Tag: NE Theatre York

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as ideas burst out of festival to make waves. Hutch’s List No. 24 from The Press, York

York Festival of Ideas: More than 200 events

FESTIVALS full of ideas and comedy lead off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for cultural sustenance and enlightening entertainment.

Festival of the week: York Festival of Ideas, today to June 13

YORK Festival of Ideas 2025 explores the theme of Making Waves in more than 200 mostly free in-person and online events designed to educate, entertain and inspire. 

Led by the University of York, the festival features world-class speakers, performances, exhibitions, tours, family-friendly activities and much more. Topics range from archaeology to art, history to health and politics to psychology. Browse the programme at yorkfestivalofideas.com.

Pocklington Comedy Festival: The headline show will be hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, centre, tonight

Comedy event of the week:  Pocklington Comedy Festival, Pocklington Arts Centre, today, from 12 noon

KIRI Pritchard-McLean hosts tonight’s 8pm bill of Chris Cantrill, Joe Kent-Walters as alter ego Frankie Monroe, eccentric owner of The Misty Moon working men’s club in Rotherham, Seeta Wrightson, from Bradford,  and Lee Kyle.

Earlier today, in the studio, look out for work-in-progress Edinburgh Fringe previews of Seeta Wrightson’s It’ll Be Allrightson On The Night (12 noon); Chris Cantrill’s On Your Marks (1.30pm); Frankie Monroe’s Dead Good (3pm) and Newcastle’s Louise Young (4.30pm).

This afternoon’s Family Comedy Show, introduced by Lee Kyle, features the comically chaotic antics of York magician Just Josh (aka Josh Benson) and mischievous Hull duo Jeddy Bear & Gary. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Kaiser Chiefs: Chief attraction at Temple Newsam, Leeds, today. Picture: Cal McIntyre

Yorkshire gig of the week: Kaiser Chiefs, Temple Newsam, Leeds, today, gates open at 1pm

LEEDS indie rock titans Kaiser Chiefs mark the 20th anniversary of March 2005 debut album Employment with a homecoming celebration. Employed on the bill too are: Ellur, 1.50pm; Hotwax, 2.45pm; We Are Scientists, 3.40pm; The Coral, 4.50pm; The Cribs, 6.05pm, and Razorlight, 7.20pm.

Kaiser Chiefs will be on stage from 8.50pm to 10.30pm with a special guest appearance by the Championship trophy won by Leeds United on May 4. Tickets update: still available at gigandtours.com; ticketmaster.co.uk or livenation.co.uk.

Rachel Croft: Heading back to York to play The Crescent. Picture: Michelle Fredericks

Welcome back: Rachel Croft, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm

AFTER re-locating from York to London, singer-songwriter Rachel Croft returns north to promote her vinyl EP A Mind Made Of Sky as part of a summer series of tempestuous shows across the UK. Expect drama, energy and thunderous alt-rock songs from Rachel “as you’ve never seen her before”. Stereo Cupid and Flat Number Two support. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Strictly between us: Dance couple Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara promise A Night To Remember at York Barbican

Strictly show of the week: Aljaž And Janette: A Night To Remember, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm  

STRICTLY Come Dancing husband-and-wife duo Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara team up in their new show with their live big band, fronted by boogie-woogie maestro Tom Seals and an ensemble cast of dancers and singers.

Strictly regular Aljaž and It Takes Two and Morning Live host Janette take to the York Barbican dancefloor to perform routines to music from the Great American songbook to modern-day classics. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Stephen Smith in One Man Poe. Picture: Cat Humphries

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 Best Horror Solo Show winner: One Man Poe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 6pm

USING Edgar Allan Poe’s original text from the 1840s, actor-director Stephen Smith brings to life the most terrifying examples of the gothic genre from the pioneering Godfather of Gothic Horror.

In Act One, The Tell-Tale Heart, a madman strives to convince you of his sanity, while explaining the meticulous details of a murder he committed. Then, in The Pit And The Pendulum, a prisoner seeks to escape the various torture devices of the Spanish Inquisition.

In Act Two, arguably Poe’s darkest tale and definitely not one for the faint hearted, The Black Cat, documents an alcoholic’s last confession on the eve of his death. Last comes the poem that made Poe famous: The Raven. In the midnight hour, as an elderly man laments the loss of his love, an ominous visitor is heard tapping on his chamber door. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

New Adventures in the 2025 tour of Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, on tour at York Theatre Royal next week. Picture: Johan Persson

Dance return of the week: New Adventures in Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, York Theatre Royal, June 4 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

IN 1930s’ London, ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and fog-bound streets of Soho and Fitzrovia. Step inside The Midnight Bell, a tavern where one particular lonely-hearts club gather to play out their lovelorn affairs of the heart; bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption. 

Inspired by the work of English novelist Patrick Hamilton, Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell returns to York Theatre Royal, where it first played in October 2021, with a 14-strong cast of New Adventures’ actor-dancers, music by Terry Davies and set and costume design by Lez Brotherston. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Steve Tearle: Directing NE Theatre York in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Carousel, Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, York, June 5 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

STEVE Tearle directs NE Theatre York in fully staged concert performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel with an 18-piece orchestra conducted by Joe Allen. The cast for this tale of hope, redemption and the power of love will be led by Kit Stroud as Billy Bigelow; Rebecca Jackson as Julie Jordan; Maia Beatrice as Carrie Pepperidge; Finlay Butler as Mr Snow and Perri Ann Barley as Aunt Netty. 

