Tag: Helmsley Arts Centre

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More Things To Do in York and beyond Gary Oldman’s exit stage left, minus bananas. Hutch’s List No. 20, from The York Press

Bull: “Reverse headlining” Sunday’s bill at the By The Blue Bridge Festival on the Arts Barge

First published on May 17 2025

AS the Arts Barge launches a new season and Mikron head to an allotment, Charles Hutchinson welcomes signs of the summer season ahead.

Festival of the week: By The Blue Bridge, Arts Barge, Foss Basin, York, today (17/5/2025) and tomorrow

BULL bassist, illustrator and designer Kai West and Rowan & Friends curator and frontman Rowan Evans launch the Arts Barge’s 2025 season with the By The Blue Bridge festival of music and art.

Today features free workshops from 11am to 2pm, including Water Poetry with Becca Drake, Digital Plotting with Des Clarke and a Sound Workshop led by a collective from the Hague. Musical acts from 3pm will be Sinead Una, Rowan & Friends, Captain Starlet, Gaia Blandina, Slagroom, Des Clarke, Gabriella Hunzinger and The Rattlers.

Sunday’s theme is “Folky and Weird”, kicking off with an open-mic session from 12 noon to 2pm, followed by “reverse headliners” Bull at 4pm, plus Oli, We Are Hannah, Mugwort, Kirk, Big Rain In The Morning, The Caterpillars and headliners Milkweed. Box office https://wegottickets.com/f/13779/.

Bella Gaffney: The Magpies’ folk musician plays solo at Rise@Bluebird Bakery tonight. Picture: Esme Mai

Folk gig of the week: Bella Gaffney, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight (17/5/2025), 7.30pm

FOLK troubadour and guitarist Bella Gaffney, one third of The Magpies, weaves together original compositions and traditional tunes from British folk and Americana traditions, as heard on her 2023 album Reflections. Support act Jake Robinson sings soulful interpretations of folk classics and jazz-inspired originals. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/bella-gaffney.

This summer, The Magpies will be hosting their annual festival at Sutton Park, Sutton on the Forest, near York, on August 8 and 9. Tickets are on sale at themagpiesfestival.co.uk.

Mikron Theatre Company actor-musicians Georgina Liley, left, James McLean, Robert Took and Catherine Warnock in Operation Beach Hut, on tour at Scarcroft Allotments, York, on Sunday. Picture: Robling Photography

Outdoor entertainment of the week: Mikron Theatre Company in Operation Beach Hut, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (18/5/2025), 2pm

HARVEY Badger’s Operation Beach Hut whisks Sunday afternoon’s audience away to the golden sands of Fiddling-On-Sea for the annual Best Beach Hut competition as stressed-out city dweller seeks solace by the sea. As the competition day draws closer, the history of the seaside floats to the surface, washing up a host of characters and stories from centuries gone by. Soon Holly realises far more is at stake than a prize for best beach hut.

Marianne McNamara’s cast of four actor-musicians, Georgina Liley, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and returnee James McLean, combine Marsden company Mikron’s theatrical trademarks of storytelling, original songs and live music with the guarantee of a whale of a time. No tickets required; a pay-what –you-feel collection will be taken post-show.

Harry Hill: New Bits & Greatest Hits shake up the Grand Opera House on Sunday fun day

Get on board the laughter train: Harry Hill, New Bits & Greatest Hits, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday (18/5/2025), 7.30pm

JOIN Harry Hill on his on his Diamond Jubilee lap of honour in celebration of 60 glorious years of fun, laughter and low-level disruption. Marvel as he offers new insights into the hot topics of the day from the culture wars to the origins of Tiramisu.

Guffaw with delight as big-collared Harry delves into his back catalogue, using his patented Old Bit Randomiser tom reactivate old favourites. Look out for son Gary, Stouffer The Cat, the Badger Parade with guest appearances from The Knitted Character and Abu Hamster, plus the chance for one lucky audience member to join Harry in a double act. Box office: for returns only, atgtickets.com/york.

Nikita Kuzmin: From Strictly Come Dancing star to Cinderella-style dance drama of star-crossed lovers in Midnight Dancer

Dance drama of the week: Nikita Kuzmin in Midnight Dancer, Grand Opera House, York, May 20, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s Ukrainian star dancer and choreographer Nikita Kuzmin leaps into York in his debut British and Irish solo tour: “a fairytale ball like no other and a night full of music, sequins, and world- class dancing”.

A company of dancers and West End singer Rebecca Lisewski join him in a classic romance story as two star-crossed lovers meet only to be torn apart in this modern-day Cinderella dance drama. Will they reunite at the masked ball, or will real life put an end to their fairytale fantasy? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sisters doing it for themselves: Hayley Bamford’s Deloris Van Cartier, centre, leading the nuns in song in Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy

Nun better musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act: A Divine Musical Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, May 21 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Alan Menken’s American musical with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.

When club singer Deloris witnesses nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, the police hide her in a convent, where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah!  Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Switch way now? Thomas Frere and Cal Stockbridge in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, the play told two ways, as comedy, then in serious mode. Picture: Jay Sillence

Role-swapping play of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, May 22 to 24, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Post-show discussion, May 23. Also Hemsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm

TOM Needham’s play Switcheroo is based on the simple premise that “it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. Presented by Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, the story follows three siblings who, when it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down.

The first act is a full-blown, larger-than-life comedy, whereupon the actors swap characters to repeat it as a serious drama. Paul Birch directs a cast of Thomas Frere (Alex/Sam), Clap Trap co-founder Cal Stockbridge (Sam/Pat) and Dominic Goodwin (Pat/Alex). Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Paul Chowdhry: On tour in Englandia at York Barbican on Friday

Comedy gig of the week: Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, May 23, 7.30pm

PAUL Chowdhry, the most successful British Indian stand-up comedian in British history, heads to York on his 41-date itinerary. “After more than a quarter of a century and half my

life on comedy stages, it’s time for my biggest tour ever,” says The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcaster. “I hope to see you there. If not, I’ll be in massive debt and doing benefit gigs for the foreseeable future.” To help Chowdhry avoid that scenario, book tickets at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Neigh sayer: Elf Lyons horsing around at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Horse show of the year: Elf Lyons: Horses, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 23, 8pm

WELCOME to the first ever comedy show performed entirely by a horse. Made by award-winning comedian, clown, theatre practitioner and teacher Elf Lyons, performed by Treacle. Horse box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk

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REVIEW: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight and tomorrow, comedy ***, straight ****

Dominic Goodwin’s Pat, left, and Thomas Frere’s Alex in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, played comically

SWITCHEROO writer Tom Needham is a BAFTA-nominated North Yorkshire playwright and scriptwriter who lives on a very small farm with, at the last count, three cats, three dogs, six ducks, seven chickens, five pigs, two horses, two turkeys, two llamas and one conure parrot by the name of Pearl.

