REVIEW: Richard Bean’s To Have And To Hold, Hull Truck Theatre, until Saturday ****

Nothing forced about Adrian Hood’s “Rhubarb” Eddie in Richard Bean’s To Have And To Hold at Hull Truck Theatre

TO Have And To Hold began life at the Hampstead Theatre in London in November 2023 with a cast led by Alun Armstrong and Maria Bailey as an aged East Riding couple bickering more than ever after 60 years.

It is only right , however, that Hull playwright Richard Bean’s tragic-comedy should find its way back to his home city, with director Terry Johnson still at its helm. For like a gardener knows his scallions from his shallots, Bean knows his Wetwang (“wet land”) from his Driffield (“dry land”).

The theme of ageing, of passing on, and passing on the family baton, is universal, but planting To Have And To Hold on home soil makes it more fertile. Likewise, the sight of Hull Truck stalwart Adrian Hood filling a doorway reprising his Hampstead role back on familiar terra firma feels even more right.

Hoody is playing “Rhubarb” Eddie, and on his first entry we recognise him as much from the oversized sticks of  Yorkshire’s champion vegetable, clasped to his midriff, as from Hood’s formidable frame, head still out of view.

Bean is as much a master of physical comedy as verbal wit, the two combining delightfully in the opening scene as Florence (Paula Wilcox, yes, Paula Wilcox, from Man About The House, Emmerdale and Driving Miss Daisy at York Theatre Royal) chugs up and down on a Stannah stairlift, torn between answering the voice at the door and the voice from the bedroom. The snail-slow build-up to the punchline makes it all the better.

Florence and former copper Jack (Ian Bartholomew) are as well worn as their Wetwang house in Dawn Allsopp’s design, with its faded wallpaper, black-and-white photographs and service hatch, through which Florence will pop her head like a cuckoo clock, forever offering to make cups of tea.

Into their nineties, forgetful Florence and the ailing yet mentally sharp Jack are at that Vladimir and Estragon stage in their relationship, finding each other endlessly irritating, yet inseparable, but not so much waiting for Godot as the creeping shadow of death. Such is the witty observation of Bean’s writing that they are very good company for the audience, their grouchy point scoring mirroring the spats of a double act.

Bean ekes comedy out of the stasis and foibles of an acrimonious relationship in a geriatric groove rather than a rut, and the erosion of memory that has Florence confusing names, whether calling Rob “Tina” or reaching for the elusive name of a movie director. You find yourself joining in the hunt under your breath.

Bean is far harsher on their offspring, just as middle-aged son and daughter are harsher too in their judgements, albeit with a residue of fondness and amused bemusement, even cringing, at the behaviour of their parents, who nevertheless continue to show unconditional love in absentia, albeit with head scratching aplenty at what has become a north-south divide.

Rob (Stephen Tompkinson) and Tina (Rebecca Johnson) visit only rarely – almost to the point of neglect – having long migrated from the family nest to pursue ambitions fuelled by education beyond their parents. Malcontent Rob is a TV and book writer of detective dramas, his time divided between London and Los Angeles;  career-driven Tina is a private health care entrepreneur,  living the Somerset lifestyle.

Whereas Florence and Jack trade harmless barbs,  Rob and Tina drop bombs with damaging results for the parents’ regular visitors, odd-job man “Rhubarb” Eddie, and chippy cousin Pamela (Sara Beharrell), who both come under scrutiny over missing money as Bean weaves a mystery thread into his blistered domestic drama.

Bean worked as a psychologist and stand-up comedian before play writing took over, and comedy is always his first instinct, be it in one-liners or putdowns, or Florence referring to Jack’s “enlarged prostrate”. Yet amid the quips with everything, the psychologist is at work, exploring the impact of strained relationships and wounding words, accusations and recriminations.

The sudden insurgence of Covid has a transformative impact too. Bean’s plays often have pulled the rug from under the comedy with shards of darkness that echo the works of John Godber and Alan Ayckbourn. Here, instead, a redemptive rainbow follows that hail storm, involving the stories of his days on the beat that Jack has been recording secretly through the play. Bean now adds a gift for storytelling to his repertoire of combative comedy and cultural commentary.

Under Johnson’s finely tuned direction, Tompkinson’s irascible Rob, Wilcox’s frustrated yet perky Florence and Bartholomew’s physically frail but still assertive Jack excel, with impactful support from Johnson and Beharrell. Hood, the perennial scene stealer, once again is the comic apotheosis of less is more, dipping into pathos too. He puts you in mind of a northern Tommy Cooper, physically funny but with instinctive timing too.

Just as he did for Martin Barrass,when writing the elderly waiter Alfie in One Man, Two Guvnors expressly for his fellow son of Hull, so Bean has given Hood the ideal role for his deadpan delivery and comedic candour.