Cue such R&H classics as June Is Burstin’ Out All Over, If I Loved You, When I Marry Mister Snow, Blow High, Blow Low and the iconic Liverpool and Celtic terrace anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/netheatre-york.

King Creosote’s Kenny Anderson: Serving up a Storm In A Teacup at The Crescent, York

Scottish visitor of the week: Please Please You and Brudenell Presents host King Creosote, The Crescent, York, June 5, 7.30pm

KING Creosote follows up 2024’s springtime tour Any Port In A Storm with his Any Storm In A Teacup travels from April to June this year, again with a mix of modular synths, his back catalogue from 50 studio albums and his November 2023 album I Des, the first King Creosote recording in seven years.

As ever, Scotsman Kenny Anderson’s performance will be marked by his singular voice, allied to roguish, roving, ever-evolving, gorgeous songs in the key of Fife. Box office, for returns only: thecrescentyork.com.

In Focus: International collaboration of the week: Say Owt presents chamæleon,  So Many Ways To Move, Fulford Arms, Fulford Road, York, Sunday, 5.30pm

chamæleon: Collaboration of Palestinian poet Farah Chamma and Brazilian electronic musician Liev at the Fulford Arms on Sunday

SAY Owt, York’s champions of raucous performance poetry and sizzling spoken word, play host for the first time to an Arabic artist and South American musician, Palestinian poet  Farah Chamma and Brazilian electronic soundscape producer Liev, on Sunday.

In their poetic and political collaboration as chamæleon, Chamma and Liev explore the intersection between spoken word and musical texture, diving into the unknown to search for belonging and identity in So Many Wayes To Move.

Since 2014, Say Owt has hosted poets from Sweden, Nigeria, the United States and Canada, now adding Brazil and Palestine to that list. chamæleon have performed in Portugal, Holland, Spain and the United Arab Emirates and this weekend they make their York debut in their only performance in the UK outside London on their 2025 travels.

So Many Ways To Move encapsulates their belief in the power of art not only to reflect the times but also to move with them. “We see art as a force of transformation, a channel for resistance and renewal,” say chamaeleon. “By weaving together sound, text and imagery, we illuminate our shared experiences and struggles.”

Farah Chamma: “Speaking truth to power from festivals to demonstrations”

Farah Chamma’s performances are described as “vital and urgent, speaking truth to power from festivals to demonstrations”. “If ever words could tear down the gates of power, it would be those spoken by Farah. Besides her native Arabic, she also writes and performs in English and French and speaks German, Spanish and Portuguese,” Say Owt states

Chamma holds a master’s degree in Performance and Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London and a BA in Philosophy and Sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris.

Based in Brazil, multi-instrumentalist and electro-organic music producer Liev uses his research to “dive into the intersectionality between machine and human-made sounds”.

Within his body of work, everyday noises and the human voice – mostly in spoken word pieces – are the raw material that ends up mixed with more complex machine and AI-generated sounds, birthing soundscapes and music that delves into the contemporary human experience.

Sunday’s support acts will be Nadira Alom and electro riot grrl act Doberwoman. Box office: https://www.fatsoma.com/e/5b1ew8fs/la/jt04.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

Rebecca Jackson’s Maria in NE Theatre York’s The Sound Of Music

RODGERS & Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music is handed from York company to York company.

After Nik Briggs’s production on a grand scale for York Stage Musicals at the Grand Opera House in 2019 and Robert Readman’s Pick Me Up Theatre staging for Theatre@41’s Christmas show in 2022, now comes Steve Tearle’s show for NE Theatre York at a third location, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Officially press tickets had been given over to charity by director-producer Tearle, but your reviewer was kindly accommodated at Wednesday’s performance.

Tearle played milkman Tevye for the third time when NE Theatre staged Fiddler On The Roof in April 2014,   delivering the York company’s most moving production under his usually flamboyant leadership.

The Sound Of Music is of a similar ilk: the anti-Semitism of Fiddler now matched by the rise of Nazism, and once more you can see how moved he is by his cast’s performance and the audience’s reaction to a show played out against a 2025 backdrop of political turmoil and the rise of the Right.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical has further significance for Tearle, who made his stage debut aged 11 as Kurt, one of the Von Trapp children, in a professional tour.

“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with joy,” he says. “Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler.”

Detweiler has been called a “political cockroach”, but just as Andrew Isherwood peppered his Pick Me Up performance with a comic edge more associated with the Emcee in Cabaret, Tearle favours a dapper flamboyance in his wardrobe and camp manner, being arch and surprisingly avuncular, rather than sinister. Having the fluffiest of canine companions in his own dog, Millie Bell, makes it all the harder to be a scurrying, hard-edged cockroach rather than the symbol of limp Austrian compliance with Hitler.

Tearle loves to stretch NE Theatre, whether in size of cast or scale of ambition or his passion for inclusivity. This time that adds up two Marias (Rebecca Jackson & Maia Beatrice); two Captain Von Trapp (Matthew Clarke & Chris Hagyard); three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall & HuntingtonWomen’s Institute, plus the aforementioned dog. 

