DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb tonight.
York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Tonight’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, right, with Reception writer-director Matt Aston walking through Leeds. They will discuss the new musical tonight at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York
Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens
YORK Theatre Royal’s community play takes top billing in Charles Hutchinson’s selections for summer satisfaction.
Community play of the week: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company present His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, today to August 3
FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.
Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Bean there, done that: “Appetite For Destruction” artist Lincoln Lightfoot takes his spay can to York’s iconic Bile Beans mural advert at VandalFest
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today, Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH.
Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre today
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Craig David TS5 Show plus special guest Patrick Nazemi, today; Judas Priest, July 23. Gates open at 6pm
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this weekend. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.
Judas Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Wednesday’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Heather Leech in Gleowit Productions’ King Harold’s Mother at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Historical solo show of the week: Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
IN 1066, a mother loses four sons; three killed at the Battle of Hastings, one branded as a traitor. However, these are times of turmoil, where crowns on the head go with swords in the hand, and this mother has lost everything.
Two years later in Exeter, King Harold’s mother, Gytha Thorkelsdottir, makes her last stand against the might of the new king, William. She is forced to face the consequences of her own actions, to accept the overwhelming might of the Conqueror. Is nothing all she is left with? Is nothing better than this, asks Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, written and performed by Heather Leech. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton
Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm
THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.
Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, left, and Reception writer-director Matt Aston, pictured walking through Leeds, will be teaming up for a chat at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, on Sunday
Gig and chat show the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7pm
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
Out with the old, in with New: Harvey Stevens’ Jamie, front left, with his Sheffield school classmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New is terrified of the future and has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. He knows he can be a sensation. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness, into the spotlight?
Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, July 24, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.
Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for Knavesmire
Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25.Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm
AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.
Ellis-Bextor, 46, will draw on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home, from a pop career now stretching beyond 25 years. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
In Focus: The Floating Fringe, Arts Barge, York, July 24 to 26
The launch poster for The Floating Fringe
ALL aboard for The Floating Fringe, a celebration of grassroots, home-grown performances on the Arts Barge, moored at Foss Basin Moorings, off Tower Street, York.
This bold new arts festival is taking over the Selby Tony former cargo barge for three jam-packed days of comedy, theatre and family entertainment, offering a long-overdue space for the city’s vibrant and emerging Fringe scene.
“Led by a new generation of creatives, The Floating Fringe is here to shake things up,” says lead organiser Kai West, the York artist, printmaker and Bull band member. “It’s a spirited response to past commercial Fringe attempts that failed to take root, replacing polished formulas with passion, playfulness and local and up-and-coming talent.
“This is about more than just putting on a show. It’s about building a community. With its intimate setting and grassroots ethos, The Floating Fringe aims to be the artistic home for Fringe arts, acts and audiences alike: a long-awaited space for expression where alternative, up-and-coming and independent voices can truly thrive.”
Kai continues: “York has always had the talent, the audiences and the appetite for Fringe. What it’s been missing is a space that actually belongs to the community. After seeing other commercial attempts come and go, we wanted to create something independent, accessible and genuinely rooted in York’s creative scene. The Arts Barge has always been about building something meaningful for York, by York. The Fringe is just another part of that.”
The Arts Barge itself is part of that story. A passion project years in the making, it was crowd-funded and community-built by the Arts Barge Project to bring an accessible floating arts space to York. Now fully operational and moored in the centre of the city, the barge is more than a venue. “It’s a symbol of what’s possible when local creatives are given the freedom to build something of their own,” says Kai.
From comedy to original theatre and family-friendly daytime shows, The Floating Fringe promises a weekend packed with performances, connection and grassroots energy. “Whether you’re a Fringe fanatic or just curious to see what York’s creative underground has to offer, everyone is welcome aboard,” says Kai.
5pm to 6pm, Robocop vs The Terminator vs Gabriel Featherstone. Three titans of entertainment face off in a bloody, mind-mangling, no-holds-barred battle to the death.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Richard Brown: Nauseatingly Woke Full-Grown Jellyfish. Underground Fringe favourite known for thoughtful, intelligent and dark alternative comedy.
8pm to 9pm, Seymour Mace Does Things With Stuff. “It’s better than watching people do things,” says Seymour. “It’s better than paying to watch people do things. I was doped up on watching other people do things. I forgot how to do things I’ve just remembered. Look what I done!”
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Theo Mason Wood: Legalise Kissing. York-raised Netflix writer and award-winning comedian delivers a punk-clown manifesto on love, identity and modern chaos in a genre-defying mix of stand-up, surreal storytelling and live techno anthems. “This is comedy like you’ve never seen before,” says Mason Wood.
Bobby Cockles
Friday
5pm to 6pm, Clown: Bobby Cockles Goes To Hell! The Good Room presents a dark stand-up journey through the terrible adventure of a cursed Cockney clown. Being in love can be absolute hell!
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Eryn Tett Is Sponsored By The Global Megacorp Institute of Manchester, work in progress. Multi award-winner is developing her next show: an immersive comedy packed with her trademark offbeat (mostly “yo mama”) jokes, top-secret ceremonies and a non-stop handshake.
8pm to 9pm, York The Plank: A Bunch of Local Legends. Fast, furious and gloriously chaotic stand-up comedy showcase helmed by Chris Booker, comedian, aspiring sci-fi writer and charmingly under-qualified sea captain for the night.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Thor Odin Stenhaug, One Night Stand Baby. A show about love, life (drawings) and being not only a son to your parents but more like a mutual friend.
Sir Dickie Benson
Saturday
2pm to 3pm, Moon Rabbit Theatre presents Shirley: A Ghost Story. Why do people write ghost stories? Is it to explain away the fear? To spread it? Or do they write to reveal the ghosts inside them?
3.30pm to 4.30pm, Caroline McEvoy: Train Man. Tale of sibling rivalry in post-Troubles Northern Ireland, told with gut-punch gags and emotional blows as McEvoy reckons with her lifelong battle with her younger brother, who loves trains and getting his way.
