Hal Cruttenden: Dishing it out at Theatre@41, Monkgate, but can he take it?
THE best of the Edinburgh Fringe, from stand-up comedy to new theatre, is bound for Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, this autumn.
Comedy performers will be led off by Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You panellist Hal Cruttenden in Hal Cruttenden Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It on September 6, followed by four-time Edinburgh Award nominee Kieran Hodgson in Voice Of America on September 27, when he explores how a scared world feels about the USA and impersonates a bunch of old prospectors and former Presidents.
Creepy Boys were nominated for this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for their show Slugs. Now they bring their original madcap self-titled show to York on October 3. John Robertson Plays With His Audience, on November 16, is the latest show from the cult Dark Room host, packed with unpredictable improv and crowd work.
Kieran Hodgson: Voicing fears prompted by the USA
Innovative theatre comes in the form of a one-man Animal Farm, solo adaptation of Orwell’s prophetic novel, performed by Sam Blythe on September 20.
Theatre@41 chair Alan Park says: “Prior to the Edinburgh Fringe, we welcomed a number of stand-ups previewing their shows in the Halfway To Edinburgh season in July, including eventual Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Nicoresti, and it’s great to see more of these artists having success at the Fringe.
“The ethos of the Edinburgh Fringe resonates with our own belief in supporting new and emerging performers, so we’re really pleased to be welcoming these brilliant shows to our theatre this autumn.”
John Robertson: Playing with his York audience on November 16 Picture: Mark Dawson
Running from July 13 to 19, Halfway To Edinburgh featured Sam Nicoresti, Josie Long, Lulu Popplewell, Molly McGuinness, Phil Ellis, Hayley Ellis, Susan Riddell, Kate Dolan, Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, plus Nina Gilligan in her 2024 Fringe show Goldfish.
“We were absolutely thrilled to bring such a fantastic calibre of comedic talent to York with Halfway To Edinburgh,” says Alan. “The festival was a unique opportunity for York audiences to experience the excitement and innovation of the Edinburgh Fringe without leaving the city. It was the perfect chance to see some incredible shows before they hit the big stage in Scotland.”
Tickets for the autumn season are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Making his point: Grayson Perry in A Show All About You at Harrogate Convention Centre
FROM Sir Grayson to Dame Joan, Rambert’s return to Hancock’s re-creation, Lawrence to James, Charles Hutchinson puts the names in the frame for upcoming artistic and cultural adventures.
A brush with an artist: Grayson Perry: A Show All About You, Harrogate Convention Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm
ARTIST, iconoclast and television presenter Grayson Perry follows up A Show For Normal People with A Show All About You, wherein the new knight asks, “What makes you, you?”. Is there a part deep inside that no-one understands? Have you found your tribe or are you a unique human being? Or is it more complicated than that?
Perry, “white, male, heterosexual, able bodied, English, southerner, baby boomer and member of the establishment”, takes a mischievous look at the nature of identity, promising to make you laugh, shudder and reassess who you really are. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Steve Cassidy: Among friends at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
York legend of the week: Steve Cassidy Band and Friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
YORK’S Steve Cassidy Band play a varied range of rock, country and ballads and always love performing at his favourite venue, joined as ever by guests this weekend. A three-time winner of New Faces, Cassidy recorded with York composer John Barry and Sixties’ sonic innovator Joe Meek. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Padding up: Dame Joan Collins reveals all in Behind The Shoulder Pads
National treasure of the week: Dame Joan Collins, Behind The Shoulder Pads, Grand Opera House, York, Monday, 7.30pm
TO coincide with the release of her memoir Behind The Shoulder Pads, Hollywood legend, author, producer, humanitarian and entrepreneur Dame Joan Collins, 90, is embarking on a 12-date autumn tour with husband Percy Gibson by her side.