He has an impressive writing stock too with 100-plus theatre and TV credits: 65 episodes of The Bill over 25 years; episodes of Casualty, EastEnders,  Wycliffe, Dangerfield, Dalziel & Pascoe, Silent Witness and more, plus his own series, Cold Blood and children’s show Retrace.

Needham is in his 13th year of writing for Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, Switcheroo being the latest addition to the ghost story The Room Upstairs, The Wrecker, The Rape Queen, Impact and Blindfold.

Rehearsed in Needham and company co-founder Cal Stockbridge’s converted barn near Pickering, shared with a small colony of bats, Switcheroo is heading out on a month-long tour, opening at York Theatre Royal Studio this week and running until June 24.

Directed by Riding Lights Theatre Company artistic director Paul Birch, opening night timer in hand, Switcheroo is spun on a simple premise: “It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. 

Three squabbling siblings, stuck in the mud of midlife, are confronted by a bombshell revelation in their mother’s will when charged with the task of scattering her ashes.

In keeping with the two faces of theatre, the play is first played out as a rollicking comedy, nudging into farce. Post-interval, the same play, the same dialogue, is replayed seriously seriously by the same actors, but now playing different roles, having done their own switcheroo.

And the way they say it most definitely changes, to the point where you wonder how it could ever have been a comedy in the first place, such is the impact in particular of Dominic Goodwin’s embittered, drunk, wounded Alex, the one who had looked after their mother in her last days.

Cal Stockbridge’s Pat in Switcheroo, played seriously straight

It would be wrong to divulge the plot, but let’s just say it forces Alex, Sam and Pat to confront their past, their relationships, their parental bonds, what is true, what is false, as family secrets bubble to the surface.

Thomas Frere transfers from wild-haired, wild-eyed, heavy-drinking Alex, shirt buttoned erratically, to the uptight, neat, trim, testy Sam, trying to hold things in check. Cal Stockbridge transforms from guarded, glacial Sam to exasperated Pat.

Goodwin, always a larger-than-life presence on stage, all the more so here, changes from the spoilt child of the family to the emotionally bruised Alex, albeit that both his characterisations are marked by self-pity.

Just wondered: could the production do its own switcheroo, where one performance is comedy first, then straight drama post-interval, and the next night would be played vice versa?

Needham answers that question in his programme note: “For a long time, I thought the straight version should go first and then be hammed up in the second, but it just didn’t work that way round.

“The straight version has to be performed second because we learn so much more from it – it contains the pain, the emotion and the truth.”

How right he is, but so too is his observation that Switcheroo is “two completely different plays. And yet, it isn’t.”

Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo: A Story Told Twice, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.45pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.45pm, all sold out; Helmsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm; The Old Dining Room, Thirsk Hall, Thirsk, June 5, doors from 6pm; Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, June 6 and 7, 7.30pm; Hutton Rudby Village Hall, June 8, 7.30pm; Askrigg Temperance Village Hall, Leyburn, Wensleydale Community Arts Festival, June 11, 7.30pm; Birdsall House, Birdsall, Malton, June 24 (no details available).

Box office: York, for returns, 01904  623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Thirsk, thirskhall.com/events; Richmond, georgiantheatreroyal.savoysystems.co.uk. For Hutton Rudby and Askrigg, go to claptraptheatre.com/2025-tour/. For Birdsall, phone 01944 316000.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 20, from Gazette & Herald

Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for her lead role as Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical

FROM Holmes & Watson to Wright & Grainger, a play told two contrasting ways to funny nun business, Charles Hutchinson fills diaries for arty times ahead.

Nun better musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Alan Menken’s American musical with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.

When club singer Deloris witnesses nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, the police hide her in a convent, where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah!  Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Improv show of the week: Unwritten, The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm, show 8.30pm

EVER wondered what Whose Line Is It Anyway? would be like with a literary twist? The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games, then infuse them with storytelling flair. Every show is unique, shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. An evening of humour, surprises and plot twists awaits. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. 

Dominic Goodwin, left, and Thomas Frere in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, the play told as comedy and then seriously seriously

Role-swapping play of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Post-show discussion, Friday. Also Helmsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm  

TOM Needham’s play Switcheroo is based on the simple premise that “it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. Presented by Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, the story follows three siblings who, when it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down.

The first act is a full-blown, larger-than-life comedy, whereupon the actors swap characters to repeat it as a serious drama. Paul Birch directs a cast of Thomas Frere (Alex/Sam), Clap Trap co-founder Cal Stockbridge (Sam/Pat) and Dominic Goodwin (Pat/Alex). Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheratreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster artwork for ACT’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale play of the week: ACT in Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7pm

SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson are back on the case as ACT (Ampleforth College Theatre) presents Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, an investigation into the Bohemian king’s stolen letters that cascades into an international mystery filled with spies, blackmail and intrigue.

Faced with world peace at stake, Holmes and Watson join forces with American actress Irene Adler to take down cunning criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty and his network of devious henchmen. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Paul Chowdhry: Heading for York Barbican with his Englandia show

Comedy gig of the week: Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

PAUL Chowdhry, the most successful British Indian stand-up comedian in British history, heads to York on his 41-date itinerary. “After more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages, it’s time for my biggest tour ever,” says The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcaster. 

“I hope to see you there. If not, I’ll be in massive debt and doing benefit gigs for the foreseeable future.” To help Chowdhry avoid that scenario, book tickets at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Dunwells: Returning to Pocklington on Friday

The boys done well: The Dunwells, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm

LEEDS duo The Dunwells continue their working relationship with Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy, who has promoted brothers Joe and David’s indie-folk/Americana band across Yorkshire, not least at the market town’s Platform Festival and Pocklington Arts Centre, where he worked for many years. Box office: thedunwells.com.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Helmsley Arts Centre

Storytelling show of the week: Wright & Grainger present Helios, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. Welcome to Wright & Grainger’s story of the son of the god of the sun that 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 into it, and the little things that leave big marks,” say friends since Easingwold schooldays Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger. “Join us in a little room with a tape player and a delicate tale to tell.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Jed Potts: Playing with The Hillman Hunters at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 29,

EDINBURGH guitarist and vocalist Jed Potts fronts Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters and Under-Volt and also plays with The Katet, The Blueswater, Nicole Smit and occasionally with American blues artist Brandon Santini too. This time he has The Hillman Hunters for company.

Potts first picked up a guitar at nine and performed his first gig at 16.”Blues is my musical first language and it infuses everything I play,” he says. “Even when I’m playing with The Katet or Thunkfish, the blues is always there. I don’t think I could hide it even if I wanted to.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 16, from Gazette & Herald

Gary Oldman in rehearsal for Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, now in its preview week at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

GARY Oldman’s return to York Theatre Royal tops the bill of Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations and chocolate is in the air too.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit in York, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1987.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: New availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Laura Soper’s Noi with the beached Storm Whale in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Narrator Charlotte Benedict looks on. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography

Children’s show of the week: The Storm Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, until Saturday, 10.30am and 1.30pm

YORK writer and director Matt Aston revives his 2019 stage adaptation of Benji Davies’s tales of loneliness, love and courage, The Storm Whale, in a show built on puppetry, original songs and dialogue.