In their centenary year, Tearle reached out to Strensall & Huntington WI to play the Nonnberg Abbey nuns, and they open the show in choral Latin song, filing in from the wings and the aisles, candles in hand, to fill the stage and line up in front too, the essence of devotion and purity, with a huge cross on the cloth behind.

It is a beautiful  moment of solemnity, peace, sanctuary, as much a cry for today’s world as 1938 Austria, where the hills may be alive with the sound of music but that will soon be drowned out by anything but music, replaced by extremism, intolerance and a hail of Sieg Heils.

The nuns will return at the finale, filling the stage once more with almost painfully beautiful song. Tearle’s directorial judgement here is at its best.

He could let silence fall, but ever effusive, the PT Barnum in Tearle has him addressing the audience, inviting us to take photos, talking of the impact of the show on himself and the cast and plugging NE Theatre’s upcoming concert production of Carousel at Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, in June and the York premiere of Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The New Musical, at the JoRo in November.

Wednesday’s cast was fronted by Rebecca Jackson’s serene Maria Rainer and Chris Hagyard’s stern but loving widower father, Austrian naval captain Captain Von Trapp.

Jackson radiates goodness and good humour as the unsure trainee nun who finds her true calling looking after seven von Trapp children: the young governess with nonconformist ideas, full of love and kindness, strong of will, independent of mind, determined to nurture and bring joy, but still with so much to learn herself.

She bonds delightfully with the children, led by Caitlin Smith’s wilful Liesl, and her singing is equally adept solo or in tandem with the children.

Hagyard’s Captain von Trapp goes from austere authority, issuing orders to staff and children alike on his whistle, to warming under Maria’s influence, while never wavering from his bold stance against Nazism. He sings Edelweiss with tenderness to still the rising storm.

The supreme vocal performance award goes to Perri Anne Barley’s Mother Abbess, climbing every demanding rising note in Climb Ev’ry Mountain, but sung in keeping with her matriarchal concern rather than with unnecessary showy excess.

Praise too for Ali Butler-Hind’s Elsa Schraeder, all airs and graces, and especially for the outstanding Finlay Butler’s Rolf Gruber, the naïve delivery boy who takes up the Nazi cause. Joe Allen’s musical forces are in fine form too.

From swastikas on the auditorium walls to archive footage of German boots pounding on Austrian soil, the rise of Nazism haunts Tearle’s show throughout.

NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee, all SOLD OUT. Box office: for returns only, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 18, from Gazette & Herald

Climb every mountain: Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

THE spring weather may be perking up, but Charles Hutchinson still finds reasons aplenty to stay in the dark for cultural satisfaction.

York musical of the week: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN its centenary year, members of Strensall Women’s Institute have accepted NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first role in any show. This time he plays his favourite part, Max Detweiler. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Cracking the whip: Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior

Whip-cracking touring musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Got it taped: Gary Oldman with the reel-to-reel tape machine in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Andy Bell: New songs, solo favourites and Erasure hits at York Barbican tonight

York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album, Ten Crowns, ten tracks of  dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, available on vinyl, CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

Bell’s set combines new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer Dave Audé, who opens tomorrow’s show with a DJ set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Guitar Legends: Terrific riffs galore at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Guitar Legends, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm,

GUITAR Legends celebrates the music of iconic guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Prince, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler and Jimi Hendrix.

Through a blend of live music, visuals and anecdotes, the show takes a journey through rock history, showcasing tenor vocal prowess and guitar virtuosity. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Learlike: Greensleeved tell Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear from the distaff side at York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Saturday, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist Barmby Moor/York comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. General ticket sales open at 10am on Friday  at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when theatre goes on trial. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 18, from The York Press

Gary Oldman in the York Theatre Royal auditorium, where his production of Krapp’s Last Tape is in its second week. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

FANCY serving on a jury in a true crime thriller? Find out how in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to going out.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979,  to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

James Bond Concert Spectacular: Celebrating the music of the long-running film series. Picture: Bryan Marshall

Film music event of the week James Bond Concert Spectacular, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

CAROLINE Bliss, who played Moneypenny in The Living Daylightsand Licence To Kill, will be the compere for Q The Music’s James Bond Concert Spectacular, sharing anecdotes from her film appearances.  

Focusing not only on Bond theme songs, such as Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and Nobody Does It Better, the show also pays homage to the complete canon, covering chase music, incidental cues and suites from across the series. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

You are the jury: Murder Trial Tonight III, in court at York Barbican on Tuesday

Courtroom drama  of the week: Tigerslane Studios presents Murder Trial Tonight III – The Doorstep Case, York Barbican, April 29, 7pm

“THIS isn’t just a theatre play; it’s a social experiment,” says Murder Trial Tonight’s West End director, Graham Watts. “We aim to challenge perceptions and engage our audience in a way that goes beyond traditional theatre.”

Welcome to Tigerslane Studios’third season of  Murder Trial Tonight – The Doorstep Case, wherein storytellers, technicians and performers break down the fourth wall and bring true-crime stories to life. The show begins on screen, giving the backdrop to the case, followed by a live murder trial, with the audience as the jury. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Carrie Hope Fletcher: Shooting from the hip and lip in Calamity Jane at the Grand Opera House, York

Whip-cracking musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston with musical supervision by Olivier, Grammy and Tony Award winner Catherine Jayes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Karine Polwart’s poster artwork for her Feather & Ether Tour show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Karine Polwart, Feather & Ether Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 30, 8pm

THIS year marks 25 years since Karine Polwart embraced a full-time career as a Scottish folk singer and 20 years since she scooped three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with  her debut solo album Faultlines. 

