Tag: Kemps Books

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 6, from Gazette & Herald

Sally Ann Matthews in the role of supermarket boss Patricia in Here & Now, The Steps Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Danny Kaan

MUSICALS aplenty and a posthumous debut exhibition for two York artists are among Charles Hutchinson’s choices for February fulfilment.

Comedy and Tragedy show of the week: Here & Now, The Steps Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm; Wednesday & Saturday, 2.30pm; Sunday, 3pm

PRODUCED by Steps, ROYO and Pete Waterman, Here & Now weaves multiple dance-pop hits by the London group into Shaun Kitchener’s story of supermarket worker Caz and her fabulous friends dreaming of the perfect summer of love.

However, when Caz discovers her “happy ever after” is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder whether love will ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending? Look out for Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews as supermarket boss Patricia. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Josh Woodgate’s Pilate in Inspired By Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Boundary-pushing theatre show of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre’s gritty, cinematic and unapologetically powerful staging of Jesus Christ Superstar presents director Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s radical new vision of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical.

On Gi Vasey’s shifting building-block set design, part temple, part battleground, the story unfolds through visceral movement, haunting imagery and a pulsating live score, capturing Jesus’s final days as loyalties fracture, followers demand revolution and rulers fear rebellion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

The sun’ll come out tomorrow: York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow until February 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; matinees on February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company  for the last time in the company’s first staging of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s Annie in 25 years.

This heart-warming tale of hope, family and second chances, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, stars  Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan, Neil Wood as Daddy Warbucks and  Hope Day and Harriet Wells, sharing the role of Annie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies: Northern English folk at Helmsley Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

JEZ Lowe & The Bad Pennies have been playing their northern English and Celtic folk and acoustic songs and tunes for more than two decades around folk festivals, clubs and concert stages, while making a dozen albums.

Touring the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Belgium, as well as Great Britain and Ireland, singer, guitarist and composer Lowe performs with fiddle player, vocalist and Badapple Theatre writer-director Kate Bramley, Northumbrian small-pipes, accordion and whistle player Andy May and fretless bassist David De La Haye. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Al Murray’s All You Need Is Guv tour show at York Barbican

Comedy shake-up of the week: Al Murray, All You Need Is Guv, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

HEY cool cats! Hot on the heels of last year’s Guv Island tour of these green and groovy isles, The Guvnor is back with a new stand-up show for 2026. There’s no denying the world’s a mess, daddio, but here comes a glimmer of hope as the globe’s favourite pub landlord returns with his common sense hot-takes for the masses, offering a much-needed truth tonic for these whacked out and troubled times. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fladam Theatre duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of half-term week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

FLADAM Theatre, the actor-musician York duo of Adam Sowter and Florence Poskitt, returns with an intergalactic musical adventure ideal for ages four to ten. Meet out-of-this-world pianist Norma, who dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, but children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very important piano recital coming up.

When a bizarre-looking contraption crash-lands in the garden, is it a bird? Or a plane? No and twice no, it’s a piano, but no ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true in a 45-minute show packed with awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots, and interplanetary puns that will have children shooting for the stars. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Crime fiction author Elly Griffiths: Discussing new novel The Killing Time at Milton Rooms, Malton

Kemps Books’ literary event of the week: An Evening With Elly Griffiths, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 16, 7.30pm

ELLY Griffiths, award-winning crime fiction author of The Ruth Galloway Mysteries, The Brighton Mysteries and The Postscript Murders, discusses new novel The Killing Time and the inspirations behind her time-twisting mysteries, compelling characters and gripping storytelling. Expect lively conversation, fascinating insights and a book-signing finale. Tickets: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jodie Comer’s lawyer Tessa in Prime Facie, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Rankin

Recommended but sold out already: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

JODIE Comer returns to her Olivier and Tony Award-winning role as lawyer Tessa in the “Something Has To Change” tour of Suzie Miller’s Prime Facie in her first appearance on a North Yorkshire stage since her professional debut in Scarborough as Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in April 2010.

