Tag: Joseph Rowntree Theatre

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 52, from Gazette & Herald

Wanderful: Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York

CHRISTMAS music and pantomimes aplenty dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for December fun-filled fulfilment. 

Having a ball: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, until January 4 2026

CORONATION Street star Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother leads the cast of Tobias Turley’s Prince Charming, Bradley Judge’s Dandini and West End actress Rachel Grundy’s Cinderella in UK Productions’ Cinderella, scripted by Jon Monie. 

Directed by Ellis Kerkhoven, West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson bring the mayhem in Ugly Sisters mode as Harmony and Melody Hard-Up, joined in the comedy corner by Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Radiant: Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

No sleep till January 4: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in Sleeping Beauty.

Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Hooked: Jamie McKeller savours the role of Captain Hook in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan at the JoRo. Picture: Matt Hillier

Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Friday; Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm

HEAD to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Hannah King’s Peter Pan and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates.

Fear not as Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlea and McDonald’s ever-eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Paul Toy: Directing York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York

Nativity play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York, All Saints Church, North Street, York, tonight, 7.30pm

USING medieval scripts from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays and music both medieval and folk in style, Paul Toy’s community cast tells a familiar story of a marvellous birth, threaded with humour, reverence and, sadly, hatred, where candlelight emphasises the constant struggle of the light  against the darkness.

The performance lasts one hour with no interval. Refreshments will be available. Box office: 033 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/york-nativity or on the door.

Kate Rusby: Winter wonderland of South Yorkshire folk carols at York Barbican

Alternative carol concert of the week: Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7pm

BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby plays her regular festive fixture at York Barbican, returning with her folk band and the Brass Boys for two sets of jolly carols from South Yorkshire’s pubs, Christmas chart chestnuts and original winter songs.

Christmas Is Merry marks her 20th anniversary of these winter warmers, drawing on her six studio Christmas albums: 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men, 2019’s Holly Head and 2023’s Light Years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Musical director Dylan Allcock in rehearsal with cast members Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Hannah Christina for Elizabeth Godber’s Jingle All The Way at Pocklington Arts Centre

Deer duo of the week: Jingle All The Way, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow to December 23; relaxed performance on December 14, 1.30pm

FROM the team behind The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish comes Elizabeth Godber’s latest Christmas family adventure, co-directed by Jane Thornton with musical direction by Dylan Allcock.

Reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie(Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes. Although Rosie fits in quickly, Rex struggles to find where he belongs, but a school-wide competition might change all that. Santa has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance? Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Setting sail in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes: Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather, second from left) and her Angels, Sophie Curry, left, Chloe Branton and Sophie Kemp. Picture: Felix Wahlberg

Getting a kick out of you musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday to December 30

DITCH York’s December chills and climb aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes!, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.

Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Swinton & District Excelsior Band: Festive cheer at Milton Rooms, Malton

Afternoon of festive music and joy: Swinton & District Excelsior Band’s Christmas Spectacular, Milton Rooms, Malton, December 14, 2pm

THIS musical matinee with the Swinton & District Excelsior Band features the senior band, training band and beginners’ group, who perform a joyful mix of carols and seasonal favourites with festive cheer for all the family. A raffle and retiring collection will boost band funds. Entry is free but donations are welcome at the close. To book, go to: ticketsource.co.uk/swinton-district-excelsior-band/t-nolgkxa.

Bill Scott & Friends: In concert at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Yuletide Tales of the week: Bill Scott & Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 17, 7.30pm

THIS Christmas celebration “in harmony with a difference” comes to Pickering for the first time as vocal quartet Bill Scott, Lesley Machen, Jan Burtenshaw & Tim Tubbs perform a seasonal programme of carols, songs, poems and readings in every mood, from sacred, secular and lyrical to comic, sad and joyous.

Whether moved by the solemn beauty of a traditional carol or lifted by a light-hearted poem, this Yuletide fusion of music and tales promises to be a magical gathering. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk/events/yuletide-tales/.

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REVIEW: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, straight on till morning until Saturday ****

Don’t rain on his parade: Jamie McKeller’s Captain Hook lays down his terms and conditions in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan. Picture: Matt Hillier

DIRECTOR Howard Ella had resisted staging Peter Pan for more than 15 years. So much story to cram in, so familiar, and how do you stay true to J M Barrie while putting the Pan into pantomime and vice versa, he pondered.

Thankfully, always saying never to Neverland has turned into, well, you should never say never, as he teams up for a second time with Rowntree Players’ regular goofing panto loon Gemma McDonald to construct a script that retains all but the Darling parents among  the regulation principals (until a late sub-plot).

Meanwhile, Nana the dog is turned into Nanny McFlee, Michael Cornell’s affable role in his third year on cheeky  dame duty, forging a double act with sidekick McDonald, in trademark ginger bubble perm, rouge cheeks and riotously colourful clothing as Nanny’s dogged apprentice cum putative entrepreneur Barkly.

McDonald’s panto character never knowingly rejects the opportunity for a burst of bottom burps, but here takes raspberry blowing to new levels by bottling Barkly’s noxious wind for its powers of toxic termination of any opponent.

McFlee bite: Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlee on dame duty. Picture: Matt Hillier

Effective, apparently, against all but those who suffer from anosmia: the medical term for the complete loss or lack of the sense of smell that five per cent of us experience and winner of the Unexpected Word of the Day in a York pantomime award.

Such a detail marks out the welcome unpredictability of a Rowntree Players panto, one of the assets of Ella and McDonald’s script that keeps the storytelling to the fore while promoting spectacle and slapstick too.

Jamie McKeller, spookologist Dr Dorian Deathly of Deathy Dark Tours by night when not treading the boards, has long craved the chance to play Captain Hook, a “real bad guy”, as he calls him. McKeller has beefed up his singing chops too with six months of lessons to add further impact to his latest character from the dark side, most notably in Don’t Rain On My Parade.  

Irascible, arch, obsessive in his wish to put kill Peter Pan, his Hook is the master of the putdown, the waspish quip, yet fearful of the croc and the clock, here hounding him with electronic messages that Doom Is Imminent: a running gag that nods to modern technology.

She’s back! Hurrah! Claire Horsley’s Gloria on glorious piratical form performing in Pink Parade Club. Picture: Matt Hillier

Tradition plays its part in Rowntree pantomimes, and so Hannah King is a conventional, thigh-slapping, resolute  principal boy as Peter Pan, working in tandem with Sara Howlett’s tinkering Tinkerbell.

