Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond the paranormal before 2:22 in the morning. Hutch’s List No. 18, from The Press

Vera Chok and Jay McGuiness in a scene from 2:22 – A Ghost Story, haunting the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday

JUST a normal week? No, paranormal, more like, as a ghost story pumps up the spooks. Fear not, a Led Zeppelin legend, country-town teen days, a hope-filled musical and dances of love, loss and legacy are Charles Hutchinson’s picks too.  

New ghost to haunt “Europe’s most haunted city”: 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm fright-nightly; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday; 3.30pm, Friday

JENNY believes her new London home is haunted, hearing a disturbance every night at the same time, but husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben.

Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is drawing closer, so they decide to stay up… until 2:22 in the morning… and then they’ll know in The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s paranormal thriller, wherein secrets emerge and ghosts may, or may not, appear. Fiona Wade, George Rainsford and Vera Chok join The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness in Matthew Dunster & Isabel Marr’s cast. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Robert Plant’s Saving Grace: Playing Harrogate Royal Hall on Tuesday

Gig of the week outside York: Robert Plant’s Saving Grace, Harrogate Royal Hall, Tuesday, 8pm

ERSTWHILE Led Zeppelin singer and lyricist Robert Plant, now 75, leads the folk, Americana and blues co-operative Saving Grace, featuring Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar, and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic/baritone guitars, cuatro), on their 15-date Never Ending Spring itinerary. South Carolina singer-songwriter Taylor McCall supports. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Country matters: Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of Lost Content at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Touring play of the week: Henry Madd’s Land Of Lost Content, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NIC Connaughton, the Pleasance’s head of theatre, directs Land Of Lost Content, Henry Madd’s autobiographical insight into friendship, adolescence, forgiveness and life not going to plan in an empowering coming-of-age story about the trials of growing up in a small country town and its ongoing effects on two estranged mates.

Henry (Madd) and Jake (Marc Benga) were bored friends who grew up in Ludlow, where friendships were forged in failed adventures, bad habits and damp raves as they stumbled through teenage days looking for something to do. Then Henry moved away. Now he is back, needing to face up to the memories and the people he left behind. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Come From Away: Award-winning musical of hope, humanity and unity on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre

Musical of the week: Come From Away, Leeds Grand Theatre, Tuesday to May 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

IRENE Sankoff and David Hein’s four-time Olivier Award-winning musical tells the remarkable true story of 6,579 air passengers from around the world being grounded in Canada in the wake of 9/11. Whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts.

As spirited locals and global passengers come together to forge friendships, we meet first female American Airlines captain, the quick-thinking town mayor, the mother of a New York firefighter and the eager local news reporter in a celebration of hope, humanity and unity. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Claire Morley: Directing York Shakespeare Project in Sunday’s rehearsed reading of John Fletcher’s The Tamer Tamed. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

Battle of the sexes, round two: York Shakespeare Project in The Tamer Tamed, Creative Arts Centre Auditorium, York St John University, tomorrow (28/4/2024), 5pm

YORK Shakespeare Project complements this week’s run of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew at Theatre@41, Monkgate, with a rehearsed reading of John Fletcher’s Jacobean riposte to the Bard’s most controversial comedy, directed by Claire Morley.

In Fletcher’s sequel, the widowed Petruchio has a new wife and a new challenge as he discovers that he is not the only one who can do the taming. Fletcher borrows characters from Shakespeare and Ben Jonson and a key plot device from Ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes’s Lysistrata for his exploration of marriage and relationships. Box office: parrabbola.co.uk or yorkshakes.co.uk.

The poster for Alexander O’Neal’s farewell tour, Time To Say Goodbye, bound for York Barbican on May 3

Farewell tour of the Week: Alexander O’Neal, Time To Say Goodbye, York Barbican, May 3, 7.30pm

AFTER nearly five decades, Mississippi soul singer Alexander O’Neal is hitting the road one final time at 70 on his Time to Say Goodbye: Farewell World Tour, accompanied by his nine-piece band.

O’Neal will be undertaking a journey through his career with the aid of never-before-seen-photos, testimonies and tributes, all set to the tune of such hits as Criticize, Fake and If You Were Here Tonight. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk

Phoenix Dance Theatre in Dane Hurst’s Requiem, part of the Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love programme at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre in Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love, York Theatre Royal, May 3, 7.30pm; May 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

YORK Theatre Royal is the final venue on Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s first British tour since 2022 with a visceral triple bill of works by international dance makers Dane Hurst, Miguel Altunaga and Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis.

Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love opens with South African choreographer and former Phoenix artistic director Hurst’s reimagining of Mozart’s Requiem in response to pandemic-induced grief. Two world premieres follow: Afro-Cuban choreographer Altunaga’s first Phoenix commission, the daring Cloudburst, and Texas-born Jarrell Willis’s Terms Of Agreement. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Cult: Marking 40th anniversary with the 8424 tour this autumn. Picture: Jackie Middleton

Gig announcement of the week: The Cult, The 8424 Tour, York Barbican, October 29

SINGER Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy mark the 40th anniversary of The Cult, the Bradford band noted for their pioneering mix of post-punk, hard rock and melodramatic experimentalism, by heading out on The 8424 Tour.

Once dubbed “shamanic Goths”, Astbury and Duffy will perform songs from The Cult’s 11-album discography, from 1984’s Dreamtime to 2022’s Under The Midnight Sun, in a set sure to feature She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Love Removal Machine, Wild Flower and Lil’ Devil. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Posted on

Why Jay McGuiness wanted to jump into the paranormal thrills of 2:22 A Ghost Story

Jay McGuiness’s Ben in a clinch with Vera Chok’s Lauren in 2:22 A Ghost Story

WHEN Jay McGuiness, boy band singer, songwriter, Strictly champion, musical theatre actor and fantasy novelist, saw 2:22 A Ghost Story, he knew what he wanted to do next.

“I turned to my manager [Damien Sanders] and said, ‘I’ve got to do that’,” recalls The Wanted vocalist, who is now touring in Danny Robins’s supernatural thriller. Next stop York, visiting the Grand Opera House from April 30 to May 4.  

“Damien is a very convincing Cockney fella! He called up the casting agent, and after a successful reading, they said, ‘in you go’ – and then I had to wait five months for the new cast to start. It was like waiting for Christmas to come around!

