Penny for your thoughts: Jo Patmore’s prison troubadour offers to sing a song – for a price – to Emilio Encinoso-Gil’s highwayman John Swift as he awaits his hanging in John Godber’s The Highwayman
JOHN Godber is making history in more than one way in his new theatrical adventure. After more than 70 plays framed around modern culture and mores, he has gone back in time for his first historical romp.
Here is the background: “The year is 1769, when Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull thriving, and the spa towns full,” says writer-director Godber, now 68.
“Yorkshire was the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation was great.”
Godber, who once lived in the East Riding village where Dick Turpin was arrested, evokes that era with references to Turpin, fellow highwayman John Levison, and Tate Wilkinson (who managed York Theatre Royal for 36 years and opened the Hull Old Theatre, mentioned above).
He also talks of the history of the assizes and public hangings on the Tyburn gallows in York, a spectator sport of its day that could draw crowds of 100,000 [like the old Wembley Stadium].
Caught in the footlights: Dylan Allcock, left, Jo Patmore, Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Matheea Ellerby in The Highwayman
The Highwayman of the title is, however, a fictitious 18th century character, one John Swift (Emilio Encinoso-Gil), whose opening words find him in the ultimate predicament. “I know what you’re thinking. Not a great start.” Here are the noose headlines: Swift is up to his neck in trouble, the hangman’s rope ready to deliver his exit stage left.
Freeze that moment, Godber keeping both you and Swift in suspense as the highwayman goes into flashback mode to tell you his back story, struggling to make ends meet with his forthright wife Molly May (Matthea Ellerby).
This may be a history play but Godber is drawing parallels with the privations of today, the disparity between the wealthy and those in need of a northern levelling up: the York race-goers and the pilfering pickpockets at work in the crowds.
Swift by name, he is swift of hand too, but while he believes he has luck on his side, his proverbial dropped sandwich would land jam side down. Even when he works at Tate Wilkinson’s theatre, he is peed on from the dress circle above, metaphorically as well as physically.
He is torn between doing the right thing, serving in the war against the French, tilling the land, taking that theatre job, but he cannot resist temptation. Just as Turpin was arrested for shooting the Green Dragon landlord’s cockerel, Swift is nabbed for stealing a duck.
John Godber: On the highway to Hull and back
In the play’s best scenes, Encinoso-Gil’s Swift and Ellerby’s Molly are often at loggerheads, exacerbated by time spent apart and their contrasting expectations. Swift would not call himself misogynistic, but his professed deep love does not extend to believing Molly should be working, especially now they have two children.
Her constant concern is to bring more money into the home, and unlike Swift, she does so by showing spunky entrepreneurial flair, first in selling pressed flowers, then in adding scent to candles: an invention greeted by Swift with derision to rival Peter Kay’s bewildered “Garlic bread”.
Godber has described The Highwayman as “very, very different from what I’ve done before”. Indeed it is, and not only on account of its period setting. Humour is in short supply in Act One, Godber in serious mode, even heavy-handed, the pace surely too slow for a highwayman romp despite the rambunctious friction of Swift and Molly.
You might be tempted to call it “ropey” at this stage, if you like a pun, but CharlesHutchPress prefers to share the undaunted positivity of Swift.
Give Godber enough rope and Act Two is anything but a downfall, by comparison. Instead it stands and delivers an upturn, aided by Dylan Allcock and Jo Patmore’s multiple role-playing, especially Patmore’s Irish pirate queen as Swift takes to the seas.
On his high horse: Emilio Encinoso-Gil’s highwayman, John Swift, makes a point in The Highwayman
Her lugubrious troubadour, offering to sing a song – for a fee – before Swift’s hanging adds to Godber hitting his comic stride too, while Allcock especially enjoys playing the grand thespian Tate Wilkinson back in his Theatre Royal home.
The dialogue, by the way, is modern, recalling Blackadder in giving it a more contemporary clout and political resonance. The staging is in economical Godber tradition: four regularly reassembled wooden boxes, a hangman’s noose and woodland screens behind.
In keeping with past Godber shows, snatches of pertinent pop songs set scenes, while the cast savours Allcock’s high-spirited folk songs, sung lustily in the manner of Brecht & Weil’s operas.
The Highwayman will not go down in history as one of Godber’s era-defining plays, more as a dandy, if acerbic dalliance, a Yorkshire past brought into the present, as ever with hope for a changed, better future.
John Godber Company presents The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, today at 2pm and 7.45pm, SOLD OUT. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Gerard Savva: Leading the York Stage cast as Bobby in Company at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
LOOK out for Godber at the double, Sondheim sophistication, a ground-breaking Black pioneer and Hull humour in the week ahead, recommends Charles Hutchinson.
Musical of the week: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married? Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold, sophisticated and insightful revolutionary musical comedy follows Bobby as he navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily (and unhappily) married friends, exploring the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind.
Nik Briggs directs a York Stage cast featuring Gerard Savva as Bobby, Florence Poskitt, Julia Anne Smith, Alexandra Mather, Joanne Theaker, Dan Crawfurd-Porter and Jack Hooper, among others. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for Lightning Seeds’ show at Scarborough Spa Grand Hall tonight
Pure and simply joyful every time: Lightning Seeds, Tomorrow’s Here Today, 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, Scarborough Spa Grand Hall, tonight; The Welly, Hull, December 4; Leeds Beckett Students’ Union, December 6
TO mark their 35th anniversary, Liverpool singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie leads Lightning Seeds on their Tomorrow’s Here Today tour to accompany a new greatest hits album.
Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions et al and many more. Tonight doors open at 7pm; Casino play at 8pm, Lightning Seeds at 9pm. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk; Hull, giveitsomewelly.com; Leeds, leedsbeckettsu.co.uk.
Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch
Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they are expecting four days of hill running and total de-stressing. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.
The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling 1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Highwayman cast of Dylan Allcock, left, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Matheea Ellerby and Jo Patmore in John Godber’s new historical play. Picture: Ian Hodgson
New play of the week: John Godber Company in The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday, sold out
AFTER more than 70 plays reflecting on modern life, John Godber goes back in history for the first time in The Highwayman. “It’s 1769 and Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull is thriving, and the Spa towns are full,” he says.
“Everyone is flocking north. Yorkshire is the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation is great.” Enter the highwayman, John Swift and his partner, Molly May. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Paterson Joseph and Charles Ignatius Sancho: Storyteller and subject in Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal
Story of the week: Paterson Joseph, Sancho & Me, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm, with post-show discussion
CHARLES Ignatius Sancho, born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729, became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected man of letters in 18th century London – the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain.
