Tag: Helmsley Arts Centre

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More Things To Do in York & beyond, as the puns stack up & bakery burlesque teases. Hutch’s List No. 11, from The York Press

Darren Walsh: Puns by the punnet load at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

A PLETHORA of puns, a dysfunctional American family musical, an alien invasion in film and theatre and a bakery burlesque night confirm variety is the spice of Charles Hutchinson’s arts life.

Comedy show like no other, bar pun: Darren Walsh: Do You Like Puns?, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

WITNESS a pun Goliath in person when Darren Walsh brings his 8ft frame to York for his Do You Like Puns? show. Noted for his Jokes On The Street series on social media, he combines sound effects, videos, one-liners and improvised jokes spun off audience suggestions. “Book now, li is two short,” he says. Think about it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Catrin Mai Edwards’ Martha, left, Estella Evans’ Mary Lennox and Dexter Pulling’s Colin in The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

Actor-musician show of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Budapest Café Orchestra: Fronted by Christian Garrick at Helmsley Arts Centre

Snappiest attire of the week: Christian Garrick & The Budapest Café Orchestra, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm

CHRISTIAN Garrick (violin, darbuka), Murray Grainger (accordion), Kelly Cantlon (double bass) and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar, saz, balalaika, domra) team up in this refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired boutique orchestra. Playing gypsy and folk-flavoured music in a unique and surprising way, The Budapest Café Orchestra combine Balkan and Russian traditional music with artful distillations of Romantic masterworks and soaring Gaelic folk anthems.

Established by British composer Garrick in 2009, BCO have 16 albums to their name, marked by an “astonishing soundscape and aural alchemy” characteristic of larger ensembles, evoking Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy campfires. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.    

This charming man: Nigel Havers is ready to talk at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett

Laughter, nostalgia and charm equals: Nigel Havers Talking B*ll*cks, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm

LET esteemed actor and self-deprecating raconteur Nigel Havers introduce his touring talk show. “Join me, a stage, and a lifetime of gloriously ridiculous stories to share with you. You’ll get the full Havers experience: charm, wit, and absolutely no running in slow motion.

“Of course, there’ll be behind-the-scenes gossip, tales of triumph (and disaster), moments of sheer madness, and a fair bit of talking b*ll*cks. And just when you think you’ve got me figured out, I might surprise you.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dale Vaughan, left, Ryan Richardson, Monica Frost, Niamh Rose, Fergus Green and Matthew Warry, at the back, in rehearsal for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal

American musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 25 to April 4, 7.30pm except March 29 and 30; 2.30pm matinees, March 28 and 29, April 4

ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning musical exploration of family and illness, loss and grief as a suburban American household copes with crisis and mental illness.

Dad is an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens but their lives are anything but normal, because Mom has been battling manic depression for 16 years.Next To Normal presents their story with love, sympathy and heart. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Mike Wozniak: Coming off The Bench to perform twice at the Grand Opera House, York

Sit-down stand-up of the week: Mike Wozniak: The Bench, Grand Opera House, York, March 25 and September 12, 7.30pm

THE Bench is the new stand-up tour show from Mike Wozniak, wherein in a story about a bench will be prominent. Previous experience of or strong opinions about benches are not required. Let Wozniak worry about that.

This Oxford-born comedian, writer, actor and former medical doctor portrays Brian in Channel 4 sitcom Man Down, is part of the team that makes Small Scenes for BBC Radio 4 and co-presents the Three Bean Salad podcast with Henry Paker and Benjamin Partridge. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorillaz: Bringing The Mountain to Leeds next Wednesday

Yorkshire gig of the week: Gorillaz, supported by Trueno, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, March 25, 7.30pm; doors 6pm

DAMON Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s BRIT and Grammy-winning British band showcase their chart-topping ninth studio album  in Leeds after two warm-up shows at Bradford Live. Spanning 15 songs that embody the collaborative Gorillaz ethos, The Mountain creates a “playlist for a party on the border between this world and whatever happens next, exploring the journey of life and the thrill of existence”. Box office: gorillaz.com. 

Bonnie Baddoo, Gareth Cassidy, Amy Dunn and Morgan Bailey in Imitating The Dog’s War Of The Worlds. Picture: Ed Waring

All’s Wells that ends in the worst nightmares of the week: Imitating The Dog in War Of The Worlds, Leeds Playhouse, March 25 to 28, 7.45pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

FOUR performers enter the stage and construct an epic road movie before your eyes in Imitating The Dog’s re-invention of H G Wells’s apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear as extraterrestrial life-forms land from the skies.

Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks and projection, the ever-audacious Leeds company mixes the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to ask “What would you do if order broke down? What would you do to survive? How far would you go to protect your own?” Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk

Vitamin String Quartet: Eroding boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop at Grand Opera House, York

Billie Eilish, Bridgerton & Beyond concert of the week: Vitamin String Quartet, Grand Opera House, York, March 27, 7.30pm

ERASING  the boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop, Vitamin String Quartet perform renditions of everything from Billie Eilish to BTS, Taylor Swift to The Weeknd and Danny Elfman to Daft Punk. Formed in 1999, this Los Angeles group comprises Tom Lea, viola, Wynton Grant and Rachel Grace, violins, and Derek Stein, cello. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns burlesque on board a baguette at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Cabaret of the week: Freida Nipples presents Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, March 27, 8pm, doors 7pm

YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, swaps teas for tease as she turns the bakery cafe into a cabaret joint for a night of fun, frolics and freedom of expression in all shapes and sizes.

On the fabulously zesty menu will be Donna Divine, Ezme Pump, Callum Robshaw and Freida herself, hosted by Harvey Rose. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 11, from Gazette & Herald

Leeds abstract surrealist Nicolas Dixon, front, spotted at the launch of the debut RARE v WET exhibition with WET proprietors James Wall and Ella Williams and RARE Collective organiser Sharon McDonagh

A SURREALIST wine bar exhibition, a comedy thriller in an hotel and Australian children’s games  stir Charles Hutchinson’s interest.  

Exhibition of the week: Nicolas Dixon, RARE v WET, at WET, Micklegate, York, until April 22

YORK  artist and event organiser Sharon McDonagh and DJ/artist Sola launch their RARE v WET series of solo exhibitions in aid of York charity SASH (Safe and Sound Homes) at WET, James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant, with Nicolas Dixon first up.

Leeds abstract surrealist Dixon’s murals and artworks have become landmarks in Leeds, including at Kirkgate Market, Trinity Shopping Centre and the University of Leeds, as well as Leeds United tributes to the 1972 FA Cup Winners at Elland Road and the iconic Bielsa the Redeemer in Wortley. On show is a mixture of new and older work, both prints and originals.

In the shadows: Michael Hugo in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

Thriller of the week: Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

CONRAD Nelson directs an ensemble cast of multiple flamboyant characters in a rollicking comedy thriller of rapid-fire character changes, sharp humour and theatrical fun, presented in association with the New Vic Theatre.