“We had four weeks of rehearsals, which is more than enough for a play. We had time to get to know each other, whereas with musicals, you’re being whisked from one room to another, with lots of irons in the fire, dancing, doing your lines, trying on costumes.”

Newark-born Jay’s career in musicals had led indirectly to his participation in 2:22 A Ghost Story. “I saw the play because I did a musical with Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh: BIG! The Musical, based on the Tom Hanks film. We went to see Cheryl [Cole, from Girls Aloud], who was in the show.”

Was it scary? “I jumped out of my skin!” says Jay, 33. Next week you can find out why when he plays Ben alongside Vera Chok as Lauren, Fiona Wadeas Jenny and George Rainsfordas Sam in the show’s seventh cast.

Written by the award-winning Danny Robins, creator of the BBC podcast The Battersea Poltergeist, and directed by Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr, 2:22 is billed as “an adrenaline-filled night where secrets emerge and ghosts may, or may not, appear” as Robins asks: “What do you believe? And do you dare discover the truth?”

Tensions rising in the kitchen: Jay McGuinness’s Ben with Vera Chok’s Lauren, left, and Fiona Wade’s Jenny in Danny Robins’s 2:22 A Ghost Story

“I continue to be blown away by the success of this play,” says Danny. “It demonstrates a huge appetite and curiosity for all things paranormal. This fabulous seventh cast for the 2024 leg of the tour will bring their own energy to these characters, telling the story anew for audiences across the UK.

“It’s always exciting to see the play come to life again in this way. It’s such a fun night out, and if chills give you thrills, you’re in for a treat.”

In 2:22, Jenny believes her new home is haunted, claiming she hears something every night at the same time, but her husband Sam is not having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben. 

Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is drawing closer, so they decide to stay up…until 2:22 in the morning… and then they will know. “I tend not to be awake at that time,” says Jay.

He met his fellow cast members at the start of rehearsals, “but I knew of them,” he says. “When you start, it’s like the first day of school, getting the jitters out of the way. It’s natural that after five years of being in a band, suddenly auditioning again was a big adjustment, thinking, ‘how have I got myself into this situation again?’! But once you try to make someone jump or laugh, it’s fun.”

Ben is Jay’s first role in a play rather than a musical, having appeared in Rip It Up, BIG! and Sleepless, a second show rooted in a Tom Hanks film. “I’ve absolutely loved it, especially being able to focus on the script, which facilitated us getting to know each other and find out everyone’s opinions on each character. It was like being back at drama school,” he says.

Jay McGuiness: Singer, songwriter, actor, 2015 Strictly Come Dancing champion and fantasy novelist. Picture: Seamus Ryan

“Then getting out in front of an audience each night, when you have to make sure they’re laughing at the right moment, jumping at the right moment.”

Robins’s play is built around tensions brought on by class differences. “You can feel the different reactions in different theatres around the country!” says Jay, who wiull be on the road from January to June. “I’m playing a working-class man who feels out of place at this dinner party, somewhere fancy in London, where most of the houses are newly gentrified, so he puts his foot in it with ill-judged comments, and the way he talks to women is very old-school Cockney.

“It’s good that people in places like Norwich really connected with him, whereas it was a very different response in Cambridge.”

Jay is enjoying the collective thrill of a fright night at the theatre. “There’s something very exciting about it that’s different from something that’s introspective. It’s raw, and there’s plenty to chew on about class, ghosts and believing in the supernatural,” he says. “There’s fun to be had in hearing people around you screaming or laughing.”

Jay, who loves the ghost walks in Edinburgh, has plenty more to choose from on his return to York for the first time since The Wanted ambled down Shambles on their reunion two years ago. “I remember that shop with all the ‘ghosts’ in the window and the queue outside,”  he says.

2:22 A Ghost Story spooks Grand Opera House, York, from April 30 to May 4, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday; 3pm, Friday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

The poster for 2:22 A Ghost Story, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Ghostly goings-on at the Grand Opera House, York

IN “Europe’s most haunted city”, 2:22 A Ghost Story will be playing at the Grand Opera House, a theatre and former corn exchange with its own paranormal stories.

When asked about the ghostly goings-on in the Cumberland Street building, Paranormal Research York follows up its visit to the theatre by saying: “Our team encountered a variety of supernatural experiences. The Grand Opera House continues to intrigue and captivate with its haunting mysteries, each time we investigate.”

Laura McMillan, the Opera House’s theatre director, says: “With over 100 years of history, the Grand Opera House certainly has a few spooky tales to tell that make us the perfect host for 2:22 A Ghost Story. 

“York is known worldwide for its ghost stories and I know that audiences are going to love being on the edge of their seats with 2:22 as they experience a night of adrenaline-filled entertainment.”

Posted on

REVIEW: York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Gold top performance: Reuben Khan’s Joseph in York Stage’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick

AFTER Lee Mead, Keith Jack, Joe McElderry and Union J’s Jaymi Hensley, Joseph’s coat of many colours fits Reuben Khan delightfully lightly at the Grand Opera House.

The University of York psychology student, from Burnley, has plenty on his mind: third-year studies; his debut York Stage title role and applications to London drama schools to do a Masters degree in musical theatre.

On the evidence of his assured performance at 23, especially vocally, his future looks as bright as the Technicolor Dreamcoat that had him “saying the colours of Jospeh’s coat before I could spell them” on car journeys with his mum.

Director, producer and designer Nik Briggs returns to Lloyd Webber and Rice’s early musical for the first time since his “Joseph as you’ve never seen it before” show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in November 2018 with its  cast of 50 and Joseph in pyjamas.

Performing on crutches: Finn East’s Simeon singing with the Brothers

The Grand Opera House offers the opportunity to deliver a production on a bigger scale, not in cast size, but in lighting, staging and visual impact, aided by the fabulous parade of costume designs from Charades Theatrical Costume, St Helens.

The stage is built from scratch, as first the Narrator, Hannah Shaw, then Joseph and children from York Stage School (divided into Team Canaan and Team Egypt) oversee the creation of the world of Canaan, home to Jacob and his 11 sons (some of them daughters in Briggs’s company).

It looks so inviting, you want to book a holiday there. All it needs now to complete the scene is a camel. Oh, and here comes a camel on wheels, pretty much life-size!

From the off, this sung-through pop musical moves at a lick: typified by Finn East’s Simeon defying his injured knee to speed around on crutches, popping up everywhere and taking on a second role too as the Snake.

