BREEEEP! BREEEEP! Tickets go on sale today for Tim Vine: Breeep!, the punslinger’s May 27 2023 show at the Grand Opera House, York.
Expect a mountain of nonsense, one-liners, stupid things, crazy songs and wobbly props, plus utter drivel, advises Vine, introducing his latest fast-moving stand-up tour.
“Tim’s like the manager of a sweet shop where all the sweets are replaced by jokes, and he serves them in a random order,” says the show blurb. “So it’s like a sweet shop where the manager just throws sweets at you. Enjoy the foolishness and laugh your slip-ons off.”
Vine, twice winner of Dave’s Best Joke at the Edinburgh Fringe, has starred in The Tim Vine Chat Show (BBC Radio 4) and Tim Vine Travels Through Time (BBC One).
Change of gear: With his publicity head on, Tim Vine has gone from a multitude of milk bottles for Sunset Milk Idiot to an attack of antlers for Breeeep!
He has made appearances on Taskmaster (Dave), Countdown (Channel 4), Not Going Out (BBC One), The Sketch Show (ITV), Blandings (BBC One), Football Genius (ITV) and Whittle (Channel 5).
His wealth of material has been preserved in books such as The Biggest Ever Tim Vine Joke Book and The Tim Vine Bumper Book Of Silliness; Sunset Milk Idiot is his sixth DVD, and he has re-created moments from 20 episodes of Columbo in his online project Recreating Columbo.
After touring as Plastic Elvis, his Elvis tribute act, Vine returns to doing what he does best – telling silly jokes, singing daft songs and waving mad props akimbo in Breeeep!. The show carries a safety announcement: Please remember to breathe between laughs.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/york.
And then there were three: Millie O’Connell’s Babe, left, Debbie Kurup’s Star and Danielle Steers’ Lady in The Cher Show: A New Musical. Picture: Matt Crockett
THE role of Cher in The Cher Show, A New Musical will be shared by Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers and Millie O’Connell at the Grand Opera House, York, next week on the European premiere tour.
In a case of Cher, Cher and Cher alike, the trio of musical actresses will portray the American “Goddess of Pop” and “Queen of Reinvention” in three different stages of her career as a singer, actress and television personality: Millie as Babe; Danielle as Lady and Debbie as Star, each delineated by a different colour scheme.
On the road since April, the year-long British and Irish tour of this Tony Award-winning 2018 Broadway smash has visited Yorkshire already, playing the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, in late-October, directed by Arlene Phillips and choreographed by two-time Strictly Come Dancing professional champion Oti Mabuse, with a book by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, The Addams Family) and costume design by Gabriella Slade (Six, In The Heights, Spice World 2019 Tour).
From a young child with big dreams in El Centro, California, the shy daughter of an Armenian American truck driver, to the heights of global stardom, The Cher Show tells the story of Cherilyn Sarkisian’s meteoric rise to 100 million record sales, an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, three Golden Globes and even an award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Oti Mabuse: Choreographer for The Cher Show
As the publicity blurb puts it, “Cher takes the audience by the hand and introduces them to the influential people in her life, from her mother and Sonny Bono to fashion designer and costumier Bob Mackie. It shows how she battled the men who underestimated her, fought the conventions and, above all, was a trailblazer for independence”.
Thirty-five hits feature, from I Got You Babe, Bang Bang and Gypsys, Tramps And Thieves to I Found Someone, If I Could Turn Back Time, The Shoop Shoop Song and Believe, from a songbook of the only artist to have a Billboard chart number one hit in six consecutive decades.
Let’s meet the three Chers in chronological order, firstly Millie O’Connell’s Babe. “I’d worked with Arlene [director Arlene Phillips] before; she gave me my first job at 19 on TV,” she says. “She’s followed my career since then, and it’s really great to be able to work with her again. She and Oti and Gabriella are a really good production team of women and that really drew me in the most.
“Cher came into my life when I heard Believe. I was like, ‘this is brilliant’! I used to impersonate that song as a party trick, and it’s been really exciting taking that impersonation so far that it now becomes naturalistic.”
Millie O’Connell’s Babe in The Cher Show. Picture: Pamela Raith
Millie plays Cher “before the high cheek bones”, from the age of six to her early 20s, having worked on voice, mannerisms and movement over an intense four weeks, all leading to a performance with multiple costume changes. “I’m going through all those eras, from before I Got You Babe to The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour; I even have one costume change on stage in the first act!” she says.
Picking out Cher’s enduring qualities, Millie says: “I love how she’s a star who never hides her vulnerability. She reveals her heart, which is really empowering, especially for women.”
Danielle Steers’s Lady takes up Cher’s story from the late-1960s to the mid-1970s. “I’m middle Cher! Starting with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and ending with the divorce,” she says.
“I was in a show called Bat Out Of Hell, when I was in the original cast in London and on Broadway, and I sang Dead Ringer For Love, the Cher and Meat Loaf duet. That’s when people said, ‘Oh my god, you sound like Cher, and I’d never thought of my voice that way before.
Barnsley-born Danielle Steers’s Lady in The Cher Show
“While I was in America, The Cher Show was on there and I used to have to pass the show sign on my way to work and I thought, ‘that looks amazing’. I became obsessed!”
Danielle, born and raised in Barnsley, went through “quite the audition process”, on Zoom and in person, for the UK tour but is delighted to now be singing multiple Cher songs.
“When you hear Cher, you just know it’s her. I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s the way she sings certain words and forms her vowel sounds,” she says.
“Everyone always tries to do their best Cher impression, but though it’s hard, in this show you have to find that fine line between gimmickry and reality, and of course Cher singing now doesn’t sound like she did in the 1960s, but we have to be true to her at all times.”
Debbie Kurup’s Star, centre stage (where else!), in The Cher Show. Picture: Pamela Raith
Debbie Kurup plays Cher, the Star. “She’s the oldest and wisest of the three Chers,” she says. “We actually start the show with ‘Star’ having a bit of a confidence crisis and calling on the other two Chers to help her and go through the eras. I pick up the baton again in Act Two, although I narrate throughout.”
Her admiration for Cher is boundless. “She is amazing,” says Debbie. “Some of her inner strength comes from when she was bullied at school, was dyslexic and never felt she fitted in.
