As smart as ever…or is he? Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
AS Harold Wilson once said, in the white heat of a lobby briefing to journalists in 1964, a week is a long time in politics.
As it turns out, it is a long time on a theatre tour too. Both the role of Prime Minister (imminent exit stage left Sir Keir Starmer) and of the former Prime Minister in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister have undergone a change since the tour opened.
Sir Keir resigned on June 22; the next night, Robert Kitson took over from Simon Rouse as Jim Hacker at Cheltenham Everyman, Rouse having had to withdraw from the rest of the itinerary through illness.
Kitson had understudied Griff Rhys Jones in the West End run and York marks his third week of working in tandem with Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby: a partnership now well into its comic groove as the blustering Jim and erudite Sir Humphrey joust in familiar point-scoring mode.
Writers Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay’s beloved BBC political satire, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister had run between 1980 and 1988, followed by the 2010 play, Yes, Prime Minister.
Robert Kitson: Taking over as Jim Hacker in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister
Now, writer-director Lynn picks up the solo baton for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, a final chapter that began at The Barn Theatre in 2023 as I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember, a title that indicated the vulnerabilities of ageing for the now venerable Hacker and Sir Humphrey.
This is no nostalgia trip for a treasured double act, however, but a freshly crafted comedy as politically sharp as ever in this age of cancel culture, with lessons to be learned by both the former political leader and his Civil Service nemesis, Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey.
Kitson’s Jim Hacker is now Lord Hacker, “older, but perhaps not wiser”, befuddled by the modern world, suffering from arthritis, back pain and congestive heart failure, and in need of a carer, as well as a stair lift.
“Care worker,” Princess Donnough’s Sophie corrects him at her interview to take on the role. It will not be his only politically incorrect utterance to meet her disapproval.
Indeed Jim’s indiscreet tongue is in trouble with rather more than former English Literature student Sophie at Hacker College, Oxford, where he is the long-serving Master after the college was set up in his name with a benefactor’s funding.
Princess Donnough’s care worker Sophie in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Danny Kaan
Since being forced to resign as Prime Minister, he has dabbled in journalism, written a book (6,000 sales in the first week, none since), turned up every so often for his attendance allowance and expenses at the House of Lords, but now he faces “the ultimate modern crisis: being cancelled by the college committee after his support of Cecil Rhodes’s statue staying in place, among other pronouncements against the tide of change.
Hostile students and equally hostile Fellows want him to be ousted: a P45 delivered by William Chubb’s gaunt college Visitor, Sir David, arriving in Grim Reaper black hood.
Jim will not go quietly into the night, re-establishing contact with Sir Humphrey, by now consigned to a “home for the elderly deranged” by his daughter-in-law, to draw on his skills of negotiation, eloquent, elaborate obfuscation and love of a Latin phrase.
Francis, reprising the role he first played at the Barn Theatre and then in the West End, is a master of comic timing, exquisite line delivery and tongue-twisting monologues, yet there are frayed edges to Sir Humphrey’s piercing intelligence and bureaucratic chess play. Immaculate suit, ever-present briefcase, superior air, are all present and correct, but could the first signs of dementia be kicking in as he loses the thread of his thinking in one of his magniloquent obstructive set-pieces.
Jim and Sir Humphrey must not only seek to outmanoeuvre Sir David but also face the modern thinking of Donnough’s formidable, frank and fearless Sophie. As well as politics, the world of education is dissected with a scalpel by Lynn as rising student fees and “offensive” words in literature come under fierce discussion.
Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby and Simon Rouse’s Jim Hacker in a publicity shot for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Simon had to leave the tour through illness
Lynn has the measure of politics and education alike in the kind of wise, waspish and witty satire now all too rare on the British stage in a play as full of King Lear pathos as comedy, where there is a sadness to Jim and Sir Humphrey, now past their pomp.
Yet the comedy still prevails, directed so astutely by Lynn and co-director Michael Gyngell in a high-class production where Lee Newby’s set design of Jim’s unkempt college rooms evokes academia, widower loneliness and a political past. Snow dusts the skyline in Leo Flint’s window video projections in a further nod to Jim and Sir Humphrey being in their winter years.
Physical comedy plays its part too, riffing on the ageing of the two protagonists, whether in a mobile-phone-going-off-in-a-pocket joke or the stair lift’s brief turn in the spotlight at the opening to Act Two.
Everything is so well balanced in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, always giving both sides of the argument, showing the fault lines in Jim and Sir Humphrey alike, culminating in the warmth of the fitting finale – the recognition of the need for supportive friendship – that is genuinely moving.
The Barn Theatre presents I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday; 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Becca Magson’s Rita and Joe Gregory’s Frank in 1812 Theatre Company’s Educating Rita. Picture: Lauren Wyeth
RYEDALE Festival and 1812 Theatre’s Educating Rita, compact Shakespeare and Live At York Museum Gardens are uppermost in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations amid the July heatwave.
Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Educating Rita, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm
SAMANTHA Hughes directs Helmsley Arts Centre resident troupe 1812 Theatre Company in Willy Russell’s comedy Educating Rita, wherein Frank (Joe Gregory) is a tutor of English Literature in his 50s whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books.