Hannah Shaw, who studied music at York St John University, sets the tone and style in glittering dress and shiny boots, engaging with the children like a teacher, driving the show forward and singing with oomph, both in her high notes and a lower register.

Storyteller in song: Hannah Shaw’s Narrator

Reuben Khan’s Joseph sings like a dream, whatever a song demands, whether tenderness, drama, power, or emotion further heightened by standing atop a ladder on a stage suddenly full of them in one of Briggs’s most striking designs.

Khan’s characterisation of Joseph has to be expressed largely through Rice’s narrative lyrics, and he does so particularly strongly in the dark ballad Close Every Door, while Any Dream Will Do is as irresistible as ever.

Lesley Hill’s choreography is as playful, fun and camp as this glitterball of a musical demands, at its best in the glorious ensemble number Joseph’s Coat, where Adam Moore’s lighting design matches every change of colour in the lyric.

Briggs’s company revels in playing old favourites with a knowing campness that has only increased with the passing of the years, especially in Jacob (Martin Rowley) and the brothers’ cod rendition of the sad chanson Those Canaan Days, exaggerated French accents et al.

The York Stage company in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Benjamin’s Calypso is even dafter, full of Caribbean joy as Cyanne Unamba-Oparah’s Judah has the brothers walking on sunshine.

Pop hit after pop hit hits home in all manner of musical styles, from Alex Hogg leading the brothers in the One More Angel In Heaven hoedown to Matthew Clarke’s vainglorious Potiphar luxuriating in the richness of his self-titled song.

In the absence of Carly Morton with shingles (get well soon, Carly), Amy Barrett takes on the rock’n’roll role of Pharaoh, traditionally played in sequinned-Elvis-in-Las-Vegas style. Not so much Elvis as Elvira here, but her Song Of The King is still a peach (one of the 29 colours in Joseph’s coat, by the way).

Adam Tomlinson’s 15-piece orchestra is on top form throughout, savouring the multitude of song styles and pumping up the beat for the Joseph Megamix finale as the party vibe suffuses the cast and cheering audience alike.

York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight, Wednesday and Thursday; 5pm and 8pm, Friday; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

Posted on

Eat mindfully, go to the gym, rehearse, psychology student Reuben is ready for York Stage’s Joseph at Grand Opera House

Lighting up the lead role: Reuben Khan as Joseph in York Stage’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

REUBEN Khan will play the lead role for York Stage for the first time in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat from tomorrow (12/4/2024).

Not that the third-year University of York psychology student is a stranger to stepping into the spotlight in a Nik Briggs production at the Grand Opera House, York.

“I had more than a week’s notice this time, that’s the main difference,” says Reuben, 23, seated with his Technicolor attire behind him in Dressing Room No 1 ahead of Tuesday’s rehearsal.

“For Beautiful [the Carole King musical], Nik called me a week before the show opened to say, ‘look, you wouldn’t happen to be free, to play Gerry Goffin in the early performances, would you?’.”

Frankie Bounds had been rehearsing the role of King’s co-songwriter, husband and ‘serial womaniser’ for his last performance in York before starting studies at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

“He’d checked with Mountview early on that it would be OK, but then suddenly Frankie was told he’d have to go down to the theatre school in the first week, and that’s why I stepped in. That was an interesting experience,” recalls Reuben.

“I didn’t know much about the show, I hadn’t seen it before. So I had to learn a few songs and learn the lines as quickly as possible, and l loved doing it. Obviously the music is phenomenal, the story moves at a pace and it’s just a great show – and it was nice to have the chance to watch Frankie when he came back during the second week.”

Reuben, from Burnley, has past experience of appearing in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph. “I did the show twice when I was 12, once at my school, Unity School, and then with Basics Junior Theatre School. Both times I played Judah [one of Jacob’s sons], and there was a crossover between the two productions. I finished one and, not long after, I did the other.”

He is delighted to be taking on the title role, performing alongside Hannah Shaw’s Narrator and Amy Barrett’s Pharaoh, among others.

“It’s one of those shows where the vast majority of people have come into contact with it, whether it’s at school or, in my case, my mother having the songs on in the car,” says Reuben. Then there’s the film, and there’s always a tour going on or a local production – or people may know the Bible story of Joseph.

Reuben Khan performing in York Stage’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“I knew the vast majority of songs already, so I feel like I’ve barely touched the book because the songs were ingrained in me!”

Following in the sandal steps of the likes of Jason Donovan, Phillip Schofield, Donny Osmond, Lee Mead and Joe McElderry holds no fears for Reuben. “Honestly, it’s great fun. It’s a funny role to some extent, as you can kind of understand some of the qualms that his brothers have about him! Joseph is flawed, and you think, if I was one of his brothers, I’d be having problems with him,” he says.

“But at the same time, he represents the everyman. Yes he’s flawed but he tries his best, people around him either like him or they don’t, and there’s something nice about playing a character who the audience is rooting for. It’s good fun.”

Reuben has enjoyed responding to the direction of Nik Briggs. “He has this overarching vision that he puts across incredibly well, to get the best out of us by directing in a very fluid, creatively free way, which is massively important, without micro-directing us,” he says. “He also has this ability to stay level-headed, which is such a skill, something that I’ve not seen in a lot of people in his position.”

Reuben’s preparations have stretched beyond rehearsals to ensuring he will be in peak fitness for a role that involves “wearing not a lot of clothes” (except when he is in his “day to day” coat or the Technicolor dreamcoat of the title).

“It’s all part of the tongue-in-cheek side of the show that Joseph is this half-dressed man! When I knew I would be doing the role, initially it was at the back of my mind, but in the past two months it’s been very much to the front – and at the same time, I’m trying to focus on the third year of my university studies too!

“I’ve never spent so much time keeping an eye on what I’m eating, going to the gym most days of the week for six weeks, to be in the best shape – just in time for the summer!”

On top of his Joseph rehearsals and university studies, Reuben is in the middle of auditioning for drama schools. “I’m studying psychology, but I want to go into musical theatre, and the second I say I’m studying psychology, they say, ‘oh, that’s really interesting’!” he says of his auditions at Associated Studios and the Royal Academy of Music in London to do a Masters degree in musical theatre.

“I guess it’s because psychology is all about understanding people, and that’s the same with acting, understanding a character.”

