Abigail McHale as Investigator with members of the Opera North Youth Company in Judith Weir’s The Secret Of The Black Spider. Picture: James Glossop
OPERA North opened its new season with the UK premiere of Judith Weir’s comic thriller in the version first seen at Staatsoper Hamburg in 2008 as Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Spinne.
It features orchestration expanded by Benjamin Gordon from the original 1984 score, which was simply The Black Spider.
It was a bold move by the company to put its youth branch front and centre – and it worked astoundingly well. Weir’s own libretto interweaves two tales, primarily a 19th century novella by the Swiss writer and pastor Jeremias Gotthelf, set in the late 15th century, but also a 1983 report in The Times about excavations at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków.
Ross Ramgobin as Count Heinrich with members of the Opera North Youth Company. Picture: James Glossop
Both stories involve mysterious spiders thought to be lethal. Weir runs them in parallel by inserting five modern interludes, staged as a documentary, into two acts built around the mediaeval fairy-tale.
So we began with journalists interviewing an archaeologist about excavations of King Casimir IV’s tomb in Kraków. By the end we had learnt from a pathologist that a spider had emerged from inside the tomb, followed by the unexplained deaths of several excavators.
Back in 1492, the despotic Count Heinrich’s villagers in the Carpathian mountains are unable to plant a shady grove for his mountain-top castle, but take up the Green Man’s offer to help out. In return, he demands marriage to Christina, who pretends to jilt her fiancé Carl.
Daniel Wright as The Green Man with members of the Opera North Youth Company. Picture: James Glossop
Marrying him anyway, she is punished with a painful hand, from which emerges a plague-bearing spider that crawls inside the Count’s helmet. Driven mad and insensible with drink, he rides to his death. Christina eventually captures the rampaging spider in a trumpet and persuades the sculptors to bury it in the tomb they are preparing for the recently-deceased Casimir IV.
The two stories thus coalesce: cue general rejoicing in the mountains, while a modern-day investigator deduces that “there is a rational answer to everything”.
The score calls for two professional singers. Ross Ramgobin brought a commanding baritone to Heinrich, cleverly blending menace with mirth, while Pasquale Orchard’s vivid soprano allied to her background in dance made for a lively Christina.
Akele Obiang as Caspa. Picture: James Glossop
A variety of cameos were spread throughout the Opera North Youth Chorus and taken with enthusiasm and aplomb. Special mention must go to Daniel Wright who doubled as the Green Man and as a priest attempting to point a final moral, Jeannot Gantier-Hudson as Carl and Akele Obiang as Christina’s visiting cousin Caspa; all three contributed important solos.
Weir’s music, always with tonality not far from the surface, has an irrepressible momentum, which combines tellingly with the wry humour that underlies much of the libretto. It even spoofs operatic conventions. A spider motif dominates the latter stages, and she convincingly interpolates ‘Now thank we all our God’ into the celebrations.
Nicholas Shaw kept a firm hand on the tiller, steering the chamber-sized Opera North Youth Orchestra through tricky rhythmic waters and easily keeping his singers afloat. Chorus discipline under Rosie Kat’s direction was superb, even when tested by the imaginary spider’s rapid reappearances amongst the crowd.
Jeannot Gantier-Houston as Carl, Pasquale Orchard as Christina and Akele Obiang as Caspain The Secret Of The Black Spider. Picture: James Glossop
Zara Mansouri’s set and costumes conjured both period and topography, with Jake Wiltshire’s flexible lighting adding to the mystery but without gloom.
It should be unnecessary to mention that this was the company’s first main-stage opera by a female composer.
All the creative team was at pains to point out that much of the production’s subtlety originated with the performers themselves. It highlighted the vital importance of the whole undertaking: educational outreach is one thing, but putting young performers before the general public quite another. It also offered as powerful a guarantee as can be imagined of the company’s future health.
Review by Martin Dreyer
The Opera North Youth Company in The Secret Of The Black Spider. Picture: James Glossop
Oh No! Have we missed Harland Miller’s XXX exhibition of Letter Paintings at York Art Gallery? No, this weekend is the last chance
HARLAND Miller’s XXX finale and Fangfest’s 25th anniversary, a comic convention and a cosmic piano are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as August makes way for September.
Do not miss: Harland Miller, XXX, York Art Gallery, ends on Sunday, open daily 10am to 5pm
THIS weekend is the last chance to see York-raised Pop artist and writer Harland Miller’s return to York Art Gallery with XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.
Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.
Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter: Premiering their shiny new musical comedy, Astro-Norma!, at York Explore today
Intergalactic musical family adventure of the week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, York Explore Library and Archive, Library Square, York, today, 11am and 2pm
FROM the creators of Green Fingers and the spooky HallowBean comes Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, wherein Norma dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, although children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children with a very important piano recital coming up.
But what bizarre-looking contraption has just crash-landed in the garden? Is it a bird? Or a plane? No… it’s a piano?! No ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true? Join Fladam duo Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter for a 45-minute show full of awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots and interplanetary puns. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives.
You, Me And Who We’ll Be: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge’s exhibition at Nunnington Hall
Children’s exhibition of the week: Josie Brookes and Tom Madge, You, Me And Who We’ll Be, Nunnington Hall, near York, until September 7
ENTER the colourful worlds of children’s illustrators Josie Brookes and Tom Madge. Through bold, eye-catching artwork, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne duo creates stories that explore the many ways we can help and understand each other, make friends and build relationships.
Discover your own helpful superpower in the Big Small Nature Club or join best friends Nader and Solomiya on a journey to find home. A dress-up station lets you share in the adventures of Molly the Flower. Before you go, help the story grow by adding your own artwork to the interactive gallery. Tickets: Normal admission charges at nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall/exhibitions.
