What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond as garden ghosts gather for haunting season. Hutch’s List No. 35, from Gazette & Herald

Ghosts In The Garden: Returning for fourth season with more locations and more wire-mesh ghosts

GARDEN ghosts, Yorkshire landscapes, campsite class division, awful auntie antics and ridiculous improv comedy herald the arrival of the arts autumn for Charles Hutchinson.

Installation of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, haunting York until November 5

GHOSTS In The Gardens returns with 45 ghosts, inspired by York’s past, for visitors to discover in the city’s public gardens and green spaces, with the Bar walls, St Olave’s Church and York Railway Station among the new locations.

Organiser York BID has partnered with design agency Unconventional Design for the fourth year to create the semi-translucent 3D sculptures out of narrow-gauge wire mesh, six of them new for 2024. Pick up the map for this free event from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street and head to https://www.theyorkbid.com/ghosts-in-the-gardens/ for full details. 

Rievaulx Abbey, mixed media, by Robert Dutton in A Yorkshire Year at Nunnington Hall

Exhibition of the week: A Yorkshire Year, Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, until December 5

THE changing landscape of the Yorkshire countryside and coastline is captured by Yorkshire artists Robert Dutton, from Nunnington, and Andrew Moodie, from Harrogate, in a diverse collection of seasonal images at the National Trust house.

Dutton presents a dramatic interpretation of the untamed expanses of Yorkshire, from meandering freshwater rivers and hidden woodlands to the stark beauty of the moors. Moodie directs his attention to the undulating valleys of the Yorkshire Dales, as well as coastal villages. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission prices apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall

Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch

Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Harrogate Theatre, until Saturday; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 9 and 10; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 13 to 16

WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they were expecting four days of hill running and total de-stress. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.

The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta and Annie Cordoni’s Stella in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet

Children’s show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, today to Sunday

CHILDREN’S author David Walliams and Birmingham Stage Company team up for the fourth time. After adaptations of Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, here comes actor-manager Neal Foster’s stage account of Awful Auntie.

As Stella (Annie Cordoni ) sets off to visit London with her parents, she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, not everything Aunt Alberta (Foster) tells her turns out to be true. She quickly discovers she is in for the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie! Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Halls Of Ridiculous: Spinning their improv comedy at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Scott Akoz

Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Club presents The Halls Of Ridiculous, Cal Halbert and Tony Cowards, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

NORTHERN comedy The Halls Of Ridiculous, namely Chris Lumb (from BBC Three’s Russell Howard’s Good News) and Phil Allan-Smith (from BBC One’s This Is My House), push the boundaries of improv, sketch and character creativity with their quick-thinking scenes, zany special guests and quirky approach to performance.

Cal Halbert is one half of The Mimic Men, the UK’s only impressionist double act; host Tony Cowards is a rapid-fire gag merchant with an arsenal of one-liners, delivered by a likeable everyman character. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Just Us And A Piano: 1812 Theatre Company singers stage two fundraisers for Helmsley Arts Centre

Fundraising musical theatre concert of the week: 1812 Theatre Company, Just Us And A Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

SINGER Julie Lomas and pianist Neil Bell bring together a grand piano and an ensemble 1812 Theatre Company singers to celebrate the world of musical theatre, from the Broadway classics of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers, through to Cabaret, Wicked, My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Hamilton and the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Singers Amy Gregory, Esme Schofield, Florrie Stockbridge, Joe Gregory, Julie Lomas, Kristian Gregory, Natasha Jones, Oliver Clive and Phye Bell will be raising funds for Helmsley Arts Centre. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Honey & The Bear: Tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people and a passion for nature at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ten Year Anniversary Tour: Honey & The Bear, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

BRITISH folk and roots duo Jon Hart (guitar, bass and bouzouki) and Lucy Hart (guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo, mandolin and percussion) are joined by guests Evan Carson (percussion) and Archie Churchill-Moss (melodeon).

Conjuring stories in song, Honey & The Bear tell tales of Suffolk folklore, courageous people they admire and their passion for nature, as heard on third album Away Beyond The Fret, released last November. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Josh Widdicombe: Taking stock of the little things that niggle him in Not My Cup Of Tea

Gig announcement of the week: Josh Widdicombe, Not My Cup Of Tea Tour, Hull City Hall, October 2 2025, and York Barbican, February 28 2026

PARENTING Hell podcaster and comedian Josh Widdicombe, droll observer of the absurd side of the mundane, will take stock of the little things that niggle him, from motorway hotels to children’s parties, and explain why he has finally decided to embrace middle age, hot drinks and doing the school run in his 58-date tour show, Not My Cup Of Tea.

“That’s my favourite type of stand-up: really niche observations about silly little things that you wouldn’t think about. I’ve got no interest in the big topics.” Box office: joshwiddicombe.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk; hulltheatres.co.uk.

More Things To Do in York & beyond when Beethoven project goes public for first time. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The Press, York

York Beethoven Project: Reassembling today to workshop and play Symphony No. 3, Eroica

A BIG orchestra, a psychedelic inflatable crab, veteran singers, a blues troubadour and a  Spanish guitarist rub shoulders in Charles Hutchinson’s cultural diary.

Groundbreaking concert of the week: York Beethoven Project, An Evening of Revolutionary Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 7.30pm

TODAY’S York Beethoven Project Come and Play workshop day climaxes with tonight’s performance of Beethoven’s No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55: Eroica in the project’s first pubic concert. The 40-piece orchestra will be the biggest ever to play the JoRo.

In addition, The White Rose Singers will be performing revolutionary musical theatre songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Carousel, James Robert Brown and more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at work in Peashom Park for his Jason Beside The Sea exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, today until January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm.

LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.

Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.

How long ago? Paul Carrack celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first hit at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury

Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he wrote How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.

“‘How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.”  His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

David Essex: Career-spanning concert at York Barbican

Rocking on: David Essex, York Barbican, September 17, doors 7pm

PLAISTOW singer, composer and actor David Essex, 77, plays York on his 20-date British tour, his first since 2022. His set list will span his entire repertoire, drawing on his 23 Top 30 hits and a career that has taken in playing Jesus in Godspell, Che in Evita, That’ll Be The Day, Silver Dream Machine and his own musicals Mutiny! And All The Fun Of The Fair.

The likes of Rock On, Lamplight, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You A Star, A Winter’s Tale and Oh, What A Circus will surely feature. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Charlie Parr: Showcasing blues and folk songs of community and communing with nature at Pocklington Arts Centre

Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm

RAISED in Austin, Texas, and now living in the Lake Superior port town of Duluth, folk troubadour and bluesman poet Charlie Parr has recorded 19 albums since 2002, this year releasing Little Sun, full of stories celebrating music, community, and communing with nature.

Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the songs of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Iago Banet: Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist plays solo in Helmsley. Picture: Sue Rainbow

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm

IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.

Featured on BCC Radio 2’s The Blues Show With Cerys Matthews, this solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist has played such festivals as Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz, displaying skill, complexity and versatility in his fusion of gypsy jazz, blues, Americana, country, Dixieland, swing, pop and folk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Ryans Adams: Heading back to York Barbican

Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, September 20, doors 7pm

NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no lighting – by choice – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Setting up camp: Julian Clary extends his western-themed tour into 2025. Harrogate and York await

Show announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm

JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”

Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.

In Focus: Rehearsed reading of Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Sunday, 3pm

The Stephen Joseph Theatre artwork for Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention

THE first ever public performance of the AI-futuristic Father Of Invention, written by Alan Ayckbourn in lockdown, will be given in a fundraising rehearsed reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough on Sunday (15/9/2024) at 3pm.

Ayckbourn directs a cast of Bill Champion, Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall from his 90th play, Show & Tell, joined by Ayckbourn alumni Liza Goddard, Elizabeth Boag, Laurence Pears and Naomi Petersen. This will be the first time the Scarborough writer-director, 85, has heard the work read aloud.

“Take a look at their rollcall of Ayckbourn-written-and-directed shows – we reckon they’ve racked up an impressive 39 between them,” says SJT press officer Jeannie Swales. “We haven’t counted last year’s reading of Truth Will Out, only shows that had a full production either here at the SJT or at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, including Show & Tell. Mind you, that’s still not quite half of the Ayckbourn canon of 90!”

One of a handful of dramas penned by Ayckbourn in the creative cocoon of his Scarborough home during the pandemic, Father Of Invention takes its title from its central character of technology magnate Lord Onsett, who has passed away.

“Lord Onsett was an entrepreneur who made billions from the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence,” says Sir Alan. “His company introduced the now ubiquitous Artificial Sentient Lifeforms, which carry out vast swathes of jobs for humanity from cleaning to security.

“His family are gathered to discuss how his enormous estate will be divided but as ever with Lord Onsett, there are a few surprises in store…”

Leading the gaggle of familiar faces will be “our old friend” Liza Goddard, who has appeared in Ayckbourn premieres of If I Were You, Snake In The Grass, Life & Beth, Communicating Doors, Life Of Riley and The Divide.

The omnipresent Bill Champion has roles in Comic Potential, Haunting Julia, GamePlan, FlatSpin, RolePlay, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Intimate Exchanges, Woman In Mind, Absurd Person Singular, Surprises, Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Henceforward…, No Knowing, By Jeeves, Season’s Greetings, The Girl Next Door, Welcome To The Family and now Show & Tell to his name.

Paul Kemp has made his mark in This Is Where We Came In, Drowning on Dry Land, Private Fears In Public Places, The Champion Of Paribanou, Woman In Mind, My Wonderful Day and The Divide, this summer adding Show & Tell to that list.

York actress Frances Marshall has appeared in premieres of A Brief History Of Women, Joking Apart, Season’s Greetings, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Elizabeth Boag in Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Roundelay, Confusions, Hero’s Welcome, The Divide, Family Album and  Truth Will Out; Naomi Petersen in By Jeeves, Joking Apart, Better Off Dead, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, Haunting Julia, The Girl Next Door, Constant Companions and Truth Will Out.

All money raised from the rehearsed reading will go towards the SJT’s New Work Fund, helping the theatre to present new work on its two stages and to nurture new talent.

Ticket availability is “limited”. Hurry, hurry, to book on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond when crabs turn psychedelic. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 32, from Gazette & Herald

Works by Alison Diamond, centre, Ade Adesina RSA, right, and Ian Burke, left, on show at Helmsley Arts Centre

FROM African storytelling to Milton Jones’s puns, Will Young’s joyous pop to Jason Wilsher-Mills’s inflatable psychedelic crabs, Charles Hutchinson finds reasons to smile.

Triple bill of the week: Three Approaches To Relief Painting by Alison Diamond, Ade Adesina RSA & Ian Burke, Helmsley Arts Centre, until November 1

THIS exhibition brings together three separate approaches to relief printing but a shared love of hand-made printing, lino cutting and woodcut.

Ade Adesina RSA, a Nigerian artist living in Aberdeen, has won the 2023 Academies des Beaux-Arts annual prize. Ian Burke, from Staithes, and Alison Diamond, from County Durham, produce work in regional galleries and print fairs. The connection between all three is the use of relief print to achieve something personal and produce multiple images.

Anna Hibiscus’ Song: Theatrical story of self-discovery from Nigeria at York Theatre Royal

Children’s show of the week: Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres present Anna Hibiscus’ Song, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow and Friday, 10am and 1pm; Saturday, 11am and 2pm

THIS is the story of a young African girl named Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Ibadan, Nigeria, where she is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. The more she talks to her family about it, the more her happiness grows. The only thing to do is…sing!

Told through music, dance, puppetry and traditional African storytelling, this theatrical story of self-discovery is adapted for the stage by director Mojisola Kareem from the book by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia. Suitable for children aged three upwards and their grown-ups. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Snake Davis: Making the saxophone talk at Helmsley and Pocklington

Snake at the double: Snake Davis, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm; Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

THE choice is yours: Snake Davis solo, with his multitude of saxophones, in Helmsley on Friday, or Snake’s four-piece band – sax, guitar, bass and drums – in Pocklington on Saturday.

The first gig will be an informal acoustic evening of music and chat in two parts, showcasing his musical dexterity and the stories behind his work as a sax hired gun to the stars. The second night promises “something for everybody, from floaty to dance-able, from soul through pop to jazz and world, original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train”. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Milton Jones: Not short of shirts for his Ha!Milton tour

Comedy gig of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

THIS is not a musical. Milton Jones is tone deaf and has no sense of rhythm, he admits, but at least he doesn’t make a song and dance about it. Instead, he has more important things to discuss. Things like giraffes…and there’s a bit about tomatoes.

The shock-haired, loud-shirted master of the one-liner promises a whole new show of daftness. “You know it makes sense,” he says. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Will Young: Showcasing Light It Up’s joyous pop at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jamie Noise

Pop gig of the week: Will Young, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

MARKING the August 9 release of his Light It Up album, Will Young is embarking on his most intimate tour yet, an up-close-and-personal evening of acoustic performances, stories and conversation across 50 dates.