Enter Rita (Becca Magson), a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, she slowly wins over the hesitant Frank with her highly original insights and refusal to accept “No” for an answer. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. Picture: Lauren Wyeth.
Michael Flatley’s Irish dancers in the 30th anniversary tour of Lord Of The Dance, in action at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Brian Doherty
Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.45pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy, after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.
The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour features “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.
Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing the indisposed Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), squeezing into York Theatre Royal this week
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.
Californian co-founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet at York Medical Society. Picture: Amie Barton-Young
Storytelling actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe world premiere, July 11, 7.30pm
THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in two York performances.
Smith also presents the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) ahead of his Edinburgh Fringe residency. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens
Rock and pop festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, tomorrow, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, Friday, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, Saturday, gates 4pm
WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts tomorrow with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.
Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.
Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.
Ross Noble: Playing York Comedy Festival at Live At York Museum Gardens on Sunday
Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live at York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates 3pm
TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm), from Russell Howard’s Good News, and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.
In Sunday’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Barry From Watford (5.45pm), the 82-year-old comic creation of Alex Lowe; cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm) and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jared Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.
The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm as part of Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills
Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 10 to 26
RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, pianist Junyan Chen, The Gesualdo Six, Dunedin Consort, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.
Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.
Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Picture: Matt Jopling
Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, York, July 10, 8.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm
IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore.
On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: York, https://bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise;Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Robert Kitson: Replacing Simon Rouse in the role of Jim Hacker in I’m Sorry Prime Minister
SIR Keir Starmer is not the only Prime Minister being replaced.
More precisely, ex-Prime Minister, in the case of the 2026 tour of I’m Sorry, Prime Minister after illness forced Simon Rouse out of the cast a fortnight ago, to be replaced by Robert Kitson, who is playing Jim Hacker for the remaining dates, including this week’s visit to the Grand Opera House, York.
“It’s very sad that Simon had to leave the show, and we send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery,” says Robert. “He was so loved by the company while he was here, but it’s now a fortunate opportunity for me.
“I wasn’t Simon’s understudy for the tour but I did understudy Griff Rhys Jones as Jim Hacker in the West End, and because I knew the part and we’d done an understudy run during the six months in London [at the Apollo Theatre), I was asked to take over.
“One of the other understudies did a couple of dates, before I arrived last Monday (June 22) to open at the Cheltenham Everyman that Tuesday. “
Robert continues: “I’m very delighted to be having this extended run, where I’ve played Cheltenham and Milton Keynes and York, Brighton, Southend and Malvern are still to come.
“I haven’t appeared on the York stage before, but I love the city and I’m really looking forward to doing the play there.”
Written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and co-directed by Michael Gyngell, I’m Sorry, Prime Minister is the long-awaited final chapter of the British political satire that brought BAFTA awards for the television series Yes, Minister (1980 to 1984) and Yes, Prime Minister (1986 to 1988), when co-written with Antony Jay.
The Times, they are a’changing for Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
Jim Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee.
Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by Clive Francis, reprising his West End role), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction in a finale replete with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing.
“Do you know what, you can really feel the affection the audiences have for the characters,” says Robert. “Before Sir Humphrey comes on, you can hear an ‘ooh’ from the audience when I mention his name.
“People loved the TV series, and the relationship between Sir Humphrey and Jim, but this play is set later and so the relationship is now different. A lot of the play is about these people re-finding themselves and coping with their lives now.
“It makes for a very different dynamic where the audiences are initially surprised but then they do get into it. This is only my personal opinion, but I think the re-discovery and re-defining of the relationship, when seeing each other again after a long time, is what works so well, as they’re now older men, infirm, and they no longer have the resources they did when they were in their peak years.”
Robert further elucidates: “There are two levels to it. They have to cope with the fact they don’t have the status they once did, and although Sir Humphrey was always the cleverer once, the more sly and conniving one, sometimes Jim got the better of him and that now continues in old age where they still spar with each other.”
When on understudy duty in London, Robert had enjoyed watching Clive and Griff working together. “They were different in their styles, so it was like a masterclass observing them,” he says.
Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby, left, and Simon Rouse’s Jim Hacker at the promotional photoshoot for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Simon has had to leave the tour through illness
“Clive is a master craftsman in his coming timing and delivery, and now that it’s the two us, I’m finding that just as important is how every performance is different because the audience laughter can come in different places, so there’s that the unexpected element, which is the essence of live theatre.”
In addition, Robert has drawn on his experience of being present when writer-director Jonathan Lynn gave notes to the London cast both in rehearsal and after the early performances.
“I got the benefit of that as everything is written with particular weighting and he’s particular about how lines should be said,” he says, further praising the director and Michael Gyngell for their ability to bring the company together. “It’s been great for me to have all people around me, on or off the stage, who are so good at what they do.”
Sir Keith Starmer’s imminent departure from Number 10 could not be better timed for I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. “It’s really interesting because we’ve found the play has resonance that’s reflecting what’s going on at the moment,” says Robert.
“The fact that the Prime Minister’s post has changed over the past two weeks can’t help but have an echo on stage.”
One further factor is Jim Hacker’s politics and behaviour in 2026. “Jim says and does some awful things and has some unacceptable views – and that’s interesting for the audience too,” says Robert.