To Have And To Hold, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

More Things To Do in York and beyond as laughter returns to waterside landmark. Hutch’s List No. 19, from The York Press

Pease in our time: John Pease tops bill at Patch’s new Funny Fridays comedy forum at the Bonding Warehouse

A NEW comedy night in a bygone location and Shakespeare on a council estate stand out in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for cultural exploration.

Laughter launch of the week: Funny Fridays, Patch, Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, May 9, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start

LIVE comedy returns to the Bonding Warehouse for the first time since the days of the late Mike Bennett presenting the likes of Lee Evans and Ross Noble under the Comedy Shack banner. Stand up for Funny Fridays, hosted by York humorist Katie Lingo (alias copywriter Katie Taylor-Thompson) with an introductory price of £6.50.

On her first bill will be Kenny Watt, Tuiya Tembo, BBC New Comedy Awards semi-finalist Matty Oxley, Saeth Wheeler and Edinburgh Fringe Gilded Balloon semi-finalist John Pease. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets.

Sean Heydon: Magical sleight of hand at the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club tonight

Magical comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Sean Heydon, Big Lou, Oliver Bowler and MC Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

LAUGH Out Loud headliner Sean Heydon has performed to A-list celebrities and blue-chip companies, as well as at comedy clubs, with his combination of madcap comedy,  sleight-of-hand magic and illusions for more than 15 years.

Big Lou offers a modern twist on old-school joke telling in the Les Dawson style; comedian, actor and writer Oliver Bowler discusses life experiences on the mean streets of Bolton; regular host and promoter Damion Larkin keeps order. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Anastacia: Playing York Barbican on her Not That Kind 25th anniversary tour

Anniversary tour of the week: Anastacia, Not That Kind Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.45pm

CHICAGO singer-songwriter Anastacia , 56, heads to York on her European tour marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album Not That Kind and its breakthrough hit  I’m Outta Love.

Further singles Not That Kind, Paid My Dues, One Day In Your Life,  Left Outside Alone and Sick And Tired charted too, as did 2001 album Freak Of Nature (reaching number four) and 2004’s chart-topping Anastacia, 2005’s Pieces Of A Dream, 2008’s Heavy Rotation, 2014’s Resurrection and 2015’s Ultimate Collection Her special guest will be Casey McQuillen. Box office: for returns only, yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Newton Faulkner: Unveiling new songs from his upcoming Octopus album at The Crescent, York

“No technological funny business” of the week: Newton Faulkner, Feels Like Home Tour 3, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

LET Reigate singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner describe his York gig: “Folks, I give you the Feels Like Home Tour 3. We’re talking no technological funny business in my set-up. I love switching my focus back to just playing and singing. I also cannot wait to introduce you properly to the new material and my new head.”

Often Faulkner has found himself in his home studio working solo, but not for this next record, nor for this tour. His new phase is full of collaboration, one where “seeing these songs come to life on stage is going to be nothing short of joyous” ahead of the September 19 release of Octopus. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape on his return to York Theatre Royal after 45 years. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

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

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“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: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York musician Steve Cassidy: Once he worked with John Barry and producer Joe Meek, now he plays with his mates on regular nights at the JoRo

Return of the week: Steve Cassidy Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

YORK singer, songwriter, guitarist and former head teacher Steve Cassidy will be joined by special guests when he lines up as usual with John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele, guitar and vocals, Brian Thomson on percussion and George Hall on keyboards.

Expect rock and country songs, as well as instrumental pieces, selected especially for this evening. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mark Holgate’s Oberon and Suzy Cooper’s Titania, centre, with Sam Roberts’s Demetrius, left, Amy Domeneghetti’s Helena, Will Parsons’ Lysander and Meg Olssen’s Hermia in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Reinvented play of the week: York Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees

YORK pantomime golden gal Suzy Cooper turns Fairy Queen Titania opposite York-born Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mark Holgate’s Fairy King Oberon in Nik Briggs’s debut Shakespeare production for York Stage.

In his first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs relocates the Bard’s most-performed comedy from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s bumpy path is played out to a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw and Nineties and Noughties’ dancefloor fillers, sung by May Tether. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Katherine Toy in rehearsals for AKA Theatre’s The Flood, on tour in York, Hull and Leeds. Picture: Cian O’Riain

Premiere of the week: AKA Theatre Company in The Flood: A Musical, Friargate Theatre, York, May 9 and 10, 7.30pm; Godber Studio, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, May 13, 7pm; Leeds Playhouse Burton Studio, May 14 and 15, 8pm

AKA Theatre Company’s premiere of Lucie Raine and Joe Revell’s musical The Flood blends live music and heartfelt storytelling based on true accounts of facing up to disaster in West Yorkshire in 2015.