In Deborah McAndrew’s  adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s novel, Nella Racksole discovers steak and beer are not on the menu for her birthday treat at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel, prompting  her American millionaire father to buy the chef, the kitchen, the entire hotel. Cue  kidnapping and murder. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew? Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Bluey’s Big Play: Australian bean bags, games and cleverness at Grand Opera House, York

Children’s show of the week: Windmill Theatre Co in Bluey’s Big Play, Grand Opera House, York, 10am, tomorrow and Friday; 10am, 1pm and 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

COMBINING puppets and original voices from Ludo Studios’  Emmy Award-winning Australian children’s television series, including Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti as Dad and Mum, this theatrical adaptation is based on an original story by Bluey creator Joe Brumm, featuring music by series composer Joff Bush. When Dad wants a bean bag time-out, Bluey and Bingo have other plans as they pull out all the games and cleverness at their disposal. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Brand New Heavies: Acid Jazz joy, funk, love and fancy clothes at York Barbican

York gig of the week: The Brand New Heavies, York Barbican, tomorrow, doors 7pm

EALING Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies – Simon Bartholomew, vocals and guitar, Andrew Levy, bass and keyboards, and Angela Ricci, vocals  – mark their 35th anniversary with a 12-date tour that takes in York Barbican as their only Yorkshire destination. Expect  joy, funk, love and fancy clothes. Galliano support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Lizzie Lawton’s Jack Worthing, front, and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff in Rowntree Players’ The Importance Of Being Earnest

Comedy classic of the week: Rowntree Players in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

ROWNTREE Players bring Oscar Wilde’s 1895 farcical comedy of manners to the York stage in the original four-act version reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, under the direction of Hannah Shaw.

Lizzie Lawton’s Jack Worthing and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff lead double lives under the false name of “Ernest” to escape social obligations, leading to romantic entanglements and comedic misunderstandings, played out by a cast featuring Jeanette Hambridge’s Lady Bracknell, Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax, Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, Wayne Osguthorpe’s Reverend Canon Chasuble, Rebecca Thomson’s Miss Prism and Max Palmer’s Lane/Merriman. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Jessica Fostekew: “The silliest of comedy for the scariest of days”in Iconic Breath at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Jessica Fostekew: Iconic Breath, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

ICONIC Breath, Jessica Fostekew’s most rousing and uplifting show yet, provides the silliest of comedy for the scariest of days as The Guilty Feminist, Hoovering and Contender Ready podcaster discusses tolerance and temperance.

 “I can feel myself becoming an emotional wildebeest right when my world (and the whole world, thanks) demands cool, collected, ultra detached, saint-like kindness and understanding,” says Fostekew, who has hosted two series of Sturdy Girl Club on BBC Radio 4. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

This won’t hurt: Andrew Margerison, Rebecca Vaughan and Gavin Robertson in General Medical Emergency Ward 10

Hospital drama homage of the week: Dyad Productions and Company Gavin Robertson in General Medical Emergency Ward 10, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 7.30pm

UNITING for the first time, Dyad Productions and Company Gavin Robertson’s Rebecca Vaughan, Andrew Margerison and the aforementioned Gavin Robertson knit every cliché-ridden doctors-and-nurses TV and film drama into a pacy comedy mash-up spoof that promises to leave you in stitches.

On Dr Ann Fleming’s first day at St David’s, her unfortunately-named mentor, Dr Death, is determined to show her who’s boss. As medical emergencies overload the hapless staff, Dr Fleming must juggle a complicated budding love affair with a kidney and a nosey hospital boss. Not literally, of course. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Budapest Café Orchestra: Fronted by Christian Garrick at Helmsley Arts Centre

Snappiest attire of the week: Christian Garrick & The Budapest Café Orchestra, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm, sold out; Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

CHRISTIAN Garrick (violin, darbuka), Murray Grainger (accordion), Kelly Cantlon (double bass) and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar, saz, balalaika, domra) team up in this refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired boutique orchestra. Playing gypsy and folk-flavoured music in a unique and surprising way, The Budapest Café Orchestra combine Balkan and Russian traditional music with artful distillations of Romantic masterworks and soaring Gaelic folk anthems.

Established by British composer Garrick in 2009, BCO have 16 albums to their name, marked by an “astonishing soundscape and aural alchemy” characteristic of larger ensembles, evoking Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy campfires. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.    

Hope & Social: Unforgettable spectacle, energetic songs and chaotic moments at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale gig of the week: Hope & Social, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

LEEDS band Hope & Social’s eight musicians pour their heart and soul into creating exuberant, high-energy tunes in gigs full of pure joy, infectious enthusiasm, unforgettable spectacle and chaotic moments.

Each performance by “Yorkshire’s own E-Street Band” is spiced up with Northern wit and self-deprecating humour as a powerhouse three-piece horn section and intricate five-part harmonies contribute to a massive sound that spans genres, drawing influence from soul, indie, folk, disco and art rock. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Crosscut Saw’s Alex Eden : Leading his blues band at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Crosscut Saw, Milton Rooms, Malton, March 26, 8pm

YORKSHIRE blues trio Crosscut Saw’s Alex Eden (lead singer, guitarist and harmonica player), Richard Ferdinando (drums) and Richard Green (bass) draw inspiration from Magic Sam, RL Burnside, Taj Mahal and Dr John in performances marked by raw energy and unpredictability.

They hold a monthly residency at the Duck & Drake in Leeds, have played the Great British Blues Festival and Tenby Blues Festival, collaborated with TJ Norton, Paddy Wells and The Haggis Horns and worked as a backing band for Jake Walker and King Rollo. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond a mysterious garden and abstract surrealism. Hutch’s List No. 10, from The York Press

Elizabeth Marsh in rehearsal for The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, an hotel comedy thriller, a surrealist wine bar exhibition and Pulp confessions exhibition stir Charles Hutchinson’s interest.  

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Leeds abstract surrealist Nicolas Dixon, front, spotted at Thursday’s launch of his RARE v WET exhibition with WET proprietors James Wall and Ella Williams and RARE Collective organiser Sharon McDonagh, right

Exhibition of the week: Nicolas Dixon, RARE v WET, at WET, Micklegate, York, until April 22

YORK  artist and event organiser Sharon McDonagh and DJ/artist Sola launch their RARE v WET series of solo exhibitions in aid of York charity SASH (Safe and Sound Homes) at WET, James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant, with Nicolas Dixon first up.

Leeds abstract surrealist Dixon’s murals and artworks have become landmarks in Leeds, including at Kirkgate Market, Trinity Shopping Centre and the University of Leeds, as well as Leeds United tributes to the 1972 FA Cup Winners at Elland Road and the iconic Bielsa the Redeemer in Wortley. On show is a mixture of new and older work, both prints and originals.

Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion as American billionaire Theodore Racksole in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel, on tour at the SJT next week. Picture: Andrew Billington

Thriller of the week: Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 18 to 21, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

CONRAD Nelson directs an ensemble cast of multiple flamboyant characters in a rollicking comedy thriller of rapid-fire character changes, sharp humour and theatrical fun, presented in association with the New Vic Theatre.