“Because she felt like an outsider, she’s always worked harder. She’s funny, she’s a consummate entertainer, not afraid to reinvent herself. That’s what sets her apart, making her a megastar.”
The Cher Show, A New Musical, runs at Grand Opera House, York, November 15 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
The Commitments: The return of Roddy Doyle’s story of an Eighties’ working-class Dublin band driven by Sixties’ soul power at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Elllie Kurttz
AS The Commitments return, what other commitments would Charles Hutchinson urge you to put in your diary?
Irish craic of the week: The Commitments, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
WHEN schoolteacher Roddy Doyle wanted an excuse to bring a bunch of young people together in book form in 1986 to “capture the rhythm of Dublin kids yapping and teasing and bullying”, he decided to find a setting outside school. “That’s when the idea of a band came to me,” he recalls.
Cue a big band with a brass section and backing vocals, playing Sixties’ Motown and Memphis soul “because it felt timeless”. Cue The Commitments, the novel, the Alan Parker film, and the musical, now revived on tour with Corrie’s Nigel Pivaro as Jimmy Rabbitte’s Da and Andrew Linnie in the director’s chair. Box office: 0844 871 b7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
Dave Gorman: Making his stand in Powerpoint To The People
Analytical gig of the week: Dave Gorman, Powerpoint To The People, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
DAVE Gorman, the comedian behind Dave TV’s show Modern Life Is Goodish, is touring again, determined to demonstrate how a powerpoint presentation need not involve a man in a grey suit standing behind a lectern saying “next slide please”.
“We’ve all had enough of that, so let’s put it all behind us and never speak of it again,” he says. “There are far more important things to analyse.” Well, they are more important in Gorman’s head anyway. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
Oboe player James Turnbull: Performing this evening’s York Late Music concert with pianist Libby Burgess
Power play of the day: York Late Music: Duncan Honybourne, piano, today, 1pm; James Turnbull, oboe, and Libby Burgess, piano, tonight, 7.30pm, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York
AT lunchtime, pianist Duncan Honeybourne plays David Power’s arrangements of David Bowie (Art Decade) and Bowie & Eno (Warszawa), concluding with Harold Budd/Brian Eno/Power’s Mash Up Remembered. Prokofiev and Satie works feature too.
Power gives a 6.45pm talk tonight ahead of James Turnbull and Libby Burgess’s concert, when his composition Imagine Another receives its world premiere, alongside works by Stravinsky, Tansy Davies, Vaughan Williams, Diana Burrell, Britten and Ravel. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Love’s trials and tribulations: Simon Radford’s Jamie and Claire Pulpher’s Cathy in White Rose Theatre’s musical The Last Five Years
Musical love story of the week, White Rose Theatre in The Last Five Years, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Saturday matinee
FOR York’s newest stage company, White Rose Theatre, director Claire Pulpher and Simon Radford perform Jason Robert Brown’s emotionally charged American musical, charting the path of two lovers over the course of five years of courting and marriage, trials and tribulations.
Struggling actress Cathy Hiatt’s side of the story starts at the end of the relationship; rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein tells his tale from the beginning, but will they ever meet in the middle? The Last Five Years promises laughter, tears and everything in between in a score of upbeat songs and beautiful ballads. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mark Thomas in Black And White, seeking answers and finding hope
Political points of the week: Mark Thomas: Black And White, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm
BURNING Duck Comedy Club presents political comedy firebrand Mark Thomas on his Black And White tour, promising “creative fun” as he takes down politicians, mucks about, ponders new ideas and finds hope.
Londoner Thomas asks: how did we get here? What are we going to do about it? Who’s up for a sing-song? “After lockdowns and isolation, this show is about the simple act of being in a room together and toppling international capitalism,” he vows. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Kaiser Chiefs: All roads lead homewards to Leeds next Saturday. Picture: Edward Cooke
Homecoming of the week: Kaiser Chiefs, plus special guests The Fratellis and The Sherlocks, All Together UK Tour, Leeds First Direct Arena, November 12, 7.30pm
NOW in their 22nd year, Kaiser Chiefs head home to Leeds on their November arena tour, as well as playing Hull Bonus Arena on November 8. “It’s been a while…and we can’t wait to see you all again,” they say. “We’re looking forward to putting on a big KC show. See you there!”
Alongside Yorkshire anthems Oh My God, I Predict A Riot, Everyday I Love You Less And Less and Ruby, listen out for new single How 2 Dance, produced by former Rudimental member Amir Amor as the first taster off their eighth studio album, set for release in 2023 as the follow-up to 2019’s Duck.
“I hope to hear it at weddings, on the radio, and in the last remaining indie discos across the land,” says lead singer Ricky Wilson. “How 2 Dance is about letting go, not worrying about what other people think you should be doing. It may not be the smoothest of journeys, but sometimes you need a bit of turbulence to remind you that you are flying.” Box office: Leeds, firstdirectarena.com; Hull, bonusarenahull.com.
Pulp fact, not fiction: Jarvis Cocker and co’s poster for next year’s comeback shows
Book early for next summer’s comeback: Pulp, Bridlington Spa, May 26 2023, and Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 9 2023
LET frontman Jarvis Cocker explain why Sheffield’s Pulp have decided to play their first shows since December 2012. “Three months ago, we asked, ‘What exactly do you do for an encore?’. Well…an encore happens when the crowd makes enough noise to bring the band back to the stage,” he says.
“So…we are playing in the UK and Ireland in 2023. Therefore…come along and make some noise. See you there.”. Box office: gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Back in action: Ryan Adams to play acoustic solo gig in York next spring. Picture: Andrew Blackstein
York gig announcement of the week: Ryan Adams, York Barbican, April 14 2023
NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams will play York for the first time since 2011 on his eight-date solo tour next spring, when each night’s set list will be different.
Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and four years later, will perform on acoustic guitar and piano in the style of his spring 2022 run of East Coast American gigs, when he played 168 songs over five nights in shows that averaged 160 minutes.
This year, Adams has released four studio albums: Chris, a tribute to his late brother; Romeo & Juliet; FM, a more traditional rock’n’roll record, and Devolver, given away to fans to mark a year’s sobriety. Box office: ryanadams.ffm.to/tour.OPR and yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ian McIntosh’s Deco and Eve Kitchingman’s Natalie , left, Ciara Mackey’s Imelda and Sarah Gardiner’s Bernie, the not-shy-in-coming-forward backing singers in The Commitments. Picture: Ellie Kurttz
THE Commitments are back on the road in a hit-laden celebration of the bonding powers of soul music, and no-one could be more delighted than creator Roddy Doyle.