“You have to give it 100 per cent in rehearsals and on stage, leaving your own beliefs at the [dressing room] door.”
The Barn Theatre production of I’m Sorry, Prime Minister plays Grand Opera House, York, from tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
SledOne’s mural, What Walks Amongst Us, taking shape at AcombFest. Picture: Art of Protest
MURALS in Acomb, early music beyond borders, Mystery Plays on waggons, a political swansong and compact Shakespeare keep Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts off the July heatwave.
Art event of the week: AcombFest, Acomb, York, today and tomorrow
CURATED by Art of Protest, York’s first international street art festival continues today and tomorrow with its theme of A Return To Nature, featuring 20 art installations, live murals, RARE Collective’s Paint Jam, spray battles and more than 30 bands, DJs and performers, across 22 venues.
Look out too for interactive family-friendly workshops, an art market, history walks and talks, special events and tastings and a community cinema. Muralists taking part include SMUG, from Australia, Sheffield muralist Peachzz, wildlife artist Curtis Hylton and Acomb’s very own SledOne. For full details, go to: https://acombfest.co.uk/.
Baroque collective Solomon’s Knot: Performing Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns’ St Mark Passion, directed by Jonathan Sells, at The Quire, York Minster, on July 10
50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, until July 11
THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.
The festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Solomon’s Knot and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.
Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents in the York Mystery Plays 2026. Picture: John Saunders
Theatrical outdoor event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow, 10.30am to 4.50pm
THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to yorkmysteryplays.co.uk; tickets, ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.
Clive Francis as Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.
Californian co-founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet
Busiest actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe, Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Arts Hub, July 10, 8pm; One Man Poe world premiere, York Medical Society, July 11, 7.30pm
THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in two York performances.
Smith also presents four of Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror works (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven) in Ripon, followed by the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) in York. All six, amounting to 18,000 Poe words, will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.
Musical of the week: Top Hat and Tails Theatre in Little Shop Of Horrors!, Friargate Theatre, York, July 9 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
MEEK floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he calls Audrey II, a foul-mouthed carnivore that promises him fame and fortune if he keeps feeding it with blood. Over time, however, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s plans for global domination in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s sci-fi B-movie monster spoof, presented here with a live band and professionally hand-crafted puppets. Box office: ridinglights.org.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits show at York Museum Gardens on Thursday
Music festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, July 9, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, July 10, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, July 11, gates 4pm
WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts on Thursday with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.
Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.
Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are next Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.
If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home, by Matt Sewell
In Focus: Birds of the week: Matt Sewell exhibition for RARE Collective at WET, Micklegate, York,until mid-July
SHROPSHIRE artist, illustrator and author Matt Sewelll is the latest street art luminary to be showcased in RARE Collective’s collaboration with WET wine bar, in Micklegate, York, in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.
“We’re really chuffed to have Matt return to York with his fabulous Riso prints,” says RARE Collective exhibition organiser Sharon McDonagh. “If you came to the Vandalfest charity street art show last year, you would have seen his cracking bird mural on Floor 3 of the big disused office block in Low Ousegate.
Artist Matt Sewell at work
Sewell is an avid ornithologist, contributing regularly to the Caught By The River website and publishing the books Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds, Our Woodland Birds, Owls, Penguins and A Charm Of Goldfinches And Other Collective Nouns.
He has illustrated for the Guardian, Barbour, V&A Museums, BBC, National Trust, Greenpeace, Big Issue and Levi’s and painted walls for Helly Hansen, Puma and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). He has exhibited in Great Britain, New York, old York, Tokyo and Paris.
Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo, by Matt Sewell
Under RARE Collective’s partnership with WET, artists and photographers exhibit their work in a six-week solo show. As well as at WET, work can be bought online both during and after the exhibition run at rarecollective.co.uk.
In addition, a selection of Sewell’s prints is featuring in RARE Collective’s exhibition for AcombFest at The Crooked Tap, on show until August 15 in support of SASH.
Matt Sewell’s wall of bird prints for sale at WET
Exhibiting too are: spAm (Sharon McDonagh), Sola, Alison Jagger, Al Murphy, Anthony Appleyard, Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Michael Dawson, Nicolas Dixon, Slice Of Lino, STATIC and Stephen Bottrill.
“RARE are working in collaboration with the Art of Protest Project, after being invited by AcombFest curator Jeff Clark and the AOP team to curate the live PaintJam at the Carlton Tavern, in Acomb Road, Holgate, today and tomorrow,” says RARE Collective curator Sharon McDonagh.
“This will involve nine artists painting live from 10am to 4pm each day (Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Nicolas Dixon, Sola, spAm and VYZ); live DJ sets by Alilou, Bob Yenz, Conor Rogan, Free Da Karlos and Sola plus guests, audiovisual artists Fred DWolf, Sonas and JohnManBand on a huge screen, cocktails and mixology by Tulum Spirits Collective and street food by El Chappo, all in support of SASH.”
Did you know?
MATT Sewell is also a musician, performing as Sewell &The Gong with Chris Tate and as the deep-cut compiler of the compilation series A Crushing Glow.
Matt Sewell’s work environment
In Focus too: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, July 6 to 8, 7.45pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.
The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour will feature “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”.
