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What a farce as Matthew Kelly plays drunken old actor in Michael Frayn’s classic comedy Noises Off at York Theatre Royal

Matthew Kelly: Defying an injured knee on tour in Noises Off. All pictures: Pamela Raith

MATTHEW Kelly is performing “like a gazelle” in the 40th anniversary tour of Michael Frayn’s riotous farce Noises Off, despite a knee injury.

“I’m already doing it on two new hips, and off stage I have to walk with a stick,” says the erstwhile Stars In Their Eyes presenter, now 73, who takes to the York Theatre Royal stage from tonight.

“I twisted my knee on the set about a year ago on the first tour run. I thought, ‘I’m not going to have any more surgery; I’ll treat it with physiotherapy’, and that’s what I’ve done. It gets me a seat on the Tube every time!

“The knee’s getting better and I’ve kind of got used it, having had to use sticks when I was getting the hips done.”

Matthew takes the role of Selsdon Mowbray, an old actor with a drink problem, “for which I’ve done a lot of research”, he jokes.

“The play’s been going for 42 years, and I was up for the first takeover 40 years ago, when I was invited to follow Nicky Henson in the lead role in the original production.”

Watching Henson’s supreme performance, however, Matthew decided against taking up the invitation. When the chance came to play Selsdon Mowbray, four decades later, this time he jumped at it, new hips and all.

“What makes it work, and the only way it can work, is for the company to be really close, really bonded, and absolutely in tune with each other, which we are,” says Matthew Kelly

On the first itinerary, he played opposite Felicity Kendal; now he is joined by fellow 73-year-old Liza Goddard in Theatre Royal Bath’s touring revival, directed by Lindsay Posner, who staged Richard III and Romeo And Juliet in York’s first season of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre productions in 2018.

Structured as a play within a play over three acts, Frayn’s chaotic comedy follows the on and off-stage antics of a hapless touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce, Nothing On, from shambolic final rehearsal to a disastrous matinee, seen silently from backstage, before their catastrophic last performance in Stockton-on-Tees.

If you have enjoyed Mischief’s visits to York with The Play That Goes Wrong and Magic Goes Wrong in recent years, they echo Frayn’s forerunner, a comedy rooted in calamities, pratfalls and slapstick as a cast at war with each other strives desperately to keep a performance on track amid the mayhem.

“What makes it work, and the only way it can work, is for the company to be really close, really bonded, and absolutely in tune with each other, which we are,” says Matthew. “If you get one thing wrong, it can throw the whole play out of kilter.

“I always have good times with companies, but this company is an absolute delight to work with. Having to do three matinees a week, it’s absolutely killing us. There’s no-one having an affair as we’re too knackered!”

Michael Frayn has supported the 40th anniversary tour at every opportunity, as well as tweaking the script. “He’s now 90, and he’s been with us since the start, coming to the opening night when I first did the show with Felicity last year, opening at Bath, and then when we went into the West End,” says Matthew.

“He’s told us it’s the best ever production of the play, though he probably always says that. He’s kind and encouraging, and you just know he’s like that with every company.”

Matthew Kelly in his role as drunken old actor Selsdon Mowbray. “I’ve done a lot of research,” he says

The revival of Noises Off is perfectly timed after the pandemic sent theatres into cold storage. “It’s a love letter to theatre that really lifts the spirit. You hear people rolling around with laughter throughout the show,” says Matthew.

This is the reward for the cast’s meticulously timed comedic performances. “We only had three weeks’ rehearsal for the second tour, and I was the only original member of the cast still in the show. So when we opened in Birmingham, we were still rehearsing during the day as well as performing at night.”

In keeping with the play, things can go wrong. “At one show, one of the girls accidentally left a bunch of flowers on stage, on the upper level, and the next thing that happened was the play began to fall to bits – and the whole place went nuts!” recalls Matthew.

“It wasn’t funny, it was terrifying, but somehow, we got back on track. After the show, I saw a friend, and when I told them it had all gone wrong, they said they’d never noticed! But when things go wrong, they’re only funny to the people who are there watching the show.”

Mind you, actors can play jokes on each other too, like when Matthew was performing Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train with Julie Walters and Bill Nighy in Aberystwyth. “When we’re locked in the waiting room, everyone changes place in the dark. Each show we’d have scuffles, where everyone would try to shove each other off stage!” he reveals.

“One Wednesday matinee, when the lights came back on, there was only me on stage, and the rest of the cast were sitting in the front row, arms folded, all looking at me.”

Don’t take it too seriously, Matthew advises himself and those around him in the acting world. “Honestly, no-one cares! We’re only playing in the dressing -up box,” he says.

“It’s a love letter to theatre that really lifts the spirit,” says Matthew Kelly of Michael Frayn’s frenetic farce Noise Off, on tour at York Theatre Royal from tonight

That said, he would love to play King Lear, the third age role that veteran Yorkshire Shakespearean actor Barrie Rutter has said “you should do twice: once when you can do it, and once when you have to do it”.