Her Feather & Ether Tour is a rare chance to enjoy her in intimate, conversational solo performance. Expect a clutch of new songs and wonder tales and an night of curiosity and compassion from Polwart, songwriter, theatre-maker, broadcaster and storyteller, whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Learlike: King Lear re-told from the distaff side in the UK premiere at the York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, May 3, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. Fans who pre-order the Wolfcub Edition at scoutingforgirls.os.fan will receive access to a ticket pre-sale that opens at 10am on April 30. General sales follow from 10am on May 2 at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.

In Focus: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday

NE Theatre York’s cast for The Sound Of Music at the JoRo

TWO Marias, two Captain Von Trapps, three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall Women’s Institute, plus a dog, add up to NE Theatre York’s production of The Sound Of Music.

In its centenary year, Strensall Women’s Institute has accepted creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns – and sing several big numbers – in the heartwarming Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first stage role.

NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle with his dog Millie Bell

“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with
joy. Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal
favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler,” says Steve, whose dog, Millie Bell, will make an appearance in the canine role of Max’s dog.

Tearle’s cast features newcomers aplenty to the stage. “NE Theatre prides itself on giving
people of all ages the confidence to perform on stage, and this is the perfect
opportunity with more than 20 people who have never performed before,” he says.

NE Theatre York in rehearsal for The Sound Of Music

“We’re producing the show with all the elements that everyone loves but keeping with the
West End trend of scaled-back sets and using lighting effects to highlight the action. The
focus, as always, will be on the talent of the actors on stage and giving everyone a moment
to shine.”

Maia Beatrice and Rebecca Jackson will alternate the role of Maria while Matthew Clarke and Chris Hagyard will do likewise as Captain Von Trapp. NE Theatre stalwart Perri Anne Barley will play Mother Abbess; Ali Butler and Aileen Hall will take turns as Baroness Elsa. Tearle is joined in the production team by musical director Joe Allan.

NE Theatre’s production coincides with a brace of landmarks: the 60th anniversary of Robert Wise’s film starring Julie Andrews as the singing nun and the 90th anniversary of the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

Quick refresher course: The Sound Of Music is based on the real-life story of the Von Trapp family of singers, one of the world’s best known concert groups in the era immediately preceding the Second World War.

When Maria, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey, becomes governess to a widowed naval captain’s seven children, she brings a new love of life and music into the home. Among the much-loved songs are My Favourite Things, Climb Every Mountain, Do Re Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, Edelweiss and The Sound of Music.

A number of tickets are being given to charities. Hurry, hurry to secure a seat as April 29, May 1 and May 2 are down to “last few tickets”, availability is limited for April 30 and both May 3 performances have sold out. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ***1/2

Finlay Butler’s Buddy the elf and Steve Tearle’s Santa in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

STEVE Tearle knows how to sell a show, this time promising audiences “an opportunity to see Elf like never before with a fantastic video wall and lots of amazing special effects”.

The result? A sold-out run of six performances at the JoRo, where your reviewer was accommodated at the last minute in the only remaining house seat. Thank you, JoRo management, for being so helpful.

Elf The Musical was last staged in York in the equivalent week three years ago by York Stage at the Grand Opera House, where director-designer Nik Briggs dressed his stage with big snowflakes, open North Pole skyline, bustling Macy’s store, finale snow machine et al, as he drew inspiration from Radio City Music Hall.

Tearle instead put his trust in technology and human/elf chemistry, utilising video backdrops of constantly changing snowscapes, spinning festive candy canes and the interiors of Macy’s Department Store and  Greenway Press, a children’s book publishing company in New York City’s Empire State Building, first seen in all its towering, vertigo-inducing magnificence.

Family discussions in the Hobbs household: Perri Ann Barley’s Emily, James O’Neill’s Walter and James Roberts’s Michael

It would spoil the visual delights in store to mention more than that, but Tearle uses the tools with a showman’s flourish, tapping into his inner PT Barnum that never lies far beneath the surface.

But is it really theatre, you ask? Is it in some way cheating to let the science, rather than the art, do the work? Not today when theatre embraces all possibilities to modernise the artform while sustaining the magic.

What’s more, everything else about Tearle’s community theatre-making is rooted in old-fashioned theatre values: a glossy programme, a big cast, with children aplenty cutting their teeth; 15 players, yes, 15, in Joe Allen’s orchestra; costumes galore, and Tearle himself in actor-manager mode, overseeing his production in the genial guise of storyteller Santa. Scatting extra lines like a jazz singer, he gives resurgent York City an unexpected mention far from the North Pole.

He is not the santa of attention, however! That central figure is Finlay Butler’s skateboarding Buddy, with Butler’s enthusiasm for playing Buddy – “one of the greatest experiences of my life!” he says – being a match for Buddy’s ebullience for life.