The ten tracks are a return to embracing joyous unashamed pop music for Young, who has teamed up with new collaborators pHD, the Scandinavian pop production/writing duo with Kylie and Little Mix credits, as well as reuniting with Groove Armada’s Andy Cato and long-term writing partners Jim and Mima Elliot, for “the go-to pop album for a dance, for a cry and for a celebration”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Beauty Of Being Herd: Ruth Berkoff’s debut show is “for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in”

Sheep and cheerful:  Ruth Berkoff: The Beauty Of Being Herd, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 12, and Terrington Village Hall, near Malton, September 28, both 7.30pm

HAVE you ever felt like an outsider? Hannah has. Her solution? She has decided to live as a sheep. “But don’t worry, she’s thought it all through. She’s even got a raincoat. And she’d love to tell you all about it at her Big Goodbye Party. Everyone is invited,” says Leeds writer-performer Ruth Berkoff, introducing her hour of comedy, original songs, heartfelt sharing and even a rave.

“Whether you’re shy, neurodivergent, have accidentally put your foot in it or simply had to spend time with people that weren’t ‘your people’, this is a show for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in.” Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Terrington, terringtonvillagehall.co.uk.

Scarborough Crab: Jason Wilsher-Mills’s inflatable psychedlic crab installation at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, September 14 to January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm

LOOK out for a giant inflatable installation of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.

Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.

Setting up camp: Julian Clary is bringing his western-themed stand-up show A Fistful Of Clary to Harrogate and York

Gig announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm

JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”

Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.

ABC go orchestral at York Barbican on Saturday to glory in The Lexicon Of Love

HOW does Wikipedia describe ABC’s iconic, chart-topping 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love?

New pop. Pop. Sophisti-pop. New Wave. Disco. Dance-pop. Blue-eyed soul. Synth pop.

On Saturday at York Barbican, one word will suffice: orchestral. That night, as part of the Sheffield band’s now extended tour, Martin Fry and co will be joined by the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by longtime collaborator Anne Dudley, who played such a key role along with producer Trevor Horn on the original recording sessions.

They will perform the million-selling album in its entirely, complemented by further ABC hits such as the two-hour set-opening When Smokey Sings, Be Near Me and The Night You Murdered Love.

Fry, now 65, first dusted off his trademark lamé suit for a one-off orchestral performance of The Lexicon Of Love at the Royal Albert Hall, but such was the reaction that a 2009 tour ensued, and 15 years later, the Fry-Dudley partnership is off on the road again.

“When we first did it in 2009, it was a novel idea, and we spent a lot of time getting the arrangements right, not a band with an orchestra in the background but a full show,” he recalls.

Anne beavered away on the orchestral charts, filling two suitcases for the 36 members of the Southbank Sinfonia. “It’s cast of thousands on stage, more than 40 people, for these shows,” says Fry.

What a contrast with the peace and quiet of his location for this Zoom interview (on January 11). “I’m in Barbados. It’s 8.30 in the morning over here,” he says. “In the Tropics, I get up every day at about five or six. It’s really nice! Running on the beach each day.”

The cover artwork for ABC’s 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love

Soon he would be heading to London for the tour rehearsals with Dudley and the orchestra, but Fry spends “quite a lot of time” in Barbados, as well as going to Miami and “being in Yorkshire quite often”.

Yorkshire was where it all started for Stockport-born Martin Fry and ABC, the band that grew out of his original group, Vice Versa, in Sheffield in 1980. “I think a lot of it came from the double dejection of knowing there were no outlets unless you were a footballer or a hairdresser. It was a very depressed area,” he says.

The result was a debut that was both velvet and steel, fuelled by the romantic longing of Motown soul and a post-punk attitude that chimed with the South Yorkshire industrial decline and strife of the time.

“We were from an experimental background, rehearsing in an old steelworks building, where I cleaned out the building for [Sheffield band] Clock DVA, but we wanted to make a record where we’d compete on an international level.”

Fry and ABC were driven by a “combination of ambition and experimentation”. The look, the suits, came from “jumble sales where widows took their husbands’ clothes”, evoking B-movie films stars, while the sound was driven by the dancefloor and the possibilities brought on by technology changing all the time.

“I loved Pere Ubu and Joy Division, but we wanted to make music that was more polished, like Gamble & Huff and Motown, mirroring what was happening in the car plants, producing something every day.”

Living in Sheffield’s Hyde Park flats [later demolished in 1992-93], Fry did not want to patronise anyone by writing “Coronation Street dramas” in song, but instead he would showcase the counterpoint: the nightlife.

“Going to Pennys; the people that would go into Sheffield city centre in zoot suits. Very aspirational. Looking incredible,” he says. “It was that romance we were capturing – and the idea that we might one day play Las Vegas.” A dream that would indeed come true.

Martin Fry with Anne Dudley and the Southbank Sinfonia

Released on June 2 1982 and topping the charts a week later, The Lexicon Of Love and its quartet of single, Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All Of My Heart, felt like pop perfection from the city of Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and The Human League.

How could ABC and the king of the clever couplet follow it up? “We didn’t want to Xerox it but go off in a different direction with Beauty Stab and How To Be A Zillionaire,” says Fry. “But The Lexicon Of Love has never felt like a burden…no, it’s a blessing.”

He continues to write songs. “It was great to do The Lexicon Of Love II; all new songs. That came out of playing on the road with the orchestra,” he says. “It’s just therapeutic when you stumble across something good in a song.”

The thrill of “creating a new moment” still delights him as Younger Now, Older Then joins the list. “I’m too stubborn for writing songs to become a grind,” he says.

On Saturday, York can enjoy The Lexicon Of Love once more, not only the sharp suits and sharper words of Fry, but also the orchestral arrangements of Anne Dudley.

That skill was first exhibited when producer Trevor Horn wanted to do more than merely replicate strings on synthesisers on the recording sessions. Dudley was ostensibly there to embellish the keyboards, but such was her precocious talent, she said, ‘let me come up with some string arrangements’.”

“I think they were the first ever ones she did,” says an admiring Fry. Strings reattached, those songs bloom anew this weekend.

ABC: The Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour, York Barbican, Saturday, doors, 7pm. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.

A Way With Media’s promotional picture for the launch of Martin Fry’s memoir A Lexicon Of Life

MARTIN Fry will perform ABC hits and share personal stories from more than four decades in the music industry in his ABC – An Intimate Evening With Martin FryTour.

Yorkshire dates will be at King’s Hall, Ilkley, on November 21 2024 (box office: bradford-theatres.co.uk); Dewsbury Town Hall, May 8 2025 (creativekirklees.com); Scarborough Spa on Saturday, May 10 2025 (scarboroughspa.co.uk); Northallerton Forum, May 11 2025 (forumnorthallerton.org.uk); Harrogate Theatre, May 21 2025 (harrogatetheatre.co.uk) and Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 23 2025 (leedsheritagetheatres.com).

