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What happens when Sleeping Beauty meets Beauty And The Beast? Badapple Theatre make a pantomime mash-up

Writer-director Richard Kay rehearsing Badapple Theatre Company’s Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

THREE actors, two pantomimes, one hour, what could possibly go wrong in Badapple Theatre Company’s panto mash-up Sleeping Beauty And The Beast?

The intrepid trio of Richard Galloway (in his third Badapple show), Pip Cook (in her second) and Livy Potter (in her Badapple debut) will “go where no pantomimers have ever gone before” in the Green Hammerton touring troupe’s madcap marriage of Sleeping Beauty and Beauty And The Beast by York writer, director and composer Richard Kay

From tomorrow’s first preview in Sutton upon Derwent Village Hall until closing night at St John’s Church, Sharow, on January 5 2025, audiences can join Fairy Naturel and friends as they try to thwart the evil potion plant-poisoning plans of the Wicked Witch of The West (of Yorkshire) and save Belle and Beauty from their storybook fates.

Expect classic pantomime japes, songs and costume changes galore as Badapple, in association with Rural Arts On Tour, undertake a joyous rollercoaster panto mash-up for all ages, all from the safety and comfort of a village hall, as Galloway plays the Wicked Witch and Cook and Potter the roles of Belle and Beauty plus multiple more roles each.

“The real world can be pretty scary at the moment, so this pantomime will provide some much-needed escapism on your doorstep,” says Richard. “Filled with the magic and glitz of a larger-scale panto packaged into your local hall, featuring multi-talented performers, cheaper ticket prices and less need to travel, you’ve got a festive theatre experience you can bring the whole family to without breaking the Christmas budget!”

Livy Potter: York actress making her Badapple debut in Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

This autumn, buoyed by Arts Council England funding, Badapple are already on tour with company founder and artistic director Kate Bramley’s new show Polaris The Snow Bear: “a classic Badapple family show with the usual comedy, puppets, songs, mayhem and a touch of snowy wonder  as Polaris and sidekick Sammy seek to save the Polar world – and Christmas itself”.

Now, after 26 years of performing original shows in the smallest and hardest-to-reach rural venues both regionally and nationwide, Sleeping Beauty & The Beast breaks new ground for Badapple. “This is the first Badapple show in which Kate has had pretty much no involvement,” says Richard. “That’s  quite some trust in me to have that honour, but it’s still very much true to the brand.

“The show came about in a slightly roundabout way. I’d performed in pantomime for many years, and in terms of writing, I’ve done a lot for York Maize and the York Castle Museum, and storytelling shows for Brimham Brocks too, walking around the rocks.

“The three-hander York Maize shows are very pantomimic in style, and I also did a show for York BID and Little Vikings, just before Covid, called The Hunt For The Magical Chocolatey Chips.”

At the same time, Richard has played his part in Badapple for ten years, co-directing and performing in a couple of shows and running the youth theatre, writing and directing Christmas shows for casts of up to 30.

Richard Galloway’s Wicked Witch of the West (Yorkshire) and Pip Cook’s Belle in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

“So we had some ideas for doing Sleeping Beauty and Beauty And The Beast and Kate thought it would work well on tour. We were very lucky that Rural Arts [based in The Courthouse, Thirsk] contacted us at the start of the year to ask us to pitch to do their Christmas tour offering. They liked the idea of how these two stories go together so nicely,” he says.

“The brief was to write an hour-long panto with all the familiar elements and all the usual capers but with a cast of only three.

“So we’re doing a show with multi-roling, puppetry, pop songs and some original songs that I’ve written. We love the idea of blending two pantomimes, and because we’re an eco-conscious company, it’s also a pantomime with an eco-theme, where the Wicked Witch is destroying the planet with her potion boiling  but there is a prophesy that either Belle or Beauty will save the Earth, so the Wicked Witch wants to nobble both of them.”

What happened when he put the two stories together? “It’s been interesting to see where it went. Because Badapple tours to villages, I knew I wanted to set it in two neighbouring villages and then see how one could save the other,” says Richard.

“We’re also  delighted to have a set design by William Fricker, an old friend of mine that I’ve worked with before, who co-designed Hansel & Gretel at Shakespeare’s Globe and has created a wonderful proscenium arch set for us.”

Pip Cook: Following up the autumn tour of Badapple’s The Regalettes with Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

Fresh from making her Badapple debut in the autumn tour of Kate Bramley’s The Regalettes, Pip Cook is piling up the roles in Sleeping Beauty And The Beast. “I’m playing seven!” she says confidently. “Belle, the King, the Queen, Mother, Father, David Dimwit, David Attenborough.”

Later in this conversation in a break at Tuesday’s rehearsal in Hunsingore, it turns out she will be playing a Prince too. “Oh yes! I forgot about that one!”  she says.

“I play some of the characters at the same time: Mother and Father as puppets on each hand, and the King and Quen dashing on and off. It’s pretty manic.

“I absolutely love the Badapple style: I had loads of fun – and lots of moustaches – in The Regalettes, which was a typical Badapple show with a lot of heart and a message as well as comedy [in a play set in the 1930s in the fictional Yorkshire village of Bottledale, where a new movie premières at the tiny Regal cinema].”

Beauty is Livy Potter’s latest role as she settles into focusing on a freelance professional acting career, as well as writing and arts marketing, after working at York Theatre Royal and the University of York and being chair of the York Settlement Community Players.

Livy Potter’s Beauty, left, and Pip Cook’s Belle rehearsing a scene from Badapple Theatre Company’s Sleeping Beauty And The Beast

“I haven’t seen Badapple’s work in the past but I’m feeling very much part of the family now,” she says. “The friendliness and approachability have really struck me. Badapple are all about supporting local talent, which is really important to me,” says Livy, who also will be playing Fairy Naturel and Lord Hunk, who becomes the Beast.

“This show is something new in its style, and I’ve always wanted to do panto, so this is the perfect introduction for me – and the audience will definitely have a role to play, which will be fun.”

Like Pip and Livy in their matching blue and pink attire, Richard Galloway is dressed in character, in a skirt, in the rehearsal room for his principal role as the Wicked Witch. “I’ll also be playing the long-suffering French servant of Lord Hunk, and there’s a cuckoo puppet and a Prince in there for me too,” he says.

“This is my third Badapple show, after I did two last year, when I took over from Danny Mellor in Danny’s one-man show Yorkshire Kernel [a poignant war memorial comedy] and did the 25th anniversary tour of Kate’s play Eddie And The Gold Tops. Plenty of variety there!”

Badapple Theatre Company and Rural Arts On Tour present Sleeping Beauty And The Beast from December 17 to January 5 2025, preceded by previews at Sutton upon Derwent Village Hall tomorrow, 7pm, and Stillingfleet Village Institute, on Saturday, 6.30pm. For full tour and ticket details , head to ruralarts.org/whats-on/performances/ or email admin@ruralarts.org or phone  01845 526 536. Tickets for the previews and Green Hammerton Village Hall performance (January 2, 7pm) are on sale on 01423 331304 or at badappletheatre.co.uk.