Comer’s Tessa is a thoroughbred young barrister who loves to win, working her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game: prosecuting, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event, however, forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

Craig David: PerformingTS5 DJ set at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend in July

Gig announcement of the week: Craig David presents TS5, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, July 24

SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David will complete this summer’s music line-up at York Racecourse after earlier announcements of Becky Hill’s June 27 show and Tom Grennan’s July 25 concert.

David, 44, will present his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his singing and MC skills. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond when musical theatre goes back to school. Hutch’s List No. 33, from Gazette & Herald

Finn East’s Dewey Finn and Eady Mensah’s Tomika in rehearsal for York Stage’s School Of Rock: The Next Generation

FOR those about to rock, or celebrate jazz greats, or glory in Henry V, Charles Hutchinson stacks up reasons to head out and about.

Musical of the week: York Stage in School Of Rock: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, September 13 to 21, 7.30pm, except September 15 and 16; 2.30pm, September 14 and 21; 4pm, September 15

YORK Stage is ready to rock in the riotous musical based on the 2003 Jack Black film, re-booted with a book by Julian Fellowes, lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Failed rock musician Dewey Finn (Finn East), desperate for money, chances his arm by faking it as a substitute teacher at a stuffy American prep school, jettisoning Math(s) in favour of propelling his students to become the most awesome rock band ever. Will he be found out by the parents and headmistress, leaving Dewey to face the music? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe: Running his 11th York Chamber Music Festival next week

Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, various venues, September 13 to 15

FOR its 11th season, York Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe is bringing together pianist Andrew Brownell, violinists Ben Hancox and Magnus Johnston, viola players Gary Pomeroy and Simone van der Giessen, cellist Marie Bitlloch and flautist Sam Coles.

The centenary of French composer Gabriel Fauré’s death will be marked prominently in the five concerts. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.

Ronnie Scott’s All Stars: Presenting Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Shawn Pearce

Jazz gig of the week: Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club Presents The Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook, York Theatre Royal, September 13, 7.30pm

RONNIE Scott’s Jazz Club returns to York Theatre Royal with a new collection of music, narration and projected archive images and rare footage, celebrating Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook.

Hosted and performed by the award-winning Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, led by musical director James Pearson, the show offers a glimpse into the London club’s storied world with its litany of legendary jazz players and vocalists. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568.

Paul Carrack: Celebrating 50 years since his first hit, Ace’s How Long, at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury

Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, September 14, 7.30pm

IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he penned How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.

“How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. “I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.”  His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Alchemy Live: In Dire Straits in Helmsley

Tribute gig of the week: Alchemy Live, A Tribute To Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 14, 8pm

FORMED in 2022 by frontman Martin Ledger, Yorkshire band Alchemy Live bring together a group of professional players and friends that shares a common love of the music of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.

Alchemy Live are “all about the music, no lookalike competitions here”, re-creating the Dire Straits sound as accurately as possible. Every guitar solo is taken from a specific show and reproduced note for note. “Close your eyes and you’re right there, at the Hammersmith Odeon back in 1983,” says Ledger. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Historian and author Dan Jones

Book event of the week: Kemps Presents Dan Jones, Henry V: The Astonishing Rise Of England’s Greatest Warrior King, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 17, 7.30pm

HISTORIAN, television presenter, journalist, podcaster and author Dan Jones says he has been waiting to write Henry V’s biography for many years on account of Agincourt victor Henry being considered as the pinnacle and paragon of medieval kingship, both his own time and for centuries thereafter.  

Jones will discuss “one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down” and sign copies of the book post-discussion. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.  

Charlie Parr: Showcasing blues and folk songs of community and communing with nature at Pocklington Arts Centre

Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm

RAISED in Austin, Texas, and now living in the Lake Superior port town of Duluth, folk troubadour and bluesman poet Charlie Parr has recorded 19 albums since 2002, this year releasing Little Sun, full of stories celebrating music, community and communing with nature.

Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the works of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Iago Banet: Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist plays solo in Helmsley. Picture: Sue Rainbow

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm

IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.