Now, after such roles as Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods and Bobby in Company for the university’s Central Hall Musical Society, Reuben is ready to go, go, go, Joseph from tomorrow.

York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, April 12 to 20, 7.30pm except April 14, 15 and 19; 2.30pm, April 13 and 20; 4pm, April 14; 5pm and 8pm, April 19. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

Putting you in the picture for More Things To Do in Ryedale, York and beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 10, from Gazette & Herald

Michael Hasan Reda: Impressionist oil painter of landscapes, cityscapes and gardens, making his York Open Studios debut at his studio in Prices Lane, York

ART out of this world, comedy in the news, a poetic war of words, an orchestra of two, a very colourful musical and a courtroom thriller have Charles Hutchinson reaching for the front door key.

Art event of the fortnight: York Open Studios, April 13 and 14, April 20 and 21, 10am to 5pm; preview, Friday, 6pm to 9pm

156 artists who live or work within a ten-mile radius of York will be welcoming visitors to 106 workspaces to show and sell their art, ranging from ceramics, collage, digital, illustration, jewellery and mixed media to painting, print, photography, sculpture, textiles, glass and wood. Among them will be 31 new participants. Full details and a map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk. Look out for booklets around the city too.

News alert: The Drop The Dead Donkey newsroom team reunites for Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin’s new play at Leeds Grand Theatre

Breaking News of the week: Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening!, Leeds Grand Theatre, until April 13

THIRTY years since the launch of the trailblazing television series Drop The Dead Donkey, the Globelink News team is back, live on stage for the first time. Original cast members Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Jeff Rawle and Victoria Wicks reunite for a new, constantly updated script by sitcom writing duo Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, under Lindsay Posner’s direction.

“It’s going to be hugely enjoyable to watch those seven funny, flawed characters from Globelink News being plunged into the cutthroat world of modern 24-hour news-gathering and trying to navigate their way through the daily chaos of social media, fake news and interim Prime Ministers,” say the writers. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Reuben Khan: Playing the lead role in York Stage’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Musical of the week: York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, April 12 to 20, 7.30pm except April 14, 15 and 19; 2.30pm, April 13 and 20; 4pm, April 14; 5pm and 8pm, April 19

BE ready to paint the city in every colour of the rainbow as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical dazzles the Grand Opera House in York Stage’s vibrant production, directed by Nik Briggs, with musical direction by Adam Tomlinson and choreography by Lesley Hill.

Reuben Khan leads the cast as Joseph, joined by Hannah Shaw as the Narrator, Carly Morton as Pharaoh, Martin Rowley as Jacob, Finn East as Simeon, Matthew Clarke as Potiphar, among others. Tickets are selling fast at atgtickets.com/york.

Shareefa Energy!: Guest performance poet at Friday’s Say Owt Slam clash at The Crescent, York

Spoken word clash of the week: Say Owt Slam, featuring Shareefa Energy!, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.45pm

SAY Owt, “York’s loveable gobby gang of performance poets”, take over The Crescent for a raucous, high-energy night of verse that combine a slam war of words with a guest performer. “In a slam, poets have three minutes to wow the audience,” says host Henry Raby. “It’s fast, frantic and fun: perfect for people who love poetry, and those who think they hate poetry too.”

Special guest Shareefa Energy! is a poet, writer, activist, educator, creative campaigner, workshop facilitator and arts and wellbeing practitioner of Indian and Muslim heritage from working-class Highfields in Leicester. Box office: thecrescentyork.com or on the door.

East Riding Artists: Exhibiting at Nunnington Hall in From The Earth’s celebration of the natural world

Ryedale exhibition of the week: From The Earth, East Riding Artists, at Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, until May 12, 10.30am to 5pm

THE climate crisis is high on the worldwide agenda; evidence of nature’s fragility can be found everywhere we turn, and few would question that our Earth is changing dramatically, in some cases irrevocably. Nature, however, is a force to be reckoned with, prompting 32 painters, potters and creatives from East Riding Artists to celebrate everything our natural world has to offer.

From the power of the North Sea and the beauty of Yorkshire’s countryside and coastline to the food we grow and the flowers we cultivate, From The Earth cherishes the best of our ever-changing world. Normal admission applies; National Trust members, free.

The Blackheart Orchestra’s Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkington: Thirteen instruments divided between two musicians at Helmsley Arts Centre

Prog rock for the space age: The Blackheart Orchestra, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 19, doors, 7.30pm

CHRISSY Mostyn and Rick Pilkington’s two-piece “orchestra” play 13 instruments between them from their prog-rock space station on stage, from acoustic and electric guitars, bass and bowed guitar to piano, organ, vintage synthesisers, omnichord, melodica and electric percussion.

Drawing on influences as varied as Kate Bush, Portishead, Cocteau Twins, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, they combine folk and rock roots with electronica and classical music. Foxpalmer, alias London singer-songwriter Fern McNulty, supports, from 8pm. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Patrick Draper, Tony Jameson and Alfie Joey: April 19’s comedy line-up at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Hilarity Bites Comedy Club: Alfie Joey, Patrick Draper and Tony Jameson, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 19, 8pm

ALFIE Joey is a polymath: artist, radio presenter, podcaster, comedian, communication coach, Ted X speaker, impressionist, interviewer, charity auctioneer, motivator, children’s author, master of ceremonies, pantomime player, sitcom actor, Britain’s Got Talent participant and illustrator for York writer Ian Donaghy’s book Never Stop Drawing.

Comedy will be his focus in Malton, where he will be joined by Patrick Draper, purveyor of deadpan jokes, visual gags and songs, and host Tony Jameson. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jury service: Christopher Haydon’s cast for the courtroom thriller Twelve Angry Men, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Show announcement of the week: Twelve Angry Men, Grand Opera House, York, May 13 to 18, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

CHRISTOPHER Haydon’s touring production of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men for Bill Kenwright Ltd returns to York on the American courtroom thriller’s 70th anniversary tour, having last played the Grand Opera House in April 2015.