Richard Galloway, right, in Badapple’s 25th anniversary tour of Kate Bramley’s Eddie And The Gold Tops, when he performed with Zach Atkinson and Emily Chattle. Picture: Karl Andre

Copyright of The Press, York

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Badapple Theatre set out to save the Polar world and Christmas in new family show Polaris, on tour from today to January 5

Tom Mordell’s Polaris the Snow Bear and Danny Mellor’s Sammy the Seal in Badapple Theatre Company’s Polaris The Snow Bear. Picture: Karl Andre

MEET Polaris, the travelling snow bear and star of a new family Christmas show by Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company that opens tonight.

Polaris is on the longest journey of his life: to find the great Mr. Hat-In-Burrow, a renowned human naturalist who – legend says – has the key to saving the Polar world.

When he arrives unexpectedly by iceberg in a small village in the North of England, Polaris does not receive the warm welcome he expected! Many complicated and comedic adventures ensue as he tries to put everything right in time for Christmas with the help of his reluctant sidekick, Sammy the Seal.

Tom Mordell

Written and directed by Badapple director Kate Bramley, this festive tall tale for all ages five upwards, as well as the young at heart, will tour to small village halls throughout Yorkshire and then nationwide from November 29 to January 5 2025 with a cast of Tom Mordell as Polaris (and other roles) and company favourite Danny Mellor as Sammy the Seal (and other roles too). Jez Lowe’s songs and Catherine Dawn’s design completes the snow-dusted picture.

For the past 26 years, Badapple have performed  original shows in the smallest and hardest-to-reach rural venues nationwide, bringing theatre and music “to your doorstep”.

“From the North Yorkshire team that delivered The Mice Who Ate Christmas, The Elves And The Carpenter and The Snow Dancer, expect a classic Badapple family show with the usual comedy, puppets, songs, mayhem and a touch of snowy wonder!” says Kate. “It’s perfect for grandparents and grandchildren to enjoy together as Polaris and sidekick Sammy seek to save the Polar world – and Christmas itself.”

Danny Mellor

The tour will take in 26 venues, as far afield as Lancashire, Cumbria, County Durham, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Herefordshire and Shropshire, as well as North, East and South Yorkshire.. All venue and ticket details can be found at: https://www.badappletheatre.co.uk/show/polaris-the-snow-bear/ or by telephoning 01423 331304.

Yorkshire dates include:

November 29, 7pm: Tockwith Village Hall, box office, 01423 331304.

November 30, 7pm: Kilham Village Hall, 07354 301119.

December 1, 7pm: Old Girls’ School, Sherburn in Elmet, 01977 685178.

December 3, 7pm: Green Hammerton Village Hall, 01423 331304.

December 7, 3pm: The Mount School, York, 01423 331304/badappletheatre.co.uk.

Badapple’s tour poster for Polaris The Snow Bear

December 11, 7.30pm: Bishop Monkton Village Hall, 01423 331304. 

December 17, 6pm: The Cholmeley Hall, Brandsby, 01347 889898.

December 28, 2pm: Ampleforth Village Hall, 07549 775971.

December 30, 4.30pm: East Cottingwith Village Hall, 07866 024009.

Did you know? Badapple’s travels in 2024 with The Regalettes

EARLIER this year, Badapple Theatre Company mounted spring and autumn tours of director Kate Bramley’s 1930s’-inspired comedy The Regalettes, the first from April 24 to June 7 with a Yorkshire cast of Ellie Pawsey and Rhiannon Canoville-Ord; the second from September 26 to  November 17 with Pip Cook and fellow York actress Nell Baker plus ‘cinema’ visuals and new twists.

In The Regalettes, Celebrity and rural life clash head on when a new movie premières at the tiny Regal cinema in the fictional Yorkshire village of Bottledale in Bramley’s play set in the 1930s, the cinema decade that spans Hitchcock noir and classic Technicolor showstoppers.

Ellie Pawsey’s The Falcon in Badapple’s The Regalettes. Picture: Karl Andre

Comedy and intrigue ensue as the intrepid heroines Hilda and Annie suddenly find themselves at the heart of a very silly mystery. Cue film sequences, music, songs and clowning in Bramley’s story that looks at the contrast for young women between isolated village life and the perceived glamour of the movies.

Bramley revealed how the idea for the play came about. “I’m a big film noir fan; it’s so stylish and elegant, and so well written – and the 1930s was a huge boom time for Hollywood and famous UK film makers as well.”

Rhiannon Canoville-Ord as Mademoiselle Escargot in The Regalettes. Picture: Karl Andre

Away from Hollywood, the decade was far from magical for many, with the Great Depression taking hold. “For ordinary working people, the 1930s was a time of increasing financial hardship which seemed a world away from the glamour of a movie set,” Kate noted.

“I suppose I thought there were some parallels to our modern-day experiences, but as ever it’s a comedy, and we just had a lot of fun piecing together a ‘what if’ mini-mystery that turns normal rural life upside down for our heroines.”

Nell Baker

The first tour set off in the wake of Badapple securing £28,381 grant funding from Arts Council England and £800 from East Riding Council. “Badapple is immensely grateful for this generous funding, which enables ours original brand of live theatre to reach rural locations across the country,” said Kate.

Later explaining how the 18-date second tour differed from the first, she said: “Bringing in a new cast has given the whole show a new lease of life. I have re-written some of the show and, alongside our new assistant director Connie Peel, we added some new visual twists and turns to the narrative, as well as our production team augmenting the overall design and style. We are always refining and creating and looking to make every tour be the best it can be.”

Pip Cook
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Yorkshire Trios confirmed for Next Door But One’s theatrical showcase at York Theatre Royal Studio next March. Who’s taking part?

In the line-up for Next Door But One’s Yorkshire Trios in the York Theatre Royal Studio next March: top row, Sarah Rumfitt, left, Kate Bramley, Connie Peel and Nicola Holliday; second row, Jules Risingham, Tempest Wisdom and Bailey Dowler; third row, Yixia Jiang, Jacob Ward and Claire Morley; bottom row, Paul Birch, Harri Marshall and Livy Potter

AFTER receiving more than four times as many applications as commissions available, York theatre company Next Door But One has assembled the next band of Yorkshire Trios – and a quartet – for March 2024.

“That many applicants is a sign of a few things,” says chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle. “Just the sheer amount of talent that is within the local area; that there’s still a need after Covid for local creatives to be supported to get their own work out there, and hopefully that we as a company are seen as approachable and that people want to connect with us.”

Through a series of micro-commissions, York actors, writers and directors are being supported by NDB1 to produce original, short pieces of theatre that celebrate their individual skill and creativity.