Featured on BCC Radio 2’s The Blues Show With Cerys Matthews, this solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist has played such festivals as Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz, displaying skill, complexity and versatility in his fusion of gypsy jazz, blues, Americana, country, Dixieland, swing, pop and folk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Be Amazing Arts in A Christmas Carol, Malton Market Place, until Dec 24 ****

Quinn Richards, in top hat, and Jack Downey outside the former Green Man Inn in a scene from Be Amazing Arts’ A Christmas Carol in Malton Market Place

WHAT should lead off reasons to be cheerful for Malton’s inclusion in the Guardian’s guide to Twinkle Towns: Eight Great Places In The UK For A Festive Getaway but Charles Dickens’s 19th century connection with the North Yorkshire market town.

Dickens would visit his friend, lawyer Charles Smithson, whose Chancery Lane offices were the template for Ebenezer Scrooge’s counting room. He performed at Malton’s old theatre on his reading tours too, and Smithson’s widow received an 1844 signed copy of Dickens’s novel on Smithson’s untimely death at 39.

A plaque in Chancery Lane is all that remains of the now closed Scrooge and Marley Counting House/Dickens Museum, but characters based on Malton residents live on in assorted Dickens novels.

The Malton Dickensian Festival, Miriam Margolyes et al, celebrated Dickens’s books, and this winter Malton company Be Amazing Arts is mounting its third season of immersive promenade performances of A Christmas Carol, as highlighted in that Guardian feature on December 2 too.

Roxanna Klimaszewska, once of York company Six Lips Theatre, now creative director of Be Amazing Arts, has freshened up her adaptation, as she did last year, working in tandem with producer James Aconley once more.

Dropping into CharlesHutchPress’s email basket at 7.01am yesterday morning was a letter to “my dearest most valued reader” from the desk of Charles Dickens.

He wrote of his “great anticipation” of presenting a personal reading of his most recently published works: a felicitous visit that would serve as a festive event to “satisfy your hunger for a literary feast (or platter)”.

 It would be his last reading of the season, he wrote, “as I endeavour to direct my attention to my next creation”.  “Tonight, expect theatricals, as only an author who frequents  the theatre as much as I do, can offer,” he promised.

The Cratchit family playing Christmas games at The Cook’s Place in Be Amazing Arts’ A Christmas Carol

And so a full house – as will be the case for the rest of the run – gathered at Kemps Books, arriving early to avoid Dickens’s threat that “latecomers will be treated with disdain and hostility”.

It should be recorded that the welcome, from bookshop to The Cook’s Place, could not have been more civil. There to meet the night’s promenaders was Quinn Richards, resuming his role as Charles Dickens, narrator and guide, striking up a conversation with Jack Downey’s ever-enthusiastic Charles Smithson.

Rather than the expected reading from Martin Chuzzlewit, Richards’ red-suited Dickens finds himself compelled to introduce the story, theme and characters of his new Christmas ghost story”. “Another ghost story?”, questioned Smithson.  

Ah, but this one is A Christmas Carol, a story whose ghostly chill unfolds as if for the first time before our very eyes, countered by the reviving warmth of mulled wine (non-alcoholic, dear readers) part way through perambulations around the Market Place.

In the manner of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Richards will shape-shift between two distinct characters, but without reaching for the mind-altering medication, of course.

His Dickens is upright, loquacious, gregarious company, as he leads the way from shop to street to assorted empty premises. He even stops the two charity collectors (Beth Wright and Daisy Conlan) mid-sentence to re-write, improve, their words in an amusing interjection typical of Klimaszewska’s love of detail in the storytelling.

Later, Dickens will explain why he made the Ghost of Christmas Past a child (played by Team B’s blue-lit Ada Kirk last night in a role shared with Team A’s India Duffy).

Richards’ Scrooge is pinched of facial disposition, mannerism and vocal inflection, his demeanour stooped, his mien bleak midwinter bitter, sending away carol singers gathered outside Kemps.