Noi lives with his dad and six cats by the sea. One summer, while dad was busy at work, Noi rescued a little whale, washed up on the beach. A friendship began that changed their lives forever. The following winter, his dad takes one last trip in his fishing boat. Alone once more, Noi longs to see his friend again. Will it take another storm to bring them back together? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Chocolate Festival: City centre will be chock-a-block with chocs and eggs for Easter

Festival of the week: York Chocolate Festival 2025, today to Saturday, 10am to 5pm

YORK Chocolate Festival showcases everything sweet and chocolate from independent businesses in Parliament Street and around the city.

Highlights include the York Chocolate Festival Market; Chocolate Taste Trail; Ashley McCarthy’s Chocolate Sculpture and Family Easter Egg Hunt. Entry to the festival and market is free; some activities and events require tickets. Full programme at: yorkfoodfestival.com/programme.

Showaddywaddy: Rock’n’roll revivalists standing under the moon of love at The Grand Opera House, York

Rock’n’roll nostalgia of the week: Showaddywaddy, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

SHOWADDYWADDY make the bold claim to be “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”, living up to that title for the past five decades, they say.

Formed in 1973 in Leicester, they have sold more than 20 million records. Here come Hey Rock And Roll,  Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon, Pretty Little Angel Eyes et al. Box office: atgtickjets.com/york.

Mark Radcliffe and David Boardman: Two voices, two guitars, original songs and carefully chosen covers at Pocklington Arts Centre

Duo of the week: Mark Radcliffe and David Boardman, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm

MARK Radcliffe and David Boardman are singing, songwriting, strumming and swigging buddies from Knutsford in the Badlands of the Cheshire Plain. BBC radio presenter and author Radcliffe was a member of folk-rock bands The Family Mahone and Galleon Blast and is now one half of electronic duo UNE and drummer and lyricist for Americana band Fine Lines.

Guitarist, guitar teacher and visual artist Boardman cut his teeth on the rock circuit with Darktown Jubilee. On board with Radcliffe, they deliver two voices, two guitars, original songs, carefully chosen covers and the occasional rambling anecdote. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Patrick Monahan: The Talkinator fights back against AI at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan: The Talkinator, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 8pm

IN 2024, amid much talk of about AI taking over humans, only one man can out-talk the chat-bots and robots. Step forward Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan for one hour of stand-up comedy written by a human, performed by a human. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Alfie Richards’ Mr Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Touring show of the week: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Grand Opera House, York, April 22 to 26, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

STEP through the wardrobe into the kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to Mr Tumnus, the talking Faun (Alfie Richards), Aslan, the Lion (Stanton Wright), and the coldest, cruellest White Witch (Katy Stephens). 

Directed by Michael Fentiman, this breathtaking stage adaptation brings magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and stellar puppets to CS Lewis’s allegorical novel. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Alex Hamilton: Playing the blues with his trio at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Alex Hamilton Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 24, 8pm

ALEX Hamilton (formerly Lewis Hamilton) has been part of the British blues rock scene for more than ten years, touring Great Britain and Europe. First making his mark as a young guitarist with skills beyond his age, he has matured and developed a technique redolent of Robben Ford and Matt Scofield.

Hamilton’s debut album aged 18 won the Scottish New Music Award in 2011 and his subsequent albums have been nominated for the British Blues Awards. He tours in a trio with his father Nick on bass and Ian Beestin on drums. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

In Focus: 1812 Theatre Company in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 23 to 26, 7.30pm

Jean Sheridan’s Miss Marple, left, and Jeanette Hambidge’s Cherry Baker in rehearsal for Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. Picture: Joe Coughlan

HELMSLEY Arts Centre’s resident troupe, the 1812 Theatre Company, present Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, a story of revenge and dark secrets set in late-summer 1962 England, when the wind of change blowing through the land reaches sleepy St Mary Mead.

A new housing estate, The Development, is making villagers fearful of changing times. Stranger still, a glamorous Hollywood movie star has bought the manor house, Gossington Hall, throwing the village into a frenzy.

Meanwhile, Miss Jane Marple (played by Jean Sheridan) has injured her ankle, a temporary impairment that confines her to a chair, making her question if life has passed her by. Enter Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Craddock (Richard Bannister), the son of a very dear friend of the spinster sleuth, after the vicious murder of a woman, poisoned at a party held by film star Marina Gregg (Lucy Wilshaw). Now Miss Marple must unravel a web of lies, tragedy and danger.

All the party guests are suspect; as ever, everyone’s version of events is different. Who would have guessed that a famous poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson would provide the key to the mystery?

Wagstaff’s play is an adaptation of Christie’s 1962 novel The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side, first toured in 2019 with a cast led by Susie Blake as Miss Marple and Simon Shepherd as Chief Inspector Craddock. Blake reprised the role on tour at York Theatre Royal in October 2022.

Lucy Wilshaw rehearsing her role as American film star Marina Gregg. Picture: Joe Coughlan

“The title of the novel, and the shortened version for the play, is taken from the moment when the mirror of ‘The Lady of Shalott’ (from the Tennyson poem) cracks and the curse she’d feared now befalls her,” says director Julie Lomas.

“The novel’s plot was undoubtedly inspired by Agatha Christie’s reflections on a mother’s feelings for a child born with disabilities, and it is thought that she was influenced by happenings in the life of beautiful real-life actress Gene Eliza Tierney.

“There are several themes running through the novel, and the play, covering some of the changes in social history since the Second World War, including the class structure, racism and ageism.”

The novel was made into a film in 1980, with a multitude of star names, includimg Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Gregg and Edward Fox as Chief Inspector Craddock.

All the Miss Marple’novels were adapted for a BBC TV series shown in the 1990s, starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

For tickets, ring 01439 771700 or book at helmsleyarts.co.uk.  

Who’s in the cast?

Becca Magson’s Lola Brewster and Richard Bannister’s Chief Inspector Craddock in the rehearsal room. Picture: Joe Coughlan

THE Mirror Crack’d was scheduled to be staged by 1812 Theatre Company in 2024, but that old enemy Covid intervened. After a few cast changes under new director Julie Lomas, the production is ready for next week’s run.

Miss Jane Marple: Jean Sheridan

Marina Gregg: Lucy Wilshaw

Cherry Baker: Jeanette Hambidge

Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock: Richard Bannister

Heather Leigh: Michele Hopley

Cyril Leigh: Steven Lonsdale

Jason Rudd: Beaj Johnson

Giuseppe Renzo: Barry Whitaker

Dolly Bantry: Lynn Goslin

Ella Zielinski: Linda Tester

Lola Brewster: Becca Magson

Who’s in the production team?