“The brief is to create a five to 15-minute solo performance that in some way responds to the overall theme of ‘Top of the Hill’, so this is already resulting in stories of motherhood, grief, love, war and even Kate Bush!” says Matt.

“The writers are working on their second draft after receiving dramaturgical support from our team, and then rehearsals will begin in the early new year.”

The artists taking part will be Sarah Rumfitt, Kate Bramley, Connie Peel, Nicola Holliday, Jules Risingham, Tempest Wisdom, Bailey Dowler, Yixia Jiang, Jacob Ward, Claire Morley, Paul Birch, Harri Marshall and Livy Potter.

“This version is really building on everything that we learned and achieved from the first time around,” says Next Door But One artistic director Matthew Harper-Hardcastle

They will be working towards a showcase of original performances at York Theatre Royal next March, with more details on performance dates and how to book tickets to be released in the new year.

NDB1’s inaugural 2021 showcase of Yorkshire Trios in the garden performance space of The Gillygate pub marked the first live show in York after the lifting of Covid restrictions.

“At the time, many local performing arts professionals were feeling disconnected from their artistry and were extremely anxious about the future of their careers,” recalls Matt.

“So we listened to their concerns and created a series of micro-commissions to form new collaborative trios of an actor, writer and director, from which original work could be produced.”

One 2021 creative described Yorkshire Trios as “a total lifeline; a lighthouse in a stormy sea”. “Since then, Next Door But One has supported a further 44 creatives with mentoring in such areas as job applications and funding bid writing,” says Matt.

Yixia Jiang: Writing Love Letters Before Dawn for Yorkshire Trios

“We’ve always wanted to be an approachable company where creatives can hang their hat. We really believe in investing in the York cultural ecology, so this new iteration of Yorkshire Trios sits alongside our professional development programme, Opening Doors, and our Company Coaching provision.

“That provision is giving quarterly business and peer mentoring to five arts-based companies, Thunk-It Theatre, Story Craft Theatre, Terpsichoring dance company, Moon Dust and CoCreate, each with a different focus and at different stages of their development.”

Looking forward to next March’s showcase, NDB1 associate director Kate Veysey says: “It was really encouraging and humbling to read people’s honest reflections on what Yorkshire Trios could do for them within the application process.

“Some who had never been able to showcase their work in their hometown, others who had faced challenges in creating a professional network or establishing their careers on their own terms, and others who really respected our work and wanted to align their practice with our values. We feel really confident in being able to offer solutions to these points through this project.”

Emerging writer Yixia Jiang’s play Love Letters Before Dawn will be performed by Claire Morley, directed by Jacob Ward. “Working with this group of amazing people in York gives me a chance to take a glance into the local theatre industry and help establish myself as a playwright here,” he says.

Bailey Dowler: Performing Jules Risingham’s Anorak

York actor Bailey Dowler will perform Jules Risingham’s Anorak under the direction of Tempest Wisdom. “I wanted to get involved with Yorkshire Trios because there’s a lot of local talent in York and this is a perfect opportunity to widen my creative circle,” says Bailey.

“I cannot wait to work so closely with a writer and director. It’s such a rarity to have a one-to-one experience in the rehearsal room and so I’m excited to collaborate together, creating beautiful theatre, fuelled with passion.

“Next Door But One has a fantastic support system and I’m looking forward to being mentored and learning more about the process of creating a play, from outside the eyes of an actor.”

Fellow actor Nicola Holliday will present Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast, directed by Kate Bramley, artistic director of Badapple Theatre Company, and Connie Peel. “Having heard from friends what an incredible and inclusive company NDB1 was to work with, I was eager for the opportunity and chuffed to bits to be cast in Yorkshire Trios,” says Nicola.

“As an autistic, full-time working parent, finding flexible inclusive work can be a challenge and being welcomed with open arms, kindness and understanding by the whole NDB1 team has been lovely.

Nicola Holliday: Performer for Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast

“Meeting my Yorkshire quartet, such a talented creative and passionate bunch of local folks, I cannot wait to see our piece grow and develop, to be really challenged as an actor and to make some more meaningful connections here in York.”

Writer Sarah Rumfitt says: “Yorkshire Trios has given me an opportunity to explore my own voice within writing, something I have had little time for since becoming a mum.

“Being a creative is incredibly rewarding but also at times lonely. After an initial meeting with NDB1 and the other trios, I already feel more connected and part of an exciting community of Yorkshire-based creatives.”

Co-director Kate Bramley adds: “I’m really delighted to be working with Next Door But One on a brand new short play and mentoring another young director to boot, which makes us a unique four-person ‘trio’! I’ll be very excited to get started in the New Year.”

The fourth Yorkshire Trio comprises writer Paul Birch, actor Livy Potter and director Harri Marshall, combining on Running Up That Hill, the Kate Bush one.

Now that all the Yorkshire Trios have been introduced to one another, they can start creating performances that “really reflect who they are”. “We’ve provided the stimuli of ‘Top of The Hill’,” says NDB1 creative engagement manager El Stannage. “Not only because it then provides an overall theme to the final performances, but also because it brings a bit of the NDB1 ethos into the process.

Writer Sarah Rumfitt: Toast pops up at Next Door But One’s Yorkshire Trios showcase

“As a team, we often talk about what it’s like for us at the ‘top of the hill’; what it looks like when we are at our best, and that’s really what we want to instil in our trios. We want to celebrate each of them and applaud the incredible talent in our area.”

Highlighting how the 2024 Yorkshire Trios will differ from 2021, Matt says: “This version is really building on everything that we learned and achieved from the first time around.

“We’ve scheduled our Opening Doors programme to run alongside Yorkshire Trios this year, so we can offer development workshops for all the actors, writers and directors. We’ve included additional mentoring or adapted roles to suit the desired outcomes of certain creatives.

“The showcase of work will be performed in the York Theatre Royal Studio so we’ll be able to include more aesthetic decisions. And finally, we’ve reduced the number of commissions this time around so that we can increase the commission sum so that it’s more reflective of the work and energy each creative puts into it.”

Matt is delighted that the chosen artists are so diverse in representing York’s arts community in 2024. “As a company we really lead with who we are, and as an LGBTQ+ and disability-led company, we call to others who want to do the same, or want to be in those same spaces,” he says.

“Then the more that happens, the more others see themselves represented in both the industry and on stage, which then calls to more people, and so the process continues. So, it was really important to us that we had a real diversity across our trios, both in terms of identity and also experiences/stages in their career.”

The 2024 Yorkshire Trios – and a quartet

Kate Bramley: Co-directing Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast

Toast by Sarah Rumfitt

Performed by Nicola Holliday and directed by Kate Bramley and Connie Peel

AFTER giving birth, the midwife brings you toast; simple, medium cut, white Hovis that’s done a quick dip in the toaster, barely browned, overly buttered but the best thing Becky’s ever tasted. If only she knew what was coming…she’d have asked for the full loaf. Following a year-long struggle with post-natal depression, Becky and her son set off on their first walk together; they are going to the top of the hill; a place Becky would often walk alone before becoming “Mum”.