5pm to 6pm, Alfie Packham: My Apologies To The Chef. Voilà! Alfie serves up new jokes in his fresh show about friends, family, loneliness, enemies – and which of these he prefers. Bon appétit.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Jain Edwards, She-Devil. Jain isn’t like other girls. She’s worse. But she’s finally ready to lean in (and receive a little forehead kiss from hubby). Expect silly, subversive comedy in a show about conspiracy theories, autism and men turning on you.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Sir Dickie Benson Interacts With The Audience Whether They Like It Or Not. Encounter the last Hollywood hell-raiser; an octogenarian, thespian barbarian with a pint of vodka and a smouldering hash pipe whose capacity for drink is matched only by his boundless charm and mercurial temper.
Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at York Museums Trust, holding the Thor’s Hammer Pendant at the Viking North exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING treasures, street art moved indoors, Fringe comedy previews and Ryedale Festival’s classical lustre bring out the summer smiles in Charles Hutchinson.
Museum launch of the week: Viking North, Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING North is filled with magnificent objects, many unseen for generations and others that have never been on public display, adding up to “the best collection of Viking finds to be shown outside London” as these Viking treasures reveal the North’s power base, wealth and skills.
Telling the story of the Viking Age in the North of England from AD866 to 1066, the exhibition is underpinned by new archaeological research and cutting-edge technology and features objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard, co-owned with the British Museum, and specially loaned national and regional items, including from the Viking Army Camp at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.
Sea, Swell, Scribe: Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax combine in Pyramid Gallery’s exhibition of paintings, pottery and poetry
Exhibition launch of the week: Sea, Swell, Scribe, Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, from today, 11am, to August 31, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday
WHAT happens when you let a poet loose in an art gallery with a piece of charcoal? If the juxtaposition of sumptuous curvy and pointy pots against a backdrop of textured metallic atmospheric paintings is inspiring her, then she will scribble words and phrases all over the plinths
York artist Jo Walton, from Rogues Atelier, potter Ruth King, from the Craft Potters Association, and poet Nicky Kippax, from Bluebird Bakery, combine in a show planned and organised by Pyramid gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane and curated by Walton. Kippax has written Eksphratic verse in response to the paintings and pots.
Street artist Al Murphy in his Naughty Corner at VandalFest at 2, Low Ousegate, York
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today and tomorrow, July 18 to 20 and July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block at 2 Low Ousegate, York, with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
The stripped-out interior provides four floors of blank canvas for bold, site-specific “intervention” that cover walls, floors and ceilings, complemented by live DJ sets. Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH. Visitors can support the cause by buying limited-edition artworks and merchandise.
Ryedale Festival artist in residence and soprano Claire Booth
Festival of the week; Ryedale Festival 2025, until July 27
THIS North Yorkshire festival of delights will be led off by 2025’s artists in residence, saxophonist Jess Gillam, soprano Claire Booth and viola player Timothy Ridout, along with Quatuor Mosaiques, VOCES8 and composer Eric Whitacre.
Pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Dame Imogen Cooper, organist Thomas Trotter, Arcangelo, York countertenor Iestyn Davies and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s festival debut are further highlights. Jazz, folk and literature weave into the programme too: reeds player Pete Long and vocalist Sara Oschlag salute Duke Ellington; Barnsley’s Kate Rusby showcases her new album, When They All Looked Up, and Dame Harriet Walter channels Jane Austen’s wit in Pride And Prejudice. Full details and tickets at: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
McFly: Heading to the Scarborough seaside today
Coastal gig of the week: McFly, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today; gates open at 6pm
MCFLY’S Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd head to the Yorkshire coast to perform 5 Colours In Her Hair, Obviously, All About You, You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be OK, Star Girl, Don’t Stop Me Now, Obviously et al. Twin Atlantic and Devon complete the bill. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Josie Long: Opening Theatre@41’s week of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights. Picture: Matt Crockett
Comedy event of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 13 to 19
A WEEK of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights takes over Theatre@41, Monkgate, kicking off with comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker Josie Long’s Work In Progress on July 13 at 2pm, followed by two Mark Watson selections, Sam Nicoresti and Lulu Popplewell’s Fresh For The Fringe double bill at 7.30pm.
Molly McGuinness and Phil Ellis are in preview mode on July 14 (8pm); Nina Gilligan discusses memory loss, health anxiety and goldfish-related trauma in Goldfish on July 16 (8pm), and Hayley Ellis navigates middle age in Silly Mare (Work in Progress) on July 17 (8pm). Susan Riddell and Kate Dolan, on July 18 (7.30pm), and Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, on July 19 (7.30pm), round off the festival previews. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Phil Grainger, left, and Alexander Flanagan Wright. Picture; Charlotte Graham
News just in: Wright & Grainger in The Gods The Gods The Gods, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, 7.30pm
IN a very late addition to Theatre@41’s packed programme for next week, Easingwold duo Wright & Grainger return their Edinburgh Fringe gig theatre hit The Gods The Gods The Gods to North Yorkshire soil for one night only.
Combining 12 tracks, four stories, three performers and one exhilarating experience, Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger mix big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word into a show that has headlined festivals and sold out venues from Wānaka Festival of Colour in New Zealand to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, to Stillington Mill. Please note: this event is standing room only; chairs will be available for those unable to stand. Box office:tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Georgi Mottram: Classical BRIT Award nominee performing at Voices United concert in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice
Charity event of the week: Ian Stroughair presents Voices United: Rubies For Our Angel, Grand Opera House, York, July 18, 7.30pm
YORK cabaret artiste and West End musical actor Ian Stroughair co-hosts this fundraiser to mark St Leonard’s Hospice’s 40th anniversary with radio presenters Joanita Musisi and Laura Castle, introducing a night of musical theatre and rock and pop classics.
On the bill will be Stroughair in Velma Celli drag diva regalia; York singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan; York musical theatre actress Joanne Theaker; retro party band Jonny And The Dunebugs; The Voice UK 2024 semi-finalist Lois Morgan Gay and West End classical singer Georgi Mottram. Box office: https://shorturl.at/G3qhV or atgtickets.com/york.