Kelly’s Lear will surely happen one day. In the meantime, next up, once the Noises Off tour ends in January, will be the world premiere of Jim Cartwright’s The Gap, a two-hander with Denise Welch, running at Hope Mil Theatre, Manchester, from February 9 to March 9.

“It’s about two teenagers running away to London in the Sixties and reuniting much later,” says Matthew. “I first did it as a one-act play about seven years ago, then made a film of it with Sue Johnston during the pandemic, and now Jim has expanded it into a full play.”

The Gap follows the audacious adventures of Walter and Corral. “He’s back up north, she’s still down south,” the theatre website says. “They haven’t seen each other for 50 years, not since their Soho days, back in the swinging ’60s.  A chance phone call reunites them for one magical night and in next-to-no time, they’re back to their old tricks.”

What is “the gap”, Matthew? “Cultural? Geographical? I tell you what it is,” he says. “It is the gap of flesh between stocking top and knicker ridge that drives men wild!”

Noises Off, York Theatre Royal, tonight (31/10/2023) until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Did you know?

MATTHEW Kelly appeared previously at York Theatre Royal in two Alan Bennett plays: Kafka’s Dick, with his son Matthew Rixon, in 2001 and The Habit Of Art, a fictional meeting between York-born poet W H Auden and composer Benjamin Britten, exploring friendship, rivalry, heartache and the joy, pain and emotional cost of creativity, in 2018.

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Corrie soap bad lad Nigel Pivaro reports back for stage duty in The Commitments after turning his hand to journalism

Father and son: Nigel Pivaro’s cynical Jimmy’s Da and James Killeen’s dreamer Jimmy Rabbitte in The Commitments. Picture: Ellie Kurttz

AFTER switching to the fourth estate for a decade and more, Coronation Street bad lad Nigel Pivaro is putting down the notepad to star in the 2022-2023 tour of The Commitments.

“I’m thrilled to be marking my return to the stage in this production,” he says, ahead of visiting the Grand Opera House, York, from November 7 to 12 in the role of Jimmy Rabbitte’s Da in the Irish musical.

“It’s an iconic story that resonates across the years, about people who, though distant from the music’s origins, find communion and expression in the Motown style. A musical genre which was borne out of oppression and which the characters embrace as their own. The Motown Sound is as vibrant today as it was when it first burst through in the Sixties.”

Thirty-five years have passed since The Commitments first leapt from the pages of Roddy Doyle’s best-selling novel with its story of the hardest-working and most explosive soul band from the northside of Dublin,

The 1991 film and a stage musical ensued. Now comes the latest nine-month British and Irish tour, running from next month to July, directed by Andrew Linnie, who played Dean, the saxophonist, in the original West End production in 2013.

The headline news in his cast list is Pivaro’s stage return at 62. “It came about from [playwright] Jim Cartwright saying, ‘how about coming back in? We miss you, mate,’” says Nigel, who forever will be best known for playing lovable Corrie rogue Terry Duckworth from 1983 to 2012.

Nigel Pivaro: Returning to the stage after a long hiatus when investigative journalism became his primary career

“After Jim said that, I started doing some plays for BBC Radio 4, like The Corrupted with Toby Jones, and some commercials, and then the role of Da was offered to me two and a half years ago. I was chomping at the bit: the chance to stretch my theatre legs again in my first theatre role since Bouncers [in 2003].

“But then the first Covid lockdown stopped it for a year, and then more lockdowns put it back another year. Just great! It had been a bit of a slow start for me getting back in, then just as it was gaining momentum, something extraordinary scuppered it.”

Roll on to autumn 2022 for Pivaro’s first appearance at the Grand Opera House since September 2003, when his hot-headed doorman Judd clashed with a fellow soap bad boy, EastEnders’ John Altman’s pontificating yet pugilistic Lucky Eric in John Godber’s nightclub comedy Bouncers.

“I was away from the business for 15 years after that, training as a journalist after doing a Masters degree in International Relations,” recalls Nigel. “I did my NCTJ [National Council for the Training of Journalists) course in Liverpool, my work experience at the Manchester Evening News, and my first staff job was at the Tameside Reporter.”

Freelance reporting ensued for the Daily Star, the Sunday Mirror, the Daily and Sunday Express, and not least Jane’s Defence and Intelligence Review, reporting on military and security topics.

The poster for the 2022-2023 tour of The Commitments, announcing Coronation Street legend Nigel Pivaro as the star attraction

“I travelled to Ukraine in the first war in 2014 and did three tours there,” says Nigel. “So I did my journalism from the bottom up, pushing my specialist knowledge into my reporting.

“Over the years, I’ve done everything from interviewing ex-Corrie colleagues and stars from other shows to doing research for a Newsnight feature last year on the shortcomings of the Manchester police.”

Hold the front page, Pivaro has a musical to perform in a new commitment to the stage. “I did see The Commitments film, attracted to it by the music, not knowing what to expect, other than it was an Alan Parker movie, and I’d always liked him as a director,” he says.