 “This is a story about what it means to come together when everything falls apart,” says writer-director Raine, who uses a cast of five actor-musicians. “It’s not just a play. It’s a tribute to resilience and creativity, inspired by Hebden Bridge and its people. It’s a celebration for all communities who have faced adversity and emerged stronger.” Box office: York, ticketsource.co.uk; Hull, hulltruck.co.uk; Leeds, leedsplayhouse.org.uk. 

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Putting the retro into today’s hits at York Barbican

Nostalgia for today: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox: Magic & Moonlight Tour 2025, York Barbican, May 7, doors 7pm

AFTER chalking off their 1,000th show, retro collective Postmodern Jukebox are on the British leg of their Moonlight & Magic world tour. Enter a parallel universe where modern-day hits are reimagined in 1920s’ jazz, swing, doo-wop and Motown arrangements. Think The Great Gatsby meets Sinatra At The Sands meets Back To The Future.  Dress vintage for the full effect. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

In Focus: York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi, today at 1pm; Trio Agile and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, today at 7.30pm

Stuart O’Hara & Marianna Cortesi

YORK Late Music plays host to two concerts today, the first featuring bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Marianna Cortesi  this afternoon as Sounds Lyrical presents settings of poets Hugh Bernays, John Gilham, Richard Kitchen and Alan Gillott by composers Thomas J Crawley, Robert Holden, Jenny Jackson, Katie Lang, Dawn Walters and James Else.

The concert comprises: Elizabeth Lutyens’ Refugee Blues (Auden); David Blake’s Morning Sea (CP Cavafy); Dawn Walters’ Pre-dawn (Richard Kitchen); Jenny Jackson’s Collecting Stones (Richard Kitchen); Robert Holden’s Flaneur (John Gilham) and Katie Laing’s Maker (Richard Kitchen).

Then come Thomas J Crawley’s Leather Heart (Hugh Bernays); James Else’s Retras IV (Alan Gillott); Tim Brooks’s Jeer (Lizzie Linklater); David Blake’s Voices (CP Cavafy) and Stephen Dodgson’s Various Australian Bush Ballads, 2nd Series. The programme also includes music by David Blake and Elizabeth Lutyens.

Northern School of Contemporary Dance dancer Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma: Performing with Trio Agile tonight

TONIGHT’S concert marks a first collaboration between York Late Music and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Trio Agile and NSCD’s Freedom Dances programme.

Bringing together the freedoms of dance, music and rhythm, Trio Agile combine their experimental flair and improvisatory talent with four dancers from the Leeds school, Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma, Darcy Bodle, Genevieve Wright and Maya Donne.

The 7.30pm performance blends a range of styles from across the globe in a shared expression of the power and joy of the arts, including new works from Indian composer and performer Supriya  Nagarajan, Angela Elizabeth Slater, David Lancaster, Steve Crowther, David Power, Athena Corcoran-Tadd and James Else.

Curated by James Else in partnership with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, the programme comprises: Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Prelude; Angela Elizabeth Slater,  Weaving Colours; Paul Honey, Une Valse Assez Triste; James Else, Freedom Dances and David Lancaster, The Compendium Of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.

Then follow Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Pas de Deux; Tom Armstrong, Aunt Maria’s Dancing Master; Paul Honey, Pizzìca; Athena Corcoran-Tadd,  To You; Supriya Nagarajan,  Mohanam Raga; Steve Crowther,  Once Upon A Time Harlequin Met His Columbine; David Power,  Something In Our Skies; Susie Hodder-Williams & Chris Caldwell, Light Dances and Athena Corcoran-Tadd , Hope Is A Boat.

The musicians will be: Susie Hodder-Williams, flutes; Chris Caldwell, saxophone and bass clarinet; Richard Horne, vibraphone and percussion; Supriya Nagarajan, voice, and Paul Honey, piano.  

Chris Caldwell, Susie Hodder-Williams and composer James Else will give a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with a complimentary glass of wine or juice.

Tickets are on sale at latemusic.org or on the door.

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.

Drag diva Velma Celli goes bingo agogo with launch of Dragamama Bingo at Wagamama York restaurant tonight

Velma Celli: Eyes down, hoping for a full house at her debut Dragamama Bingo evening at Wagamama, York

YORK international vocal drag diva Velma Celli, alias West End musical star Ian Stroughair, turns bingo caller for an evening of camp comedy drag bingo fun and games in Dragamama Bingo at Wagamama, York, tonight.

Eyes down for a full house and a feast of Velma fun and games, running from 7pm to 9pm at the Japanese restaurant in Goodramgate. “Wagamama wants to do community-based stuff on the first-floor mezzanine,” says Ian. “They said they knew who Velma was and asked what could she do for them. I suggested drag bingo for starters.

“So this time it’s bingo and comedy, £8 to join, with a top prize of £100, and Scott Robert will be on the piano to add to the atmosphere. The idea is that I’ll do a Dragamama night either once a month or once every other month with a different theme each time, whether bingo, or a game, or a quiz night.”

