Mikron Theatre cast members Mark Emmons, left, Lauren Robinson, Georgina Liley and Eddie Ahrens in Poppy Hollman’s Common Groud. Picture: Robling Photogrpahy
GRAB boots and a waterproof on Sunday afternoon for a meander to Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, for Mikron Theatre’s outdoor performance of Common Ground.
In their 52nd year, the Marsden company will be touring by canal, river and land throughout the summer with the premiere of Bedfordshire writer and lyricist Poppy Hollman’s third play for Mikron.
This one takes a hike through the history of land access in England – where only eight per cent of land is designated “open country” – at a time when the right to roam and the legal right to access are hot topics amid press stories of the “paywalling” of Cirencester Park and “Access Islands”.
Directed by Gitika Buttoo, Poppy’s outdoor drama tells the tale of the fictional Pendale and District Ramblers, who are looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary walk, only to discover that the landowner has blocked the path.
How will they find their way through? Mikron actor-musicians Eddie Ahrens, Georgina Liley, Lauren Robinson and Mark Emmons have to navigate this thorny subject matter with originally composed songs, witty lyrics, silliness, hat swapping and gusto.
Common Ground playwright and lyricist Poppy Hollman. Picture: Molly Hollman
Expect “plenty of laughs and pathos in this look at how we got to where we are now and where we might go next”. The ramblers’ quest for freedom and fresh air will not be easy, as they encounter revolting peasants, wandering sheep and a bull.
“This is my third commission for Mikron and it’s taken me on a wild ramble,” says Poppy. “From Saxon Times to Kinder Scout and beyond, the play explores our connection to the countryside around us. Who is it for, and why should we care?
“As the Right to Roam movement gains ground and there’s growing awareness of the importance of green spaces for our mental and physical health, it felt timely to explore how we access our countryside. The play delves into history to point out how access has been removed from ordinary folk over the years, from the Norman Conquest to the Enclosures Movement and contested Rights of Way.”
Director Gitika Buttoo, who directed A Force To Be Reckoned With for Mikron last year, says: “I’m so excited to be working with Mikron again for a second year running! It’s been a joyous experience working closely with the uber-talented Poppy Hollman on such an important subject matter.”
Ahrens returns from Buttoo’s company for A Force To Be Reckoned With, joined by Mikron debutants Liley, Robinson and Emmons.
Georgina Liley and Eddie Ahrens in a scene from Common Ground. Picture: Robling Photography
The touring production is designed and costumed by Celia Perkins, with musical composition by Dan McGlade (Macbeth and Twelfth Night for Leeds Playhouse) and musical direction and arrangements by Rebekah Hughes (Twitchers for Mikron; The Great Gatsby for Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre).
Mikron are touring by narrowboat and van from May 10 to October 18, no venue too small, as they head to 137 locations in 2024. More than half the performances will be “pay what you feel” after the show, rather than ticketed, and every performance has integrated audio description.
Common Ground is touring in tandem with the premiere of Jennie Lee, Lindsay Rodden’s new play charting the extraordinary life of the radical Scottish politician, Westminster’s youngest MP, so young that, as a woman in 1929, she could not vote.
Mikron Theatre in Common Ground, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday, 2pm. No reserved seating or tickets required; a “pay what you feel” collection will be taken post-show.For Common Ground dates visit https://mikron.org.uk/shows/common_ground/
Did you know?
OVER 52 years, Mikron Theatre have toured 70 productions on board the vintage narrowboat Tyseley and spent 35,000 boating hours on the inland waterways. Performing 5,487 times, they have played to 460,966 people and counting.
Mikron Theatre’s poster for the 2024 tour of Poppy Hollman’s Common Ground
Dawn French: Frank confessions of a comedian at York Barbican
FRENCH comedy, a very English murder thriller, state-of-the-nation politics and police procedures stir Charles Hutchinson into action for the week ahead.
