Sonnets In Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor in the Holy Trinity churchyard, in Goodramgate, York, where the York Shakespeare Project performance will take place
YORK Shakespeare Project’s summer celebration of Shakespeare’s sonnets returns to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, from August 15 to 23.
Sonnets In Bloom brings together the Bard, director Josie Connor, scriptwriter Natalie Roe and a cast of 12 sonneteers.
“The last two shows have attracted record audiences so we are delighted again to be offering a summer taste of Shakespeare that is both entertaining and accessible,” says producer Maurice Crichton.
“This year we return to Holy Trinity Goodramgate, where site co-ordinator Gemma Murray and her team of volunteers made us so welcome last year.”
The year’s show has been scripted by Natalie Roe in her first involvement with YSP’s Sonnets project. “Natalie has incorporated a record 13 sonnets into her script, including seven that have not featured in previous YSP productions,” says Maurice.
Harry Summers: One of nine new sonneteers taking part in Sonnets In Bloom 2025
“Shakespeare wrote at least 154 sonnets. We have plenty more to go at but the new ones in this show mean we will have featured more than a third of the total across the nine sonnets productions we have so far put on.”
In Natalie’s script, “Reverend Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are all warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings on. Participants are arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others. But where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?”
Josie Connor is directing YSP for the first time, having worked with Natalie previously when she directed her script, Boxes, for York Settlement Community Players’ pub theatre initiative, The Direct Approach, in 2023.
As ever, Sonnets In Bloom features a wide variety of colourful characters, who each find an opportunity to give voice to one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
“It’s a lovely experience,” says YSP chair Tony Froud. “You can sip your complimentary drink on a summer’s evening in a delightful setting. Very often, the characters slip into a sonnet and the audience hardly notice that the language has become Shakespearean. And you can look forward to the odd surprise or two.”
Sonnets In Bloom 2025 producer Maurice Crichton
This will be the ninth time that YSP has put on a show based on Shakespeare’s sonnets, having first staged Sonnet Walks in 2014 , when audiences divided into groups met colourful characters as they walked around the streets of York, in the run-up to Le Grand Depart of that summer’s Tour de France.
In 2020, in the depths of the pandemic, the format was adapted to become Sit-Down Sonnets, when guiding a socially distanced group around the streets was impracticable. Sit-down shows have prevailed ever since.
This year, the cast of 12 is mostly new to the Sonnet shows and younger too. “Only three performers have been involved previously, and with a new writer and a first-time Sonnets director, this production will take a fresh look at a trusted format,” says Maurice.
The cast in full is: Harry Summers*; James Tyler*; Stuart Lindsay*; Grace Scott; Benjamin Rowley*; Emilie Knight; Oliver Taylor*; Tom Langley*; Xandra Logan; Annie Dunbar*; Lily Geering* and Stuart Green*. (*New to the sonnets.)
York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23. Box office: 01904 623568; https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/sonnets-in-bloom-2025/; in person from York Theatre Royal box office. Price, including a drink: £10 or £5 for age 14 to 17. Running time: 50 minutes.
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Sonnets In Bloom 2025