How would he rate Velma’s bingo-calling skills? “My mum was the accountant for Holgate Working Men’s Club, so we used to go to the bingo there. I loved it. ‘Thatcher’s House, number 10’. That’s one of mine.”

Velma Celli turns bingo caller at Wagamama, Goodramagate, York, tonight

Looking ahead, Velma’s diary for 2025 is taking shape for nights – and days – of cabaret music, risqué comedy and generally fabulous entertainment. Velma Celli’s Drag Brunch returns to the Impossible York Wonderbar, in St Helen’s Square, from March 8 with further shows booked for April 5, May 3, June 7 (York Pride Bottomless Brunch), July 5 and August 2. Doors open at 3pm. Book by emailing reservations@impossibleyork.com and copy in stroughair2@hotmail.com.

God Save The Queens – Velma’s celebration of British music icons, from Julie Andrews, Cilla Black, Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield and Kate Bush to The Spice Girls, Adele, Florence Welsh, Amy Winehouse, Jessie J and Dua Lipa, with room for George Michael and Sinead O’Connor too – will play the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on March 13 at  7.45pm. For tickets, go to: https://tinyurl.com/4z6bvwsy, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Velma will head to Skipton Town Hall on March 15 at 7.30pm with Show Queen, where she harks back to Ian’s stellar turns in Cats, Chicago, Fame and Rent in a parade of the best of London’s West End and Broadway musical theatre hits.

“Velma takes you to every corner of the fabulous genre, from Kander & Ebb and Lloyd Webber to Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked and Schönberg’s Les Miserables and many more,” says Ian. “Like, more than Six!” Box office: https://shorturl.at/MJVaO.

Velma Celli’s Show Queen: Heading for Skipton Town Hall, Cardiff, Millom, Southampton, Cowes, London and Dudley

Last year, Velma’s global travels with A Brief History Of Drag took in Australia, where she won the Best Cabaret prize at Perth Fringeworld 2024, 54 Below  in New York City and  a sell-out UK tour that culminated in a hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Now she brings the show to The Playhouse, Sheffield, on April 4 (7pm) and Hull Truck Theatre on June 13 (7.30pm) for a diva dive into the most iconic drag moments in music, theatre, movies and popular culture.

“From Hedwig to Kinky Boots, Rent to Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Boy George to Freddie Mercury, no stone is left unturned in this electrifying beast of a performance,” says Ian. Box office: Sheffield,  https://shorturl.at/hDDiv; Hull, https://shorturl.at/2saW5.

Farther afield, Velma’s Show Queen plays Welsh Millennium Centre, Cardiff, March 29; The Beggar’s Theatre, Millom, Cumbria, April 18; The Stage Door, Southampton, May 23; Cowes Fringe, Cowes,  Isle of Wight, May 24; The Duchess Theatre, West End, London, June 2, and Dudley Town Hall, June 20.

“The idea is that I’ll do a Dragamama night either once a month or once every other month with a different theme each time,” says Velma Celli

Before then, her  new show, Rock Queen, will be making its debut at Crazy Coqs, the Art Deco cabaret, jazz, theatre and comedy space at Brasserie  Zedel, in Soho, London, on March 20 at  9.15pm (tickets: https://tinyurl.com/yc2wur77).

“It  will be all the rock classics, like Cher, Bon Jovi and Nirvana, but with a twist, so Velma  will do  rock songs in a musical theatre style and vice versa,” says Ian. “From Queen to Heart and every Gun N’ Rose in between, she will, she will, rock you!” Watch this space for news of a York performance in 2025.

One more York show definitely in the diary is Velma’s Pride Cabaret  at  Impossible York on June 6 from 7pm to 11pm (doors 6pm) in a special event to herald  York Pride on June 7. Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/ucky9emr

 Velma Celli’s Dragamama Bingo, Wagamama, Goodramgate, York, February 13, doors 6.30pm. Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/4hmukk69.

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Wonderland dazzles into the New Year. Hutch’s List No. 47, from Gazette & Herald

Born to pun: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

PANTOMIMES, theatrical family adventures and a Wonderland experience are still delighting in 2024 as Charles Hutchinson also looks ahead to 2025.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s bodacious baddie, Hugo Pompidou, in UK Productions’ Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Bea Clancy’s Harrietty Clock and Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Checks and stripes: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Madder than the Mad Hatter if you don’t see: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025

FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.

The stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.    

Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s villainous bruiser, Bill Sikes, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Dickens of a good show: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm on December 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm, December 28 and 29

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature John Biddle’s musical arrangements to complement Dickens’s fable of Oliver Twist being born in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld on his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Party invitation: The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Music talk to note: The Arts Society, Helmsley presents Christmas In Bach’s Leipzig: The Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 6 2025, 7.30pm

IN his illustrated talk, commentator, broadcaster, performer and lecturer Sandy Burnett explores how Johann Sebastian Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig.

