Hull Truck Theatre Archives - charleshutchpress

February 13, 2025February 13, 2025

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.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

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.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

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

*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.

*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

*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

*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.

December 24, 2024December 24, 2024

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 Twis*t

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.

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*

October 7, 2024October 12, 2024

‘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.

October 5, 2024October 7, 2024

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.

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.

August 30, 2024August 30, 2024

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.

February 17, 2024February 22, 2024

More Things To Do in York and beyond as arts take to the bike & beach. Hutch’s List No. 8 for 2024, from The Press, York

*Pilot Theatre’s cast for A Song For Ella Grey at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Topher McGrillis*

BEACH encounters with Orpheus, tandem cyclists divided by Brexit, a joyful mess in art, an Eighties rom-com revisited, Ukrainian opera and big summer concerts brighten Charles Hutchinson’s days ahead.

York play of the week: Pilot Theatre in A Song For Ella Grey, York Theatre Royal, February 20 to 24, 7pm plus 1pm, Thursday and 2pm, Saturday; Hull Truck Theatre, March 5 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Wednesday and Saturday

IN Zoe Cooper’s stage adaptation of David Almond’s novel for York company Pilot Theatre and Newcastle’s Northern Stage, Claire and her best friend, Ella Grey, are ordinary kids from ordinary families in an ordinary world as modern teenagers meet ancient forces.

They and their friends fall in and out of love, play music and dance, stare at the stars, yearn for excitement, and have parties on Northumbrian beaches. One day, a stranger, a musician called Orpheus, appears on the beach and entrances them all, especially Ella. Where has Orpheus come from and what path will Ella follow in this contemporary re-telling of the ancient Greek myth. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

*Displayful artists Luke Beech, Wendy Galloway, Kate Fox and Liberty Hodes, exhibiting at Scarborough Art Gallery. Picture: Tony Bartholomew*

Coastal exhibition of the season: Displayful, Scarborough Art Gallery until May 7

DISPLAYFUL celebrates happy accidents and joyful mess, aiming to brighten the winter months by inviting visitors to enjoy uplifting contemporary artistic responses to objects from the collections of Scarborough Museums and Galleries.

The show combines new work by five regional artists, Luke Beech, Kate Fox, Wendy Galloway, Liberty Hodes and Angela Knipe, alongside historical artefacts and asks audiences to consider new possibilities for the lives of objects.

*Amber Davies’s Vivian and Oliver Savile’s Edward, centre, in a scene from Pretty Woman The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next week*

Musical of the week: Pretty Woman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 20 to 24, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BILLED as Hollywood’s ultimate rom-com, live on stage, Pretty Woman: The Musical is set once upon a time in the late 1980s, when Hollywood Boulevard hooker Vivian meets entrepreneur Edward Lewis and her life changes forever.

Amber Davies plays Vivian opposite Oliver Savile’s Edward; 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba, last seen at this theatre in fishnets in March 2022 as Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, has two roles as hotel manager Barnard Thompson/Happy Man, and Natalie Paris will be Vivian’s wisecracking roommate Kit De Luca. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*The poster artwork for Dnipro Opera’s Madama Butterfly at York Barbican*

Opera of the week: Dnipro Opera in Madama Butterfly, York Barbican, February 20, 7pm

DNIPRO Opera, the Ukrainian National Opera, returns to British shores after last year’s visit to perform Puccini’s favourite work, Madama Butterfly, sung in Italian with English surtitles (CORRECT).

Set in Japan in 1904, this torrid tale of innocent love crushed between two contrasting cultures charts the affair between an American naval officer and his young Japanese bride, whose self-sacrifice and defiance of her family leads to tragedy. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Carly Bednar in rehearsal for her role as Leila Arden in Griffonage Theatre’s Rope at Theatre@41, Monkgate*

Thriller of the week: Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm

HALFWAY through her MA in theatre studies, Katie Leckey directs York company Griffonage Theatre in their Theatre@41 debut in Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope, with its invitation to a dinner party like no other.

Set in 1929 against the backdrop of Britain’s flirtation with fascism, this whodunit states exactly who did it, but the mystery is will they be caught? Cue a soiree full of eccentric characters, ticking clocks and hushed arguments. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

*An Eiffel and an earful: Don (John Lister) and Carol (Kate Caute) share a cycle but not political views in Paris in 1812 Theatre Company’s Scary Bikers*

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Scary Bikers, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY’S 1812 Theatre Company stage their first John Godber comedy next week, his 2018 two hander Scary Bikers. Outwardly, redundant miner Don (John Lister) and former private school teacher Carol (Kate Caute) have little in common, but beneath the surface their former spouses are buried next to each other. Soon widowed Don and Carol bump into each other.