Creative manager James Keegan says: “Michael Flatley has taught me that there are no boundaries in the creative space. When he burst onto the scene in the mid-90s, he took traditional Irish dancing to a place nobody had ever dreamed of, and that has been the key to the show’s success.
“Michael often says in rehearsals that we need to push the boundaries as much as we can, and if it’s too far or doesn’t work, we can always pull it back. That mindset is what keeps Lord Of The Dance evolving.”
Lord Of The Dance on its 30th anniversary tour. Picture: Brian Doherty
Keegan believes that the core elements of Flatley’s visionary production – choreography, music and storytelling – remain timeless while still evolving. “What made Lord Of The Dance famous 30 years ago is still what makes it work today: 40 of the greatest Irish tap dancers in the world performing in one line in perfect sync. It’s a spectacle that never loses its magic,” he says.
Reflecting on Flatley’s impact, Keegan says: “Professional Irish dancing didn’t really exist until Michael created his shows and added a more entertaining twist to the art form.
“He wasn’t just a dancer; he was a highly tuned athlete who could perform at astonishing levels for a full two-hour show, seven days a week. Today, we see young competitive dancers around the world striving to reach the levels he set.”
But beyond the footwork and the spectacle, Keegan reckons Flatley’s greatest legacy is his ability to inspire. “Michael’s motto has always been, ‘Nothing is impossible.’ He took an already intricate dance form and pushed it even further, breaking records like 38 taps per second and incorporating upper body movements that defied tradition,” he says.
Michael Flatley
“I’ve seen it time and time again: a dancer who never thought they could be a lead receives Michael’s encouragement, and before long, they are fulfilling their dream on stage.”
For Keegan, one moment stands out above the rest. “In 1997, I was a ten-year-old competitive Irish dancer in Manchester, struggling with the name-callers and the challenges of being a young male dancer,” he says.
“Then Lord Of The Dance came to town. Watching Michael and the cast that night at the Apollo Theatre changed everything for me. The masculinity, the precision, the energy, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
“I met Michael at the stage door, and suddenly, I knew that being an Irish dancer could mean being a superstar. Nineteen years later, I had the honour of sharing his final show with him at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in 2016. It was a full-circle moment I will never forget.”
Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance dancers
As Lord Of The Dance embark on its 30th anniversary tour, Flatley reflects on the journey. “The magic of Lord Of The Dance lives on in the hearts of our audience, and I am thrilled to bring this iconic show back to the UK in 2026,” he says.
“30 Years of Standing Ovations celebrates the incredible journey we’ve shared with fans over the years. It’s a tribute to the enduring power of dreams, the joy of dance and the unwavering support of our audience. This tour is our way of saying thank you for three decades of unforgettable memories.”
Although Flatley, now 67, retired from performing during his final tour in 2016, he has remained at the helm of Lord Of The Dance, guiding its evolution while preserving its timeless magic.
Now, as the production prepares for its biggest celebration yet, fans can look forward to a breathtaking spectacle that honours the past, embraces the present, and inspires the future of Irish dance.
The Choir Of Man : “Give into your freewheeling side and ‘bring tomorrow on’ while this lovely blast is in York”. Picture: The Other Richard
IF you really want to know how a show was, ask someone (carefully) in the next cubicle or at the next urinal afterwards. This was a taste from the Gents: “Incredible”. “The best fun you can have on a Tuesday” (the night your reviewer attended).
The Choir Of Man performance doesn’t start with the lifting of the curtain, but begins with cast and audience together on the stage decked out with a real working bar. This is the audience’s introduction to ‘The Jungle’: an idealised pub that feels familiar to anyone of a certain age. The sort of place where people talk, share, open up, drink, sing and don’t appear to worry too much about what comes next.
This is a show where everything is tilted to ensure you have a good time, and the performers look like they do too. There is a nod to a back story (based on the actor’s own) but their names, such as “Hardman” and “Maestro”, tell you all need to know.
But who really needs a reason to go to a bar? The emphasis is rightly on the songs, the musicianship and the nine voices. It’s a careening blast through some well-chosen songs from the 1980s onwards (and no room for Vera Lynn).
Choirs need voices that work together, not overwhelming the rest. On Tuesday’s opening performance, Sam Walter’s Romantic, Oluwalonimi ’Nimi’ Owoyemi’s Poet, Jack Skelton’s Handyman, Joshua Lloyd’s Barman, Gustav Melbardis’s Maestro, Levi Tyrell Johnson’s Hardman, Rob Godfrey’s Beast, Aaron Pottenger’s Bore and Ben Mabberley’s Joker all seemed to have come from some superhuman school of acting and music.
The audience joining the fun and pub games in The Jungle on stage at Tuesday’s performance of The Choir Of Man. Picture: Paul Rhodes
One where everyone can sing, play several instruments, dance when required and shake their thang with the best of them. Where do such people come from? Not likely headhunted from your average local.
The set-up is simple. There are a few heartfelt words, albeit sometimes a little rushed from Nimi, our narrator, but what little story there is always serves the song, spanning 15 numbers and a reprise over two hours.
It is exactly the life-affirming, joy-giving experience you hope for, and it is easy to see why the show has gathered such plaudits over the past ten years. While a few liberties are taken with The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), the emotion is raw for Luther Vandross’s Dance With My Father.