“I was just knocked out by how the music and the story were woven together, when often musicals are, ‘right, let’s do another song now’. The Commitments has a strong narrative, with the music weaved into that story without it kicking you in the face.”

Pivaro has read Doyle’s book too, “but I’ve not seen the play, so I’ve got no preconceptions about the stage show,” he says.

“What I can say is there’s dramatic tension, there’s humour, and there’s music. What’s not to like?! There’s a big band with loads of characters, sexy girls, sexy boys, with all that tension that can happen between band members, even in a band on the back streets of Dublin, as much as between John, Paul, George and Ringo.”

Roddy Doyle: Writer of The Commitments. Picture: Anthony Woods

For sure, the show will feature such soul staples as Try A Little Tenderness, In The Midnight Hour, Save Me, Mustang Sally, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and I Can’t Turn You Loose.

“This is the music that has provided the soundtrack to our lives, as hits in the Sixties and Seventies, and then being re-played and re-played at weddings and funerals and parties ever since. They are the standards,” says Nigel, who admits to having preferred Sweet, Mud and Gary Glitter, “anything that harked back to rock’n’roll”, in his youth.

Will he be singing in the show? “No, I don’t think I get to sing a song, but Jimmy’s Da is a big Elvis fan, so I do get to do a few bars of Can’t Help Falling In Love, but that’s it,” he says.

The Irish accent will be key too. “I’ve done accents all over the place. That’s my job!” he says. “There are certain accents you find you can do off pat, like Liverpool, being a Manchester kid. This Dublin accent had better be there because we have two weeks there at the Olympia!”

Tickets for the York run: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York. For Hull New Theatre’s October 31 to November 5 run: 01482 300306 or hulltheatres.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York

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American impressionist Christina Bianco rises to the challenge of myriad voices and a northern accent in Jim Cartwright drama

Christina Bianco: Playing LV at last almost a decade after Jim Cartwright’s vow to “make it happen”

YORK has been on New Yorker Christina Bianco’s bucket list of British cities to visit for “the longest time”.

Glory be for the American actress, supreme impressionist and YouTube sensation, she will be at York Theatre Royal all this week, playing reclusive songbird LV in Jim Cartwright’s deeply dark comedy-drama The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.

“I’m going to be all over that city, taking a million photos,” she vows. “Apologies to the locals of York for my camera being out and my blocking traffic in the streets! It’s one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real. It looks like something out of Harry Potter! So yes, to finally be in York is truly amazing.”

Ahead of this week’s run, Christina already had a sneak preview of York in the company of co-star Ian Kelsey, who took her on a guided tour of his home city last month, taking in York Minster, the Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate street sign, a pub and the Theatre Royal stage.

From bucket list to wish list as Christina realises a long-held ambition to play LV.  “When I was young growing up in New York, I always did impressions and loved singing many genres of music,” she says. “My parents tell me I had a natural instinct for mimicry, especially when it came to Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz.

Christina Bianco acquainting herself with York. Picture: Ant Robling

“For some reason, I always gravitated toward British culture, television, films and comedy, watching the video of Four Weddings And A Funeral when I was little, and later Monty Python, and there was something about the British sensibility that I just loved.

“One of my favourite things in the world to watch was Absolutely Fabulous. I especially loved Jane Horrocks in it, and I love how your comedies have such broad characters but deal with serious subjects. Something hit me about the difference with American comedies.”

Later, Christina’s father saw a review of York director Mark Hearld’s 1998 film adaptation of Cartwright’s play, Little Voice, starring the aforementioned Horrocks.  “Given LV’s love for Judy and all the diva impressions, he said we had to see it. I was blown away by Jane Horrocks’ performance and, of course, by the story itself. I became a little obsessed with it!” she says.

First, Christina brought her talent for mimicry to the fore in Forbidden Broadway off-Broadway in 2008. “I was doing impressions in public for the first time and gratefully being well reviewed for doing so,” she recalls.

“It put me on the map as an impressionist, and over the next few years I pushed myself to try more and more impressions and to eventually build my own show – both because I was enjoying it and because I realised there was an audience for this sort of act. It was around this time I posted some impressions videos on YouTube and they started racking up some views.”

Ian Kelsey introduces Christina Bianco to York Theatre Royal on his guided tour of his home city. Picture: Ant Robling

Move the story forward to the summer of 2012, when Christina saw a notice that Little Voice was to go on a British tour, directed by Cartwright himself. “I’d never seen the show on stage before, so my husband and I planned a six-day trip to London…with my ulterior motive being to take a train to Guildford to see the show!” she says.

“My managers at the time suggested ‘Why don’t you write to Jim, introduce yourself and tell him how much you love the show?’.”

Cartwright duly wrote back to say “I’ve just watched your stuff online. You’re fabulous! Come to the stage door and we’ll chat”. “I ended up sitting down with Jim and talking about the show for quite some time,” says Christina.