York Unleashed Comic-Con: Special guests, stage talks, cosplay masquerade, attractions and merchandise market at York Racecourse
Convention of the week: York Unleashed Comic-Con, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, Sunday, 11am to 5pm
UNLEASHED Events welcomes Tom Rosenthal, Tim Blaney, Peter Davison, Phil Fletcher and special guest Atticus Finch Wobbly Cat to a comic convention featuring stage talks, cosplay masquerade and plenty more.
Comic artists and authors Jim Alexander, Elinor Taylor, Blake Books, Jessica Meats, Paolo Debernardi and Ben Sawyer are appearing too. Attractions include Doctor Bell, Bumblebee Camaro, Johnny 5, Milestone 3D, Imagination Gaming, Battle Ready Academy, Mos Eisley Misfits, Tom Daws Dimple Magician, Rexys Reviews and Iconic Movie Scenes, plus a market selling merchandise and collectables from favourite franchises. Tickets: unleashedtickets.co.uk.
SmART art: One of 100 artworks for sale at the pop-up SmART Gallery at York Racecourse
Art event of the week: SmART Gallery, Racecourse Road, York, YO23 1EU, Sunday, 11am to 2.30pm
SUNDAY’S outdoor, inclusive community art gallery, SmART Gallery, will raise money for the Christmas appeal run by Crisis, the homeless charity, and voluntary work in Sierra Leone next Easter.
The event features more than 100 pieces of art work produced by the York community. Blank canvases are sold for £10, then returned once the art work has been created in any medium. Browsers can submit a secret bid on the day for anything they would like to buy. Any unsold artwork will remain on the fence opposite York Racecourse’s main entrance for five months for all to enjoy.
Austentatious: Improvising new Jane Austen novel from audience suggestions at Grand Opera House, York
Improv show of the week: Show And Tell present Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, Grand Opera House, York, September 5 and 6, 7.30pm
AS seen every week in the West End since 2022 and in York in a sold-out show in January, the all-star Austentatious cast will improvise a new Jane Austen novel, inspired entirely by a title from the audience. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this riotous, quick-moving comedy comes with guaranteed swooning.
The revolving Austentatious cast includes numerous award-winning television and radio performers, such as Cariad Lloyd (QI, Inside No.9, Griefcast, The Witchfinder),Joseph Morpurgo (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee), Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Graham Dickson (After Life, The Witchfinder) and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Pottery workshop at 25th anniversary Fangest Festival of Practical Arts in Fangfoss
Silver anniversary of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, East Riding, September 6 and 7, 10am to 4pm each day
FANGFOSS is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fangfest with the All Things Silver flower festival; veteran cars; archery; the Stamford Bridge Heritage Society; music on the village green; children’s games; the Teddy Bear Trail and artists aplenty exhibiting and demonstrating their work.
Opportunities will be provided to try out the potter’s wheel, spoon carving and chocolate making. Some drop-in activities are free; more intensive workshops require booking in advance. Look out too for the circus skills of children’s entertainer John Cossham, alias Professor Fiddlesticks, and the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust mobile museum. Admission is free.
Suede: Returning to York Barbican next February on Antidepressants tour. Picture: Dean Chalkley
Show announcement of the week: Suede, Antidepressants UK Tour 2026, York Barbican, February 7 2026
AFTER playing York Barbican for the first time in more than 25 years in March 2023, Suede will make a rather hastier return on their 17-date January and February tour. Brett Anderson’s London band will be promoting tenth studio album Antidepressants, out on September 5 on BMG.
“If [2022’s] Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Anderson. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. This is broken music for broken people.” Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/suede26.
REVIEW: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Sept 6 *****
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), left, with Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
ELEVEN years since first encountering the National Theatre’s remarkable War Horse at the Alhambra, Bradford, a return visit brought out all the awe, wonderment and anger anew at Leeds Grand Theatre amid the turbulence of 21st century conflicts, conflagrations and ever more warmongering.
Michael Morpurgo’s source novel was ostensibly a tale for children, as was Michelle Magorian’s Second World War story Goodnight Mister Tom, but Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris’s theatrical tour de force is a show for everyone.
The most successful play in the history of the National Theatre, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide, War Horse is a complete piece of theatre, replete with technical aplomb, extraordinary puppetry, grand design and foundation-shaking sound to complement Nick Stafford’s beautiful, powerful storytelling.
For all those theatrical tools, the story is king, told with imagination and wonder beyond even the cinematic scope of Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film version.
More remarkable still, Morpurgo’s central character is a horse, whose journey is charted from Devon farm to the fields of the Somme, in the service of first the British and then the Germans in the First World War.
Directors Elliott and Morris and designer Rae Smith had the original vision, put into flesh by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company’s Adrian Kohler. Not so much flesh as leather tack and a wooden see-through framework that exposed the three puppeteers, gloved and dressed to add to the sense of equine power in life-sized Joey, whose transformation from colt to magnificent beast is a coup de theatre that takes the breath away.
From the highly physical ensemble acting of revival director Katie Henry’s cast to the deafening sounds of war (by sound designer Christopher Shutt) and the omnipresent animation and projection designs of Nicol Scott and Ben Pearcy that depict war so devastatingly, every last detail counts. Anne Marie Piazza’s singing of John Tams’s affecting folk songs is even more haunting for its female interpretation.
At the core is the bond of a boy and his horse, Tom Sturgess’s stoical farm boy Albert Narracott and noble Joey, as boy becomes man all too young in the most brutal passage of rights in the trenches. War divides but it also unites, bringing out the best and worst on all sides (as Morpurgo’s equal focus on the Germans emphasises).
Co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, this “all-new tour” for 2024-2025 is a triumph once more. The National Theatre and British theatre at their best.
