More Things To Do in and around York from August 19 , courtesy of The Press, York

Keane: Heading to the East Coast on Saturday

OPEN-AIR cinema and myriad concerts, Proms and wild beasts affirm that summer is not yet over for Charles Hutchinson or for you.

Theatre one-off of the week outside York: Casey Jay Andrews in Every Wild Beast, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, tonight (19/8/2021) at 7.30pm

FRINGE First award-winning theatre-maker and storyteller Casey Jay Andrews weaves folklore and fable into her magical coming-of-age tale of courage, curiosity and running away from big scary things.

Casey Jay Andrews: Weaving folklore and fable into a magical coming-of-age tale

What happens? The stars are empty, the moon has fallen from the sky and the mountains are full of monsters, as Barri collects newspaper clippings and listens to vinyl in her grandmother’s attic, while Sam tries to outrun a community support officer investigating the murder of several domestic badgers.

“If you like your storytelling full of beauty, skill, fable and reality, this will be right up your alley,” says Theatre At The Mill programmer Alexander Wright. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.

Nile Rodgers: C’est Chic at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Nile Rodgers & Chic, tomorrow (20/8/2021); Keane, Saturday, gates open at 6pm

AFTER Stereophonics, Kaiser Chiefs, Culture Club and Westlife, the Scarborough OAT summer season gathers still more pace by welcoming back Nile Rodgers & Chic, who first played there in 2018, tomorrow night.

Chic co-founder Rodgers and his band will be reactivating such dancefloor fillers as Le Freak, Good Times and Everybody Dance.

Saturday’s headliners, East Sussex chart-toppers Keane, drew a six-year hiatus to a close with their 2019 album Cause And Effect. The Sherlocks will be supporting. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Forever Tenors: Yorkshire classical-crossover singers Rob Durkin and Adam Lacey, performing at the Castle Howard Proms

Pomp and circumstance of the weekend: Castle Howard Proms, Castle Howard, Saturday (21/8/2021); gates, 5pm; concert, 7.30pm

YORKSHIRE’S own Forever Tenors, best friends Rob Durkin and Adam Lacey, are confirmed as the opening act at the Castle Howard Proms.

The classical crossover duo joins a bill featuring Welsh tenor Wynne Evans, alias Gio Compario off the telly, soprano Victoria Joyce and the London Gala Orchestra under the baton of Stephen Bell, plus a Spitfire flyover, lasers and a firework finale.

Castle Howard’s concert weekend opens with Café Mambo Ibiza’s sold-out show tomorrow (20/8/2021, gates, 4pm) and concludes with Queen Symphonic on Sunday, when Forever Tenors support again from 5pm. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

Evans, above: Wynne Evans will be the tenor soloist at the Castle Howard Proms

Film event of the week: The Luna Cinema at York Minster, August 24 to 29; doors, 6.45pm; screenings, 8.15pm

BAZ Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet opens five days of Luna Cinema open-air screenings against the backdrop of York Minster on Tuesday.

To follow will be the Elton John story, Rocketman, on Wednesday; The Greatest Showman on Thursday; Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, next Friday; Dirty Dancing next Saturday and Rian Johnson’s American mystery, Knives Out, next Sunday. Tickets are available from thelunacinema.com/york-minster2.

LS6 Theatre’s poster for Life Below, on tour at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

Theatre one-off of the week in York: LS6 Theatre in 90’s Kids Only and Life Below, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm

LS6 Theatre serve up a touring double bill of new theatre: writer-director Spike Woodley and Laurentz Valdes-Lea’s comedy-drama 90’s Kids Only and writer-director Dec Kelly’s gritty mining drama Life Below.

When did the universe begin? 1990. At least according to Ozzy and his friends in 90’s Kids Only, where what starts as a celebration of 1990s’ nostalgia ends in confusion, hysteria and the kidnapping of a beloved TV presenter.

In Life Below, Kelly chronicles two generations of a northern mining family that each had to endure treacherous conditions to stay alive. In 1984, Rosie Gooder fights for her community’s rights under the threat of Margaret Thatcher’s pit closures. Box office: josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The Magpies: Playing The Crescent in York in September

Magpies in twos: First a North Yorkshire festival, now a York gig for The Magpies next month

FRESH from hosting their sold-out first festival last Saturday at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, contemporary roots trio The Magpies are off on a 16-date tour next month.

York guitarist, banjo-player and singer Bella Gaffney, clawhammer banjo player and singer Kate Griffinand fiddle-player and tunesmith Holly Brandon will be showcasing their June 2020 album, Tidings, and latest single I Will Never Marry, a traditional tale of lost love, handed down from woman to woman over the centuries.

Among the dates will be The Crescent, York, on September 10. Tour tickets are on sale at themagpiesmusic.com.

Matt Bowden at his Natural Landscape Of Yorkshire exhibition at City Screen, York

York exhibition of the week: Matt Bowden’s The Natural Landscape Of Yorkshire, City Screen, York, until September 11

FILM and television location manager and photographer Matt Bowden’s exhibition has re-opened at City Screen, York, after its Covid-enforced premature closure during lockdown.

“Growing up in North Yorkshire, with such natural beauty on my doorstep, meant it was almost inevitable I would develop an appreciation and interest in wildlife from an early age,” says Matt. “My grandfather Eric was a keen bird-watcher, often taking me to local nature reserves for days out, binoculars around our necks.  

“But the desire to capture images of wildlife came to me relatively late in life, as my growing interest in photography through my job collided with the joy and fascination I found in the natural world that surrounded me.”