In Deborah McAndrew’s  adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s novel, Nella Racksole discovers steak and beer are not on the menu for her birthday treat at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel, prompting  her American millionaire father to buy the chef, the kitchen, the entire hotel. Cue  kidnapping and murder. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew? Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Baroque Alchemy’s Lyndy Mayle and Piers Adams: Playing NCEM tonight

Classical-electronic concert of the week: Baroque Alchemy, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

ANCIENT and modern meet in a spectacular musical fusion in Baroque Alchemy, the realisation of recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and keyboard player Lyndy Mayle’s long-held dream. Ever since the rise of synth-led bands and New Age music in the 1980s, Red Priest frontman Adams has nurtured a vision to combine the drama of baroque music with the expansive sound-world of the electronic era. Now Baroque Alchemy turn the traditional early music recital on its head for the 21st century. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes: Evoking the Grand Ole Opry in A Country Night In Nashville at the Grand Opera House

Tribute gig of the week: A Country Night In Nashville, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

A COUNTRY Night In Nashville re-creates the scene of a buzzing Honky Tonk in downtown Nashville, capturing the energy and atmosphere of a night in the home of country music in a journey through the history of its biggest stars past and present. Hits from Johnny Cash to Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton to The Chicks, Willie Nelson to Kacey Musgraves are showcased by Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The book cover for Mark Webber’s I’m With Pulp, Are You?, under discussion by the author and guitarist at York Literature Festival

Book event of the week: York Literature Festival, I’m With Pulp, Are You?, An Evening With Mark Webber, The Crescent, York, March 17, 7pm

PULP guitarist and avant-garde film curator Mark Webber discusses I’m With Pulp, Are You?, his visually rich chronicle of the Sheffield band’s history from the perspective of a fan-turned-manager-turned-guitarist.

In his music memoir, 40 years of archived material comes to life as Chesterfield-born Webber recalls his fascination with David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and counterculture, writing fanzines and organising concerts from the age of 15, joining Pulp in 1995 and playing on Different Class, This Is Hardcore, We Love Life and More, 2025’s recording renaissance after a 24-year hiatus. Box office: 01904 623568, yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk.

Bluey’s Big Play: Australian fun and games for children at the Grand Opera House

Children’s show of the week: Windmill Theatre Co in Bluey’s Big Play, Grand Opera House, York, March 19 to 22, 10am, Thursday and Friday; 10am, 1pm and 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

COMBINING puppets and original voices from Ludo Studios’  Emmy Award-winning Australian children’s television series, including Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti as Dad and Mum, this theatrical adaptation is based on an original story by Bluey creator Joe Brumm, featuring music by series composer Joff Bush. When Dad wants a bean bag time-out, Bluey and Bingo have other plans as they pull out all the games and cleverness at their disposal.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Scouting For Girls: Re-visiting Everybody Wants To Be On TV at York Barbican

York Barbican gigs of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, March 17, doors 7pm; The Brand New Heavies, March 19

AS Scouting For Girls’ vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Roy Stride puts it: “I can’t believe we’re already celebrating the 15th anniversary of our second album [Everybody Wants To Be On TV], and I’m beyond excited to get back on the road in 2026! The shows are going to be immense: a massive nostalgic Scouting singalong every night.” Expect further hits to feature too.

Ealing Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies – Simon Bartholomew, vocals and guitar, Andrew Levy, bass and keyboards, and Angela Ricci, vocals  – mark their 35th anniversary with a 12-date tour that takes in York Barbican as their only Yorkshire destination. Expect  joy, funk, love and fancy clothes. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Brand New Heavies: Acid Jazz joy, funk, love and fancy clothes at York Barbican

Comedy classic of the week: Rowntree Players in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 19 to 21, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

ROWNTREE Players bring Oscar Wilde’s cherished 1895 farcical comedy of manners to the York stage in the original four-act version reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, under the direction of Hannah Shaw.

Lizzie Lawton’s John Worthing and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff lead double lives under the false name of “Ernest” to escape social obligations, leading to romantic entanglements and comedic misunderstandings, played out by a cast featuring Jeanette Hambridge’s Lady Bracknell, Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax, Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, Wayne Osguthorpe’s Reverend Canon Chasuble, Rebecca Thomson’s Miss Prism and Max Palmer’s Lane/Merriman. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

A collage from the rehearsal photo-shoot for Rowntree Players’ production of The Importance Of Being Earnest

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

FRESH from being picked as the Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025, Rob Rouse is touring Funny Bones: a daft whirlwind of craftily spun tall tales, a bucketful of manic energy, canny stagecraft, eerily convincing characters and a barrage of one-liners.

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Super scooper: Funny Bones comedian Rob Rouse and his skeleton dog on tour at Helmsley and Scarborough

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 10, from Gazette & Herald

Elliot Mackenzie and Henry Jenkinson in rehearsal for John Doyle’s actor-musician production of The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mark Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, two cases for Sherlock Holmes, daft Funny Bones and chocolate cookery tips hit the sweet pot for Charles Hutchinson.   

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical , York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Josh Jones: Striving to earn his cat’s respect at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Wrestling with humour: Josh Jones, I Haven’t Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

MANCHESTER comedian Josh Jones follows up Gobsmacked with I Haven’t  Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show as he finds himself knee deep into his 30s, where nothing thrills him more than a Greggs’ Sausage Roll.

Living a more sedate life is not without its challenges, however, as he is yet to earn his cat’s respect. “I’ll be keeping it light: nothing super-political, nothing controversial, and it’s definitely not going to change your life,” he says of a set brimful of history, felines and his love of wrestling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cookery book talk of the week: Kemps Books presents Edd Kimber In Conversation, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EDD Kimber, 2010 winner of the inaugural Great British Bake Off, discusses his new book, Chocolate Baking, The Ultimate Guide To Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries (Quadrille Publishing, March 5), a celebration of the world’s most-loved ingredient in 100 recipes that showcase chocolate in all its forms, sometimes rich and bold, sometimes subtle and surprising.

Expect delicious insights, behind-the-scenes baking stories and possibly a little tasting and demonstration too from Bradford-raised, London-based Kimber. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jazz singer Claire Martin: Teaming up with IG4 at NCEM, York

Jazz gig of the week: IG4 with Claire Martin, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

VOCALIST Claire Martin joins IG4  pianist and composer Nikki Iles, saxophonist Karen Sharp and rising star bassist Ewan Hastie, 2022 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, to perform Iles’s new arrangements of Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Anthony Newley and Joni Mitchell songs, complemented by her stylish reworking of the American songbook, including Cole Porter and Johnny Mandel. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Super-scooper: Rob Rouse going walkies with his skeletal dog in Funny Bones at Pocklington, Helmsley and Scarborough

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

FRESH from being picked as the Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025, Rob Rouse is touring Funny Bones: a daft whirlwind of craftily spun tall tales, a bucketful of manic energy, canny stagecraft, eerily convincing characters and a barrage of one-liners.

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The poster for Ready Steady 60’s Show at Helmsley Arts Centre

Tribute gig of the week: Ready Steady 60’s Show, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

READY Steady 60’s Show celebrates the best of the Mod 1960s and British Beat boom in the four-piece tribute band’s two-hour show, paying homage to The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, The Move, The Hollies, and The Animals. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.       

Baron Productions’ cast members at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, where they will perform Friday and Saturday’s Sherlock Holmes double bill

Thriller double bill of the week: Baron Productions in Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal In Bohemia and The Speckled Band, St  Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson embark on two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most captivating cases, presented by York company Baron Productions. London private detective Holmes has always despised love, until the day he pits his wits against mysterious blackmailer Irene Adler, who has a powerful hold over the King of Bohemia, one that could turn Holmes into a changed man if he dares do battle with her.