Livy Potter: Performing Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill

Running Up That Hill by Paul Birch

Performed by Livy Potter and directed by Harri Marshall

ALEX is lost. Alex hates running but loves Kate Bush. They know all the facts about Kate Bush. Kate Bush drinks milk before recording and knows Lenny Henry. Alex is

running and Kate’s voice seems to help. Hill running is the worst and one (bastard) hill has them (almost) beat. This is the story of what Alex is running from and what they are running towards.

Prison is behind them as is their escape from a controlling relationship. Running up that hill is presently painful but it’s a different kind of pain from the past; besides, running up that hill might finally give Alex a clear view…

Harri Marshall: Directing Running Up That Hill

Love Letters Before Dawn by Yixia Jiang

Performed by Claire Morley and directed by Jacob Ward

A SOLDIER has been defending a battlefield from a hill for the past 100 days. Today he has given up on all chances to defend this place. All hopes seem lost.

However, the soldier keeps hold of his bravery and pride by remembering his fallen commander’s words: “We don’t persist because there is hope. It’s because of persisting, there shall be hope.”

Jacob Ward: Directing Yixia Jiang’s Love Letters Before Dawn

Anorak by Jules Risingham

Performed by Bailey Dowler and directed by Tempest Wisdom

THOMAS (no relation to The Tank Engine) loves trains. His whole life has been spent chasing trains, and always chasing after him was his partner, Charlie. Charlie did not like trains but loved Thomas. Thomas sits alone in his camping chair, on the top of his and Charlie’s favourite hill, looking down on the valley below, waiting for a train to pass that never seems to arrive.

With little to write about in his journal, he spends this time reflecting on his life with Charlie – and working out how to overcome his newfound grief. Thomas achieves a new understanding of grief, and how to keep living in the absence of our loved ones.

Jules Risingham: Writer of Anorak
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Scrooge turns into grumpy Yorkshire farmer for Badapple Theatre Company’s take on A Christmas Carol on tour from tomorrow

Grumpy farmer? In Yorkshire? Meet James Lewis-Knight’s Farmer Scrooge in Badapple Theatre Company’s Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol. Picture: Karl Andre

GREEN Hammerton company Badapple Theatre set off on their winter travels tomorrow with Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol, starring York actors James Lewis-Knight and Emily Chattle.

Billed as “classic Badapple: Dickens with a Yorkshire twist, puppets, songs and music by Jez Lowe and all the jokes we can handle at this time of year,” writer-director Kate Bramley’s new family show will play across Yorkshire as well as Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Northumberland, Cumbria, County Durham and Oxfordshire.

Starting out at Tockwith Village Hall, near York, tomorrow at 7pm, Badapple’s tour van will take in 22 performances between December 1 and 30 as Bramley’s itinerant band of actors heads to venues on their Yorkshire doorstep and beyond with her comedy slant on Charles Dickens’s 180-year-old story, now set in and around Scrooge’s farm and bedroom in 1959.

“Have a good chuckle while the blustering, skin-flint farmer Ebeneezer Scrooge gets his comeuppance and is forced to see the error of his penny-pinching ways,” says Kate of a production that marks Badapple’s 25th anniversary of touring.

James will play Fred, Scrooge, Shep and Elvis, yes, Elvis; Emily’s multi-role playing will stretch to Ginger, Bert the feed man, Mrs Cratchitt, Niece (Josie), Marley, Belle, Mrs Feziweg, Mr Feziweg, assorted Cratchitts, Undertaker, Mrs Dilbert and Girl. (Please note, name spelling may diversify from other versions, whether Cratchit or Fezziwig).

Emily Chattle with the puppet of Mr Fezziwig in Badapple Theatre Company’s Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol. Picture: Karl Andre

“Full of local stories and carols, puppets and mayhem, and original songs by Sony Award-winner Jez Lowe, plus a whacking great dose of seasonal bonhomie, this is a winter warmer to put a smile on everyone’s face this Christmas.”

Don’t take only Kate’s word for it. Clare Granger, High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, is a Badapple devotee. “It’s wonderful to spend a joyous evening with Badapple Theatre Company in a small rural village hall,” she says. “Kate Bramley is absolutely fulfilling her ambition to bring the arts into the community and the uplifting effect on the audience of what the theatre company does is palpable.”

Badapple’s mission is to venture out to the smallest and hardest-to-reach village halls and community venues to bring professional theatre to all. “We all know that isolation and loneliness are major issues in our rural communities and that maintaining good mental health is proving more and more of a challenge for the general population,” says the High Sheriff.

“It is hard to overestimate the positive benefits of getting out of the house and attending a joyful, inexpensive, communal event in your own locality. Badapple Theatre Company is providing just this experience.”

This year, James has appeared in York company Next Door But One’s tour of Operation Hummingbird, Matthew Harper-Hardcastle’s “humorous and uplifting exploration of grief, loss and noticing just how far you’ve come”, while Emily did the milk rounds in Badapple’s tour of Eddie And The Gold Tops, Bramley’s comedy of a milkman turning into the cream of Sixties pop stars.

James Lewis-Knight and Emily Chattle in a scene from BadappleTheatre Company’s Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol. Picture: Karl Andre

Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol: Yorkshire dates

December 1: Tockwith Village Hall, 7pm. Box office: 01423 331304

December 2: Harpham & Lowthorpe Village Hall YO25 4QZ, 7.30pm. Box office:  07867 692616.

December 3: The Old Girls’ School, Sherburn in Elmet, LS25 6BL, 7pm. Box office:  01977 685178.

December 13: Bishop Monkton Village Hall, near Harrogate, HG3 3QG, 7.30pm. Box office: 01423 331304.

December 19: Green Hammerton Village Hall, near York, YO26 8AB, 7pm. Box office: 01423 331304.

December 20: Burton Fleming Village Hall, East Yorkshire, YO25 3LL, 6.30pm. Box

December 27: Sutton under Whitestonecliffe Village Hall, Hambleton, YO7 2PS, 4.30pm. Box office: 01423 331304.

December 29: East Cottingwith Village Hall, near York, YO42 2TL, 4pm. Box office:  07866 024009 or 07973 699145.

Emily Chattle with one of the puppets designed by Sam Edwards for Badapple’s Farmer Scrooge’s Christmas Carol. Picture: Karl Andre
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Badapple Theatre on song as Eddie And The Gold Tops does the milk rounds on return to full-scale touring on your doorstep

Pop of the Gold Tops: Zach Atkinson’s milkman Eddie with fellow cast members Emily Chattle and Richard Galloway in Badapple Theatre’s Eddie And The Gold Tops. Picture: Karl Andre

GREEN Hammerton company Badapple Theatre’s 25th anniversary tour of Eddie And The Gold Tops is doing the milk rounds.