An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work, where the  German composer draws on various forms, ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of the dance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Malton & Norton Musical Theatre’s poster for January’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk

First big show of the New Year at Milton Rooms, Malton: Malton & Norton Musical Theatre in Jack & The Beanstalk, January 18 to 25. Performances: January 18, 1pm and 5.15pm; January 19, 2pm; January 21 to 24, 7.15pm; January 25, 1pm and 5.15pm

MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre pantomime stars promise a family-friendly giant adventure packed with laughs, toe-tapping songs and plenty of audience participation.

Jack, his brave mother and their quirky friends will face off against the towering giant in a magical world full of comedy and surprises in an enchanting tale of bravery and beanstalks. Box office: 07833 759263 or yourboxoffice.co.uk.

More Things To Do in York and beyond when brain-bending puzzle attraction opens. Hutch’s List No. 53, from The Press

Paul Hawkyard’s villain Ivan Tobebooed and Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

OUT with the old, in with the new, as the pantomimes season concludes and Charles Hutchinson’s 2025 diary starts to take shape.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too, in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Professor Kettlestring: Launching a new attraction in York next month

First grand opening of the New Year: The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, Merchantgate, York, from January 10 2025

WELCOME to Matthew and Marianne Tritton-Hughes’s new attraction, The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, an immersive, educational world of more than 20 optical illusions, interactive exhibits and brain-bending challenges designed for curious minds of all ages.

Visitors can walk into the Professor’s sideways living room, disappear into his incognito chamber and discover a kitchen parlour where heads appear severed on platters. Box office: puzzlingworldyork.co.uk.

Jessica Steel: Performing at The Crescent in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity

Fundraiser of the month ahead: Lindow Man and Jessica Steel & Stuart Allan, The Crescent, York, January 11 2025, 7.30pm

ELECTRIFYING York soul, blues and rock’n’roll trio Lindow Man and York blues and soul singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan will play in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity. 

Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity is committed to addressing inequalities in hands-on charitable support for families looking after children with life-threatening conditions by working towards providing practical and emotional help to parents and carers via Family Support Workers. Pizzas from Curious Pizza Company will be available on the night. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Chris McCausland: Playing the Grand Opera House in 2025 and 2026

Comedy gig announcement of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 2025 and May 17 2026

AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland will return to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026.

Appearing on Sky Max over Christmas with fellow comic Lee Mack as sparring neighbours who must take on a gang of thieves in the festive film Bad Tidings, McCausland has added a second York date after selling out the first. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Public Service Broadcasting: Heading to York Barbican in March

Belated York debut announced: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27 2025, doors 7pm

AFTER 15 years of “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future”, London archivist art rock pioneers Public Service Broadcasting will make their York Barbican debut next spring with a line-up of corduroy-clad J Willgoose Esq., drummer companion Wrigglesworth, flugelhorn player J F Abraham and Mr B, specialist in visuals and set design for live performances.

Last October’s fifth studio album, The Last Flight, was built around the ill-fated final flight of American aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937, when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30 ****

Winter gruel charges: The Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble in Oliver Twist

BILLED as “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”, Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s turbulent tale of courage in adversity was first staged in Yorkshire as Hull Truck Theatre’s Christmas show in 2018.

Yes, ‘Christmas show’, as it comes booted with snippets of Victorian carols, folk  tunes and John Biddle compositions. It is not a musical, and definitely not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, instead being a storytelling piece of theatre with music as an Greek chorus-style ensemble commentary and complement to the unfolding drama.

Producer Robert Readman’s set is dominated by a huge bridge, on a diagonal across the stage that divides the audience into a traverse configuration, used traditionally to heighten a sense of combat or conflict.

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist

There would be no taking sides here, however, as everyone will be rooting for young Oliver Twist (Logan Willstrop, sharing performances with Frankie Whitford).

Born in a workhouse to a mother who loses her life, Oliver takes a 70-mile journey to London and is sold into an apprenticeship before being recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love.

Readman encloses Theatre@41’s black box Studio in wooden frames with a series of cloth “windows”, making the Victorian milieu all the more claustrophobic and imposing – and be warmed, look out for what will emerge through the cloth, even a Punch & Judy show.

The man in black: James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes casts his shadow over Oliver Twist

As ever with McAndrew, she combines well-sketched characterisation with detailed, evocative, fast-moving storytelling.

Hull Truck’s Fagin, my dears, was a woman, played by Flo Wilson. In Pick Me Up’s version, the thief chief is still performed by a woman, the show’s director Helen Spencer, but her Fagin is still referred to as “he”.

Spencer, who has had another splendid year astride the York stage, deepens her mezzo-soprano a tad, takes on a heavier physicality within a rags-and-riches coat and has something of the night about her. Having had to miss the first two performances with a “lost voice” she has certainly found it a terrific lead performance.

