Tag: Nik Briggs

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REVIEW: York Stage, The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, baking until Saturday ****

Oops! Nik Briggs’s big Ben sees his Big Ben showstopper topple over in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography

NIK Briggs’s York premiere of Jake Brunger & Pippa Cleary’s musical spoof could not be better timed, opening the night after the final to series 16 of Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, most notable for the winner’s Showstopper being the largest cake in the show’s history.

It measured 1.2 metres in length, should you be wondering. Nothing is baked on quite that scale beneath York Stage’s tented stage decked in bunting and banter, but more than 50 models of cakes have been made in foam and Polystyrene for Technical Challenges and Showstoppers alike.

‘Bake Off’ is the first musical where the Showstopper meets the show-stopper, drawing the increasingly trim producer-director Briggs back to the boards for his first principal role since Shrek – his 2020 pantomime cow doesn’t count! – to sing two of the peachiest numbers, My Dad (with Eady Mensah’s Lily, his chaperoned daughter) and The Perfect Petit Fours (with Harriet Yorke’s outstanding Gemma).

Bake Off contestants for starters: Stu Hutchinson’s Russell, left, Harriet Yorke’s Gemma, Joanne Theaker’s Babs, Grant McIntyre’s Dezza, Alana Blacker’s Francesca, Nik Briggs’s Ben and Fredo’s Hassan

Briggs’s widowed Bristol police detective Ben – “the cooking copper” – and Yorke’s Blackpool carer Gemma are two of the eight contestants, each with a back story and motive for competing to be revealed in song, like cutting through a multi-layered cake.

Joanne Theaker’s Babs, thrice married and looking for a fourth, is a lemon-sharp East London school dinner lady prone to euphemisms and giving back as good as she gets from Chris Wilson’s droll, Knock Knock joke-telling Phil Hollinghurst (the Paul Hollywood caricature).

Grant McIntyre’s powerfully voiced Dezza is the forceful vegan hipster environmentalist with a No Butter policy; Alana Blacker’s Francesca is a thirtysomething primary-school teacher, from Bognor via Bologna, bringing her Nonna’s traditional Italian recipes with her.

Joanne Theaker’s Babs on top form in Babs’ Lament, a show-stopper of the musical kind in The Great British Bake Off Musical

In his musical theatre debut, York busker Fredo (Sudeep Pandey) is Syrian-born  Wembley teenager Hassan, with his lucky T-shirt and happy-go-lucky demeanour. In scene-stealing mode, York Stage regular Stu Hutchinson’s Russell is an aeronautical engineer, married to Mario, as camp as a tent and determined to apply science and spreadsheets to his experimental bakes.

Amy Barrett’s Izzy, the 21-year-old Cambridge student of Home Counties stock, is posh and pushy, taking the biscuit for being so ruthlessly determined to win, dreaming of books deals, TV series.

Introducing proceedings, teasing and goading as the heat rises, are Sam Roberts’s Jim and Mary Clare’s Kim (“Mel and Sue, who?”, they say), while Tracey Rae’s bespectacled grand dame Pam Lee fills the Prue Leith slot with polished glitter and nudge-nudge-wink-wink banter.

Having her cake and eating too much of it: Amy Barrett’s win-at-all-costs Izzy, front and centre, where else, in The Great British Bake Off Musical

Brunger and Cleary bring affection, rather more than tension, to the tent, sending up Hollywood’s motorbike riding, Leith’s myriad business deals and love of a tipple in a recipe, and the baking-hot baking conditions that always befall one episode per series.

All the while, the elimination fun and games must be played out, concertinaed largely into one song, Don’t Send Me Home, with ever reducing numbers and ever-changing harmony demands for the diminishing contestants.

Everyone has their solo moment to parade their singing chops, Theaker’s Babs excelling in the pathos of Babs’ Lament and Yorke’s Gemma rising to the occasion in Rise. Wilson’s Hollinghurst and Rae’s Dame Pam have a rather sweet moment in I’d Never Be Me Without You.