Dance isSO embracing:Dancefloor double act Anton & Giovannireunite for Together Again at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice in Together Again, York Barbican, July 18, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice promise “more fun, more dance, more song and even more entertainment than ever before” in the terpsichorean double act’s new show Together Again, full of breathtaking routines, stunning choreography and a seamless blend of Ballroom, Latin and musical theatre. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ancient Hostility: Harmony singing and drones at YO Underground 4 in The Basement
Navigators Art presents YO Underground 4, The Basement, City Screen, York, July 18, 7.30pm to 10.30pm
YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to a night of live, local and left-field folk song, electronica and film at The Basement. On the adventurous bill of York and regional acts will be: Andrew Metheven’s lo-fi folk music from the hills and the concrete; Ancient Hostility’s harmony singing and drones from members of Dawn Ray’d and All In Vain, and transdisciplinary artist Hannah-May Batley’s traveller ballads, storytelling, writing, performance and pigments.
Participating too will be: Mark Hanslip, who has a “PhD in shoving saxophones through computers” (possibly not literally); Namke Communications’ electronics and echoes, and multidisciplinary artist Things Found And Made, rummaging in zines, films, music, storytelling, pop-culture, esoterica and folklore. Box office: bit.ly/nav-events
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, right, walking in Leeds with Reception writer-director Matt Aston
Gig announcement of the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, July 20, 8pm, doors 7pm
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston join him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Next Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-david-gedge-from-the-wedding-present-tickets-1472506409309?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
Laura Soper’s Noi with the beached Storm Whale in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Narrator Charlotte Benedict looks on. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography
YORK writer-director Matt Aston launched his premiere of The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio in December 2019.
Now his adaptation of two enchanting Benji Davies stories, The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale In Winter, takes the plunge for a second time in a run that coincides with the Easter holidays in a co-production by Aston’s company, Engine House Theatre, York Theatre Royal, The Marlowe, Canterbury and Little Angel Theatre, London.
Apparently it takes only two and a half minutes each to read Davies’s award-winning works. Put together in one show, they are stretched to 75 minutes, including an interval, with your reviewer’s guarantee that children aged four upwards will have a whale of a time, topped off by a little “mild peril” in Act Two.
Lydia Denno’s original set was metaphorically lost at sea after Covid, and so she has re-created the delightful sea-front design with its scaled-down versions of a lighthouse and the island home where a little boy, Noi (York-born Laura Soper) lives with his fisherman Dad (Richard Lounds).
So do their six cats with such Kent town names as Deal and Sandwich, the family favourite represented by a puppet that has a habit of leaping onto Dad’s shoulder. The other five occupy picture frames, or more precisely, appear to be bursting out of the frames with playful intent.
The Storm Whale writer-director Matt Aston
The house front seen in miniature is then replicated in full scale, with a washing line, fishing netting, steps, a boat and a porch, from where Soper’s awkward, restlessly inquisitive Noi surveys the waves, craving company when hard-working Dad is fishing at sea.
Noi tries to reassure himself that “it’s OK to be on your own but not OK to be lonely”, but that loneliness is threatening to come crashing over him like a wave.
Loneliness that is shared by Flo, Davies’s narrator, played with a joyous heart by York actress Charlotte Benedict (formerly Charlotte Wood), who begins by looking back on the story from the distance of humorously erratic adult memories.
Childhood days when she would lick her strawberries and cream-coloured lighthouse home in the hope of a sweet flavour. Flo’s own story will flow in and out of Noi’s tale, and she too is often on her own, both back then and 20, 30, 40 years on.
Charlotte Benedict’s Narrator in The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography
Aston’s beautifully told production delights in theatre’s time-honoured tools of storytelling and puppetry, coupled with Julian Butler’s acoustic folk songs (one with a hint of The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York, no less), as we encounter the height of a storm and Noi’s subsequent encounter with a little whale, washed up on the sand.
Soper brings comedic physical theatre skills to Noi’s struggle to lift the whale into the house bath (later to double as Dad’s fishing boat) as the bond of friendship grows and audience hearts swell with the loveliness of it all.
Post-interval, the forewarned “mild peril” takes the form of Dad undertaking his last fishing trip, when his boat becomes stuck in the frozen waters of deep winter. In his enforced absence, Noi desperately wants to see the whale once more, whereupon two storylines overlap with a sense of wonder at the finale, enhanced by the puppetry’s finest moment.
Soper captures the insatiable curiosity of a ten-year-old boy, in movement and facial and vocal expression, depicting a child seeking treasures, experiences and friendship alike, with bountiful love to give, as he comes to terms with the loss of his mother.
Lounds’ widower Dad has a phlegmatic front, necessary for his fishing work, but a jolly disposition too, full of kindness yet burdened by the weight of responsibility of now being Noi’s sole guide on their isolated island.
The poster for Matt Aston’s production of The Storm Whale
You will love the detail in Denno’s set and costume designs, from the cotton-wool snowy rooftops in winter to the starfish “badge” on Noi’s striped jumper.
Hayley Del Harrison’s movement direction flows as pleasingly as the storytelling, and when the lighthouse light switches on as a beacon to guide Dad to safety, it also serves to remember the work of original lighting designer Jason Salvin (whose torch is now carried by Christopher Flux).
“The Storm Whale was Jason’s last show before he passed away in November 2020,” says Aston. “The show is always now dedicated to him.”
What a magical, moving, beautiful show it is.
York Theatre Royal, Engine House Theatre, Little Angel and The Marlowe, Canterbury present The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio, today and tomorrow, 10.30am and 1.30pm. Running time: 75 minutes, including interval. Age guidance: Four upwards. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for the return of The Storm Whale, playing York Theatre Royal Studio from tomorrow to Saturday
YORK writer-director Matt Aston’s revival of his uplifting stage version of The Storm Whale, adapted from Benji Davies’s brace of books, will make a splash at York Theatre Royal Studio from tomorrow.