Playwright Deborah McAndrew

Jennie Wogan-Wells’s abused Nancy is striving against the odds to make her way in a male-dominated world, her light snuffed out by the brutal darkness around her.

Logan Willstrop’s Oliver is full of expression, resilience and enquiry, while the ever-reliable Tracey Rea and Nick Sephton are amusing company as the besotted Widow Corney and Mr Bumble, albeit that Sephton’s towering Bumble has his darker side too, as he slams his cane against the floor with a thunderous thud.

Neil Foster is on contrasting double duty, as the exploitative Mr Sowerberry and the kindly Mr Brownlow, and likewise Rhian Wells makes her mark as Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin.

Matthew Warry, one of York’s best developing young talents, is in typically fine form as the cocky Noah Claypole, while Rich Musk’s cuts the mustard as Dr Grimwig.

Neil Foster’s Mr Brownlow in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist

As with Hull Truck’s production, the Artful Dodger is still called “Jack” but is played here by both a lass, Libby Greenhill, and a lad, Reuben Baines, splitting performances. Your reviewer saw Greenhill: a Chaplinesque figure with comic timing and plenty of pluck.

Young Logan is not the only Willstrop in Pick Me Up’s cast. His father James is a tall, gaunt, black of heart, black of coat, pock-marked Bill Sikes: darker still than his Frederick  Frankenstein in Readman’s production of Young Frankenstein in September last year.

Matthew Peter Clare leads the musical forces with typical dash and Spencer directs with drive and focus with excellent use of ensemble as well as individual expression in her principals. All in all, a Dickens of a good show.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Performances at 7.30pm, December 27, 28 and 30, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tracey Rea’s Widow Corney and Nick Sephton’s Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist

‘What kind of society do we want to live in?’, asks Red Ladder in new musical Sanctuary

Aein Nasseri (Alland) and the CAPA College Chorus (Vox) in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Sanctuary. Picture: Robling Photography

RED Ladder Theatre Company’s powerful and moving new musical, Sanctuary, asks “What kind of society do we want to live in?”

Presented in collaboration with the Theatre Royal, Wakefield, and CAPA College, Wakefield, composer-lyricist Boff Whalley and award-winning playwright Sarah Woods’ topical political drama is directed by artistic director Cheryl Martin in her first production since taking over the Leeds company.

Sanctuary opened at the Wakefield theatre on September before setting off on an eight-week tour of theatres, community venues and churches that visits Selby Abbey tonight; Hull Truck Theatre tomorrow and the Welsey Centre, Harrogate, on Saturday.

Red Ladder’s musical premiere charts one man’s plea for help and refuge at a time when not all strangers are welcomed. When young Iranian Alland (Aein Nasseri) begs to be given sanctuary at a church in northern England, sparking a community to react in all the ways each member believes to be right, young church worker Molly (Ingrid Bolton-Gabrielsen) joins forces with vicar Fiona (York actress Emily Chattle) to resist both the angry vigilantes and the hard-hearted authorities beyond the church walls to try to protect him.

Holding a special community service where voices on all sides sing their songs of redemption and condemnation, Fiona asks the question to everyone present: “Do we give Alland over to the State or live up to our well-versed ideals of compassion?”

The creative team has worked closely with people hoping to call the UK home, shaping Alland’s story. Writers Whalley and Woods spent the past six years collaborating on projects for Welsh National Opera, in partnership with the Oasis Centre for refugees and asylum seekers, to co-create original operas for a more diverse audience. Director Martin spent eight years directing women refugees and asylum seekers in shows for Manchester’s Community Arts Northwest.

Earlier this year, Leeds-based Mafwa Theatre ran sessions with the team and CAPA College students, who then created their own workshops for secondary school pupils, supported by asylum seekers, that have helped shape the production.

This unique collaboration between Red Ladder, Theatre Royal Wakefield and CAPA College, featuring a chorus of  performing arts students, mixes hard-hitting ideas with memorable melodic tunes and harmonies.

Martin says: “Sanctuary comes at a critical moment in the conversation about immigration, refugees and asylum seekers. I hope this musical helps open up this conversation because it’s one that goes to the heart of who we are and the kind of society we want to live in.”

Co-creator Woods says: “Boff and I have been collaborating for a number of years, including co-creating work with people seeking refuge and asylum, and this is a story that we both feel needed to be told.

“There is a lot of hostility in the media when it comes to immigration, and we want to counter this narrative by offering audiences different viewpoints. I believe the stories we tell can really affect change in the world.

“A lot of people who come to the UK seeking asylum are here because they’ve stood up against oppression, doing things that many of us might not have the strength to do. We can learn a lot from them and the stories they share with us.”

Co-writer Whalley says: “Working with refugees and asylum seekers over the past handful of years has been an education. A steep learning curve in understanding how both Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ and the non-stop onslaught of the trash media has impacted Britain.

