York artist Jill Tattersall stands by her work Genesis, Exodus at the launch of her Finding The Way exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York
Charles Hutchinson finds the way through the human maze to recommend artistic riches aplenty.
Exhibition of the week: Jill Tattersall, Finding The Way, The Human Maze, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until July 3
THE Wolf At The Door artist Jill Tattersall has overcome a bout of Covid to launch her Finding The Way show at Bluebird Bakery, featuring such works as World On Fire: Such Colours In The Sky; Universal (Dis)Order, Blue Rhapsody and City Of Light And Shadows.
“My brother is an anthropologist, in New York, so I’m very interested in cave symbols, early writing, Japanese and Chinese imagery and themes of communication and language,” she says. “I just have fun with all this stuff!”
Becky Heslop’s Molly, left, George Green’s social worker Michelle and Charlie Blanshard’s Joe in Next Door But One’s production of How To Be A Kid
Children’s show of the week: Next Door But One in How To Be A Kid, Friargate Theatre, York, Saturday, 12 noon and 3pm
AT only 12 years old, Molly cooks, does the dishes and gets her little brother Joe ready for school. Molly misses her Grandma. Molly looks after her grieving mum, but who looks after Molly?
Once her mum feels better, maybe things will return to normal. Maybe Molly can learn to be a child again in Sarah McDonald-Hughes’ touching, funny story of family, friends and fitting in, suitable for seven to 11-year-olds and their grown-ups. Warning: this show contains dancing, chocolate cake, dinosaurs, superheroes and an epic car chase, plus big topics such as care, mental health and growing up with an even bigger sense of imagination, creativity, joy and hope. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Josh Woodgate’s Henry’s Self and Dan Poppitt’s Henry in rehearsal for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ The Inner Selves
Premiere of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Inner Selves, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
BLACK Sheep Theatre Productions present the premiere of director Matthew Peter Clare’s debut play, quick on the heels of the York company’s first Shakespeare show, The Tempest, in March.
Clare charts the declining mental health and marriage of Henry and Nora (played by Dan Poppitt and Charlie Clarke) and the cacophonic assault of their inner thoughts (Josh Woodgate’s Henry’s Self and Chloe Pearson’s Nora’s Self) on one climactic day of mediocrity and boredom. As emotions come to a boil, will this marriage survive, even if only until morning? Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Dara Ó Briain at the double: Playing York Barbican and York Comedy Festival
Comedy gig of the week: Dara Ó Briain, Re:Creation, York Barbican, tonight, 8pm
IRISH comedian, broadcaster and writer Dara Ó Briain will be “doing his favourite thing: standing in a theatre, telling stories and creating madness with the audience” in Re:Creation, his follow-up to 2023’s So, Where Were We?
Should you miss out on Wednesday’s gig, Ó Briain will be returning to York to co-headline the inaugural York Comedy Festival with Katherine Ryan on July 6 in the finale to Futuresound Group’s second season of Live At York Museum Gardens shows. Box office: futuresound.seetickets.com/event/york-comedy-festival/york-museum-gardens/3288662.
Gizza job: Jay Johnson’s Yosser Hughes in James Graham’s stage adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys From The Black Stuff, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre
Touring production of the week: Bill Kenwright Ltd, Royal Court, Liverpool and National Theatre present Boys From The Black Stuff, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JAMES Graham’s stage adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s BAFTA award-winning television drama Boys From The Black Stuff heads to Leeds with its story of 1980s’ Liverpool, where Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser are used to hard work and providing for their families, but now there is no work and no money.
What are they supposed to do? Work harder, work longer, buy cheaper, spend less? They just need a chance. Life is tough but the lads can play the game. Find the jobs, avoid the ‘sniffers’ and see if you can have a laugh along the way. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Mike Scott: Leading The Waterboys at York Barbican on Thursday
York gig of the week: The Waterboys, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm and Leeds O2 Academy, June 15, doors 7pm
THE Waterboys showcase “the most audacious album yet” of Mike Scott’s 42-year career, Life, Death And Dennis Hopper, on their latest return to York Barbican, having played their “Big Music” brand of folk, rock, soul and blues there in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023.
Released last month on Sun Records, their 16th studio album charts the epic path of the trailblazing American actor and rebel, as told through a song cycle that depicts not only Hopper’s story but also the saga of the last 75 years of western pop culture. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, academymusicgroup.com.
Kieran Thorpe: Introducing new songs at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale gig of the week: Kieran Thorpe and special guest Henry Bird, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
TOULOUSE singer-songwriter and novelist Kieran Thorpe has travelled and performed across Europe for a decade, from rural anarchist bookshops to the stages of Cambridge Folk Festival and Glastonburyas songwriter and keyboard player with The Buffalo Skinners.
A trained baker too, with plans to build an artist residency and studio at the French farmhouse he is restoring, he will be showcasing songs from his forthcoming follow-up to 2021 album A Room With A View.
Support act Henry Bird, who grew up on the North York Moors a few miles from Helmsley, is a traveller, classicist, historian, chef, bicycle builder, vintage motorbike enthusiast and songwriter, whose lyrics deal with the nature of the road, love, leaving and memory. Box office: 01439 77170 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Hello, Dolly!, goodbye musicals: Pickering Musical Theatre cast members line up at Pickering Station to promote the society’s farewell to musical theatre productions. Picture: Robert David Photography
All aboard for “our most extravagant show ever”: Pickering Musical Society in Hello, Dolly!, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, June 10 to 14, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
PICKERING Musical Society will say goodbye to staging musicals after 106 years with Luke Arnold’s production of Hello, Dolly!, promising an extravagant last hurrah, although the society’s pantomimes and Songs From The Shows will continue.
Set in bustling 1890s’ New York, Jerry Herman’s musical follows the irrepressible Dolly Gallagher Levi (Rachel Anderson), witty matchmaker, meddler and professional “arranger of things”, as she sets out to find a match not only for others, but for herself too. Box office: 01751 474833, at kirktheare.co.uk or in person from the theatre box office, open Tuesdays, 11am to 1pm.