Delighted to have secured “crucial 11th hour funding” from Arts Council England in March, North Yorkshire’s “theatre on your doorstep” practitioners are back on the road with their best-selling show on its first outing since 2017.

“We’re thrilled to have made it to our quarter century,” says funding and media manager Annabelle Polito. “After two unsuccessful requests for funding support across the autumn/winter of 2022, we were looking at having to close the company this year.

“So, this £24,283 in support means a huge amount. We hope it means we can add to the life of the small communities that we serve right across the country and spread a bit of theatre joy and bring folk together.”

Travelling by van rather than milk float, a cast of York actress Emily Chattle, Zach Atkinson and  Irishman Richard Galloway has been milking every laugh from artistic director Kate Bramley’s 1960s-inspired comedy since April 15.

The tour will conclude back home at Green Hammerton Village Hall on June 13 after travels to Northumberland, Cumbria, Lincolnshire, the Midlands and down to Bristol, as well as across Yorkshire, on the company’s return to full-scale touring for the first time since the pandemic hiatus.

Zach Atkinson, left, Emily Chattle and Richard Galloway in a scene from Kate Bramley’s 2023 tour of Eddie And The Gold Tops. Picture: Karl Andre

Eddie, the much-loved village milkman, becomes a pop star, completely by accident, in the frenzy of 1963’s music fever, when The Beatles were the cream rising to the top. “You could become an overnight star,” says Kate.

No sooner has Eddie inherited the family milk round from his father than suddenly his songs are heading up the charts. If he can arrive by tonight, he will be on Top Of The Pops [Editor’s pedantic note: TOTP did not start until January 1 1964!].

Confusion reigns and when things take a ‘churn’ for the worse, how will Eddie get back for the morning milk round? 

“It’s a very cheerful piece, really funny,” says Kate. “People love the Sixties because it was a very full-on time and the songs were great! It’s definitely got a real feelgood factor, and what’s endured in the 12 years since we first did it is that people need to have a good time. This is our vocation: generating joy!”

Recalling the play’s origins, Kate says: “It took a while to come up with the title. We had the story first, and the reason the main character is a milkman came from a wartime land girl telling us about her time as a milk lady just after the war. Green Hammerton was ahead of the times!

“So, I’d already collected stories from Liz Powley about those experiences, storing away that idea, and then when Jez [composer Jez Lowe] and I started talking about doing something rooted in Sixties’ music culture, it came down to putting a milkman in the story!

Voice of the BBC: Richard Galloway in Eddie And The Gold Tops

“It’s not that he’s a ‘singing milkman’, but it’s the contrast between his village life and how he wanders through life saying yes to everything and everybody. He’s just a really nice fellow who, when a producer needs a singer, he says yes, as long as he can be back for morning milk deliveries.”

Compare and contrast with today’s wannabe pop stars. “What’s pure about this story is that Eddie doesn’t want to be a star, he just becomes one by accident, whereas now people say, ‘I’m going to be famous’ and then find a way to do it,” says Kate.

She knew the dawn of the Beatles era would be the ideal setting.  “That sound of the Sixties, we were just coming out of the skiffle craze, and everything was really upbeat: Elvis, Eddie Cochran, The Beatles. That’s why people are still drawn to the Sixties’ style. Great fashion; really colourful; anything goes. Teenage led. Politically switched on too. It was a time of excitement and a quest for happiness and not just for yourself.”

As for the cast’s milk tastes, Zach says: “I’m addicted to milk, but it’s got to be refrigerated, not warm.” Richard says: “I don’t really drink milk, but I’d have it in cereals, though I do like coconut milk.” Emily? “I’m vegan, so it’s oat milk or soya milk for me,” she says.

“None of their milk preferences affects their acting,” says Kate, who resides in a North Yorkshire village with dairy herds in the fields. “I’ve written a play about milk. What more do you want?! I’m guilty [of drinking milk] by association!”

Badapple Theatre are on tour with Eddie And The Gold Tops until June 13. For tour and ticket details, go to: badappletheatre.co.uk. Yorkshire tour dates include: Sutton upon Derwent Village Hall, May 13; Cherry Burton Village Hall, May 21; Husthwaite Village Hall, May 24; Tunstall Village Hall, May 25; Otley Courthouse, May 28; June 9, North Stainley Village Hall, near Ripon, June 9, and Green Hammerton Village Hall, June 13 (box office, 01423 331304). All shows start at 7.30pm.

Kate Bramley: Badapple Theatre artistic director

Did you know?

IN a brief tour break in June, Badapple Theatre cast member Emily Chattle will be exchanging her wedding vows. Congratulations!

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Badapple Theatre defrost The Frozen Roman for autumn tour as villagers go ‘ballisticus maximus in very silly show’ 

Badapple Theatre’s new cast for The Frozen Roman autumn tour: Ellen Carnazza, Andrew Purcell and Zach Atkinson. Picture: Karl André

GREEN Hammerton’s theatre-on-your-doorstep proponents Badapple Theatre take to the straight road this autumn with a revival of The Frozen Roman.

Artistic director and writer Kate Bramley has selected three actors new to the company – Zach Atkinson, Andrew Purcell and Ellen Carnazza – to re-tell the story of how the Romans came, they saw, they built a wall, they went away again…or did they?

When hapless villagers try to prevent a housing development being built in their midst, could the discovery of a burial site under the pub throw them a lifeline? Expect twists, turns and Latin puns as the situation in the village goes “ballisticus maximus”.

Why revive The Frozen Roman, “a very silly show about Romans and immigration” that Badapple first toured in 2019? “This play is still very appropriate,” says Kate.

Will villainous Drusilla (Ellen Carnazza) succeed in knocking down the old Merry Gladiator’ pub? Andrew Purcell, left, and Zach Atkinson look on. Picture: Karl André

“I always do social politics by stealth in our plays, and the ‘frozen’ man they reveal at the end to be a Syrian refugee, and that’s because the spread of the Roman Empire spread as far as Iraq and Hadrian’s Wall, and though you think of Romans being Roman, actually they collected people and repatriated them to serve their needs as migrants.

“Our character in the play has come from one end of the empire, and the other end is northern England, so it’s the same story of migration that has gone on in the last 2,000 years. That’s the social politics side to it, the serious side. However, as an audience experience, it’s all about maintaining a feeling of pure joy.

“It’s one of the silliest shows we’ve ever done, and that’s why we’re doing it again, when everyone has been through a bleak time. If we pull out the craziest, silliest story, when there are serious undertones to it too, then we’re doing our job properly, particularly when theatre is having a hard time to get people to come back out.”

Covid confidence is a factor, so too are tightened purse strings amid the cost-of-living crisis. “But the plus point for us is that our tour venues are small and geared to ‘small-scale experiences’. If people have drummed up the confidence to go to a coffee morning, then they’ll go to a theatre show,” says Kate.