Then, when a desperate young woman begs Holmes for protection against her cruel stepfather, he and Watson must face a deranged doctor – who can commit horrible murders without entering his victims’ rooms – and a sinister “speckled band”. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.

The 309s: Bringing together Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan at Milton Rooms, Malton

Swing jive gig of the week: The 309s, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

WEST Yorkshire five-piece The 309s have spent 14 years purveying their swing jive repertoire all over the country. Think Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan joining forces to make a classic 20th century sound at the roots of rock’n’roll.

The 309s pick songs mostly from the southern States of America from 1925 and 1955, from Western Swing, created by Wills in Texas, through to rock’n’roll’s early days in Memphis, Tennessee, while taking in country boogie and jump blues too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Scouting For Girls: Marking 15th anniversary of platinum-selling Everybody Wants To Be On TV album at York Barbican

Anniversary gig  of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, York Barbican, March 17, doors 7pm

AS Scouting For Girls’ vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Roy Stride puts it: “I can’t believe we’re already celebrating the 15th anniversary of our second album [Everybody Wants To Be On TV], and I’m beyond excited to get back on the road in 2026! The shows are going to be immense: a massive nostalgic Scouting singalong every night.” Expect further hits to feature too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Rob Rouse is ready to tickle Funny Bones on first tour since winning award from fellow comedians. Where’s he playing?

Rob Rouse : Comedians’ comedian of the year. Picture: Karina Lax

ROB Rouse takes to the roads from today, bringing his Funny Bones stand-up tour to Pocklington Arts Centre on March 12, buoyed by winning Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025.

Determined exclusively via a poll of comedians on the UK circuit, the award recognises the Cheshire-born comedian’s standing after more than 25 years on the circuit. “I’m thrilled and absolutely knocked over by it,” says Rob, 52, of his January honour.

“It’s taken me completely by surprise. I’m very grateful and genuinely touched to receive this. We all love making audiences laugh and we all love the feeling of getting a laugh from our fellow clowns at the back of the room. It’s one of the things that encourages us to keep going and keep writing.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and to be acknowledged by your peers, who truly understand the highs and lows of this crazy job, feels deeply moving and humbling.”

Rob further reflects: “It made me really quite emotional. I’ve never believed that showbusiness is competitive in any way, shape or form . It isn’t, and the more time you spend doing it, you realise that, even those who are at the top of the tree, even they can feel there’s something not quite in place or something they’ve never got right.

Rob Rouse: Comedian, actor, podcaster and comedy club host

“The essence of creativity is that you’re always searching, and this award was like lots of my friends and colleagues saying ‘we really like you, Rob’, just as I love them. We’re all part of this ragbag of clowns, and what we all share is standing on stage and just mucking around, making people laugh and having fun.”

He will be doing exactly that when his “lap of honour” travels with Funny Bones take in further Yorkshire gigs at Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21; Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, March 26; Richmond Georgian Theatre Royal, March 27; Leeds Glee Club, April 12, and Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, April 17, further boosted by Rob taking home the Best Act prize from the 2025 Yorkshire Comedy Awards.

We all know of the benefit of laughter, how it triggers the brain to releaseendorphins that act as “feel-good chemicals”. Does that make Rob smile? “I wholeheartedly believe it’s good for us, as the world is very complicated – though, despite what you might think, statistically we’re living in the safest time in history. These are immutable facts.” (Footnote: Rob was speaking before the unfolding of this week’s events in Iran and the Middle East.)

When putting together a new show, such as Funny Bones, he applies this modus operandi: “I just try to do on stage what I’d like to watch myself, so I’ll try stuff out at gigs and if it works, I keep doing it; if it sort of works, I keep doing it; if it doesn’t work, I stop doing it,” says Rob, who topped the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at York Barbican last March.

He recalls being inspired by the surrealist work of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. “They were the ones who lit a fire in me as a teenager, thinking, ‘this is fun, I love this’. What I really love about them is that they didn’t ask anyone’s permission to do what they do. They had the essence of punk about them,” says Rob.

“I love Fry & Laurie, Eddie Izzard, Fawlty Towers, Tommy Cooper, The Young Ones, but there was something about Vic and Bob that felt celebratory. Their comedy was a lightning bolt.”

One man and his skeleton dog: Rob Rouse in Funny Bones. Picture: Karina Lax

Yet he could not have foreseen his comedy career. “If anything, I was a shy child, and the thought of stepping out on stage frightened me,” he says. 

So much so that,  filled with nerves about performing at a primary school assembly, he accidentally placed his foot in a crate, cutting his head open on the corner of a table as he fell, and duly needed stitches. “I remember thinking, ‘that’s good, I don’t have to go on stage now,’” says Rob.

Rob studied Geography at Sheffield University “when it was just about escaping the world”. “A good friend of mine was in the university drama group; I’d split up with my girlfriend and was moping around the place, and they said ‘you should get off your backside and do an audition’,” he recalls.

On the first night of the subsequent production, when the stage ‘flats’ collapsed, Rob was the only one on stage. “I ended up talking to the audiences on my own, and the laughs I got from that felt different from the laughs I got in the play,” he says. “It made me think, ‘oh, that’s interesting’, so the bulb had been planted.”

Rob then performed a ten-minute set at a charity gig at the Fox & Duck, Sheffield. “I remember being nervous, even puking before the show, but it was also an absolute rush,” he says.

“I’ll try stuff out at gigs and if it works, I keep doing it; if it sort of works, I keep doing it; if it doesn’t work, I stop doing it,” says Rob Rouse. Picture: Karina Lax

Moving to London, he booked open-mic spots through Time Out and went on to win Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny Award at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe with his combination of joyous silliness, infectious energy and storytelling craft.

He has since starred in the BBC’s Upstart Crow, playing manservant Ned Bottom to David Mitchell’s William Shakespeare, as well as appearing on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and The Friday Night Project, touring all over the world, clocking up 12 Edinburgh Fringe shows and performing in two sold-out West End runs of Upstart Crow The Play

Now living in the Peak District, he is resident host of The Comedy Village at the Crookes Social Club in Sheffield, where he bills himself as the “comedy village idiot”.

Funny Bones marks his return to solo touring in a high-spirited show built on craftily spun tall tales, eerily convincing characters, bucketfuls of manic energy, daft flights of fancy and a barrage of one-liners in a celebration of comedy and being alive.

“I purchased the skeleton suit online for the photo-shoot, but it had a boil-in-the-bag effect on me! It’s made of plastic, completely unbreakable, but it’s just too hot to perform in,” says Rob. “I wouldn’t inflict that on the audience. After three nights, I’d have to hand out nose pegs!”

Tickets are on sale at: Pocklington, 01759 301547or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Sheffield, thecomedyvillage.com; Richmond, 01748 825252 or georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds,  0871 472 0400 or glee.co.uk; Huddersfield, 01484 430528 or thelbt.org.

“We’re all part of this ragbag of clowns, and what we all share is standing on stage and just mucking around, making people laugh and having fun,” says Rob Rouse of the life of a comedy performer. Picture: Karina Lax

Rob Rouse: back story

Television and film work

STARTED his career in television as a “warm-up” on the hit BBC sitcom Coupling, where he entertained the studio audience between filming.