Jean Sheridan’s Miss Marple, left, and Lynn Goslin’s Dolly Bantry on the phone in rehearsal for 1812 Theatre Company’s production. Picture: Joe Coughlan

Director: Julie Lomas

Production assistant: Julie Wilson

Stage manager/properties: Anna Hare; Marcie Hughes

Technical director: James Bentley

Set design: Julie Lomas; Sue Elm

Set construction: Michael Goslin; Peter Ives; Russell Smith

Set painting: Pauline Noakes; Heather Linley; Denise Kitchin; Liz Ives; John Lomas

Sound design: Julie Lomas; John Lomas

Lighting design: Julie Lomas

1812 Theatre Company’s poster for next week’s production of Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 14, from Gazette & Herald

Mr Willy Wonka, played by Jonathan, in Ryedale Youth Theatre’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Milton Rooms, Malton

MISSING out on Gary Oldman’s sold-out Krapp’s Last Tape on his York Theatre Royal return? Charles Hutchinson digs up plenty of consolation prizes.

Ryedale musical of the week: Ryedale Youth Theatre in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Milton Rooms, Malton, tonight to Saturday, 7.15pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

RYEDALE Youth Theatre brings Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to the Malton stage in a magical adventure that journeys into Willy Wonka’s fantastical world.

Expect stunning performances and enchanting music in a family-friendly production perfect for all ages. Only 100 tickets are still available after sales of 1,200. Box office: yourboxoffice.co.uk/ryedale-youth-theatre.

Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast members in Rent, playing the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tomorrow

York musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance. 

Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Welcome back: Gary Oldman in the York Theatre Royal dressing rooms

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: New availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Abigoliah Schamaun: In pursuit of the “Holy Visa” in Legally Cheeky, on tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Abigoliah Schamaun, Legally Cheeky, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm

ABIGOLIAH Schamaun thought she had it all; the flat, the career, the life partner. This US transplant was living the American Dream…in London. Then one day, the Wicked Witch of Westminster, told Abigoliah to click her sparkly heels and go “home”. In that moment, everything changed. To lose would mean losing everything. 

Abigoliah’s quest for the Holy Visa began, and the fight was very much on. Legally Cheeky charts her journey in a heart-warming tale of highs, lows, twists and turns as she recounts the year that shook her and partner Tom to the core. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Snake Davis, right, will be teaming up with Stu Collingworth at Helmsley Arts Centre on Friday night

Jazz gig of the week: Snake Davis with Stu Collingworth, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST to the stars Snake Davis will be joined by Hammond organist, composer and vocalist Stu Collingwood for an evening of soul pop and jazz. Davis performs regularly with famous artists at huge venues but is “far happier being himself at Helmsley Arts Centre”.

Collingworth has toured with Tony Christie, Alan Barnes and Elaine Delmar and has a residency at Charts in Newcastle. He and Davis have enjoyed a creative partnership for a decade, fired by a love of melody and groove. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Aleysha Jade in Curious Investigators at Pocklington Arts Centre on Saturday. Picture: Grant Archer

Family show of the week: One Tenth Human in Curious Investigators, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 1.30pm

SCRIBBLE and Clipboard have a job to do, sorting out the recycling, but Scribble keeps finding new things to investigate. When she discovers a mysterious egg hidden in the rubbish, the pair needs the audience’s help to rescue an unborn chick. Can you save a mysterious egg from a smashing and what will you discover along the way?

Curious Investigators is a cracking adventure, created in collaboration with engineering experts from Lancaster University, in a delightfully surprising, highly visual show for three to seven-year-olds and their grown-ups, hatched by One Tenth Human. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Wrongsemble in Three Little Vikings, a story of cooperation, bravery and making your voice heard at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of the week: Wrongsemble in Three Little Vikings, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm

A TRIO of brave little Viking girls saves the day in Leeds company Wrongsemble’s bold and funny adventure story for little rebels by Bethan Woollvin, creator of Little Red and I Can Catch A Monster.  

Once upon a time in a Viking village, everything seems to be going wrong. Chickens are disappearing, trees are falling down. When the silly Chieftain will not listen to the three littlest Vikings, can they work together to figure out how to save the day in a 50-minute tale of cooperation, bravery and making your voice heard. Suitable for age three upwards. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Mark Druery: Taking part in York Open Studios this weekend

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.

The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon: New album and York Barbican autumn date. Picture: Kevin Westenberg

Gig announcement of the week: The Divine Comedy, York Barbican, October 21

NEIL Hannon will promote The Divine Comedy’s 13th studio album, September 19’s Rainy Sunday Afternoon, on a 16-date autumn tour. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, April 17 at 10am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-divine-comedy-2025/.

Written, arranged and produced by Hannon and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the album spans his usual range of emotions – sad, funny, angry and everything in between – as he “works through some stuff”: mortality, memories, relationships and political and social upheaval. 

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as a blaze of colour hits the streets. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 14, from The York Press

Sinead Corkery: Making her York Open Studios debut in Monkton Road, York

PERFECT weather greets the opening of studio doors as artists parade their skills while politics comes under the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, today and tomorrow; also April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm

YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.

Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s bill at The Basement tonight

Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, David Eagle, Ben Silver and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

ROB Rouse, from The Friday Night Project, Spoons, BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Mad Mad World, Upstart Crow and Rob And Helen’s Date Night self-help podcast, headlines tonight’s bill, hosted by Laugh Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin.

Support act David Eagle, a member of north eastern folk band The Young’uns, mines comedy from exploring how his blindness turns the most ordinary, commonplace events into surreal, convoluted dramas. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Ged Graham: Leading the Seven Drunken Nights celebration of The Dubliners, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Prestige Productions

Irish craic of the week: Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

SEVEN Drunken Nights takes a trip down memory lane in celebration of The Dubliners’ 50-year performing career on a 2025 global tour of 300 shows across 42 weeks. The Irish Rover, The Town I Love So Well and Dirty Old Town will be joined by new additions Paddy On The Railway and The Lark In The Morning in a new production for this year’s travels.

The show’s 2017 founder, frontman and narrator, Dublin-born writer and director Ged Graham, says: “The connection we’ve built with the audience over the years is incredible; they know we’re keeping the iconic music of The Dubliners alive with the same passion that they have for it.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Telling the whole story: Writer-performer Andrew Margerison in Dyad Productions’ That Knave, Raleigh

Historical play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 9, 7.30pm

DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave. 

The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary and victim.

“The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.”Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Manfreds: Playing Joseph Rowntree Theatre for the first time this weekend

Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Manfreds, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

TICKETS are down to the last few for the chance to see The Manfreds in their Joseph Rowntree Theatre debut, featuring original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, both 83.