National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until September 6, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Susan Twist’s Dotty Otley in the Stephen Joseph Theatre production of Michael Frayn’s farce Noises Off. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
FROM Frayn’s finest farce to Leeds Festival, War Horse to Bombay Bicycle Club, August puts the highs into Charles Hutchinson’s summer.
Farce of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on “an impossible task”.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage, and the catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), left, Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Yorkshire theatre event of the week: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, until September 6
WAR Horse, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the National Theatre’s most successful play, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide.
Now comes a new tour, co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, that takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company bring breathing, galloping, charging equines to thrilling life on stage. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Chappell Roan: Making her biggest British appearance to date at Leeds Festival. Picture: Leeds Festival
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, tomorrow to Sunday
ALWAYS the festival to mark the end of the summer season of outdoor joys, Leeds Festival welcomes Travis Scott as the Friday headliner in his only European festival appearance. Sammy Virji, D-Block Europe, Trippie Redd and Amyl And The Sniffers are in action on that day too.
Saturday’s bill features Hozier, Chappell Roan, in the Midwest Princess’s biggest UK show yet, AJ Tracey, The Kooks, Bloc Party and Rudim3ntal, while the Sunday finale presents Bring Me The Horizon, Limp Bizkit, Becky Hill, Enter Shakiri and Wunderhorse. For the full line-up and ticket details, head to: leedsfestival.com.
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes: Making Rise debut in York. Picture: Richard Reid
Australian double bill of the week: Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes and Melody Pool, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb York, tomorrow, doors open at 7.30pm
LACHLAN Bryan & The Wildes are appearing in “full band mode” in the UK for the first time, stopping off at Rise. Until now, at Maverick Festival in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and shows around these isles as headliners or supporting good friends Hannah Aldridge and Alan Fletcher, the band has travelled the Northern Hemisphere mostly as a three-piece.
That all changes as the usual suspects, Melbourne storyteller Lachlan, guitarist Riley Catherall and bass player Shaun Ryan, are joined by Ben Middleton on drums and Yorkshire’s own Emily Lawler on fiddle and viola. Australian songwriter Melody Pool supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Bombay Bicycle Club: Riding into York Barbican on Friday. Picture: Bombay Bicycle Club website
York gig of the week: Bombay Bicycle Club, supported by Divorce, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm
LED as ever by vocalist, pianist and guitarist Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club’s set list will draw on songs from the Crouch End band’s six albums that span folk, electronica and world music, as well as indie guitar rock. The latest addition, 2023’s My Big Day, parades a revelatory set of vibrant, joyous compositions that bask in the sunshine. Feel the heat on Friday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Luke Haines, right, & Peter Buck: Showcasing new album at Pocklington Arts Centre
Gig of the week outside York: Luke Haines & Peter Buck, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm
LUKE Haines, Walton-on-Thames musician, songwriter and author of Freaks Out! and Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall, is best known for his bands The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Now his collaborator is Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M for 31 years.
On July 28, Haines & Buck released the third in their “psychiatric trilogy” of albums, Going Down To The River…To Blow My Mind,following Beat Poetry For Survivalists in 2020 and All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out in 2022. Their tour takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on August 27 and Leeds Brudenell Social Club on August 28. The Minus 5 support. Box office: Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com/events/hainesbuck; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
The poster for Tommy Cannon’s show at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Comedy night of the week: An Audience With Tommy Cannon, Keeping The Magic Alive, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
BEST known as one half of comedy duo Cannon & Ball, national treasure Tommy Cannon presents a night of entertainment, laughter and nostalgia with the billing of “Legend, Laughter & Legacy – Live On Stage” as he shares stories from his 50-plus career in showbusiness, many in tandem with Bobby Ball.
Expect behind-the-scenes secrets, career highlights and heartfelt reflections on his life on and off screen, delivered with charm, warmth and wit. Recollections from the golden days of British television to his stage work and appearances on hit shows will be topped off with special surprises (maybe a song), archive clips and a Q&A, when you can ask Tommy anything. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
One of Simon Baxter’s photographs from All The Wood’s A Stage, his joint exhibition with Joe Cornish at National Trust Nunnington Hall. Picture: Simon Baxter
Exhibition announcement of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, National Trust Nunnington Hall, near York, from September 20 to March 29 2026
ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.
Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.
Sonnets In Bloom scriptwriter Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s summer production is being staged
FROM War Horse to Leeds Festival, the Wedding Present musical to Bombay Bicycle Club, August puts the highs into Charles Hutchinson’s summer.
Churchyard drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and August 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the weekend: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Yorkshire theatre event of the week: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, August 19 to September 6
WAR Horse, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the most successful play in the National Theatre’s history, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide.
Now comes an all-new tour, co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, that takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company bring breathing, galloping, charging equines to thrilling life on stage. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Chappell Roan: Performing her biggest British show yet at Leeds Festival on August 23. Picture: from Leeds Festival website
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 21 to 24
ALWAYS the festival to mark the end of the summer season of outdoor joys, Leeds Festival welcomes Travis Scott as the Friday headliner in his only European festival appearance. Sammy Virji, D-Block Europe, Trippie Redd and Amyl And The Sniffers are in action on that day too.
The Saturday bill features Hozier, Chappell Roan, in the Midwest Princess’s biggest UK show yet, AJ Tracey, The Kooks, Bloc Party and Rudim3ntal, while the Sunday finale presents Bring Me The Horizon, Limp Bizkit, Becky Hill, Enter Shakiri and Wunderhorse. For the full line-up and ticket details, head to: leedsfestival.com.
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes: Playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery. Picture: Richard Reid
Australian double bill of the week: Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes and Melody Pool , Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb York, August 21, doors open at 7.30pm
LACHLAN Bryan & The Wildes are appearing in “full band mode” in the UK for the first time this summer, stopping off at Rise. Until now, at Maverick Festival in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and shows around these isles as headliners or supporting good friends Hannah Aldridge and Alan Fletcher, the band has travelled the Northern Hemisphere mostly as a three-piece.