You do have to set aside any scruples about celebrating alcohol, and if toilet humour isn’t your thing, then there’s one (actually very funny) scene when you might want to take a loo break. Spoiler (free beer!) for those in the stalls and a greater chance of being whisked on stage by a handsome man, but go with it and you’ll wake up without regret. There are lots of laughs, with Lloyd’s Barman gamely mining the most.
While the idea of this sort of bar may be fading into folk memory, people no longer routinely gather around the “old Joanna” to sing together, the community and belonging these spaces create, and places like them still engender, live and breathe on.
Beers and cheers: The Choir Of Man cast takes in the applause at Tuesday’s performance. Picture: Paul Rhodes
The musical highlights are the a cappella choir numbers. They steal the show from some of the bigger and better-known hits by Bon Jovi, Queen and even Eagle Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight.
The wonderful interplay of nine voices is sensational. For the finale, the cast is joined by 102 local choir members from Some Voices, Stamford Bridge Community Choir and Sing Space Musical Theatre for Sia’s Chandelier. The standing ovation that follows is thoroughly deserved.
Much is made of the show’s invitation to enjoy life while we can, to raise another glass. There is always that drinker’s tension, held in the balance in the glass, between one sip and the next, revelry or regret. Fortunately for us, this show truly does go on.
Give into your freewheeling side and “bring tomorrow on” while this lovely blast is in York.
The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight; 4pm & 8pm tomorrow; 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Christina Meehan, left, Karen Holmes and Pippa Duffy in rehearsal for Calendar Girls The Musical at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
THE York Mystery Plays on waggon wheels, Calendar Girls in the round, early music beyond borders and Jim Hacker’s lust hurrah promise high summer times for Charles Hutchinson.
Make a date with: Calendar Girls The Musical, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until July 25
AS director Paul Robinson reveals: “Our new in-the-round staging of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls brings the audience into the heart of the Rylstone Women’s Institute, making this true story of friendship and determination feel more personal and immediate.
“This intimate production will create a unique, shared experience, reminiscent of gathering around a community hall or a close friend’s living room, allowing for a deeper connection to the characters and creating a collective, communal atmosphere that fully immerses everyone in the moving story of these ‘ordinary women’ doing something quite extraordinary.” Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Cathy Sara’s Villeyn and Thomas Frere’s Jongleur in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Mistero Buffo at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: John Shepherdson
2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on Friday and Saturday
TWO wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe to tell tales destined to turn the city upside down. Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, Paul Birch’s two-hander production for York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.
Written by Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo, translated by Ed Emery and performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara, this 1969 take on the Mystery Plays will appeal to Fringe theatregoers with a taste for subversive and unapologetic comedy with bite. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.
Kirkgate in floral splendour for summer at York Castle Museum. Picture: Gareth Buddo
Flower power of the week: Summer at York Castle Museum, in bloom until September 6, open Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm
YORK Castle Museum is capturing the essence of ‘grand days out’ and celebrating iconic summers across two contrasting centuries this summer season. Drawing on the breadth of the museum’s social history collection, Victorian York Galas and the Swinging ’60s are the programme’s key focus with games, crafts and seasonal decorations providing nostalgia and summer fun for visitors.
Further highlights include Last Stop Before Kirkgate, Novo Theatre’s immersive experience replicating a 19th century coaching inn and arrival into York, and Yorkshire artist Pippa Dyrlaga’s paper-cut hot air balloons, telling the story of balloon rides during the galas. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.
The Choir Of Man: “The best trip to your local you’ll ever have”…at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: The Other Richard
Foot-stomping musical celebration of the week: The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Friday, 4pm and 8pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
SET in the The Jungle pub on stage, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.
The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardis as Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston: Presenting A Gentle Air with tenor Paul Agnew and lutenist Sergio Bucheli on July 9 at 2026 York Early Music Festival
50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, Friday to July 11
THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.
Opening with Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, presented by I Fagiolini, and closing with Solomon’s Knot’s rendition of Bruhns’s St Mark Passion, the festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.
Tribute show of the week: The Rat Pack, Las Vegas Live!, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
DIRECT from London’s Leicester Square Theatre, The 02 and a Royal Command Performance, David Alacey stars as Frank Sinatra alongside West End favourite Tim Harwood as Dean Martin and former Coronation Street and Hollyoaks star Ashley Campbell as Sammy Davis Jr in the original Rat Pack tribute show, now celebrating its 25th record-breaking year of re-creating their Las Vegas heyday at The Sands. BBC musical director Mac Shone will be at the piano alongside the Buddy Greco All-Stars. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre and the Guild of Scriveners’ The Massacre of The Innocents in the 2026 York Mystery Plays. Picture: John Saunders
Theatrical event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, Sunday, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset in the Shambles Market, tonight, 7.45pm
THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.
A special midsummer performances of five plays will be held in Shambles Market tonight, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the interactive show Doomsday. Tickets: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.
Clive Francis and Simon Rouse in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Michael Wharley
Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed by Michael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Holly Atterton’s Tinker Bell in the poster for The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook
NICK Jr’s Holly Atterton will bring an extra burst of fairy dust to UK Productions’ 2026 pantomime at the Grand Opera House, York, where she will play Tinker Bell in The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook, from December 5 to January 3 2027.