Actor, author and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University Paterson Joseph tells his story, accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park, built around his book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Joseph explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with his own story of growing up Black and British. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Irish band Adore: Headlining at The Crescent tomorrow. Picture: Fnatic
Indie gig of the week: Road Less Travelled presents Adore, Fuzz Lightyear and Tom Beer, The Crescent, York, tomorrow,7.30pm
RISING stars of the Irish music scene, Adore are a three-piece garage punk band from Galway, Donegal and Dublin, who refract surf, disco and pop through punk sensibilities, grounded in crunchy guitar, drum and bass.
Leeds four-piece Fuzz Lightyear, freshly signed to independent label Nice Swan Records, match the intensity of Idles and Gilla Band while applying wit and a lyrical openness to their songs. Bull frontman Tom Beer kicks off the triple bill with a solo set. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
New York Brass Band: Bringing New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz from old York to Milton Rooms, Malton
Jazz night of the week: Acorn Events presents New York Brass Band and The Ryedale Stray Notes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 7pm
NEW York Brass Band, from York, perform with a seven or eight-piece line-up of sax, tuba, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone in the New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz band tradition. Formed by James Lancaster in 2010, they are inspired by Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, Hot 8, Youngblood and Brassroots.
They have played at Glastonbury for the past eight festivals and at celebrity parties and weddings for Danny Jones, of McFly, Ellie Goulding, comedian Alex Brooker, Liam Gallagher and Jamie Oliver. Support act The Ryedale Stray Notes feature 25 talented young musicians “ready to raise the roof”. Proceeds go to Acorn Community Care to support vulnerable adults with physical and learning disabilities. Tickets: acornevents.org.uk or phone Ali on 07891 3889085.
Paddy Young: Topping the Rye Humour bill at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Lucas Smith
Variety night of the week: Rye Humour, Comedy vs Climate Change, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
RYE Humour’s variety bill of up-and-coming comics will be headlined by Chortle Best Newcomer winner Paddy Young, a stand-up with Scarborough roots. The 2023 BBC New Comedy Awards finalist and Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nominee has attracted 100 million views online for his sketches with Ed Night. His comedy special, filmed by American record label 800 Pound Gorilla Records, will be released shortly.
This gig has been developed in collaboration with the Ryevitalise Landscape Partnership scheme, as part of a project that uses humour to explore environmental issues based around North Yorkshire’s rivers. Any questions about the evening, or accessibility, will be answered at events@comedyvsclimatechange.org.uk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Lucy Beaumont: Off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy gig of the week: Lucy Beaumont Live, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 8pm
HULL humorist, BAFTA nominee and Taskmaster star Lucy Beaumont is determined to let loose and let slip on her rollercoaster world with off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood.
From the co-host of the chart-topping podcast Perfect Brains with Sam Campbell and creator of Meet The Richardsons comes a look at life through the Lucy lens. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Brushing up on her art: Lindsey Tyson, one of the Wednesday Four exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery, York
FROM the Wednesday Four to the sold-out Barbican four, a Sondheim musical to John Godber making history, Charles Hutchinson puts the ‘yes’ into November’s calendar.
Last chance to see: The Wednesday Four, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today and Monday, 10am to 5pm
THE Wednesday Four, a group of four artist friends who gather in Scarborough each week – busy schedules permitting – are exhibiting together for the first time in York.
Shirley Vauvelle (ceramic sculpture and paintings), Gillian Martin (paintings and prints), Katie Braida (ceramics) and Lindsey Tyson (paintings) have been meeting for three years but have known each other much longer.
Tarot: Performing sketches in nighties in Shuffle at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: PBJ Management
Sketch show of the week: Tarot: Shuffle, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
“THEY (our parents, partners, children) say ‘sketch is dead’, but if it’s dead then where’s all our money going?” ask Tarot, a sketch troupe featuring members of Gein’s Family Giftshop and Goose, Adam Drake, Ed Easton and Kath Hughes.
What lies in store in Shuffle? “Joyously silly and uproariously live and in-the-room, we would call it ‘improv’ but we’ve got some self-respect: this is sketch in nighties. Come watch a new tour of big, daft and, above all, live comedy being conjured up in front of your very eyes.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Rise Up To Empower Women: Fundraiser for York charity IDAS at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Fundraiser of the week: Rise Up To Empower Women, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
YORK and Leeds performers come together to “raise the roof to end gender-based violence”, sharing inspiring and moving stories of female survivors of abuse in a night of musical theatre organised by Hannah Winbolt-Lewis. Proceeds will go to IDAS, the Blossom Street, York-based domestic abuse and sexual violence support charity, and to aid the recovery of Leanne Lucas, a survivor of July’s Southport stabbings.
Performing arts student Daisy Winbolt-Robertson
Performing arts students Kate Lohan, Daisy Winbolt-Robertson, Sara Belal, Rose Scott, Chloe Amelie Lightfoot, Erin Childs, Annie Dunbar, Jasmine Lowe, Declan Childs and Oliver Lawery will sing songs from shows that depict survivors’ stories: Heathers, Spring Awakening, Waitress, The Color Purple, SIX The Musical and the newly premiered SuperYou. Donations can be made via idas.co.uk. Box office: O1904 501935, josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or bit.ly/RiseUpToEmpowerWomen.
Simon Brodkin: Ripping into celebrity culture, social media, the police, Putin, Prince Andrew and God in Screwed Up
Comedy gig of the week: Simon Brodkin, Screwed Up, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 8pm
SIMON Brodkin, world-famous prankster, Lee Nelson creator and most-watched British stand-up comedian on TikTok, brings his outrageous stand-up show back to York.
In Screwed Up, Brodkin rips into celebrity culture, social media, the police, Putin, Prince Andrew and God. Nothing is off limits, from his own mental health and family to his five arrests and how he once found himself at an underground sex party. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Irish Christmas celebrations in song and dance in Fairytale Of New York
What? Christmas in old York already : Fairytale Of New York – The Ultimate Irish-Inspired Christmas Concert, Grand Opera House, York, November 11, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Seven Drunken Nights – The Story Of The Dubliners comes a rich tapestry of Irish singers, musicians and dancers performing Driving Home For Christmas, Step Into Christmas, Oh Holy Night, Fairytale Of New York and Irish sing-along favourites The Galway Girl, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town and The Black Velvet Band. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sarah Millican: “Lots of stuff about dinners and lady gardens” at York Barbican
Recommended but sold out alas: next week’s shows at York Barbican
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don kicks off a particularly busy week at York Barbican when he shares his passion for gardens and the role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing on Monday night (7.30pm). Jazz pianist, songwriter and BBC Radio 2 presenter Jamie Cullum will be supported by Northampton pianist and singer Billy Lockett on Tuesday (doors 7pm).