The set list takes in such Sixties R&B hits as 5-4-3-2-1, Pretty Flamingo, The Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, intermixed with jazz and blues covers from their solo albums. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Al Murray: Rolling out his barrel of laughs at York Barbican as the Guvnor puts you right on Sunday night

Political insights of the week: Al Murray, Guv Island, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE people have spoken. The Pub Landlord is back for another round of Guv Island with “New Extra Brew Material”in 2025, having pulled pints and punters at the Grand Opera House in March 2024.

Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, the Guvnor will “make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to”. “Country, the UK, lost its way, seeks life partner/mentor/inspiration. Good sense of humour essential. No timewasters, tedious show-offs or offend-o-trons need apply. HR free zone,” says Murray. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast for Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre – the new name for Bright Light Musical Productions – follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance. 

Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Jan Noble in his verse drama Body 115. Picture: jannoble.co.uk/body115

Odyssey of the week: Jan Noble in Body 115, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm

EVER wished you were somewhere else? Ever wished you were someone else? Escaping the rain, a journey on the London Underground becomes a descent into the underworld in Body 115, 2023 winner of the London Pub Theatre Award for Best Innovative Play.

Written and performed by Jan Noble, directed by Justin Butcher, this tale of broken hearts, old flames and open roads follows Noble’s down-and-out poet-hero through the sewers and tubes of King’s Cross Station to the heart of Italy. Part invocation, part rain dance, this poetic odyssey is delivered with a contemporary kick. From the terraces at Millwall to fashionable Milan, expect shadowy encounters, dodgy connections and chance meetings with a host of poet ghosts.

“Body 115 is an epic poem, a tale of inner and outer journeys in explicit homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy,” says Noble. “From the rain-washed, subterranean underworld of King’s Cross, ‘Body 115’ – the long-unidentified victim of the 1987 fire – becomes Virgil to my Dante in a rhapsodic paean to the trammelling ecstasy of loss: a trans-European odyssey turned safari of the soul.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola: Strictly Come Dancing professionals team up for Red Hot And Ready

Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 victor Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.

Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

John Simpson: BBC News world affairs editor puts leaders and lunatics in the dock at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday

In Focus: More political insights of the week: John Simpson: The Leaders & Lunatics Tour, Grand Opera House, York, April 7, 7.30pm

IN his bold, unflinching look at leadership, veteran BBC journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE ponders why some inspire while others descend into tyranny. “And…are all tyrants ‘lunatics’,” he asks.

After six decades of unparalleled access to world leaders – and lunatics – Simpson explores the personalities that have shaped history. From notorious figures such as Assad, Saddam, Mugabe and Gaddafi to admired leaders Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky, he reveals their common threads, unique quirks and lasting impact.

Drawing on his first-hand encounters and personal dealings, Simpson will unravel the enigmatic personas of Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher, while pondering what links Mandela and Princess Diana or Zelensky and Mugabe.

In an increasingly volatile world, BBC News world affairs editor Simpson will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of the most pressing global challenges of our time – conflicts, war, famine, economic crises and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.

Simpson, now 80, has spent all his working life with the BBC, reporting from more than 120 countries, including 30 war zones, and interviewing myriad world leaders on his foreign correspondent beat.

As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960s to present day in his fearless journalism, he will turn from interviewer to interviewee to take questions from the audience in the second-half Q&A.

What on earth is going on, John? Hear his answers at this talk “truly for our troubled times”, when Simpson promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire as he provides “insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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world affairs editor of BBC News. He has spent all his working life with the BBC, and has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and interviewed many world leaders.

In an increasingly volatile world, John will also examine the most pressing challenges of our time – war, famine, economic crises, and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.

In the second half, the floor is yours. Ask your questions as John offers sharp insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order.


John Simpson: Leaders and Lunatics Tour

After a sell-out tour in 2024, legendary journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE is returning to the stage for an exclusive evening packed with unparalleled insights from one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents of our time.

With decades of first-hand encounters and personal dealings, John will explore the enigmatic personas of global figures such as Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher.

John will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of our global issues – from conflicts, war and famines, to world economies and climate change.

What links Mandela and Princess Diana? Or Zelenskiy and Mugabe? John will reveal the common threads linking these figures, and offer a unique perspective on the impact they’ve had on world affairs.

As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960’s to present day, you will have an opportunity to ask John your questions – what were these leaders and lunatics really like, and what on earth is going on? Don’t miss John for an evening that promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire with his fearless journalism and captivating storytelling.

What on earth is going on? An event truly for our troubled times – don’t miss this enlightening and compelling evening.

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

York Pop artist Harland Miller with his new work York from his XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: Olivia Hemingway

FROM Harland Miller’s Pop Art to Emma Rice’s theatrical world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, these are exciting times for artistic expression, Charles Hutchinson reports.

XXXhibition of the week: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, until August 31, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK-RAISED artist and writer Harland Miller has returned to York Art Gallery to launch XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including the unveiling of several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.   

Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

Simon Oskarsson’s Valerian, left, Ewan Wardrop’s Roger Thornhill, Katy Owen’s Professor and Mirabelle Gremaud’s Anna rehearsing a scene for Emma Rice’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West. Picture: Steve Tanner

World premiere of the week in York: Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, until April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5

IT would be strange if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another…and that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North By Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice turns film legend Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking. Replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, this dazzling co-production with York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse plays with heart, mind and soul in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Nina Wadia’s Gemma and Sam Bailey’s April in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Musical of the week: NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees, today and Saturday

DIRECTED by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, comedian Pippa Evans’s hit-laden musical is set in Birmingham in 1989 and 2009. Back in the day, school friends Gemma Warner and April Devonshire are planning their lives based on Number One magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Twenty years later, Gemma (Nina Wadia) and April (The X Factor winner Sam Bailey) face the most dreaded event of their adult lives: the school reunion.

Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. Sinitta, Eighties’s pop star of So Macho and Toy Boy fame, will be the guest star all week in a show featuring Gold, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Tainted Love, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nearly here: Nearly here: Paddy McGuinness brings his Nearly There tour to York Barbican tomorrow

Comedy gig of the week: Paddy McGuinness, Nearly There, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.45pm

FARNWORTH comedian, television and radio presenter and game show host Paddy McGuinness plays York on his first stand-up itinerary since 2016. Launching the 40 dates last year, he said: “It’s been eight years since my last tour and there’s lots of things to laugh about! I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a live audience, along with running the gauntlet of cancel culture, click bait and fake news.” Tickets update: only a handful of single seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Contemporary jazz gig of the week: Jamie Taylor & Jamil Sheriff, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm

THE musical association and friendship between guitarist Jamie Taylor, principal lecturer in jazz guitar at Leeds Conservatoire, and Leeds jazz pianist, composer and educator Jamil Sheriff goes back over 20 years of performing together in settings ranging from intimate small groups to large ensembles, such as Sheriff’s own big band.