Laura Castle knocks out a belting Holding Out For A Hero as the “never mess with a Yorkshire lass” Tigerlily; Sophie Bullivant’s Cornish clot of a Smee is amusingly disruptive before bringing the house down with Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat.

Claire Horsley returns to the Rowntree ranks after a long hiatus to remind us of her vocal prowess as Gloria in the triumphant Pink Parade Club, while Tom Bettany’s John, Fergus Green’s Michael and especially Eva Howe’s storytelling Wendy have their moments as the Darling children.

Among the Lost Boys – ties tied around their heads as if band members of AC/DC – are company veterans Geoff Walker as Curly and Barry Johnson as Slightly, complemented by senior chorus,  principal dancers and two junior teams (Blue at Sunday’s matinee) when Ami Carter’s choreography skilfully turns solo numbers and duets into full-scale ensemble routines.

The calm before the panto storm for Rowntree Players’ comical double act, Gemma McDonald’s Barkly and Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlee. Picture: Matt Hillier

Rather than flying to Neverland, the Darlings are transported on their bed, lifted into the night sky with Pan and Tinkerbell to either side in set designer and scenic artist Anna Jones’s most striking scene. The show even makes fun of the budget limitations of trying to conjure an underwater scene…without water (save for water pistols).  

Musical director Sam Johnson regularly lifts his band to the heights in the big numbers, especially in the Will Survive/Survivor mash-up and One Day More.

Rowntree Players’ Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan are fun, funny, fast-moving, full of silliness, but magical storytelling and colourful characterisation too. Tickets are selling fast and rightly so for this ever-rollicking community show

Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office:  01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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Don and Jo Pears to release Christmas Carols album and perform showcase concert at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

The cover artwork for Don and Jo Pears’ festive album Christmas Carols

YORK musical stalwarts Don and Jo Pears are releasing a festive album, Christmas Carols – A Musical Celebration of Tradition and Talent.

The CD comprises 23 beautifully arranged carols written by the duo as “the culmination of decades of musical passion and collaboration, dedicated to Don’s late mother, Rhoda Robinson, and her family for their unwavering support”.

Don’s musical journey began in the small mining village of Leadgate, County Durham, where his love for music was nurtured in the Methodist Church choir under the guidance of Mr L. T. Whaley.

His career spans more than 34 years as head of music in schools and includes studies at Huddersfield University, The Guildhall, King’s College London, and Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire.

Today, Don is a legendary figure in York’s musical community, built around strong ties to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Jo Pears, a well-known singer in York, has starred in numerous musicals and performed with the York Guildhall Orchestra at York Barbican.

Christmas Carols composer Don Pears, left, York Guildhall Orchestra leader Fiona Love, producer Bob Whitney and conductor Simon Wright

Together, Don and Jo have helped raise funds to support the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, a cherished cultural landmark and beacon for community arts.

Performing together for decades, composer Don and lyricist Jo have written songs and carols since the early 2000s. Their music is created for everyone to enjoy and reflects their lifelong dedication to the arts and community.

The album was recorded at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margartet’s Church, in Walmgate, with the York Guildhall Orchestra and a specially formed choir of friends, who were conducted by musician and Guildhall Orchestra director Simon Wright.

The Singphonia Singers, a group of talented performers formed by Don, will showcase some of the carols at A Christmas Selection Box: A Music Night Production at the Rowntree Theatre on Sunday, December 14 at 7pm. Tickets are on sale on 01904 501935,  at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on the door, priced £12 to £15.

The Christmas Carols CD will be on sale at Sunday’s concert or can be downloaded from Spotify, Apple iTunes and Amazon Music.

The track listing for Don and Jo Pears’ album Christmas Carols

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the panoply of pantomimes. Here’s Hutch’s festive List No. 52, from The York Press

Wanderful: Coronation Street star Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York

CHRISTMAS music and pantomimes aplenty dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for December fun-filled fulfilment. 

Having a ball: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, today until January 4 2026

LEEDS lad Bradley Judge’s Dandini joins the star-studded cast of Lisa George (Coronation Street) as Fairy Godmother, Tobias Turley (ITV’s Mamma Mia I Have A Dream) as Prince Charming and West End star Rachel Grundy (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legally Blonde) as Cinderella in UK Productions’ Cinderella, scripted by Jon Monie. 

Directed by Ellis Kerkhoven, West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson bring the mayhem in Ugly Sisters mode as Harmony and Melody Hard-Up, joined in the comedy corner by Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Marian Consort: Performing with English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble at York Early Music Christmas Festival on December 8

Festival of the week: York Early Music Christmas Festival, mainly at National Centre for Early Music, York, until December 14

HIGHLIGHTS at this Yuletide feast of music spanning the centuries, complemented by contemporary tunes, include Yorkshire Bach Choir & Yorkshire Baroque Soloists performing Hayden’s The Creation tonight and The Chiaroscuro Quartet and Consone String Quartet uniting tomorrow for Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat major Op 20.

The Marian Consort teams up with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble in Looking Bach To Palestrina on December 8 and Fieri Consort Singers and Camerata Øresund present Christmas Cantatas by Christopher Graupner and English Tavern Songs on December 12. Among further festival performers will be mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Dowland’s Foundry, Apollo5, Lowe Ensemble, Irish folk singer Cara Dillon and Joglaresa. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk. Box office: 01904 658338.

York Theatre Royal’s pantomime cast in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty. Picture: SR Taylor Photography

No sleep till January 4: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in Sleeping Beauty.

Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Hannah King’s Peter Pan in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Rowntree Players’ festive visit to Neverland

Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm

JOIN Wendy, John and Michael as they fly with Peter Pan to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Peter and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates. Fear not as Nanny McFlea and her ever eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Bec Silk’s Robin Hood and writer Martin Vander Weyer’s Dame Daphne in 1812 Theatre Company’s pantomime Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure

Ryedale pantomime opening of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; December 14, 2.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs company-in-residence 1812 Theatre Company in this traditional panto with a Knock Knock Joke Contest, scripted by dame Martin Vander Weyer.

Robin Hood will be rescuing the lovely Maid Marian from the wicked Sheriff of Pickering, while Black Swan landlady Dame Daphne will lead the merriment and mayhem. Knock Knock! Who’s there? Daphne! Daphne who? Daph-nitely book early to avoid disappointment on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk. 

Singer Dene Michael, dressed as a pineapple, in the finale to Kim Hopkins’s documentary film Still Pushing Pineapples, showing at City Screen Picturehouse on Sunday

Documentary film screening of the week; Still Pushing Pineapples (12A), City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 5pm

BLACK Lace’s Agadoo has been  voted the most infuriating  song of all time. What happens when you are forever associated with such a Marmite hit;  what comes after fleeting fame, and what does it mean to grow old still chasing a dream?