“We’re a nation in turmoil over immigration. A country at war with itself over small boats – whilst at the heart of it all are desperate people fleeing war and imprisonment, searching for hope and a place to call home.

“And that’s why Sanctuary is important right now. Which all sounds a bit grim, doesn’t it? And grim isn’t a great starting point for good musical theatre! So the idea is to make this big subject entertaining as well as poignant and educational.”

Whalley continues: “It’s my job with the music to use melody and harmony to draw people in, to create shared moments, to give the audience a helping hand into this story of a young asylum-seeker looking for sanctuary.

“Music is such a powerful tool, and it can cross divides, it can patch up differences between people. Which is what Sanctuary will hope to do.”

Sanctuary welcomes everyone in, challenging audiences to consider: “Do we want safety and freedom for only ourselves, or for us all?” “Come on in – the service is about to begin,” reads the invitation.

Did you know?

SANCTUARY is supported by the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s Safer Communities Fund.

Did you know too?

ALL performances will be captioned via The Difference Engine, a tool that enables deaf and hard-of-hearing people to read performance captions on their phone. 

Red Ladder Theatre in Sanctuary, Selby Abbey, October 7, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, October 8, 7.30pm; Wesley Centre, Harrogate, October 12, 7.30pm. Box office: Selby, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk. Age guidance: 13 upwards.

More Things To Do in York & beyond when doors open and cabaret nights launch. Hutch’s List No. 41, from The Press, York

YORK unlocks for the weekend. Charles Hutchinson unlocks the door to multiple other delights too.

Festival of the week: York Unlocked 2024, today and tomorrow from 10am

IN its third year, York Unlocked welcomes residents and visitors to experience York’s architecture and open spaces with the chance to discover, explore and enjoy around 50 sites.

This year’s new addition is a children’s trail book; families can pick up a free copy from York Explore Library, All Saints’ Church, North Street, or The Guildhall. Full details of the participating locations, from Spark: York to City Screen Picturehouse, Terry’s Factory Clock Tower to Bishopthorpe Palace, Holgate Windmill to York Railway Station, can be found at york-unlocked.org.uk. Entry is free, including those requiring booking.

Rachel Croft: Heading back to York to play The Crescent

Return of the week: Black Deer Live in association with TalentBanq presents Rachel Croft Live, supported by Tom Sheldon Trio, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm

AFTER relocating to London almost three years ago, thunderous alt-rock singer-songwriter Rachel Croft returns to York for an explosive hometown show, backed by a full band.

Caffe Nero Artist of the Month in February 2024, she has performed at The O2 Arena Blue Room, Bush Hall and Camden Assembly in London, the Bitter End in New York and Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and such festivals as Cambridge Folk Festival, Secret Garden Party and Black Deer. Her cinematic songs have featured on Netflix, the BBC and in rotation in Tesco, Waterstones and Centre Parcs stores. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. 

Much more than stripping assets: York’s queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, hosts The Exhibionists in The Old Paint Shop

Cabaret night of the week: Freida Nipples presents…The Exhibitionists, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm; Halloween Edition, October 26, 6pm and 9pm

YORK’S award-winning burlesque artiste Freida Nipples launches the Theatre Royal’s new Old Paint Shop cabaret season with some of her favourite fabulous performance artists from across Great Britain.

“From burlesque to drag and beyond, be sure to expect the unexpected,” she says. “Get ready to be dazzled, shocked and in awe. Only a few things are guaranteed: glamour, gags and giggles.” Tickets update: all three shows have sold out. For returns only, call 01904 623568.

Frankenstein (On A Budget): One man, one monster, one glorious dream at Friargate Theatre, York

“Comedy musical Hammer Horror homage you didn’t know you needed”: Frankenstein (On a Budget), Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

ONE man, one monster, one glorious dream to singlehandedly tell the most famous cult horror story of all time on absolutely no budget whatsoever. What could possibly go wrong?  Inspired by Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff, Frankenstein (On a Budget) features one actor, some decidedly dodgy backdrops, new music, weather-based based puns, cardboard props, gore and flashing lights. 

Can the ill-fated doctor build his monstrous creation, play 25 characters, sing songs aplenty, attempt accents from across the world, perform a dance routine, and ultimately save the day in only 60 minutes? Find out tonight. Age guidance: 14 upwards. Box office: ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

The Shires: Playing York on intimate acoustic tour

Country gig of the week: The Shires: The Two Of Us Tour, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

GREAT Britain’s biggest country music export, The Shires, return to York on their intimate acoustic tour, where Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes play songs from 2015 debut, 2016’s My Universe, 2018’s Accidentally On Purpose, 2020’s Good Years and 2022’s 10 Year Plan.