“We stayed in touch and soon after, when some of my YouTube videos went viral and I had a run of sold-out shows at the Hippodrome, Jim came and said ‘we have to make LV happen for you’! That was in 2013. So, as you can see, doing this show has been a very long journey! Now, to finally get to do it, on this grand scale, with this incredible cast, is just thrilling.”

How come it still took so long to “make LV happen” after Cartwright’s vow? “We definitely have to rule out two years of Covid, of course, but the first reason was that I met him just as he was directing a big production of his play, so I knew I’d have to wait four or five years for another big production,” says Christina.

Christina Bianco’s LV performing her repertoire of diva impersonations at Mr Boo’s Club. Picture: Pamela Raith

“Then I was attached to a production that Jim gave his blessing to that was supposed to go to Broadway, but that didn’t happen after going through three different directors – but that’s the story of showbiz.

“Then, the really tricky thing is that in the UK ‘Little Voice’ is so loved and some people say it’s overdone, being done by regional theatres and colleges as well, so the wait went on.”

Nevertheless, Christina was undaunted in her pursuit of adding LV to her CV, and once producer Katy Lipson attained the rights to the play, she promptly contacted the American actress, having seen her vocal impressions in concert. “She said, ‘I want to work with you; what would you like to do? Come up with a couple of ideas’.  I said I’d love to do LV before I can’t do it.”

Sure enough, despite a further delay, Christina’s LV has arrived “when I’m still not too long in the tooth” at 40. “When Jane Horrocks first did it, she was in her late-20s, and in the movie, she was in her 30s. LV is not in her teens; she’s emotionally regressed, staying in the emotional state of a child.”

Christina’s diva impersonations on LV’s bedroom floor and the northern club stage are drawn specifically from the vinyl record collection of LV’s late father. “Everyone probably expects me to come out and do Celine Dion but it’s not the right time period,” she says.

“I don’t like confrontation,” says Christina Bianco, who shares that characteristic with the reclusive LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Here Bianco’s LV keeps her distance from Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say and Shobna Gulati’s Mari Hoff. Picture: Pamela Raith

“What I will be doing, though, is attempting Cilla Black for the first time in my life. Everybody I impersonate in the show will be of the classic musical era LV’s father loved: Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Shirley Bassey…”.

When adding a new diva to her repertoire, how does she master the voice? “It depends on the particular vocalist but typically I immerse myself with them for a couple of days. I listen to lots of their music before I watch any video footage of them.

“I like to get the essence of their voice first. Then I study their physicality in more detail. I try to take on as many mannerisms, characteristics and facial expressions as I can. Thank goodness everyone’s liking my Cilla; everyone’s clapping; no-one’s booing! I did have the fear of God put into me about singing You’re My World just right, but I made a point of knowing that she’d been told to sing it with a mid-Atlantic accent, which I’m doing.”

Christina’s biggest challenge is playing an introvert. “It’s very funny timing for me, with my last part being Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, who’s the polar opposite of LV. Fanny couldn’t help attracting attention, whereas LV is happy to fade into the background,” she says.

“Everyone says Fanny Brice is one of the most challenging roles of all time, and I don’t disagree. You never leave the stage except to change costume; you sing 12 songs, laugh, cry, dance and do physical comedy – the list goes on!

Pyjama drama: Christina Bianco’s LV singing in her bedroom. Picture: Pamela Raith

“But I can safely say I’m more nervous about doing Little Voice because I’m not an introvert. There’s the part of me that needs the platform to perform, though [away from the stage] I can be quite shy and I don’t like to stand out, so I’ve channelled that side of me. I don’t like confrontation too, and that part of me hasn’t changed with age.

“What many people wouldn’t know about me is that I’m an only child who’s happy to be alone, and if there’s no ideal platform for me to be on stage, if someone asks me to stand in front of a microphone I’ll shrink.”

Christina fully memorised the script before entering the rehearsal room. “I wanted to be as comfortable with the text as possible, in order to be fully comfortable performing it in a Northern accent,” she reasons.

“Sure, I’m good at accents but it’s a very different thing when you’re doing an accent in the place where that accent actually comes from. I’m not doing this show in New York. I’m doing a Lancashire accent for people in the north. That’s very intimidating!”

For that reason, she did consult a voice coach. “People have this assumption that if you’re good at vocal impressions, you’ll be good at accents too, but it’s so important that you’re comfortable in the accent. It’s either right or wrong, an accent, whereas an impression is an interpretation, and that’s different.

Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey set out from York Theatre Royal on Ian’s guided tour. Picture: Ant Robling

“I worked with a voice coach on Zoom over lockdown to get the Oldham/Manchester accent, and as Katy Lipson is from Manchester, she’d let me know if I was getting it wrong!”

Christina notes how American and British audiences differ. “I think Americans kind of watch you, leaning back, giving off an ‘entertain me’ vibe. I feel a British audience leans forward a bit more. They come into you and your world. Both are great and I’m not trying to insult my home country but I do feel British audiences are a little more appreciative.