Comedy gigs of the week: Dawn French Is A Huge Twat, York Barbican, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm
HER show is so named because, unfortunately, it is horribly accurate, says self-mocking comedian and actress Dawn French. “There have been far too many times I have made stupid mistakes or misunderstood something vital or jumped the gun in a spectacular display of twattery,” she explains.
“I thought I might tell some of these buttock-clenching embarrassing stories to give the audience a peek behind the scenes of my work life.” Tickets update: Limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Tonight, meanwhile, Sarah Millican plays a Work In Progress gig at Pocklington Arts Centre at 8pm. Sold out already alas.
A scene from Original Theatre Company’s touring production of Torben Betts’s new play, Murder In The Dark, starring Tom Chambers and Susie Blake. Picture: Pamela Raith
Thriller of the week: Original Theatre Company in Murder In The Dark, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
TOM Chambers and Susie Blake star in Torben Betts’s new ghost story chiller cum psychological thriller, set on New Year’s Eve, when a crash on a deserted road brings washed-up singer Danny Sierra and his dysfunctional family to an isolated holiday cottage in rural England.
From the moment they arrive, inexplicable events begin to occur…and then the lights go out, whereupon deeply buried secrets come to light. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Robin Simpson: Pantomime dame and storyteller, bringing Magic, Monsters and Mayhem to York tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Joel Rowbottom
Children’s show of the week: Magic, Monsters and Mayhem with Robin Simpson, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tomorrow, 4.30pm
YORK Theatre Royal pantomime dame Robin Simpson – he will be playing Dame Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk this winter – switches to storyteller mode to journey back to magic school on Sunday afternoon.
He will be telling stories of wonderful creatures, exciting adventures and “more magic than you can wave a wand” as he places the audience in charge of an interactive show ideal for Harry Potter fans. Suitable for Key Stage 2, but smaller siblings are welcome too, along with Potter-potty grown-ups. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.
Hannah Baker, left, Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens and Rachel Hammond in Mikron Theatre’s A Force To Be Reckoned With. Picture: Anthony Robling
Police spotted operating in the vicinity: Mikron Theatre in A Force To Be Reckoned With, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, tomorrow, 4pm
IN Amanda Whittington’s new play for Marsden travelling players Mikron Theatre, fresh from police training school, WPC Iris Armstrong is ready for whatever the mean streets of a 1950s’ northern market town can throw at her.
Joining forces with fellow WPC Ruby Weston, they make an unlikely partnership, a two-woman department, called to any case involving women and children, from troublesome teens to fraudulent fortune tellers. Box office: 07974 867301 or 01904 466086, or in person from Pextons, Bishopthorpe Road, York.
Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma: Songwriters at the double at Pocklington Arts Centre
Songwriting bond of the week: Kathryn Williams & Polly Paulusma: The Big Sky Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, Tuesday, 8pm
AS label buddies on One Little Independent Records, Kathryn Williams and Polly Paulusma met on a song-writing retreat. They wrote songs together and tutored courses at Arvon Foundation and as their friendship developed and strengthened, they supported each other over lockdown.
It seemed a foregone conclusion that they would tour together at some point. Finally, those Thelma and Louise dreams – hopefully without the killing or the cliff finale – come true on a month-long itinerary, playing solo sets and uniting for a few songs. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Mike Skinner: The Streets’ composer-turned-filmmaker discusses his debut film in Q&A appearances at Everyman Leeds and Everyman York
Streets ahead: Mike Skinner’s film The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light and Q&A, Everyman Leeds, September 21, 8pm; Everyman York, September 25, 7pm
THE Streets’ Mike Skinner presents his debut feature film, the “neo-noir” clubland thriller The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, in an exclusive Q&A tour to Everyman cinemas.
Birmingham multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Skinner funded, wrote, directed, filmed, edited and scored his cinematic account of the seemingly mundane life of a DJ whose journey through London’s nightclubs turns into a tripped-out modern-day murder mystery. Each screening will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with Skinner, giving an insight into the music and story behind the film. Box office: thestreets.co.uk.