Harriet Yorke’s Gemma: Rising to the occasion in Rise

Bubbling away throughout – as the tables disappear one by one, cakes crumble and contestants tumble – is the growing bond of Briggs’s Ben and Yorke’s Gemma, both in slow recovery from loss, to provide the obligatory love interest of the piece. Eady Mensah’s Lily (in a role to be shared with Abigail Hodgson, Ella Laister and Megan Pickard ) is a delightful conduit between them.

In style, Bake Off echoes most closely the humour and musical diversity of Victoria Wood’s patter songs and Tim Firth & Gary Barlow’s Calendar Girls. The underscore music of the TV series filters cleverly through the songs, ranging from big bluesy ballads to Chicago and Cabaret pastiches.

Songs have a tendency to go on too long, to overegg the moment, to be layered on a bit too thick – you get the picture – but the humorous dialogue is well timed under Briggs’s joyous direction and Danielle Mullan Hill’s musical staging is whisked into pleasing shapes. Likewise, Stephen Hackshaw’s band is on egg-cracking good form throughout, revelling in Jessica Viner’s arrangements.

And then there were seven: York Stage’s Bake Off contestants in the firing line for elimination: Joanne Theaker’s Babs, far left, Fredo’s Hassan, Nik Briggs’s Ben, Stu Hutchinson’s Russell, Harriet Yorke’s Gemma, Amy Barrett’s Izzy and Alana Blacker’s Francesca

We know that Edinburgh-born medical student Jasmine Mitchell won the Bake Off glass cake stand on Tuesday, but who triumphs in York Stage’s Great British Bake Off? Not telling, except to say that you’re the winner if you buy a ticket. Hollyhurst/Hollywood handshakes all round for a recipe delivered so creamily.

Iced buns being handed out on the forecourt before the show was the icing on the cake.

York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Well judged performances by Tracey Rea’s Pam Lee and Chris Wilson’s Phil Hollinghurst in The Great British Bake Off Musical

Introducing Fredo, playing Hassan in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical

YORK busker Fredo is making his first venture into musical theatre in York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off as Syrian-born Hassan, a 17-year-old student now living in Wembley, London.

Originally from Nepal, Fredo (real name Sudeep Pandey) came to York to study. He took up director-producer Nik Briggs’s invitation to step into the breach when the original actor, from elsewhere in Yorkshire, had to pull out on the first day or rehearsals.

“York Stage has always been committed to authentic casting, but within York’s acting community there are not a lot of Asian male actors,” says Nik. “I’d seen Fredo busking in York with his fantastic voice, so I looked up his details, contacted him and said ‘would you be interested in playing Hassan?’.

“He said ‘yeah’, and came down straightaway that night to start, with only five weeks of rehearsals to go. It’s his first time in a musical, his first time without his guitar on the street. He said, ‘five weeks ago, I didn’t even know what a musical was’!

Fredo: York busker making musical theatre debut in The Great British Bake Off Musical this week

“It’s been great to support him through his first stage show. He’s just so loveable. He has the biggest heart.”

 Fredo’s programme note states: “Fredo has built a reputation for his soulful vocals, intricate guitar work and dynamic live performances across Yorkshire’s vibrant music scene.

“Drawing inspiration from both Nepali roots and British contemporary sounds, his music blends cultures and genres with authenticity and heart.”

Catch Fredo busking, playing gigs or doing open-mic nights around York. When not performing, he continues to write, record and share his original music with audiences both locally and online.

Recipe for success: Brew & Brownie baker Mary Clare in rehearsal for her role as hostess Kim in York Stage’s Great British Bake Off Musical

Did you know?

JESSICA Viner and Stephen Hackshaw are sharing musical director duties for York Stage’s The Great British Bake Off Musical. “Jess has been with us for all the rehearsals and was set to be the MD for all the shows, but then she was offered the chance to do Singin’ In The Rain in China for three months – having just done the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang UK tour for a year,” says director Nik Briggs.

“Stephen was with us for the first week and will lead the band and conduct us through the shows, having worked with the band last week.”

Did you know too?