“I have been very lucky in my career to have played venues around the world from massive arenas in the States to Sheffield Town Hall in my hometown, where we marked 40 years of The Lexicon of Love,” says Fry. “However, this tour really is something a bit different; an opportunity for stripped-back music and conversation with my fans. It will be really special, I can’t wait.”

Fry will be promoting his upcoming autobiography, A Lexicon Of Life, now available for pre-order in two formats ahead of its summer publication. The first is a signed, numbered edition of 2,500 with an exclusive CD featuring newly recorded acoustic versions of ABC hits and two new tracks .

The second, a deluxe edition, is limited to 350 signed and numbered copies, including the autobiography, hand-bound in the gold Savile Row fabric used for Fry’s iconic jackets, an exclusive gold vinyl record featuring Fry’s new acoustic versions and a rare bonus CD of ABC’s Traffic album.

The featured songs will be Tears Are Not Enough; Ten Below Zero; Poison Arrow; The Look Of Love; When Smokey Sings; How To Be A Millionaire; Never Get To Be The King; All Of My Heart; Be Near Me and The Luckiest Man Alive.

Head to: awaywithmedia.com/buy-books/martin-fry.

Why Harrogate Theatre makes ‘the best pantomime in the world’, according to Two Big Egos podcasters Chalmers & Hutch

Tim Stedman in Harrogate Theatre’s Dick Whittington

TWO Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Chalmers & Hutch head home from Dick Whittington to proclaim why Harrogate Theatre’s pantomime is “the best in the world”.

In Episode 159, Graham also discusses Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman’s chemistry and why May December is Todd Haynes’s slipperiest film.

A sombre conclusion follows as the great songwriting talent of The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan is considered after his flame was snuffed out at 65.

Head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/14079973

Macbeth meets Blade Runner as Imitating The Dog’s witches fuse theatre and video

Benjamin Westerby’s Macbeth and Maia Tamrakar’s Lady Macbeth in Imitating The Dog’s Macbeth. Picture: Ed Waring

THREE mysterious figures enter the stage, talking of the hurly-burly, thunder and lightning and a young couple hell bent on overthrowing the old regime.

Whereupon they conjure the Macbeths, placing them in a dangerous new world ruled by paranoia, betrayal, and brutality.

Something wicked – but not wholly familiar – this way comes in ground-breaking Leeds company Imitating The Dog’s typically audacious retelling of Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play”, on tour at Harrogate Theatre on February 24 and 25.

Retold and directed by Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, with set and video design by Simon Wainwright and original music by James Hamilton, Macbeth’s tale of ambition, betrayal and downfall is re-booted as a neon noir thriller wherein Shakespeare’s language collides with “startling new scenes, stunning visuals and a powder-keg intensity”.

“Macbeth is an extraordinary play,” says Imitating The Dog artistic director Andrew Quick. “Shakespeare’s exploration of power, ambition, violence and love seems so relevant to today. 

In the flesh and on screen: Maia Tamrakar’s Lady Macbeth and Benjamin Westerby’s in Macbeth. Picture: Ed Waring

“We’re excited to be bringing Macbeth to Harrogate Theatre in a unique take on the original play, a Macbeth as you have never seen before, but still with Shakespeare’s story at its heart.”

Fusing live performance with digital technology for 23 years, latterly in Night Of The Living Dead ™ –  Remix and Dracula: The Untold Story, Imitating The Dog turn to Shakespeare after staging Cinema Inferno for the Parisian haute couture house Maison Margiela, based on an original concept by creative director John Galliano, for Maison Margiela’s Artisanal 2022 collection.

“We started off with Romeo & Juliet, working on a version for two actors in their 60s or 70s,” says Andrew. “We did some research, but it felt like a one-idea show that we couldn’t commit to.

“But Macbeth was a play we really liked, and there’ve been a lot of film versions, with two recent ones [Joel Coen’s The Tragedy Of Macbeth, from 2021, and Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, from 2015] still fresh in the mind. So, we thought, ‘if we can’t do Romeo & Juliet, let’s do Macbeth’.”

As a contrast with Denzel Washington and Michael Fassbender’s older Macbeths in those two films, Imitating The Dog settled on two young leads (played by Benjamin Westerby, from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Maia Tamrakar, from Sheffield Crucible’s Rock, Scissors, Paper).

“Out, damned spot; out, I say”: Maia Tamrakar’s Lady Macbeth, filmed by Laura Atherton, who plays one of the witches in Imitating The Dog’s Macbeth. Picture: Ed Waring

“In our adaptation, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are 18-19 years old; they’re kids really, street kids,” says Andrew.

“We’ve set it in a kind of parallel world, a version of London that’s a cross between Tokyo, Shanghai, Los Angeles and London, with a Blade Runner feel to it. Duncan [the king in the original] is a crime lord; Macbeth seizes the moment, suddenly being thrown into the spotlight when he becomes second in line to Duncan, who starts thinking, ‘ooh, this kid is a bit much’.

“When Macbeth murders him, it’s not just about ambition but self-protection, because though he feels he’s really good at his job, he also feels that if he doesn’t kill him now, he could get done in.”

As played by Stefan Chanyaem, Matt Prendergast (from Dracula:The Untold Story) and Laura Atherton (from Night Of The Living Dead™ – Remix), the witches/shape shifters set up the story in Imitating The Dog’s version, playing everyone bar the Macbeths, who have “fallen into this world that is testing them”.

“The witches are like clowns in suits, these grotesques, who do all the live filming on stage, with Macbeth always being filmed close-up, giving almost a forensic quality to the piece, adding to the psychological drama,” says Andrew.

That world is constructed with 70 to 30 per cent division between original text and new text with hints of the Russian, Italian and Japanese language: “little traces of those argots”, as Andrew puts it. “It’s a cosmopolitan city that is multi-racial, international, like lots of big cities nowadays. “It’s a city that the witches set up and the Macbeths descend into,” he says.

Imitating The Dog’s cast of five in a scene from Macbeth. Picture: Ed Waring

“In the back story, they were orphaned when growing up, and Macbeth is looking after her, more like a brother and sister rather than lovers.

“The challenge was: could we make the Macbeths lovable or at least understandable; make them human, whereas Shakespeare’s Richard III is more of a monster under all that Tudor propaganda of the time.”

Exploring the “challenge” further, Andrew says: “Whether you can really like them or not, I don’t know, but I think you can understand their motives in a very brutal world. The Macbeths do things that are terrible, they use extreme violence, like killing Lady MacDuff and the MacDuff children, but we’re not only interested in a story of power and ambition but the context in which that arises too. Right now, looking at monarchy and power feels very relevant.

“In this very violent world, the Macbeths’ love for each other is very important, with everything that Macbeth does being rooted in his need to protect Lady Macbeth. He’s always questioning, always doubting, always reassessing what he should do next, and what’s great about the play is that Shakespeare gives him humanity despite what he’s doing.”