That all changes as the usual suspects, Melbourne storyteller Lachlan, guitarist Riley Catherall and bass player Shaun Ryan, are joined by Ben Middleton on drums and Yorkshire’s own Emily Lawler on the fiddle and viola. Australian songwriter Melody Pool supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
The cast for Reception with writer-director Matt Aston, back row, far left, and The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, back row, far right, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds. Picture: Northedge Photography
Musical world premiere of the week: Perfect Blue Productions and Engine House Theatre present Reception, The Wedding Present Musical, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, August 22 to September 6
SET in 1980s’ Leeds, Reception: The Wedding Present Musical follows a group of university friends whose lives remain entangled over five turbulent years. Through weddings, funerals, graduations – and, of course, the receptions that follow – York writer-director Matt Aston’s new drama explores how we grow together and apart, all scored to David Gedge’s 40 years of searingly personal, sharply observed song-writing for The Wedding Present and Cinerama.
Like the Leeds band that inspired it, the musical thrums with raw emotion, biting wit and restless energy, performed by a dynamic ensemble of actor-musicians, weaving a story of love, regret and reconnection through the melodic force of Gedge’s music. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Bombay Bicycle Club: Riding into York Barbican on August 22. Picture: from Bombay Bicycle Club website
York gig of the week: Bombay Bicycle Club, supported by Divorce, York Barbican, August 22, doors 7pm
LED as ever by vocalist, pianist and guitarist Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club’s set list will draw on songs from the Crouch End band’s six albums that span folk, electronica and world music, as well as indie guitar rock. The latest addition, 2023’s My Big Day, parades a revelatory set of vibrant, joyous compositions that bask in the sunshine. Feel the heat next Friday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Luke Haines & Peter Buck: Teaming up at Pocklington Arts Centre
Gig of the week outside York: Luke Haines & Peter Buck, Pocklington Arts Centre, August 22, 8pm
LUKE Haines, Walton-on-Thames musician, songwriter and author of Freaks Out! and Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall, is best known for his bands The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Now his collaborator is Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M for 31 years.
On July 28, Haines & Buck released the third in their “psychiatric trilogy” of albums, Going Down To The River…To Blow My Mind,following Beat Poetry for Survivalists in 2020 and All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out in 2022. Their tour takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on August 27 and Leeds Brudenell Social Club on August 28. The Minus 5 support. Box office: Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com/events/hainesbuck; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
The cast on the first day of rehearsals for the 2025-2026 tour of James Graham’s Dear England, visiting Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford. Picture: Justine Matthew
THE National Theatre’s 2025-2026 tour of James Graham’s Dear England – “the Gareth Southgate play” – will visit Leeds Grand Theatre from November 4 to 8.
Further Yorkshire runs are booked into Sheffield Lyceum Theatre from October 21 to 25 and Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, for February 17 to 21 2026.
Heading the cast will be David Sturzakeras England manager – and knighted Harrogate resident – Gareth Southgate, alongside EastEndersand Mount Pleasant actress Samantha Womack in the role of team psychologist Pippa Grange.
Directed by Almeida Theatre artistic director Rupert Goold, the cast also features returnees Jass Beki as Bukayo Saka; Courtney George as Alex Scott; Tom Lane as Eric Dier and Miles Henderson in Ensemble roles.
David Sturzaker: Playing Gareth Southgate in Dear England, on tour in 2025-2026. Picture: Michael Shelford
Joining them will be company newcomers Jake Ashton-Nelson as Jordan Henderson; Luke Azille as Jadon Sancho; Ian Bartholomew as Greg Dyke; Ashley Byam as Raheem Sterling; Steven Dykes as Sam Allardyce; Oscar Gough as Harry Kane; Jayden Hanley as Marcus Rashford; Connor Hawker as Harry Maguire; Ian Kirkby as Gary Lineker; Jack Maddison as Jordan Pickford; Liam Prince-Donnelly as Dele Alli and George Rainsford as Mike Webster. In the squad too are Stuart Ash, Natalie Boakye, Sam Craig and Jonathan Markwood.
Premiered in June 2023, Graham’s inspiring, at times heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story of Gareth Southgate’s revolutionary tenure as England football manager won the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Play, en route to breaking box-office records in its West End run.
Dear England charts Southgate’s impact when taking over from Sam Allardyce in 2016. As the play’s synopsis puts it: “It’s time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. The England men’s team has the worst track record for penalties in the world, and manager Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land”.
The tour will visit 16 venues fromSeptember 15 2025 to March 14 2026in a co-production with Josh Andrews and Stuart Galbraith for JAS Theatricals. Goold is joined in the production team by set designer Es Devlin, whose credits include Beyonce’s Renaissance world tour and The Lehman Trilogy at the National Theatre, along with costume designer Evie Gurney; lighting designer Jon Clark; co-movement directors Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf; video designer Ash J Woodward, and co-sound designers Dan Balfourand Tom Gibbons.
Samantha Womack: Playing team psychologist Pippa Grange in Dear England. Picture: Michelle George
They are joined by tour revival director Connie Treves; revival movement director Tom Herron;casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor;associate set designer Alice Hallifax; associate lighting designer Ben Jacobs; associate video designer Libby Ward; associate sound designer Johnny Edwards; casting associate Lilly Mackie and resident director Dan Hutton.
The National Theatre will run a year-long schools engagement programme inspired by Gareth Southgate’s “Dear England” open letter that he wrote to England fans in 2021.
This programme, designed to prompt young people to reflect on their own place in history, just as the footballers in Southgate’s squad were encouraged to do, comes in response to 2025 being the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
It will be delivered to 10,000 pupils in schools across England at assemblies and workshops, using spoken word and sound design to support students to share the hopes and aspirations they have for themselves, and other young people, 80 years from now.