An innocent coffee leads to a bike ride through the Yorkshire Dales, then a bike tour across Europe to Florence. All looks promising for a budding romance, but their departure date is June 23 2016 and Don and Carol are on the opposite sides of the Brexit fence. Box office: helmsleyarts.co.uk or in person from the arts centre.

*S Club: Post-racing party songs at York Racecourse on July 27*

Bring it all back: S Club, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 27

JULY 27 will be S Club Party time after the Saturday afternoon race card on the Knavesmire track. Once S Club 7, now the five-piece S Club comprises Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh, following last April’s death of Paul Cattermole from heart complications at 46 and Hannah Spearritt not featuring in 2023’s 25th anniversary tour.

This month finds S Club in the USA playing Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Roll on summertime to enjoy chart toppers Bring It All Back, Never Had A Dream Come True, Don’t Stop Movin’ and Have You Ever, plus You’re My Number One, Reach, Two In A Million, S Club Party et al in York. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

*James: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in July. Picture: Paul Dixon*

Yorkshire gig announcement of the week: James, supported by Reverend & The Makers and Girlband!, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26

MANCHESTER band James play Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time on July 26, the night when Leeds lads Kaiser Chiefs finish off the evening card at York Races.

“If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come,” says James bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” New album Yummy arrives on April 12. Box office: James, ticketmaster.co.uk from 9am on Friday; Kaiser Chiefs, yorkracecourse.co.uk.

June 3, 2023September 4, 2023

More Things To Do in York and beyond when Pride comes before a full diary of big ideas. Hutch’s List No.23, from The Press

*Claire Richards: Taking Steps to headline York Pride’s main stage*

PRIDE is loud and proud this weekend in a city full of ideas, heated politics and apocalyptic music, as recommended by Charles Hutchinson.

Diverse celebration of the week: York Pride, city-centre parade at 12 noon, followed by festival until after-hours on Knavesmire

NORTH Yorkshire’s largest LGBT+ celebration sets out on a parade march from Duncombe Place, outside York Minster, processing along Bishopthorpe Road to the festival site on Knavesmire.

Hosted by Sordid Secret and Mamma Bear, the Main Stage welcomes Claire Richards, from Steps, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finalist Kitty Scott-Claus. Plenty more acts take to the YOI Radio Stage and Family Area and the new Queer Arts Cabaret Tent (1.30pm to 7pm, headlined by York’s pink-attired Beth McCarthy). Full festival details at: yorkpride.org.uk.

*In the pink: Beth McCarthy tops the Queer Arts Cabaret Tent bill at York Pride this evening*

Festival of the week and beyond: York Festival of Ideas 2023, until June 15

THIS University of York co-ordinated festival invites you to Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild in a programme of more than 150 free in-person and online events designed to educate, entertain and inspire.

Meet world-class speakers, experience performances, join entertaining family activities, explore York on guided tours and more! Topics range from archaeology to art, history to health and politics to psychology. Study the festival programme at yorkfestivalofideas.com.

*Ocean-loving Kent* violinist and composer Anna Phoebe performs her Sea Soul album *with Klara Schumann and Jacob Kingsbury Downs* *at the National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight at 7pm as part of the York Festival of Ideas. Picture; Rob Blackham*

Don’t myth it: The Flanagan Collective in The Gods The Gods The Gods, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm; Slung Low at Temple, Water Lane, Holbeck, Leeds, tomorrow, 7.30pm (outdoor performance); Hull Truck Theatre, Stage One, June 29, 7.30pm

WRIGHT & Grainger’s myth-making The Gods The Gods The Gods is performed as a 12-track album in an exhilarating weave of big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word. In the absence of co-creators Alexander Flanagan-Wright and Megan Drury in New York and Australia respectively, Easingwold birthday boy Phil Grainger, 34 today, will be joined by Oliver Towse and Lucinda Turner from the West End original cast of Wright’s The Great Gatsby.

The 65-minute performance links stories of two youngsters who meet when out dancing, destined to fall hard; a woman on a beach, alone at night, looking at the stars, and a bloke on a bridge, thinking about jumping, just before dark, all at the crossroads where mythology meets real life. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, slunglow.org; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Upwards and onwards: Oliver Towse, left, Lucinda Turner and Phil Grainger survey the auditorium ahead of their Harrogate Theatre performance of The God The Gods The Gods. York, Leeds and Hull dates lie ahead

Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan, Classy, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm

IN a world of groups, hierarchies and class systems, everyone tries so hard to fit in. What’s wrong with being a misfit? Be you, be proud!