Finlay Butler’s Buddy enthuses in his unconventional way over Maia Stroud’s Jovie in Elf The Musical

Elf The Musical retains the jokes and the naïve charm of the 2003 Will Ferrell film in its playful, New York-witty, even wise book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, then adds all the song-and-dance razzmatazz of a Broadway musical, with music by Matthew Sklar big on winter brass and lyrics by Chad Beguelin full of smart humour, bold statements and big sentiments.

Tearle’s green-coated Santa introduces the story of how orphan boy Buddy crawls into Santa’s sack and ends up being brought up among all the elf toy makers on a sugar-rich diet with two visits a day to the North Pole dentist. 

When Buddy learns that he is not an elf after all, despite being so elfish in his thinking, off to New York he must go – in Tearle’s video variation of a pantomime transformation scene – to try to find his real father, children’s publishing-house manager Walter Hobbs (James O’Neill), who never knew he had a son from a long-ago relationship. 

Stressed-out Walter is now married to long-suffering Emily (Perri Ann Barley), with a son, Michael (James Roberts, sharing the role with Zachary Stoney). In their house, no-one believes in Santa but  Buddy will work his way into their lives – work, not worm – with his idiot-savant gentle air, kindness and positivity.

The hills are alive with candy canes as Finlay Butler’s Buddy makes his journey from the North Pole to New York via NE Theatre York’s video projections

Butler’s performance is as buoyant as a bubble, as bouncy as Tigger, as cheerful as a robin’s hop  on a Christmas card. Who could not love him, this bundle of joy, love, cheek and unguarded desire to please? After Adam Sowter’s Mr Poppy in Pick Up Theatre’s ongoing Nativity! The Musical at the Grand Opera House, here is another agile comedic actor who would be wholly suited to turning his hand to daft-lad duty in panto. He sings expressively too, especially in World’s Greatest Dad and The Story Of Buddy The Elf.

Barley’s warm-hearted Emily and Roberts’s excitable Michael have two lovely duets, I’ll Believe In You and There Is A Santa Claus, while O’Neill impresses in his transformative role, gradually defrosting from treasonable to reasonable.

Ali-Butler-Hind’s scatty receptionist Deb and Kit Stroud’s hyperactive Manager maximise their cameos, topped by Stephen Perry’s intemperate publishing boss Mr Greenway with his preposterous suggestions for book changes.

Maia Beatrice, or Maia Stroud as she is now called in the programme, is well cast as Macy’s store worker Jovie, Buddy’s slow-burn love interest, whose initial New York cynicism is chipped away by his persistent enthusiasm as he corrects everyone’s misconceptions over Santa, the North Pole and Christmas.

It’ll be all white on the night (apart from the Santas!) in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

A rising talent of the York stage with a cracking singing voice, full of emotion and range, and a sense of stillness in the moment not always present in an actor’s skill set, her performance has depth, standing out amid the amusing caricatures. No song is better sung than her Never Fall In Love.

Joe Allen’s well-drilled orchestra brings out the fizz and the fun in Sklar’s emotive songs, and if the dancing is less precise, it has all the sugar-rush energy of Buddy in Melissa Boyd’s choreography. Her best routine is for the Santa setpiece Nobody Cares About Santa, where the jaded, boozed-up post-shift Santas leap up and down in turn, topped off by a burst of tap-dancing.

Tearle has decked the stage front with twinkling foliage: a typical touch from NETheatre’s creative director with a designer’s flair who embraces the “true joy of Christmas” as heartily as Buddy and his one-man national elf service.

His stage bursts with colour and life, regulation reds and greens aplenty and one scene where everyone is dressed in white. What a spectacle. Buddy has a word for it: Sparklejollytwinklejingley.

NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, until  Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. SOLD OUT. Tickets update: for returns only, ring 01904 501935.

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NE Theatre York begin sold-out run of Elf The Musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, promising ‘this show like never before’

Finlay Butler’s Buddy in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

NE Theatre York’s production of Elf the Musical opens tonight at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, with all six performances sold out already.

In the wake of staging Fiddler On The Roof and West Side Story, the York company will present a full ensemble with the promise of “favourite performers and a few surprises along the way.”

Director Steve Tearle says: “We wanted to bring the true joy of Christmas to everyone in York with amazing songs in this much-loved story for the whole family. It’s a heart-warming tale filled with Christmas joy and will definitely get you in the festive spirit.”

Featuring book, music and lyrics by Thomas Meehan & Bob Martin and Matthew Solar & Chad Beguelin, Elf The Musical is based on the 2003 Christmas film starring Will Ferrell, telling the story of  orphan Buddy (played by Finlay Butler), who mistakenly crawls into Santa Claus’s (Steve Tearle) bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole.

Sold out: No tickets left for NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

After years of growing up as an elf, he discovers his true identity and embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father (James O’Neil) and learn his true identity.

Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and, worse still, his stepbrother (James Roberts/Zachary Stone) and their mother ( Perri Ann Barley) do not even believe in Father Christmas, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. Along the way he falls in love with Jovie (Maia Stroud).

Summing up the show, Steve says: “Elf The Musical is a fantastic holiday season favourite that really embraces the spirit of Christmas. This week we aim to give audiences an opportunity to see this show like never before with a fantastic video wall and lots of amazing special effects.”

After Saturday’s 2.30pm matinee, the audience will have the chance to meet Santa and Buddy (Tearle and Butler).

NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. SOLD OUT. Tickets update: for returns only, ring 01904 501935.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ****

Alice Atang’s Fiddler and Steve Tearle’s Tevye in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

TEVYE will always be Steve Tearle’s most treasured role, his programme note reveals, as the North Easterner plays the Russian village milkman for the third time in celebration of Fiddler On The Roof’s 60th anniversary.

That enthusiasm is writ large in both his performance and his direction of the 1964 Broadway musical, less showy than usual in both cases, still with his familiar twinkle in the eye in his engagement with the audience but graver in disposition too, as demanded by the shadow of anti-Semitism that darkens Joseph Stein’s book for the nine-time Tony Award winner.

The result is his most rounded production for NE Theatre York, one that plays to his Busby Berkeley-style convention of using a big cast but does everything in the cause of the musical, rather than imposing on it mischievously or allowing himself to adlib.

Given what is unfolding in Gaza and Israel, this is a time of heightened division and global political tension to be staging a musical with a pogrom – an act of persecution against Russian Jews in 1905 – at its heart.

Fiddler is set in the Pale Of Settlement of Imperial Russia, where Tevye must cope not only with three daughters’ strong will to marry for love – each one’s choice of husband moving further away from the customs of his faith – but also with the Tsar’s edict to evict the Jewish community from their small village of Anatevka.

Rooted in Sholem Aleichem’s story Tevye And His Daughters (or Tevye The Dairyman) and other tales, Fiddler finds the traditionalist Tevye facing changes to his simple family life from all sides: from daughters rebelling against the convention of arranged marriages, as they take matters into their own hand, to the climactic decree to evacuate the village.

Stein’s book and the songs of Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick richly establish Tevye’s tormented, if humorous character and his role as narrator/commentator, swimming against the tide of change and female empowerment, and this is where Tearle excels, bringing such personality to If I Were A Rich Man and Tradition.

Not only Tearle impresses. Perri Ann Barley’s stoic wife Golde and the rebel treble of Maia Stroud’s Tzeitle, Rebecca Jackson’s Hodle and Elizabeth Farrell’s Chava give moving performances too, while Finlay Butler’s Motel, Kit Stroud’s Perchik and Callum Richardson’s Fyedka play their part resolutely.

Melissa Boyd’s choreography hits the mark in the show’s hot spots, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, To Life, Sunrise, Sunset and Tevye’s Dream, the production’s high point.

Praise too for Tearle’s costume design and musical director Joe Allen’s orchestra, so integral to the moods and changing tones of Fiddler On The Roof.

As for the Fiddler of the title, whether by Tevye’s side or perched on the roof, Alice Atang is a nimble symbol of both joy and melancholia.

NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof ran at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from April 23 to 27.

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More Things To Do in Ryedale, York and beyond the Bard festival celebrations. Hutch’s List No. 12, from Gazette & Herald

Footsbarn Theatre in Twelfth Night: First British performances in 15 years in world premiere at York International Shakespeare Festival

A FEAST of Shakespeare, a musical’s 60th anniversary, Motown magic, smalltown teenage troubles and a Yorkshire rock band’s birthday bash hit the mark for Charles Hutchinson.  

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, until Sunday 

SHAKESPEAREAN Identity is the theme of the sixth York International Shakespeare Festival, now an annual event, run by director Philip Parr. Sponsored by York St John University, it features shows, lectures by internationally recognised academics, exhibitions and workshops presented by Shakespeare enthusiasts from all over the world.

Among the highlights will be Footsbarn Theatre’s first British visit in 15 years with Twelfth Night on Saturday and Sunday and York Explore’s exhibition of 300 years of representations of Othello. Tickets and full programme details are available at yorkshakes.co.uk/programme-2024.

Fiddler in the woods: Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Perri Ann Barley’s Golde and Steve Tearle’s Tevye set the scene for NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, running until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

STEVE Tearle directs NE Theatre York in Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein’s musical, taking the role of Tevye, the humble village milkman, for the third time too in this 60th anniversary production.

When three of Tevye’s five daughters rebel against the traditions of arranged marriages by taking matters into their own hands, mayhem unfolds as he strives to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural creeds, against the backdrop of the Tsar’s pogrom edict to evict all Jews from his Russian village in 1905. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for 1812 Theatre Company’s double bill at Helmsley Arts Centre

Double bill of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Baby Dolls and Contractions, Helmsley Arts Centre, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre’s Young Arts Leaders Charlotte Mintoft and Amelia Featherstone direct the 1812 Theatre Company in Tamara von Werthern’s Baby Dolls and Mike Bartlett’s Contractions respectively. The first is a futuristic comedy about conception, state control and rebellion, wherein three women meet at a baby shower but darker things than cupcakes and babygrows are on their mind. 

The second, an ink-black comedy, focuses on the boundaries between work and play. Whereas Emma thinks she’s in love with Darren, her boss thinks she’s in breach of contract. The situation needs to be resolved. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Barrie Rutter: Reflecting on shaking up Shakespeare at Northern Broadsides and beyond

Breaking down the Bard barrier in the north: Barrie Rutter: Shakespeare’s Royals, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 7.45pm; Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Cathedral, July 4, 7.30pm

BARRIE Rutter, founder and former director of Northern Broadsides, celebrates the Bard’s kings and queens – their achievements, conquests and foibles – with tales, anecdotes and memories from a career of playing and directing Shakespeare’s Royals.