Perennial pineapple pusher and former Yorkshire band member Dene Michael is still singing the derided party anthem across fading clubland UK: a story now told in Selby-raised  filmmaker Kim Hopkins’s  humorous, moving, warts’n’all documentary, a pineapple slice of working-class social realism wrapped inside a road movie and abiding love story. Dene Michael, Hopkins and producer Margareta Szabo will hold a post-show Q&A. Box office: picturehouses.com/cinema/city-screen-picturehouse.

 A Nativity For York director Paul Toy

Nativity play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York, All Saints Church, North Street, York, December 10, 7.30pm

USING medieval scripts from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays and music both medieval and folk in style, Paul Toy’s community cast tells a familiar story of a marvellous birth, threaded with humour, reverence and, sadly, hatred, where candlelight emphasises the constant struggle of the light  against the darkness.

The performance lasts one hour with no interval. Refreshments will be available. Box office: 033 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/york-nativity or on the door.

Christmas will be merry for Kate Rusby at York Barbican on December 11

Carol concert of the week: Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry, York Barbican, December 11, 7pm

BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby plays her regular festive fixture at York Barbican, returning with her folk band and the Brass Boys for two sets of jolly carols from South Yorkshire’s pubs, Christmas chart chestnuts and original winter songs.

Christmas Is Merry marks her 20th anniversary of these winter warmers, drawing on her six Christmas studio albums: 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men, 2019’s Holly Head and 2023’s Light Years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hyde Family Jam’s poster for their brace of Christmas jamborees at The Crescent, York on December 11 and 12

Christmas knees-up of the week: Hyde Family Jam, The Crescent, York, December 11, 7.30pm

FRIENDS! Come celebrate another Christmas with a right thorough knees-up at The Crescent with York buskers supreme Hyde Family Jam, a traditional-looking folk band that couldn’t be less traditional. They perform  the songs they love from any decade, any genre, in any way they fancy, played as fast and loud as possible. “We call it ‘folk gone wrong’,” they say. “Expect a few special festive bonuses too!” Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Recommended but sold out already: Hyde Family Jam’s December 12 gig and The Howl & The Hum’s traditional special Crescent Christmas gig, led as ever by Sam Griffiths after leaving York and Leeds for London.

Setting sail in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes: Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather, front centre) and her Angels, Sophie Curry, left, Chloe Branton and Sophie Kemp. Picture: Felix Wahlberg

Getting a kick out of you musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, December 12 to 30

DITCH York’s December chills and climb aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes!, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.

Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh  (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Michael Ball’s poster for his Glow UK Tour 2026, taking in Yorkshire gigs at Bradford Live (September 2), Sheffield City Hall (September 5) and Hull Connexin Live (September 6), as well as York Barbican (September 12)

Concert announcement of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, September 12 2026

MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour. “There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says. “It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Box office: https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.

In Focus: The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery, York, until January 12 2025

Bowl Of Apricots, acrylic painting, by Anita Klein

PYRAMID Gallery’s Christmas Collection, in Stonegate, York, features works by London artist and printmaker Anita Klein, York ceramicist Ben Arnup, Peak District sculptor Paul Smith, South Staffordshire mosaic artist Amanda Anderson and York floral artist Lesley Birch.

Exhibiting too will be Canadian-born painter, printmaker and cartographer Mychael Barratt, Oswestry ceramicist Jacqui Atkin and Perthshire oil painter artist and printmaker Ian MacIntyre, complemented by bird and fish blown glass by Bruce Parks, bronzes by David Meredith, Nerikromi vessels by York ceramist Patricia Qua and studio jewellery for the Christmas season by 50 British makers.

Curator Terry Brett, who has owned the gallery for 31 years, has invited Anita Klein to fill the walls with 15 linocut original prints, new aquatint etchings and two paintings.

Bee Eater, ceramic vase, by Jacqui Atkin

“The gallery has enjoyed a long, unbroken relationship with Anita as a supplier of her extensive catalogue of prints that form a diary of her family life,” he says.

“Over the 28 years in which she has shown more than 800 different pictures at Pyramid Gallery, we have watched her career progress to the point where Anita has become one of the most collectable printmakers in the UK. It seems very fitting that she is the main focus of the Christmas Collection.”

As well as showing new linocut prints, Anita is selling copies of her book Out Of The Ordinary – 40 Years Of Print Making, featuring illustrations of 550 of her best-loved prints, published by Eames Fine Art.

The Christmas Collection at Pyramid Gallery is open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm, Sundays, until January 12 2026. Closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

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The clock is tick-tock-ticking for Rowntree Players’ adventures in Peter Pan panto land at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Jamie McKeller (Captain Hook), second from right, in rehearsal with Gemma McDonald (Barkly), Michael Cornell (Nanny McFlea) and musical director Sam Johnson for Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan

ROWNTREE Players pantomime co-writer and director Howard Ella had always avoided Peter Pan…until now.

“I see it as a bit of a Cinderella, where the story is so familiar to everybody that it’s hard to tell that story, do it justice and make it a panto at the same time,” he reasons ahead of tomorrow’s opening performance at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

“It’s taken me 16/17 years to find the courage. You can’t just do the book, but I want to be loyal to the[J.M. Barrie] text while making it into a panto, and I think we’ve nailed it.”

By “we” he is referring to co-writer and regular goofing loon Gemma McDonald, cast as eager apprentice Barkly this time. “I’ve had Gemma by my side again, working from a great traditional story with great characters that give you a good foundation to then work out how to bring together the traditional while being forward facing; how you then get that balance right.

“A story like Peter Pan adds another level to that challenge, but we have an exciting cast that meets that challenge with contemporary relevance amid the melee of pantomime traditions.”

Joining Gemma in the principal cast will be Hannah King’s Peter Pan, Sophie Bullivant’s Smee, Claire Horsley, returning from a long hiatus, as Gloria, Sara Howlett’s Tinkerbell, Eva Howe’s Wendy and Neon Crypt theatre company trio Laura Castle as Tiger Lily, Michael Cornell as Nanny McFlea and Jamie McKeller as Captain Hook.

“Hook is the perfect panto villain and to have someone who’s wanted to play that role forever…that’s when serendipity kicks in with Jamie.”

 McKeller is a familiar face on York’s haunted streets as ghost-walk host Dr Dorian Deathly, promoter of Deathly Dark Tours, but he has taken to the dark side in Rowntree Players pantomimes too, whether as an Ugly Sister or the Sheriff of Nottingham.

