joins Erika in working at a brothel, then marries a count, but can she ever escape her past?

Pianist Utsav Lal, noted for his innovative performances at Carnegie Hall, Southbank Centre and around the world, will improvise a unique live score at the 7.30pm screening.

Huddersfield-based Northern Silents will return to the NCEM with another fusion of new music and vintage film on October 15. Watch this space for more details.

Tickets for Diary Of A Lost Girl are on sale on 01904 658338 and at ncem.co.uk.

In Focus too: Anita Klein, 30 Years In York, exhibition launch at Pyramid Gallery, York, today at 12 noon

Poster artwork for Anita Klein’s 30 Years In York exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York

ARTIST Anita Klein will attend today’s opening of her Thirty Years In York exhibition of paintings, linocuts and etchings at Pyramid Gallery, York.

“Anita was one of the first artist printmakers to be shown here and has shown her work in York constantly since June 1994,” says Terry Brett, owner and curator of the gallery in Stonegate.

That first exhibition marked a dramatic change in both the look of the gallery and its fortunes under the new ownership of Terry, who took the keys to Pyramid Gallery on May 31 1994 with his then partner and wife Elaine.

“As soon as Elaine and I had taken over the gallery, I contacted the Greenwich Printmaking co-operative who ran a shop in Greenwich market,” Terry recalls. “They agreed to do a show and I collected work by 15 artists in my car.

“Several of those artists have supplied Pyramid Gallery regularly for 30 years. The first print that sold was a small drypoint print by Anita Klein, which I had put in the window one evening, before the show had opened.”

Terry continues: “Anita was not a big name in the art world in 1994, but she certainly had a following and has since had a very successful career as an artist with features on BBC Radio and national newspapers and magazines.

Pyramid Gallery curator Terry Brett with Anita Klein works and a copy of her 2022 book Out Of The Ordinary, charting her career since 1982

“‘From working with Anita and other former Greenwich artists, such as Mychael Barratt, Trevor Price and Louise Davies, I have come to realise that the relationship between artist and gallery is something that is really worth nurturing. I place great importance on visiting the South East London-based artists, personally collecting the work for each show.”

To mark the start of Terry Brett’s 30th year as a gallerist, Anita Klein is travelling up from London to attend today’s opening from 12 noon to 2pm, when she will sign copies of her 2022 book, Out Of The Ordinary, too.

Australian-born Anita began her career by studying painting on degree and post-graduate courses at the Slade School of Art, where she was influenced by Paula Rego, who encouraged her to “draw what she wanted to draw”.

In response, she started to capture scenes depicting ordinary moments of her own life. Given expert guidance at the school, she learnt to reproduce those sketches using the various techniques of printmaking.

She met her future husband and artist Nigel Swift at the Slade. From the outset, Anita’s artistic diary of her life has often featured amusing or romantic scenes of the two of them or sometimes only  ‘Nige’ in the throes of some activity that Anita has observed and captured in a sketch.

In 1984 she was awarded the Joseph Webb Memorial prize by the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers to spend the summer drawing from the Italian masters. Anita and Nigel stayed in a flat in Arezzo, Tuscany, and filled sketch books with sketches of Italian frescoes.

Casserole, linocut, by Anita Klein

Soon after, they married and had two children, Maia and Leia, Anita recording it all in many small prints using techniques that included woodcuts, etching, lithograph, aquatint and drypoint. When their daughters were small, she made small sketches while they were asleep and developed them into drypoint prints at a printmaking evening class.

For her first solo show in 1986, she had a year to prepare enough images to fill a gallery in London, which led her to simplify the way she worked. Fortunately for all her followers and collectors, the first show was successful and led to another solo show elsewhere.

Many years later, after she supplied her work to as many as 60 galleries, the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers elected Anita to the prestigious position as president. During those 38 years, her work and life has been profiled in national newspapers and magazines and on BBC Radio 4’s Home Truths, presented by John Peel.