The cast of Dear England at the National Theatre this spring. Picture: Marc Brenner
The resulting sound archive will form a 2025–2026 time capsule. In addition, students will be invited to attend performances of Dear Englandduring the tour.
Dear Englandwas commissioned by the National Theatre and developed with the theatre’s New Work department for its world premiere on June 20 2023 in the Olivier theatre. A sold-out run was followed by a transfer to the Prince Edward Theatre, London, from October 9 2023 to January 13 2024, where box-office records were broken.
Dear Englandwas released to cinemas through National Theatre Live on January 24 2024 and has been screened almost 2,500 times across the UK.
In February 2024, the BBC announced its commission of a four-part drama of Dear England, based on the stage production, for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Tane Siah’s Bukayo Saka and Gwilym Lee’s Gareth Southgate in Dear England at the National Theatre this spring. Picture: Marc Brennen
Graham’s play returned to the National Theatre in Spring 2025, updated to reflect the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament, Southgate’s final chapter as England manager that ended, spoiler alert, with defeat to Spain in the final. The regional premiere was staged in a four-week run at The Lowry, Salford, that opened on May 29.
The 2025/2026 national tour is supported by Incentivising Touring: Repayable Grants for Theatre and Dance, a pilot scheme developed by Arts Council England to support larger-scale productions to tour to regional venues.
Dear Englandwas among the first to receive a share of more than £2million as part of the first round of the scheme, designed to create the opportunity for more people to see high-quality shows close to where they live.
Hayley Bamford’s Deloris Van Cartier, now hiding as Sister Mary Clarence, centre, in York Musical Theatre Company’s Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy. Picture Lucy Baines, Joy Photography
AFTER York Stage Musicals’ York premiere in 2014 and Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior and Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier on tour at the Grand Opera House in 2024, Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy returns to the city in Kathryn Addison’s hands in 2025.
You can see why companies are making a habit of staging Alan Menken’s Broadway and West End musical spin on Emile Ardolino’s 1992 movie. We know nuns en masse are fun from the film, so full of cheery daftness.
Then add Motown, funk, soul and disco pastiches and even a brief burst of rap by Little Shop Of Horrors’ maestro Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a sassy book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellener, steeped in the original spirit and re-booted with theatrical camp sparkle.
Jack Hooper’s Eddie Souther performing I Could Be That Guy. Picture: Lucy Baines, Joy Photography
It has been the norm for the likes of Alexandra Burke at Leeds Grand Theatre and Cleopatra Rey for York Stage to whoop up the lead role of lounge singer Deloris in the Whoopi Goldberg manner, but the movie part was first offered to Bette Midler.
Step forward Hayley Bamford, and, wham-bam, Bamford still stands out from her fellow wimple wearers, on account of her height, her strut and her soul-filled lung power.
We lose the nods to Richard Roundtree movies, Pam Grier and Shaft, but Addison’s smart production still echoes the American Seventies of Studio 54, Saturday Night Fever and Telly Savalas’s Kojak (although the programme states Act I is set at Christmas 1997 in Philadelphia, New Jersey).
Director Kathryn Addison, right, in rehearsal with Kirsten Griffiths (Mother Superior), right, and Hayley Bamford (Deloris Van Cartier)
Bamford’s Deloris has been placed in protective custody by gun-shy, profusely sweaty cop Eddie Souther (Jack Hooper) after witnessing her cool but cruel mobster lover Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick) commit murder.
She may sing Take Me To Heaven, but Curtis has taken her closer to hell. Now she must flee from the Mafia’s clutches into the safety and sanctity of the Queen Of Angels convent, whose stained glass frames double as the nightclub decor.
Bamford’s irrepressible Deloris kicks the habits into shape, transferring the sisters’ hapless, off-key singing from doleful into soulful and herself into a divine diva. In doing so, she impresses Monsignor O’Hara (Rob Davies); exasperates the earnest Mother Superior (Kirsten Griffiths, whose singing hits the spectacular heights); re-invigorates the rundown neighbourhood’s church services and coffers, and rekindles the flame in Eddie’s schooldays crush.
Philadelphia mobster Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick, second from left) and his hoodlums, Eddie (Jonathan Wells), TJ (James Dickinson), Pablo (Adam Gill) and Joey (Joe Marucci). Picture: Lucy Baines, Joy Photography
Addison directs with an eye to both individual expression and collective impact, bringing an irreverent edge to the comedy and fabulous flair and fun to the choreography, while musical director John Atkin’s11-strong orchestra are as soulful as James Brown’s band The J.B.’s.
Bamford is feisty, lippy, funny and a natural show leader; Hopper’s amusing Eddie pulls at the heart strings; Eve Clark, in her gap year after A-levels, announces her singing talent as Sister Mary Robert; Fick’s Curtis, with his cigarette-card moustache, is a matine-idol villain, and Katie Melia, so “super excited to be playing Sister Mary Patrick”, is exactly that in her scene-stealing role.
Look out too for Sandy Nicholson’s Sister Mary Lazarus, rapping in shades, and the bungling badinage of Curtis’s hoodlums, Joe Marucci’s Joey, James Dickinson’s TJ, Adam Gill’s Pablo and Jonathan Wells’s soon-to-be-deadie Eddie. All’s well that ends up Wells, however, as he has three further cameos, topped by a camp flurry as a drag queen.
Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: limited availability on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Sinead Corkery: Making her York Open Studios debut in Monkton Road, York
PERFECT weather greets the opening of studio doors as artists parade their skills while politics comes under the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.
Art event of the month: York Open Studios, today and tomorrow; also April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm
YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s bill at The Basement tonight
Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, David Eagle, Ben Silver and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
ROB Rouse, from The Friday Night Project, Spoons, BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Mad Mad World, Upstart Crow and Rob And Helen’s Date Night self-help podcast, headlines tonight’s bill, hosted by Laugh Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin.