“One of the things I’m most proud of this year is that he’s a real bad guy,” says Jamie. “There’s usually redemption at the end for the villain, a great epiphany, but Hook doesn’t get one –and he shouldn’t. He just says from the get-go, quite unreasonably, that he will kill this child [Peter Pan].”

What’s more, his Hook will have the gravitas of a Shakespearean bad egg. “My first entrance is two pages of what Howard calls ‘elegant prose’,” he says.

Howard rejoins: “Pantos are frivolous and fun on the surface, but there’s no reason to not have a deeper story behind it to add depth. It would be very easy to tell a simple panto story around Peter Pan, where most of it could just be a tale with fairy dust, but then you have to insert a dame and a comic.

“We haven’t gone down that path: rather than Nana the dog, we have Nanny McFlea, with some dog-like tendencies in human form,  and Gemma as her comical son Barkly.”

Jamie’s Hook will be attired in de rigueur red coat, hat, scarf, stripey trousers, big boots, hook…and “flamboyant hair”. “He’s wholly evil, but with show-stopping numbers, such as Don’t Rain On My Parade, the Barbra Streisand song from Funny Girl, One Day More and the Survivor/I Will Survive mash-up from Glee.

“As soon as I was told it was Peter Pan this year and that Captain Hook would require some strong singing, I went off and did six months of singing lessons at York Singing Academy in Marygate.  

“I’ve always been able to maul my way through a song as the bad guy in a ‘speak-sing’ style but I’d never learned the mechanics of singing, though I knew how to manipulate my voice because of all the voiceover work I’ve done. Sam Johnson tells me I’ve done a good job!”

Howard concurs: “When you end up with the baddie singing as the campest character in the show, then that’s my idea of what a panto should be!”

He is enjoying Michael Cornell’s progression in the dame’s role too (as Nanny McFlea this year). “You grow into this role because no two dames are the same, and you have to own your dame,” he says. “By building relationships, like working around the consistency of Gemma’s character, it all gets layered over the years.”

Jamie, who performed alongside Michael in Neon Crypt and the Deathly Dark Tours’ paranormal investigations of The Wetwang Hauntings – Live in November, says of his panto co-star: “He’s just very fearless, bringing so much to the rehearsal room. He’s not long 30, and look at how still he was on stage in our Wetwang show, his tweedy suit and moustache barely moving.”

Defining why he loves pantomime in the 21st century, Howard says: “Pantomime remains something that is multi-generational. Bringing generations together in any activity is a challenge, but I’m all for multi-generational entertainment that is safe yet challenging at the same time and doesn’t just make you laugh but cry and think as well.

“It’s a unique form of entertainment with audiences that you don’t get with other forms of theatre. And I love the tradition of it all, which is important in the right place. It’s one of the things that drove me to do what I do now, and why wouldn’t you want to pass it on to the next generation? It’s a joyous privilege.”

On the subject of tradition, Howard adds: “You’re fitting pantomime into a world that’s changing all the time, but tradition doesn’t mean unchanging and old-fashioned, but comfortable and recognisable.

“I’m still fond of having a traditional principal boy [played by a female], but it doesn’t mean you can’t sprinkle new things into the pantomime mix. That’s the joy of writing it each year.”

Jamie enthuses: “From an acting/performing point of view, pantomime is so mischievous. I’m not very disciplined, and you know you can do things in panto, like knowing looks or catching each other’s eye on stage, and the audience knows that you’re doing that.

“I always say that doing panto is like a fever dream. I take the week off from everything else, just going around coffee shops.”

Audiences can’t wait. “We’ve had our third successive year of record ticket sales, which is even harder to achieve in this current climate, but we’ve had a strong team for a long time,” says a delighted Howard.

“We laugh a lot in rehearsals and that energy carries through to the performances when you have a bunch of people who love doing these shows.”

Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 51, from Gazette & Herald

Deep in conversation: Snow goes underground in A Winter Wonderland at JORVIK Viking Centre

A SNOWY reboot, festive trail, treasured exhibition and pantomime launches spell out that winter staples aplenty are up and running, as Charles Hutchinson reports.  

Time travel of the week: A Winter Adventure at JORVIK Viking Centre, York, until February 22 2026

A WINTER Adventure brings a new wintery experience to the underground York visitor attraction, where the 10th century Vikings are preparing to celebrate Yule with natural decorations hung on their houses. For the first time, visitors can peer through Bright White’s time portal into the blacksmith’s house excavated on this site in the 1970s.

They will then board a time sleigh to travel back in time around the backstreets, transformed for winter by Wetherby set dressers EPH Creative, who have covered streets and houses in a thick blanket of snow, bathed in cold blue lighting. Pre-booking is essential for all visits to JORVIK at jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk.

Christmas at The Bar Convent in York. Illustration by Nick Ellwood

Activity trail of the week: Christmas At The Convent, The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until December 22, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm

DECEMBER visitors to The Bar Convent can uncover fascinating festive traditions through the centuries in a family-friendly activity trail through the exhibition that combines the convent’s history with the Advent season.

Families can enjoy finding clues, making decorations, dressing up, discovering traditions from Christmas past and much more. Look out for the traditional crib scene in the chapel. Tickets: barconvent.co.uk.

Garlands galore at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross

Festive exhibition of the week: An Inspired Christmas at Fairfax House, York, until December 21, open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm

TREASURER’S House has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined by the National Trust with festive flair, inspired by the 17th-century house’s rich history.

Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.

The Jeremiahs: Irish folk band play York for the first time on December 3. Picture: Tony Gavin

York debut craic of the week: The Jeremiahs, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 3, 7.30pm

IRISH band The Jeremiahs have travelled extensively, including playing 26 states in the USA, performing rousing new songs and tunes in the folk genre, peppered with picks from the trad folk catalogue. Lead vocalist and occasional whistle player Joe Gibney, from County Dublin, is joined by his fellow founder,  Dublin guitarist James Ryan, New York-born fiddler Matt Mancuso and County Clare flautist Conor Crimmins. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Malton White Star Band: Performing Brass and Voices At Christmas at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale festive concert of the week: Brass and Voices At Christmas with Malton White Star Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7pm

MALTON White Star Band and Community Training Band team up with singers from Norton Primary School for the 2025 edition of Brass and Voices at Christmas. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are on sale at https://donate.givetap.co.uk/f/malton-white-star-band/christmas-concert-2025 or by ringing Dave Creigh on 07766 237947.