A further reference point is Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde. “Even though they do these terrible things, there’s something very attractive about them – and once they start, they have to keep going,” says Andrew.

Imitating The Dog in Macbeth, Harrogate Theatre, February 24 at 7.30pm; February 25, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk. Further Yorkshire dates: CAST, Doncaster, February 21 and 22, 01302 303959 or castindoncaster.com; Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, 01484 430528 or thelbt.org.

Benjamin Westerby’s Macbeth in rehearsal for Macbeth

Copyright of The Press, York

Paul, Robin and Jonny enjoy being all at sea in Peter Pan’s new adventures in pantoland

Hookline and singer: Paul Hawkyard’s Captain Hook performing his big number In All New Adventures Of Peter Pan at York Theatre Royal. All production pictures: Pamela Raith

AT the heart of York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, is a tearaway triumvirate of madcap maritime mayhem.

Paul Hawkyard’s histrionic Captain Hook and fellow returnee Robin Simpson’s daft dame, Mrs Smee, are joined by Jonny Weldon’s cheeky piratical henchman, Starkey, in the troublemaking trio.

Over the past year, Hawkyard and Simpson have been regular partners on stage. “Peter Pan is our fourth show together in that time,” says Paul.

“We did our first panto together, as Mardy and Manky, the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella this time last year, then two shows in Harrogate Theatre’s rep season, Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party and John Godber’s Men Of The World, and now this panto. You [Robin] have probably spent more time with me than you have with your wife this year!”

Ship-shape: Robin Simpson’s Mrs Smee, the dame in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

Pantomime is a demanding form of theatre, in terms of the intensity of the rehearsal period,  the performance schedule and the boisterous audiences. “It’s that thing of belonging to the theatre for the winter,” says Paul. “You just go home to sleep.”

Robin concurs: “I just roll out of my bed as late as I can, pull on some clothes, shower at the theatre, grab a coffee and then the day starts again,” he says.

Paul and Robin have shared a dressing room as well as the stage since their days with Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre at the Eye of York.  “There was a point where we just looked at each other on stage and we knew we were on the same wavelength,” says Paul.

“You can share a dressing room, but it’s when you’re on stage,  and you catch each other’s eye, and you’re thinking, ‘this is Shakespeare’ and you know you can rely on the other person not to break the magic of the moment too early,” says Robin.

Starkey and stripes: Jonny Weldon in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

“But we’re also respectful of each other’s space in the dressing room,” says Paul, assessing why their partnership works so well.

“Until you get in front of a crowd, you don’t know if that chemistry will click with them, but then you go, ‘oh, it works’,” says Robin. So well did it work in Cinderella that Paul and Robin were nominated for Best Ugly Sisters in the 2022 British Pantomime Awards.

Familiarity boosts their performances together. “It’s a safety thing, like when going into the clash with Robin’s character in Men Of The World,” says Paul. “You might be nervous beforehand, but that stops and you know it’s down to you to pull that scene together; you know you’ve got someone who has your back, without a competitive edge there.

“It’s like throwing the ball to each other, not taking it off someone, just knowing they will pass it back or say ‘have it back’.”

Nautical naughtiness from Jonny Weldon’s Starkey and Paul Hawkyard’s Captain Hook

Now there is a third player in that game, Jonny Weldon’s Starkey. “It’s two idiots led by an idiot,” says Paul. “Or the Three Stooges,” says Robin.

Jonny, an actor since childhood days in Mary Poppins in the West End and latterly a viral hit on social media with his comedy sketches, was lying on a beach when his panto role as Starkey was set up. “I was trying not to get a tan as I was filming something for TV that annoyingly I can’t talk about as I’m sworn to secrecy,” he says.

“Paul [Hendy, Evolution Productions’ writer for the York pantomime] called me in the spring to ask, ‘would you do the comedy role in York?’. Starkey wasn’t in the book, so Paul has invented this new character for me – and I barely leave the stage!”

He was attuned to Simpson and Hawkyard’s stage chemistry from seeing Cinderella last winter. “I came with my girlfriend, Lucy Carne, who was playing Belle in Beauty And The Beast at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond,” he recalls. “I loved York; the Roman tour; I loved the panto.”

Last winter, Jonny had not one but two pantomime roles. “I was in the panto at St Albans, playing Muddles in Snow White, when it was stopped for asbestos in the building, so now I’m an expert on asbestos and how is stops actors from working,” he recalls.

Love-a-duck: Robin Simpson’s dame in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

“When I got to Richmond, I thought I’d be having a nice three weeks off, only to be told, ‘the CBeebies presenter in the show at Canterbury has Covid; could you get on the train now?’!

“I got sent the script and a We Transfer recording of the show, where the signal kept cutting out and buffering on the train. I ended up doing a week of shows and was off the book in two days, playing Bobby, Jack’s best mate, in Jack And The Beanstalk, at the Marlowe Theatre.”

Earlier this year, Jonny appeared as Samwell, the Targarian family’s lute-playing minstrel, in the Game Of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon. “Just one episode, no sex, no death, just playing the lute,” he says.

This summer he played one of the puppy thieves in 101 Dalmatians at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre in London, and his sketch video success has brought him TV roles as an evil property developer in Christmas On Mistletoe Farm (Netflix) and The People We Hate At The Wedding (Amazon Studios).

Paul Hawkyard’s Captain Hook clashes with Jason Battersby’s Peter Pan

Talking of weddings, Jonny and Lucy will be tying the knot in March. “We’re getting married in Herefordshire. Neither of us is from there – I’m from Hampshire, Lucy from Cheshire – but we just like it,” says Jonny, whose grandad will be his best man at 91.

After six pantomimes and plenty of children’s shows too, Jonny is “not particularly sentimental about Christmas”. “I’m used to spending it with landladies,” he says.

Another comedy video could be on its way while he is in York to add to more than 25 so far. “When I get a new idea, I’ll be filming it in my dressing room and putting it up,” he says.

All New Adventures Of Peter Pan runs at York Theatre Royal until January 2 2023. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jonny Weldon’s poster pose for his specially created role as Starkey in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

Boom! Boom! Michael Lambourne and that voice is back up north, on the dark side in Harrogate’s panto, as Abbanazar in Aladdin

Abbanazar, Rock God: Michael Lambourne’s pantomime villain performing George Thorogood And The Destroyers’ Bad To The Bone… or Bad To The Boom in Michael’s stentorian growl

CASTING an eye over the cast list for Harrogate Theatre’s pantomime, Aladdin, what a delight to espy the name of one Michael Lambourne.