“The original stage show in 2013 was a brilliant experience from my point of view,” says the Irish writer. “It stayed in the West End for over two years, then it went on a successful tour.”
Five years on, The Commitments will be touring Britain and Ireland from late-September to July 2023. Next stop: Grand Opera House, York, from November 7 to 12.
Nigel Pivaro, forever associated with playing lovable rogue Terry Duckworth in Coronation Street from 1983 to 2012, takes the pivotal role of Da, Jimmy Rabbitte’s father, while Andrew Linnie, sax player Dean in the original West End production and later Jimmy Rabbitte on tour, is in the director’s seat.
For the West End premiere, Roddy lived in London for 12 weeks, looking on at rehearsals every day, doing daily rewrites. “I attended every preview and then the meetings the next day as we discussed what was and wasn’t working,” he recalls. “My role this time round has been less vital, although sitting in on the read-through with the new cast was just terrific.”
Irish writer Roddy Doyle. Picture: Anthony Woods
Has he felt emotional returning to his first work of fiction, a novel penned in 1987 and then adapted for the screen in 1991 by director Alan Parker, with a screenplay co-written by Doyle, recounting the rise and fall of a young, working-class soul band in Dublin?
“It’s brought back a lot of memories, yes. I was a geography and English teacher at the time when I wrote the novel. I wanted an excuse to bring a bunch of young people together in book form and capture the rhythm of Dublin kids yapping and teasing and bullying,” Roddy says.
“But I needed to find a setting outside school and that’s when the idea of a band came to me. A big band with a brass section and backing vocals, as opposed to three or four young men that was the norm back then.”
Roddy has resisted the temptation to update the setting from the 1980s. “The vibrancy is still there but so is the tension caused by lack of communication. For instance, will Deco, the obnoxious lead singer, turn up on time? These days, you’d track him down on your mobile in no time at all. But there wasn’t that option in the late ’80s,” he says. “And I chose Sixties’ music – Motown and Memphis soul – because, at the time, it felt timeless. Thirty-five years later, I was right.”
For a long time, Roddy was a teacher who wrote on the side. “I loved teaching and the holidays were great, a time when I got into the habit of writing. I wrote The Commitments in 1986, it was published the following year, and I was working on the screenplay in 1988. But I was still teaching up until 1993,” he says.
James Killeen’s Jimmy Rabbitte and Ciara Mackey’s Imelda in The Commitments. Picture: Ellie Kurttz
The Snapper and The Van followed in 1990 and 1991 respectively, joining The Commitments in what became known as the Barrytown Trilogy. Then, in 1993, Roddy hit the jackpot when Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, his novel about a rumbunctious ten-year-old in a north Dublin suburb in 1968, won the prestigious Booker Prize.
“I was delighted,” says Roddy, who was 35 at the time. “It was a great compliment, although I can’t remember what I said in my acceptance speech. But I do recall then being taken away to be interviewed when all I really wanted to do was get back to the table and share the moment with my wife and publisher.
“But it felt as if I’d instantly become public property, and I didn’t like it. What I wanted more than anything was to go back to Ireland and live as near a normal life as possible. I deliberately continued to use public transport, for example. But now, almost 30 years later, I can take it in my stride.”
Pick up any of Doyle’s early books, in particular, and you could almost be reading a screenplay. “That’s true. I think that the best way of establishing characters is to get them talking. That’s especially true of The Commitments – and it gave me a template which I used for some years. The fact is, we talk a lot in Ireland.”
Roddy has an attic office in his home where he writes, but since the lifting of lockdown, he has acquired a room in the city centre where he will tap away too. “At one level, I was asking myself why I’d want another office, but it struck me as a good idea to get out of the house and walk around and experience Dublin opening up, coming alive again. It’s been really interesting,” he says.
Seeing the funny side …or not: Coronation Street alumnus Nigel Pivaro’s Jimmy Da, left, and James Killeen’s Jimmy Rabbitte. Picture: Ellie Kurttz
“Also, my three children are grown up now and no longer living at home, so I’m not surrounded by the rhythm of their speech.”
Roddy takes a disciplined approach to work, usually writing from nine until six each day. “But I’ve become a bit more relaxed as I’ve got older,” he says. “There’s nothing quite as nice as going to see a film at the cinema in daylight, and I never don’t feel guilty.”
Whatever came afterwards, The Commitments will always hold a special place in Roddy’s heart for the simple reason that it was his first published book. He is fond, too, of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, wherein narrator Paula, after a litany of domestic abuse, realises that her husband, Charlo, has been interfering with their daughter and duly brings down a frying pan on his head?
“I’d found it really hard to write in the first person as a woman,” reveals Roddy. “It took a long time to find Paula’s voice. I also had little or no experience of violence or of physical pain. But into the second year, it began to flow really well.”
Even so, he worried whether he had written something authentic. In 1994, he had penned the four-part series Family for the BBC, featuring Paula and her immediate circle. “When it was broadcast in Ireland, it caused an absolute storm,” he recalls. “It was condemned by the Catholic church. Where were the songs from The Commitments? Where was the laughter? There wasn’t any.”
“The best way of establishing characters is to get them talking. That’s especially true of The Commitments,” says Roddy Doyle. Pictured here are 2022-2023 cast members Sarah Gardiner, left, Ian McIntosh, Conor Litten, James Killeen, Ciara Mackey and Michael Mahony. Picture: Ellie Kurttz
Then Roddy was contacted by Women’s Aid, who had heard he was writing the book. “When I’d finished, I gave them the manuscript, which they then distributed among ten women who’d been through abusive relationships,” he says.
“A few weeks later, I went to a meeting to listen to their reaction. I sat down, the only man in the room, and kind of held my breath. The person in charge asked if anyone wanted to say anything. ‘Yes,’ said the woman in front of me. ‘How did you get inside my bleeping head?’ It’s the best review I’ve ever had in my life.”