Mark Thomas: Comedian stars in Ed Edwards’s one-man play England And Son at York Theatre Royal Studio
Political drama of the week: Mark Thomas in England And Son, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 22, 7.45pm; September 23, 2pm and 7.45pm
POLITICAL comedian Mark Thomas stars in this one-man play, set when The Great Devouring comes home: the first he has performed not written by the polemicist himself but by playwright Ed Edwards.
Edinburgh Fringe award winner England And Son has emerged from characters Thomas knew in his childhood and from Edwards’s lived experience in jail. Promising deep, dark laughs and deep, dark love, Thomas undertakes a kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, Thatcherite politics and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working-class boy who just wants his dad to smile at him. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rowntree Park, by Jo Rodwell, one of 26 printmakers taking part in the York Printmakers Autumn Fair
Print deadline: York Printmakers Autumn Fair, York Cemetery Chapel and Harriet Room, September 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm
IN its sixth year, the York Printmakers Autumn Fair features work by 26 members, exhibiting and selling hand-printed original prints, including Russell Hughes, Rachel Holborow, Michelle Hughes, Harriette Rymer and Jo Rodwell.
On display will be a variety of printmaking techniques, such as linocut, collagraphs, woodcut, screen printing, stencilling and etching. Artists will be on hand to discuss their working methods and to show the blocks, plates and tools they use.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn: The truth will out when he takes to the SJT stage tomorrow afternoon. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
In Focus:Theatre event of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Truth Will Out, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow, 2.30pm
IN a rare stage appearance, Sir Alan Ayckbourn plays Jim in a rehearsed reading of his Covic-crocked 2020 SJT premiere Truth Will Out, joined by John Branwell, Frances Marshall and the cast of his 89th play, Constant Companions.
Truth Will Out is an up-to-the-minute satire on family, relationships, politics and the state of the nation, wherein everyone has secrets. Certainly former shop steward George, his right-wing MP daughter Janet, investigative journalist Peggy and senior civil servant Sefton do.
Enter a tech-savvy, chippy teenager with a mind of his own and time on his hands to bring their worlds tumbling down, and maybe everyone else’s along with them, in Ayckbourn’s own “virus” storyline, written before Coronavirus stopped play.
“It’s ‘the one that got away’, with most of the cast in place, and we even did a season launch,” says Sir Alan. “The play was one of my ‘What ifs’: what if a teenager invented a virus that brought the whole thing down. A ‘virus’ play, like Covid, with the virus escaping and the play ending in the dark, waiting till dawn.”
Racism, trade unionism and infidelity all play their part in Truth Will Out too. “It’s a melting pot of wrongdoings,” says Sir Alan. Tickets update: limited availability on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Double act: Niall Ransome’s Dr Watson and Jake Ferretti’s Sherlock Holmes shake up The Hound Of The Baskervilles
MYSTERY and murk have abounded in York Theatre Royal’s hit and mist Haunted Season.
That mist descends once more, over a desolate Dartmoor of spectral trees and a grand house, looming in the distance, where the lights seem to twitch nervously. Except, this time, the foggy haze is emanating from Sir Charles Baskerville’s newly lit cigar in the country air, his face matching the contentment of a bygone Hamlet advert.
A bewhiskered, elegantly dressed Serena Manteghi has entered David Woodhead’s nocturnal set in the first guise of a hatful of such roles – putting the ‘Man’ into Manteghi as it were – on a fright-night when she will be playing men only.
Just as we are appreciating her miming – with immaculate timing to the sound-effect accompaniment of the opening and closing of gates and striking of a match – suddenly a ghastly howl quickens the heart.
Taking on 20 roles? Bring it on, say Niall Ransome, Jake Ferretti and Serena Manteghi
A look of terror, a futile attempt to escape, and Sir Charles and his cigar have snuffed it.
So far, so scary, albeit in the exaggerated manner of a silent film, in a startling start where the titular hound is but a sound. Spooky, melodramatic, beyond immediate explanation: this is the perfect Conan Doyle recipe for the arrival of Holmes and Watson.