The one and only Jesca Hoop: Playing NCEM in York tomorrow

Singer-songwriter of the week: Brudenell Presents and Please Please You present Jesca Hoop, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4, 7.30pm

DISCOVERED by Tom Waits, invited on tour by Peter Gabriel and encouraged to relocate to the UK by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Jesca Hoop left California for Manchester to carve out a singular path across six albums of original material. Collaborations with producers John Parish (PJ Harvey), Blake Mills (Feist), and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers) have only sharpened the intricacy of her craft. Box office: thecrescentyork.com/events/jesca-hoop-at-the-ncem-york/.

Ryedale Christmas children’s show of the week: Esmerelda The Elf And Father Christmas, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm; Sunday, 10.30am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm

WHO thought it was a good idea to put Elf friend Esmeralda in charge of Christmas sweeties? Can you help her to have everything ready in time? Will any goodies be left by the time Christmas Day arrives?

Each family has its own space to sit in at this interactive show and can visit Father Christmas individually at the end. All children will receive a gift. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Bec Silk’s Robin Hood and writer Martin Vander Weyer’s Dame Daphne in 1812 Theatre Company’s pantomime Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure

Ryedale pantomime opening of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Robin Hood’s Helmsley Adventure, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; December 14, 2.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones directs company-in-residence 1812 Theatre Company in this traditional panto with a Knock Knock Joke Contest, scripted by Martin Vander Weyer.

Robin Hood will be rescuing the lovely Maid Marian from the wicked Sheriff of Pickering, while Black Swan landlady Dame Daphne will lead the merriment and mayhem. Knock Knock! Who’s there? Daphne! Daphne who? Daph-nitely book early to avoid disappointment on 01439 771700 or at helmsleyarts.co.uk.  

Hannah King’s Peter Pan in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 9 to 12, 7.30pm; December 13, 2pm and 7.30pm

JOIN Wendy, John and Michael as they fly with Peter Pan to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Peter and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates. Fear not as Nanny McFlea and her ever eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Michael Ball: Glowing at York Barbican next September

Concert announcement of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, September 12 2026

MUSICAL star and radio presenter Michael Ball will promote his 23rd solo album, Glow, on next year’s 25-date tour. “There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says.

“It’s going to be an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see you all.’’ Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/michael-ball-2026/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 50, from Gazette & Herald

James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society with his Dickensian ghost stories

FROM Dickensian ghost stories and Gothic tales to mischievous mice and a festive talent showcase, ’tis the season to be out and about, reports Charles Hutchinson.

Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, until Sunday

YORK storyteller supreme and Gothic actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with two of Dickens’ seasonal ghost stories: The Haunted Man, a neglected Gothic classic (November 27, 7pm) and A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s saga (November 28, 7pm, and November 30, 2pm and 6pm).

“Their words unlock a world teeming with chain-rattling spectres, with dark and shadowy doubles, with Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present and Yet To Come,” he says. “These tales chill the marrow and tickle the funny bone, but always they enchant, as only the works of a master storyteller can.” Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Steve Tearle: Directing NE Theatre York in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

DIRECTED by Steve Tearle, this musical will take you to a world of pure imagination in Roald Dahl’s devilishly delicious tale of young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket entering the scrumptious chocolate factory. There, he and his grandpa Joe, along with five more children, will meet the mysterious confectionary wizard Willy Wonka for an adventure like no other.

“The story of chocolate is at the very heart and history of this amazing city and it is only fitting that NE Theatre York brings Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to York,” says Tearle. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rebecca Vaughan: Telling haunting tales of the festive season at Theatre@41

Frailties of human nature of the week: Dafyd Productions in Christmas Gothic, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

REGULAR York frequenters Dafyd Productions return with Christmas Gothic, an invitation to enter into the Christmas spirit as spectral woman (Rebecca Vaughan) tells haunting tales of the festive season, lighting a candle to the frailties of human nature and illuminating the chilling depths of bleak wintry darkness. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tucking into the cheese at A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House

Mischievous mice takeover of the week: A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, until January 4 2026

FAIRFAX House’s much-loved Christmas display returns for 2025 with a new theme of A Christmas Mousequerade, combining more mice than ever before in the “ultimate 18th century house party”.

A multitude of mice is dressed in hand-crafted and exquisitely miniature Georgian finery, custom made by Fairfax House volunteers, as you step into the glittering world of Georgian York and join the Fairfax family’s preparations for the most spectacular ball of the season. Tickets: https://fairfaxhouse.co.uk/event/christmas-at-fairfax-house/.

Poetry gig of the week: Stairwell Books presents Poetry For All, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm

THIS annual event is designed to remove as many barriers as possible from enjoying live poetry events. All poems are projected on a screen, and BSL (British Sign Language) interpreted by Dave Wycherley and Vicci Ackroyd in a venue with fab acoustics and level access throughout.

Headliners Dominic Berry and Pete Kalu will be supported by five York poets, co-hosted by Fay Roberts and Rose Drew. Service dogs are welcome; entry for carers is free. VI tarot card reader Gillian Avart will read your potential future. Look out for special guests too. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Kevin Daniel: Relatable storytelling at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Steve Best

Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Kevin Daniel, Paul Tonkinson and Stephanie Laing, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

KEVIN Daniel combines a commanding stage presence with relatable storytelling and jokes aplenty. Paul Tonkinson, Yorkshireman, marathon runner and two-time Time Out Comedian of the Year, is noted for his effervescent physicality and skilful impressions, bringing alive exuberant, tender comic reflections of love, family and the day-to-day idiosyncrasies of 21st century living.

“Goofy and peculiar” host Stephanie Laing, an Edinburgh Fringe regular since 2010, fuses silliness, filth and unusual observations, underpinned by a disarming honesty and charming vulnerability. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Catenary Wires team up with poet Brian Bilston at Pocklington Arts Centre

Poetry-and-song union of the week: Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

POET Brian Bilston started out by sharing his brief, direct, and witty poems online and now has more than half a million followers on social media. The Catenary Wires comprise Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and Ian Button, who also play as Heavenly, whose T-shirt Bilston was spotted wearing at one of his gigs.

Word reached Fletcher and Pursey,  introductions were made, friendships were formed, and the Sounds Made By Humans album took shape: a collection of songs, where words and music have become intertwined. Friday’s first half features a solo spoken-word set by Bilston and a music set by The Catenary Wires; in the second, they unite to perform tracks from the album. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Poet Brian Bilston

Talent showcase of the week: HAC Studio Bar Festive Open Mic, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre plays host to a cosy evening for creatives to share their talents in the relaxed and friendly environment of the Studio Bar. Mulled wine and mince pies are on the menu and festive tunes will be the order of the day.