On Thursday (8pm), in her Late Bloomer show, South Shields comedian Sarah Millican mulls over her transition from being quiet at school with not many friends and an inability to say boo to a goose to being loud with good friends and goose-booing outbursts aplenty, “plus lots of stuff about dinners and lady gardens,” she says. On Friday (doors 7pm), in her Rockin’ On show, queen of rock’n’roll Suzi Quatro rolls out Can The Can, Devil Gate Drive, Stumblin’ In, 48 Crash, The Wild One et al. “It’s my 60th year in the business and it still feels like I’ve just started,” she says.
The York Stage poster for their “new version” of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s American musical comedy Company
Musical of the week: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 13 to 16, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married? Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold , sophisticated and insightful revolutionary musical comedy follows Bobby as he navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily (and unhappily) married friends as he explores the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind.
Nik Briggs directs a York Stage cast featuring Gerard Savva as Bobby, Florence Poskitt, Julia Anne Smith, Alexandra Mather, Joanne Theaker, Dan Crawfurd-Porter and Jack Hooper, among others. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Highwayman cast of Dylan Allcock, left, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Matheea Ellerby and Jo Patmore in John Godber’s new historical play. Picture: Ian Hodgson
New play of the week: John Godber Company in The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, November 14 to 16, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday, sold out
AFTER more than 70 plays reflecting on modern life, John Godber goes back in history for the first time in The Highwayman. “It’s 1769 and Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull is thriving, and the Spa towns are full,” he says.
“Everyone is flocking north. Yorkshire is the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation is great.” Enter the highwayman, John Swift and his partner, Molly May. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In focus: Paterson Joseph, Sancho & Me, York Theatre Royal, November 14, 7.30pm, with post-show discussion
Paterson Joseph and Charles Ignatius Sancho: Storyteller and subject in Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal
CHARLES Ignatius Sancho, born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729, became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected man of letters in 18th century London – the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain.
Actor, author and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University Paterson Joseph tells his story, accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park, built around Joseph’s book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho.
Joseph explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with his own story of growing up Black and British
Joseph says: “Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) had a most extraordinary life. Born of enslaved African parents, he rose to a position of great influence in British society. A polymath with a talent for music, his vote in 1774 and 1780 made him the first person of African descent to vote in a British Parliamentary election.
“I first came across Charles Ignatius Sancho in 1999. Born and raised in London, by my mid-thirties I had no idea there were thousands of Black Britons in the UK long before the famous ‘Windrush Generation’ who arrived in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. I cannot overstate the powerful sense of belonging this knowledge brought me.
“My desire is to spread that sense of rootedness through spreading the word far and wide: Britain has always been a multi-ethnic country and Black people have been a major part of that story.”
The show incorporates Sancho’s compositions and original music by composer and musician Ben Park. In the words of Sancho: “Friendship is a plant of slow growth, and, like our English oak, spreads, is more majestically beautiful, and increases in shade, strength and riches, as it increases in years.”
Paterson Joseph: the back story
Born: Willesden, London on June 22 1964 to parents from St Lucia. Educated at Cardinal Hinsley RC High School. Worked briefly as catering assistant. Trained at Studio ’68 of Theatre Arts, London (South Kensington Library), from 1983 to 1985, later attending London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
Theatre roles: Oswald in King Lear, Dumaine in Love’s Labours Lost and Marquis de Mota in The Last Days Of Don Juan, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990. Title role in Othello, Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2002. Lead roles in The Royal Hunt Of The Sun and The Emperor Jones, Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London, 2006. Brutus, in Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar, set in Africa, 2012. Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Old Vic Theatre, London, 2019 into 2020.
Undertook documentary project My Shakespeare, filmed for Channel 4 in 2004, directing version of Romeo & Juliet that used 20 young non-actors from deprived Harlesden area of London.
On television: Mark Grace in Casualty (1997–1998); Alan Johnson in Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show (2003–2015); Lyndon Jones in Green Wing (2004–2006); Greg Preston in Survivors (2008–2010); DI Wes Layton in Law And Order: UK (2013–2014); “Holy Wayne” Gilchrest in The Leftovers (2014–2015); DCI Mark Maxwell in Safe House (2015–2017); Connor Mason in Timeless (2016–2018); Home Secretary, then Prime Minister Kamal Hadley in Noughts + Crosses (2020-2022); Commander Neil Newsome in Vigil (2021); Samuel Wells in Boat Story (2023).
Films include: Benbay in In The Name Of The Father (1993); Keaty in The Beach (2000); Greenfingers (2001), Giroux in Æon Flux (2005), The Other Man (2009) and Arthur Slugworth in Wonka (2023).
His debut play as a writer, Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance, was first co-produced and performed at Oxford Playhouse in 2015, then twice toured United States of America, including Kennedy Center in Washington and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Performed by Joseph in London in 2018 at Wilton’s Music Hall; published by Bloomsbury.
Debut novel The Secret Diaries Of Charles Ignatius Sancho was published in 2022 by Dialogue Books in UK and Henry Holt in USA, charting Sancho’s life through fictionalised diary entries, letters and commentary. Nominated for six literary awards, winning Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize and Historical Writers Association Debut Novel Prize in 2023.
First book, Julius Caesar And Me: Exploring Shakespeare’s African Play, published by Bloomsbury.
Appointed Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University in 2022. Installed in May 2023.
Paterson Joseph, Me & Sancho, York Theatre Royal, November 14, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Highwayman cast of Lancastrian actor-musician Dylan Allcock, left, Yorkshire actress Jo Patmore, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, last seen in the John Godber Company’s Do I Love You?, and Godber Theatre Foundation member Matheea Ellerby. Picture: Ian Hodgson
JOHN Godber has written more than 70 plays, invariably reflecting present-day concerns, woes and joys with humour as dry as a Yorkshire stone wall.
The Highwayman, riding into York Theatre Royal Studio from Thursday to Saturday next week, is different. “It’s the first time I’ve gone back into history,” says writer-director John, now 68, introducing his theatrical adventure where “history has never felt so modern.”
Before any nay’sayer points out he co-wrote Moby Dick with fellow Yorkshire playwright Nick Lane, that one does not count as it was an adaptation of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel.
This one is all John’s own work, albeit with the heavy hand of history leaning on him. “The year is 1769, when Yorkshire’s population had exploded, the races at York were packed, the new theatre in Hull thriving, and the spa towns full,” says John.
“Yorkshire was the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation was great.”
Cue The Highwayman, “an exciting and exhilarating romp through history, where history has never felt so modern, theft never more attractive”. “I’m so excited to be bringing The Highwayman to the York Theatre Royal,” says John. “I cannot think of a better city to stage a show about highwaymen, this play coming from the region where Turpin was caught and Nevison made his great leap.”
Why head back into history now, John? “OK, two things. Many things actually. Dick Turpin was arrested in the village I used to live in, North Ferriby, [after shooting his landlord’s cockerel and threatening to kill the landlord, allegedly in the Green Dragon pub in Welton], so there is that story.