Returning to the Grand Opera House, where they presented Unscripted in February 2019, they will field audience questions and tell seldom-told tales and enchanting anecdotes, accompanied by rare footage from Dame Joan’s seven decades in showbusiness. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Jarred Christmas: Presents a comedy bill in A Night At The Theatre at York Theatre Royal
Comedy gig of the week: Fingers & Fringe in A Night At The Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Thursday, 7.30pm
JARRED Christmas hosts a Thursday bill of Clinton Baptiste, Huge Davies, Jake Lambert, Laura Lexx, Michael Akadiri, Abi Clarke and Jack Gleadow. Eight acts, one night of comedy at the theatre. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
John Hewer, third from left, leads the cast as Tony Hancock in Hancock’s Half Hour at Grand Opera House, York
Nostalgia of the week: Apollo Theatre Company in Galton & Simpson’s Hancock’s Half Hour, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday,7.30pm
FROM the producers of the Round The Horne and The Goon Show tours comes another radio comedy classic live on stage. Written by young up-and-comers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, pre-Steptoe And Son, Hancock’s Half Hour introduced sitcom to the BBC’s Light Programme in 1954.
Tony Hancock played a less successful version of himself, surrounded by Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams. Now, Apollo Theatre Company takes a trip back to 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, to join “the lad himself” and his motley crew for three “lost” episodes, whose original recordings no longer exist but were re-created for BBC Radio 4 as The Missing Hancocks. John Hewer (Just Like That: The Tommy Cooper Show) plays Hancock with Ben Craze and Colin Elmer as James and Williams respectively. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kieran Hodgson: Not big in this towering highland picture but Big In Scotland at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York and Selby Town Hall
Big in York, for one night only: Kieran Hodgson: Big In Scotland, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
IN 2020, the world changed forever as Kieran Hodgson – Gordon from the BBC’s Two Doors Down – moved to Scotland. Now he is travelling around the still-just-about United Kingdom to reveal how it is working out. For him and for the Scots. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. Also playing Selby Town Hall, Friday, 8pm; box office, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Lawrence of Felt, Denim, Go-Kart Mozart and now Mozart Estate at The Crescent, York
Cult gig of the week: Mozart Estate, The Crescent, York, October 7, 7.30pm
MOZART Estate is the new name for Go-Kart Mozart in the further adventures of Birmingham native Lawrence, cult leader of Eighties’ indie guitar band Felt and subject of the re-released 2011 documentary Lawrence Of Belgravia.
Lawrence – Hayward is his neglected surname – later led the pseudo-novelty band Denim, whose biting social commentary was coated in a bubblegum strain of Seventies’ glam rock. After four Go-Kart Mozart albums, he switched to Mozart Estate for January 2023’s Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
James: New album and tour in 2024
Looking ahead: James with special guests Razorlight, Leeds First Direct Arena, June 8 2024
JAMES will follow up the April 2024 release of their as-yet-untitled 17th studio album with an eight-date arena tour, taking in Leeds as the only Yorkshire venue. Tickets go on sale on October 6 at 9.30am at wearejames.com, gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Mixing the album this week, Clifford-raised frontman Tim Booth, 63, says: “The new songs sound belting and will fit this arena tour. Really looking forward to celebrating with you. Expect a mixture of the expected and unexpected – just like life. Nothing but love.”
Rambert’s Death Trap: Ballet theatre of bereavement and loss in Ben Duke’s Goat and Cerberus at York Theatre Royal
In Focus: Dance show of the week: Rambert’s Death Trap, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.30pm
RAMBERT first toured to York Theatre Royal in 1951 and for almost 40 years were regular visitors to the city, performing there 17 times. Their last visit was in February 1990, and they return 33 years later with Death Trap, a “meta dance comedy, full of the turbulence of life and death” with themes of bereavement and loss, partial nudity, strong language and strobe and haze effects.
Rambert’s last show, Peaky Blinders: The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby, drew audiences in excess of 100,000, Now comes Death Trap, devised by Ben Duke, of Lost Dog, in a darkly humorous programme of stylish, inspiring, story-telling, character-driven dance theatre that combines two short, savage, absir, funny works: 2017’s Goat and 2022’s Cerberus.
Inspired by the music and spirit of Nina Simone, Goat is danced to a band on stage performing such iconic songs as Feelings, Feeling Good and Ain’t Got No/ I Got Life. Cerberus enters a world where dance is a matter of life or death in a bittersweet musing on myth and mortality, complete with funeral couture. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