Badapple Theatre artistic director Kate Bramley

“For our last tour, the audience figures were 70-80 per cent of what they normally are, and we see that as a significant upturn, but the reason for the delay in this tour is the time it’s taken our rural touring partners to come back on board.”

Kate is enjoying working with company debutants Zach Atkinson, Andrew Purcell and Ellen Carnazza. “It’s very exciting for me to get this team together, who are pretty young, ranging in age from their 20s to 30s, relatively new to professional theatre from doing their training,” she says.

“Zach is the youngest of the team at 21 but he’s the most experienced because he did four years in Billy Elliot in the West End aged 11 to 14. It’s an interesting mix of early-career actors who are a lot of fun, completely get the nature of high comedy and are prepared to take risks. The show has an energy to it because they’re all at that stage of their career where they just enjoy getting out there and performing.”

Playing village halls and community centres has a different vibe too. “There’s a level of interacting, a level of conversation with the audience, that’s slightly different to a formal theatre,” says Kate. “People feel they can converse with them and actors have to be in full cheerful control; it’s saying everything is going to be all right, we’re in control, with that cheery confidence to tell a story.

Can Diana (Ellen Carnazza) come up with a way to save Tessery Hill in Badapple Theatre’s The Frozen Roman. Picture: Karl André

“When I was at Hull Truck, John Godber drummed into me the idea of theatre as conversation. If you don’t have an audience, you don’t have theatre. That’s what different to watching films. The audience can contribute to each show when you’ve set out the rules that we’re all in this together, whether it’s in a village hall or an air hangar.

“All of the key influences I’ve had have come from companies that have the attitude that theatre should be inclusive, a social conversation for everyone, rather than high art. I think that’s very important now when no-one should be excluded by price or by ‘elitism’.”

On tour for six weeks from October 7 to November 13, taking in North Yorkshire, the Midlands, Lincolnshire, County Durham, Cumbria and Cheshire, The Frozen Roman will visit Tunstall Village Hall, Tunstall, on October 27 at 7.30pm (box office, 01748 811288) and North Stainley Village Hall, near Ripon, on October 28, 7.30pm (box office, 01765 635236 or 07971 093907).

Looking ahead, Badapple’s Christmas show, The Marvellous, Mystical Music Box, will be on tour from December 2 to 30, with full tour details at badappletheatre.co.uk. Written by Bramley and requiring an actor with circus skills, this two-hander involves Rosa inheriting a battered old music box that never seems to work when needed to do so. 

“But this year, when she wishes for her family to be reunited at Christmas, all sorts of magical things start to happen,” says Kate. Watch this space for a full preview.

Copyright of The Press, York

Khaled, the unfrozen Roman (Zach Atkinson), in The Frozen Roman. Picture: Karl André
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Badapple’s Danny Mellor goes down to the woods for poignant war memorial comedy Yorkshire Kernel at Theatre@41 Monkgate

The poster for Badapple Theatre Company’s one-man show Yorkshire Kernel

JAMES’S Grandad is at death’s door, but he has one last mission: to find a tree. Many trees in fact, scattered around the country in memory of his Second World War comrades. 

So begins Yorkshire Kernel, written and performed by Danny Mellor for Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company, on tour at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday at 7.30pm and Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Divided between being haunted by his plain-speaking grandfather, his mother rekindling her romance with an old flame, and James’s pregnant partner, Rosie, thinking he is cheating on her, Mellor’s “bonkers” solo show undertakes a journey of Yorkshire wit and grit through one man’s determination to leave a long-lasting legacy.

Danny Mellor: Writer, performer and puppeteer

Newly commissioned by Badapple for their No Hall Too Small scheme, this poignant and humorous world premiere is directed by artistic director Kate Bramley.

Mellor previously wrote Undermined for Leeds company Red Ladder and wrote and performed in Badapple’s garden tour of Suffer Fools Gladly, presented under socially distanced restrictions in September 2020.

Yorkshire Kernel is suitable for age ten upwards. Tickets are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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Badapple Theatre are back at York Theatre Royal after a decade tonight with the haunted dance hall comedy Elephant Rock

Haunted happenings: Jessica Woodward, left, Robert Wade and Stephanie Hutchinson in Badapple Theatre Company’s Elephant Rock

GREEN Hammerton theatre-on-your-doorstep purveyors Badapple Theatre Company return to York Theatre Royal for the first time in a decade tonight (10/5/2022).

At the invitation of TakeOver 2022, the arts festival run by York St John University, Kate Bramley’s travelling troupe will be presenting Elephant Rock, a “lighthearted comedy about finding your place in the world” set against the backdrop of environmental change.

“We were last at the Theatre Royal with Back To The Land Girls roughly ten years ago and it feels very exciting to be back. We’re delighted,” says writer-director Kate. “It’s come about through the York St John performing arts students, who, as part of their final-year work, have the chance to put together a week of performances in a festival.

“They came to us and asked if we could do Elephant Rock, so we juggled things around a bit on the tour, and here we are, on the main stage, which is lovely for us, having the chance to use more than the five lanterns we take on tour for the lighting!”

Badapple Theatre Company artistic director Kate Bramley: Delighted to be returning to York Theatre Royal

Set in a storm-battered seaside village, Kate’s upbeat play with original music and songs by Jez Lowe follows the fortunes of a family trying desperately to keep the struggling pier-front Palace Theatre open, come hell or high water.

“The heyday of the great British seaside holiday may have gone but the memories remain,” says Kate. “So too does the old Palace Theatre, once perched proudly on the pier in sight of the mighty Elephant Rock, and boasting its own fabulous attraction, The Amazing Mechanical Elephant.

“But the relentless tides have chipped away at the coast, and Elephant Rock and its mechanical counterpart are long gone, as if instinct and longing have lured them off to the land of their ancestors.

“Amid the comic yet heartfelt attempts of the mismatched team who are determined that the Palace doors stay open, they discover a surprising family history that stretches across a hundred years and five thousand miles, from the rocky coast of England to the sweeping grasslands of Sri Lanka.”

Jessica Woodward: Pink dress, pink umbrella, in Catherine Dawn’s typically colourful design for Elephant Rock

Elephant Rock’s subject matter was prompted by a family visit to Withernsea, the East Riding resort noted for its Pier Towers, sandy beach, Valley Gardens and lighthouse. “A few years back, we were staying there, and where there used to be a road, now there was just a drop with a sign saying ‘End’,” says Kate.

“It was partly that observation that set me thinking about erosion, and we’d also heard the story of the Elephant Rock, just off the coast at Hartlepool, standing there for many years and then ‘wandering off’, disappearing into the sea – though we’ve had sightings of ‘Elephant Rocks’ elsewhere: one was in Iceland and another off the Vietnamese coast.

“It seems to be a phenomenon to do with coastal erosion that leaves rock in the shape of an animal.”