On bound Jake Ferretti’s superior Sherlock and Niall Ransome’s hearty doctor, promptly shattering theatre’s fourth wall as they demand applause for Serena’s miming, then introduce themselves and how the show will work.
Here comes the “howlarious” version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles penned in 2007 for comedy clowns Peepolykus by John Nicholson and Steven Canny and now, 150 productions down the line, picked up by Bolton Octagon Theatre artistic director Lotte Wakeham and the Original Theatre Company.
In the frame: Jake Ferretti, Niall Ransome and Serena Manteghi in The Hound Of The Baskervilles
It still carries its original health warning for “anyone suffering from a heart condition, a nervous disorder, low self-esteem or a general inability to tell fact from fiction”. In truth, the cast and indeed the characters are most at risk. The audience, by comparison, needs only sit back, laugh loudly and burst regularly into applause.
The facts are that Ferretti, Ransome and Manteghi must play 20 characters between them, multifarious accents et al. Isn’t the heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, supposed to be Canadian, Serena is asked. “Yes, but I can’t do that accent,” she replies.
In the original, the cast of three were all men and Holmes suddenly turned Spanish in the handsome form of Javier Marzan. Such is the strength yet flexibility of Canny and Nicholson’s format that we now have the added pleasure of watching Serena Manteghi as she deepens her voice, mirrors male movements and tropes, breaks out of character under emotional duress at the first act’s finale, and once more confirms what an outstanding talent this former University of York student is.
This time it is Ferretti’s Costa Rican Miss Stapleton who brings an Hispanic flourish to the production, directed crisply and crunchily for the tour by Tim Jackson.
Funny business: Niall Ransome’s Dr Watson, Serena Manteghi’s Sir Henry Baskerville and Jake Ferretti’s Sherlock Holmes make light of tackling the mystery
Comedy, yes, but send-up or spoof, no. Canny and Nicholson are true to Conan Doyle’s story, re-imagining scenes rather than inventing new ones, but always with the fourth wall in danger of needing new bricks again.
“We wanted to be as faithful as possible to the drama and intrigue of Conan Doyle’s masterpiece, while setting about discovering how to use a company of three actors to tell the story as inventively as we could,” said the writers.
“It became clear very quickly that simple props, rapid costume and scene changes, precision comic timing and a determined commitment to stupidity were going to play a significant part in our version.”
Think of the works of Lip Service’s Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding, Nobby Dimon’s North Country Theatre and Mikron Theatre, or Patrick Barlow’s “touching up” of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps, or Mischief’s The Play That Goes Wrong, as Ferretti, Ransome and Manteghi keep veering off the straight and narrow but somehow still reach their intended destination.
Niall Ransome’s Dr Watson has a blast in The Hound Of The Baskervilles
In this case, this is the art of making a drama out of staff-shortage crisis – how very 2021 – but not needing to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear because the source material is from the top drawer.
Canny and Nicholson have it right in saying the “determined commitment to stupidity” is crucial too: a characteristic that benefits from Ferretti’s Holmes, in particular, taking everything so seriously, or the pathos in Ransome’s even straighter-faced Watson having a propensity to draw his pistol on anyone and anything, especially woodland animals.
This peaks at the outset of the second act after a Tweet “complaint” from an audience member – it was a letter in the original! – about Holmes’s lack of commitment to solving the crime prompts Ferretti to demand the right to re-enact the entire first half. A breathless snapshot replay ensues.
Someone so bright acting so dumb and supercilious is but one of the delights of seeing the Holmes and Watson partnership being poked out of its comfort zone, a shift as rewarding in its comedic interplay as Morecambe and Wise’s jousting.
The Hound Of The Baskervilles goes barking mad in this amiably daft comedy, at the cost of Woman In Black or Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories scares, but that sacrifice of bite is a price well worth paying. Howlarious indeed.
Performances: 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Earning their stripes: Mikron Theatre Company’s poster for this summer’s tour of Amanda Whittington’s Atalanta Forever
MIKRON Theatre Company kick off their
2020 tour of Amanda Whittington’s new women’s football play, Atalanta Forever,
on April 18.