“On the other side of that, Americans are much more likely to leap to their feet at the end of the show! Over here you can give the best performance of your life and the audience cheers like crazy but they don’t always leap to their feet.

“It’ll be interesting to see the reaction to this play. It won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy but I personally don’t see it as a traditional comedy. I see it as a true drama that happens to have a lot of comedic moments – and I know Jim and our director, Bronagh Lagan, are really looking to bring out the heart at the centre of it. How people are imperfect, make mistakes and have rises and falls – but they persevere.

“Fear of ‘starting over’ is a big theme in the show and I think we can say we’re all having to start over now in many ways. On both sides of the pond, and all over the world. It’s very timely.”

“York is one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real,” says Christina Bianco, here standing outside York Art Gallery. Picture: Ant Robling

Summing up why Cartwright’s play has resonated with audiences through 30 years, Christina says: “First of all, I think this play is a true love letter to the UK. It celebrates so many great British artists and their music.

“But the story itself is something everybody can relate to, regardless of whether or not they know the music in the play. The idea that no matter how difficult things get, you can still persevere and rise from the ashes. And I think that’s exactly the message we need after the last two years.

“It’s a story about not being afraid to try something different and starting again. We’ve all been through something together that has changed us, just as the characters in the play do.”

Christina hopes audiences will embrace her as an American performer, taking on such an iconic British character. “I’d like to think that I’ve earned some stripes working in the UK quite a bit already, so maybe that will help,” she says. “And I’ve actually just become a resident, along with my husband and our dog Jeff Vader. We all live here now [on a three-year visa in London], so you’re stuck with me!”

Jeff Vader, Christina? “I named the dog after an Eddie Izzard joke,” she reveals of a surrealist shaggy- dog story that took in the Death Star, a cafeteria, Lego, and yes, Jeff Vader.

The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, starring Christina Bianco, Shobna Gulati and Ian Kelsey, runs at York Theatre Royal until July 9, 7.30pm, plus 2pm, Thursday and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Shobna Gulati, Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey in the tour poster for the Glass Half Full Productions tour of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice
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More Things To Do in York and beyond on light nights as summer signals outdoor season. List No. 89, courtesy of The Press

York Light Opera Company’s performers and production team for A Night With The Light

FROM open-air films to the Proms, Early Music festival connections to Nordic sunshine, Charles Hutchinson’s summer season is in full bloom.

York Light Opera Company in A Night With The Light, Friargate Theatre, Friargate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

UNDER the direction of Jonny Holbek and musical direction of Martin Lay, York Light presents a feel-good programme of powerful, funny, emotive and irreverent numbers from favourite musicals and new ones too.

Look forward to songs from Hamilton, Waitress, Wicked, Chicago, Chess, Avenue Q, The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Misérables, The Sound Of Music and plenty more. “Come join us as we have Magic To Do!” say Jonny and Martin. Box office: 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/a-night-with-the-light/.

West Side Story: One of the films to be shown at Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema in York Museum Gardens

Films under the stars: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, York Museum Gardens, York, tonight and tomorrow; August 5 to 7, 7.30pm

PICTUREHOUSE, owners of City Screen, York, present two weekends of open-air cinema with a summer vibe.

Tonight’s Grease (Sing-A-Long) (PG) will be followed by tomorrow’s 70th anniversary celebration of Singin’ In The Rain (U).

Next month’s trio of films opens with a 40th anniversary screening of Blade Runner (15) on August 5; next comes Steven Spielberg’s 2021 re-make of West Side Story (12A) on August 6;  last up, Disney’s Encanto (Sing-A-Long) (U) on August 7. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Off to the coast: a-ha head for Scarborough Open Air Theatre tomorrow

The sun always shines on…a-ha, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tomorrow, gates, 6pm

NORWEGIAN synth-pop trio a-ha head to the Yorkshire coast on their 2022 World Tour of Europe, the United States and South America, 40 years since forming in Oslo.

Vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen will be releasing a new album in October, True North, their first collection of new songs since 2015’s I, recorded in two days 25km inside the Arctic Circle.

Will they preview new songs alongside the familiar Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines On TV, Hunting High And Low and Stay On These Roads? Find out on Sunday. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Christina Bianco’s LV and Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at York Theatre Royal

Play of the week: Glass Half Full Productions in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday

YORK actor Ian Kelsey returns to his home city to play viperous talent-spotting agent Ray Say in his Theatre Royal debut in a new tour of Jim Cartwright’s bittersweet comedy-drama, directed by Bronagh Lagan.

Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati plays louche, greedy, loud mother Mari Hoff and American actress and YouTube sensation Christina Bianco, her daughter LV, the recluse with the hidden singing talent for impersonating Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey et al. Can Ray draw her out of her shell and with what consequences? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Sixteen: Returning to York Minster for York Early Music Festival 2022

Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival 2022, July 8 to 16

YORK Early Music Festival returns to a full-scale live programme for the first time since 2019 under the theme of connections.

“Concerts are linked together through a maze of interconnecting composers,” says festival administrative director Delma Tomlin. “We’re delighted to be able to shine a light on the many connections that hold us together in the past and into the future.”