Holly has built her career on music, energy and feel-good family entertainment. Best known for her work with pop groupGo!Go!Go!, as seen on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr channel, she has lit up screens, stages and young imaginations across the country.
Holly has achieved a Top 75 album with Radio Go!Go!Go!, enjoyed two West End runs and toured the UK, crowning that success with a sell-out concert at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
All those credits add up to the ideal foundation for her Tinker Bell to deliver festive magic to Neverland. “This season will be my tenth year with UK Productions, and I can’t think of a better place to celebrate my ‘panto-versary’,” says Holly.
“York is a beautiful city that fully embraces everything about the festive season, so I can’t wait to experience the brilliant York audiences and bring some sass and sparkle to the Grand Opera House this Christmas.”
Theatre directorAllie Long is delighted to welcome Holly to York. “We’re thrilled to have Holly join the cast of this year’s musical pantomime. We can’t wait to see her skate around the Grand Opera House stage, adding to what will undoubtedly be an unforgettable pantomime season filled with laughter, glee and musical magic.”
UK Productions producer Martin Dodd says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Holly Atterton. She has the sparkle, charm and cheeky spirit to make a truly magical Tinker Bell. With a wave of fairy dust, she’ll have audiences flying high from the very first scene!
We’ve assembled a fantastic cast that’s sure to be shipshape, and this promises to be one of our biggest and most spectacular pantomimes yet. Second star to the right…and straight to the box office!”
Holly joins a blockbuster Grand Opera House line-up led by Emmerdale star and 42nd Street, Calamity Jane and Legally Blonde musical theatre performer Tom Lister as dastardly Captain Hook. Audience favourite Jimmy Bryant returns as Smee after delighting Grand Opera House audiences as Buttons in last year’s Cinderella.
Oliver Farnworth, left, Mollie Gallagher, John Partridge and Sam Jackson in the poster for the world stage premiere of The Silence Of The Lambs
CORONATION Street star Mollie Gallagher will make her professional theatrical debut as Clarice Starling in the world stage premiere of The Silence Of The Lambs, touring the Grand Opera House, York, from March 15 to 20 2027.
Mollie is departing the ITV soap after almost seven years in the role of Nina Lucas, long-lost niece of Roy Cropper, to tread the boards.
She joined Coronation Street straight out of drama school and has since been central to some of Corrie’s biggest storylines, including the Nina & Seb hate crime storyline, based on the attack of Sophie Lanacaster.
She won the Serial Drama Performance prize in the National Theatre Awards and took part in ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2023, reaching the semi-finals.
Mollie will join the already confirmed John Partridge’s Dr Hannibal Lecter, Emmerdale soap star Oliver Farnworth’s Jack Crawford and Skins actor Sam Jackson’s Buffalo Bill (a.k.a Jame Gumb) in the spine-tingling psychological thriller.
Adapted for the stage by two-time Pulitzer finalist and Tony-nominated playwright Gina Gionfriddo from Thomas Harris’s classic novel, the touring production is directed by North Yorkshireman Nikolia Foster, artistic director of Curve, Leicester.
Produced by Curve in tandem with Indigo Productions and Crossroads Live, the UK and Ireland tour of The Silence Of The Lambs will open at Curve on August 1 2026, featuring an ensemble of Minal Patel as Frederick Chilton; JoMousleyas Senator Ruth Martin; Lottie Amor as Catherine Martin; Mark Peachey as Pilcher; Andrew Joshi as Peterson and Jonny Magnanti as Wertimer, with Mary Timbrell Hill completing the completing the company, all taking on a variety of roles.
Lancashire actor, singer, presenter, writer and director John Partridge is best known for his long-running role as Christian Clarke in BBC 1’s EastEnders and extensive range of West End credits, from Cats to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
Now he will don the iconic mask as the refined and sadistic Dr Hannibal Lecter, the psychiatrist and infamous murderer who FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to interview in the hope that his brilliant mind will help to catch Buffalo Bill, a sadistic serial killer still at large.
Another girl is missing, time is running out, but Dr Lecter has questions of his own, and now Clarice must decide: should she keep a safe distance or let Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ into her head?
Gionfriddo’s theatrical adaptation delves into the psychological tension of Harris’s novel, drawing the audience deep into Clarice and Lecter’s intelligent, intricate and bone-chilling game of cat-and-mouse as the FBI scramble to catch Buffalo Bill.
The tour’s award-winning creative team includes theatre designer Michael Taylor, whose credits include his Olivier Award-nominated design for The Ladykillers and Billy Elliot at Curve; sound designer Carolyn Downing, Olivier Award winner for Chimerica and Tony Award winner for Life Of Pi, and projection designer George Reeve, 2025 Tony Award recipient for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, with further credits for Disney’s Hercules and Oliver! (West End and Chichester Festival Theatre).
In the team too are Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning composer Grant Olding, who has collaborated regularly with Nicholas Hytner at both The Bridge and National Theatre, including One Man, Two Guvnors, and Tony and Olivier-nominated lighting designer Howard Hudson (Starlight Express, Troubadour Theatre; & Juliet, Broadway, West End, international and UK tours).