Waiting in the wings is the Marsden company’s
York performance at Scarcroft Allotments on June 2 at 6pm.
From the writer of Ladies Day, Ladies
Day Down Under and Mighty Atoms for Hull Truck Theatre and Bollywood Jane for
the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Atalanta Forever tells the story of pioneering
women footballers in 1920.
In post-war Britain, women’s football
is big news. Across the country, all-girl teams are pulling huge crowds in
fund-raising games for wounded soldiers.
Huddersfield amateurs Ethel and Annie
take a shot at the big time. Teammates at Atalanta AFC, they are soon
tackling new football skills, mastering the offside rule and kicking back at
the doubters.
This summer’s audiences are invited
to “come and cheer for Atalanta as our plucky underdogs learn how to play the
game, take on the legendary teams of the era and find the toughest opponent of
all is the Football Association”.
Whittington’s play is based on the true story of
one of three women’s football teams in Huddersfield in post-war Britain. As told
through the lives of two young women, Atalanta Ladies Football Club was formed
in 1920 to “provide games for the women of Huddersfield, to foster a sporting
spirit, and a love of honour among its members”.
During the Great War, several women’s football
teams had sprung up around the country, usually based in factories or munitions
works, and proved a great success in raising money for hospitals, war widows
and so on.
The popularity of the women’s game may be measured
by the estimated 25,000 crowd that packed Hillsborough, Sheffield, for the
Huddersfield team’s next game with the Dick, Kerr Ladies FC of
Preston on May 4, when they lost 4-0 to their much more experienced
opponents.
In the wider football world, the growing popularity
of women’s football was now causing concern. The FA even saw it as taking
support away from the men’s game and on December 5, 1921, they banned women’s
teams from using FA affiliated grounds.
Before folding in 1924, the pioneering Huddersfield
Atalanta Ladies FC had raised more than £2,000 for various charities.
“I still feel the injustice and the sense of shame for wanting to do something I wasn’t meant to,” says playwright Amanda Whittington, recalling her own experiences of playing football
Writer and co-lyricist Whittington says
of her new play: “I was an 11-year-old footballer in the 1980s, the only girl
who played in the boys’ village tournament, and I vividly remember being
‘advised’ to stop because it wasn’t appropriate.
“I still feel the injustice and the
sense of shame for wanting to do something I wasn’t meant to.
“It brings joy to my heart to see
football’s now the biggest team sport for girls in Britain. I wanted to
write about the battle the women’s game has fought to survive and prosper – and
perhaps to tell the 11-year-old me she was right?”
Atalanta Forever is directed by Mikron
artistic director Marianne McNamara, who is joined in the production team by composer
and co-lyricist Kieran Buckeridge, musical director Rebekah Hughes and designer
Celia Perkins. Casting will be announced in the coming months.
Explaining why Mikron chose to tackle
the subject of the fight for women’s football, McNamara says: “Women’s football
is making a comeback and not before time. We are thrilled to pay homage to the
trailblazing Huddersfield women that paved the way against all odds.
“Just like the great game itself,
this will be an action-packed play of two halves, full of live music, fun and
laughter with no plans for extra time!”
Mikron’s 49th year of
touring will open at the National Football Museum, Manchester, on April 18 and
then travel nationally by road and canal on a vintage narrowboat until October
24.
Atalanta Forever will be touring
alongside Poppy Hollman’s new play, A Dog’s Tale, a celebration of canines
past and present that explores the enduring love between people and their dogs.
As ever, Mikron will be putting on
their shows in “places that other theatre companies wouldn’t dream of”, whether
a play about growing-your-own veg, presented in allotments; one about bees performed next to
hives; another about chips in a fish and chips restaurant, as well as plays
about hostelling in YHA youth hostels and
the RNLI at several lifeboat stations around the UK.
For more information and tour dates and locations for Atalanta Forever, go to mikron.org.uk/shows/atalanta-forever.