Support act David Eagle, a member of north eastern folk band The Young’uns, mines comedy from exploring how his blindness turns the most ordinary, commonplace events into surreal, convoluted dramas. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Ged Graham: Leading the Seven Drunken Nights celebration of The Dubliners, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Prestige Productions
Irish craic of the week: Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
SEVEN Drunken Nights takes a trip down memory lane in celebration of The Dubliners’ 50-year performing career on a 2025 global tour of 300 shows across 42 weeks. The Irish Rover, The Town I Love So Well and Dirty Old Town will be joined by new additions Paddy On The Railway and The Lark In The Morning in a new production for this year’s travels.
The show’s 2017 founder, frontman and narrator, Dublin-born writer and director Ged Graham, says: “The connection we’ve built with the audience over the years is incredible; they know we’re keeping the iconic music of The Dubliners alive with the same passion that they have for it.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Telling the whole story: Writer-performer Andrew Margerison in Dyad Productions’ That Knave, Raleigh
Historical play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 9, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.
The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary and victim.
“The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.”Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Manfreds: Playing Joseph Rowntree Theatre for the first time this weekend
Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Manfreds, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
TICKETS are down to the last few for the chance to see The Manfreds in their Joseph Rowntree Theatre debut, featuring original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, both 83.
The set list takes in such Sixties R&B hits as 5-4-3-2-1, Pretty Flamingo, The Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, intermixed with jazz and blues covers from their solo albums. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Al Murray: Rolling out his barrel of laughs at York Barbican as the Guvnor puts you right on Sunday night
Political insights of the week: Al Murray, Guv Island, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE people have spoken. The Pub Landlord is back for another round of Guv Island with “New Extra Brew Material”in 2025, having pulled pints and punters at the Grand Opera House in March 2024.
Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, the Guvnor will “make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to”. “Country, the UK, lost its way, seeks life partner/mentor/inspiration. Good sense of humour essential. No timewasters, tedious show-offs or offend-o-trons need apply. HR free zone,” says Murray. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast for Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre – the new name for Bright Light Musical Productions – follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance.
Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jan Noble in his verse drama Body 115. Picture: jannoble.co.uk/body115
Odyssey of the week: Jan Noble in Body 115, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm
EVER wished you were somewhere else? Ever wished you were someone else? Escaping the rain, a journey on the London Underground becomes a descent into the underworld in Body 115, 2023 winner of the London Pub Theatre Award for Best Innovative Play.
Written and performed by Jan Noble, directed by Justin Butcher, this tale of broken hearts, old flames and open roads follows Noble’s down-and-out poet-hero through the sewers and tubes of King’s Cross Station to the heart of Italy. Part invocation, part rain dance, this poetic odyssey is delivered with a contemporary kick. From the terraces at Millwall to fashionable Milan, expect shadowy encounters, dodgy connections and chance meetings with a host of poet ghosts.
“Body 115 is an epic poem, a tale of inner and outer journeys in explicit homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy,” says Noble. “From the rain-washed, subterranean underworld of King’s Cross, ‘Body 115’ – the long-unidentified victim of the 1987 fire – becomes Virgil to my Dante in a rhapsodic paean to the trammelling ecstasy of loss: a trans-European odyssey turned safari of the soul.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola: Strictly Come Dancing professionals team up for Red Hot And Ready
Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 victor Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
John Simpson: BBC News world affairs editor puts leaders and lunatics in the dock at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday
In Focus: More political insights of the week: John Simpson: The Leaders & Lunatics Tour, Grand Opera House, York, April 7, 7.30pm
IN his bold, unflinching look at leadership, veteran BBC journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE ponders why some inspire while others descend into tyranny. “And…are all tyrants ‘lunatics’,” he asks.
After six decades of unparalleled access to world leaders – and lunatics – Simpson explores the personalities that have shaped history. From notorious figures such as Assad, Saddam, Mugabe and Gaddafi to admired leaders Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky, he reveals their common threads, unique quirks and lasting impact.
Drawing on his first-hand encounters and personal dealings, Simpson will unravel the enigmatic personas of Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher, while pondering what links Mandela and Princess Diana or Zelensky and Mugabe.
In an increasingly volatile world, BBC News world affairs editor Simpson will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of the most pressing global challenges of our time – conflicts, war, famine, economic crises and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
Simpson, now 80, has spent all his working life with the BBC, reporting from more than 120 countries, including 30 war zones, and interviewing myriad world leaders on his foreign correspondent beat.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960s to present day in his fearless journalism, he will turn from interviewer to interviewee to take questions from the audience in the second-half Q&A.
What on earth is going on, John? Hear his answers at this talk “truly for our troubled times”, when Simpson promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire as he provides “insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
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world affairs editor of BBC News. He has spent all his working life with the BBC, and has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and interviewed many world leaders.
In an increasingly volatile world, John will also examine the most pressing challenges of our time – war, famine, economic crises, and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
In the second half, the floor is yours. Ask your questions as John offers sharp insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order.
John Simpson: Leaders and Lunatics Tour
After a sell-out tour in 2024, legendary journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE is returning to the stage for an exclusive evening packed with unparalleled insights from one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents of our time.
With decades of first-hand encounters and personal dealings, John will explore the enigmatic personas of global figures such as Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher.
John will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of our global issues – from conflicts, war and famines, to world economies and climate change.
What links Mandela and Princess Diana? Or Zelenskiy and Mugabe? John will reveal the common threads linking these figures, and offer a unique perspective on the impact they’ve had on world affairs.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960’s to present day, you will have an opportunity to ask John your questions – what were these leaders and lunatics really like, and what on earth is going on? Don’t miss John for an evening that promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire with his fearless journalism and captivating storytelling.