“I’d always been sure that Dick Turpin was a good subject for an East Yorkshire tour. Secondly, John Nevison was most likely to have been the man who rode from York to London on Black Bess, and Nevison was from Pontefract, just down the road from where I was born in Upton, and one of the main storing points for his booty was in Wentbridge, two miles from where I was born. The great leap he made to get away from the rozzers was across an estuary near Pontefract.”
John continues the background story. “That’s only part of the reason. The other was Tate Wilkinson [who managed York Theatre Royal for 36 years in the 18th century] . As an actor, he used to tour the northern circuit of Wakefield, Barnsley, Hull, York, Doncaster and Leeds, like my plays do now, and he opened the Hull Old Theatre in Hull, in Lowgate, too,” he says.
“I met up with Dr David Wilmore, the world expert on Frank Matcham’s theatres, who lives in North Yorkshire, to talk about the Assizes, how people went to watch the races at York and the hangings too, and in the late 1780s, you’re talking of 100,000 people watching the public hangings.
“This was the levelling up of a different era, so I then started looking at the £22 billion black hole today and thought, ‘if you had no money, what might you be led to do?’, and that’s when all these factors came into my thinking that I’d like to write a play about highwayman, though my character is an invention…”
…“There’s something else you need to know. You know my interest in Brecht and The Threepenny Opera…and The Beggar’s Opera. That was written by John Gay and produced by John Ridge, who had worked with Tate Wilkinson in the early part of his career.”
Put all this together and you have the model for Godber’s highwayman John Swift and his partner Molly May. “She’s referenced in Thin Lizzy’s hit Whiskey In The Jar, which happens to be a song about highwaymen!” says John.
Writer-director John Godber
The Highwayman was sparked by a request from East Riding Theatre in Beverley. “I was approached by ERT to write a play to mark the theatre’s tenth birthday, and I thought, ‘why not do something quite different and relevant to the district?’,” John says.
“We opened at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond [North Yorkshire], where Tate Wilkinson played in the 1790s. That theatre was set up by Samuel Butler, who is buried in St Mary’s churchyard in Beverley.”
History is piling on history in John’s production. “The Woodland Scene, the oldest existing piece of stage scenery in the world, is in the Georgian Theatre’s museum, so I asked if we could replicate it in The Highwayman as we’re setting the play in Georgian times,” says John.
The resulting play has this period setting but with modern dialogue. “The ‘temptation’ in the play’s story leads the highywayman John Swift to come back from fighting the war in France thinking, ‘how am I going to make a living?’, particularly in the rural north,” says John. “So we’re looking at ‘what would you do if you had nothin’ – and with all the wealth around him, there was a lot of thieving to be done.”
What happens in The Highwayman, John? “The narrative starts with the highwayman’s hanging, which is ‘not a great start to a play’ he says, so he takes us back to when he is about to be hanged. Did you know, many of these hangings were unsuccessful and people sometimes survived? Our highwayman survives and because he does so, he changes his outlook to longer rob and work the land instead, and work for Tate Wilkinson too,” he says.
“But things don’t go to plan as his wife, Molly May, likes to spend, so he he goes up the coast on a ship and comes back with lots of goblets but still not enough to satisfy Molly.”
His story arc takes in pirates, the Royal Navy and highwayman John being sentenced to death again, waiting in Newgate Prison to be hanged for a second time. In the meantime, Molly May progresses from a cottage industry, pressing flowers, to inventing scented candles and becoming extremely wealthy from the perfume business at Floris. Whereas he keeps on running out of luck, Molly May takes advantage of opportunistic entrepreneurship.
“It’s been great fun to research the play, finding things I wasn’t aware of, like when you were about to be hanged, you could request a song, though you had to pay for it” says John.
The play may have an historical setting but “it’s a parable for today, close to an allegory. It’s been fascinating to do because it’s very, very different from what I’ve done before, but people come up to me and day, ‘mate, it’s happening now’.”
Reflecting on the early months of the new Labour Government, John says: “I have always voted Labour but I think this might be the last time. I believe we have lost touch with what people who have nothing are feeling. Also, university student fees going up: what’s that going to do?
“I’m not a Trump fan, but what we’re seeing [in America] is a failing of liberal education and a failure to understand what people on the ground are feeling.”
Looking ahead, John’s daughter, Elizabeth, has arranged a John Godber Company tour next year of his hit Northern Soul play Do I Love You?, booked into York Theatre Royal for June 10 to 14 on its 22-week itinerary. For tickets, go to: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
John Godber Company presents The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, November 14 to 16, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday matinees, SOLD OUT. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Driven by a vendetta: Guy Rhys’s Captain Ahab in Simple8’s Moby Dick. Picture: Manuel Harlan
MOBY Dick, Herman Melville’s leviathan tale of vengeful whaler versus great white whale, keeps returning to the Yorkshire stage.
Remember Slung Low’s The White Whale on water at Leeds Dock, the one with headphone sets for the audience, in September 2014?
Or John Godber and Nick Love’s version for the John Godber Company, the one with crates and bicycles, in the repurposed dock of Hull’s amphitheatre Stage@TheDock in June 2021?
Now, from Thursday to Saturday, York Theatre Royal plays host to Sebastian Armesto’s adaptation for Simple 8, the indoor one with sea shanties, planks of wood, tattered sheets and a battered assortment of musical instruments.
Why should you see this one? “It’s mercifully brief and means that if you haven’t read the novel you can watch our show and then pretend that you have,” says a droll Sebastian.
“Mercifully brief”? Two hours, including the interval, should you be wondering, as Royal & Derngate artistic director Jesse Jones’s ensemble cast of nine actor-musicians presents “a fun, fast and joyous production that transports you right to the heart of the hunt for the most famous whale on Earth”.
Mirroring whaling voyages, Jones’s ensemble must apply graft, not only conjuring ships, seas, storms and even whales from sparse means, but also playing and singing all the sea shanties live, in the Simple8 house style of “poor theatre” of multiple roles and minimal materials where “everyone does everything”.
Then add the task of taking the nautical indoors as Guy Rhys’s Captain Ahab and the Pequod crew seek vengeance on Moby Dick, the whale responsible for taking his leg.
Sea shanty singing in Simple8’s Moby Dick, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Manuel Harlan
“Not only the setting is a challenge, but so is the size of the novel the play is adapted from, the ‘ginormity’ of the beast, the scale of the drama, the sky, the sea, and then there are the massive themes of the novel,” says Sebastian.
“In taking it indoors, there’s an element within it that suits the forced imaginative leap, where the suspension of disbelief inherent in theatre is directly within the fabric of the novel too.
“In the book, there are chapters and chapters about what a whale is – its bulk, its history – so it’s a novel that’s trying to devise meaning for everything. The whaling industry. Ahab’s character. Whale behaviour. The existential crisis.”