Rouse starred in the first series of the BBC Three sitcom Grownups and Guilty Pleasures, a new chat show that he hosted. Played uncredited role in Penelope,  Mark Palansky’s feature film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006.

In 2005, Rouse co-presented Channel 4 entertainment show The Friday Night Project, now known as The Sunday Night Project. Starred in Channel 4 sketch show Spoons.

Acting work took in a role in ITV comedy-drama Tunnel Of Love and starring role in BBC3 sitcom The Bunk Bed Boys. Cast member for E4’s The Pilot Show.

Panellist on 8 Out of 10 Cats and Bognor Or Bust.

In 2007, he starred as Robert Thornton in ten episodes of Paramount Comedy shorts The Former Ambassador Robert Thornton.  Starred in Mad Mad World on ITV1 since Spring 2012.

Plays Ned Bottom in BBC Two’s Shakespeare sitcom Upstart Crow, written by Ben Elton, appearing alongside David Mitchell, Harry Enfield, Mark Heap and Liza Tarbuck.

Other work
Rouse and his wife, comedy writer and performer Helen Rutter, present comedy self-help podcast Rob And Helen’s Date Night, charting a series of odd dates including horse riding, life-drawing in front of a fire, and the couple recording Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name, live in their garage.

Rouse and Rutter starred in Rutter’s play The Ladder, premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, based on an accident when Rutter’s hand became stuck in a ladder at home, necessitating Rouse’s attempts to help her.

Specialising in self-aware collaborative comedy focusing on their real-life relationship, they presented Funny In Real Life at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 9, from Gazette & Herald

JAPANESE prints, a Belgian detective, a Tudor queen and a West Riding pioneer are all making waves in Charles Hutchinson’s early March recommendations. 

Exhibition of the week: Making Waves, The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print, York Art Gallery, until August 30, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

MAKING Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print presents Japanese art and culture in more than 100 striking and iconic works from renowned artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro, among many others.

At the epicentre of this intriguing insight into the history and development of Japanese woodblock printing is the chance to see Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, one of the most recognisable and celebrated artworks in the world. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

York Community Choir Festival 2026: Showcase for choirs aplenty at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival 2026, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

THE annual York Community Choir Festival brings together choirs of all ages to perform in a wide variety of singing styles on each bill. Across the week, 43 choirs are taking part in nine concerts, making the 2026 event the largest yet. Concert programmes feature well-known classical and modern popular songs, complemented by show tunes, world music, folk song, gospel, jazz and soul. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Death On The Nile: European premiere of Ken Ludwig’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Murder mystery of the week: Fiery Angel presents Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile, Grand Opera House, York, March 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

AFTER tours of And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express, Death On The Nile reunites director Lucy Bailey, writer Ken Ludwig and producers Fiery Angel for the European premiere of a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.

On board a luxurious cruise under the heat of the Egyptian sun, a couple’s idyllic honeymoon is cut short by a brutal murder.  As secrets buried in the sands of time resurface, can Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield), untangle the web of lies? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nick Patrick Jones’s Henry VIII and Lara Stafford’s Anne Boleyn in Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn. Picture: John Saunders

Historical drama of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Anne Boleyn, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Black Treacle Theatre presents Howard Brenton’s account of one of England’s most important and intriguing historical figures: Tudor lover, heretic, revolutionary, queen Anne Boleyn (played by Lara Stafford).

Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King’s bed, or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – re-emerges in a very different light in Brenton’s epic play, premiered by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in 2010. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Poetry event of the week: York Poetry Society, Poetry Pharmacy launch celebration, Jacob’s Well, Trinity Lane, York, Friday, 7.30pm to 9.30pm 

TO mark Friday’s opening of the third Poetry Pharmacy, part bookshop, part apothecary, part reading room, and venue for readings, workshops, creative writing clubs in Coney Street, founder Deborah Alma talks about its concept of fostering the therapeutic effects of poetry.

Local poets are invited to read poems with this aim in mind in the second half. “Normally we ask of non-members a £3 entry fee, but on this occasion, if you write a poem relevant to the evening, all we will ask is that you read it to us as part of the programme,” says programme secretary Marta Hardy.

Irish dance and magic combine in Celtic Illusion, on tour at York Barbican

Magical experience of the week: Celtic Illusion, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

AFTER dazzling audiences across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada and the USA, this thunderous Irish dance and grand-illusion magic show is making its premiere UK tour in 2026. 

Created by Anthony Street, illusionist and former lead of Lord Of The Dance, Celtic Illusion brings together dancers from Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance, who perform to a soaring original score and remastered classics by composer Angela Little. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as Anne Lister, rehearsing for Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack. Picture: Colleen Mair

Dance premiere of the week: Northern Ballet and Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Gentleman Jack, Leeds Grand Theatre, Saturday to March 14, except Sunday and Monday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on March 12 and 14

THIS groundbreaking new ballet marks a trio of ‘firsts’: the first time the story of Anne Lister has been told through ballet, the first large-scale commission for Northern Ballet since 2021 and the first under artistic director Federico Bonelli.

Yorkshirewoman Anne, the “first modern lesbian”, lived, dressed and loved as she desired, not as 19th century society expected of her. Northern Ballet’s interpretation of her life is choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, leading a female artistic team that includes Sally Wainwright, writer of the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for the Merely Players’ Fakespeare exposé at Helmsley Arts Centre

The Great Shakespeare Fraud of the week: Merely Players, Fakespeare, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

THERE are two problems with deception: being found out and not being found out. In 1794, noted antiquarian Samuel Ireland is delighted when his son William brings him unknown documents in the hand of Shakespeare, obtained from an anonymous source. However, scholars question their authenticity and denounce Samuel as a forger.  The household is thrown into turmoil and family skeletons come tumbling out of cupboards.

Roll forward to  2026, when Samuel, William and their housekeeper Mrs Freeman meet again to sort out the truth of it all, if such a thing is possible. So runs Stuart Fortey’s tragicomic, scarcely believable, deceptively truthful tale of 18th century literary fraud  and family deceit. Box office:  01439 771700 or  helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Very Santana: Celebrating Carlos Santana’s songs and guitar mastery at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Very Santana, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

VERY Santana’s musical time travel experience celebrates the beautiful guitar melodies and creatively diverse, challenging songs of Carlos Santana, performed with room for extra improvisation.

The set list spans the Santana legacy, from the Abraxas album early peaks of Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and Samba Pa Ti, through the late 1970s’ hits such as Europa and She’s Not There, to the modern-era Grammy winners Smooth and Maria-Maria. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Harry Enfield: No Chums but a cornucopia of comical characters at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gig of the week: Harry Enfield And No Chums, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

FROM the meteoric rise of Loadsamoney, a Thatcherite visionary, to the fury of Kevin the Teenager, satirical comedian and self-styled “stupid idiot” Harry Enfield  reflects on 40 years in comedy, bringing favourite characters vividly back to life on stage.

Then comes your chance to ask how it all works for the former University of York politics student (Derwent College, 1979 to 1982), discover what makes him most proud and find out what would he say to the many who ask, “You wouldn’t be allowed to do your stuff today, would you?”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Elvis Costello: Revisiting his 1977-1986 back catalogue in Radio Soul! at York Barbican in June. Picture: Ray Di Pietro

Gig announcement of the week: Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Radio Soul!: The Early Songs Of Elvis Costello, York Barbican, June 17

ELVIS Costello will return to York Barbican for the first time since May 2012’s Spectacular Singing Book tour, joined by The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton.