At 64, Roddy remains prolific, chalking up 12 novels, three collections of stories, eight books for children and a book he co-wrote with Irish footballer Roy Keane, The Second Half. He has written the plays Brownbread and Guess Who’s Coming For The Dinner and co-adapted The Woman Who Walked Into Doors with Joe O’Byrne, as well as his stage adaptation for The Commitments. He also wrote the screenplays for The Snapper, The Van, Family and When Brendan Met Trudy.
Retirement seems unlikely. Indeed, Roddy was once quoted as saying that he hoped to die mid-sentence. “Well,” he says, “It might be nice to get to a full stop.”
The Commitments, Grand Opera House, York, November 7 to 12, 7.30pm; 2.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
The tour poster for The Commitments’ travels in 2022-2023
“I hadn’t realised how much I missed performing live,” says Harry Hill as he returns to touring after nine years
HARRY Hill, comedian, TV show host, writer, actor, artist and former doctor, is playing his first tour in nine years, promising absurdist Pedigree Fun! at the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow night.
It was there that he last appeared in York, squeezing everything into Sausage Time in February 2013 after another long lull between tours since Hooves in 2006.
From Harry Hill’s TV Burp to You’ve Been Framed voiceovers and Junior Bake Off, Harry has been a fixture on the TV, but his brand of manic mayhem, slapstick comedy with daft props, pop culture send-ups, pertinent observational satire, daft songs and surrealist wit, always just too quick for the crowd, utterly suits the live arena.
“I hadn’t realised how much I missed performing live until lockdown stopped me from doing it,” says Harry, who turned 58 on October 1. “It’s great to be going back on stage and the good news is I’m planning a very silly show.”
A show with “brand-new amazing jokes in an all-singing, all-dancing one-man spectacular” with regular sidekick Stouffer The Cat, Harry’s new baby elephant, Sarah, and Ian, The Information Worm.
“No,” says Harry, correcting that piece of misinformation. “Not Ian.” What? Is the Information Worm worming his way out of the show? “No, he had to be cut. In the theatre no-one could see him. He’s been sacked!”
No tours for nine years, but it was not a case of Harry giving up live comedy. “I’ve never stopped doing stand-up; always doing bits here and there when I wasn’t doing anything else,” he says.
“When I worked as a doctor, I was being told what to do, which I reacted against,” says Harry Hill of his journey into comedy
“I would do ten minutes in clubs around town because that’s how you come up with the jokes till you’ve built up an hour, and then more. The new show is two halves of about 50 minutes because I think two hours is too much of anyone’s time!
“What I try to do is more of the stand-up in the first half with some videos, then it goes up a level in the second half with Gary, my son from my first marriage, coming on.”
Gary, inevitably, takes the form of a dummy. “He’s got Covid, so we have to do a Covid test on stage,” reveals Harry. “Then there’s Sarah, the baby elephant. She won’t have been seen outside London, so she’s fresh and new and very nervous. I’ve rescued her from a circus clown who had a fetish for ears.”
How has his 2022 tour contrasted with his Sausage Time travels? “Well, I’m that much older, and my show is very physical, so I’ve been hobbling to the car after the show out of breath and in a pool of sweat,” says Harry.
“I had planned to get fit for the tour but then I hosted Junior Bake Off, so I put on a little weight with all those cakes.”
The pandemic lockdowns and the loss of his friend, fellow comedian Sean Lock, to cancer in August 2021, sparked Harry’s return to stand-up gigs. “I’d sort of forgotten, the thing that I really like about live comedy is being able to do what I want, which is what first attracted me.
“Whereas when I worked as a doctor, I was being told what to do, which I reacted against. It’s the same with TV, with people saying, ‘No, do it like this’. ‘Don’t do that’.
“My view is that people want to escape the everyday and on a good night, I do achieve that,” says Harry Hill
“The other thing is, and I don’t know if it’s nostalgia, but audiences are more up for it, because, (a), they’re pleased to see you’re bothering, and (b), it’s often the first time they’ve been out to a big gig when people are still nervous.”
Did the NHS put out a request to Harry to revive his medical skills during Covid? “I’m still on the register, and yeah, they approached me. I got an email, like all retired doctors, asking if I would help out, right at the start, when everyone thought it was a chance to play their part.
“So I clicked on this email and the next thing I got was another email, from the General Medical Council, saying, could I start working at the Nightingale Hospital [in London]?
“Well, I was available, but fortunately, because everyone washed their hands and stayed indoors, I was never called on.”
Now Harry is focusing once more on that alternative medicine: laughter, or in his case “a very silly show”. “There are trends in comedy, as with all things, and silliness is coming back, particularly now,” he says. “My view is that people want to escape the everyday and on a good night, I do achieve that.
“I take people on this journey where I say, ‘it’s not a dream’ and we re-set what’s normal for people after what we’ve all been through.”
Part of the pleasure for Harry is enjoying his badinage with dummy Gary in his chair and the unruly Stouffer. “It’s like having an alter-ego psychologically,” he says. “As a kid and as a comedian, I’m a big fan of double acts, and sadly there aren’t really acts like that anymore,” he says.
Fight! Harry Hill’s autobiography, published in 2021
“I was once in a double act, The Hall Brothers, with a friend of mine when we were students. We had a few laughs, but we liked the idea of it more than the work, because it’s hard work being a double act – and it’s only half the money!”
Harry’s autobiography, Fight! Thirty Years Not Quite At The Top, was published last November. What did he learn about himself? “I don’t know about that, but I was surprised by how much I’d got done, how single-minded I was,” he says.
“It wasn’t a psychological study but I learned the most important thing is to enjoy the process, not whether something is a success or a failure.
“It was a tongue-in-cheek title because there is no ‘top’, That’s the thing you discover. If that’s your motivation for success, you’ll find there’s always someone more successful than you.”
Savour the enjoyment of being creative, just as Harry did when his artwork featured in Grayson’s Art Club, iconoclastic artist Grayson Perry’s art-of-the-people series on Channel 4 during lockdown. “That was the best thing on the TV to come out of lockdown,” he says. “My wife [Magda Archer] is an artist and we were invited to his house for dinner. He was just as interesting as he is on the TV.
“I’ve always been interested in the visual side of things.” Witness Harry’s tour brochures, or his trademark attire of brothel creepers, slim-fit suit, elongated collars as if designed by Salvador Dali and a pocketful of pens.