This Open Mic is a comfortable space for both seasoned performers and those taking the stage for the first time, as well as anyone who wants to enjoy a drink from the bar and be entertained by Ryedale talent. No need to book to listen or perform, just turn up.

Jake Lambert: The Sunshine Kid with bright ideas at Pocklington Arts Centre

Debut tour of the week: Jake Lambert, The Sunshine Kid, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

RAPIDLY rising stand-up comic Jake Lambert has chalked up more than 500 million views of his online videos featuring his gag-filled storytelling. Having supported Michael McIntyre on his worldwide tour, he is undertaking his inaugural international tour with his show The Sunshine Kid, selling out across the UK, Europe and Australia. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles: Christmas concert at Kirk Theatre

Christmas Singalong of the week: Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles and Scoble and Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 4, 7.30pm

THORNTON Le Dale Ukuleles’ Christmas Singalong is divided into two parts, kicking off with Scoble and Friends, a small group of talented singers and musicians.

Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles, the brainchild of leader John Scoble, will fill the stage with 40 players. Scoble provides tuition free of charge, while singer-songwriter David Swann gives lessons too. The group performs all genres of music, but virtually no George Formby, playing the melody as well as strumming and complementing ukuleles with other instruments. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Stage, The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, baking until Saturday ****

Oops! Nik Briggs’s big Ben sees his Big Ben showstopper topple over in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography

NIK Briggs’s York premiere of Jake Brunger & Pippa Cleary’s musical spoof could not be better timed, opening the night after the final to series 16 of Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, most notable for the winner’s Showstopper being the largest cake in the show’s history.

It measured 1.2 metres in length, should you be wondering. Nothing is baked on quite that scale beneath York Stage’s tented stage decked in bunting and banter, but more than 50 models of cakes have been made in foam and Polystyrene for Technical Challenges and Showstoppers alike.

‘Bake Off’ is the first musical where the Showstopper meets the show-stopper, drawing the increasingly trim producer-director Briggs back to the boards for his first principal role since Shrek – his 2020 pantomime cow doesn’t count! – to sing two of the peachiest numbers, My Dad (with Eady Mensah’s Lily, his chaperoned daughter) and The Perfect Petit Fours (with Harriet Yorke’s outstanding Gemma).

Bake Off contestants for starters: Stu Hutchinson’s Russell, left, Harriet Yorke’s Gemma, Joanne Theaker’s Babs, Grant McIntyre’s Dezza, Alana Blacker’s Francesca, Nik Briggs’s Ben and Fredo’s Hassan

Briggs’s widowed Bristol police detective Ben – “the cooking copper” – and Yorke’s Blackpool carer Gemma are two of the eight contestants, each with a back story and motive for competing to be revealed in song, like cutting through a multi-layered cake.

Joanne Theaker’s Babs, thrice married and looking for a fourth, is a lemon-sharp East London school dinner lady prone to euphemisms and giving back as good as she gets from Chris Wilson’s droll, Knock Knock joke-telling Phil Hollinghurst (the Paul Hollywood caricature).

Grant McIntyre’s powerfully voiced Dezza is the forceful vegan hipster environmentalist with a No Butter policy; Alana Blacker’s Francesca is a thirtysomething primary-school teacher, from Bognor via Bologna, bringing her Nonna’s traditional Italian recipes with her.

Joanne Theaker’s Babs on top form in Babs’ Lament, a show-stopper of the musical kind in The Great British Bake Off Musical

In his musical theatre debut, York busker Fredo (Sudeep Pandey) is Syrian-born  Wembley teenager Hassan, with his lucky T-shirt and happy-go-lucky demeanour. In scene-stealing mode, York Stage regular Stu Hutchinson’s Russell is an aeronautical engineer, married to Mario, as camp as a tent and determined to apply science and spreadsheets to his experimental bakes.

Amy Barrett’s Izzy, the 21-year-old Cambridge student of Home Counties stock, is posh and pushy, taking the biscuit for being so ruthlessly determined to win, dreaming of books deals, TV series.

Introducing proceedings, teasing and goading as the heat rises, are Sam Roberts’s Jim and Mary Clare’s Kim (“Mel and Sue, who?”, they say), while Tracey Rae’s bespectacled grand dame Pam Lee fills the Prue Leith slot with polished glitter and nudge-nudge-wink-wink banter.

Having her cake and eating too much of it: Amy Barrett’s win-at-all-costs Izzy, front and centre, where else, in The Great British Bake Off Musical

Brunger and Cleary bring affection, rather more than tension, to the tent, sending up Hollywood’s motorbike riding, Leith’s myriad business deals and love of a tipple in a recipe, and the baking-hot baking conditions that always befall one episode per series.

All the while, the elimination fun and games must be played out, concertinaed largely into one song, Don’t Send Me Home, with ever reducing numbers and ever-changing harmony demands for the diminishing contestants.

Everyone has their solo moment to parade their singing chops, Theaker’s Babs excelling in the pathos of Babs’ Lament and Yorke’s Gemma rising to the occasion in Rise. Wilson’s Hollinghurst and Rae’s Dame Pam have a rather sweet moment in I’d Never Be Me Without You.

Harriet Yorke’s Gemma: Rising to the occasion in Rise

Bubbling away throughout – as the tables disappear one by one, cakes crumble and contestants tumble – is the growing bond of Briggs’s Ben and Yorke’s Gemma, both in slow recovery from loss, to provide the obligatory love interest of the piece. Eady Mensah’s Lily (in a role to be shared with Abigail Hodgson, Ella Laister and Megan Pickard ) is a delightful conduit between them.

In style, Bake Off echoes most closely the humour and musical diversity of Victoria Wood’s patter songs and Tim Firth & Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls. The underscore music of the TV series filters cleverly through the songs, ranging from big bluesy ballads to Chicago and Cabaret pastiches.

Songs have a tendency to go on too long, to overegg the moment, to be layered on a bit too thick – you get the picture – but the humorous dialogue is well timed under Briggs’s joyous direction and Danielle Mullan Hill’s musical staging is whisked into pleasing shapes. Likewise, Stephen Hackshaw’s band is on egg-cracking good form throughout, revelling in Jessica Viner’s arrangements.

And then there were seven: York Stage’s Bake Off contestants in the firing line for elimination: Joanne Theaker’s Babs, far left, Fredo’s Hassan, Nik Briggs’s Ben, Stu Hutchinson’s Russell, Harriet Yorke’s Gemma, Amy Barrett’s Izzy and Alana Blacker’s Francesca

We know that Edinburgh-born medical student Jasmine Mitchell won the Bake Off glass cake stand on Tuesday, but who triumphs in York Stage’s Great British Bake Off? Not telling, except to say that you’re the winner if you buy a ticket. Hollyhurst/Hollywood handshakes all round for a recipe delivered so creamily.