Tristan Gemmill, Michael Greco, Jason Merrells, Gray O’Brien and Gary Webster feature in the cast for this study of human nature and the art of persuasion set in the jury deliberating room, where 12 men hold the fate of a young delinquent, accused of killing his father, in their hands. What looks an open-and-shut case soon becomes a dilemma as the jurors are forced to examine their own self-image, personalities, experiences and prejudices. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

Bottom’s up for love & looning in More Things To Do in York & beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 15, from The Press

The eyes have it: Love-struck Natalie Windsor’s Titania and Tweedy the clown’s Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrew Huggins/Thousand Word Media

GOTHIC Austen, a clowning Bottom, a dose of the blues, a Technicolor dreamcoat, open studios and a reactivated newsroom satire feature in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for a busy diary.

York play of the week: Cheltenham Everyman Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, York Theatre Royal, April 9 to 13, 7pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

EVERYMAN Theatre Company’s staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream puts a new twist on the familiar tale by casting comedy clown Tweedy as Bottom and making him “comedy advisor” on Paul Milton’s production to boot.

The night’s magic, mischief, and mayhem unfold in an enchanted Athenean forest, intertwining the romantic misadventures of four young lovers, the playful meddling of mischievous fairies and the comedic antics of amateur actors, culminating in a tale of love, mistaken identity and reconciliation engineered by Jeremy Stockwell’s meddlesome Puck. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Tom Killner: Soul-drenched Southern rock and Americana at York Blues Festival

Festival of the week: York Blues Festival, The Crescent, York, today, 1pm to 11pm; doors, 12.30pm

NAME of the week? Step forward The 20ft Squid Blues Band, participants in this weekend’s York Blues Festival, curated by Paul Winn and Ben Darwin, hosts of Jorvik Radio’s Blues From The Ouse show and the Ryedale Blues Club.

Performing too will be Dirty Ruby, Bison Hip, The James Oliver Band, Hot Foot Hall, York band DC Blues, The Milk Men and Tom Killner. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, yorkbluesfest.co.uk.

Ceramicist Patricia Qua, who will make her York Open Studios debut in Hemplands Drive, York

Preview of the week: York Open Studios, Hospitium, York Museum Gardens, York, today and tomorrow, 10am to 4pm

YORK Open Studios 2024 hosts a taster exhibition this weekend at the Hospitium, ahead of the full event on April 13, 14, 20 and 21. More than 150 artists who live or work within a ten-mile radius of the city will be welcoming visitors to 100 workspaces to show and sell their art, ranging from ceramics, collage, digital, illustration, jewellery and mixed media to painting, print, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood. Among them will be 29 new participants. Full details can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk.

Back in the news: The original cast reassembles for Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! at Leeds Grand Theatre

Breaking News of the week: Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening!, Leeds Grand Theatre, April 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

THIRTY years since the launch of the trailblazing television series Drop The Dead Donkey, the Globelink News team is back, live on stage for the first time. Original cast members Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Jeff Rawle and Victoria Wicks reunite for a new script by sitcom writing duo Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin.

“It’s going to be hugely enjoyable to watch those seven funny, flawed characters from Globelink News being plunged into the cutthroat world of modern 24-hour news-gathering and trying to navigate their way through the daily chaos of social media, fake news, and interim Prime Ministers,” say the writers. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Go, go, Joseph: Lead actor Reuben Khan in York Stage’s poster for Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Grand Opera House, York

Musical of the week: York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, April 12 to 20, 7.30pm except April 14, 15 and 19; 2.30pm, April 13 and 20; 4pm, April 14; 5pm and 8pm, April 19

BE ready to paint the city in every colour of the rainbow as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical dazzles the Grand Opera House in York Stage’s vibrant production, directed by Nik Briggs, with musical direction by Adam Tomlinson and choreography by Lesley Hill.

Reuben Khan leads the cast as Joseph, joined by Hannah Shaw as the Narrator, Carly Morton as Pharaoh, Martin Rowley as Jacob, Finn East as Simeon and Matthew Clarke as Potiphar, among others. Tickets are selling fast at atgtickets.com/york.

Shareefa Energy!: Guest performance poet at April 12’s Say Owt Slam at The Crescent

Spoken word clash of the week: Say Owt Slam, featuring Shareefa Energy!, The Crescent, York, April 12, 7.45pm

SAY Owt, “York’s loveable gobby gang of performance poets”, take over The Crescent twice a year for raucous, high-energy nights of verse that combine a slam war of words with a guest performer.

“In a slam, poets have three minutes to wow the audience to become the champion,” says host Henry Raby. “It’s fast, frantic and fun: perfect for people who love poetry, and those who think they hate poetry too.”

Special guest Shareefa Energy! is a poet, writer, activist, educator, creative campaigner, workshop facilitator and arts and wellbeing practitioner of Indian and Muslim heritage from working-class Highfields in Leicester. Box office: thecrescentyork.com or on the door.

Robert Gammon: Performing with Maria Marshall and Alison Gammon at St Chad’s Church

Dementia Friendly Tea Concert: Maria Marshall, Robert Gammon and Alison Gammon, St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, April 18, 2.30pm

CELLIST Maria Marshall opens this Dementia Friendly Tea Concert with Faure’s Elegy, accompanied by pianist Robert Gammon, who then plays two short solo Grieg piano pieces. Alison Gammon joins them for Beethoven’s trio Opus 11 for clarinet, piano and cello.

The relaxed 45-minute concert, ideal for people who may not feel comfortable at a formal classical concert, will be followed by tea and homemade cakes in the church hall. Seating is unreserved; no charge applies to attend but donations are welcome for hire costs and Alzheimer’s charities. 

Lucy Worsley: Revelations about Jane Austen at York Barbican

Show announcement of the week: An Audience with Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen, York Barbican, October 14, 7.30pm

FOLLOWING up her Agatha Christie tour, historian and presenter Lucy Worsley’s latest illustrated talk steps into the world of Jane Austen, one of English literature’s most cherished figures as the author of Pride And Prejudice, Sense And Sensibility and Persuasion. 

Through the houses, places and possessions that mattered to Austen, Worsley looks at what home meant to her and to the women like her who populate her novels. Austen lived a “life without incident”, but with new research and insights Worsley reveals a passionate woman who fought for her freedom. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

In Focus: Exhibition launch, Makiko, Picture Imperfect, York Theatre Royal, April 8 to 28

Exhibition poster for Makiko’s Picture Imperfect at York Theatre Royal

YORK photographer Makiko has shifted her focus to the mental health of vulnerable children in her Picture Imperfect exhibition at York Theatre Royal.