Pedigree Fun! in that rata-tat-tat voice is on its way to York. Welcome back, Harry Hill.
Harry Hill: Pedigree Fun, Grand Opera House, York, November 2, Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york
Did you know? Harry Hill’s real name is Matthew Keith Hall.
Filip Fredrik’s Elements: Showing at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2022
A FILM festival with international pedigree, poetry clashes, comedy aplenty and Constellations shine out for Charles Hutchinson.
Festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, across York, Tuesday to Sunday
AESTHETICA Short Film Festival returns for 300 films in 15 venues over six days in York in its 12th edition. The BAFTA-Qualifying event will have a hybrid format, combining the live festival with a selection of screenings, masterclasses and events on the digital platform until November 30.
New for 2022 will be York Days, a discount scheme with the chance to save 50 per cent on prices on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday programmes. Comedies, dramas, thrillers, animation, family-friendly films and documentaries all feature, complemented by workshops, the Virtual Reality Lab, installations and the festival fringe. Box office:asff.co.uk/tickets.
Malaika Kegode: Guest appearance at Say Owt Slam’s birthday party. Picture: Jon Aitken
Birthday party of the week: Say Owt Slam’s 8th Birthday Special, with Malaika Kegode, The Crescent, York, tonight (29/10/2022), 7.30pm
SAY Owt, York’s loveable gang of performance poets, Stu Freestone, Henry Raby, Hannah Davies and David Jarman, welcome special-guest Bristol poet Malaika Kegode to a high-energy night of words and verse, humour and poet-versus-poet fun.
“It started as a one-off gig! I can’t believe we’re still slamming eight years later,” says artistic director and host Raby. “Whether you’re a veteran or looking for something new, everyone is welcome at a Say Owt Slam, where each poet has a maximum of three minutes to wow randomly selected judges with their poetry.” Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
David O’Doherty: Change of date for York gig
On the move: David O’Doherty: Whoa Is Me, Grand Opera House, York, changing from Monday to February 5 2023, 8pm
HERE he comes again, albeit later than first planned, trotting on stage with all of the misplaced confidence of a waiter with no pad.
“There’ll be lots of talking, some apologising and some songs on a glued-together plastic keyboard from 1986,” promises David O’Doherty, comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright, 1990 East Leinster under-14 triple jump bronze medallist and son of jazz pianist Jim Doherty. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Flo & Joan: Musical comedy duo offer thoughts on topics of the day
Musical comedy of the week: Flo & Joan, Sweet Release, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 7.3pm
FLO & Joan, the British musical comedy duo of sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, play York as one of 30 additional dates on their 2022 tour after their return to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Climbing back out of their pits, armed with a piano and percussion, they poke around the classic topics of the day with their fusion of comedy and song with a dark undertow.
The sisters have penned five numbers for the West End musical Death Drop and have written and performed songs for Horrible Histories (CBBC), Rob Delaney’s Stand Up Central (Comedy Central) and BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Emilio Iannucci: Starring in Nick Payne’s romantic two-hander Constellations at the SJT
Play of the week outside York: Constellations, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, running until November 12
WHEN beekeeper Roland meets scientist Marianne, anything could happen in University of York alumnus Nick Payne’s romantic and revealing exploration of the many possibilities that can result from a single meeting. Reminiscent of Sliding Doors and Kate Atkinson’s novel Life After Life, this two-hander starring Carla Harrison-Hodge and Emilio Iannucci ponders “What if?”.
“Constellations plays with time and space in the most brilliant way,” says director Paul Robinson. “Deeply human, deeply moving, it genuinely tilts the world for you. I challenge anyone not to leave the theatre just a bit more aware of what a fragile and remarkable thing life is.” Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Bring It On: “The thrill of extreme competition”
Backflip of the week: York Stage in Bring It On: The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Saturday matinee, 2.30pm
THE York premiere of Bring It On backflips into the JoRo in a youth theatre production directed by Nik Briggs. Inspired by the film of the same name, this story of the challenges and surprising bonds forged through the thrill of extreme competition is packed with vibrant characters, electrifying contemporary songs and explosive choreography.
This Broadway hit is the energy-fuelled work of Tony Award winners Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and Tom Kitt (Grease: Live). Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Humour on hand: Harry Hill promises Pedigree Fun on his first tour since 2013
Very silly show of the week: Harry Hill, Pedigree Fun!, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm
COMEDIAN, writer, actor, artist and former doctor Harry Hill and his big shirt collars take to the stage for an all-singing, all-dancing surrealist spectacular in his long-awaited return to the live arena for the fist time since 2013’s Sausage Time tour.
“I hadn’t realised how much I missed performing live until lockdown stopped me from doing it,” he says. “The good news is I’m planning a very silly show.” Full of pop-culture spoofs, no doubt.
Audiences will meet Harry’s new baby elephant, Sarah, along with regular sidekick Stouffer the Cat. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
John McCusker: Fiddler supreme on 30th anniversary tour
Fiddler on the road: The John McCusker Band 30th Anniversary Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH fiddle player John McCusker will be joined by Ian Carr, Sam Kelly, Helen McCabe and Toby Shaer for his concert series in celebration of 30 years as a professional folk musician since cutting his teeth in The Battlefield Band at 17.
To coincide with this landmark, McCusker has released a Best Of album featuring tracks from his solo records and television and film soundtracks, alongside a book of 100 original compositions, John McCusker: The Collection.
“I’m delighted to be able to get this special show on the road and celebrate 30 years as a professional musician,” says McCusker. “I’m looking forward to performing the highlights from my back catalogue and revisiting memories associated with those tracks.
“It’s brilliant that I’ve been able to make music and perform for 30 years and I’ve worked with so many incredible people in that time. I’ve never had a plan; good things have just happened and, so far, it’s worked out as well as I could possibly have dreamed of. I can’t wait to play with my friends again.” Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
York Settlement Community Players’ cast for Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike: Mick Liversidge (Vanya), top left, Victoria Delaney (Sonia) and Susannah Baines (Sasha); Andrew Roberts (Spike), bottom left, Sanna Jeppsson (Cassandra) and Livy Potter
York premiere of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm, 7.30pm
VANYA and his sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up, but when their famous film-star sister, Masha, makes an impromptu visit with her dashing, twenty-something boyfriend, Spike, a chaotic weekend ensues.