Costello, 71, will focus on songs drawn from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate in 1986, complemented by “other surprises”. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/elvis-costello/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 8, from Gazette & Herald

Mark Simmons: Expertly crafted one-liners and off-the-cuff jinks with the audience at Pocklington Arts Centre

FISHING community memories, an abbey light installation and an exhibition addressing loneliness make for a diverse week ahead in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations. 

One-liners of the week: Mark Simmons, Jest To Impress, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm

CANTERBURY jester Mark Simmons won Dave’s Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 with this gag: “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it”. Now he follows up his 200-date Quip Off The Mark two-year UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand tour with Jest To Impress, a new show packed with one-liners, alongside his trademark off-the-cuff jokes based on random audience suggestions.

Simmons also hosts the Jokes With Mark Simmons podcast, where he invites fellow comics, such as Gary Delaney, Sarah Millican and Milton Jones, to discuss jokes that, for whatever reason, would not work. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The poster for What The Sea Saw’s fishing stories at Helmsley Arts Centre

Rehearsed reading of the week: 1812 Theatre Company presents What The Sea Saw, Helmsley Arts Centre, Jean Kershaw Auditorium, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm

SET in Scarborough’s Bottom End and capturing the verbatim first-hand testimonies of remaining members of the fishing families, Helena Fox’s new play recounts the tragic events of the 1954 Lifeboat Disaster through the eyes of witnesses, as well as capturing the lost cultures and working practices of the coastal community, including the role of women in skeining and baiting.

Directed by Heather Findlay, the fundraising event for Scarborough RNLI features Stamford Bridge’s Big Shanty Crew’s performance of Scarborough 54. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Imitating The Dog light up Selby Abbey for three days of Selby Light 2026

Installation of the week: Selby Light 2026, Selby Abbey, tomorrow to Saturday, 6pm to 9pm

SELBY Abbey will be the setting for Homeward, Leeds company Imitating The Dog’s large-scale installation celebrating our different stories and the unified feeling of finding home, framed by the question How Did You Get Here?

Inside, the installation continues as a walk-through experience, complemented by Jazmin Morris’s Through The Liquid Crystal Display, a series of visual code illustrations inspired by Selby Abbey. The trail then extends into the town centre with works by Selby College students. Admission is free.

The 20ft Squid Blues Band: Combining 1950s’ Chicago style with 1960s’ blues explosion at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents The 20ft Squid Blues Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

THE 20ft Squid Blues Band, from Sheffield, play upbeat, fast, irreverent blues, combining elements of the 1950s’ Chicago style with the more wayward aspects of the 1960s’ blues explosion.

They mix self-penned songs with numbers made famous by Howling Wolf and Little Walter, while throwing in artists not so obviously from the blues tradition, such as Tom Waits and Prince. Expect eye-popping harmonica, thundering bass, intricate beats and choice guitar. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Nick Doody: Topping Hilarity Bites Comedy Club line-up at Milton Rooms, Malton

Comedy bill of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Nick Doody, Ed Purnell and Will Duggan, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

IN the first Hilarity Bites bill of 2026, Nick Doody will be joined by Ed Purnell and Will Duggan. Doody first performed as a student in the 1990s when he supported Bill Hicks at Hicks’ request, since when he has performed all over the world and written for Joan Rivers, Lenny Henry, Dame Edna Everage and Mock The Week regulars aplenty.

In a clever spin, Purnell, Ecuador’s numero uno comedian, delivers his set in Spanish with a sprinkling of English, whereupon audiences realise they can understand him without speaking his mother tongue. Duggan is a quick and witty host. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Phoenix Dance: Presenting world premiere of Interplay at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre, Interplay, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2pm, 7.30pm

LEEDS company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s world premiere tour of Interplay opens at York Theatre Royal, featuring dynamic works by Travis Knight and James Pett (Small Talk), Ed Myhill (Why Are People Clapping?!) Yusha-Marie Sorzano & Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis (Suite Release) and Willis’s Next Of Kin. 

Across duet and ensemble works, Interplay explores themes of duality and shared authorship, revealing how distinct artistic voices can intersect to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Each piece offers a unique perspective, united by a bold physicality and a deep curiosity about human relationships, rhythm and collective experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Holly Taymar: Performing the best of Eva Cassidy’s back catalogue at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Holly Taymar Sings Eva Cassidy, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 8pm

YORK singer-songwriter Holly Taymar turns the spotlight on Eva Cassidy, one of the most beloved voices of the 20th century. Revelling in Cassidy’s blend of folk, jazz and blues, she performs renditions of Fields Of Gold, Songbird, Over The Rainbow and Autumn Leaves.

“My show show is not an impersonation,” says Taymar. “It’s a heartfelt homage to an artist who left a lasting impact on my development as an artist and on the world of music.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Loneliness Is Not A Dirty Word: Exhibition collaboration between Hannah Turlington and local and wider community at Helmsley Arts Centre

Exhibition launch of the week: Hannah Turlington, Loneliness Is Not A Dirty Word, Helmsley Arts Centre, March 3 to May 1

LONELINESS Is Not A Dirty Word is a collaboration between artist Hannah Turlington and the local and wider community, involving sessions where participants were invited to share their own experiences of loneliness by creating pieces of visual art in a variety of mediums.

The resulting exhibition aims to create space for the viewer to consider their own narratives of loneliness and reduce the stigma associated with being lonely.

Del Amitri’s Justin Currie, left, and Iain Harvie: Cherry-picking from four decades of songs at York Barbican in November

Gig announcement of the week: Del Amitri, Past To Present UK Tour 2026, November 16

GLASGOW band Del Amitri will open their 17-date Past To Present autumn tour at York Barbican, where core members Justin Currie and Iain Harvie will mark four decades of songs, stories and live shows. Ticket will go on general sale on Friday at 9.30am at www.gigsandtours.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.delamitri.info.

The career-spanning set list will chart their early breakthroughs, classic singles such as Nothing Ever Happens, Always The Last To Know and Roll To Me, fan favourites and recording renaissance after an 18-year hiatus with 2021’s Fatal Mistakes.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 7, from Gazette & Herald

Victoria Delaney in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FROM Dennis Potter to Stephen Sondheim, showman  P.T. Barnum to a Phil Collins tribute, Charles Hutchinson is spoilt for cultural choice amid the incessant rainfall.

Play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight to February 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; February 21 and 28, 2pm matinees

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them. Their innocence is short lived, however, as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Blue Remembered Hills director Fleur Hebditch

Spooky adventure of the week: Flying Ducks Youth Theatre in The Addams Family Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow  to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Flying Ducks Youth Theatre undertake a whimsical, spooky musical adventure into the delightfully dark world of the hauntingly eccentric Addams Family on a night of unexpected revelations.