Playing as a duo at Rise, they will channel this shared history and musical empathy, taking inspiration from jazz piano and guitar collaborations such as Bill Evans with Jim Hall and Fred Hersch with Bill Frisell. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee: Health and happiness hacks at York Barbican

Meet “the architect of health and happiness”: Dr Rangan Chatterjee, The Thrive Tour 2025, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

JOIN Dr Rangan Chatterjee, inspirational host of Europe’s biggest health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, author and star of BBC One’s Doctor In The House, for two transformative hours of learning the skill of happiness, discovering the secrets to optimal health, breaking free from habits that hold you back and discovering how to make changes that last. “Be empowered, be inspired and learn how to thrive,” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

James Jay Lewis: Raw garage blues at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale blues gig of the week: James Jay Lewis, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

SELFT-TAUGHT multi-instrumentalist James Jay Lewis has performed with The La’s and played bass for fellow Liverpool band Cast and now lead guitar in The Zutons, having earlier formed the band Cractilla.

He has written, recorded and produced two solo albums, the acoustic odyssey Back To The Fountain and the lo-fi, rough and ready garage blues of Waiting For The World, on which he plays all the instruments. He has worked with Nile Rodgers at Abbey Road Studios, is involved in the new Zutons album and is venturing into recording, producing and composing for television and film. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Alligator Gumbo: Re-creating New Orleans 1920s’ jazz in 2025 Helmsley on Saturday

New Orleans jazz jive of the week: Alligator Gumbo 2025, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

LEEDS seven-piece band Alligator Gumbo evoke the Roaring Twenties’ heyday of the New Orleans swing/jazz era, when music was raw, fast paced and largely improvised with melodies and solos happening simultaneously over foot-stomping rhythms. Their repertoire is built around songs made famous by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Jelly Roll Morton, and Billie Holiday, played in the traditional style. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.  

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

The poster for Brain Play, to be staged by 1812 Youth Theatre as part of National Theatre Connections at Helmsley Arts Centre and York Theatre Royal

LIKE Tom Stade’s comedy show, tipping winners is a Risky Business, but Charles Hutchinson is confident his recommendations will be triumphant.

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Youth Theatre & National Theatre Connections, Brain Play, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to Friday, 7.30pm

UNDER the National Theatre Connections banner, Helmsley company 1812 Youth Theatre presents Chloe Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett’s Brain Play, first in Helmsley and later at York Theatre Royal on March 21 at 7.30pm.

When Mia’s dad suffers a traumatic brain injury and struggles to leave the house, she makes it her mission to find the cure for his symptoms. Delving deeper and deeper into the world of neuroscience, Mia is desperate to make him better, but first she must contend with her own brain. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

John Shuttleworth: 40 years of bonhomie, bon mots and persistently, perkily mundane yet profound songs at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and Hull Truck Theatre. Picture: Tony Briggs

Comedy positivity of the week: John Shuttleworth, Raise The Oof, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, April 2,7.30pm

JOHN Shuttleworth, the good-natured Sheffield sage and perky Yamaha organ purveyor of charmingly mundane songs fashioned by actor Graham Fellows, celebrates his 40th anniversary on his Raise The Oof tour, full of nostalgia and new stories.

Here come tales of his early days with neighbour Ken Worthington, the humorous realities of married life with miserable wife Mary, and John’s hopes for a late-career breakthrough. Box office: Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Becca Drake: Guest poet at York Literature Festival’s Howl Owt night at The Blue Boar

York Literature Festival gig of the week: Howl Owt, The Blue Boar, Castlegate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN Chloe Hanks and Stephanie Roberts from Howlers Open Mic and Henry Raby from Say Owt for an evening of performances by York poets and writers, bolstered by a special guest.

This time, their roles will be reversed with the Say Owt crew taking over the open mic and the Howlers welcoming the guest, Becca Drake, York poet, Little Hirundine printmaker and researcher. Performers can sign up for three-minute open-mic spots on arrival. Admission is free.  

Neil Foster’s Cosme McMoon, left, Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins and Mike Hickman’s St Clair in Rowntree Players’ Glorious!

York play of the week: Rowntree Players in Glorious!, The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

COVER your ears! Here comes Glorious! The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, as told by Peter Quilter in his joyous and heart-warming comedy with music, based on the life of an eccentric 1940s’ New York socialite with a passion for singing but a voice for disaster.

Enthusiastic but tonally erratic soprano Florence (played by Jackie Cox) gave private recitals, sang at extravagant balls, made bizarre recordings and revelled in a triumphant sold-out final performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall at 76. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mike + The Mechanics: Mike Rutherford, centre, re-living 40 years at York Barbican with Andrew Roachford, left, and Tim Howar

40th anniversary celebration of the week: Mike + The Mechanics, Looking Back – The Living Years, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

AFTER opening their Refueled! tour at York Barbican in April 2023, Mike + The Mechanics return next Friday on their Looking Back – Living The Years 40th anniversary travels. Expect the set list to combine Over My Shoulder, The Living Years and All I Need Is A Miracle with selections from their nine albums and a “drift into some of Genesis’s much loved classic tracks”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

David John Pike: Baritone soloist for York Musical Society’s concert at York Minster

Classical concert of the week: York Musical Society, Bach Mass in B minor, York Minster, Saturday, 7.30pm

DAVID Pipe conducts York Musical Society’s singers and orchestra in Bach’s epic choral work, replete with magnificent choruses, resplendent fugues, moving arias and soloists Zoe Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle (both soprano), Tom Lilburn (countertenor), Nicholas Watts (tenor) and Canadian/British/Luxembourger David John Pike (baritone), who returned to music after initially training and working as a chartered accountant. Tickets: available from York Minster or on the door.

Tom Stade: Risk-taking comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre

Comedy minefield of the week: Tom Stade: Risky Business, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

TOM Stade’s sense of ‘funny’ and today’s ‘funny’ do not always see eye to eye, bur that’s cool; it’s not his way to follow the herd, he says. The Vancouver-born, Scottish-based humorist much prefers to take the path less travelled, a path that brings this independent spirit and irrepressible force of nature to Helmsley to airdrop his unflinching comedy into an ever-changing minefield. Navigating the tightrope of today’s divisive times may be a risky business but Stade reasons that without risk there can be no reward. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Nicola Mills: Songs and stories at Milton Rooms, Malton

Taking the “posh” out of opera: Nicola Mills, Opera For The People, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7.30pm

VICTORIA Woods meets Pavarotti in Nicola Mills’s funny and inspiring show, wherein she combines her down-to- earth Northern roots with operatic singing and telling tales of working-class life, from performing in some of Europe’s finest opera houses to taking opera to the streets.