Resentment, rivalry and revealing premonitions begin to boil over as the three siblings battle to be heard in Christopher Durang’s comedy, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best New Play with its blend of Chekhovian ennui, modern-day concerns of celebrity, social networking and the troubling onset of middle age. Jim Paterson directs Settlement Players’ production. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Plastic Mermaids: “Emotional exploration of the many facets of heartbreak”
Time to discover…Plastic Mermaids, The Crescent, York, November 10; Oporto, Leeds, February 2 2023
AFTER playing Glastonbury and Camp Bestival in the summertime, Isle of Wight five-piece Plastic Mermaids are off on an 11-date tour to promote their second album, It’s Not Comfortable To Grow, out now on Sunday Best.
Led by brothers Douglas and Jamie Richards, who approach life like an art project, they face up to their dark side in an emotional exploration of the many facets of heartbreak on such psych-rock and electronica numbers as Girl Boy Girl, Disposable Love, Something Better and Elastic Time. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Greg Haiste, left, and York-born writer and actor David Reed cross swords in rehearsal for York Theatre Royal’s premiere of Guy Fawkes. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
POLITICAL fireworks, street art indoors, beer and bratwurst, a Velvet Underground pioneer and the history of ghosts spark up Charles Hutchinson’s interest.
Premiere of the week: Guy Fawkes, York Theatre Royal, Friday to November 12
WAR-WEARY, treasonous son of York Guy Fawkes vows to restore a Catholic monarch to the English throne, whatever the cost. In the private room of an upmarket tavern, a clandestine of meeting of misfits takes place between this dark dissident, a Poundshop Machiavelli, a portly boob, a clumsy princess, a preposterous toff and a shoddy ham as they plot the most audacious crime ever attempted on British soil.
David Reed, from comedy trio The Penny Dreadfuls, plays York’s traitorous trigger man in his long-awaited combustible comedy-drama with its devilishly dangerous mix of Blackadder and Upstart Crow. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Torrents (Willow Herald Speak), by Michael Dawson, from Navigators Art’s Coney St Jam art intervention at the StreetLife project hub
Exhibition of the week: Navigators Art, Coney St Jam: An Art Intervention, StreetLife project hub, Coney Street, York, until November 19
YORK collective Navigators Art draw inspiration from the city’s rich heritage and vibrant creative communities to explore ways to revitalise and diversify Coney Street. On show is painting, drawing, collage, textile and 3D work, complemented by photography, projections, music and poetry.
Taking part are: Steve Beadle; Michael Dawson; Alfie Fox; Alan Gillott; Oz Hardwick; Richard Kitchen; Katie Lewis; Tim Morrison; Peter Roman; Amy Elena Thompson; Dylan Thompson and Nick Walters.
Woman To Woman: Julia Fordham, left, Rumer, Judie Tzuke and Beverley Craven will be in harmony at York Barbican
Collaboration of the week: Woman To Woman (Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke, Julia Fordham & Rumer), York Barbican, tonight, 6.30pm
NOT a rumour, definitely true, Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke and Julia Fordham have invited Rumer to join them for the latest Woman To Woman tour.
In this collaboration between the four female singer-songwriters, they present hit singles and album tracks, such as Promise Me, Happy Ever After, Welcome To The Cruise, Slow, Holding On, (Love Moves In) Mysterious Ways, Aretha and Stay With Me Till Dawn.
“We cannot wait to share a stage together, create beautiful vocal harmonies with each other and collaborate on some possible new material,” they say. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Self aware: Comedian Helen Bauer discusses herself at Theatre@41. Picture: James Deacon
Comedy gig of the week: Helen Bauer, Madam Good Tit, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
SELF-AWARE stand-up Helen Bauer is on the road with her Edinburgh Fringe show about self-confidence, self-esteem and self-care. “It’s the year of ‘the self’ and I’m trying to be the change I want you to see,” says Helen, who grew up in Hampshire blandness and honed her comedic craft in Berlin.
Expect adult themes and language, including natural disasters and eating disorders, forewarns Theatre@41, as York awaits the co-host of two podcasts, Trusty Hogs with Catherine Bohart and Daddy Look At Me with Rosie Jones. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Velma Celli: York drag diva supreme adds sauce to all the bratwurst and beer at Yorktoberfest
Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest Beer Festival, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, today and next Saturday, 1pm to 5pm, 7pm to 11pm; Friday, 7pm to 11pm. Doors open: evenings, 6.30pm; daytime, 12.30pm.
FOLLOWING up last year’s debut, Yorktoberfest returns in party mood for beer, bratwurst, bumper cars and all things Bavarian. This beer festival mirrors the first Oktoberfest staged in 1810 in Munich, where the citizens were encouraged to eat, drink and be merry at the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and his princess bride.
Step inside a giant marquee to discover the rustic Bavarian Bar and Dog Haus, full of bratwurst, currywurst, schnitzel, apple strudel and pretzels; live music by the Bavarian Strollers oompah band and vocal drag queen entertainment by York’s own Velma Celli. Dodgems and a twister add funfair thrills. Box office: yorktoberfest.co.uk.
Underground overground: Velvets legend John Cale to be spotted at York Barbican on Monday
THE gig of the week, John Cale, York Barbican, Monday, 8pm
VELVET Underground icon John Cale’s only Yorkshire gig of his rearranged 2022 tour has moved from July 19 to Monday on his first British itinerary in a decade.
The Welsh multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, who turned 80 in March, will be performing songs from a career that began in classical and avant-garde music before he formed The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed in New York in 1965.
Over six pioneering decades, Cale has released 16 solo studio albums, while also collaborating with Brian Eno, Patti Smith, The Stooges, Squeeze, Happy Mondays, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Super Furry Animals and Manic Street Preachers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Doctor Dorian Deathly: Will his face melt in his horror show at Theatre@41?
From ghost walk to ghost talk: Doctor Dorian Deathly: A Night Of Face Melting Horror (or The Complete History Of Ghosts), Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to October 31, 8.30pm
VISIT York Tourism Awards winner Doctor Dorian Deathly, spookologist and ghost botherer, celebrates Halloween season with six nights of ghost stories, paranormal sciences, theatrical trickery, horror, original music and perhaps the odd unexpected guest (with the emphasis on ‘odd’?).