When Wednesday Addams falls in love with a “normal” boy, chaos ensues. As the two families converge over dinner, secrets are revealed and the true meaning of family is put to the test. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Kathryn Williams: Opening Mystery Park Tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

Time’s shifting tides of the week: Kathryn Williams, Mystery Park Tour 2026, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

KATHRYN Williams, the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based folk singer-songwriter, novelist, podcaster, tutor and artist long celebrated for her quiet emotional depth and lyrical precision, promotes her 15th studio album, last September’s Mystery Park, with support and special guest guitarist Matt Deighton in tow.

Opening her 12-date tour in Pocklington, 2000 Mercury Music Prize nominee Williams marks 27 years of diverse, multi-faceted music projects with a reflective, textured work, made in the quiet margins of motherhood and memory, shaped by time’s shifting tides. “This is the most personal record I’ve made,” she says. “The artwork is my own painting, based on the willow pattern from my grandmother’s tea sets. Each part of it ties into the songs: a map of memories.” Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Megson’s Debs Hanna and Stu Hanna: Performing at Helmsley Arts Centre on Friday

Folk gig of the week: Megson, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

FOUR-TIME BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards nominees and double Spiral Earth Awards winners Megson combine heavenly vocals, lush harmonies and driving rhythmic guitars, topped off with northern humour. 

Hailing from Teesside and now based in Cambridgeshire, husband-and-wife folk roots duo Debs Hanna (vocals, whistle, piano accordion) and Stu Hanna (guitar, mandola, banjo) followed up 2023 studio album What Are We Trying To Say with Megson – Live In Teesside, recorded at Stockton-on-Tees Arc in 2025. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Ryedale film event of the week: Summit Stories, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

THIS evening of adventure films to raise funds for the Scarborough & Ryedale branch of Mountain Rescue England & Wales features a variety of exciting off-piste adventures, such as ski mountaineering, mountain climbing and mountain biking.

Created by elite athletes from around the world, the Faction Collective’s 150 Hours From Home, Blair Aitken of British Backcountry’s 10 In A Weekend, Commencal’s Dolomites and Jessie Leong’s The Last Forgotten Art contain scenes to take the breath away. The mountain rescue team, by the way, supports adventurers when things go wrong and conducts  day-to-day searches and rescues off the beaten track. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Seriously Collins: Taking Phil Collins at Face Value in tribute to solo and Genesis years at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Seriously Collins – A Tribute To Phil Collins & Genesis, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

RETURNING by popular demand, Seriously Collins relive the hits of Phil Collins and Genesis, taking a musical journey through the songs that defined an era, echoing Collins’s soulful solo sound and re-creating the energy, intricacy and intensity of his more expansive original band. Expect “no gimmicks, just a genuine tribute to one of the greatest artists of our time”. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Lee Mead, centre, as showman P. T. Barnum, surrounded by actor musicians and circus acts in Barnum: The Circus Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Touring musical of the week: Bill Kenwright Ltd in Barnum: The Circus Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

MUSICALS leading man Lee Mead plays the most challenging role of his career, stepping into P. T. Barnum’s shoes and on to the tightrope as the legendary circus showman, businessman and politician in Jonathan O’Boyle’s touring production of the Broadway musical.

Mead leads the cast of more than 20 actor-musicians (playing 150 instruments), acrobats and international circus acts as, hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum finds his life and career twisting and turning the more he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Maggie Smales’s Madame Armfeldt and Libby Greenhill’s Fredrika rehearsing for Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

Sondheim show of the week: Wharfemede Productions in A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

SET in turn-of-the-century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire, and regret through Stephen Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, not least the timeless Send In The Clowns.

Directed by Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ show combines the York company’s hallmark attention to emotional depth, musical high quality and character-driven ensemble storytelling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Levellers: Revisiting Levelling The Land at York Barbican this autumn. Picture: Steve Gullick

Gig announcement of the week: Levellers, Levelling The Land 35th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, October  29

BRIGHTON folk-rockers Levellers have been among Britain’s most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly 40 years, their success built in part on the anthems that comprised their platinum-selling second album Levelling The Land, whose 35th anniversary falls on October 7.

To mark the occasion, Levellers will head out on a UK and European tour from October 16 to November 21, playing many songs from that album, alongside fan favourites from their extensive catalogue. Hotly tipped Essex punk duo The Meffs will support. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am from https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/levellers-2026/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 6, from Gazette & Herald

Sally Ann Matthews in the role of supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now, The Steps Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Danny Kaan

MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s choices for February fulfilment.

Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday & Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm

PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Josh Woodgate’s Pilate in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.

On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

The sun’ll come out tomorrow: York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company  for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.

This heart-warming tale of hope, family and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars  Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and  Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies: Northern English folk at Helmsley Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

JEZ Lowe & The Bad Pennies have been playing their northern English and Celtic folk and acoustic songs and tunes for more than two decades around folk festivals, clubs and concert stages, while making a dozen albums.

Touring the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Belgium, as well as Great Britain and Ireland, singer, guitarist and composer Lowe performs with fiddle player, vocalist and Badapple Theatre writer-director Kate Bramley, Northumbrian small-pipes, accordion and whistle player Andy May and fretless bassist David De La Haye. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Al Murray’s All You Need Is Guv tour show at York Barbican

Comedy shake-up of the week: Al Murray, All You Need Is Guv, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

HEY cool cats! Hot on the heels of last year’s Guv Island tour of these green and groovy isles, The Guvnor is back with a new stand-up show for 2026. There’s no denying the world’s a mess, daddio, but here comes a glimmer of hope as the globe’s favourite pub landlord returns with his common sense hot-takes for the masses, offering a much-needed truth tonic for these whacked out and troubled times. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fladam Theatre duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of half-term week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

FLADAM Theatre, the actor-musician York duo of Adam Sowter and Florence Poskitt, returns with an intergalactic musical adventure ideal for ages four to ten. Meet out-of-this-world pianist Norma, who dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, but children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very important piano recital coming up.

When a bizarre-looking contraption crash-lands in the garden, is it a bird? Or a plane? No and twice no, it’s a piano, but no ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true in a 45-minute show packed with awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots, and interplanetary puns that will have children shooting for the stars. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Crime fiction author Elly Griffiths: Discussing new novel The Killing Time at Milton Rooms, Malton

Kemps Books’ literary event of the week: An Evening With Elly Griffiths, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 16, 7.30pm

ELLY Griffiths, award-winning crime fiction author of The Ruth Galloway Mysteries, The Brighton Mysteries and The Postscript Murders, discusses new novel The Killing Time and the inspirations behind her time-twisting mysteries, compelling characters and gripping storytelling. Expect lively conversation, fascinating insights and a book-signing finale. Tickets: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jodie Comer’s lawyer Tessa in Prime Facie, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Rankin

Recommended but sold out already: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

JODIE Comer returns to her Olivier and Tony Award-winning role as lawyer Tessa in the “Something Has To Change” tour of Suzie Miller’s Prime Facie in her first appearance on a North Yorkshire stage since her professional debut in Scarborough as Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in April 2010.

Comer’s Tessa is a thoroughbred young barrister who loves to win, working her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game: prosecuting, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event, however, forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

Craig David: PerformingTS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend in July

Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.

David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 5, from Gazette & Herald

Two into one won’t go: Lisa Faulkner’s Allie, left, and Kym Marsh’s Hedy in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop

AN update of a Nineties’ psychological thriller and a panto dame’s transformation into a dog top Charles Hutchinson’s  cultural picks for early February and beyond.