In 2007, Anita and Nigel bought a flat in a medieval hilltop town in Tuscany. After painting large oils from her studio in London for many years, she started to paint in acrylics on canvas when staying in Italy.

By using acrylics, she was able to roll up the paintings and carry them back to London, which in turn enabled Pyramid Gallery to show a few of her paintings, along with a larger exhibition of the prints.

For Terry, the choice of Anita Klein to begin a year of anniversary celebratory shows, is apt. “My own family life corresponds quite closely with Anita’s in that I got married about the same time and had two daughters, Elinor and Suzy, just two years prior to the births of Maia and Leia,” he says.

Artist Anita Klein: 30 years of exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, York

“I could relate to almost every image that Anita created about her family life. When I was helping my two daughters learn to drive, Anita produced a print that could easily have been about us. We even had a similar car. ‘Picking Maia and Leia up from School’ or ‘Driving to Ballet’ could also easily have been about my own family.”

When asked how she came to start documenting her own life, Anita says: “There was no plan to start with. Drawing my everyday life was at first a continuation of the kind of drawings I did as a child. And as I spent the first 20 or so years of my career bringing up my two children with no extra childcare help, it was really the only subject matter I knew.

“Looking back, I can see that I have always wanted to hold onto and celebrate the ordinary. The small repetitive joys that can so easily go unnoticed and unappreciated.”

 Knowing how fortunate he is still to be able to represent an eminent London artist with such a large following, Terry asked Anita: “What does Pyramid Gallery and York mean to you?”.

“Pyramid Gallery has been very good to me over the years, showing and selling my work from the very early days of my career while other galleries have come and gone,” she says. “At one point I had prints in over 60 galleries worldwide.

“These days I have cut this down substantially – the Internet and social media enables me to reach a wide audience, and Pyramid is one of only a small handful of galleries that has a large selection of my work.” 

Eating Pizza, linocut, by Anita Klein

Mounting this exhibition has enabled Terry to pause a while and “take a long look at the gallery more as a pleasurable activity than as a business”.

“Sometimes I can become a bit too focused on the sales figures and the marketing, but in recent weeks I’ve been looking forward to celebrating the landmark of having been nurturing the gallery for three decades, as if it were a part of me that I have to ease through challenges and crises,” he says.

“Pyramid Gallery has become a meeting point for those that need to create and those that need the joy of feeling moved or inspired. It really is more about people than it is about art.

“It gives me a glowing feeling of warmth that I am able to connect a great artist like Anita, who is a storyteller and recorder of social history and of human emotions, with those who visit the gallery for exactly the same experience that inspired the creation of the images.”

For Terry’s 30th anniversary show, Anita will be showing two or three acrylic paintings alongside coloured linocut prints and many black-and-white images of various sizes with a price range from £96 for a small etching up to £7,000 for a large painting.

Here Terry Brett puts questions to Anita Klein

Pyramid Gallery owner Terry Brett with works by Anita Klein

You first supplied Pyramid Gallery as part of a show by Greenwich Printmakers in 1994. How important was that co-operative to you and was it an easy decision to be part of that show?

“Greenwich Printmakers was a vital first step to exhibiting and selling my work, both through their gallery in Greenwich Market and through their ‘outside exhibitions’. Those exhibitions introduced my work to a number of regional galleries, including Pyramid.

“In the days before social media it was crucial to get your work seen as much as possible in galleries, so that first show was a great opportunity for me. 

In those days you were bringing up two small daughters and doing your art on the floor when they were napping. Many of your drypoints were quite small – was this by choice or a necessity?

“I did some painting when my children were small, but without a studio in the early days I was limited to small-scale work. I drew my drypoints while the children slept and printed them once a week at a printmaking evening class.” 

Do you enjoy being ‘dragged out’ of London to open a show in York?

“It’s wonderful to have exposure of my work in York, and it’s always a pleasure to visit such a fascinating and vibrant city.” 

When did you realise that other people would very quickly find parallels in their own lives and connect so easily with your work?