Expect not only opera on a night when the audience will choose songs from Mills’s Song Menu, spanning Mozart to musicals to Elvis Presley. Box office:  01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Tayla Kenyon in her solo play Fluff at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York on Sunday. Picture: Patrick Murray

Fringe play of the week: Teepee Productions and Joe Brown present Fluff, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NOW is the time for Fluff to do the ultimate puzzle: her life. Fluff hates puzzles, however, especially word searches. She can never find the words, nor understand why there is a half-eaten birthday cake and a woman who keeps visiting her room. As she navigates her way through her most treasured and darkest memories, Fluff desperately needs to piece together her life, story by story, person by person.

Tayla Kenyon performs solo in her darkly comedic 75-minutre play, co written with James Piercy, as she explores memories and the choices we make, using a non-linear plot line to enable the audience to feel, first hand, the devastating effects of dementia. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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

Director Joanne Lister in rehearsal for Art with 1812 Theatre Company cast members Ivan Limon and Mike Martin. Picture: Paddy Chambers

WHEN art meets theatre, a hit play leads off Charles Hutchinson’s picks for a week where prompt booking is advised for a host of here today, gone tomorrow events.

Ryedale theatre show of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Art, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm

JOANNE Lister is not only making her 1812 Theatre Company directorial debut but also, in the late absence of her husband John Lister, she will take over the role of Marc with script in hand in Yasmina Reza’s 1994 French comedy, Art.

Translated by Christopher Hampton, the play asks: can a friendship between three close friends – Marc, Serge (Ivan Limon) and Yvan (Mike Martin) – survive when one of them does something completely unexpected? Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Leeds poet Antony Dunn

Poetry event of the week: Rise Up!, A Celebration of Poetry and the Spoken Word, Rise @Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York tonight, doors 7.30pm; performance 8.30pm to 10pm

LEEDS writer and People Powered Press poet-in-residence Antony Dunn, Yorkshire-born poet, mezzo-soprano  and theatre-maker Lisa J Coates and York St John University Fine Art coarse leader and poet Nathan Walker take part in Rise Up!.

Hosted by Bluebird Bakery boss and poet Nicky Kippax and Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell, the evening has three open-mic slots too. The next Rise Up! bill on April 30 will feature poets Rachel Long, Ioney Smallhorne and Minal Sukumar. Tickets update: last few left at eventbrite.co.uk.

Something wicked but educative this way comes: Dickens Theatre Company in Macbeth at Grand Opera House, York

GCSE study aid of the week: Dickens Theatre Company, Revision On Tour: Macbeth, Grand Opera House, York, today, 1pm with post-show Q&A

THE infamous Porter acts as narrator for an ensemble of six actors to create a cauldron of characters as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make their perilous descent towards Hell in Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, adapted and directed by Ryan Philpott, with music by Paul Higgs.

Set against a back-drop of wars, witchery and treasonous plotting, Dickens Theatre Company aim to “entertain and educate to the bitter end” while highlighting how “the Scottish play” remains ominously relevant in the 21st century. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dickens Theatre Company in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, playing the Grand Opera House, York

The other GCSE study aid of the week: Dickens Theatre Company, Revision On Tour: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7pm

WITHIN the thick Fitzrovia fog and dimly lamp-lit streets lurks an evil predator. When Gabriel Utterson learns of the mysterious Mr Hyde, he commits his lawyer’s logic to the proceedings. Believing Hyde to be blackmailing Jekyll, he vows to bring Hyde to task to solve the mystery.

As with Macbeth, Dickens Theatre Company’s cast of six takes on an exciting, educational new stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Victorian gothic masterpiece, adapted and directed by Ryan Philpott. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Unpacking Nina Simone: Florence Odumosu in Black Is The Color Of My Voice at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Steve Ullathorne

Biographical drama of the week: Black Is The Color Of My Voice, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

WRITTEN and directed by Apphia Campbell, Black Is The Color Of My Voice is inspired by the life of Nina Simone in an evening of storytelling and performances of her most iconic songs by Florence Odumosu.

Campbell’s 70-minute play follows the North Carolina singer and activist as she seeks redemption after the untimely death of her father. She reflects on her journey from piano prodigy destined for a life in the church to jazz vocalist at the forefront of the civil rights movement. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Big Wolf Band: Ryedale Blues Club’s blues rock act in Malton tomorrow

Blues rock gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Big Wolf Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

BIG Wolf Band, a formidable blues rock powerhouse formed in Birmingham in 2014 by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Jonathan Earp and bassist  Mick Jeynes, now perform with Tim Jones on drums, Justin Johnson on guitar, and Robin Fox on keys.  They made the Top Five Best Blues Bands in the UK list at the UK Blues Awards in 2023 and 2024. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

English Touring Opera in rehearsal for The Vanishing Forest, bound for Acomb Explore Library. Picture: Julian Guidera

Climate change drama of the week:  English Touring Opera in The Vanishing Forest, Acomb Explore Library, Front Street, Acomb, York, Sunday, 11am

ENGLISH Touring Opera present an enchanting adventure for seven to 11-year-olds that blends Shakespeare, music and an environmental message.

Jonathan Ainscough and Michael Betteridge’s new opera picks up the threads of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Cassie and Mylas, Duke Theseus and Queen Hippolyta’s children, team up with Puck to save the forest before it is too late. Expect songs, puppetry, spells, mystical flowers and a story to entertain and inspire while tackling the pressing issue of deforestation. Tickets update: last few available at tickettailor.com.

Diversity: Pouring Soul into their dancing at York Barbican in April 2026

Show announcement of the week: Diversity present Soul, York Barbican, April 20 and 21 2026

BRITAIN’S Got Talent’s 2009 winners, Ashley Banjo’s Southend dance ensemble Diversity, will base next year’s tour around the technological advancements of artificial intelligence, asking what the future holds and what it means to be human within the digital age.

“The future is now,” says Banjo. “Humans have become plugged in and completely connected to a world full of artificial intelligence – a world in which it is hard to distinguish reality from fiction. AI has become so advanced it’s considered a life form of its very own. Is this the next stage in our evolution? What exactly have we created? What makes us human?” His answer: “Soul.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Kieran White RIP 1961-2025: a tribute

Kieran White at the keyboard, his sublime skills to be heard at events, restaurants, weddings, clubs, pubs, street corners, theatres, cinemas, care homes, wherever, whenever

YORK composer, pianist, busker, teacher, university tutor and Buster Keaton aficionado Kieran White has died suddenly.

His wife Kate posted on Facebook last Thursday “I am writing  with the sad news  that my beautiful husband Kieran died last night [19/2/2025] after a sudden heart attack on Monday and a few days in the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] at York Hospital.

“He was the love of my life and he will be greatly missed. He was a sweet, loving, funny, clever and talented man. Please leave your thoughts and wishes here.”