Once a mainstay of the York professional theatre scene, whether at York Theatre Royal or in Alexander Flanagan Wright’s work with The Flanagan Collective and the Guild of Misrule’s immersive The Great Gatsby during eight years of living in the city, he had since returned to his native Fenlands with wife Katie Posner, co-artistic director of Paines Plough, and daughter Heidi.

Now, at the behest of Harrogate Theatre pantomime director Marcus Romer (founder and former artistic director of York Theatre Royal company-in-residence Pilot Theatre), Michael’s unmistakable voice – the “Lam-boom” – can be heard across North Yorkshire as he takes on the villainous role of Abbanazar. Yes, you read that right, Abbanazar with a double B. More of that later.

But first, “I’d worked with Marcus on The Twits at Bolton Octagon and Fungus The Bogeyman at ArtsDepot in London, written while he was at Pilot,” recalls actor, director, teacher and writer Michael.

“That was the show where I met Katie, when I was painted green! Ebony [Feare] did both those productions with me as well, so Marcus has brought to Harrogate two people who he knows will thrive in the pantomime here.”

He first experienced pantomime as a child at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, and he has seen plenty since, but maybe surprisingly, given his outlandish stage presence and natural bond with young audiences, Aladdin will be only his third panto production.

“I did Alice In Wonderland at Darwen, near Blackburn, in the early 2000s, a loose pantomime, rather than a classic one, where I played the Mad Hatter. Later I was Igor, the evil henchman, and Daddy Bear in Goldilocks And The Three Bears at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond,” he recalls.

“Harrogate Theatre’s show is very much in the classic pantomime style, like the villain always entering from the left. There’s a sense of legacy too, after Phil Lowe, the long-time director and co-writer, died last year, and what you try to foster with your audience is a sense of community, as we did at York Theatre Royal.”

He is relishing the villain’s role. “I love playing the baddie, because the audience straightaway knows what you’re up to,” says Michael. “I have that sense of what they expect from me, want from me, and as a performer I can really play off that.

Michael Lambourne, centre, as another baddie, Chief Weasel, in The Wind In The Willows at York Theatre Royal in 2014 

“To already have that dialogue with the audience and to know how they’re going to respond is a wonderful feeling, whereas a comedian worries about how they’ll react. With the baddie, you know they’re going to boo, and it’s all the better if the booing gets louder and louder.

“I’m naturally positive, but Abbanazar is definitely not, so that means I can luxuriate in the boos, especially at the children’s shows, where I’ve just lapped up the wall of sound. The more they give, the more I’m going to give back!”

Michael “doesn’t really like insulting people”. “That’s why you insult the collective as the baddie, rather than picking on any individual,” he says. “It’s about them all being idiots, all being fools. Why take on one person? I’ll take on 500.”

Back to that name, Michael, Abbanazar with the double B. How come? “Well, he’s the brother of the Emperor of Peking, relocated to Scandinavia, and he’s now Abba’s number one fan,” he reveals.

“So there are ‘subtle’ references to Sweden’s best pop export, and there’s an Abba number in there that’s very appropriate to Abbanazar – Money, Money, Money – as he’s so materialistic.” No opportunity for a reference to an Abba song title is knowingly turned down in the script too.

This year, Michael has appeared in Shakespeare’s The Comedy Of Errors at Colchester’s Mercury Theatre and filmed his role as The Messenger in Warchief, Stuart Brennan’s fantasy feature film, made  in Bury St Edmunds and set for release next September.

For now, his acts of deception and the dark arts are focused on Abbanazar. “This is the longest I’ve ever grown my moustache! I’ve gone from the baddie [a Victorian whiskered Chief Weasel] in The Wind In The Willows at York Theatre Royal to now playing the ultimate panto baddie with more curl to the moustache, still using Captain Fawcett’s moustache wax to shape it!” says Michael.

“If you think of what a baddie should have, a curly moustache is a must. Twiddling a moustache in that vaudevillian way tells you ‘he must be the villain’!”

Looking ahead to next year, walking and cycling enthusiast Michael will be turning his attention to running. Running the London Marathon, more precisely, in aid of Lymphoma Action, having come successfully through chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the blood cancer at 40.

Donations can be made at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/michael-lambourne3

Michael Lambourne is appearing in Aladdin at Harrogate Theatre until January 15 2023. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Colin Kiyani’s Aladdin, Stephanie Costi’s Pandora, Tim Stedman’s Wishee Washee and Howard Chadwick’s Widow Twankey in Harrogate Theatre’s Aladdin. All pictures: Karl Andre

REVIEW: Aladdin, Harrogate Theatre, until January 15 2023 *****

PANTOMIME matters to Harrogate Theatre, all the more so after the “disappointment” – I would have used a stronger word – of Arts Council England’s bewildering decision to drop this high-achieving theatre from National Portfolio funding status for 2023 to 2026 after many years.

This is the northern home of a comedy festival with headline names, the wonderful HT Rep season of three plays in three weeks, a big community play on a topical theme, concerts, touring shows, children’s theatre and performances by long-established Harrogate thespian troupes, overseen by the  canny management of chief executive David Bown and the increasing artistic input of ever-progressive Pilot Theatre founder Marcus Romer as associate producer.

Oh, and the pantomime, THE pantomime, the one that Bown and the late Phil Lowe have made so special with wit, inventiveness and the magic ingredient of daft lad Tim Stedman (who set the benchmark for fast-rising Pannal-raised comedian Maisie Adam, she says, never one to miss a show each Christmas, by the way). What more do you want, ACE?

Anyway, clear-headed thinking by the board is assured, as testified by chair Deborah Larwood’s November statement: “Following this news, the board and leadership team will take some time to reflect and reimagine our plans from April 2023, as we continue to support the Let’s Create agenda and ensure that Harrogate Theatre continues to deliver a vibrant cultural offer for people of all ages across the Harrogate district.”

In the meantime, Harrogate Theatre has been delivering the Harrogate Theatre pantomime at its best, 78 performances in all by the time it closes on January 15.

For the 2021-2022 season, experienced hand Joyce Branagh stepped in to direct Cinderella after the sudden death of long-time director and co-writer Phil Lowe, and did so with panache.

Tim Stedman: Not as daft as he looks in Aladdin!

This time, Marcus Romer is at the helm, steering a script that retains a credit for Phil Lowe alongside regular writing cohort David Bown. Romer, who has written additional material alongside Stedman, has made one decision that struck a false note, changing the walkdown song from the long-standing exhilaration of Let Me Entertain You to a reprise of the opening number.  Symmetry, yes, but finale impact lessened.

On the other hand, however, as soon as he heard Sam Ryder’s Eurovision galactic belter, Space Man, Romer knew he had found the song for Aladdin’s carpet-ride out into the Harrogate night sky.