From the caravan to the middle-class neighbourhood, Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan, 46, has taken four decades to realise this. Time for the Edinburgh Fringe regular to pass on his observations on living his contemporary life alongside stories of his upbringing. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

*Patrick Monahan: Classy performance at Pocklington Arts Centre*

Apocalypse now: Late Music presents Late Music Ensemble, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK Late Music concludes its 2022-23 season on a spectacular – if not entirely optimistic! – note tonight when the Late Music Ensemble, conducted by Nick Williams, opens up the End Of The World Jukebox.

Composers and players re-imagine the pop songs they would like to hear if Armageddon were nigh in arrangements of Imogen Heap’s Hide And Seek, David Bowie’s Warszawa, Cole Porter’s Every Time We Say Goodbye and Bob Dylan’s Cat’s In The Well. The Beatles will be represented by The End from Abbey Road, alongside new works by Christopher Fox and Anthony Adams.

Williams’s nine-strong ensemble promises a broad musical spectrum through the presence of Edwina Smith (flute, piccolo), Jonathan Sage (clarinet, bass clarinet), Iain Harrison and Lucy Havelock (saxophones), Murphy McCaleb (bass trombone), Kate Ledger (piano, toy piano, voice), Tim Brooks (keyboards, piano), Catherine Strachan (cello) and Anna Snow (voice).

Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s lunchtime concert by Stuart O’Hara has been postponed. It will, however, be rescheduled in the 2023-24 season, whose programme will be announced in the next few months.

While the End of the World cannot be avoided, York Late Music adminstrator Steve Crowther is an optimist who believes that, for now at least, the end is no nigher. A 6.45pm, pre-concert talk by Christopher Fox includes a complimentary glass of wine or fruit juice. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.

*Kate Ledger: Pianist playing in the Late Music Ensemble’s end-is-nigh concert tonight*

Folk gig of the week: Spiers & Boden, The Crescent, York, Wednesday, doors 7.30pm

THIS weekend the focus falls on the City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green. Meanwhile, the organisers, the Black Swan Folk Club, have teamed up with The Crescent to present Bellowhead big band cohorts Spiers & Boden in a seated concert next week.

John Spiers and Jon Boden re-formed their instrumental duo in 2021 after a seven-year hiatus to release the album Fallow Ground. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

*Seated gig: Folk duo Spiers & Boden atThe Crescent on Wednesday*

Defiant gig of the week: Mike Peters presents The Alarm (Acoustic), The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

AFTER a year of health challenges, The Alarm leader Mike Peters returns to the stage this spring with a new album set for release in the summer.

Co-founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, the 64-year-old Welshman will be performing a one-man band electro-acoustic set list of songs from all four decades of The Alarm discography. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

*Mike Peters: Setting The Alarm songs acoustically at the Crescent on Thursday*

Troubadour of the week: Steve Earle, The Alone Again Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm

AS his tour title suggests, legendary Americana singer, songwriter, producer, actor, playwright, novelist, short story writer and radio presenter Steve Earle will be performing solo and acoustic in York: the only Yorkshire gig of a ten-date itinerary without his band The Dukes that will take in the other Barbican, in London, and Glastonbury.

Born in Fort Monroae National Monument, Hampton, Virginia, Earle grew up in Texas and began his songwriting career in Nashville, releasing his first EP in 1982 and debut album Guitar Town in 1986, since when he has branched out from country music into rock, bluegrass, folk music and blues. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

*Steve Earle: Heading from New York to York for the opening night of his British solo tour*. *Picture: Danny Clinch*

Brass at full blast: Shepherd Group Brass Band: Stage And Screen, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 10, 7pm

SHEPHERD Group Brass Band’s late-spring concert showcases music from across the repertoire of stage and screen, featuring five bands from the York organisation, ranging from beginners to championship groups, culminating with a grand finale from all the bands. Tickets update: only the last few are still available on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*Thalissa Teixeira: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s first black female Brutus in Julius Caesar, directed by Atri Banerjee, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner*

Power play: Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

ATRI Banerjee directs this fast-paced political thriller on the RSC’s return to York Theatre Royal in a fresh interpretation of Julius Caesar with a female Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira) and non-binary Cassius (Annabel Baldwin) that asks: how far would we go for our principles?

Concerned that divisive leader Julius Caesar (Nigel Barrett) poses a threat to democracy, revolutionaries take the violent decision to murder him but without a plan for what happens next. As the world spins out of control, chaos, horror and superstition rush in to fill the void. Civil war erupts and a new leader must rise, but at what cost? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

May 17, 2023May 18, 2023

REVIEW: Northern Broadsides/New Vic Theatre in Quality Street, York Theatre Royal, plenty in the tin until Saturday ****

*Jamie Smelt’s Recruiting Officer, Paula Lane’s Phoebe Throssel, Aron Julius’s Captain Valentine Brown and Alex Moran’s Ensign Blades in Northern Broadsides’ Quality Street*

EVERYONE has a favourite Quality Street – purple, green…orange, not so keen – but there is only one Quality Street play to bite into.