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, director Nikolai Foster grew up in North Yorkshire and trained at Drama Centre London and at the Crucible, Sheffield, going on to create work for many of the UK’s major producing theatres, touring houses and international venues.
He has been director on attachment at the Crucible, the Royal Court Theatre, London, and National Theatre Studio, London, and served as an associate director at Leeds Playhouse. In 2024, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of the Arts by Leicester’s De Montfort University for his contribution to theatre in Leicester.
At Curve, Nikolai has worked on numerous musical revivals, new plays and musicals and championed emerging artists. Many of the Made at Curve productions Nikolai has directed have transferred to London, toured the UK and internationally.
Tickets for The Silence Of The Lambs’ York run are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
The Choir Of Man cast: Swapping The Jungle pub for Parliament Street on Wednesday
THE cast of The Choir Of Man will head to Parliament Street, York, at 1.30pm on Wednesday to give a one-off taster of live excerpts from this week’s production, running at the Grand Opera House until Saturday.
Set in the on-stage pub The Jungle, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.
The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardisas Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry hits.
The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, June 30 to July 2, 7.30pm; July 3, 4pm and 8pm; July 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm.Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Becky Hill: High-energy performance on Knavesmire track
THE York Mystery Plays on waggon wheels, Becky Hill on Knavesmire, Calendar Girls in the round and early music beyond borders promise high summer times for Charles Hutchinson.
Under starter’s orders: Becky Hill, Summer Music Saturday, York Racecourse, today, first race at 1.20pm
BECKY Hill, two-time BRIT Award winner for Best Dance Act, opens the summer of post-racing concerts at York Racecourse, promising a high-energy performance on the “Glastonbury-style stage” after tomorrow’s seven-race card. For her set list, she can pick from such hits as Gecko; Back & Forth; Wish You Well; Lose Control; Better Off Without You; Heaven On My Mind; Remember; My Heart Goes; Run; Crazy What Love Can Do; History and Disconnect. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Kirkgate at York Castle Museum in full summer bloom with floral displays and new projections. Picture: Gareth Buddo Furmoto Photography
Flower power of the week: Summer at York Castle Museum, in bloom until September 6, open Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm
YORK Castle Museum is capturing the essence of ‘grand days out’ and celebrating iconic summers across two contrasting centuries this summer season. Drawing on the breadth of the museum’s social history collection, Victorian York Galas and the Swinging ’60s are the programme’s key focus with games, crafts and seasonal decorations providing nostalgia and summer fun for visitors.
Further highlights include Last Stop Before Kirkgate, Novo Theatre’s immersive experience replicating a 19th century coaching inn and arrival into York, and Yorkshire artist Pippa Dyrlaga’s paper-cut hot air balloons, telling the story of balloon rides during the galas. Tickets: yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk.
Richard Ashcroft. Picture: Dean Chalkley
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Richard Ashcroft, today; Billy Ocean and Marti Pellow, tomorrow, gates open at 6pm
THE Verve frontman, songwriter and producer Richard Ashcroft, two-time Ivor Novello and triple BRIT Award winner, headlines today’s Scarborough bill, joined by DJ Wayne, original Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan and Yorkshire indie rockers Apollo Junction.
Trinidadian-British soul singer Billy Ocean (real name Leslie Sebastian Charles, by the way) takes top spot tomorrow, airing such hits as Red Light Spells Danger, Love Really Hurts Without You, Caribbean Queen and When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going. His very special guest is former Wet Wet Wet singer and musicals star Marti Pellow; Katie Owen supports too. Box office: scarbroughopenairtheatre.com.
Christina Meehan’s Annie, left, and Karen Holmes’s Chris in Calendar Girls The Musical at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Make a date with: Calendar Girls The Musical, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today until July 25
AS director Paul Robinson reveals: “Our new in-the-round staging of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls brings the audience into the heart of the Rylstone Women’s Institute, making this true story of friendship and determination feel more personal and immediate.
“This intimate production will create a unique, shared experience, reminiscent of gathering around a community hall or a close friend’s living room, allowing for a deeper connection to the characters and creating a collective, communal atmosphere that fully immerses everyone in the moving story of these ‘ordinary women’ doing something quite extraordinary.” Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Cathy Sara’s Villeyn and Thomas Frere’s Jongleur in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Mistero Buffo. Picture: John Shepherdson
2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, York, today, tomorrow, then July 1 to 4, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on July 3 & 4
TWO wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe to tell tales destined to turn the city upside down. Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, Paul Birch’s two-hander production for York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.
Written by Nobel prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo, translated by Ed Emery and performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara, this 1969 take on the Mystery Plays will appeal to Fringe theatregoers with a taste for subversive and unapologetic comedy with bite. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.
Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents. Picture: John Saunders
Theatrical event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow and July 5, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset in the Shambles Market, June 30 and July 1, 7.45pm
THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.
Special midsummer performances of five plays will be held in Shambles Market on June 30 and July 1, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the End of Days in the interactive show Doomsday. These shows begin at 7.45pm and end as the dusk is deepening before 10pm. Tickets: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.
The Choir Of Man: “The best trip to your local you’ll ever have” at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: The Other Richard
Foot-stomping musical celebration of the week: The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, June 30 to July 2, 7.30pm; July 3, 4pm and 8pm; July 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
SET in the The Jungle pub on stage, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.