At the heart of the 2022 festival will be three 7.30pm concerts in York Minster by The Sixteen (July 9, the Nave); The Tallis Scholars (July 11, Chapter House) and the Gabrieli Consort & Players (July 13, the Nave). For the full programme and tickets, head to: ncem.co.uk.

Skylights: Playing their biggest gig yet at Leeds O2 Academy

York gig of the week in Leeds: Skylights, Leeds O2 Academy, July 9, doors, 7pm

YORK indie-rockers Skylights play “the biggest gig of our lives” next weekend up the road in Leeds, where previously they have sold out Leeds University and The Wardrobe and performed at Leeds United’s centenary celebrations in Millennium Square in October 2019.

Four Acomb lads in the 30s, singer Rob Scarisbrick, guitarist Turnbull Smith, drummer Myles Soley and bassist Jonny Scarisbrick, will perform to 2,300 fans in celebration of their debut album, What You Are, reaching number 34 in the charts in May. Box office: academymusicgroup.com.

Natasha Agarwal: Soprano soloist at York Proms

Picnic party of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, York, July 10, gates, 4pm

MUSICAL director Ben Crick conducts the 22-piece Yorkshire Festival Orchestra in next weekend’s performance of classical and film pieces, a special Platinum Jubilee section in the second half and a rousing Proms finale.

Soloists will be soprano and dancer Natasha Agarwal, who performed in Opera North’s Carmen, and bass-baritone John Anthony Cunningham, who has chalked up principal roles with English National Opera, Opera North and the Royal Opera House.

York Proms founder Rebecca Newman’s special appearance includes a tribute to her husband and co-founder, Jonathan Fewtrell, who died suddenly in 2020. The Fireworkers provide a firework finishing flourish. Box office: 01904 555670 or yorkproms.com/tickets.

Calling Planet Earth: Elegy to the Eighties at York Barbican

New Romantic nostalgia in the air: Calling Planet Earth, York Barbican, January 21 2023, 8pm

THIS New Romantic Symphony takes a journey through the electrifying Eighties’ songs of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, The Human League, Ultravox, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Japan, ABC and Soft Cell.

Calling Planet Earth combines a live band with symphonic arrangements and vocals in a show designed to “simply define a decade”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk.

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‘How can you not say yes to playing Ray Say?’, says Ian Kelsey as he heads home for York Theatre Royal debut in ‘Little Voice’

Ian Kelsey’s “king of the gutter” Ray Say has a quiet word with Christina Bianco’s reclusive songbird LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Picture: Pamela Raith

YORK actor Ian Kelsey returns to his home city to play viperous talent-spotting agent Ray Say in a new tour of Jim Cartwright’s bittersweet comedy The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice from Monday.

In doing so, he will be making his York Theatre Royal stage debut, although the former railway carriage works coach builder did hand out sweets in the guise of Mr Toffee in the foyer before performances of The Railway Children many moons ago in his “first professional gig”.

“I’ve seen many, many pantos and shows there but I’ve never performed there before,” says Ian. “I’m a little bit jittery about the maybe more critical eyes of people I went to school with or who I worked on the railway with. I also hope I don’t meet the Grey Lady [the Theatre Royal ghost]!”

Ian, 55, will be joined in Bronagh Lagan’s production for Glass Half Full Productions by Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati as Mari Hoff and New York actress and YouTube sensation Christina Bianco as LV (Little Voice).

Heavy-drinking, louche, loud Mari and reclusive LV are the contrasting mother and daughter in Cartwright’s fairy-tale, where LV is left to her own devices, embodying the famous divas she plays on repeat in her room, from Judy Garland to Shirley Bassey, from her late father’s record collection.

From New York to old York: Ian Kelsey introduces American actress Christina Bianco to the quirks of his home city. Picture: Ant Robling

When manipulative Ray Say hears that cloistered nightingale sing, he foresees an overnight sensation and a route to a pot of gold in a story of the highs and the lows of small-town dreams, family rivalry and finding your voice in a noisy world.

Ian is in a touring show for the first time since The Verdict in 2019. “I was isolating in Dublin for two weeks in a hotel, doing an ITV drama, when Dublin was in its Lockdown number five, only on set for an hour, and this job came through while I was there,” he recalls. “It was my first audition on Zoom, so I had to embrace this new way of working.”

Ian jumped at the chance to play “king of the gutter” Ray in Cartwright’s painfully truthful northern drama. “I’d not the seen the film or the play before, although I was aware of it and what it’s about. But I just started reading the script and found Ray so funny, as well as horrific at the same time,” he says. “How can you not say yes to playing Ray Say?!” he says.

“He’s a bit of a leech really and so self-centred. He uses people. I think he has a good heart, or he had one, but it’s clear he only thinks of himself when it comes to his relationship with Mari. He’s not interested in her once he realises he can better his life through the singing talents of her daughter.”