Premiered in 2019, Aston’s play for ages four to eight combines puppetry, original songs and dialogue in a magical theatrical adventure of loneliness, love and courage rooted in Davies’s books The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale In Winter.
“It’s so great to bring the show back to York Theatre Royal, where it all began, and to share this beautiful story with a whole new audience of children and their families,” says Matt, ahead of the Easter holiday run. “Benji Davies’s books have such a captivating and heartwarming message, and I think people of all ages will find something to love in the show.”
In The Storm Whale, Noi lives with his dad and six cats by the sea. One summer, while dad was busy at work, Noi rescued a little whale, washed up on the beach. A friendship began that would change their lives forever.
When his father takes one last trip in his fishing boat the following winter, Noi is alone once more and longs to see his friend again. Will it take another storm to bring them back together?
The Storm Whale writer-director Matt Aston in Rowntree Park. Picture: Livy Potter
“Our show follows the story of a young boy, Noi, and his friendship with a whale and looks at how, through the power of friendship and courage, you can overcome loneliness,” says Matt.
“Those who know Benji’s books will absolutely believe that his characters have come right off the page and to life on the stage. Lydia Denno’s designs are stunning and the show is a real visual treat with puppets beautifully crafted by Keith Frederick.
“The music by Julian Butler is also fabulous and there are some gorgeous earworms in there that you won’t be able to stop humming after seeing the show.”
Matt had worked previously on a stage adaptation of Davies’s book Grandad. “That was a delight to make,” he says. “The Storm Whale was already published at this point but when Benji later wrote The Storm Whale In Winter, I saw straight away how both stories could work together as a complete story arc to make one show.
“Bringing stories like these from the page to the stage is really all about pulling out the wider story of what’s going on underneath by developing the characters and their relationships. The book is the starting point and then you look at how you can bring it to life through the music, the puppetry and the sets.
The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio in 2019. Picture: Northedge Photography
“Whenever I do a show for children, it’s always vital to think about the grown-ups who will be coming with them. It’s important to ensure that the parents, grandparents and carers are not forgotten and that there’s something for them to enjoy. It’s a really moving story about the power of friendship and love overcoming loneliness and both adults and children alike can relate to that.”
Matt is an advocate for children experiencing theatre from a young age. “For me, there isn’t anything like the experience of live theatre,” he says. “The power of just sitting in a room and listening to a good story being simply told is truly magnificent. I really believe that the art of storytelling is central to a child’s development, and whether that’s through music, movement or puppetry, it can make such a difference at an early age to have exposure to that.
“We’ve had some really lovely feedback from parents about how children have been really transported by the stories and going home and acting them out. The power of the live experience of watching theatre is, for me, really special and I can’t wait for a whole new audience of four, five and six-year-olds to come and see it.”
Finally, why should children and adults alike see this show, Matt? “It’s captivating, heartwarming and has a really good heart. There is something for all ages to love – it’s a theatrical experience for the parents as well as the children. For fans of the books, it’s a great way to see them brought to life on the stage and for those new to the stories, you’ll hopefully find a new favourite.”
York Theatre Royal, Engine House Theatre, Little Angel and The Marlowe, Canterbury present The Storm Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio, April 15 to 19, 10.30am and 1.30pm. Running time: 75 minutes, including interval. Age guidance: Four upwards. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
David Gedge: Songwriter and frontman of The Wedding Present and Cinerama
YORK writer-director Matt Aston’s new musical inspired by David Gedge’s songs for The Wedding Present and Cinerama, will premiere at Slung Low’s theatre space, The Warehouse, in Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Reception’s story of love, loss, break-ups and breakdowns – everything you would expect from a Wedding Present song – is built around a group of Leeds University friends that keeps in touch over five years of trials, tribulations and life events, from a graduation ceremony and a stage & hen do to a funeral, wedding and, of course, the accompanying reception.
Set in and around Leeds in the late-1980s, Reception will be presented to a mixture of cabaret-style seating – with ‘wedding guests’ enjoying a glass of fizz on arrival and a three-course meal – as well as more traditional raked seating.
The idea of a musical spun around Gedge’s songs had been brewing for writer and director Matt Aston over several years and serendipitously comes to fruition on the 40th anniversary of the Weddoes’ debut single Go Out And Get ’Em Boy – on the Reception Records label that prompted the show’s title.
Matt met Tony Ereira, director of Leeds record labels Come Play With Me and Clue Records, inevitably at a Wedding Present gig, in Leeds in early 2019, when the seeds of the play were duly sown.
“I started talking about it with David [Gedge] five years ago, just before the Covid lockdown,” recalls Matt. “We raised money through crowdfunding, I wrote the draft script and did some R&D (research and development), and got the show pencilled in for a couple of venues, but they fell through in the Covid backlog.
“But then, in 2024, I met Alan Lane at Slung Low, where I went to see their new space in Holbeck. He was really up for it and we set it in motion before Alan left to become artistic director for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Alan is still Slung Low’s vice-chair, and venue manager Matt Angrove has taken over the arrangements for the show.
“They’ve been great in finding dates for us and in liaising with The Wedding Present to fit in with the 40th anniversary.”
Reception will wrap its story around songs from four decades of The Wedding Present, Cinerama’s back catalogue and a new Gedge composition.song.
The Wedding Present & Cinerama: the back story
THE Wedding Present were formed in 1985 by David Gedge, who had graduated from the University of Leeds in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1981, and continue to tour and release new music today with vocalist and guitarist Gedge as the only constant member.
Their songwriting has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of The Fall, Buzzcocks and fellow Leeds band Gang Of Four to more varied forms. They have bothered the UK Singles Chart’s Top 40 on 18 occasions, including a history-making run of 12 singles – one for each month – in 1992, matching Elvis Presley’s achievement for a single year.
Cinerama were formed by Gedge in 1998, subsequently released a series of singles and albums significantly different in musical style to The Wedding Present, rooted in French-influenced cinematic/soundtrack-style arrangements.