Sebastian continues: “The idea that you have to do it with nothing on stage sort of aligns with the novel’s struggle with itself. That’s my justification for not doing it in a dry dock, though I might enjoy that.
“I’ve seen a Norwegian production with puppets, a dance production, John Huston’s [1956] movie starring Gregory Peck and Orson Welles: whalers in pursuit of Moby Dick to their eventual demise, just as it will destroy you in pursuit of it. I’m sure it’s folly to try to adapt such books, but it’s also part of the pleasure.”
Sebastian reckons Melville’s novel is “one of those books that people would rather prefer they didn’t have to read, with its meandering passages”, but nevertheless he has a long association with Moby Dick.
“I adapted it a long time ago, previously completing an adaptation in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2013 that we first staged it, when I directed it,” he recalls.
“I was told that I did turn into Captain Ahab, obsessed with physical movement, to the detriment of everyone else, which doesn’t surprise me – and I apologise for that.”
Guy Rhys’s Captain Ahab, centre, leading his crew on the Pequod in Simple8’s Moby Dick. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Reviving his adaptation for Simple8’s tour, the script has changed, “as it inevitably will because it will never be complete,” he says. “Watching it fires me with more ideas and more things that I can do. This production and the text are evolving: the play is fluid, rather than solid.
“It’s been rewarding to go back to it. There are bits that I had forgotten, parts of the novel too, though in the end, there are things in the re-write that have not made it into the new version on stage for practical reasons.”
Significantly too, the existential fear and threat of the Covid 19 virus, its enforced lockdowns and resulting isolation, have given new resonance to the psychological and psychiatric impact of an unknown threat in Moby Dick.
“I come back to the initial discussion about putting Moby Dick on stage, being forced to imagine, when even the characters in the book don’t see Moby until the last 15 pages,” says Sebastian.
“Mime is very important to this production, particularly the idea that the actors are collectively committing to something that is completely imaginary, so there’s a lot of very intense physical storytelling, emphasising how they are grappling with something that they don’t fully understand.
“Post-pandemic, everyone has been grappling with something they couldn’t see, didn’t understand and were contained and confined by. That sense of being pursued by an unseen threat, endangering your survival, is really clear post-Moby Dick, with its imprint on other stories, from Joseph Conrad’s novels to Jaws.”
Simple8, in association with the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, present Moby Dick, York Theatre Royal, June 6 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Sebastian Armesto: the back story
Sebastian Armesto: Actor, writer and director
Born: June 3 1982. Son of historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.
Education: Eton College.
Occupation: Film, television and theatre actor, writer and director.
Acted in high-profile theatre productions in Great Britain, including shows at National Theatre and Royal Court, London.
Writes and directs theatre with Simple 8 company.
Productions include directing and adapting Les Enfants du Paradis; co-writing and directing play based on William Hogarth’s The Four Stages Of Cruelty and new versions of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Moby Dick.
Influence on directing style: 1981 Ashes-winning cricket captain, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst Mike Brearley’s book The Art Of Captaincy: What Sport Teaches Us About Leadership.
The four doormen of the apocalypse: John Godber Company in Bouncers, on tour at York Theatre Royal
THE northern 1980s and Bath society in 1798, French park life and a canny tortoise stir Charles Hutchinson into heading out of the front door.
York play of the week: John Godber Company in Bouncers, York Theatre Royal, April 5, 7.30pm; April 6, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
MEET Lucky Eric, Judd, Les and Ralph, the original men in black, as they tell the torrid tale of one Eighties’ night in a Yorkshire disco in John Godber’s northern parody of Saturday Night Fever. All the gang are out on the town, the lads, the lasses, the cheesy DJ, the late-night kebab man, and the taxi home, under the watchful eyes of the Bouncers (Nick Figgis, George Reid, Frazer Hammill and newcomer Tom Whittaker).
“We’re delighted to be taking Bouncers back to the heyday of disco and the 1980s,” says Goober. “Looking back, there was so much wrong with the decade but also so much to celebrate; this new production dances a balance between what was great and what is cringe-worthy now!” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rebecca Banatvala, back, AK Golding, middle, and Sam Newton, front, in Northanger Abbey at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Pamela Raith
Play of the week outside York: Northanger Abbey, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until April 13
ZOE Cooper adapts Jane Austen’s coming-of-age satire of Gothic novels in a co-production by the SJT, Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, starring Rebecca Banatvala (Cath), AK Golding (Iz) and Sam Newton (Hen) under Tessa Walker’s direction.
In a play fizzing with imagination, humour and love, Cath Morland knows little of the world, but who needs real-life experience when you have books to guide you? Cath seizes her chance to escape her claustrophobic family life and join the smart set in Bath. Between balls and parties, she meets worldly, sophisticated Iz, and so Cath’s very own adventure begins. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Yu Wakizuka’s Hare in Northern Ballet’s Tortoise & The Hare, racing around York Theatre Royal. Picture: Sophie Beth Jones
Children’s show of the week: Northern Ballet in Tortoise & The Hare, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday, 2pm, 4pm; Wednesday, 11am (Relaxed Performance), 2pm, 4pm
CHOREOGRAPHED by former Northern Ballet dancers Dreda Blow and Sebastian Loe, Tortoise & The Hare is an introduction to live ballet, theatre and music for “little ones”. When cheeky Hare can’t stop boasting about his speed, thoughtful Tortoise, so tired of being teased for his slowness, decides to challenge him in a race. No-one thinks Tortoise can win, but once Hare is distracted by games and treats, Tortoise might surprise everyone.
Leeds company Northern Ballet’s 40-minute adaptation of Aesop’s fable features an original score by Bruno Merz, set designs by Ali Allen and live music performed by Northern Ballet Sinfonia members. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Opening his spring tour at Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Gig of the week: Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, Thursday, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich follows up Dirty Hit Records’ February 9 release of his fifth album, Some Things Break, with a nine-date spring tour that opens in Leeds.
He will perform alongside The 1975’s guitarist and keyboard player Jamie Squire on a tour managed by Bradley Blackwell, former bassist and keyboards player in The York band The Howl & The Hum.
Benjamin has released a 15-minute film of Some Things Break, directed by Harvey Pearson, that combines documentary footage of the recording process with interviews and four live videos of album tracks featuring Squire on keyboards and backing vocals. You can watch the film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqAUE3jrp6w
Now based in Tottenham, London, Benjamin will be returning to York on July 18 to open the bill for Jack Savoretti’s open-air concert in York Museum Gardens on July 18. Box office: Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com; York, jacksavoretti.com/events.