“It came as a surprise at first that other people saw themselves in my work. I thought my life was unique! Now I know that we are all much more alike than we think, especially in the most private parts of our lives.” 

Cold water wild swimming has become an important activity to you. Does the need for a new image in your art ever drive you to do find new places to swim?

“Not really. I can always make up the backgrounds! But I’m always on the lookout for beautiful places to swim, so just as with all other parts of my life this feeds into my work.”

June Flowers, linocut, by Anita Klein
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Everwitch Theatre marks 80th anniversary with Bomb Happy D-Day 80 film premiere and performance at Helsmsley Arts Centre

George Stagnell, playing D-Day veteran Dennis “Hank” Haydock, in a scene from In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, filmed in Duncombe Park woods

TO commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day this year, Bomb Happy playwright Helena Fox has created two poignant, lyrical new works telling the stories of two Yorkshire Normandy veterans from conversations and interviews she held with them in 2016.

One a film, the other a combination of word and song, they will be premiered by Everwitch Theatre at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday night (1/6/2024).

York actor George Stagnell, part of Everwitch Theatre’s original Bomb Happy touring cast in 2017, stars in the short film In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park.

Shot by York company InkBlot Films on location in the woodland of Duncombe Park, near Helmsley, the 30-minute film recounts Coldstream Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock’s experiences in his own words, both his training in the Second World War tank encampment in those woods and on the frontline.

In Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat: Smudger’s Story, writer Helena Fox and vocalist Natasha Jones bring to life the first-hand accounts of D-Day veteran Private Ken “Smudger” Smith, from Armley, Leeds,  and the lifelong impact of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and sleep trauma through verbatim spoken word and haunting a cappella vocals.

Word and song will be complemented by the first showing of black-and-white images from Ken Smith’s personal photo collection that follow his journey during an equally traumatic time in the Middle East after victory in Europe.

Playwright Helena Fox, left, and singer Natasha Jones: Presenting Sleep/Re-Live/Wake/Repeat: Smudger’s Story at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow

“Both the film and live performance use first-hand testimonies of two Second World War veterans, ordinary Yorkshire lads who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, following their unique journeys from civilian to soldier and back to civilian,” says Helena.

“At times humorous, at times harrowing, both film and spoken-word performance allow a close-up insight into life on the frontline and give a rare glimpse into life for someone beset by memories of war.”

George Stagnell, who will be heading up from his new London home to attend Saturday’s premiere, played Private Ken “Cookey” Cooke, from York, in Fox’s play Bomb Happy.

For In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park, he switched to Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock, conscripted at 18 from Sheffield to serve as a Sherman tank gunner in the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards.

“The chance to play Hank Haydock first came about in 2021 when Helena got in touch to ask if I’d be interested in doing this performance piece around Duncombe Park, where he had trained,” says George.

“We performed it in June, with social distancing [under Covid restrictions), doing a walk around the remains of the Nissen huts and tank maintenance pits in the woodland.

George Stagnell as Ken ‘Cookey’ Cooke, second from right, with Joe Sample as Ken “Smudger” Smith, left, Carl Wylie as George “Merry” Meredith, Thomas Lillywhite as Albert “Bert” Barritt and Adam Bruce as Dennis ‘Hank’ Haydock in Everwitch Theatre’s Bomb Happy in 2017. Picture: Michael J Oakes

“I stepped in for another actor who couldn’t do it, ending up learning 13 pages of script in two weeks, and it was a really good challenge, having not been able to do any acting during Covid. I thought ‘I’m going to be rusty’, but each day I worked on it, I became ingrained in it.”

Helena invited Jay Sillence and Mike Leigh Cooper, from InkBlot Films, to attend one of the hour-long performances. “Straightaway they said they really wanted to turn it into a short film, but the whole thing then ended up being postponed till summer-autumn 2022 because we all had other commitments, rather than September 2021 as first planned.”