While the Elephant Rock story was a “bit of trivia”, Kate noted how coastal communities were being hit by climate change and the impact of erosion. “I thought about how people need to move and migrate, and I wondered whether people had to come from a place to call it ‘home’, when the coast plays host to a fluctuating community, such as carnival troupes that come and go.”

Entertainment on the pier: Robert Wade and Stephanie Hutchinson in the vintage dance hall in Elephant Rock

Elephant Rock is set in the present day while harking back to the past. “The three principal characters are stuck in a dance hall where these comedic hauntings happen to them as they try to decide what to do with a magical box,” explains Kate.

Those roles and no doubt more besides are played by Jessica Woodward, Robert Wade and Stephanie Hutchinson. “They’re a lovely bunch, all Yorkshire actors – quite by chance it’s fallen that way – and they’re having a lovely time together on what is our ‘comeback tour’ to full-scale touring after these past two years. Thankfully all these venues have stayed loyal to us,” says Kate.

“Robert worked with us in The Carlton Colliers and The Last Station Keeper before we lost him to Northern Broadsides and the West End, but now we’ve tempted him back to the north!

“Jess graduated from ALRA [Academy of Live and Recorded Arts] a couple of years ago and this is her first long tour. She’s a whiz, a classic ALRA all-rounder. Stephanie is a lovely actor from Leeds, who’s done some rural touring and telly and does the bulk of the singing in the show.”

Look out for new compositions by Jez Lowe that are set within the action of the play, recounting what happened to Elephant Rock, and he has delivered some fun Fifties’ jive numbers too.

Stephanie Hutchinson: Making her Badapple Theatre Company debut

Kate has been delighted at the response to the show that opened on April 22 and will be on the road until June 19 in Badapple’s 24th year of touring original productions with professional actors to the “most unexpected of places”: the smallest and hardest-to-reach rural venues and village halls in Yorkshire and beyond.

“It seems people are resting more easily around the Covid situation, and it feels like a transitional show, reminding people that they can go out,” she says. “We’ve had people saying ‘I’ve really missed it’ – and that is our role, to go out there on rural tours, bringing joy to communities.

“There’s still some generation caution about going out, with older people proving to be more cautious, but that said, equally some people feel far safer going to their village hall than going into town to see a show.”

Should you miss tonight’s 7.30pm show, Badapple’s spring and summer tour has plenty more performances in the York vicinity: May 17, Green Hammerton Village Hall (box office, 01423 331304); May 18, Terrington Village Hall, 8pm (01653 648394); May 20, Sutton upon Derwent Village Hall (01904 608524); June 10, Low Catton Village Hall (07837 330421); June 12, Skipsea Village Hall (01262 469714), and June 15, Galtres Centre, Easingwold (01347 822472, Monday to Friday, 9am, to 5pm). Shows start at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise.

Tickets for tonight and all the TakeOver 2022 festival events are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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Badapple Theatre Company tackles global warming in revival of The Snow Dancer eco-fable at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor in Badapple Theatre Company’s 2021 revival of The Snow Dancer. Picture: Karl Andre Photography

BADAPPLE Theatre Company’s Christmas show, The Snow Dancer, opens a two-day run at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow.

In its 21st year, the Green Hammerton theatre-on-your-doorstep company has revived artistic director Kate Bramley’s magical eco-fable for its latest rural tour from December 2.

Bramley’s original story blends festive family entertainment with an important eco-message and an original score by Jez Lowe, as actors Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor tell the story of the animals of The Great Wood, who are desperate for a long sleep, but find it too warm because something is awry.

Everyone is going around in circles and is sick of nuts before Christmas is even in sight. On a set design by Catherine Dawn, the intrepid heroes in this fairy tale with a furry tail must search for the mysterious Snow Dancer to make it snow if they are ever to sleep.

Badapple’s trademark humorous, song-filled shows have been delighting audiences of all ages for 21 years on tours of rural locations around Yorkshire and further afield. The company “brings a full theatre experience to unusual, often tiny, spaces with significance to their communities in productions that reflect world-wide issues that have an impact on village life”.

Founder, writer and director Kate says: “Theatre is just storytelling and what better way to raise awareness of issues? The climate emergency, referenced in The Snow Dancer, is something we’ve been concerned about for a long time.

Badapple Theatre Company artistic director Kate Bramley

“We want to create social discussion that’s relevant to our audiences and 21st century living. We can do this through theatre and constantly reinventing what that is: with music, sometimes dance, puppetry and on one occasion live baking!”

Kate continues:“Badapple as a company has been working on becoming more environmentally sustainable for over a decade, wherever possible reusing or recycling sets and sourcing sustainable clothing for costumes.

“By taking theatre to rural locations on tour, we have reduced the environmental impact of audiences having to travel to one location to see a production.”

Badapple will stage two school shows and one public performance at the JoRo at this week’s residency. “We’ve rarely performed at a ‘fixed’ venue in a city in the past 15 years, but we’ve struck up a great partnership with Joseph Rowntree Theatre and their community commitment and ethos is so synchronised to our core values,” says Kate.

“It’s harder for us to sustain a run of performances in one larger venue, having not specialised in this area for 15 years, but it’s just about making new friends in new areas and the return of The Snow Dancer to York this year is a great chance for the good folk of our nearest city to see what it is we do.”

As with all theatre companies, particularly touring companies, Badapple has experienced the hardships of the various lockdowns during the pandemic. In particular, one show in production for 18 month and booked into 30 venues had to be cancelled immediately. The pandemic has been a time of crisis for the North Yorkshire company but nevertheless one of reflection that has resulted in positive outcomes and new plans for the future.

“Theatre is just storytelling and what better way to raise awareness of issues?” says Badapple writer-director Kate Bramley of The Snow Dancer, with its climate change topicality, performed by Danny Mellor and Meg Matthews. Picture: Karl Andre Photography

Kate says:“We were lucky to be so well supported by Arts Council England to get us through this period. It was really hard but we came out fighting. We made sure we stayed connected to our Badapple Youth Theatre students online and later with outdoor classes, and then we diversified into outdoor touring for the first time [with Danny Mellor’s Suffer Fools Glady in September 2020].

“Like many other organisations, we had to diversify, exploring film work and also radio. Despite the hardships of that time, there were so many positives to come out of it. We are now looking to find long-term partners and finance to create a bespoke outdoor space for summer shows for the next decade and hopefully beyond.”

Badapple Theatre Company in The Snow Dancer, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 15 (two school performances) and December 16 (public performance). Tickets for Thursday’s 7.30pm show are on sale on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Further Yorkshire performances:

Thornton le Dale Village Hall, December 17, 6.30pm, tickets on 07894 345126 or via bookings@tledvillagehall.co.uk.

Brandesburton Village Hall, East Yorkshire, December 18, 6pm; tickets on 01423 339168.

East Morton Village Institute, 11 Main Road, East Morton, Keighley, December 19, 3pm; tickets on 01423 339168.