Halfway through, Ray’s character changes. “There’s a speech where he just rips into Mari at one point and I was gobsmacked by what he says, but it’s brilliantly written by Jim Cartwright,” says Ian.

“It’s clear Ray only thinks of himself when it comes to his relationship with Mari,” says Ian, pictured with Shobna Gulati’s clinging Mari Hoff. Picture: Pamela Raith

“He’s a fantastic writer and as you’re reading it you can hear it being said. The rhythms are just how people talk in the world in which it’s set. The characters don’t have much money, but they aspire to live above their station, which is also really funny.”

Can 6ft 3ins Ian relate to the intimidating Ray in any way? “I hope not! But when I’m reading a script, it really helps if I have someone in mind and all their nuances start to come into play.

“With Ray, I’ve got a couple of people in mind, although I don’t want to say who they are of course. I’ve met proper northern gangsters, who act like comedians, but all the time you’re thinking, ‘you’ve got something in your boots’. I can say, there’s also a bit of Johnny, who played my father in Coronation Street, in there too.”

After landing the role, Ian resisted any temptation to watch Michael Caine’s award-winning performance in York director Mark Hearld’s 1998 film. “I don’t want to be influenced by it, otherwise for the audience it will feel like I’m doing my take on his take,” he reasons.

“By not seeing the film, it’s all fresh coming off the page, so the vision of how to play Ray comes from my head.”

Ian Kelsey shows Christina Bianco the resplendent glory of York Minster

Before Ray Say, Ian has taken on several roles associated with film versions. “Such as when I played Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, and that was ingrained in me because it’s one of my favourite films,” he says.

“In that instance, you can’t help but give a nod to iconic performances. I’ve done Danny in Grease and I completely pinched Travolta’s walk, the Danny strut. You can’t help pinching from the best.”

This time, Ian has taken a different approach, although he has discussed the role with a fellow actor and Jim Cartwright. “One of the lads out of Coronation Street had played Ray, so we had a really good chat about it, and then, when Jim was in the audience in early June, we got talking about different actors bringing their different trombones to it,” he says.

“You can bring a wheelbarrow of trombones to a comedy, and then after two weeks, you think, ‘OK, I need to hold back those trombones here’!

“What you have to do is to get back to the script and not bring a trombone to the party – although Jim loves trombones!”

Persuasive tongue: Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say tries to talk Christina Bianco’s LV into performing in public in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Picture: Pamela Raith

Mark Hearld set Little Voice in Scarborough; Cartwright’s play, premiered in 1992, refers only to being set in a northern town. “I think Scarborough’s too big for it. There are too many Ray Says in that town,” says Ian. “It needs to be a one-club town. It needs to be smaller than Scarborough.

“Ray’s the king of that one-club town, which is why, when he hears LV sing, he can see the potential of exploiting her talent. I can only imagine going to perform in somewhere like Wakefield would be big news!”

Ian reflects on the significance of 1992 in his own life. “It’s weird because, I’m 55 now, and that was the year I came out of drama school at Guildford,” he says.

“I didn’t realise people from York could go to drama school: I’d come out of school at 16, did six years at the railway carriage works, doing a coach-building apprenticeship, and then a year at Carris & Son, at Poppleton, making oak-leaf conservatories.

“It was there that I got my allergy to cedar wood and they told me I’d have to wear a face mask – that sounds familiar! – when working for the rest of my career. That’s when I ‘flipped’ and decided to go to drama school, when I was already in my early 20s.

Shobna Gulati, Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey in the tour poster for The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice

“Three years at drama school, and two years after that I got my first soap role in Emmerdale. They advised me to take five years off my age to get roles!”

Ian – definitely 55! – is enjoying his travels on tour. “Live theatre is different every night and you’re constantly trying to win the audience over. I learned so much doing [John Godber’s] September In The Rain about the set-up for comedy and it’s such a brilliant craft because you’re always learning new things. I don’t think I’ve ever done a job where I’ve not learned something,” he says.

“The thing I’ve been most looking forward to is taking my motorbike with me. One of the most difficult things about being on tour is filling the time between getting up and curtain-up. I’m not one for historical buildings and all that, and if you’ve been on the telly a bit you can’t just go and sit in a coffee bar for the afternoon without being recognised. So, it’s fantastic to just put a crash helmet on and go and explore.”

Already he has taken American co-star Christina Bianco on his own version of a guided tour of York. Come Monday, Ian and his bike will be all revved up with one place to go as he heads home to the city where he cut his performing teeth in Mike Thompson’s Rowntree Youth Theatre productions of Half A Sixpence, Kiss Me Kate and Some Like It Hot at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Now, he will have his Say at York Theatre Royal at last.

The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice runs at York Theatre Royal from July 4 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Thursday, and 2.30pm, Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Home at last: Ian Kelsey looks forward to his belated York Theatre Royal debut. Picture: Ant Robling
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Keep on Trucking as Hull theatre sets up activities aplenty for playing at home

Hull Truck Theatre: building closed, but the theatre invites you to be creative at home

CREATIVITY cannot be closed down, says Hull Truck Theatre, as it launches an At Home community hub from April 6.