Lines restored to his head, George took on the unfamiliar task of being filmed in 2022. “It was tricky because, truth be told, I don’t have a huge amount of film experience, though I’m keen to do more,” he says. “I had a chat with Helena where she said, ‘it’s still story telling’.

“Bomb Happy was a physical play, creating scenes behind boxes or having to crouch down. With the filming, it’s all about the words, trusting in Hank’s memoir, and it helps that’s his own words, which makes it so poignant and gut-wrenching.

“We made a few cuts as we didn’t want it to be the full-hour but more concentrated, with lots of close-up head shots.”

Ken “Smudger” Smith, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry veteran, standing in the corn at Hill 112, where he fought in July 1944. Picture: Paul Reed

Bomb Happy had spread the focus between five D-Day veterans, “Hank” Haydock, Ken “Smudger” Smith, Ken “Cookey” Cooke, Albert “Bert” Barritt and George “Merry” Meredith, but first the Duncombe Park walk and now the film have “gone a lot deeper” into Hank’s character. “A lot of it has come from Hank’s wartime diaries and memoirs that Helena was allowed to use, whereas the other accounts were verbatim from her interviews,” says George.

His filming was done largely in one continuous take in July, on the hottest day of the year, re-taking only a few lines “if we felt the need”. “That was part of the excitement, doing it only one go, so it was like theatre in that sense,” he says. “You allow Hank’s words to do the work for you.

“Sadly I never got to meet him, but one of the things I’d been told was that he was reserved and a deep thinker, and I strongly connected with that. Like all the veterans in Bomb Happy, he was still able to find positive things in his reflections, like funny memories of his training camp days, or reminiscing about the start of a relationship,  still feeling beauty in such horrific circumstances alongside remembering the more difficult experiences.”

*In addition to the film and live performance, Saturday’s programme will feature a new short story of an act of reconciliation for the 80th anniversary of D-Day: Our Mum, Our Dad, And A Door Handle, written and performed by Dorothy Bilton, daughter of Bomb Happy D-Day veteran Bert Barritt.

Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock (film premiere) and Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat: Smudger’s Story  (live performance), Helmsley Arts Centre, June 1, 7.30pm. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Bomb Happy definition

“BOMB Happy is a slang phrase we use for being under fire for many days at a time,” said D-Day veteran Ken “Smudger” Smith. “It does describe the condition you become.”  

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond when artists open studios. Here’s Hutch’s List No 18, from Gazette & Herald

Into the woods: George Stagnell as Dennis “Hank” Haydock in In The Footsteps of Hank Haydock, premiered at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday

WARTIME memoirs and Catholic women trailblazers, open studios and open-air Status Quo lead off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.

Double bill of the week: Everwitch Theatre, Bomb Happy D-Day 80, In The Footsteps Of Hank Haydock (film premiere) and Sleep/Re-live/Wake/Repeat (theatre), Helmsley Arts Centre, June 1, 7.30pm

TO commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Bomb Happy playwright Helena Fox has created two poignant, lyrical new works telling the stories of two Yorkshire Normandy veterans from conversations and interviews she held with them in 2016.

Featuring York actor George Stagnell, the short film In the Footsteps of Hank Haydock: A Walk In The Park was shot on location in the Duncombe Park woodland with its lyrical account of Coldstream Guardsman Dennis “Hank” Haydock’s experiences in his own words. In Sleep/Re-Live/Wake/Repeat, playwright Helena Fox and vocalist Natasha Jones bring to life the first-hand experiences of D-Day veteran Ken “Smudger” Smith and the lifelong impact of PTSD and sleep trauma through spoken word and a cappella vocals. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Mary Ward (Augsberg portrait): Foundress of the Bar Convent, as featured in the Trailblazers audio trail

York exhibition of the week; Trailblazers of the Bar Convent, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until September 30, 10am to 5pm; last entry 4pm

AS part of the citywide York Trailblazers sculpture trail, the Trailblazers of the Bar Convent audio trail uncovers tories behind key characters down the years at the oldest surviving Catholic convent in Great Britain.