Iced buns being handed out on the forecourt before the show was the icing on the cake.

York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Well judged performances by Tracey Rea’s Pam Lee and Chris Wilson’s Phil Hollinghurst in The Great British Bake Off Musical

Introducing Fredo, playing Hassan in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical

YORK busker Fredo is making his first venture into musical theatre in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off as Syrian-born Hassan, a 17-year-old student now living in Wembley, London.

Originally from Nepal, Fredo (real name Sudeep Pandey) came to York to study. He took up director-producer Nik Briggs’s invitation to step into the breach when the original actor, from elsewhere in Yorkshire, had to pull out on the first day or rehearsals.

“York Stage has always been committed to authentic casting, but within York’s acting community there are not a lot of Asian male actors,” says Nik. “I’d seen Fredo busking in York with his fantastic voice, so I looked up his details, contacted him and said ‘would you be interested in playing Hassan?’.

“He said ‘yeah’, and came down straightaway that night to start, with only five weeks of rehearsals to go. It’s his first time in a musical, his first time without his guitar on the street. He said, ‘five weeks ago, I didn’t even know what a musical was’!

Fredo: York busker making musical theatre debut in The Great British Bake Off Musical this week

“It’s been great to support him through his first stage show. He’s just so loveable. He has the biggest heart.”

 Fredo’s programme note states: “Fredo has built a reputation for his soulful vocals, intricate guitar work and dynamic live performances across Yorkshire’s vibrant music scene.

“Drawing inspiration from both Nepali roots and British contemporary sounds, his music blends cultures and genres with authenticity and heart.”

Catch Fredo busking, playing gigs or doing open-mic nights around York. When not performing, he continues to write, record and share his original music with audiences both locally and online.

Recipe for success: Brew & Brownie baker Mary Clare in rehearsal for her role as hostess Kim in York Stage’s Great British Bake Off Musical

Did you know?

JESSICA Viner and Stephen Hackshaw are sharing musical director duties for York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical. “Jess has been with us for all the rehearsals and was set to be the MD for all the shows, but then she was offered the chance to do Singin’ In The Rain in China for three months – having just done the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang UK tour for a year,” says director Nik Briggs.

“Stephen was with us for the first week and will lead the band and conduct us through the shows, having worked with the band last week.”

Did you know too?

YORK Stage cast member Mary Clare (playing Bake Off hostess Kim) is a professional baker, baking for Brew & Brownie, in Museum Street, York. “It’s been hilarious in rehearsals, when there’s been lots of slow-motion ‘baking’ going on, and Mary will say, ‘oh, no, that’s not how you use that implement’, ‘oh, no, that’s not how you sieve’!” says director Nik Briggs. “She’s been our ad-hoc baking expert in the rehearsal room.”

Bake Off hosts Jim (Sam Roberts) and Kim (Mary Clare) mucking around in York Stage’s York premiere

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 48, from Gazette & Herald

Mark Kermode Taking part in Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s Beyond the Frame strand at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Julie Edwards Visuals

THE 15th Aesthetica Short Film Festival tops the bill in a week when hauntings and musical buns rise to the occasion, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.

Festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, all over York, today to Sunday

NOT so much a film festival as a “screen and media event”, in its 15th year, York’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival is bigger and broader than ever. Not only more than 300 shorts, features, documentaries, animations and experimental films, but also the VR & Games Lab; masterclasses and panels; workshops and roundtables; networking and pitching; Listening Pitch premieres; the inaugural New Music Stage and Aesthetica Fringe shows; Beyond the Frame events at York Theatre Royal; the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO and the Podcasting strand. For the full programme and tickets, go to: asff.co.uk.

Mary Gauthier: Playing Pocklington Arts Centre tonight

Troubadour of the week: Mary Gauthier, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 7pm

MARY Gauthier hung up her chef’s coat to move to Nashville at 40 to start a troubadour career, going from open-mic gigs to playing Newport Folk Festival a year later. Twenty-five years ago, this courageous lesbian songwriter’s groundbreaking debut album Drag Queens In Limousines announced: “Drag queens in limousines, nuns in blue jeans, dreamers with big dreams, they all took me in.”

The song has become an anthem for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider: as it turns out, all of us. It is typical of her deeply personal, yet paradoxically universal work, written in reaction to what matters most to her, as Gauthier expresses boldly what is often too hard for us to say. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Bugsy at the double: Zachary Stoney, from Team Malone, left, and Dan Tomlin, from Team Bugsy, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone

Young performers of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of more than 40 young performers in Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s musical, replete with the film songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand Slam and Bugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate giving a team talk in James Graham’s Dear England, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre

Sporting drama of the week: National Theatre in Dear England, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Saturday, kick-off at 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JAMES Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play (and forthcoming television drama) takes its name from revolutionary England football  manager Gareth Southgate’s open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Sturzaker plays Southgate, Samantha Womack, team psychologist Pippa Grange, in this “inspiring, at times heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting story” of England, penalties, lost finals and a new-found national identity. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Ben Rosenfield and Laura McKeller in Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours’ The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!

Halloween horrors and jump scares of the week: Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours in The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BETWEEN 1986 and 1993, a series of often violent hauntings rocked the small Yorkshire town of Wetwang. The cases went cold and all the records were lost…until now! Join York ghost walk guide Dr Dorian Deathly and his team as they dig into the history and horrors of these cases. “This show is not for the faint of heart,” he forewarns. Suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jessica Shaw’s Forms Of Water, on show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Ryedale exhibition of the week: Jessica Shaw, Forms Of Water, Helmsley Arts Centre, until February 27 2026

BASED on the edge of the North York Moors, printmaker Jessica Shaw explores the impact of water and ice on landscape, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s assertion that “in time and with water, everything changes”. 

Combining screenprint, woodcut, monoprint and etching with diverse media such as gouache and acrylic ink, her work draws from organic patterns and shapes made by water and ice, detailing their effect on the North York Moors National Park’s topography by highlighting the shapes of its high ground and the curls of its rivers, to the ephemeral ice patterns found in puddles and windows in winter.  