Whistle blower: Sean McKenzie as James ‘Parky’ Bell in Mike Kenny’s The Park Keeper. All pictures: Northedge Photography
The Park Keeper, Park Bench Theatre, The Friends Garden, Rowntree Park, York, until July 17. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
MIKE Kenny has been thinking about retirement but has no thoughts of retiring.
The prolific York playwright has turned 70, and only the other day, as he crossed Millennium Bridge, a teenager chirped up: “You won’t be here in ten years, mush”. Kenny was not offended, instead smiling at what he thought was probably a fair point after a life lived to the full in the allotted span of three score years and ten.
As a writer, save for a sudden shortage of commissions, inspiration or writer’s block, the conventional clocking off with a watch does not apply, but whatever hand is dealt, Kenny nevertheless has been contemplating the impact of retirement.
His landmark birthday has its played, but it is as much to do with the subject matter of his latest commission from Matt Aston, artistic director of Engine House Theatre and director of Park Bench Theatre, the York company Aston set up last summer after the first lockdown to stage three monologues in the socially distanced Friends Garden.
Now, after lockdown three, Park Bench Theatre returns with The Park Keeper to mark Rowntree Park’s centenary with the story of its first park keeper, James ‘Parky’ Bell, who was in charge from 1921 to 1945.
When the cap still fits, but time is up: Sean McKenzie’s ‘Parky’ Bell contemplates a future after being “kicked out of paradise”
July 16 was his retirement day, and as the 55-minute monologue opens, Sean McKenzie’s immaculately dressed and well-groomed Bell is preparing his retirement speech, breaking down theatre’s fourth wall to ask us if he can try it out on us.
At the same time, Bell has his beady eye on the park, quick to blow his famous shrill whistle when he spots a miscreant. “I know where you live,” he shouts. “I don’t,” he admits to the audience.
Where Kenny has a choice whether to retire or not but won’t because the creative juices still flow so zestfully, Bell has no such choice and does not feel ready to concentrate on gardening or whatever.
Like so many men, he is defined by his job; his validation, even if the physical strength is not what it once was. “I can’t do as much as I once did,” he concedes. Retirement? “I don’t know how to stop. What will I do,” he asks, forlornly. “If I’m not ‘Parky’, who am I? What am I.”
All this is supposition because Kenny has worked from skeletal information. What is known is that Bell and his family did live in the lodge that now houses the Reading Room café; the blast of the Bell whistle was feared by all; he did make a retirement speech.
Bench duty: York playwright Mike Kenny, commissioned to write the play marking the 100th anniversary of Rowntree Park
Kenny fleshes out the story to make Bell a Rowntree cocoa factory worker, a survivor of the First World War (unlike his best friend) and what ensues is a study of the futility and terrible impact of war; the senseless death of so many young men; father-and-son relationships; the value of recreation and public play areas for the ordinary man, woman and child; the denuding effect of retirement.
This is the “what’s it all been for?” moment of reflection for a man who has no faith in religion, for whom hope has been hollowed about by the experience of a war that left him angry at everything and everybody; for whom heaven is empty.
“We all came back with stories. We just couldn’t tell them,” says Bell. That said, in the absence of faith, he found purpose, subsequently loving his work in his “back garden”, Rowntree Park, calling it a “miracle”, where 54,000 plants and trees were planted by the Rowntree family and the park life made him well again.
All the while, The Park Keeper becomes as much a story of Mike Kenny as James ‘Parky’ Bell, who keeps rising from his park bench note-making, still on duty to the last, but suddenly in the grip of a memory, something that troubles, angers or baffles him, and troubles the playwright too.
Consequently, it is both the most personal piece Kenny has ever written and yet a tribute to a stoical, staunch, hard-working pillar of a bygone time, when as many as 12 gardeners worked at Rowntree Park.
Taking his last stand: Sean McKenzie’s ‘Parky’ Bell in the Friends Garden at Rowntree Park, York.
Kenny’s authorial voice is strong – typified by his townie quip that “in the country[side], everywhere belongs to someone” – but Sean McKenzie’s rounded performance makes Bell’s voice equally strong and opinionated under Aston’s well-balanced direction. “First of all they take all your time, then you get a watch, so you can see all your seconds tick away,” Bell says of his retirement gift.
McKenzie’s eyes say it all in a performance where he finds the poetry, the profundity, but also the guiding principles of the working man.
Kenny makes reference to cheeky lads calling Bell a “jumped-up caretaker”, but he has Bell saying, “If we take care of it, it will take care of us”, a message for our times when climate change threatens our future as much as war ever did.
Bell hopes for a fairer world, wishing that something can be done to make this world right. Clearly, Kenny has the same wish. “I’m about to get kicked out of paradise,” bemoans Bell. “On with the future. Cheers,” his speech concludes, but with all the uncertainty whether peace will last after the handshakes in Romeo & Juliet.
Kenny has placed us in the last chance saloon, but who will blow ‘Parky’ Bell’s whistle to stop the pattern of bad behaviour?
Sean McKenzie on a Rowntree Park park bench in the lead-up to The Park Keeper opening. The beard has since gone! Picture: Northedge Photography
SEAN McKenzie hasn’t had a job for 18 months. An acting job, that is.
“I have been working, at Thorntons, at their Alfreton factory in Derbyshire, just off the M1,” said Sean, whose lockdown-enforced break from the boards has come to an end in York, the most famous home of chocolate of all, in the role of Rowntree worker ‘Parky’ Bell in The Park Keeper.
“I’ve been learning how to ice at Thorntons; I became one of their main ‘icers’, so if anyone has had any icing from Thorntons in the past year and a half, chances are it’s been my icing. Either me or Paul, the only other bloke doing the icing.”
The cherry on the icing on Sean’s cake is that he has returned to performing at last in York playwright Mike Kenny’s 55-minute monologue about Rowntree Park’s first park keeper, the shrill whistle-blowing James ‘Parky’ Bell, running until July 17 in the Friends Garden at the York park.