Using QR codes, visitors will discover more about the trailblazing women whose bravery and determination made history locally, nationally and around the world. Among them are foundress Mary Ward, who believed that girls deserved an equal education to boys; Mother Superior Ann Aspinal, who determined to build a secret chapel totally hidden from the outside world, and Sister Gregory Kirkus, who set up the convent’s first ever museum. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.

Kathyrn Williams & Withered Hand: Heading to Selby Town Hall tonight

Duo of the week: Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand, Selby Town Hall, tonight, 8pm

KATHRYN Williams is the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based, Mercury Music Prize-nominated singer-songwriter with 16 albums to her name. Withered Hand is singer-songwriter Dan Willson (CORRECT), from the Scottish underground scene.

They first met in 2019 in an Edinburgh Book Festival spiegeltent, prompting Williams to tweet Willson: “What kind of songs would we write together and what would they sound like?” The results can be heard on the album Willson Williams, released on One Little Independent Records, and in concert in Selby. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.

The poster for the three-day Drawsome! 2024 festival in York

York festival of the week: Drawsome! 2024, Young Thugs Studio, May 31; The Crescent, June 1; Arts Barge, Foss Basin, York, June 2

DRAWSOME! combines exhibitions and workshops with live music each evening. Things Found and Made is exhibiting at The Golden Ball, Cromwell Road, from May 31 and Greek-Australian graphic novel artist Con Chrisoulis for one night only at Young Thugs Studio, Ovington Terrace, on May 31 from 7pm, when Ichigo Evil, Plantfood, Mickey Nomimono and Drooligan will be performing.

On June 1, Bonneville, Lou Terry, Captain Starlet and Leafcutter John play at The Crescent community venue, where workshops run from 1 to 4pm, featuring Bits and Bots Recycled Robot, with Tom Brader, and Creative Visible Mending, with Anna Pownall, complemented by Zine Stalls hosted by Things Found and Made, Adam Keay and Teresa Stenson. 

On June 2, the Arts Barge presents Dana Gavanski, Kindelan, Moongate and We Are Hannah, after three 11am to 2pm workshops: Poem Fishing with Becca Drake and Jessie Summerhayes, Adana Letterpress and lino printing, and Screenprinting with Kai West. 

Sarah Sharpe: Opening her studio at Viriditas Nook, Mill Beck House, 2 Pinewood, Norton, Malton, for North Yorkshire Open Studios

North Yorkshire Open Studios 2024, June 1 and 2, 8 and 9, 10am to 5pm

STRETCHING from the coast to the moors, dales and beyond, 169 artists and makers from North Yorkshire’s artistic community invite you to look inside their studios over the next two weekends.

The event is organised by the artist-run collective North Yorkshire Open Studios, which supports painters, sculptors, printmakers, jewellers, ceramicists and photographers. Taking part in the Malton area will be Angela Cole (Westow), Catriona Stewart (Norton), Sandra Oakins (Norton), Jo Naden (Scagglethorpe), Sarah Sharpe (Norton) and Jonathan Moss (Malton). For full details, go to: nyos.org.uk. A full brochure is available.

Status Quo: Francis Rossi, left, leads his legendary band at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Coastal gig of the week: Status Quo, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 2, gates 6pm

DENIM rock legends Status Quo open the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, where they played previously in 2013, 2014 and 2016. Led as ever by founder Francis Rossi, who turns 75 today, they must pick their set from 64 British hit singles, more than an any other band. The support act will be The Alarm. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/statusquo.

Georgia Lennon as Paula Pokrifki and Luke Baker as Zack Mayo in An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical. Picture: Marc Brenner

Musical of the week: An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, June 4 to 8, 8pm, Tuesday, 7.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday, plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

NORTH Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster directs Leeds-born actor Luke Baker as fearless young officer candidate Zack Mayor in the Curve, Leicester touring production of An Officer And A Gentleman.