World premiere tour of the week: Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today and Saturday

SCREEN actress, 2010 Celebrity MasterChef winner, TV presenter, chef and cookery book author Lisa Faulkner returns to the stage for the first time in 21 years in Rebecca Reid’s darkly humorous stage adaptation of psychological thriller Single White Female, now updated to the social-media age.

Faulkner’s recently divorced mum Allie is balancing being a single parent with the launch of her tech start-up. When she decides to advertise for a lodger to help make ends meet, Kym Marsh’s Hedy offers her a lifeline, but as their lives intertwine, boundaries blur and a seemingly perfect arrangement begins to unravel with chilling consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Viking illumination: Colour & Light celebrates Eric Bloodaxe at York Castle Museum. Picture: David Harrison

Illumination launch of the week: Colour & Light, York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower, York, today to February 22, 6pm to 9pm

YORK BID is bringing Colour & Light back for 2026 on its biggest ever canvas. For the first time, two of York’s landmark buildings will be illuminated together when York Castle Museum and Clifford’s Tower become the combined canvas for a fully choreographed projection show, transforming the Eye of York.

Presented in partnership with York Museums Trust and English Heritage, the continuous, looped, ten-minute show will bring York’s historic characters to life in a family-friendly projection open to all for free; no ticket required.

Matt Tapp’s ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and Helen Gallagher’s ‘Calamity’ Jane in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Calamity Jane

Musical of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Calamity Jane, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

HELEN Gallagher’s tough talkin’, gun-totin’ heroine ‘Calamity’ Jane and Matt Tapp’s former peace-officer ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok lead director Sophie Cooke’s cast for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s musical Calamity James.

Deadwood’s citizens are content with their ways of life: supporting their fort of soldiers and socialising at the beloved Golden Garter saloon. However, when a new face blows in from the Windy City to create a stir, friendships will be formed, long-time loyalties tested and perhaps even secret love revealed. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Ancient & modern drama of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EASINGWOLD theatre-makers Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger begin their new partnership with Theatre@41 by re-visiting Helios, wherein a lad lives half way up a historic hill, a teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car and a boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky.

In Wright’s story of the sun god’s son, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city. “It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” he says. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Robin Simpson in rehearsal for Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, premiering at York Theatre Royal Studio

Solo show of the week: The Last Picture, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to February 14, except February 8, 7.45pm, plus Wednesday and Saturday 2pm matinees

ROBIN Simpson follows up his sixth season as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame by playing a dog in York Theatre Royal, ETT and An Tobar and Mull Theatre’s premiere of Catherine Dyson’s The Last Picture, directed by John R Wilkinson.

Imagine yourself in a theatre in 2026. Now picture yourself as a Year 9 student on a school trip, and then as a citizen of Europe in 1939 as history takes its darkest turn. While you imagine, emotional support dog Sam (Simpson’s character) will be by your side in a play about empathy – its power and limits and what it asks of us – built around a story of our shared past, present and the choices we face today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Simeon Walker: Inviting his audience to gather around the piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Pianist of the week: Simeon Walker, An Evening Around The Piano, Helmlsey Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

LEEDS modern classical pianist and composer Simeon Walker performs in Great Britain and Europe, while notching 50 million streams across online platforms and having his music played on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.

Walker, who has a keen interest in jazz, folk and ambient music too, has collaborated on interdisciplinary work with artist Mary Griffiths, Portuguese choreographer Sara Afonso, writer Emma White and filmmakers Will Killen and Ben Cohen, plus BBC Radio 4 and University of Leeds. His concerts span moments of quiet, gentle solitude to boisterous, flowing exuberance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Julie Carter: Addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature in The Dreamtime Fellrunner

Wellbeing on the run: Julie Carter, The Dreamtime Fellrunner, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 12, 7.30pm

IN her first theatre show, poetry and creative non-fiction author Julie Carter charts her running exploits on the Lakeland fells in this moving and humorous account of being an athlete with a physical disability in the form of a developmental disease of the spine.

Presenting fell running as a type of land art and spiritual practice, Carter emphasises body-mind-spirit-place connections while addressing themes of feminism, land rights, ageism and ableism, history and literature, in a 60-minute immersive performance supported by original music, topped off by second-half opportunities for discussion and reflections on wellbeing and the ways we inhabit our environments. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Mark Stafford: Solo performance at the double in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Helmsley Arts Centre

Split personality of the month: Mark Stafford in The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21, 7.30pm

PUBLISHED in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic mystery tale of the timeless conflict between good and evil is performed by Mark Stafford in his compelling and faithful adaptation.

In fog-bound Victorian London, respectable lawyer Gabriel Utterson is concerned by a strange clause in his friend Henry Jekyll’s will, whereupon he investigates the sinister Edward Hyde, Jekyll’s unlikely protégé. Convinced that Jekyll and Hyde’s relationship is founded on blackmail, Utterson finds the truth to be far worse than he could have ever imagined. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest’s day of equine films at Helmsley Arts Centre

In Focus: EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, Block 1, 12 noon to 2.16pm; Block 2, 3.30pm to 5.07pm; Block 3, 7pm to 9.45pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre, in collaboration with Ryedale Bridleways Group, presents the first British screening of the EQUUS UK Film & Arts Festival this weekend. 

Founded in 2013 by Illinois equestrian Lisa Diersen, who has spent her life in the company of horses, EQUUS aims to show the world how horses can bring everyone together regardless of race, age, gender, abilities or disabilities. 

Saturday’s event comprises two afternoon blocks of short films, exhibitions from Ryedale artists and an evening showing of the 96-minute feature film Big Star, The Nick Skelton Story.

Showing from 12 noon will be Horse & Human Connection, featuring Wings Of Angels, Healing Horses In Mongolia, Heart Of Compton and My Life Between The Reins.

The Wild Horse Collection, from 3.30pm, presents American Mustang (music video), Wild Heart  Mustang Book Project, Wild Horse Refuge “Dahtetse”, A Mustang Story promo, Okanagan Wild, Hellbent, Evoke and Renegade.

The Big Star Collections opens at 7pm with Healing In The Open, followed by Inside The In Gate and Unstable. After a 15-minute interval, Big Star will close the event.

Tickets for single blocks or the whole day are available on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.

An equine photograph from Valerie Mather’s 2025 trip to the USA

AMONG the exhibitors at Saturday’s EQUUS UK Film & Arts Fest event will be Yorkshire lawyer-tuned- portrait, documentary and travel photographer Valerie Mather.

“After a successful career in law, I retired early to pursue a lifelong passion for photography,” she says. “I learned to ride (English style) as a child but was brought up watching Western movies on television and longed to see for myself the real cowboys and cowgirls of the American West.

“That dream came true in 2025 when I visited the United States and spent time at the McCullough Peaks wild horse area and the Shoshone National Forest ranchlands in Wyoming. “

Another of Valerie Mather’s McCullough Peaks photographs on show at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday

Did you know?

RYEDALE Bridleways Group (RBG) covers the Ryedale district and North York Moors National Park. Activities include fundraising events, such as equestrian talks and films. RBG works with local authorities to seek to resolve issues on bridleways and Countryside Access Service Unsurfaced Unclassified Roads, as well as carrying out practical work such as bridleway clearances and  surveys.