Nevertheless, Northern Broadsides artistic director Laurie Sansom gives it a new wrapper, “stirring in a good helping of Yorkshire wit” from the retired workers of Halifax’s Mackintosh factory, makers of Quality Street.

And so a work from Toffee Town heads to Chocolate City this week, much later than first planned. Sansom’s Broadsides debut had to be put back in the sweetie cupboard after only four weeks when Covid put a red line through theatre shows in March 2020.

This spring he picks up the mantle with plenty of new flavours in the cast, only two of the originals still making the selection for the revived co-production with Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre.

Here is the history bit. Quality Street is a “delicious Regency rom-com” from the 1901 pen of J M Barrie, pre-dating the better known Peter Pan but a huge hit on Broadway in its own right.

Come 1936, Mackintosh’s management hit on the idea of assembling beautifully wrapped toffees, chocolates and sweets in a tin encased in a picture of Quality Street’s principal characters, Phoebe Throssel and Captain Valentine Brown.

Cue Sansom’s idea to weave verbatim recollections from the Quality Street factory floor into Barrie’s play, the red-hatted workers serving as a Greek chorus cum collective narrator, passing comment on the play’s unfolding dramas, recalling their working days and their own romances, and reflecting on how courting has changed.

The to-and-fro format takes a while to settle, not least because the ‘Mack’ workforce open the play with their fourth wall-breaking gossip and nostalgia. They are never more than convivial commentators by comparison with the fateful scene-setting of the Witches in the thunder and lightning prologue to Macbeth and their subsequent encounters with the murderous Macbeth .

Something sweet and nutty this way comes as Barrie introduces his Regency romp with Paula Lane (once Kylie Platt in a different cobbled street, of the Coronation soap variety) in the role of Phoebe Throssel, a woman scandalised by having allowed Captain Valentine Brown (Aron Julius) to kiss her on the cheek. Ten years ago.

*Aron Julius’s Captain Valentine Brown and Paula Lane’s Phoebe Throssel in Quality Street: Picture: Andrew Billington*

Ten years when he has been away fighting Napoleon, while Phoebe and sister Susan (Louisa-May Parker) have had to make a living, running a school for unruly children. They look exhausted, enervated, contemplating the prospect of having to add algebra to the curriculum without any enthusiasm. Understandable caution, you might say, in spite of PM Rishi Sunak’s enthusiasm for adding more Maths to the curriculum.

At this juncture, aside from Gilly Tompkins’ blunt-speaking maid Patty, more humour has been mined from the factory workers’ chatter than Barrie’s story, as supporting cast members switch between tea-break comment and rom-com roles. But once Julius’s Captain reacts so negatively to the older-looking Phoebe, still only 30, the play finds its sweet spot.

For a lavish ball, Phoebe transforms herself into lively, vivacious, flirty, flighty Miss Livvy, her “niece”, an alter-ego that will soon require her to be in two places at once in one of comedy’s favourite devices, from Shakespeare comedies of mistaken identity to Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest, chaotic Mischief capers to myriad pantomimes.

Not before Jessica Worrall’s witty design has served up the gorgeous spectacle of all the ladies in Quality Street wrapper dresses, Miss Livvy in the most popular purple, of course.

Not only Captain Brown is smitten, so too are Jamie Smelt’s Recruiting Sergeant and Alex Moran’s Ensign Blades as the comedy picks up pace and impact. Cross-dressing Jelani D’Aguilar’s Fanny Willoughby adds to the fun, and Parker’s Susan, forced to play a straight bat to keep Phoebe/Livvy one step ahead, personifies resourceful understatement.

At first you may wonder – as your reviewer did when watching a performance at Leeds Playhouse – why Quality Street made Barrie a fortune, but as should always be the case, the second half is better than the first, In particular in the all-important frank discussions between Phoebe and Captain Brown, where Barrie’s writing, suddenly more serious, goes to the heart of a woman’s woes, mistreatment and frustrations.

From the brief appearances of puppets to Ben Wright’s choreography for the ball, the design’s colour palette and the cast’s colourful northern vowels to Sansom’s beautifully judged direction, Quality Street ends up being a tin of purple and green ones.

Lane’s performance, especially when she has to have a filling of Phoebe within a chocolate coating of Miss Livvy, is top Quality too.

Northern Broadsides and New Vic Theatre present Quality Street at York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Also: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, May 25 to 27; Hull Truck Theatre, May 31 to June 3; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, June 6 to 10; Victoria Theatre, Halifax, July 4 to 7. Box office: Sheffield, 0114 249 6000 or sheffieldtheatres.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Halifax, 01422 351158 or victoriatheatre.co.uk.