Told he could never play a king on account of his Yorkshire accent, Hull-born Rutter, now 77, created his own theatre company in 1992 in Halifax to use the northern voice for Shakespeare’s kings, queens and emperors, not only the usual drunken porters, jesters or fools. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.

Soul Satisfaction: Four Tops and Motown hits here they come at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale tribute show of the week: Soul Satisfaction, The American Four Tops Motown Show, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

DIRECT from the United States, Soul Satisfaction combine powerful vocals, sweet harmonies and high-stepping dance routines in the American Four Tops Motown Show.

This celebration of Motown’s golden era revels in Reach Out (I’ll Be There), Walk Away Renee, It’s The Same Old Song, Loco In Acapulco, I Can’t Help Myself and Bernadette, complemented by The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Marvin Gaye and Ben E King hits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The trials of growing up in a small country town: Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of The Lost Content at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Ali Wright

Touring play of the week: Henry Madd’s Land Of Lost Content, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NIC Connaughton, the Pleasance’s head of theatre, directs Land Of Lost Content, Henry Madd’s autobiographical insight into friendship, adolescence, forgiveness and life not going to plan in an empowering coming-of-age story about the trials of growing up in a small country town and its ongoing effects on two estranged mates.

Henry (Madd) and Jake (Marc Benga) were bored friends who grew up in Ludlow, where friendships were forged in failed adventures, bad habits and damp raves as they stumbled through teenage days looking for something to do. Then Henry moved away. Now he is back, needing to face up to the memories and the people he left behind, as Madd draws on themes of mental health and substance abuse in rural areas in his blend of theatre and spoken word. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Joe Martin: Troubadour tales at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Troubadour of the week: Joe Martin, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 8pm

INDEPENDENT singer-songwriter and modern-day troubadour Joe Martin captures stories of people and encounters picked up on the road in his tales of friends, strangers and his own experiences.

Before his solo venture, Lancashire-born Martin fronted a country band while studying at university in Leeds, opening for The Shires and appearing at the Country to Country festival. Now he performs in Europe and the United States, such as at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Cult: 40th anniversary tour heads to York Barbican in October. Picture: Jackie Middleton

Gig announcement of the week: The Cult, The 8424 Tour, York Barbican, October 29

SINGER Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy mark the 40th anniversary of The Cult, the Bradford band noted for their pioneering mix of post-punk, hard rock and melodramatic experimentalism, by heading out on The 8424 Tour.

Once dubbed “shamanic Goths”, Astbury and Duffy will perform songs from The Cult’s 11-album discography, from 1984’s Dreamtime to 2022’s Under The Midnight Sun, in a set sure to feature She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Love Removal Machine, Wild Flower and Lil’ Devil. This year they have begun a vinyl reissue series. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Steve Tearle to play Tevye for third time in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Steve Tearle’s Tevye and Perri Ann Barley’s Golde in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

DIRECTOR and lead actor Steve Tearle is at the helm of NE Theatre York’s revival of Fiddler On The Roof at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, next Tuesday to Saturday to celebrate the American musical’s 60th anniversary.

Based on Sholem Aleichem’s story Tevye And His Daughters (or Tevye The Dairyman) and other tales, the nine-time Tony Award-winning 1964 musical has music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein and is best known for the songs If I Were A Rich Man, Matchmaker, Miracle Of Miracles and Sunrise.

Set in the Pale of Settlement in Tsarist Russia in 1905, the story centres on Tevye, the humble milkman and family man, who lives a very simple life in the small village of Anatevka.

When three of his five daughters rebel against the traditions of arranged marriages and decide to take matters into their own hands, mayhem unfolds as he strives to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural creeds.

Steve Tearle’s Tevye and Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Tevye’s conscience, in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Tevye must cope not only with his daughters’ strong will to marry for love – each one’s choice of husband moving further away from the customs of his faith – but also with the Tsar’s edict to evict the Jewish community from their village [in the story’s nod to the Kishinev pogrom, an act of persecution against Russian Jews in April 1903].

Tearle will be playing Tevye, forever associated with Israeli actor, singer and illustrator Topol in the Oscar-winning 1971 film, where he reprised the role he had originated on Broadway and went on to perform more than 3,500 times between 1967 and 2009.

Tearle, by comparison, will be chalking up a hattrick of turns as Tevye, a part he played previously for New Earswick Musicals at the JoRo in November 2016 under Ann McCreadie’s direction, when the York Press review praised him for his “limitless charisma and exemplary dad dancing”.

“Tevye is a dream role,” he says. “You get to go through so many emotions. It’s an honour to play this part again, bringing him to life with NE Theatre’s amazing cast. It’s a fab experience.

“The show may be 60 years old but it’s very relevant today with the empowerment of women as Tevye’s daughters rebel against faith and tradition by choosing who they want to marry. The story highlights the struggles of the Jewish community too.”

Fiddler in the woods: Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Perri Ann Barley’s Golde and Steve Tearle’s Tevye set the scene for NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

NE Theatre also wanted to do the show as a tribute to the late Mavis Massheder, who made her first stage appearance for New Earswick Amateur and Dramatic Society (now NE Theare York) in 1954 in the chorus of The Gondoliers and was elected chair in 1969.

Mavis steered the company through the many ups and downs and difficult times the theatre industry experienced over the next 45 years. She died in 2020 aged 91.