The Shires have achieved three consecutive UK Top Three albums, four UK Country album chart toppers, more than 100 million streams, two gold-certified records and two CMA Awards, headlining the Royal Albert Hall too. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Aein Nasseri (Alland) and the CAPA College Chorus (Vox) in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Sanctuary. Picture: Robling Photography

Play of the week: Red Ladder Theatre Company in Sanctuary, Selby Abbey, October 7, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, October 8, 7.30pm; Wesley Centre, Harrogate, October 12, 7.30pm

DIRECTED by new Red Ladder artistic director Cheryl Martin, this timely premiere by Sarah Woods and musician Boff Whalley tells the vital story of Alland, a young Iranian man who begs to be given sanctuary at St Mary’s Church in a northern town, sparking a community to react in all the ways each member believes to be right.

Featuring a chorus of Wakefield’s CAPA College students, Sanctuary mixes hard-hitting ideas with melodic tunes and harmonies, asking the question: do we want safety and freedom for only ourselves, or for us all? Box office: Selby, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Carrie Hope Fletcher: Love Letters in song form at York Barbican

Musical theatre revue of the week: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Love Letters, York Barbican, October 8, doors 7pm

WEST End musical theatre actress, author and vlogger Carrie Hope Fletcher explores all forms of love, from romantic to maternal, unrequited to obsessive, all told through a concert of musical theatre favourites, accompanied by specially written letters about each song by Carrie.

She is best known for playing Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Veronica in Heathers, Wednesday in The Addams Family, Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella on the London stage. Her special guest will be Bradley Jaden, her West End co-star in Les Miserables. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ed Gamble: Not discussing hot dogs in Hot Diggity Dog at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett

Comedy gig of the week: Ed Gamble, Hot Diggity Dog, Grand Opera House, York, October 9, 7.30pm

ED Gamble is promising “all your classicGamble ranting, raving and spluttering, but he’s doing fine mentally. Promise”. After all, he co-hosts the award-winning podcast Off Menuwith James Acaster, is a judge on Great British Menu and Taskmaster champion, hosts Taskmaster The Podcast and The Traitors: Uncloaked and has his own special, Blood Sugar, available on Amazon Prime. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Not Gonna Lie: Fool(ish) Improv use audience true stories to improvise “unbelievable comedy”

Improv gig of the week: Fool(ish) Improv present Not Gonna Lie, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 10, 8pm

PAUL Birch and co will take the truth to task by using real stories from the audience to improvise “unbelievable comedy”. Not so much Who’s Line Is It Anyway but more Who’s Lie Is It Anyway, Fool(ish) welcome you to a playful night of joy, nonsense and completely making things up.

“Come confess and unburden yourselves of some silly secrets, tales of the office and childhood memories and we will shape them into surreal sketches and sensational scenes,” say the Yorkshire improvisers trained by the best in Chicago Long-Form improv. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Sharleen Spiteri: Leading Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer

Gig announcement of the week: Texas, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26 2025

SCOTTISH band Texas, fronted as ever by Sharleen Spiteri, will return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 2018 to showcase five decades of songs, from I Don’t Want A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Son to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking next summer. Irish rock band The Script are confirmed already for July 5. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.

Scatterbrain Shaparak Khorsandi takes whirlwind tour of her ‘sometimes frantic’ mind at Scarborough, Hull and Farsley

Shaparak Khorsandi: “Letting you back into her mind after ADHD diagnosis”

AFTER reassessing her life through the prism of an ADHD diagnosis in last year’s Fringe show, ShapChat, and her Scatter Brain memoir, Shaparak Khorsandi lets you back into her mind in her new show at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre on October 2.

“Warning: it’s cluttered in there,” says the 51-year-old British Comedy Award-nominated comedian, raconteur, I’m A Celebrity contestant and author of fiction and non-fiction.

Among other things, her Scatterbrain show will be a love letter to letter-writing, a trip back through Khorsandi’s early years as a comic and woman-about-town, and a whirlwind tour of her “hilarious and sometimes frantic brain”. At least, it might be, given the promise of “delightfully shambolic” comedy.

As the tour publicity puts it: “Although it might not be remembered by Shaparak herself, that’s part of how ADHD works. And actually, we’ll probably check in with her in case she’s decided to start a career as an antique furniture expert instead.

“The diagnosis has helped Shaparak make sense of many aspects of her behaviour and personality, as movingly chronicled in Scatter Brain (subtitled How I Finally Got Off The ADHD Rollercoaster To Become The Owner Of A Very Tidy Sock Drawer, published by Penguin Books).  

“In this national tour of the same name, a woman who deserves the tag of national treasure uses her newly liberated mind as a springboard for a comedic rollercoaster ride.” 

Impatient Productions present Shaparak Khorsandi: Scatterbrain, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, October 2, 7.45pm. Box office: 01723 370541or sjt.uk.com. Khorsandi’s 23-date September 11 to December 3 tour also visits Hull Truck Theatre, October 3, 7.30pm, and Old Woollen, Farsley, Leeds, October 16, 8pm. Box office: Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Farsley, oldwoollen.co.uk.