Beautiful, magical and unexpected – your reviewer has seen no other panto use 2022’s most uplifting big number – it is sung with a lovely sense of wonder by Colin Kiyani, modern-day principal boy par excellence in his fifth Harrogate panto.

Christina Harris returns too for her third Harrogate show – “a place that feels like home,” she says – now playing a not-so-shy Princess So-Shy with plenty of principal girl pluck.

Romer has called on two trusted lieutenants from his past shows to make their Harrogate panto bows: Ebony Feare’s fun, high-energy Caribbean-accented Genie and A Line Of Duty-spoofing DCI Kate, and Michael Lambourne, he of the booming voice so cherished over the years by York audiences.

The “Lam-boom” is in mighty good form here, venturing deep into the dark side for a rumbustious, roaring Abbanazar, an Abba-loving, humanity-hating villain since his exile to Sweden.

Ebony Feare’s Genie and Colin Kiyani Aladdin in a song-and-dance number with the ensemble in Aladdin

Mamma mia, no chance to dig out an Abba song title is knowingly missed in the script (until the titles run out), and of course he sings Money, Money, Money, although his thunderous, rock-god rendition of George Thorogood & The Destroyers’ Bad To The Bone surpasses it.

In his 22nd Harrogate show – where have those years gone? – the clowning Tim Stedman’s Wishee Washee is anything but wishy-washy. From his strawberry cheeks to a voice that somehow combines a state of near-constant perplexity with the not-so-daft-after-all wit of a Shakespearean Fool, he is the crowd-pleasing, crowd-teasing lead yet totally the team player too.

The cracker jokes may be absent this time, but this is a crackerjack of a Stedman performance, all the better for being reunited for slapstick with Howard Chadwick, a stalwart actor with Richard III in his repertoire but so comfortable in the roly-poly guise of the unruly, frolicsome dame, Widow Twankey in his 11th Harrogate winter of panto contentment. His costumery, courtesy of costume designer Morgan Brind, is fab-u-lous throughout.

Look out too for topical Harrogate references, nods to I’m A Celebrity, dance captain Stephanie Costa’s lovable panda Pandora and David Kar-Hing Lee’s zesty choreography.

Roll on next winter when Dick Whittington and his cat will head to London from November 22 to January 14 2024. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

All New Adventures Of Peter Pan brings faces familiar and fresh to York Theatre Royal panto with Evolution Productions

Putting the ‘new’ in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan: York Theatre Royal debutants Jason Battersby (Peter Pan) and Maddie Moate (Tinkerbell) on stage at the pantomime launch. Picture: Anthony Robling

REHEARSALS for All New Adventures Of Peter Pan will start on November 7 but already York Theatre Royal’s cast members have met up to launch the third pantomime collaboration with Evolution Productions.

In attendance for a photo-session and chat over sandwiches and brownies were Paul Hawkyard and Robin Simpson, last year’s award-nominated ugly sister double act Manky and Mardy; Faye Campbell, their fellow returnee from Cinderella, and two faces new to the Theatre Royal panto ranks, CBeebies’ Maddie Moate and Jason Battersby, promoted from Lead Shadow in Wendy And Peter at Leeds Playhouse last Christmas to Peter Pan this winter.

Absent that day was Jonny Weldon, a comedy video-making social media sensation with a “little part” in House Of The Dragon, who will play Starkey.

Hawkyard and Simpson had just finished Harrogate Theatre’s HT Rep season of three plays in three weeks, Simpson appearing in all three, Abigail’s Party, Gaslight and Men Of The World; Hawkyard in the first and last.

Caught on the hook: Paul Hawkyard’s Captain Hook, “the all-time best baddie”. Picture: Anthony Robling

“Robin and I have worked together before, for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York, sharing a dressing room from the day we started. We get on well, we have a laugh, and it’ll be great working with my mate again,” says Paul, who is delighted to be playing Captain Hook.

“As soon as I found out they were doing Peter Pan here, I really wanted the part because he’s one of the all-time best baddies.”

Tall, imposing, but naturally comedic too, Paul is playing around with ideas, probably not entirely seriously. “I’m going to switch the hook from arm to arm, to see if anyone notices!” he says.

Rather more definitely, he adds: “There’ll be lots of comedy opportunities together with Robin.”

Maddie chips in: “I think people just enjoy seeing friendships, partnerships, on stage. People like that familiarity in panto.” Faye concurs: “If we’re having fun, the audience will have fun too.”

“It’s Smee!”: Or, rather, it’s Mrs Smee, the specially created dame’s role for Robin Simpson in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan. Picture: Anthony Robling

Robin may have worked flat out on HT Rep, rehearsing the next play from Wednesday to Saturday in the daytime before performing in the evening, but he has had no time to rest. Already he is hitting his straps in rehearsals at the Central Methodist Church for David Reed’s play Guy Fawkes ahead of its York Theatre Royal premiere from October 28 to November 12.

Come panto-time, he will be playing Mrs Smee, effectively the dame’s role in these All New Adventures, written by Evolution’s Paul Hendy and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster.

Not Mrs Darling, Robin? “As far as I’m aware, I’ll be Mrs Smee, though there’s still time to change that! The character is normally Smee, the pirate, Hook’s mate. Now it will be Mrs Smee and a sidekick, Starkey.”

Like Simpson, Faye Campbell will be completing a hattrick of Theatre Royal-Evolution pantos after her fairy in 2020’s Travelling Panto and title role in 2021’s Cinderella. “I’m playing Emily, who’s Wendy’s daughter, so it’s moved on in time from J M Barrie’s original story. Now it’s Emily who goes on the adventures, after hearing of the story of Peter Pan from her mother,” she says.

Maddie Moate, who follows Andy Day from the CBeebies team into the Theatre Royal panto, says: “For those who love the traditional story of Peter Pan, you will still meet Peter Pan, Hook, the Lost Boys, the crocodile. They won’t be disappointed. It will all be instantly recognisable,” she says.

Welcome back Faye Campbell: Returning to the York Theatre Royal pantomime for a third year, cast as Wendy Darling’s feistier daughter, Emily. Picture: Anthony Robling

“I’ll be playing Tinkerbell, after I played Fairy Phoenix, the good fairy, at Leicester De Montford Hall last year, who was a bit of a nerd, a fairy in training!”

Jason Battersby took a deep dive into JM Barrie’s world when researching his role as Lead Shadow at Leeds Playhouse. “I love the book and the way you can tell it’s written for children but from an intellectual viewpoint,” he says, as he turns his attention to leading the Theatre Royal show as Peter Pan. “It’s almost like it was written by an incredibly clever child.