“Before this, I was last on stage playing Widow Twankey for Theatr Clwyd, with Hannah Chissick directing, who I’ve done five or six pantomimes for now,” said Sean, still sporting a lockdown beard in rehearsals as he met CharlesHutchPress in the Reading Café at Rowntree Park, beneath the very lodge where ‘Parky’ Bell and his family lived during his 24 tenure as park keeper from 1921 to 1945.
“I won’t lie, it’s scary. If nothing else, I’m honest,” said Sean, as he faced brushing off the ring rust from being out of action for 18 months. “But I’ll say this, and I know every actor says it, when doing a new piece, but it’s a beautiful piece of writing by Mike, based on the real character of James ‘Parky’ Bell.
“Bell’s story is intertwined with Mike’s own story, and there’s so much in there drawn from Mike’s life now and his past relationship with his father, and the big thing in the play is wrestling with all these things: life, death; nature; religion.
“Hopefully, it’s funny in parts, but it’s also really heartwarming, reflective and very poignant. That means, for me, as an actor, it’s an absolute gift and I just hope can deliver the gift.”
“Getting the job as the park keeper, after everything he’d been through, was ‘Parky’ Bell’s paradise on Earth,” says Sean McKenzie
Analysing ‘Parky’ Bell’s character, as depicted by Kenny, Sean said: “He’s obviously very old school; he fought in the First World War; became a corporal, and survived the war, but what suddenly occurred to me when reading Mike’s play was that though Bell survived and came home, can you imagine what he saw in those four years?
“He had all that stuff on his shoulders, but eventually getting the job as the park keeper, after everything he’d been through, was his paradise on Earth, and in a way, he was ‘God’ there: ruling the roost, stopping trouble, stopping the littering.
“He was a strict man, a disciplinarian, who couldn’t talk about what he’d seen in wartime – ‘if you haven’t been through it, you can’t understand it, so what’s the point of telling you?’, he says at one point – but he had found his paradise, though now he’s being asked to leave it after 24 years.
“So there are elements of Prospero in The Tempest, having to let go of the magic, because being the park keeper is his identity.”
Sean has taken on such roles as sleazebag talent agent Ray Say in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre and Leeds playwright Alan Bennett in Bennett’s Lady In The Van for Hull Truck Theatre.
He has handled lines aplenty in myriad comedy roles in the National Theatre’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, as Bottom in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in Jim Cartwright’s two-hander Two at Derby Theatre and a long stint in War Horse at the National Theatre and British, Irish and South African tours.
The Park Keeper is, however, his first monologue. “It’s my first play for 18 months, and I’m flying solo. It feels like being Chris Bonnington or Donald Campbell,” he said. “I’ve gone from Two to one! I know an hour ‘on stage’ on your own doesn’t sound a lot, but it is!
“I got a call on the Friday from my agent, saying ‘they want you to read on Monday’, so I had two days to read it before my chat with Matt [Matt Aston, director of producers Engine House Theatre and director of Park Bench Theatre].
Unlocking a character: Actor Sean McKenzie during the rehearsal period for playing James ‘Parky’ Bell in The Park Keeper at Rowntree Park, York. Picture: Northedge Photography
“I’m offered the part and that’s when the adrenaline kicks in and you think, ‘Can I do this?’. There’s a niggling voice going, ‘Can you still do this?’, but once I made the decision that yes, I could, it was a massive weight off my shoulders.”
That still left Sean with a massive pile of words to learn. “Before starting rehearsals, I did five 12-hour days to learn the script, when normally you’d have more like five weeks. So, between line learning and rehearsals, I’m doing everything in 18 days, rather than eight weeks,” said Sean, who brought a bench indoors to help him “get into character” at his village home in Heage, near Belper, in Derbyshire’s Amber Valley. “I called it my ‘Judi bench’, as I love Dame Judi Dench!”
The first week of rehearsals with Matt Aston were conducted on Zoom, focusing on the text, before the two met up in the second week in an impromptu rehearsal room at Southlands Methodist Church, and then transferring to the Friends Garden for final preparations on a park bench.
“Rather than just being a monologue, you have to try to flesh out the characters that ‘Parky’ Bell talks about,” said Sean. “There’s so much in this play, and the language he uses is not how we’d speak today; sometimes sentences would even be the other way round to now! That’s how precise Mike Kenny is.
“This is my first Mike Kenny script, and when you think what a great writer he is, how could I say ‘No’ to such a beautiful piece, with lots of comedy, lots of pathos. I really hope that after lockdown everyone will come out and enjoy it, as we do what we’ve always done, tell stories, like the ancient Greeks did, by the fire. Or in this case, the audiences bringing their own ‘fire’ in the form of Prosecco!”
Sean is “just the other side of 50 now” with a career in performing stretching back to the age of 11, raised in Blackpool, the son of Henry (“Harry”) Joseph Patrick McKenzie, the “Golden Voice Of Ireland”, who himself used the stage name of Sean McKenzie.
“I used to go and see all the Blackpool shows, all the great singers, the variety acts and the great comics, Doddy, Les Dawson and Frank Carson,” said Sean. “My dad was one of seven, I was one of four, and though I came from a singing family – my dad first sang in the group The Gale Brothers – I never wanted to be a singer; I always wanted to be an actor.
“I loved Buster Keaton, Abbott and Costello, Harold Lloyd, The Three Stooges, Will Hay and my particular favourites, Laurel and Hardy. That’s where I learnt about timing. You’ve got to have funny bones; you can’t teach timing, but I did learn it to an extent by watching.”
Laurel & Hardy: Sean McKenzie’s favourite comedy act
Sean trained at RADA but, as this interview encounter over a late lunch revealed, he is naturally humorous company. “Believe it or not, I am shy, and I know it’s a cliché, but there’s something about becoming another self on stage, and after 18 months of doing no acting, this has been a right baptism of fire,” he said.
Shy? That leaves Sean once he is on stage, when all that performing energy surges through him. “I think why I’ve survived for so long in this business is that people can rely on me. I will never sell an audience short,” he said. “Whatever I play, they always ‘get me’, even as the dame!”