Downey, meanwhile, is kept busy as Smithson; long-suffering but never-complaining office clerk Bob Cratchit; party host Fezziwig and the chain-clad spectre of former business Jacob Marley, dead these past seven years.

Roxanna Klimaszewska: Creative director of Be Amazing Arts

Marley is introduced in Klimaszewska’s adaptation as the face in the door knocker of what used to be the Green Man Inn. Once inside, the promenaders line the walls in the cold blue light as the chains rattle to herald the arrival of Downey’s Marley.

Children, selected from auditions but many associated already with Be Amazing Arts’ site-specific shows, accompany Marley’s words of foreboding with ghostly voices, then crawl across the floor on their knees in veils. Such haunting imagery will linger long in the memory.

Children are vital to this production, whether popping up in street cameos, serving drinks, or playing Cratchit’s children as the audience nibbles away at a platter of pies and cheese on a stick and sips a soupcon of soup at The Cook’s Place cookery school in Market Street.

Charlotte Wood, a familiar face from the York theatre circuit, makes her mark too, bursting into life in the welcome at Kemps, then delivering her stern Ghost of Christmas Present and feisty Mrs Cratchit.

From an empty shop to an opened upstairs window, Be Amazing Arts uses the street furniture of Malton to maximum impact, not least outside St Michael’s Church, where Tiny Tim and Scrooge’s gravestones of the imminent future are lit up: hazard warning lights, you could say.

All the while, the hooded, towering Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come hovers, disturbingly deathly and deadly silent, as the tick-tock of time signifies the rising urgency of Scrooge’s race against time to change from dark dyspepsia to enlightened benefactor by Christmas Day morning.

Klimaszewska rightly draws attention to Dickens’s symbolic children by the names of Ignorance and Want, resonating anew in our age of social ills, strikers’ dissent but shameful indifference from the suits, rising destitution and fathomless wealth, life-threatening health service waiting lists and cost-of-living despair.

The ending, as Dickens takes over once more from Scrooge at the Cratchits’ Christmas table, elicits a call for compassion and social responsibility: a sobering conclusion to a night of bracing, haunting, uplifting yet chilling theatre, at once moving and forever on the move, mince pie final boost et al.  

Be Amazing Arts in A Christmas Carol, Malton Market Place, December 21 and 23, 7pm; December 24, 5pm; all sold out. Box office to check last-minute ticket availability: 01653 917271 or beamazingarts.co.uk.

Darkness before the light: The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come arrives at the door with a nocturnal mission to be completed

Cast list for the night attended by CharlesHutchPress

Quinn Richards: Charles Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge

Jack Downey:  Smithson/Bob Cratchit/Jacob Marley/Fezziwig

Charlotte Wood:  Mrs Cratchit/Ghost of Christmas Present

Noah Ashton:  Fred/Young Scrooge

Annie Dunbar: Belle

Jess Middlewood:  Belle’s Sister/Clara (role shared with Kathryn Thompson)

Dom Walker, Gentleman 2/Pawn Broker/Peter Cratchit

Beth Wright, Charity Collector 1; Daisy Conlan, Charity Collector 2

Amalie Waite: Woman 1/Belinda Cratchit/Gentleman 1 (role shared with Emily Brooksby)

Kelly Appleby: Woman 2/Martha Cratchit/Wife

Ada Kirk:  Ghost of Christmas Past (role shared with India Duffy)

Edward: Husband/Suit 3

Daisy May Davies, Matilda Grimmond and Celia Brass are sharing performances as Fanny/Belle’s Child/Want; Reuben Baines and Stan Richardson as Young Cratchit/Boy/Beggar/Carol Singer; Teddy Alexander and Jeremy Walker, Tiny Tim, and Isla Norry and Angelica O’Dwyer, Belle’s Child/Ignorance.

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Be Amazing Arts opens third season of A Christmas Carol in Malton Market Place

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come towers over Quinn Richards’s Scrooge in Be Amazing Arts’ staging of A Christmas Carol in Malton Market Place in December 2022. The show returns from tonight

MALTON company Be Amazing Arts launches a third winter of peripatetic A Christmas Carol performances tonight (5/12/2023).