Over the coming weeks, Hull Truck will run a programme of drama and creative activities to keep audiences and communities entertained and inspired during the Coronavirus lockdown.

This will involve a stream of “engaging and accessible content”, ranging from A Play A Day and Writing Workouts to 3 Minute Theatre, Educational Resource Packs and Screening past shows, all to be found on the new page hulltruck.co.uk/hull-truck-at-home/.  

The theatre’s statement says: “Hull Truck Theatre are passionate about the positive and transformative power of theatre and believe that having the opportunity to take part in creative activities is good for everyone’s wellbeing, outlook and self-esteem. 

“The team have prepared activities to help with home schooling; opportunities for all ages to learn and develop writing skills, and we’ll be streaming some of our past shows to be enjoyed from the comfort of your sofa. 

“Hull Truck Theatre hope that taking part in them will help participants to feel creative, connected and part of our online community hub.”  

Matthew Wilson and Nicola Stephenson in Jim Cartwright’s Two at Hull Truck Theatre

Here is a guide to the Hull Truck Theatre At Home programme:

 A Play A Day: Play-reading activity for all ages 

EVERY weekday from April 6 to 24 at 10am, a short play will be released, written by local playwrights. The plays were commissioned by Hull Truck for various projects over recent years; the theatre is delighted to share these with a wider audience now.  

Participants can read these plays on their own, out loud with the people in their household or with friends by phone or a video-conferencing platform. Each play will come with notes to help the reader, so, even if they have never read a play before, they can enjoy it as much as a theatre professional.  

First up will be Lydia Marchant’s 2009, written as part of a youth theatre project, Ten, and performed in March 2019 by 55 members of Hull Truck Theatre’s Young Company.

Ten celebrated the ten-year anniversary of Hull Truck moving to Ferensway and featured ten ten-minute plays, each based on a year in the decade 2009 to 2019.

The next four plays lined up were part of Ten too:  Ellen Brammar’s KidnappingNick; Lydia Marchant’s 2011; Josh Overton’s 2012 and Marchant’s 2013.

Writing Workout with Tom Saunders: Daily tasks for writers of all ages and abilities 

NEW writing is a core part of Hull Truck’s artistic programme, the theatre working with writers at any stage of their career and regularly staging or presenting world premieres, new adaptations and cutting-edge new writing from around the country.   

From April 6, associate director Tom Saunders will post a daily blog with a writing activity for people to complete at home. Writers of any age will be encouraged to complete the task, and, if they wish, can share footage of themselves reading their work on social media. 

“Even though our doors may be closed, we hope to continue inspiring people to enjoy the arts from their own home,” says Hull Truck Theatre artistic director Mark Babych

3 Minute Theatre

FOR those still needing their “fix of great theatre”, Hull Truck Theatre is asking some of its associate artists to record a short monologue from a play of their choice, to be shared across Hull Truck’s online channels.

Nicola Stephenson, from the cast of Jim Cartwright’s Two, Hull Truck’s 2020 co-production with Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre, and writer-performer Hester Ullyart have shared their monologues already.

These can be found on the hulltruck.co.uk/hull-truck-at-home/page or the Hull Truck YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/HTTheatre.  

Education Resource Packs

HULL Truck has made all its Education Resource Packs from past productions available for downloading online for use by teachers and home-schooling families.

For packs from Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, Peter Pan and Two, go to: hulltruck.co.uk/hull-truck-at-home/education-resource-packs/.

These packs include plot synopsis, character breakdown, information about authors and classroom activities to inspire teachers or home-schooling families.  

Hester Ulyart in Paragon Dreams at Hull Truck Theatre in April 2019. Picture: Sam Taylor

Screening past productions

HULL Truck is digging through its archives and is excited to share recordings of favourite shows over the years. 

First up will be a screening of Paragon Dreams from 2019, written and performed by Hull artist Hester Ullyart, directed by artistic director Mark Babych.

This tense thriller about a woman returning to Hull to face the ghosts of her past will be streamed on YouTube on Wednesday, April 8 at 7pm.  Watch Hull Truck Theatre’s social media channels via @hulltruck for the viewing link.

To engage on social media with these activities, tag @hulltruck for all platforms and use the relevant hashtags: #PlayADay, #WritingDaily, #3MinuteTheatre, #HTTEducation and #HTTStream.

Launching Hull Truck Theatre At Home, Mark Babych says: “In this time of uncertainty, it’s easy to feel alone. As a theatre family we are stronger together, with Hull Truck Theatre At Home we are hoping to reach out to our local communities – while still complying with Social Distancing.

“Even though our doors may be closed, we hope to continue inspiring people to enjoy the arts from their own home while also connecting with each other. Whether people are hosting their own online viewing parties or using video calls to go through the exercises together, we hope to start a conversation and help us all feel a lot better in these times. Stay well, stay safe and we look forward to welcoming you back soon.”