He and Matt Aston have long wanted to do a show together. “About 15 years ago, I first came to him with an idea after seeing Tom Courtenay in Moscow Stations in the West End, to see if he would do it at the Nottingham Lakeside, when he was there,” recalled Sean.
“It didn’t happen but we’ve remained in contact and he came to see me playing Toad in The Wind Of The Willows. Now we’re doing The Park Keeper together.”
Did you know?
Sean McKenzie played opposite Berwick Kaler’s dame when they starred as the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella at York Theatre Royal in 1995-1996.
“He asked me to do it after we worked on a film together,” said Swan, who will be “frocking up” again this winter as dame in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre.
“I don’t wear any false eyelashes. Just a bit of red cheeks, a bit of red nose and a bit of mascara to open the eyes.”
Park Bench Theatre in The Park Keeper, The Friends Garden, Rowntree Park, until July 17. Box office: yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on 01904 623568.
Actor Sean McKenzie at the gates to Rowntree Park, where he will perform Mike Kenny’s monologue The Park Keeper in the Friends’ Garden from July 7 to 17. Picture: Northedge Photography
THE 100th birthday of Rowntree Park, York, will fall on July 16, the penultimate night of Park Bench Theatre’s premiere of The Park Keeper, marking that centenary.
Commissioned from York playwright Mike Kenny by director Matt Aston, the 55-minute monologue will be performed by Sean McKenzie in the Friends’ Garden, the setting for three Park Bench solo plays as the first theatre rainbow across last summer’s skies after the initial release from lockdown.
“I’m delighted that Park Bench Theatre is returning to Rowntree Park in its 100th birthday year,” says Matt, artistic director of Engine House Theatre. “Mike has written a beautiful script that I’m sure will capture the hearts of everyone who has ever been to and loved the park over the years, as well as anyone who might be enjoying their first visit.”
Running from July 7 to 17 with social distancing measures in place, The Park Keeper is set in York in the summer of 1945 when Rowntree Park’s first park keeper, ‘Parky’ Bell, is about to retire after 24 years in post, 24 years with a piercing whistle in mouth.
He must make a speech, but what can he say and how can he close this chapter on his life? Will he be able to lock the gates to his kingdom one last time?
“Inspired by York’s very own ‘Parky’ Bell, this is a heartfelt and poignant one-man show that celebrates 100 years of Rowntree Park while also asking the question, ‘what happens when we’re not needed anymore?’.”
Park Bench Theatre director Matt Aston on a park bench in the Friends’ Garden, Rowntree Park
‘Parky’ Bell, who lived in the Rowntree Park lodge that now houses Explore York’s Reading Café, took on his post when Messrs Rowntree & Co gifted Rowntree Park to the City of York as a memorial to the cocoa works staff who fell and suffered during the First World War.
“The story is inspired by ‘Parky’ Bell rather than entirely biographical, but the stories about him are legion: the park keeper with his shrill whistle to bring children to attention and kick everyone out by 6pm,” says Matt.
“He was the only ever park keeper at Rowntree Park and he was in post for the years between the wars. What must he have thought when were back at war after only 21 years? We’re getting things wrong now, but they were getting things terribly wring then, not learning lessons in their lifetime, when so many young men had been killed in the Great War.”
Such questions, taking in the value of life, reflections on a life lived, mark out The Park Keeper as Aston and Kenny renew their fruitful partnership. “I’ve worked with Mike five times on new works for children and families – Red Riding Hood, Two Little Boys, Flat Stanley, Beauty And The Beast and Snow White – but this is different and it’s pretty much the best thing he’s done,” says Matt.
He is delighted too to be working with Sean McKenzie, rehearsing on Zoom for the first week and then at Southlands Methodist Church this week.
“I’ve known Sean for years though we’ve never worked together until now. We met a few people for the job and he just read beautifully,” he says.
“In ‘Parky’ Bell’s character, there’s an undercurrent of not wanting to move on, but there’s also that bustling nature that park keepers have to have, yet you have to empathise with him, and Sean really captures that. I’ve wanted to work with him for ages and I’m really pleased that we now are.”
The Park Keeper director Matt Aston, left, actor Sean McKenzie and writer Mike Kenny in Rowntree Park, York
Matt believes the rehearsal process works well too. “With the play being a monologue, it’s good to start by concentrating on text on Zoom before getting it on its feet in week two in the rehearsal room and then in the park,” he says.
The director had contemplated not doing another Park Bench Theatre production this summer, content with the audience response to Samuel Beckett’s First Love, his own lockdown work, Every Time A Bell Rings, and a new adaptation of Teddy Bears’ Picnic, co-created by Aston and actor Cassie Vallance.
“Last summer went so well; I’ll never forget that emotional feeling when everyone clapped together again for the first time because none of us had done anything together for so long,” he says.
“But then I started thinking, ‘it’s the park’s 100th birthday this year, we really should do something. That’s when I spoke to Mike, who lives only five minutes’ walk from the park, and straightaway his eyes had that glint, saying ‘this one’s for me’.
“He wrote it so quickly, it was astonishing: like songwriters saying the best songs are written in five minutes! He’s turned 70 and, like ‘Parky’ Bell, he’s faced thoughts of retirement, but he’s desperate not to do that, and so everything aligned for him to do this play.”
Park Bench Theatre in The Park Keeper, The Friends’ Garden, Rowntree Park, York, July 7 to 17, except July 11; 7.30pm start, bar the July 7 preview at 6pm. Age guidance: 12 plus. Box office: 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or via parkbenhtheatre.com.
Shock of the new: Milton Jones looks startled at the prospect of replacing Ed Byrne at short notice for tonight’s comedy bill at York Theatre Royal
AWAY from all that football, Charles Hutchinson finds plenty of cause for cheer beyond chasing an inflated pig’s bladder, from a late-change comedy bill to Ayckbourn on film, York artists to a park bench premiere.
Late substitution of the week: Byrne out, Jones in, for Live At The Theatre Royal comedy night, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
ED Byrne will not top the Live At The Theatre Royal comedy bill tonight after all. “We are sorry to announce that due to circumstances beyond our control, Ed is now unable to appear,” says the official statement.