Double act resumes: Dominic Goodwin as Dr Watson, left, and Julian Finnegan as Sherlock Holmes in Pyramis and Thisbe Productions’ revival of Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour

When is The Farewell Tour not the farewell tour? When Pyramus and Thisbe Productions revive Holmes and Watson next month

DOMINIC Goodwin thought he had called time on Stuart Fortey’s Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour in 2017, but now his double act with Julian Finnegan will have its miraculous Lazarus reawakening, on tour for 18 dates from September 3 to October 9.

Goodwin once more will play Dr Watson opposite Finnegan’s Sherlock Holmes in Kirkbymoorside company Pyramus and Thisbe Productions’ re-enactment of The Case of The Prime Minister, The Floozie and The Lummock Rock Lighthouse, an affair on whose outcome the security of Europe once hung by a thread.

For full details of a tour with 11 North and East Yorkshire performances, go to: pyramusandthisbeproductions.com

When is The Farewell Tour not the farewell tour? When Finnegan and Goodwin launch revival of Holmes and Watson comedy hit

The Farewell Tour returns! Dominic Goodwin, left, as Dr Watson and Julian Finnegan as Sherlock Holmes in Pyramus and Thisbe Productions’ revival of Stuart Fortey’s play

FROM Frank Sinatra to Cher, the farewell tour often turns out not to be the farewell tour.

The latest case in point is Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour, a double-act show from Kirkbymoorside company Pyramus and Thisbe Productions that exited stage left in 2017 but now has its miraculous Lazarus reawakening, on tour for 18 dates from September 3 to October 9.

Wherever Holmes and Watson visit, be warned that Professor Moriarty surely will be hiding somewhere nearby.

“I toured the play from 2009 to 2017 and thought it would die then, but it would seem not!” says Dominic Goodwin, who once more will play Dr Watson opposite Julian Finnegan’s Sherlock Holmes.

“Wetherby Festival kicked it all off and asked me to bring it back, and within a couple of weeks we were 18 gigs to the good! Most dates are for venues that have already had the show before, but I think the need to laugh has never been greater!”

Written by Stuart Fortey and directed by David Robertson, Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour is built on the premise that, before slipping into well-earned retirement, Sherlock Holmes has prevailed on long-time companion Dr Watson, landlady Mrs Hudson and Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard to join him in a farewell tour of the British Isles.

For the first time ever – ignoring the 2009 to 2017 shows! – they will re-enact one of the detective’s most baffling unrecorded cases – The Case of The Prime Minister, The Floozie and The Lummock Rock Lighthouse – an affair on whose outcome the security of Europe once hung by a thread.

Shrouded in secrecy until now, this case has finally been approved by the Government for public disclosure.

What’s more, Mr Holmes has been entrusted by Her Majesty with the conveyance to the Tower of London of the fabled Satsuma Stone, stolen from the crown of William of Orange in the 17th century and discovered only recently in a midden in Maastricht.

Dominic Goodwin, left, and Julian Finnegan on their 2021 tour of Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour

“It is expected that the evening will include a glimpse of this priceless gem,” says Dominic. “In which case, one can only be thankful that Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime, fell to his death at the Reichenbach Falls. Or did he? Or is he still alive, planning another deadly strike as he lurks, unseen, in the wings?”

Holmes And Watson: The Farewell Tour, winner of the gold awards for performance and production at the 2013 Henley Fringe Festival, will play ten North and East Yorkshire venues: September 3, Kirkbymoorside Methodist Church; September 4, Wrelton Village Hall, near Pickering, and September 5, Wetherby Festival, Open Air Theatre, Church Street, Wetherby.

Coming next, September 17, Helmsley Arts Centre; September 18, Terrington Village Hall; September 19, Alne Village Hall, near Easingwold; September 22, Court House, Thirsk; September 24, Leyburn Arts and Community Centre; September 25, West Burton Village Hall, near Bedale, and October 7, Victoria Hall, Settle.

For a full list of dates for a tour that will stretch out to Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Scotland, go to: pyramusandthisbeproductions.com. Performances times and box-office details will be added tomorrow.

“I can guarantee a bit of a titter! It’s barking mad!” says Dominic, as he looks forward to stage one of Pyramus and Thisbe’s return.

“Then in May and June 2022, we will bring you more titters with Holmes And Mrs Hudson: For One Night Only from the mighty pen of Stuart Fortey. Thrill with excitement as Sherlock Holmes and his landlady Mrs Hudson reconstruct for your entertainment The Case of the Frivolous Vicars! Try and deduce who killed Constance McMerryweather in the vicarage garden with a quoits spike! Ask yourself what, if anything, has Aladdin to do with it? Quite a lot, actually!”

Deprived of his usual sidekick Dr Watson, Holmes teams up with Mrs Hudson, who proves more than equal to the task in hand. “But what exactly is her relationship with Holmes and is it for One Night Only?” ponders Dominic, a noted pantomime dame, who will be raiding the female wardrobe once more to play Mrs Hudson.

“With its smorgasbord of foreign languages, coded poems, ballet and opera, Holmes And Mrs Hudson will be pure fun and silliness from beginning to end.” The tour schedule will be announced soon.

Did you know?

DOMINIC Goodwin’s Twitter profile introduces him as: Big fun actor! Dame and businessman!! Owns Banks Music Publications [in York] with lovely Rosemary Goodwin. Gave up acting in 2014, but is slowly going back to it…