Jessica Fostekew: On her mettle at Pocklington Arts Centre
Comedy gag of the week: Jessica Fostekew, Mettle, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 8pm
IN her new stand-up show of passion, pace and purpose, Jessica Fostekew’s son has joined a cult and her cat has learnt to talk. Nevertheless, she feels fine. In fact she is hurtling faster and hustling harder than ever for the things that she wants and needs.
Fostekew appeared in the sitcom Motherland and Sundance Festival Grand Jury prize-winning film Scrapper and is a regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist podcast, host and creator of her own podcast about eating, Hoovering, and the star and writer of BBC Radio 4’s Sturdy Girl Club. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Savva Zverev: Russian-born violinist, playing York Late Music concert on April 6. Picture: Mixei & TunaPutting themselves in the picture: Pick Me Up Theatre cast members James Willstrop (as Jules), left, Neil Foster (as Soldier), Natalie Walker (as Dot) amd Sanna Jeppsson (as Yvonne), front, set the scene for Sunday In The Park With George
York musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Sunday In The Park With George, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 5 to 13, 7.30pm except April 8; 2.30pm, April 6, 7 and 13
STEPHEN Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical follows painter Georges Seurat (played by Adam Price) in the months leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte.
Consumed by his need to “finish the hat”, Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists and neglects his lover Dot (Natalie Walker), not realising that his actions will reverberate through the next 100 years. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Fairground Attraction: Mark Nevin, left, Roy Dodds, Eddi Reader and Simon Edwards reunite after 35 years for a York-bound tour and new album
Gig announcement of the week: Fairground Attraction, York Barbican, October 1
AFTER an absence of nigh on 35 years, all four original members of short-lived late-Eighties’ band Fairground Attraction are reuniting for a 14-date British tour and an as-yet-untitled new studio album, preceded by first single What’s Wrong With The World?, out now.
Best known for their chart-topping debut, Perfect, winner of the Best Single prize at the 1988 Brit Awards, Fairground Attraction return with their country-pop line-up of singer Eddi Reader, guitarist Mark Nevin, guitarrón bassist Simon Edwards and drummer Roy Dodds. Box office: axs.com/York.
In Focus: A triple bill of York Late Music concerts, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, April 5 and 6
Violinist Savva Zverev. Picture: York Late Music
THREE York Late Music concerts promise compositions by Bach, Bartok, Brahms, Bryars, Webern, Pärt, Farrenc and Debussy, new works and old works, York composers and even a York Suite, Richard Stoker’s Eboracum.
First up, on April 5 at 1pm, pianist David Hammond plays William Baines’s Pictures Of Light, Drift-light, Bursting Flames and Pool-lights, Steve Crowther’s Michael Dances, Ruth Karn’s The Loneliness Of Now and Gavin Bryars’ Ramble On Cortona.
Richard Stoker’s aforemtioned work A York Suite, Eboracum comprises Vale Of York, chorale prelude; Micklegate, interlude 1; Minster and the Five Sisters, lullaby; River Ouse, scherzo; Bootham Bar, interlude 2; Station and Railway Museum Castleand Clifford’s Tower, nocturne.
Hammond’s programme is completed by Matt Dibble’s Prelude in B minor, Hammond’s own work Variations On A Scottish Jig and William Baines’s Tides, The Lone Wreck and Goodnight To Flamboro’.
At 1pm on April 6, Amabile’s trio of Lesley Schatzberger, Nicola Tait Baxter and Paul Nicholson bring the distinctive blend of clarinet, cello and piano to life with a combination of trios by Brahms and performer, composer and equality campaigner Louise Farrenc, complemented by a new Steve Crowther work.
In the evening, at 7.30pm, Russian-born violinst Savva Zverev and pianist Sid Ramachander combine Bach’s Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor and Preludes by Debussy with works by Webern, Lutoslawski, Bartok, Pärt and Franz Waxmann. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.
Table service: Sophie Bullivant, left Laura Castle and Abi Carter in Shakers
DEATHLY ghost tour host Jamie McKeller picked John Godber’s Teechers Leavers ’22 for his return to directing after 15 years last March.
Fresh from playing an Ugly Sister in panto, McKeller heads back to the Jo Ro with another rotten state-of the-nation Godber comedy, this one a husband-and-wife collaboration with Jane Thornton.
Two cast members from McKeller’s 2023 production return to the Rowntree Players ranks for Shakers, his pantomime co-stars Sophie Bullivant and Laura Castle now being joined by Abi Carter and Holly Smith.
McKeller has plumped for the 1987 version, not the 1994 musical with 50 per cent new material, nor the 2010 edition with a cast of five, nor the 2022 remix, Shakers: Under New Management!.
In the mix: Holly Smith, Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter and Laura Castle making cocktails in a promotional shot for Rowntree Players’ Shakers
This is Shakers at its most raw, showing its dark Eighties’ roots like a bleach blonde hairdo, but resonating all the more in our age of zero hours contracts and #MeToo.
Like now, Thatcher’s Britain was an era of fears over losing your job and a them-and-us culture of division. Furthermore, some things never change, whether men treating women as meat or the boss demanding his cocktail waitresses show ever more leg.
In this unruly sister to Godber’s boisterous Bouncers, the multi-role-playing template turns the northern nightlife focus from the nightclub door staff to the cocktail bar shakers and stirrers: overworked, underpaid and prone to squabbling in a whirlwind of sticky floors and sticky situations.
Bullivant’s feminist Carol, Castle’s volatile Mel, Carter’s working mum Adele and company newcomer Smith’s brash Niki face the Saturday night shift from hell: seven hours beneath the neon lights, in shirts tied at the waist, black trousers and white pumps.
Laura Castle in a phone conversation in Rowntree Players’ Shakers
Fast, fizzing physical theatre, with minimal props and a minimalist set design of only four bar seats and four mini-bars on wheels in matching colours, is the performance style.
Another Godber trademark is omnipresent too: plenty of direct address to the audience, here concentrated in the stalls seats nearest the stage to lend McKeller’s production an intimate, studio atmosphere.
Mirroring Bouncers, the quartet plays myriad Shakers clientele: four lasses on a 21st birthday bender; leery lads on the pull; two bragging, misogynist TV producers; frantic kitchen staff; the jobsworth loo attendant.
Quick costume changes, jackets on, jackets off, sunglasses, handbags and a multitude of voices delineate characters that tend towards the caricature and the stereotype, especially in the yuppies and the luvvies.
Holly Smith and Sophie Bullivantin multi-role playing mode in Shakers
Like the waitresses’ shift, the workload and the pace is restless, exacerbated by McKeller’s decision to forego an interval, but there is stillness too in the monologues, one for each waitress, more serious in tone each time, culminating in a shuddering finale as downbeat as Teechers’ end-of-term despair.
Teamwork in movement and dialogue is impressively slick under McKeller’s direction, typified by that closing scene, while high energy bursts through individual performances, Castle the pick, as strong and supportive as that name would suggest.