Once an award-winning 1982 Taylor Hackford film, now Douglas Day Stewart’s story of love, courage and redemption comes re-booted with George Dyer’s musical theatre arrangements and orchestrations of pop bangers by Bon Jovi, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie and the signature song (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Graffiti Classics!: “Making classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating” at Milton Rooms, Malton

Breaking boundaries: Graffiti Classics!, Milton Rooms, Malton, June 14, 8pm

GRAFFITI Classics! is not only a classical concert but also a gypsy-folk romp, an opera, a stand-up comedy set and dance show rolled into one uplifting, virtuosic experience.

Bursting the “elitist boundaries of the traditional string quartet”, Graffiti Classics! embraces Beethoven to bluegrass, baroque to pop, Mozart to Elvis, Strauss to Saturday Night Fever, as 16 strings, eight dancing feet and four voices combine with one aim: “to make classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating for everyone, young and old”. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Shakespeare In Love, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday ****

Sanna Jeppsson in noblewoman Viola’s guise as young actor Thomas Kent. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

SHAKESPEARE In Love was a film about theatre, as much as it was about love. Now it is a play about theatre, with even more theatre in it, more Marlowe as well as Shakespeare, as much as it is still about love.

It makes perfect sense to transfer the period rom-com from screen to its natural bedfellow, the stage, and who better than Lee Hall to effect that transition.  

For the north-eastern mining and dancing drama Billy Elliot, he adapted his own screenplay; this time, he makes merry with Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman’s boisterous and romantic script for John Madden’s 1999 award-winner, ruffing it up to the neck in Shakespeare in-jokes, but not roughing up its sophisticated wit.

Robert Readman: Producer, set designer and builder, costume guru and thespian, playing hammy Elizabethan actor Ned Alleyn. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Pick Me Up Theatre’s always quick-off-the-mark founder, Robert Readman, was typically speedy to pick up the rights to Shakespeare In Love for the York company’s tenth anniversary, whereupon a series of spot-on decisions were made.

First, appoint Bard buff and Pick Me Up ace card Mark Hird to direct the rollicking romp. Second, bring George Stagnell back to the York stage to play the title role. Third, talent-spot Swedish-born Sanna Jeppsson in York Settlement Community Players’ The 39 Steps (even when it fell at the first step, called off through cast illness after one night last November).

Four, utilise Readman’s skills, not only as producer and designer/builder, but also his dormant love of performing. When you need a thick slice of ham to play larger-than-life Elizabethan actor Ned Alleyn, “prince of the provinces”, who you gonna call? Why, Mr Readman, of course, tapping into his inner plummy Simon Callow.

Sanna Jeppsson’s Viola de Lesseps and George Stagnell’s Will Shakespeare mutually admire his newly quilled lines in Shakespeare In Love. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Readman has conjured an end-on, raised stage built for the outdoors, but no less suited to the John Cooper Studio’s black box, with its echoes of Shakespeare’s Globe or the Rose; decorative flowers; curtains to cover amorous going-ons behind, and traps for hasty exits and entries.

Ensemble cast members sit beside the stage apron, watching the action when not involved. On a mezzanine level, musical director Natalie Walker and Royal College of Music student Tom Bennett are playing Paddy Cunneen’s gorgeous score.

Hird’s company looks the Elizabethan part too, Readman’s costume brief requiring hires from the Royal Shakespeare Company, no less, as well as York Theatre Royal and Leeds Playhouse, plus ear studs and earrings aplenty (for the men).

Ian Giles’s Henslowe and Andrew Roberts’s Ralph. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Praise too for Emma Godivala and York College’s work on hair, fake moustaches and make-up, especially for Jeppsson when taking the guise of young actor Thomas Kent.

The make-up for the men is deliberately heavy, in keeping with Shakespeare’s day, but everything else is conducted with a delightfully light touch under Hird’s direction, where the next scene chases the previous one off the stage, such is the gleeful urgency to crack on with such a cracking plot replete with cross-dressing, swordplay and backside-biting puppetry (courtesy of Elanor Kitchen’s Spot the Dog).