In response, so far, more than 200 tributes have poured into Facebook from fellow musicians, former piano pupils and friends, one recalling how Kieran would wheel his piano to his favourite busking spot, outside St Michael le Belfrey, even in the snow, that spot being on York’s windiest corner to boot.

York singer, event promoter and public speaker Big Ian Donaghy has posted two videos, one taken at a care home for dementia patients, where a curve-ball request for Kieran to play Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody had Kieran mopping his brow, exhaling , then saying “Go on then, let’s have a go…what could possibly go wrong?!”. He duly tamed that wild rock opera behemoth off the cuff.

“Kieran had a gentle way and a rare empathy with folks living with dementia,” wrote Big Ian, whose second video showed Kieran and a man who had played piano all his life until the onset of dementia seated side by side, responding to each other’s handiwork.

Kieran had featured too in Donaghy’s story A Fish Out Of Water in his book A Pocketful Of Kindness, charting the day Kieran coaxed  a former GP and school concert pianist, now 80 and  sitting frostily at a distance in a care home, into joining him on the stool. You will find the full chapter on a Donaghy Facebook post.

“He is Quirky with a capital Q but with a heart of gold,” wrote Donaghy on Page 185. “In a world of horses for courses, many don’t fit him. Social situations…he can just get up and wander off. He is more gas or liquid than a solid. He sees life differently…

Kieran White, in 2020, holding a copy of Ian Donaghy’s book A Pocketful Of Kindness, open at the chapter entitled A Fish Out Of Water that charted Kieran’s nursing-home encounter with a former school concert pianist

“But behind all the quirks and eccentricities is a phenomenal musician with a kind heart,” Donaghy continued. “Kieran started calling for people to call out their favourite songs as he took on the role of dexterous jukebox. There was nothing he couldn’t play. Even if he had never heard something before.

“He would ask, ‘Sing it to me’, and within a few seconds he could play it. If he can hear it, he can play it. A mixture of a natural gift and hours of toil with the lid up.”

Fellow York composer Steve Crowther, administrator of York Late Music, has posted: “I have known Kieran for 30+ years. He was a genuinely remarkable musician and composer. And he possessed very little ego, a rare quality these days.

“I remember bumping into him in the city centre. We chatted about stuff. He was working on some silent movie project. Related to that, I think, was the idea of a fugue, which he then went on to improvise. Who the hell improvises a fugue? ‘Something like this…’ off he went, ‘no that’s not right…like this.”

Steve continued: “It was a bl**dy remarkable experience. The result was like Bach via Blues on speed. He was a constant: busking, singing & performing in pubs, always good for a catch-up and chat. But not any more. I will miss him.”

Originally from Colchester, Essex, where Kieran attended Colchester Royal Grammar School, he studied at the University of York. He would go on to busk prodigiously in the city, run White Rose Opera, play solo in pubs, restaurants and care homes, at weddings and with function bands too, as well as accompanying theatrical productions and being a piano teacher and tutor at York St John University.

Ultra-bright, knowledgeable, unconventional and witty, he was a dab hand at chess too, as well as displaying his trademark ability to play anything on the keys by ear.

On February 11, he had posted on Facebook of his health “deteriorating rapidly in the last year”, leading to Kieran “giving up playing piano as a result of ‘Trigger thumb’ and uncontrollable hand shaking”. Tests had revealed those tests were “purely down to stress. Thank God,” he wrote, but he revealed he had not been able to play, compose or even teach for almost a year and a half.

Kieran’s post went on to quote in full his interview with CharlesHutchPress, published on January 23 2020 under the headline “Pianist Kieran White to ‘break the silents’ at Helmsley Arts Centre screening of Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr”.

Kieran White, pencil illustration by Ian Donaghy, from A Pocketful Of Kindness, 2020

Here it is again, to add CharlesHutchPress’s voice to myriad recollections of Kieran’s talent for conjuring magic from the ivories.

ACCOMPANIED  by Kieran White’s expressive, playful, gag-driven piano score, the Stoneface silent classic Steamboat Bill, Jr, will be shown “as it was originally intended to be seen in an authentic re-creation of the early cinema experience in the picture houses of the 1920s”.

Let Kieran make his case for why someone would want to see a black-and white, silent 1928 Buster Keaton film in 2020, the age of endless reheated Disney classics and myriad Marvel movies.

“We live in an instant world. A world governed by consumerism and technology. What we want, we can get just by clicking a mouse. We have forgotten how to slow down. How to breathe,” he says.

“But Buster takes us back to a time when time itself was a different thing entirely. A time when moments were savoured, rather than squandered.”

From past experience of his Breaking The Silents shows, White anticipates a largely middle-aged and older audience, but he believes Keaton’s comedic elan should appeal to “anyone with a love of history, a nostalgia for days of yore and an unfettered imagination”.

“Breaking The Silents offers a wonderful evening for all the family,” he says. “A lot of belly laughs. An appreciation of Buster’s incredible athleticism and craftmanship but, most of all, a reawakening of that state of wonderment that children have but never know they have.”

The relentless pace of Keaton’s comedy on screen leaves no gap, no rest, no breath, in White’s score, but still he finds room for quickfire references to the Steptoe And Son theme music, Porridge and The Barber Of Seville.

“The joy of Steamboat Bill, Jr is the raw energy,” says Kieran. “You know that if the stunts went wrong there would be no take two.”

White’s piano has accompanied screenings of Keaton’s 1927 film The General at locations as diverse as Helmsley Arts Centre, the Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton Park and City Screen, Fairfax House and the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in York.

Last September [2019], he presented a Breaking The Silents double bill of The General in the afternoon and Steamboat Bill, Jr in the evening at the JoRo. White’s labours of love had necessitated 11 days of writing for The General, a little longer for Steamboat Bill, Jr, drawing on his love of both Keaton’s comic craft and the piano.

“I was very inspired by my grandfather,” he says, explaining why piano was his instrument of choice. “He was a superb pianist and made the most complex music sound effortless.

“Ever since a very early age, I’ve been fascinated by puzzles too, particularly chess. Watching Pop play was like sitting inside a gigantic engine, seeing gears mesh, listening to the sound of tiny hammers. Music chose me!”

Where next might Breaking The Silents venture? “I think what I do is unique. Ultimately, I’d love to perform all over the world,” says Kieran.

In the meantime, here is a recommendation from York filmmaker Mark Herman, director of Brassed Off and Little Voice, to head to Helmsley Arts Centre on February 1 for the Keaton and White double act.

“Kieran White’s score and his live accompaniment raises an already almost perfect film to fresh heights,” he said after seeing The General. “It’s a shame that Buster Keaton never knew that his flawless performance could actually be enhanced.”

Rest in peace, Kieran Michael White, December 10 1961 – February 19 2025.

The arrangements for Kieran White’s funeral are yet to be announced.