The audience rarely laughs out loud en masse, which could be unnerving for the cast, but McKeller’s company resists trying to force the humour. Good decision.
Instead, Shakers’ poignancy and awkward, sobering truths hit home harder, shaking and stirring us all the more.
Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
In the mixer: Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter, Holly Smith and Laura Castle in Rowntree Players’ Shakers
YORK ghost-walk host, actor, voiceover artist, filmmaker, tour guide and pantomime villain Jamie McKeller had not directed a play for 15 years when he took the reins for Teechers Leavers ’22 last March.
Among the Rowntree Players’ cast of three for former teacher John Godber’s state-of-the-nation’s-education play were Sophie Bullivant and radio presenter Laura Castle, who now return for another slice of Godber physical theatre, Shakers, this one co-written with his wife, Jane Thornton.
The sister to Godber’s northern nightclub comedy-drama Bouncers, Shakers dives head first into the worst bar in town, where everyone wants to be seen, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from Thursday to Saturday.
Here, Sophie’s Carol, Laura’s Mel, company newcomer Holly Smith’s Niki and Abi Carter’s Adele face the Saturday shift from hell. Lights, neon; music, loud; trainers, not allowed. Smart shoes only.
Thornton and Godber expose nightlife both sides of the sticky-floored bar, not only the cocktail-bar waitresses but the clientele too. Here come the girls, the lads, the yuppies and the luvvies, all played by Bullivant, Castle, Smith and Carter.
“I think this play is funnier than Bouncers, though I’ll still be going to Bouncers when it comes to York Theatre Royal in April,” says Jamie, who can draw on his own experiences to make his comparison.
“I’ve done Bouncers three times! I played Judd when I was 21; Les in my late-20s. They were both professional productions; then I was Ralph in my mid-30s in an amateur one at the Westwood Theatre in Scarborough.
“So the idea is, in ten to 15 years’ time, when my panto dame days are done, I’ll finally do Lucky Eric to complete the full Bouncers set!”
Whereas Jamie decided to present Godber’s updated 2022 version of Teechers, he will stick with 1987 vintage Shakers, not the 2022 remix, Shakers: Under New Management!.
“Initially we were looking at doing the final version of Bouncers, quite a grotesque version,” he recalls. “But once I read Shakers, I really wanted to do it, and do the earlier version, which even after more than 30 years still hits hard, when things aren’t necessarily better now…”
… “Things are just different,” says Laura. “This version of the play is a bit more spicy, and I like that!”
She is enjoying renewing her stage partnership with Sophie and teaming up with Abi and Holly too after they were picked from Jamie’s auditions. “Me and Sophie – and Sara [Howlett] – created quite bond in Teechers, and having done Godber before and Godber under Jamie’s direction before, that’s made it slightly easier for the whole cast in rehearsals,” says Laura.
“That gave us a head start as to just how pacy it is. Abi and Holly are super-talented and picked up the style very quickly. They’ve learned things from us, we’ve learned things from them, which has worked out really well.”
Jamie has been struck by Shakers’ abiding relevance, its stark message, for all its humour. “That humour is grotesque and amplified. The piece changes gear very rapidly, but it’s all grounded in the four monologues, one for each of them, that are staged with naturalism, with each speech becoming more serious,” he says.
“Shakers stands up and makes its stand. As a bloke, you find yourself thinking, ‘how do I feel about this?’, and it’s been very interesting to draw on the cast’s own experiences.”
Jamie will restrict the capacity to 100 per performance to lend his production a studio atmosphere in keeping with the play’s roots. “It will help to have the audience close up,” says Laura. “With everyone packed into the front, it will feel busy.” Like in a bar on a Saturday night.
Staging will be minimalist too, in Bouncers tradition, with four mini-bars on wheels on a neon and chrome set. “We’ve made the decision to mime most of the props, apart from a huge blow-up phone, but with little signifiers for the different characters we play, like shades or jackets, or a change of voice. We’ve chosen everything to make an impact.”
This complements the tone of Thornton and Godber’s play. “You won’t feel like you’ve bene lectured! What works is the contrast between being grotesque and comedic one moment, and then we hit you with real truths and that makes Shakers’ impact all the greater,” says Laura.
“Both this play and Teechers end on a downer, but that’s the harsh reality of life. We want you to have a good time but to leave thinking about the message we’ve put across in 80 minutes.”
Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 14 to 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee.Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Don (John Lister) and Carol (Kate Caute) share a cycle but not political views in Paris in 1812 Theatre Company’s production of John Godber’s Scary Bikers
BIKERS divided by Brexit, beach encounters with Orpheus, a joyful mess in art, an Eighties rom-com revisited, Ukrainian opera and a big summer signing for Scarborough brighten Charles Hutchinson’s days ahead
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 will 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.
Grace Long as Ella Grey in Pilot Theatre’s A Song For Ella Grey. Picture: Topher McGrillis
York play of the week: Pilot Theatre in A Song For Ella Grey, York Theatre Royal; February 20 to 24, Hull Truck Theatre, March 5 to 9
IN Zoe Cooper’s stage adaptation of David Almond’s novel for York company Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal and Newcastle’s Northern Stage, Claire and her best friend, Ella Grey, are ordinary kids from ordinary families in an ordinary world where 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 Orpheuscome 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.
Grant Harris: Making connections at Milton Rooms, Malton
Messages from beyond: Grant Harris: Medium, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow (15/2/2024), 7pm
MEDIUM Grant Harris returns to the Milton Rooms to “connect with your loved ones to provide messages of support, reassurance and much needed clarity at times we require it most”.
“There are things we don’t fully understand about life and death but what I do is bring some peace to those who need it,” says Harris, whose shows promise humour too. Tickets: 01709 437700 or 01653 696240.
Amber Davies’s Vivian and Oliver Savile’s Edward, centre, in Pretty Woman The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
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.
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.
Comedian Chloe Petts heads for York with her If You Can’t Say Anything Nice show
Comedy gig of the week: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Chloe Petts, The Crescent, York, tomorrow (15/2/2024), 7.30pm
BUOYED by her Edinburgh Fringe run and Soho Theatre sell-out debut in London, Chloe Petts serves up her follow-up hour, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice. Everyone complimented her on how polite she was with big issues in the last show, so now she is cashing in those points and plans on being really rude. “Expect routines on wedding dancefloors, the footie and calling you all a bunch of virgins,” she says. Box office: wegottickets.com/event/588889.
Look out too for Burning Duck’s 8pm show at Theatre@41 Monkgate, York, on Friday: the debut tour of northerner Paddy Young: Hungry, Horny, Scared..and “in the gutter but looking down on all of you”. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
James: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in July. Picture: Lewis Knaggs
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.
Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Martha Godber, centre, and Chloe McDonald in John Godber’s Do I Love You?, returning Northern Soul to Scarborough this week. Picture: Ian Hodgson
“I’M not afraid to admit I was a rather good dancer,” says playwright, director, actor and erstwhile terpsichorean tornado John Godber. “Not so good now, mind. My knees.”
His ‘tap’ these days would be on the laptop, leading to his latest play, a hymn to Northern Soul that keeps the faith with the Wigan Casino days but addresses today’s believers in Do I Love You?, on tourthis week at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, in Scarborough, where John once cut a rug at all-nighters.
“This is Northern Soul for a new generation, but with rising costs, unemployment and small-town blues, has anything really changed?” asks John, now 67. “Is this England 1973 or 2023? The pubs are closing, hospitality has gone, and strikes are everywhere…but when you’re out on the floor…”
…There you will find Godber’s twentysomethings, Sally, Nat and Kyle, as they develop a love for Northern Soul and the people absorbed in its culture across the industrial north. What started as a college project has grown into a passion, but the dance steps are exhausting.
Far beyond their home city of Hull, they find excitement, purpose and the tribe they have been seeking. Cue talcum powder, loafers and weekenders, from Brid Spa to Stoke, from Oxford to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, as these young soulies vow to keep the faith, even as Britain crumbles, school buildings and all.
Do I Love You? Indeed he did, back in the day. “I went to all-nighters in Scarborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Whitby, Hornsea, and even then that single [Frank Wilson’s title song] was worth £45,000,” says John.
“It’s the one that lots of people know, but lots of soulists despise it because it’s too well known! Only 200 copies were printed, and one copy recently sold for £150,000.
“There’s this really interesting thing that soulies want to keep it underground, which is difficult, particularly when the BBC Proms did a Northern Soul Prom last summer [July 15 2023, curated by broadcaster and writer Stuart Maconie], gentrifying it with symphonic arrangements, of course!”
Playwright and Northern Soul devotee John Godber
John recalls his dancing nights and early single acquisitions. “Dobie Gray’s Out On The Floor was my first one, then The Flasher, the instrumental by Mistura, and then you’re on to Al Wilson’s The Snake,” he says.
“Every church hall had a Northern Soul night, every youth club had a Northern Soul Night back then. For every song, they danced throughout and clapped in time together because the music realy meant something to them.
“Before we opened the tour last September , the cast went to a soul night at an ex-servicemen’s club, where they played Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You?, and they came away saying, ‘oh my God, it’s all true’.
After a run of state-of-the-nation plays (Shafted, 2015; Scary Bikers, 2018, Sunny Side Up, 2020; Living On Fresh Air, 2023), Godber’s latest comedy is more of a celebration, albeit with politics still at its rotten core.
“I’m interested in enclosed environments: nightclubs [Bouncers], schools [Teechers], gymnasiums [Gym And Tonic], now the Northern Soul scene,” says John.
“This time there’s a lot of music, a lot of dancing, in the show, and we’ve had the world champion Northern Soul dancer, Sally Molloy, in for a couple of sessions. Just extraordinary!
“She came to the read-through to authenticate the piece and said, ‘I bless this show’, which was great because we want it to be authentic.
“Dancing was important to the casting, so we looked far and wide and even looked at auditioning some Northern Soul dancers but they just didn’t cut the mustard with the acting.”
John settled instead on a typically compact cast of Yorkshire actors Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Martha Godber and Belfast-born, Liverpool-trained newcomer Chloe McDonald.
Dancefloor discussion: Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Chloe McDonald, centre, and Martha Godber in Do I Love You?. Picture: Ian Hodgson
“Martha went to Northern Contemporary dance in Leeds when she was 16 and got into Trinity Laban [Conservatoire of Music and Dance], but then decided to go to LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) to train as an actor,” he says.
“They worked with Sally a couple of months before rehearsals started, then did a full day with her, after the read-through day, when they almost couldn’t walk for a week!”
John’s own research brought him into contact with Dr Sarah Raine, from the cultural industries department at Leeds University.
“What she’s identified is a real growth in Northern Soul, when working men’s clubs have gone, youth clubs have gone, Sunday League football has gone, funding has gone, but Northern Soul club nights go on,” says John.
“It’s an echo back to when there was pride in your work, what you do, where you fit into your community, doing something that requires a skill through the ability to dance, and conssequently you gain status in your community.
“The music is put first; it’s not about leaving with someone on your arm, unlike in Bouncers, though the drug scene is pretty clear, but after 12 hours of stomping, you’re going to need something stronger than coffee and Red Bull!
Godber’s twentysomethings in Do I Love You? work in a “chicken drive-through portal” as he euphemistically puts it. “It’s not a great place to work. Two of them have degrees, one in psychology, one in musical theatre; the other has stayed at home to look after her grandmother,” he says.
High kicks: Martha Godber in rehearsal at Hull Truck Theatre for Do I Love You?
“After Covid, they’ve picked up these low-grade jobs, but the music underlines where they are in their rites of passage. They find this creed they have some sympathy with, a kind of religion, a kind of tribe, to counter domestic difficulties, loss of love and dreary jobs.”
“In 2024, with the drudgery of daily life, now it’s about finding meaning and young people feeling they’re in a safe place.”
As for keeping the faith by seeing Do I Love You?, “What’s interesting is that if you’re my age, you’ll be re-living your youth; if your’re young, in your 20s, you’ll think, ‘yes, I can see why it means so much to them’.
“Why coin that adage ‘Keep the faith’? I guess soul music is not a million miles away from religion, so it’s not far away from faith.”
Northern Soul disciple John has a confession to make: “The full disclosure is, I was really into Northern Soul, but I was also into prog-rock,” he says. “That was my intellectual side. Northern Soul was my spiritual side.”
John Godber Company in Do I Love You?, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly; 1.30pm tomorrow; 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Leap of faith: Emilio Encinoso-Gil during rehearsals for Do I Love You?
Did you know?
NORTHERN Soul dancers, in their flat, slippy shoes, would dust the dancefloor with talcum powder to make their moves glide more easily, countering the stickiness of spilt beer. “But talc is frowned on these days because it’s carciogenic,” says John.
Did you know too?
RARE American soul songs, expressing pain and suffering, were favoured over slick Motown chartbusters by the working-class, predominantly male dance crowds that gathered at burgeoning Northern Soul nights across the north in the late-1960s and early 1970s. Football fans on away days would bring back records from London record shops.
What is John Godber’s favourite Northern Soul record?
TOBI Legend’s Time Will Pass You By. “It’s a song about dying, which makes it utterly existential,” says John.
REVIEW: Do I Love You?, from when John Godber’s premiere opened at Wakefield Theatre Royal in September 2023
TWO Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers discuss John Godber’s Do I Love You? and last autumn’s premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s Constant Companions, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in Episode 152.