After her trip to photograph scenes from Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), as well as a spiritual journey to the uninhabited island of Nozaki, Japanese-born Makiko has responded to the impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The result is this month’s Theatre Royal foyer exhibition featuring remote portrait photography, colour photos taken by children and a short film on the theme of the lives of vulnerable children and teenagers in the artist’s community in York, exploring their struggles with mental health and their developing identities.

Makiko’s project has received funding from Arts Council England and was conceived to work alongside The Island, a charity that offers mentorship and safeguarding for young people in the community regardless of their socio-economic circumstances or life experiences.

“The more I began to know the charity, the more I learned of a darker reality and of things such as child trafficking and sexual exploitation,” says Makiko. “All the children involved in this project have experienced early life trauma or pre-existing mental challenges or both.

“The conceptualisation of the project coincided with the lockdowns imposed by the UK government to combat Covid-19. Northern England was particularly hard hit: this in turn has had a profound impact on these children’s lives.”

The Covid strictures placed significant restrictions on how Makiko needed to approach her work, imposing the necessity of a creative solution to comply with social distancing and meeting the necessary regulations.

The artist provided the children with disposable cameras to shoot their everyday life. Much of her own photo-shooting was carried out remotely during the lockdown, to document what they were doing and thinking at home.

“Once the restrictions were lifted in early spring 2022, I visited the children during the art activity sessions and let them express themselves both in front of my viewfinder, as well as in writing,” says Makiko. “Subsequently, the work was exhibited at York Open Studios in April that year.”

The story is intertwined with the experience of Makiko and her younger son following their relocation back to the United Kingdom. “He suffered from assault and racial discrimination at school, resulting in school refusal and being housebound for several years,” she recalls. “This provided a precursor to the isolating experiences that children would go on to face during the pandemic.”

Makiko encountered direct racial abuse too, including a physical assault. “Both of us had struggled to fit into the environment,” she says. “The UK has continued to manifest deep division in the aftermath of Brexit, including rises in racism, anti-social behaviour and hate crimes in general.”

Most importantly, Makiko realised that the entire process worked as a catalyst, helping her to recover from a psychological wound she had endured over the past few years. “I began to better understand what my younger son and other children have experienced,” she says. “This included an insight into the thoughts and behaviours of Generations Z during a unique period of UK history.”

This project was carried out when Makiko was a mentee of Magnum Photos during 2021-2022. The exhibition is produced in collaboration with The Island and in association with York Theatre Royal. Its accompanying photobook version will be published in 2024. For more information on Makiko, go to: makikophoto.com.

Makiko’s Picture Imperfect runs at York Theatre Royal, St Leonard’s Place, York, from April 8 to 27; on view from 10am, Monday to Saturday

Makiko: the back story

AWARD-WINNING photographer who has lived, studied and worked in Japan, France, North America, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Studied photography at International Center of Photography in New York.

Since 2006 her work has been exhibited in Japan, North America, and Europe. Best known for her black and white photography.

At present at Royal College of Art in London.

Features among 89 award-winning professional photographers from around the world in What Does Photography Mean To You?, selected by Scott Grant (Bluecoat Press).

Particular interest in high-functioning autism. In 2014 she launched her first documentary/photography book, Beautifully Different. Re-published in Japanese in March
2016.

Posted on

Ha!Milton is not a musical, says tone-deaf comedian Milton Jones as he launches tour show. York, Sheffield and Ilkley await

Shirt alert: Which bright idea will Milton Jones try out next on tour?

MILTON Jones, the shock-haired master of the one-liner, has been toying with using his latest tour title for a while.

Cue Ha!Milton, heading for the Grand Opera House, York, on September 7 on his September 3 to December 15 itinerary. “To be honest, people have been encouraging me to use my name in a title for a long time. This one’s been around for seven/eight years,” he says.

“This is not a musical,” he clarifies, wanting to “make it clear that it’s not a spoof of Hamilton”, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s multi award-winning Broadway and West End hit. “I am tone deaf and have no sense of rhythm, but at least I don’t make a song and dance about it.”

In his “whole new show of daftness”, the 59-year-old Kew comedian from BBC Radio 4 solo series and TV panel shows has “more important things to discuss.  “Like giraffes…and there’s a bit about tomatoes,” he says.  

Giraffes and tomatoes, Milton? “You know what it’s like. You don’t want to be painted into corner when you’re asked for a title and some details a year ahead of a tour without making a rod for your back,” he says.

“I have 200 new jokes, but if it has a story, it’s about my life being tone deaf, starting with a Nativity play, with me playing Angel A and everyone else calling me ‘Angela’.

“I’m also including an AI machine, something called an ‘overhead projector’! It’s nice when you uncover it and you release observational gizmo nostalgia.”

Whereas music fans want bands to play the old hits, comedy audiences demand fresh material. “People want similar, but not the same jokes, and as long as you can provide that, that’s OK,” says Milton.

“To some degree I’m fortunate because I travel at such speed in my shows that people don’t always remember the jokes, but for my own sanity I don’t want to go dead behind the eyes by sticking to the same lines throughout the tour.

“Apparently, I go around the house muttering words, constantly looking at words and images and turning them upside down and then coming up with new things. In fact, soon I’ll be going out for a jog because physical exercise is one of the few things that turns my brain off by putting my body under stress.”

The poster for Milton Jones’s Ha!Milton tour, bound for York Barbican on September 7

Putting a show together, built around quickfire gags and puns, is “not just a case of whether a joke is good or bad, but of how you package it so they don’t see it coming,” says Milton.

“What I like doing is putting something in someone’s head, where they think of one punchline but then it veers off into another one.”

What’s more, Milton does not merely rattle off pun after pun. “You have to try to pace the show overall because, after 15 minutes, people can’t take more of the same,” he says.

“So you have to change the angle of attack, whether it’s with the overhead projector, or with a narrative story or a cartoon, to pace the show and find ways to keep it fresh. That’s why you do work-in-progress shows to do that.

“What you don’t want is for the audience to be ahead of you, so you have to keep making the formula different for the next joke.”

Milton tours regularly and favours long itineraries when doing so. Why? “Possibly because I enjoy it! That’s rather a basic answer, but one of things about Covid, when all of us were at home, we were thinking, ‘how are we going to get out of it, if we are going to get out it?’, and I really missed touring,” he says.

“It takes so long to put together a tour that I might as well do as many dates as possible before doing another one.”