“As I know from last year, there are so many different ways to tell the story, and it’s one of those stories where you can really bring your own thing to it. All New Adventures Of Peter Pan is completely different from Wendy And Peter. Different theatrical conventions. Different songs. Different characters.

“There’s a line in the book that says Peter Pan takes children who die to Neverland, so there are darker elements to him, but he’s never a character who’s set in stone. There are suggestions in the book, so you can play him dark, or you can play him for his childish, playful qualities, but, yes, he has some demons.

“Sometimes, some of those darker elements are not the ones you want to put in, and certainly I don’t want to play sad Peter Pan. That would be the wrong choice.”

All New Adventures Of Peter Pan will run at York Theatre Royal from December 2 to January 2 2023. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Comedian Maisie Adam’s Harrogate homecoming has her buzzing on first tour

“The hair is fun, the live performance is way funnier,” said the London Evening Standard of Maisie Adam’s haircut, the one to rival David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane for multiple choices across one barnet. Picture: Matt Crockett

MAISIE Adam took her first stage steps in youth theatre sessions in the Harrogate Theatre Studio.

Born in Pannal just outside the spa town, this former head girl at St Aidan’s High School would later return to the top-floor Studio in her fledgling days on the comedy circuit to perform at the Harrogate Comedy Festival.

Now, comedian, actor and writer Maisie is looking forward to tomorrow’s homecoming when she graduates to Harrogate Theatre’s main stage on her first UK tour, Buzzed.

The gig has sold out, as has tonight’s date at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, although tickets remain available for The Leadmill, Sheffield, next Thursday.

“It’s super-exciting,” says a suitably buzzing Maisie, 28. “It’s wonderful any time I go back, but going there with this show, in that specific venue, will be special. Whenever I’ve performed there, it’s always been in the Studio, but this time, being in the big room, feels very touching.

“I’ll be channelling Tim Stedman,” says Maisie Adam, who every winter visits Harrogate Theatre’s pantomime, led by the boundless comic buffoonery of Stedman’s village idiot, pictured here in Snow White

“Me and my family go to the pantomime every year to watch Tim Stedman. He is pantomime! He’s fantastic. That’s the level of comedy you have to bring to the stage, so I’ll be channelling Tim Stedman!”

Post-Harrogate Youth Theatre and the National Youth Theatre, Maisie trained at East 15 Acting School in Southend, graduating with a BA in Acting and Community Theatre. However, after initial plans to act and write, including a Laurence Marks sitcom-writing mentorship in 2015, a return home to Yorkshire and temp jobs led to her comedy road-to-Damascus conversion in 2016.

Wholly inexperienced, Maisie did a full hour’s set in her stand-up debut gig at Ilkley Literature Festival as her first show took shape under the title of Living On The Edge.

Acting involves subsuming yourself to play another character, sometimes using it as a shield for shyness, in a team environment, whereas stand-up comedy is all about being yourself on stage, on your own, maybe even playing an exaggerated version of you, performing your own words.

“I think it’s that whole thing of fear,” starts Maisie. Not in comedy, but in theatre. “When you’re doing comedy, you’re in control. If it goes well, you get all the cheers. If it goes wrong, you can’t blame anyone else.

“If you’re continually doing the same play, you can get bored, but with stand-up, it’s different every night,” says Maisie. Picture: Matt Crockett

“But with acting, you could be a really good actor, but if the script isn’t good, or the other actors aren’t particularly good, or the director isn’t, or the show just isn’t working, you’re not in control.

“With comedy, there’s definitely that thing of being an extension of yourself, and there’s loads you can do with that, because it’s a chance to improvise.

“The more you do comedy, the better you get at it – and it’s fun as well! If you’re continually doing the same play, you can get bored, but with stand-up, it’s different every night, the venue, the audience, the interaction.”

Maisie made rapid advances on the comedy circuit with her anecdotal material and convivial manner. Within months of that Ilkley debut she won the UK’s largest stand-up contest, So You Think You’re Funny?, followed a year later by the Amused Moose National Comic Award for Vague, her 2018 debut Edinburgh Fringe show about being diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy at 14.

Television appearances on Have I Got News For You, A League of Their Own, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Mock The Week and The Last Leg have piled up, and a podcast with fellow comedian Tom Lucy, That’s A First, has been running since 2019.

“The worst thing that can happen with comedy is that you feel safe and secure,” says Maisie. “If that happens, you’re not doing it right.” Picture: Matt Crockett

She loves the unpredictability of stand-up, the need to stay on her toes and keep her comedy radar tuned. “The worst thing that can happen with comedy is that you feel safe and secure. If that happens, you’re not doing it right,” says Maisie.

“You should want anything to happen on the night, and as long as you have a loose structure, knowing that ‘x’ and ‘y’ will be happening, then you can move things around and be open to anything.”

Buzzed, her follow-up to her 2019 show Hang Fire, has been extended from the regulatory 60-minute maximum at the Edinburgh Fringe – or 70 minutes as the Guardian review said – for the 2022-2023 tour. “It was 60 minutes,” says Maisie. “It was just that when you have other shows going on before and after you every day, that day the shows were running ten minutes late.”

Buzzed now opens with a 30-minute “very spontaneous, anything-can-happen” first half, then a break, followed by the full Buzzed show. One that the Guardian reviewer said was “bursting with puppyish pleasure”.

“Don’t tell me about reviews,” steps in Maisie. “I don’t read them. You’re being judged by someone who’s never done comedy but just goes and watches. That would be like me ‘reviewing’ Wimbledon. I mean, I enjoy watching tennis but why would I need to review what was good about someone’s tennis performance?!”

Leeds United: One of the two great loves of Maisie Adam’s life

While on the subject of sport, Wikipedia’s Maisie profile sums up her personal life as: Lives in Brighton. Engaged to Mike Dobinson as of December 2021. Also a Leeds United fan.

Mr Dobinson or the maddening LUFC, Maisie, who do you love more? “I think they’re of equal status! They’re the two loves of my life. 100 per cent.” One is much better for her mental health, however, she adds.

Her relationships, whether in love or with houseplants, feature in Buzzed and so does the footballing aplomb of 5ft 11inch Maisie. “I played at a relatively high standard as a kid. I got to county level,” she says. “I still play in a league in Brighton, but more of that in the show.”

Why settle in Brighton, Maisie? “I just needed to be nearer London, but the idea of living in London filled me with dread.”

Maisie Adam: Buzzed, Leeds City Varieties, tonight, 8pm, sold out; Harrogate Theatre, tomorrow, 8pm, sold out; The Leadmill, Sheffield, October 13, doors 7pm; Pocklington Arts Centre, February 17 2023 and The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 3 2023. Box office: Sheffield, 0114 272 7040 or leadmill.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 3838800 or theboxoffice.com.