“Together we will huddle around the stage and explore spine-chilling tales of hauntings, both local and further afield, dissemble horrors captured on film and follow the ghost story through from the origins to the Victorian classics and modern- day frights,” says Deathly, whose face-melting macabre amusements are suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Black History Month concert at Grand Opera House, York
Harmonies of the week: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, supported by Muntu Valdo, Grand Opera House, York, October 29, 7.30pm
SOUTH African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s York concert marks Black History Month on their first British tour for many years.
When Paul Simon incorporated their harmonies into his ground-breaking 1986 album Graceland, that landmark recording was seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences.
Founded by the late Joseph Shabalala, the Grammy Award winners have since recorded with Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Barnsley folk singer Kate Rusby. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
A scene from Frantic Assembly’s 21st century retelling of Shakespeare’s Othello, full of paranoia, sex and murder, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Tristram Kenton
REJOICE as doors to York’s grand designs ancient and modern are unlocked this weekend. Charles Hutchinson also checks out what’s on inside elsewhere.
Play of the week: Frantic Assembly in Othello, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday
FRANTIC Assembly’s award-winning, electrifying reimagining of Othello locates Shakespeare’s tragedy of paranoia, sex and murder in a volatile 21st century as Othello’s passionate affair with Desdemona becomes the catalyst for jealousy, betrayal, revenge and the darkest intents.
Shakespeare’s muscular yet beautiful text combines with the touring company’s own bruising physicality in a world of broken glass and broken promises, malicious manipulation and explosive violence, previously staged in 2008 and 2014 and now updated for 2022. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“Rollercoaster romcom”: Olga Koch at Theatre@41
Comedy gig of the week: Olga Koch, Just Friends, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
OLGA Koch, Russian-born, English-dwelling, story-telling stand-up and BBC Radio 4 show host, makes a return visit to Monkgate this weekend, following up last October’s Homecoming show.
Directed by Charlie Dinkin, this time she promises a “rollercoaster romcom you aren’t tall enough to ride”. “Strap in,” she advises. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Garforth House: One of 60 buildings opening up for York Unlocked this weekend
Tours of the week: York Unlocked, 60 locations, today and tomorrow
YORK joins the European Open Door cities and 60 Open House cities this weekend to showcase its urban landscape and buildings old and new. Among them will be Cumberland House (Kings Staith), Garforth House, York Guildhall, Bar Convent, Hiscox, Castlegate House, Duncombe Place Masonic Lodge, Hudson Quarter, Brew York (Walmgate), City Screen Picturehouse, Walmgate Bar, the Phoenix Inn and a plethora of churches.
“We aim to foster public appreciation of the architecture of York by organising the opening of 60 buildings and open spaces of merit for the public to explore for free,” say the organisers. “Our goal is to educate, engage and inspire.” For full details, head to: york-unlocked.org.uk/buildings-2022.
Will Clark: Violin soloist for York Guildhall Orchestra’s concert
Classical concert of the week: York Guildhall Orchestra, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm
THE first concert of York Guildhall Orchestra’s 42nd season also marks Simon Wright’s 30th anniversary as conductor. In a programme of popular music, local lad Will Clark is the violin soloist for Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, having earlier played with the orchestra as a youngster.
Old friends Leeds Festival Chorus join for Fauré’s Pavane and Lambert’s Rio Grande (piano soloist: Rebecca Taylor). Shostakovich’s Festive Overture will be the rousing opener; Márquez’s Danzón No. 2, the finale. In between come works by Porter, Wagner, Berlioz, Offenbach’s Can-Can; Handel, Tavener and Coleridge Taylor. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Beth Orton: Leeds Brudenell Social Club beckonsthis weekend
Gig of the week outside York: Beth Orton, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, tomorrow, doors, 7.30pm
BRIT Award winner Beth Orton concludes her autumn tour in Leeds, promoting her seventh studio album, released last month on her new label, Partisan Records.
Written on a battered old piano that singer-songwriter Orton saved from Camden Market, Weather Alive collates memories and experiences spanning a lifetime, her story-telling, sonically experimental songs addressing struggles and healing. Box office: for returns only, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
John Hewer as Harold, left, and Jeremy Smith as Albert in The Steptoe And Son Radio Show
Nostalgia of the week: The Steptoe And Son Radio Show, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm
ADAPTED for the stage by John Hewer, The Steptoe And Son Radio Show doffs its cap to the 60th anniversary of the first broadcast of the classic BBC television comedy.
In a show based on the original TV scripts of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Jeremy Smith and Hewer play out the woes of warring Shepherd’s Bush rag-and-bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold in three episodes: Is That Your Horse Outside?, A Death In The Family and Upstairs, Downstairs, Upstairs, Downstairs. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
The tour poster for The Proclaimers’ autumn travels
Tuneful twins of the week: The Proclaimers, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.30pm
SCATHING Scottish siblings Craig and Charlie Reid return to York on their 35-date autumn tour in support of their end-of-empire 12th studio album, Dentures Out, ahead of their 40th anniversary in 2023 (stage time, 830pm).
Fellow Scot David Tennant names The Proclaimers as “probably my favourite band of all time”. “They write the most spectacular songs, big-hearted, uncynical passionate songs,” says the ubiquitous actor. John Bramwell opens the gig; good news for I Am Kloot devotees after a family bereavement led to the cancellation of his September 24 concert at Ellerton Priory. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Marc Almond: Heading back to York Barbican
Leeds legend of the week in York: Marc Almond In Concert, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
SOFT Cell frontman Marc Almond plays York Barbican for the third time in five years after his Hits And Pieces tour date in April 2017 and guest spot at Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra’s November 2018 concert.
On his first solo tour in more than three years, Almond plays two sets, performing favourites from his extensive catalogue, his biggest hits and songs from his last album, January 2020’s Chaos And A Dancing Star, since when Soft Cell have released Happiness Not Included last year. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Chloe Hart’s Catherine of Aragon, centre, vows No Way in SIX The Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
HISTORY and hysteria combined, SIX The Musical’s run in York has been met with excitement befitting an A-list pop star. Sold out, every last newly refurbished Grand Opera House seat.
Make that SIX pop divas as this all-female show for the millennial age reactivates the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII in modern mode with attitude: a pop concert wherein the Queens tell their story in song in chronological order to decide who suffered most at Henry’s hands once he put a ring on that wedding finger.