What happens when a new idea pops into that punning cranium? “I can hold about three things in my head, and if I think of something and don’t write it down, normally I’ll run into it again,” he says.

“You think you have brilliant ideas in the night, but then when you look at them in the cold light of day, often they’re not so good. Or sometimes you have a bad idea but you improvise something from it, and you wouldn’t have got to that point without coming up with the first thought. The point is to try something out so at least you’re one step up the ladder to something working.”

Come September 7, let’s see what has become of Milton’s first thoughts on discussing giraffes and tomatoes…

Milton Jones: Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, September 7, 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Also Sheffield City Hall, December 4, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; King’s Hall, Ilkley, December 8, bradford-theatres.co.uk.

Posted on

An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical to pay flying visit to York…for five days in June at Grand Opera House. Who’s starring?

The cast for An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical gathering for rehearsals

AN Officer And A Gentleman The Musical will play the Grand Opera House, York, from June 4 to 8 in in the Curve, Leicester touring production.

Directed by North Yorkshire-raised Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster, with choreography by Joanna Goodwin, the show is on tour from February 23 to November 16, visiting the Alhambra, Bradford, from tonight to Saturday.

Based on Taylor Hackford’s 1982 film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger, An Officer And A Gentleman’s story of love, courage, and redemption follows the emotional journey of fearless young pilot officer candidate Zack Mayo and the captivating Paula Pokrifki, whose fiery spirit matches his own.

A book by screenplay writer Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen will be accompanied by the songs of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper and Blondie, topped off by the award-winning (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong, the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes hit from the film. 

Georgia Lennon as Marie Osmond in her previous Grand Opera House appearance in The Osmonds: A New Musical in August 2022. Picture: Pamela Raith

Luke Baker leads Foster’s cast as Zack Mayo, joined by Georgia Lennon – last seen on the Grand Opera House stage as Marie Osmond in the world premiere tour of The Osmonds: A New Musical in August 2022 – in the role of Paula Pokrifki.

Further principal roles go to Jamal Crawford as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, Paul French as Sid Worley, Sinead Long as Lynette Pomeroy, Melanie Masson as Esther Pokrifki, Tim Rogers as Byron Mayo, Olivia Foster-Browne as Casey Seegar and Lucas Piquero as Eduardo Cortez.

Set and costume design are by Michael Taylor; musical supervision and orchestration by George Dyer; lighting design by Ben Cracknell; sound design by Tom Marshall; wig, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox and casting by Debbie O’Brien.

Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees in York are on sale at atgtickets.com/york. Also Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2pm Wednesday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; box office, 01274 432000 or bradford-theatres.co.uk

Nikolai Foster’s touring cast for An Officer And A Gentleman
Posted on

Heads up to who will be appearing in Hairspray on tour at Grand Opera House

Hairspray’s 2024-2025 touring cast: Heading to the Grand Opera House, York, this autumn

BLOSSOMING North Yorkshire talent Alexandra Emerson-Kirby will make her professional stage debut in the lead role of Tracy Turnblad on the 2024/2025 UK and Ireland tour of Hairspray. The Grand Opera House, York, awaits her from October 28 to November 2.

Alexandra’s passion for musical theatre was nurtured at Scarborough’s YMCA Theatre. From there, she trained professionally at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Woking, graduating recently in musical theatre and dance.

Alongside her will be fellow professional theatre debutante Michelle Ndegwa, playing Motormouth Maybelle after her selection from last November’s 3,000 open auditions hopefuls for the tour’s run from July 16 to next April.

Soul and gospel singer Nedgwa is best known for her vocals for the Gorillaz and has recorded with Billy Porter, Gregory Porter, Shapeshifters, Leeds band Yard Act, Becky Hill, Rita Ora, and Deseri too.

She has performed at Coachella, Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and her touring, festival and concert work includes backing vocals for Lizzo, Jorja Smith, Emeli Sande, Becky Hill, Nubya Garcia, Wizkid, TLC, Liam Gallagher, Ray BLK, Nina Nesbit, Shakka, Tom Odell and Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall.

Brenda Edwards, who played Motormouth Maybelle in three productions under Paul Kerryson’s direction, now joins him to co-direct the latest tour. Choreography will be by Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie, artistic director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London.

Based on John Waters’ cult 1988 film that starred Divine and Ricki Lake, Hairspray The Musical features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan.

The 2002 Broadway premiere won eight Tony Awards; the 2007 West End premiere at the Shaftesbury Theatre picked up four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical.

Revelling in such songs as Welcome To The 60s, You Can’t Stop The Beat and Good Morning Baltimore, Hairspray traces the progress of ambitious heroine Tracy Turnblad, who has big hair, a big heart and big dreams to dance her way onto national American television and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.

When Tracy becomes a local star, she decides to use her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance and interracial unity in Baltimore, but can she win equality – and Link’s heart – without denting her hairdo?

Kerryson and Edwards’s touring cast will include Neil Hurst, who played big lad Dave in The Full Monty on tour at the Grand Opera House last October, now cross-dressing as Tracy’s mum, Edna Turnblad.

Returning to the York stage too will be Joanne Clifton, this time as former beauty queen, TV show producer, devious taskmaster and racist snob Velma Von Tussle.

The 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion appeared previously at the Grand Opera House as Princess Fiona in Shrek, Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Show, welder Alex Owens in Flashdance and Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Further roles will go to Solomon Davy as Link Larkin; Declan Egan as show host Corny Collins, Katlo as Little Inez, Reece Richards as Seaweed and Allana Taylor as Amber Von Tussle.

Tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond from March 23 onwards. What springs up in Hutch’s List No 13, from The Press?

Adam Kay: If laughter is the best medicine, head to the Grand Opera House

SHORT plays, doctor’s tales, pop memories, life 11,000 years ago, women in word and song, egg hunts and a Sondheim celebration put the spring into Charles Hutchinson’s step as a new season arrives.

Doctor in the House: Adam Kay: Undoctored, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm

BILLING himself as “the nation’s twelfth-favourite doctor”, This Is Going To Hurt author Adam Kay follows a record-breaking Edinburgh Fringe run and West End season with a tour of tales from his life on and off the wards.

Expect Kay’s ‘degloving’ story to feature “because people ask for refunds if they don’t hear it”. Post-show, he will be signing books. Last few tickets: atgtickets.com/york.

Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women at The Basement

Navigators Art & Performance presents: GUNA: Live!, Views and Voices of Women, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, March 23, 7pm

TO complement Navigators Art & Performance’s City Screen exhibition for International Women’s Week, the York arts collective hosts an inspiring evening of music, spoken word and comedy that explores, celebrates and promotes the creativity of women and non-binary artists. 

The line-up of mostly York-based performers features poets Danae, Olivia Mulligan and Rose Drew; performance artist Carrieanne Vivianette; global songs and percussion from Soundsphere; original music from Suzy Bradley; comedy from Aimee Moon and a rousing appearance by multi-faceted York musician and artist Heather Findlay. Box office: bit.ly/nav-guna.

Lush stories: Miki Berenyi’s book, Fingers Crossed, under discussion at York Literature Festival

Book of the week: Miki Berenyi In Conversation: Fingers Crossed, York Literature Festival, The Crescent, York, March 24, 3pm

MIKI Berenyi, former lead singer, rhythm guitarist and founder member of London shoegaze/dream pop band Lush discusses her memoir, Fingers Crossed, and her career, recounting her experiences as a trailblazing woman fronting a seminal late-1980s group. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Livy Potter: Performing in Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill in Yorkshire Trios at York Theatre Royal

York theatre event of the week: Yorkshire Trios, York Theatre Royal Studio, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.45pm, both sold out

YORK company Next Door But One brings together York actors, writers and directors to produce original, short pieces of theatre, five to 15 minutes in length, on the theme of Top Of The Hill. Cue tales of motherhood, grief, love, war and even Kate Bush.

Badapple Theatre’s Kate Bramley and Connie Peel direct Nicola Holliday in Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast; Livy Potter performs Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill under Harri Marshall’s direction; Jacob Ward directs Claire Morley in Yixia Jiang’s Outliving and Bailey Dowler appears in Jules Risingham’s Anorak, directed by Tempest Wisdom. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Curators Andrew Woods, left, Adam Parker and Emily North with Mesolithic remains of a wooden platform and materials used for fire-making in the Yorkshire Museum’s Star Carr exhibition. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

Exhibition opening of the week: Star Carr: Life After The Ice, Yorkshire Museum, York; open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

EXCAVATED in the Vale of Pickering, the Star Carr archaeological site provides the first evidence in Great Britain of the beginnings of home, a place where people settled and built places to live.

The Yorkshire Museum’s interactive exhibition brings together artefacts from “the Mesolithic equivalent of Stonehenge” to give an insight into human life 11,000 years ago, a few hundred years after the last Ice Age, such as how they made fires. On display are objects from the Yorkshire Museum Collection, from antler headdresses and a decorated stone pendant to the world’s oldest complete hunting bow and the earliest evidence of carpentry from Europe. To book tickets, go to: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.

Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre

Musical revue of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Sondheim We Remember, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 27 to 30, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember’s selection of music from Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway shows, film scores and television specials.

Taking part too in this celebration of the New York composer and lyricist will be show director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Nick Sephton, Catherine Foster and Matthew Warry. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The National Trust’s guide to Easter activties, egg hunts et al, at Nunnington Hall

Easter Egg Hunt of the fortnight: Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, today until April 7, 10.30am to 5pm; last entry, 4.15pm.

FAMILIES can enjoy a fun-packed visit to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall throughout the Easter school holiday, when children can take part in an Easter egg hunt trail around the freshly mown garden, with activities to be completed such as an egg and spoon race, archery and boules, before receiving their egg.

Children can enjoy drawing and painting in the creative hub; take part in seed planting in the cutting garden; explore the Lion’s Den play area, with its obstacle course, rope bridge and climbing frame; learn about composting and spend time in the bird-watching area. On March 31 and April 1, additional garden activities include races on the main lawn and bird-feeder making. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.

Wet Wet Wet and special guest Heather Small: Teaming up at York Barbican in 2025

York gig announcement of the week: Wet Wet Wet & Heather Small, York Barbican, October 13 2025

WHEN Wet Wet Wet headlined a festival in Dubai, who should they bump into but Heather Small, the big voice of M People. She duly accepted their invitation to be the special guest at all dates on their 2025 tour.

Wet Wet Wet will be returning to York Barbican after their January 31 2024 double bill with Go West on the Best Of Both Worlds Tour. In the line-up will be founding member and bassist Graeme Clark, long-standing guitarist Graeme Duffin and singer Kevin Simm, The Voice UK winner and former Liberty X member, who joined the Scottish group in 2018. Tickets: axs.com.york.

In Focus: Children’s show, Millennium Entertainment International in There’s A Monster In Your Show, York Theatre Royal, March 26 to 28, 1.30pm and 4pm

There’s A Monster In Your Show composer Tom Fletcher with his children, Buzz, Buddy and Max, and a monster puppet

THE Easter holiday festivities at York Theatre Royal kick off with Tom Fletcher’s new family musical There’s A Monster In Your Show.

Based on Fletcher and Greg Abbot’s Who’s In Your Book? picture-book series for Puffin, the 50-minute performance for three-year-olds and upwards is billed as an “interactive, high-energy adventure for big imaginations” that leaps from page to stage with the aid of lively original music

Adapted for the stage by Zoe Bourn and directed by Miranda Larson, the show features new music by McFly band member Fletcher and Barry Bignold. Expect playful fun aplenty for your littlest ones as their favourite characters come to life in a performance packed with interactive moments to enjoy together.

In the story, performers are preparing to start their show but quickly discover they are not alone on stage. Little Monster wants to be part of the fun too, promptly extending an invitation to his friends Dragon, Alien and Unicorn to join him. Cue comedy and chaos as they help to create a magical show, learning about the joy of books and friendship along the way.

Fletcher says: “I’m so excited to see There’s A Monster In Your Book come to life on stage. The whole journey is incredibly exciting. Theatre is such an important way to introduce children to the arts and There’s A Monster In Your Show is the perfect first theatre trip for pre-schoolers and their families. I’m so looking forward to seeing their reactions first hand.”

The 1.30pm show on March 28 will be a Relaxed Performance that aims to reduce anxiety around theatre visits to help everyone have an enjoyable time. All are welcome, but especially people with sensory or communication difficulties or a learning disability. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ben Murrell and Gil Sidaway in There’s A Monster In Your Show. Picture: Pamela Raith