The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardisas Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross,Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, AviciiandKaty Perry hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Solomon’s Knot: Performing at York Early Music Festival on July 10
50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, July 3 to 11
THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.
Opening with Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, presented by I Fagiolini, and closing with Solomon’s Knot’s rendition of Bruhns’s St Mark Passion, the festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.
In Focus: Ripon Theatre Festival, July 5 to 12
Maybe You Like It in Down To Chance: Playing Ripon Theatre Festival at Ripon Arts Hub on July 11 at 8pm
RIPON Theatre Festival 2026 celebrates five years of culture, colour and community spirit from July 5 to 12 with eight days and nights of performances focused on theatre in all its forms, from storytelling and puppetry to cabaret, Shakespeare and circus.
Top talent from Edinburgh & beyond
THE festival welcomes hit shows from the Edinburgh Fringe at Ripon Arts Hub, including Stephen Smith’s One Man Poe on July 10 at 8pm, fast-paced thriller Down To Chance on July 11 at 8pm The Poetical Life Of Philomena McGuinness on July 12 at 2.30pm.
Quirky & unique
RIPON Theatre Festival makes the most of the city’s venues and open spaces with pop-up events showcasing theatre everywhere. A knitting cabaret from Canada, a one-man show about British pub life, walkabout acts, Pop-up Puppetry and Poetry for Breakfast are among the acts that will appear in friendly cafes, pubs and independent shops. Look out too for a show performed inside a vintage bus.
The Big Weekend for families
SUPPORTED by Arts Council England through the National Lottery for a second year, the Big Weekend of free family entertainment on July 11 and 12 will feature street arts and circus theatre from across the four nations and beyond. Highlights include dance-circus troupe Circo Rumbaba and comedy, cooking and circus with Do What Ya Mamma Told Ya.
Reaching out to all the community
IN the weeks leading up to the festival, activities in care homes, “making and creating” sessions with learning-disabled adults and intergenerational music sessions ensure the event reaches all corners of the community.
This includes a schools’ programme featuring Opera North’s Little Listeners and the madcap Rubbish Shakespeare Company.
Supporting new writing & regional talent
ESTABLISHED regional artists, such as Victoria Firth and Kathryn Hanke, from Huddersfield, in Batty! at Ripon Arts Hub on July 9 at 8pm, feature alongside up-and-coming artists such as Constance Peel, from Boston Spa, performing the new play Service Please at The Water Rat on July 6 at 6.30pm.
Providing a platform for locally-inspired works-in-progress, the festival offers audiences the first chance to experience York’s Out Of Character Theatre Company in Outcast’s exploration of life in medieval Ripon and Imogen Wood’s work-in-progress, Jord, whose starting point is the petrifying powers of Mother Shipton in a union of live music, poetry and storytelling that challenges the fascination and obsession with women staying young and delaying ageing.
Summer season finale
RIPON Theatre Festival stretches beyond July 12 for a post-festival open-air Shakespeare finale at Ripon Raceourse on July 24, when The Duke’s Theatre Company presents Romeo & Juliet at 7pm (preceded by North Yorkshire Council-supported performances at Prince of Wales Terrace, Scarborough, on July 22 and Valley Gardens, Harrogate, on July 23). Box office: thedukestheatrecompany.co.uk.
Festival director Katie Scott says: “Ripon Theatre Festival is celebrating a five-year milestone birthday and we are proud of all that we have achieved so far.
“Community led, but showcasing some of the best professional touring work alongside an inclusive and lively outdoor and family programme, the festival is hugely valued for its variety and originality. We can’t wait to share our 2026 offering and bring the joy of live performance to an even wider audience.”
For the full programme and tickets, go to: ripontheatrefestival.org.
Amber Topaz in Red, Ripon Arts Hub, July 8, 7.30pm
Amber Topaz in Red
YORKSHIRE-BORN international cabaret and burlesque siren Amber Topaz celebrates redheaded musical theatre stars of stage and screen in her classy, sassy, fabulous musical revue Red.
Her delicious cocktail of Old Hollywood glamour and West End and Broadway classics is “full to the brim with iconic show-stopping numbers, honouring these formidable flame-haired trailblazers that have shaped musical theatre herstory”.
From the golden era of Hollywood to the bright lights of Las Vegas, Red embodyies legendary artists such as Rita Hayworth, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Shirley MacLaine, Gwen Verdon and many more.
As a teenager, Amber left her Yorkshire roots to move to London and enter the world of cabaret and burlesque, since when she has travelled widely with her combination of frivolous and thought-provoking cabaret.
Fladam, Astro Norma, Ripon Library, July 11, 10.30am and 12 noon
Fladam’s Florence Poskitt & Adam Sowter in Astro Norma
YORK duo Fladam, Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter, present their out-of-this-world musical comedy Astro Norma at Ripon Library, where they invite audiences aged three to ten to blast off on a madcap 45-minute quest to find Grandpa’s lost star, but beware, the sneaky Silencer is hot on her trail , ready to silence the tunes.
Packed with awesome aliens, rib tickling robots and interplanetary puppets, this joyful space odyssey will have young theatregoers reaching for the stars.