What on earth is going on? An event truly for our troubled times – don’t miss this enlightening and compelling evening.
The poster for Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola’s Red Hot And Ready, presented by Burn The Floor at York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre in July
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola, will head to York Barbican on July 6 on their Red Hot And Ready tour.
Created by Jason Gilkison, the new show will dance its way round the UK in June and July, visiting 30 venues including Leeds Grand Theatre on July 18 and 19.
The tour will be presented by Burn The Floor in the international company’s return to the UK as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band.
Red Hot And Ready will be “the ultimate high-voltage dance extravaganza, exploding with jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming, and celebrating the pure joy of dance”.
Buswell has been a two-time finalist during her seven Strictly years, winning the 2024 Glitter Ball trophy with comedian Chris McCausland and is noted for her fun, quirky personality, dynamic dance style and flaming red locks.
Coppola, the 2023 winner with actress Ellie Leach and 2024 runner-up with actress Sarah Hadland, has become a favourite with audiences in his two Strictly years, marked by both his terpsichorean flair and cheeky humour.
Buswell says: “I am truly excited to be going on tour with our magnificent new show with the most phenomenal partner, Vito, and to sharing the love and the energy as we dance for you.”
Coppola says: “I can’t wait to be on tour with the amazing, beautiful, vibrant Dianne Buswell. It’s going to be Red, it’s going to be Hot, and we are going to be super Ready to bring to you so much joy and smiles and happiness.”
Show creator and choreographer Jason Gilkison says: “I am feeling blessed to be coming home to Burn The Floor and creating a new show for the first time in ten years. To have Dianne and Vito leading this dynamic cast really guarantees an unforgettable experience for our audience.”
Burn The Floor is credited widely with kick-starting the modern ballroom dance revolution following its 1999 world premiere in Bournemouth. The explosive show was ahead of its time in combining the art and tradition of ballroom with rock’n’roll technology.
Heading into its in 26th year, Burn The Floor has revolutionised ballroom style on stages around the world with its mesmerising choreography, ground-breaking moves, dazzling costumes and sets and infectious, rebellious energy.
Italian-born Coppola began dancing at seven and is a three-time World Championship finalist and a European Cup winner. Buswell, former Australian Open champion and four-time Amateur Australian Open finalist, joined Burn The Floor in 2007.
Choreographer and BAFTA award recipient Gilkison’s involvement with Burn The Floor began as lead dancer in 1999. He took up the role of choreographer and artistic director in 2001, leading the show on several world tours and visiting more than 40 countries, including a box office-smashing season on Broadway in 2009/2010, followed by a West End season in London.
He became creative director for Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) and is a judge and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance in Australia and the USA.
Over the years, Gilkison has choreographed for Cher, Celine Dion, Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett and many more.
Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Abbie Budden as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
ABBIE Budden is surrounded by an entirely new cast as she reprises her role of Annette Hargrove in the 2025 tour of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, playing the Grand Opera House, York, from tonight to Saturday.
Last year, Abbie made her professional bow aged 20 in the London premiere of Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble’s New York musical, based on Kumble’s too-cool-for-school 1999 film.
“I’m the only returning cast member from that show at The Other Palace Theatre in Victoria, and it’s been really lovely to revisit it, bringing new elements to it,” says Abbie, who is working again with director Jonathan O’Boyle and choreographer Gary Lloyd.
“The London run flew by and I just didn’t feel I’d finished with it after those five months, so it’s been liberating to come back for three weeks of rehearsals before we opened at Windsor Theatre Royal last Thursday. “
Why was it ‘unfinished business’, Abbie? “It’s always on reflection that you think ‘there is so much more I could have done’, and I’m now finding so many new moments for Annette, bouncing off new members of the cast.
“But I had an amazing time in London, and as last year was my professional debut, it felt so special to me, and I now come back to the show having had more experiences since then. I did Title Of Show, at Phoenix Arts Theatre and Southwark Playhouse, which was a very different show: a musical about two people writing a musical.
“It was a very meta piece of theatre with a cast of four, the writers and two friends, based on a real story. That was a lot of fun to do, as was playing Jill in my first pantomime in Jack And The Beanstalk at Ipswich Regent Theatre, and now Cruel Intentions feels like a new challenge again.”
Inspired by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Cruel Intentions is rooted in a cruel bet where Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) goads step-brother Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) into attempting to seduce Annette Hargrove, the headmaster’s virtuous daughter at their exclusive Manhattan high school.
Weaving a web of secrets and temptation, their crusade wreaks havoc but soon the co-conspirators become entangled in their own web of deception and unexpected romance with explosive results.
Abbie Budden in her debut professional role as Annette Hargrove in last year’s London production of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
What a debut role and debut show for Abbie. “I didn’t train at drama college,” she reveals. “I jumped straight into the industry last year at the age of 20. Now I’m 21, and I feel they have really nurtured me. It was exciting but terrifying last year, but now I can be playful with the role with full confidence.
“Last year I learnt so much about myself, just how capable I am – and eight shows a week is tough for anyone.”
After landing such a role on the London stage when so young, Abbie found imposter syndrome kicking in. “But I think that is something that never goes away in this industry: that constant need to prove yourself,” she says. “It’s a feeling that you really have to try to switch off. Be confident that you’re meant to be here. You just have to remind yourself that you were chosen for a reason.”
Although Abbie has not studied for a drama degree, “as soon as I could, I was wearing dancing shows, from the age of three, growing up in Horsham in West Sussex” she says. “I loved the drama department at my school, Tanbridge House School, and did sessions twice a week and lots of productions at Showdown Theatre Arts, where I found my passion for the arts.
“I did an exchange programme to Baltimore, going to New York too, and that felt like a step into performing that couldn’t have come at a better time before jumping into professional theatre last year.”