Perri Ann Barley will play Tevye’s wife Golde, joined by Maia Stroud, Rebecca Jackson, Elizabeth Farrell, Alexa Lord-Laverick and Paige Sidebottom as his daughters, Ali Butler Hind as Yente and Alice Atang as The Fiddler, Tevye’s conscience.

The company will include Kit Stroud, Callum Richardson, Finley Butler, Geoff Seavers, Toby Jensen, James O’Neill, Scott Barnes, Chris Hagyard, Kelvin Grant, Pascha Turnbull, Aileen Hall, Carolyn Jensen and Greg Roberts too.

NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, April 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in A Christmas Carol, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

Chain reaction: Steve Tearle’s Jacob Marley spooks Kit Stroud’s Ebenezer Scrooge in NE Theatre York’s A Christmas Carol

NE Theatre York – or NE Musicals York as they were back then – staged the York premiere of this all-singing version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at the JoRo in November 2018.

More Christmas advert season than Advent season on that occasion, but the show’s return heralds Advent’s arrival on Sunday, and the festive mood is already alive and noisy, like the crisp and sweet packet scrunching that accompanied Tuesday’s opening night.

Scrooge moan over, some things have changed since 2018, some have not. More on the changes later, but first: the cast numbers 60 once more; Steve Tearle is directing and playing the ghost of Jacob Marley in white suit and face paint again, and the Sold Out signs will be greeting theatregoers again and again on the street scene on the JoRo forecourt. No tickets left, not one.

A roll of thunder announces the arrival of Tearle’s Marley on a London set familiar to audiences who saw his production of Oliver!. Temporarily, north easterner Steve turns Brummie to make the obligatory mobile phone pronouncement but with the impish humour that will mark a frenetic, fantastical, phantasmagorical production into which he will throw everything, magical books, bouncing balls and kitchen sink included (metaphorically speaking).

Perri Ann Barley’s Ghost of Christmas Past

Look out too for the misbehaving chairs and bed in Scrooge’s house, leaping into the air as if propelled by the handiwork of ghosts.

Written by Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid composer Alan Menken, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens, the musical began life as a film before being re-created for the Broadway stage, opening at Madison Square Garden.

Its driving force is the modern musical score under Scott Phillips’s enthusiastic direction,  but the dialogue fizzes along too – everything is home and hosed by 9.30pm – with Tearle’s Marley as host, ghost and timekeeper.

Changes afoot? The familiar tale of miserable, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemptive journey through Christmas Eve night still takes the form of encounters with Ghosts of the Past, Present and Yet To Be but Tearle has fortified the circus setting first evoked in 2018, while Melissa Boyd’s choreography nods to both 1856 and modern moves for ensemble numbers.

Once more the ghosts are first seen in their real-world guises as a lamplighter (Perri Ann Barley), Ring Master (Chris Hagyard, taking the circus theme further than James O’Neil’s charity show barker of 2018), and an Old Hag (John Mulholland). Note their Christmas colours of snow white, ivy green and holly berry red.

Chris Hagyard’s Ghost of Christmas Present

Tearle loves theatricality, spectacle in particular, and here he quite surpasses himself by having Marley wreathed in 100 metres of white fabric, stretched like waves across the stage as he urges Kit Stroud’s grouchy Scrooge to learn the error of his ways before it is too late. Marley’s trademark chains are more like a rapper’s bling adornments by comparison.

Graduating from his 2018 role as Young Ebenezer, Stroud’s Scrooge is mean of voice and demeanour at the outset, his lead performance being alive to both the humour and inhumanity the part demands.

Shocked by what he learns of himself, his Scrooge is pained by the recollections of his younger self, when guided by Perri Ann Barley’s Ghost Of Christmas Past with her coat of lights leading the way.

Ockrent and Ahrens’s book weaves one departure from Dickens’s novella into the plot: the story of Scrooge’s father, John William Scrooge, being sentenced to a debtors’ prison while his horrified wife’s family look on as they sing God Bless Us, Everyone.

Cowering into a ball, Stroud’s Scrooge screams “Mother” (as played by Rebecca Jackson), the stuff of a psychological thriller to counter the pantomimic comedy mayhem that subsequently permeates Mr Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball.

John Mulholland’s Ghost of Christmas Yet To Be

Hagyard, out of luck in October when Bev Jones Company’s Guys And Dolls had to be called off, puts that frustration behind him in a terrific performance,  pulling strings as Ring Master cum Ghost of Christmas Present.

Greg Roberts’s clown-wigged Mr Fezziwig and Ali Butler-Hind’s Mrs Fezziwig enjoy themselves too in that first-half climax, while Kristian Barley’s Bob Cratchit and Alice Atang’s Tiny Tim maximise their moments too.

Mulholland’s Ghost of Christmas Yet To Be transforms from Old Hag to flame-maned heavy metal frontman, the shock of the new steering Stroud’s alarmed Scrooge towards the dawn of realisation and change.

Visually arresting, largely playful rather than psychological, A Christmas Carol is a typically vibrant, helter-skelter Tearle production, where the singing and musicianship is of varied quality, the dancing and acting being more assured by comparison.

NE Theatre York in A Christmas Carol, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday; 7.30pm nightly and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. SOLD OUT. Box office for returns only: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.