After sell-out seasons for Christmas 2021 and Christmas 2022, creative director Roxanna Klimaszewska’s adaptation returns for a run of 7pm shows until December 24 (when the starting time will be 5pm).

Audience members will follow author Charles Dickens around Malton’s beautiful Market Place as he tells Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemptive story and brings to life the much-loved characters of this 180-year-old novella.

Starting at Kemps General Store & Kemps Books, the promenade show includes a festive tasting platter from The Cook’s Place, in Market Street, as audiences feast with the Ghost of Christmas Present and raise a warm winter drink to toast to the goodwill of Christmas. 

Producer and managing director James Aconley says: ‘‘Three years ago, when we decided to produce a performance of A Christmas Carol, there was just no question of where it would take place.

“Little did we know we’d be back for two further years due to popular demand! We really can’t wait to share this unique and immersive performance with our audience again this Christmas. It will certainly be something a bit different but also very festive and magical.’

Quinn Richards leading the promenade route as Charles Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge in Be Amazing Arts’ A Christmas Carol

“Many dates are sold out, but there are still a few tickets left, so book soon to avoid missing out.”

The cast will be led by Quinn Richards as Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge; Jack Downey as Smithson/Bob Cratchit/Jacob Marley/Fezziwig; Charlotte Wood as Mrs Cratchit/Ghost of Christmas Present and Noah Ashton as Fred/Young Scrooge.

Further roles go to: Annie Dunbar, Belle; Kathryn Thompson (Team A), Jess Middlewood (Team B), Belle’s Sister/Clara; Dom Walker, Gentleman 2/Pawn Broker/Peter Cratchit; Beth Wright, Charity Collector 1; Daisy Conlan, Charity Collector 2; Emily Brooksby (Team A), Amalie Waite (Team B), Woman 1/Belinda Cratchit/Gentleman 1; Kelly Appleby, Woman 2/Martha Cratchit/Wife…

India Duffy (Team A), Ada Kirk (Team B), Ghost of Christmas Past; Edward, Husband/Suit 3; Daisy May Davies, Matilda Grimmond and Celia Brass, sharing performances as Fanny/Belle’s Child/Want; Reuben Baines and Stan Richardson, Young Cratchit/Boy/Beggar/Carol Singer; Teddy Alexander and Jeremy Walker, Tiny Tim, and Isla Norry and Angelica O’Dwyer, Belle’s Child/Ignorance.

Tickets cost £32.50 per person, available at www.beamazingarts.co.uk or by calling 01653 917271. The price includes a festive platter from The Cook’s Place, Market Street, Malton, a warm winter drink and a mince pie.

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REVIEW: A Christmas Carol, Be Amazing Arts, promenading around Malton Market Place, until December 24 ****

Quinn Richards leading the promenade route as Charles Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge in Be Amazing Arts’ A Christmas Carol

MALTON market knows how to market itself. The title of Yorkshire’s Food Capital may be self-anointed, under the bold visions of the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate, but it can pack a punch as much as a lunch in any culinary quest.

Likewise, Malton knows how to maximise – let’s resist the foodie word ‘milk’ here – its links with Charles Dickens, who would perform at the old theatre on his reading tours.

A plaque in Chancery Lane is all that remains of the now closed Scrooge and Marley Counting House/Dickens Museum, long said to be the inspiration for Scrooge’s office in A Christmas Carol, no less.

Those premises were the offices of Dickens’s great friend, lawyer, Charles Smithson, whose wife received an 1844 signed copy of Dickens’s novel on Smithson’s untimely death at 39. What’s more, various characters in Dickens’s stories were based on Malton residents, apparently.

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes to the Malton streets with Ebenezer Scrooge

The Malton Dickensian Festival has delighted audiences, especially with Miriam Margolyes’s hugely enthusiastic celebrated readings. Now comes Be Amazing Arts’ Dickensian enterprise, part of the Malton company’s mission to “tell stories, provide creative opportunities and inspire the next generation of performers”.