Abbie confesses that she had not seen the film until the audition. “The moment I watched it, I loved it. I remember gasping and squealing at how outrageous it was – and chaotic too! The plot really keeps you guessing and Roger Kumble’s script is so cutting. I instantly connected with Annette, knowing it was so right for me as a role,” she says
“Though it’s strongly a 1990s’ film – and placing it in Upper East Side, New York, makes it even more iconic – its themes are still almost painfully relevant.
“Our version plays it slightly different to the film, still taking inspiration from those iconic characters, but I’ve really found my own Annette, where she matches Sebastian at his game. There’s no time where she’s weak or is a victim of Sebastian.
“The Gwen Stefani song that Annette sings, Just A Girl, is telling the world that she yearns to be more than innocent, to be rebellious. She definitely does have a lot of control throughout, and doesn’t lose that; it’s her self-control that she struggles with, showing vulnerability with that.”
The show poster for Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, playing Grand Opera House, York, Leeds Grand Theatre and Hull New Theatre
As the show title indicates, Cruel Intentions is packed with 1990s’ pop gold dust, from Stefani, Britney Spears, Boyz II Men and Christina Aguilera to TLC, R.E.M., Ace Of Base, Natalie Imbruglia and The Verve.
“I almost wish all the songs were in the film because they suit the story so well, and what separates this show from other jukebox musicals is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously,” says Abbie.
What is her favourite number? “Torn. The Natalie Imbruglia song. It’s an absolute banger. If I ever went out to a karaoke night, that would be my number one choice – and it’s a real turning point in the show, where she doesn’t know where she will go from there,” she says.
Abbie also sings Lovefool, the one from the swimming pool scene; Counting Crows’ Colorblind – “a gorgeous moment in the film that’s so honest and sincere on stage that you really feel the audience go quiet” – and Foolish Games.
“That’s my big ‘belty’ solo in the show, where I do songs that give me lots of contrast, from ‘thrashy’ to beautiful, so Annette really gets to go on an emotional rollercoaster.”
What is the ultimate moral of Cruel Intentions, Abbie? “It’s weird because the characters are pretty devious and do some devious things, but because they’re teenagers and playing games, audiences fall in love with them,” she says.
“But the moral behind it is that there’s a dark side behind privilege, where they’re able to brush everything off with their wealth, which doesn’t just apply to the 1990s. A lot of people will connect with that thing of making questionable decisions as a teenager, but there’s a playful energy to the show as well darkness.”
On the road until the end of June, Abbie is visiting York for the first time this week. “I’ve never been there, so it’ll be lovely to see places on this tour that I’ve never been before,” she says. The further Yorkshire delights of Leeds and Hull await in May.
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Thursday, 7.30pm; Friday, 5pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Age guidance: 15 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Also playing:Leeds Grand Theatre, May 6 to 10, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Hull New Theatre, May 13 to 17, 01482 300306 or hulltheatres.co.uk.
Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s bullying bruiser Bill Sikes in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate
THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.
Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26
HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.
Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Harris Beattie andJonathan Hanks in Northern Ballet’s revival of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025
FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.
“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Holly Cassidy and Grace Hussey-Burd in a scene from Riding Lights Theatre Company’s winter show A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson
Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Christmas Eve, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day
IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.
When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.
The poster for The Snowman screenings with live orchestra at York Barbican
Christmas film & music event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm
CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.
Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter: Performing as an acoustic duo at Huntington Working Men’s Club in the last gigs of their 30th anniversary celebrations this weekend. Picture: David Harrison
Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven’s Rick Witter and Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, tonight and Sunday, doors 7pm
AFTER two number one albums in a year, summer shows in York Museum Gardens and their biggest ever tour, Shed Seven end their 30th anniversary celebrations back home in York, where lead singer Rick Witter and guitarist Paul Banks play a weekend of acoustic sets in the intimate setting of a working men’s club.
“We’re finishing the year in the village where Rick and I first met back in 1984, and where all of this began,” says Banks. “What a journey we’ve been on.” Sheds’ bassist Tom Gladwin serves up a DJ set too. Box office for returns only: store.shedseven.com.
Nun better: Freida Nipples hosts her Baps & Buns burlesque Christmas cabaret at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Feast your eyes on: Freida Nipples’ Baps & Buns Burlesque Christmas Cabaret, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tonight, 8pm; doors open at 7pm
YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, presents drag, comedy and showgirls in her Baps & Buns Christmas Cabaret with festive good cheer after a joyous year of shows at Rise, Acomb’s answer to Paris’s Folies Bergère.
“Prepare yourself for an evening of debauchery and glamour in Acomb,” says Freida. “The big question is: are you ready for it?!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Central Methodist Church: Hosting City Screen Picturehouse’s pop-up Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, York
Pop-up film event of the festive season: City Screen Picturehouse presents Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, The Great Hall, Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York, until December 23
CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, has set up a pop-up screen at Central Methodist Church for the Christmas season. Dougal Wilson’s Paddington In Peru (PG) will be shown at 4pm on Sunday, followed by Jon Favreau’s Elf (PG) at 7pm and Monday screenings of Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and Frank Capra’s season-closing 1946 chestnut It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm. Box office: picturehouses.com/YorkXmas.
Ronan Keating: Playing at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next summer. Picture: Supplied by York Racecourse
Outdoor gig announcement of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 26
IRISH singer, charity campaigner and breakfast show host Ronan Keating will perform after the Saturday race card as the first act to be confirmed for next summer’s Music Showcase Weekend on Knavesmire. A further act will be announced for the evening meeting on July 25.
Keating, 47, has three decades of hits to call on, from Boyzone boy band days to his solo career, from Love Me For A Reason and When You Say Nothing At All to Life Is A Rollercoaster and If Tomorrow Never Comes. Olly Murs is confirmed already for the new 2025 race day of June 28. For race day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