Green Hammerton Village Hall, near York, December 20, 2pm; tickets on 01423 339168.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as Plan B doesn’t stop the Christmas buzz. List No. 60, courtesy of The Press, York

CHRISTMAS shows, Christmas concerts, Christmas plays, ‘tis the season for Charles Hutchinson’s diary to be jolly full.  

Jason Manford: “Exercising the old chuckle muscle”

Busy week for comedy: Jason Manford: Like Me, York Barbican, Thursday and Friday, 7.30pm.

SALFORD’S Jason Manford revives his funny-bloke-next-door schtick for Like Me, his follow-up to “the fun we had on my last tour”, Muddle Class, a show about turning from working class to middle class that played York Barbican in February and October 2018.

“In these trying times, it’s always important to be able to get away for a couple of hours and exercise the old chuckle muscle,” reckons Manford, 40, who has tickets available for both nights at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Jack Dee’s Off The Telly gig, moved from April 25 2020 to tomorrow night, has sold out. So too have Alan Carr’s Regional Trinket shows on December 18 and 19.

Filey Brigg, seascape, by Rosie Dean at Village Gallery, York

Exhibition of the week: Rosie Dean, Seascapes, Village Gallery, Castlegate, York, until January 22, open 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

SEASCAPE artist Rosie Dean has taken part in York Open Studios for the past ten years. Now she is exhibiting at Simon Main’s Village Gallery through the winter months.

“I feel total peace breathing the ozone, staring out to sea and focusing on the horizon line, sensing all around me and feeling the elements around me, the sights and sounds, the salt in the air. Pure contentment,” says Rosie.

Levellers: Part of York Barbican’s busy week for concerts. Picture: Steve Gullick

Curiosity concert of the week: The Magical Music Of Harry Potter Live In Concert With The Weasleys, York Barbican, Monday 8pm.

POTTY about Potter? Then exit those Shambles shops and head to York Barbican for a night of music from Harry’s films and the West End musical, performed by the London Symphonic & Philharmonic Film Orchestra with the Weasley brothers in tow.

Original actors, magic, star soloists, a choir and the orchestra combine in the debut European tour’s programme of John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicolas Hooper and Alexander Desplat’s soundtrack magical moments, plus selections from the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child score. 

More music in York Barbican’s crammed pre-Christmas diary comes from Levellers, Brighton’s folk-rock stalwarts, tonight and Steve Steinman’s tribute show, Anything For Love: The Meat Loaf Story, on Wednesday, both at 7.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Steve Mason: Solo gig at Stockton on the Forest Village Hall

If you seek out one gig, make it: Steve Mason, Stockton on the Forest Village Hall, near York, Tuesday, doors, 8pm; start, 8.30pm.

STEVE Mason was the frontman of The Beta Band, cult Scottish exponents of folktronica, a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop.

He first dipped his toe into solo work on Black Gold, his mournful 2006 album under the guise of the short-lived King Biscuit Time and has since released Boys Outside in 2010, Ghosts Outside with Dennis Bovell in 2011, Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time in 2013, Meet The Humans in 2016 and About The Light in 2019.

Presented by All Off The Beaten Track, Mason will play solo on Tuesday. Box office: seetickets.com/event/steve-mason/stockton-on-the-forest-village-hall.

The poster for The Arts Barge Christmas Party! at The Crescent, York

Christmas jamboree of the week: The Arts Barge Christmas Party!, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm.

THREE York community musical groups, Bargestra, The Stonegate Singers and The Blind Tiger Dance Band, unite for the Arts Barge Christmas bash.

Bargestra, the 20-piece Arts Barge band skippered by Christian Topman, play jazz, swing, Beatles, ska and more. The Stonegate Singers, a community choir open to anyone, is directed by Jon Hughes, who teaches the music by ear, one part at a time, so that anyone can do it.

The Blind Tiger Dance Band, Arts Barge’s 16-piece Lindy Hop swing band with Rinkadon Dukeboy up front, brings together seasoned professionals and rising young instrumentalists. All three groups will join together to make a 50-piece ensemble for the festive finale.

Recommended but alas sold out already at The Crescent are Christmas shows by Mostly Autumn on Sunday and fellow York band The Howl & The Hum on Wednesday, both at 7.30pm.

Chapter House Choir at the double: Carols by Candlelight, York Minster, Wednesday; Festival of Carols, St Michael-le-Belfrey, York, December 18, both at 7.30pm.

THE Chapter House Choir’s Carols by Candlelight at York Minster has sold out, but a second chance to hear the York choir and its bell ringers comes at St Michael-le-Belfrey.

Tickets for a Festival of Carols are available via Eventbrite,  but do hurry because they are limited in number and selling fast.

Danny Mellor and Meg Matthews in Badapple Theatre Company’s The Snow Dancer. Picture: Karl Andre Photography

Global warming alert of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in The Snow Dancer, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Thursday, 7pm; Green Hammerton Village Hall, December 20, 2pm

GREEN Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company has revived artistic director Kate Bramley’s magical eco-fable, The Snow Dancer, for its latest rural tour.

Bramley’s original story blends festive family entertainment with an important eco-message and an original score by Jez Lowe, as actors Meg Matthews and Danny Mellor tell the story of the animals of The Great Wood, who are desperate for a long sleep, but find it too warm because something is awry.

The intrepid heroes in this fairy tale with a furry tail must search for the mysterious Snow Dancer to make it snow if they are ever to sleep. Box office: York, 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; Green Hammerton, 01423 339168.

York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s artwork for A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness

Christmas plays of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York…Out Of The Darkness, Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, December 17, 7pm; December 18, 2pm, 4pm, 6.30pm. A Christmas Carol, Mansion House, York, December 17 to 19, 7pm.

TERRY Ram directs the second York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust community production for Christmas, drawn from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays in the old church atmosphere of the Spurriergate Centre. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/york-mystery-plays-supporters-trust.

The Penny Magpie Theatre Company, from York, have sold out all three Mansion House performances of director Samantha Hindman’s adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, a version seen through the eyes of modern-day schoolboy Jon, who is gradually welcomed into Scrooge’s redemptive tale. Carols, mince pies, mulled wine and a house tour complete the festive experience.

Freedom is…Johannes Radebe’s debut tour show at at the Grand Opera House, York, next spring

Leaping into 2022: Johannes Radebe, Freedom, Grand Opera House, York, April 12, 7.30pm.

MAKING swish waves with baker John Whaite in Strictly Come Dancing’s first all-male coupling, South African dancer Johannes Radebe has announced his debut tour, Freedom.

Radebe will lead a company of dancers in classic Ballroom and Latin arrangements, scorching South African rhythms and huge party anthems, as he takes you on his journey from growing up in Zamdela, to travelling the world, winning competitions and becoming a Strictly professional.

“Leave your inhibitions at the door and get ready for a night of energy, passion and freedom,” he says. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.