Katie Leckey: Directing Griffonage Theatre in Kafka By Candlelight

Deliciously disturbing stories of the week: Griffonage Theatre, Kafka By Candlelight, The House Of Trembling Madness, Lendal, York, tonight to Friday, 6.30pm and 8.30pm  

“NO rest for the week,” say Griffonage Theatre, York’s purveyors of the madcap and the macabre, who are performing Kafka By Candlelight in the cavernous belly of the House Of Trembling Madness cellar as part of Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s debut  Aesthetica Fringe, featuring 25 shows across the city.

This one showcases five of Franz Kafka’s strangest short stories, told disturbingly in the darkness with the audience in masks (optional). “Dare to join us?” they tease. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/kafka-by-candlelight-tickets-1815618316259.

Entwined: Nik Briggs’s cooking copper, Ben, and Harriet Yorke’s carer, Gemma, in York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical

York musical premiere of the week: York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BAKING battles, singing sponges and a sprinkling of hilarity is the recipe for York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical, rising to the occasion under the direction of Nik Briggs, who also makes a rare stage appearance as one of the Bake Off contestants.

Expect a sweet and savoury symphony of British wit and oven mitts, propelled by a menu of  jazz hands and jubilant original songs that capture the essence of the Bake Off tent, from nerve-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become fruitful reality. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Understaffed and overworked: The hotel workforce on clean-up duty in John Godber Company’s Black Tie Ball. Picture: John Godber Company

One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze. 

The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Offcut Theatre’s poster for Libby Pearson’s Four By Three

Uplifting mini-dramas of the week: Offcut Theatre in Libby Pearson’s Four by Three, Milton Rooms, Malton, Thursday, 7.30pm

PAULINE, Bill and Martin invite you into parts of their lives through three separate monologues before coming together in a short play in Libby Pearson’s hopeful, uplifting, light-hearted look at the need for human contact.

In The Woman Next Door, is Pauline a lonely, nosey neighbour or a woman full of unfulfilled longing? In Silk FM, Bill runs a very local radio station; catch it on Thursdays, 1pm to 3pm, term-time only. In The Picker, Martin is desperate to be acknowledged for his innovative litter-picking ideas. In Shelved, Pauline, Bill and Martin run a volunteer-led library, where the council may have plans for it, but so do they. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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York Stage find the perfect recipe for showstoppers in The Great British Bake Off Musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Nik Briggs’s cooking copper, Ben, and Harriet Yorke’s carer, Gemma, become entwined in The Great British Bake Off Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

YORK Stage will be rising to the occasion in the York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical from Wednesday (5/11/2025) to Saturday at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Nik Briggs’s cast will be putting the tension into the tent – and the fun bite into the bun fight – in the familiar journey from never-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers as eight contestants seek to avoid soggy bottoms en route to impressing judges Phil Hollinghurst  (Chris Wilson) and Pam Lee (Tracey Rea).

“Prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become delicious reality,” says director and producer Nik. “It’s a show that proves baking isn’t just about the final product, it’s about the journey and the joy that comes from sharing that journey with others.”

He was determined to snap up the show for York Stage. “It started off in July 2022 at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, then transferred to the West End [Noel Coward Theatre, February 24 to May 13 2023], and when the rights became available earlier this year, we were straight in there with our application!

“It’s a show by Jake Brunger [book and lyrics] and Pippa Cleary [music and lyrics], who did the 2015 musical The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, and this show has gone the furthest for them since then. It’s gorgeous!  It has the perfect recipe: it’s got comedy, real heart, it’s so British – and it knows how to poke fun at the great national institution that Bake Off has become, but at the same time hold it in respect.”

The show is built around Brunger and Cleary’s original songs. “A lot of the humour comes in the wordplay and the lyrics, which are reminiscent of Victoria Wood’s patter songs, so rehearsals have been so funny,” says Nik. “It’s just been a lovely experience, which is just what you need when you’re rehearsing a show in only five weeks, whereas we normally do ten.

“Traditionally in musicals, you have your principals and the chorus singing the rousing chorus in harmony four times in the same song, but with this show, you have your Bake Off contestants being eliminated, so you have fewer people to do the harmonies as the show goes on – and everyone’s harmonies then swap too!”

Nik continues: “There’s one song with four choruses, where I sing different parts with different harmonies in every chorus! Those harmonies are gorgeous – and as Bake Off fans will recognise, all the big numbers are based on the underscore music from the TV series.

“It’s so clever the way it’s been done. The audience will think, ‘what a gorgeous, heart-filled British comedy’ it is, and they will realise what hard work has gone into it when people thought it might be twee, but it really isn’t.”

The Bake Off musical condenses the path of a full TV series into one  show, replete with the aforementioned technical challenges, show stoppers, eliminations by the musical’s answer to Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith  all introduced and jollied along by hosts Jim (Sam Roberts) and Kim (Mary Clare).

“Like in the TV series, we learn about their home life, why they’re doing Bake-Off. Like Izzy (Amy Barrett), the Cambridge graduate, who’s very competitive, desperate to win and thinking of the big deals that might come from winning.

“There’s a school dinner lady, who’s just there for the experience, and the environmentalist, who will not cook with butter and insists on everything being vegan. There’s a carer and policeman, both at a new stage in their lives, and we see them connecting with each other as the competition progresses.”

The policeman, Ben, will be played by Nik. “His daughter Lily is with him for reasons that will become clear, and I have four of my York Stage School students, Eady Mensah, Abigail Hodgson, Ella Laister and Meg Pickard, sharing the role,” he says.

Now so busy directing York Stage shows and running York Stage School, Nik is seldom to be seen on stage. Indeed Ben will be his first principal role since leading the cast in green in Shrek The Musical in September 2019 at the Grand Opera House.

“When I first came by the show, there is this duet that Ben sings with Lily, and though it’s very rare these days, I thought, ‘ooh, I would love to sing that’, when nowadays I’m much more comfortable on the other side, directing.

“I still felt that way about the song after a few months, so I decided that I would scratch that [performing] itch once in a decade!”

Nik has been turning his hand to another skill. “We have to make 50-odd cake and pastry props,” he says. “We’ve been designing and making them ourselves, using various crafts, like making things out of Polystyrene and foam. After this interview, I’m off to finish off the Eiffel Tower and Blackpool Tower cakes!”

How does he rate his own baking skills? “I’m rubbish with pastry as I have hot hands, when cold hands are good for pastry making, but back in the day, I was quite renowned for my sponges and cakes in food tech at school,” says Nik. “But in lockdown, I just lost the knack. Neither of my banana breads worked, so I gave up.”

York Stage’s show could not be better timed. “This year’s final is on Channel 4 tomorrow night[4/11/2025); we open on Wednesday. Some people might think it was planned!” says Nik.

York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, November 5 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.