The whimsical Irish comedian subsequently has tweeted his “You Need To Self-Isolate” notification, running until 23.59pm on July 7.
Well equipped to take over at short notice is the quip-witted pun-slinger Milton Jones, joining Rhys James, Maisie Adam and host Arthur Smith. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Naomi Petersen and Bill Champion in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Girl Next Door at the SJT and now on film too. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
“Film of the week”: Alan Ayckburn’s The Girl Next Door, from Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until Sunday
THE SJT’s film of Alan Ayckbourn’s latest premiere, The Girl Next Door, is available on the Scarborough theatre’s website, sjt.uk.com.
Directed by Ayckbourn, his 85th play can be seen on stage in The Round until Saturday and now in a filmed recording in front of a live audience until midnight on Sunday.
One day in 2020 lockdown, veteran actor Rob spots a stranger hanging out the washing in the adjoining garden, but his neighbours have not been around for months. Who is the mysterious girl next door? And why is she wearing 1940s’ clothing?
Ray of sunshine: Edwin Ray as Tick/Mitzi in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Darren Bell
Musical of the week ahead: Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Leeds Grand Theatre, July 6 to 10
PRISCILLA Queen Of The Desert returns to Leeds for seven socially distanced performances in a new production produced by Mark Goucher and, for the first time, Jason Donovan, star of the original West End show and two UK tours.
Loaded up with glorious costumes, fabulous feathers and dance-floor classics, three friends hop aboard a battered old bus bound for Alice Springs to put on the show of a lifetime.
Miles Western plays Bernadette, Nick Hayes, Adam/Felicia and Edwin Ray, Tick/Mitzi, in this heart-warming story of self-discovery, sassiness and acceptance. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com.
Solo show: Polymath Phil Grainger puts his songwriting in the spotlight in his Clive concert in Stillington
Gig of the week outside York: Clive, alias Phil Grainger, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
CLIVE is the solo music project of Easingwold singer, songwriter, musician, sound engineer, magician, actor, Gobbledigook Theatre director and event promoter Phil Grainger.
As the voice and the soul behind Orpheus, Eurydice and The Gods The Gods The Gods, Clive finds the globe-trotting Grainger back home, turning his hand to a song-writing project marked by soaring vocal and soulful musicianship. Expect a magical evening wending through new work and old classics in two sets, one acoustic, the other electric. Box office: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill/512182.
Emily Hansen’s Pilgrim 14 as Mary Magdalene in a rehearsal for A Resurrection For York at Dean’s Park. Picture: John Saunders
Open-air theatre event of the weekend: A Resurrection For York, Residents Garden, Minster Library, Dean’s Park, York, Saturday and Sunday, 11am, 2pm, 4pm
THE wagons are in place for A Resurrection For York, presented by York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust, York Festival Trust and York Minster.
Philip Parr, artistic director of Parrabbola, directs a community cast in an hour-long outdoor performance, scripted by Parr and 2018 York Mystery Plays director Tom Straszewski from the York Mystery Plays cycle of the crucifixion and the events that followed. Tickets are on sale at ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/york/residents-garden-deans-park/a-resurrection-for-york/.
Autonomous, by Sharon McDonagh, from the Momentum Summer Show at Blossom Street Gallery, York
Exhibition of the week and beyond: Momentum Summer Show, Westside Artists, Blossom Street Gallery, by Micklegate Bar, York, until September 26
YORK art group Westside Artists, a coterie of artists from the city’s Holgate and West areas, are exhibiting paintings, portraits, photomontage, photography, metalwork, textiles, ceramics and mixed-media art at Blossom Street Gallery.
Taking part are Adele Karmazyn; Carolyn Coles; Donna Maria Taylor; Ealish Wilson; Fran Brammer; Jane Dignum; Jill Tattersall; Kate Akrill and Lucy McElroy. So too are Lucie Wake; Marc Godfrey-Murphy; Mark Druery; Michelle Hughes; Rich Rhodes; Robin Grover-Jaques, Sharon McDonagh and Simon Palmour.
The Park Keeper director Matt Aston, left, actor Sean McKenzie and writer Mike Kenny at Rowntree Park, York. Picture: Northedge Photography
Theatre premiere of the week ahead: Park Bench Theatre in The Park Keeper, The Friends’ Garden, Rowntree Park, York, July 7 to 17 (except July 11)
AFTER last summer’s trilogy of solo shows, Matt Aston’s Park Bench Theatre return to Rowntree Park with Olivier Award-winning York writer Mike Kenny’s new monologue to mark the park’s centenary.
Performed by Sean McKenzie, The Park Keeper is set in York in the summer of 1945, when Rowntree Park’s first, and so far only, park keeper, ‘Parky’ Bell, is about to retire. That can mean only one thing, a speech, but what can he say? How can he close this chapter on his life? Will he be able to lock the gates to his kingdom one last time? Box office: 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or via parkbenchtheatre.com.
Andy Fairweather Low: Booked into Pocklington Arts Centre for next February
Gig announcement of the week outside York: Andy Fairweather Low, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 11 2022
ANDY Fairweather Low, the veteran Welsh guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer, will return to Pocklington next February.
Founder and cornerstone of Sixties’ hitmakers Amen Corner and later part of Eric Clapton and Roger Waters’ bands, Cardiff-born Fairweather Low, 72, will perform with The Low Riders: drummer Paul Beavis, bassist Dave Bronze and saxophonist Nick Pentelow. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Jane McDonald: Lighting up York Barbican in July 2022 rather than July 4 this summer
Rearranged gig announcement of the week in York: Jane McDonald, York Barbican, July 22 2022
WAKEFIELD cabaret singer and television personality Jane McDonald’s Let The Light In show is on the move to next summer.
For so long booked in as the chance to “Get The Lights Back On” at York Barbican on July 4, the Government’s postponement of “Freedom Day” from June 21 to July 19 at the earliest has enforced the date change for a show first booked in for 2020. Tickets remain valid; box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