From this talent and talons contest between Henry’s trouble-and-strife sextet will emerge the group’s lead singer. Move over The Spice Girls, here come The Spouse Girls, whose rhyming career path read: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.
Heading for a beheading: Jennifer Caldwell’s Anne Boleyn
This is not so much history as her-story, as they gleefully point out, in a tale of Tudor girl empowerment, one with no appearance by ‘orrible Henry, but the obligatory girl-group infighting, albeit engineered sassily and sometimes saucily (wait for the Anne Boleyn joke) by co-writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.
“Musical theatre often has lame parts for women,” Moss once said. “We wanted to write loads of meaty, funny parts for women.”
That’s exactly what they have done, while also “making something which didn’t feel like a musical”, conjuring a 75-minute, straight-through, breathless show that began life as a Cambridge University student production in 2017. Since then, it has acquired more hi-tech trim in Emma Bailey’s set design for its staging with four ladies-in-waiting, leather and studs: musical director Caitlin Morgan on keys; Migdalia Van Der Hoven on drums, Ashley Young on bass and Laura Browne on guitar.
Stone in love: Casey Al-Shaqsy’s Jane Seymour pouring everything into big ballad Heart Of Stone. Picture: Pamela Raith
They provide the on-trend musical ballast for pop music devotees Marlow and Moss to mirror the tropes of this century’s pop queens: Beyonce for Catherine of Aragon’s No Way; lippy Lily Allen for Anne Boleyn’s Don’t Lose Ur Head; Adele for Jane Seymour’s Heart Of Stone; Rihanna and Nicki Minaj for Anne of Cleves’ Get Down; Ariane Grande for Katherine Howard’s All You Wanna Do and Alicia Keys for I Don’t Need Your Love. The pastiches are uncanny, adding to the fun and games, matched by the subject matter in the lyrics suiting the song style spot on.
You will have your favourites among those songs – for this reviewer, No Way, Get Down or the sudden burst of camp techno and yellow dark glasses for Haus Of Holbein with comedy German accents – but those choices will differ wildly. To these ears, the ballads carried less impact; others would insist Heart Of Stone is the peachiest number of all.
You will have your favourite Queens too, and again arguments can rage as to who and why, but SIX is rooted in team work, in shared empowerment, and so the show opens with an ensemble number Ex-Wives and closes with two more, Six and MegaSix.
Haus music: The Queens go German techno for Haus Of Holbein, the height of camp in SIX. Picture: Pamela Raith
The Wives are omnipresent, singing backing vocals when not each having their moment in the spotlight, drilled by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille in that high-energy brand of choreography beloved of Beyonce and Britney with glittering, flashy, big-on-bling costume designs by Gabriella Slade to match.
As for the performances – not so much regal airs and disgraces as setting the record straight under Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage’s dandy, defiant direction – they are indeed SIX of the best: Chloe Hart’s unbending Catherine of Aragon; Jennifer Caldwell’s fun-loving Yorkshire-voiced minx Anne Boleyn; Casey Al-Shaqsy’s true-love Jane Seymour; Jessica Niles’s wronged but life-of-luxury Anne of Cleves; Scottish-accented understudy Leesa Tulley’s tried-her-best Katherine Howard and Alana M Robinson’s resilient, broken-hearted survivor Catherine Parr.
Choose a winner? Yours truly is a Boleyn ally. Choose a loser? Alas anyone who was not quick enough off the mark to book a ticket.
SIX The Musical reigns at Grand Opera House, York, until October 16. Performances at 8pm, Wednesday and Thursday; 6pm and 8.30pm, Friday; 5pm and 8pm, Saturday; 3pm, Sunday. ALL SOLD OUT.
Parr empowered: Alana M Robinson’s Catherine Parr makes her statement in SIX. Picture: Pamela Raith
NEWSFLASH!
SIX more!
SIX The Musical is to return to the Grand Opera House, York, from June 27 to July 2 2023. Performances will be at 8pm, Tuesday to Thursday; 6pm and 8.30pm, Friday; 4pm and 8pm, Saturday, and 2pm, Sunday.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
John Hewer, as Harold, left, and Jeremy Smith, as Albert, in The Steptoe And Son Radio Show, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
THE Steptoe And Son Radio Show, adapted for the stage by John Hewer, visits the Grand Opera York, on October 18 on its nationwide autumn tour.
Marking 60 years since the first broadcast of the classic BBC television comedy, the show is based on Ray Galton and Alan Simpson’s original TV scripts.
The cast sees the return of Jeremy Smith and Hewer as Albert Steptoe and son Harold respectively, having starred in the UK tours of Steptoe And Son in 2017-2018 and Christmas With Steptoe And Son from 2019 to 2021.
The Steptoe And Son Radio Show cast
Smith trained at the National Youth Theatre, was a member of the Young Vic Company and has toured in productions ranging from farce to Shakespeare. Hewer works as a writer and director but is best known for his portrayal of Tommy Cooper in Just Like That! The Tommy Cooper Show and his performance as Tony Hancock in Hancock’s Half Hour – The Lost Episodes.
Steptoe And Son ran for eight series from 1962 to 1974 and spawned two film spin-offs. Telling the story of two warring rag-and-bone-men in their Shepherd’s Bush scrapyard home, Albert and Harold became household favourites across the generations and continue to entertain audiences today. One proclaims to be “a poor old man” while the other protests that he is “a dirty old man”. Both are right!
This latest adaptation features three classic episodes, transformed into a radio play. “The attraction is that these vintage stories will be presented with the emphasis now squarely on the script and the dynamism between the central characters,” says Hewer.
The tour poster for The Steptoe And Son Radio Show
“It’s a different theatricality. We’re still in costume and ‘in character’, but this time it’s a mock-up of a live studio recording, with its flashing ‘Applause’ lights and direct address from the performers making the audience feel directly involved.
“The three chosen episodes – Is That Your Horse Outside?, A Death In The Family and Upstairs, Downstairs, Upstairs, Downstairs – will easily familiarise and reacquaint audiences with the Steptoe saga, allowing them to explore all the foibles and tropes of this most iconic father-and-son pairing.”
Produced by Hambledon Productions and Apollo Theatre Company, The Steptoe And Son Radio Show is suitable for age 12 upwards. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