The only slowness is in the pace of lines coming to Shakespeare’s quill, surrounded by the company of actors awaiting the next play of his still fledgling career, outshone by dashing, daring Kit Marlowe (Adam Price), amusingly providing his young friend (Stagnell’s Will) with all his best lines.

Adam Price’s devil-may-care Kit Marlowe has a word with George Stagnell’s Will, in desperate disguise for his safety at this juncture. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Theatre bosses Henslowe (Ian Giles) and rival Richard Burbage (Tony Froud) are vying for Shakespeare’s services; theatre backer “The Money” Fennyman (Andrew Isherwood) keeps applying the financial squeeze, often with menaces; Tilney (Neil Foster), the supercilious Lord Chamberlain with the insufferable killjoy manner of Malvolio, is determined to shut down theatres, whatever excuse he can find.

Queen Elizabeth (Joy Warner) wants a dog to have its day in every play; Guy Wilson’s John Webster just wants a chance; Shakespeare needs a muse. Enter Jeppsson’s Viola de Lesseps, alas promised to the ghastly Lord Wessex (Jim Paterson) against her wishes. Viola is banned from the stage under the rules, but takes the dangerous step of performing as Thomas Kent, and what a performer he/she is.

Viola’s amusing West Country Nurse (Beryl Nairn) becomes the template for that very character in Romeo & Juliet, and as Shakespeare’s work in progress changes from comedy  to tragedy, Alleyn plays Mercutio, fabulously outraged at being killed off so early.

Sam Hird, left, and Tom Bennett, from the Royal College of Music, on song in Shakespeare In Love

Shakespeare In Love gives us a developing play within a play, and while it helps to have some knowledge of Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Burbage et al, it echoes Blackadder in having such fun with a period setting and re-writing history, here imagining how Romeo & Juliet and in turn Twelfth Night may have emerged.

What’s more, Stagnell and Jeppsson are a delight in the swelling love story, as well as in delivering Shakespeare’s lines when called on to do so.

Terrific performances abound around them, especially from Price, Isherwood, Paterson and Wilson, a young talent with a gift for physical comedy in the Marty Feldman and Tony Robinson tradition, while Warner’s cameos as Queen Elizabeth are a joy too.

To cap it all, Sam Hird and Tom Bennett’s performance of an Elizabethan ballad is beautiful, typical of  a swashbuckling performance that is a palpable hit in every way. If you love theatre, this play is why you do. If you don’t, go anyway and be converted. Tonight until Friday’s shows have sold out but tickets are still available for 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Review by Charles Hutchinson

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Shakespeare In Love’s celebration of the world of theatre moves from screen to stage in Pick Me Up Theatre’s hands

Pen pals: George Stagnell’s Will Shakespeare and Sanna Jeppsson’s Viola de Lesseps in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Shakespeare In Love. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen Photography

YORK company Pick Me Up Theatre mark their tenth anniversary with a rollicking celebration of the joys of theatre, Shakespeare In Love.

Adapted for the stage by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall from Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman’s screenplay for the Oscar-winning 1999 film, the Elizabethan love story will be performed under the direction of Bard buff Mark Hird at Theatre@ 41, Monkgate, from tomorrow (1/4/2022) to April 9.

First staged by Sonia Friedman Productions in the West End with Cheek By Jowl’s Declan Donnellan in the director’s chair in 2014, Hall’s play was snapped up for its York premiere by Pick Me Up’s ever-alert founder, artistic director, designer and producer, Robert Readman (who will be making a rare appearance as actor Ned Alleyn).

“When Robert got the rights, I read it, and straightaway I thought, ‘my god, it’s brilliant’, with Stoppard and Norman as the starting point for the fantastic script, and Lee Hall then transforming it into a great piece of theatre,” says director Mark Hird.