Produced by James Aconley, overseen by operations director Natalie Aconley, and adapted by Roxanna Klimaszewska – a name familiar to York audiences from her work with Six Lips Theatre – this immersive promenade production of A Christmas Carol enjoyed its sold-out debut run on Malton’s streets last winter.

If at first you succeed, then of course you should bring it back, with the enticement of “an adapted script, more unexpected stops and Be Amazing’s unearthing of more and more connections between Dickens and the town”.

Sure enough, ticket demand has been just as high this season, the freezing temperatures adding to the atmosphere generated by the story’s ghostly chill, but coupled ultimately with a warmth inside as reviving as the (non-alcoholic) mulled wine served part-way round.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come towers over Scrooge

Aptly, the promenade performance starts at Kemps Books, where Quinn Richards’s elegantly dressed Charles Dickens engages in a conversation with fellow professional actor James Rotchell’s Charles Smithson, excitedly informing him of his latest writing venture, A Christmas Carol.

Whereupon he begins to tell the story, subsequently shifting between upright, engaging narrator/promenade guide Dickens and the stooped, winter-bitter Ebenezer Scrooge.

Rotchell, in turn, switches from ever-supportive Smithson to put-upon office clerk Bob Cratchit and a chain-clad Jacob Marley in the first of the empty Market Place premises taken over for the production run, as children’s fingers tap spookily on the windows.

Rotchell adds generous host Fezziwig to his repertoire, his multi-role playing matched by third professional cast member Kirsty Wolff’s Ghost of Christmas Present, Mrs Cratchit and Clara.

They are joined by members of Be Amazing’s Young Company, who add so much to the scenes both on the streets and inside, from serving the drinks to playing a multitude of characters with such relish, led by Kelly Appleby’s Belle, Erin Warren’s lit-up Ghost of Christmas Past and Torin Pope’s Fred on the night attended by CharlesHutchPress.

Quinn Richards’ Scrooge leans out of an upstairs window to ask a passing boy to buy the biggest turkey in the butcher’s shop

The promenade takes in an empty shop, festive nibbles in the company of the Cratchits at The Cook’s Place cookery school in Market Street and a scene outside St Michael’s Church, where Tiny Tim Cratchit and Scrooge’s forewarning gravestones are placed.

James Aconley promised “something a bit different but also very festive and magical”. Tick, tick and tick, how right he is. Tick tock too, as the loud sound of a clock in the street accompanies Scrooge’s race against time to change from dark to enlightened by Christmas Day morning.

Played out against the backdrop of a winter of discontent, distress, division and dissent, this imaginative, bracing, haunting yet uplifting production is a winning combination of A Christmas Carol and Malton as you have never seen them before (unless you were there last year of course!). A return next year must be on the cards.

Be Amazing Arts in A Christmas Carol, Malton Market Place, December 21, 23 and 24, 7pm. Box office to check ticket availability: 01653 917271 or beamazingarts.co.uk.

Quinn Richards: Lighting up Malton in A Christmas Carol

Cast list for the night CharlesHutchPress attended:

Quinn Richards: Charles Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge

James Rotchell: Charles Smithson/Jacob Marley/Fezziwig/Bob Cratchit

Kirsty Wolff: Ghost of Christmas Present/Mrs Cratchit/Clara

Kelly Appleby: Belle/Various roles

Erin Warren: Ghost of Christmas Past/Various roles

Dominic Walker: Young Cratchit/Boy/Beggar/Carol Singer

Flynn Coultous: Young Scrooge/Husband

Beth Wright: Woman 1/Belinda Cratchit/Gent 1

Lucy Kerr: Woman 2/Martha Cratchit

Jessica Middlewood: Fanny/Young Lady/Young Cratchit/Laundress

Torin Pope: Fred/Suit 1

Charlie Kerr: Gentleman 1/Topper/Suit 2

Celia Brass: Young Cratchit

Noah Samuel: Young Cratchit

Elliot Samuel: Young Cratchit

Jeremy Walker: Tiny Tim