“Anyone who thinks this Shakespeare In Love will be just the film on stage, it’s absolutely not. It’s so theatrical, and that makes it such a joy to put on. That’s what so special about it: it’s a love letter to theatre as well as being a great love story.

Where there’s a quill, there’s a way: George Stagnell’s Will Shakespeare at work

“Anyone who comes to the play who loves theatre will leave with a great big smile on their face at all the theatrical allusions. Lee Hall has put even more theatre aficionado jokes in there.”

Shakespeare In Love delights in the love story of struggling young playwright Will Shakespeare (played by George Stagnell) and feisty, free-spirited young noblewoman Viola de Lesseps (Sanna Jeppsson), his greatest admirer, who helps him to overcome writer’s block and becomes his muse.

She will stop at nothing, even breaking the law and dressing as a boy actor to appear in his next play, whereupon, in this turbulent world of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola quickly blossoms, inspiring him to write his breakthrough romantic drama, Romeo and Juliet.

“Basically, you have Will Shakespeare right back in the early days of his career, having done Titus Andronicus, Two Gentlemen Of Verona and Henry VI, but he’s not yet had a big hit,” says Mark.

“All Marlowe’s plays are being bigger hits at the time, and in fact there’s a lot more of Kit Marlowe in the play than there was in the film,” says George.

“The play what I wrote”: George Stagnell’s Will shows his latest work to Sanna Jeppsson ‘s Viola

“But the love story is still at the heart of the play, and it’s as beautiful on stage as it was in the film, but there’s now a lot more changes of energy, moving back and forth from the chaotic rehearsals, and all the fun that goes with that, interspersed with the love story,” says Mark.

Sanna first saw the film on Swedish TV with Swedish subtitles before moving to Britain and has watched it again since landing her role as the ground-breaking Viola. “She’s a very brave woman, doing something that was forbidden at the time; something she wouldn’t be allowed to do, being in a space she wouldn’t have had access to as herself, having to take the guise of a boy actor, Thomas Kent,” she says.

“Being on stage, feeling so alive for the first time, I can connect with that. I remember going on a backstage tour of Mamma Mia!, and then getting to go out on to this amazing stage and looking at all those seats, and wanting to be on there performing.

“That’s what I bring with me when Viola comes on as Thomas Kent, knowing she shouldn’t be there, and normally could only imagine the audience looking at her.”

“I always like to go on stage before a show, when the auditorium is empty,” says George. “When it’s quiet and no-one’s there, you take the space in and imagine how it will erupt with life. It’s like the calm before the storm.”

Mark adds: “There’s something about an empty theatre: you can feel the presence of the ghosts of all those who have been there before.”

 Sanna rejoins: “A theatre is a space where anything can happen, that moment of magic and then it’s gone.”

George Stagnell’s Will and Sanna Jeppsson’s Viola in disguise as young actor Thomas Kent

George has focused on playing young Will Shakespeare, not the feted Bard. “Pretty much since day one, I’ve had to come in not thinking ‘this is William Shakespeare’,” he says. “I don’t want to have that mentality of thinking about who he became, but to see him as this young man trying to find his way through a very complicated time in history, in the early days of his writing, when there was a lot of history that we don’t know and a lot of conjecture.”

Mark concurs: “That’s what’s so gorgeous about this piece. We all think we know about Shakespeare, but here we are watching a three-dimensional character called Will.”

Sanna had studied Shakespeare “a little bit at school, but not in its original language”, when growing up in Molkom, but when she lived out her long-held dream of moving to London in 2013, she attended the International College of Musical Theatre, rather than focusing on classical theatre.

“Almost every other person in London is an actor, which makes it hard there, and so I moved to York in 2019, where I now work as a civil servant for the Ministry of Justice, sitting on in trials sometimes.”

From courtroom dramas, Sanna’s attention now switches to courtship dramas on stage.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Shakespeare In Love, Theatre@41 Monkgate, York, April 1 to 9, 7.30pm, except April 3 and 4; 2.30pm, April 2, 3 and 9 . Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York