YORK Stage cast member Mary Clare (playing Bake Off hostess Kim) is a professional baker, baking for Brew & Brownie, in Museum Street, York. “It’s been hilarious in rehearsals, when there’s been lots of slow-motion ‘baking’ going on, and Mary will say, ‘oh, no, that’s not how you use that implement’, ‘oh, no, that’s not how you sieve’!” says director Nik Briggs. “She’s been our ad-hoc baking expert in the rehearsal room.”

Bake Off hosts Jim (Sam Roberts) and Kim (Mary Clare) mucking around in York Stage’s York premiere

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York Stage find the perfect recipe for showstoppers in The Great British Bake Off Musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Nik Briggs’s cooking copper, Ben, and Harriet Yorke’s carer, Gemma, become entwined in The Great British Bake Off Musical. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

YORK Stage will be rising to the occasion in the York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical from Wednesday (5/11/2025) to Saturday at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Nik Briggs’s cast will be putting the tension into the tent – and the fun bite into the bun fight – in the familiar journey from never-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers as eight contestants seek to avoid soggy bottoms en route to impressing judges Phil Hollinghurst  (Chris Wilson) and Pam Lee (Tracey Rea).

“Prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become delicious reality,” says director and producer Nik. “It’s a show that proves baking isn’t just about the final product, it’s about the journey and the joy that comes from sharing that journey with others.”

He was determined to snap up the show for York Stage. “It started off in July 2022 at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, then transferred to the West End [Noel Coward Theatre, February 24 to May 13 2023], and when the rights became available earlier this year, we were straight in there with our application!

“It’s a show by Jake Brunger [book and lyrics] and Pippa Cleary [music and lyrics], who did the 2015 musical The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, and this show has gone the furthest for them since then. It’s gorgeous!  It has the perfect recipe: it’s got comedy, real heart, it’s so British – and it knows how to poke fun at the great national institution that Bake Off has become, but at the same time hold it in respect.”

The show is built around Brunger and Cleary’s original songs. “A lot of the humour comes in the wordplay and the lyrics, which are reminiscent of Victoria Wood’s patter songs, so rehearsals have been so funny,” says Nik. “It’s just been a lovely experience, which is just what you need when you’re rehearsing a show in only five weeks, whereas we normally do ten.

“Traditionally in musicals, you have your principals and the chorus singing the rousing chorus in harmony four times in the same song, but with this show, you have your Bake Off contestants being eliminated, so you have fewer people to do the harmonies as the show goes on – and everyone’s harmonies then swap too!”

Nik continues: “There’s one song with four choruses, where I sing different parts with different harmonies in every chorus! Those harmonies are gorgeous – and as Bake Off fans will recognise, all the big numbers are based on the underscore music from the TV series.

“It’s so clever the way it’s been done. The audience will think, ‘what a gorgeous, heart-filled British comedy’ it is, and they will realise what hard work has gone into it when people thought it might be twee, but it really isn’t.”

The Bake Off musical condenses the path of a full TV series into one  show, replete with the aforementioned technical challenges, show stoppers, eliminations by the musical’s answer to Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith  all introduced and jollied along by hosts Jim (Sam Roberts) and Kim (Mary Clare).

“Like in the TV series, we learn about their home life, why they’re doing Bake-Off. Like Izzy (Amy Barrett), the Cambridge graduate, who’s very competitive, desperate to win and thinking of the big deals that might come from winning.

“There’s a school dinner lady, who’s just there for the experience, and the environmentalist, who will not cook with butter and insists on everything being vegan. There’s a carer and policeman, both at a new stage in their lives, and we see them connecting with each other as the competition progresses.”

The policeman, Ben, will be played by Nik. “His daughter Lily is with him for reasons that will become clear, and I have four of my York Stage School students, Eady Mensah, Abigail Hodgson, Ella Laister and Meg Pickard, sharing the role,” he says.

Now so busy directing York Stage shows and running York Stage School, Nik is seldom to be seen on stage. Indeed Ben will be his first principal role since leading the cast in green in Shrek The Musical in September 2019 at the Grand Opera House.

“When I first came by the show, there is this duet that Ben sings with Lily, and though it’s very rare these days, I thought, ‘ooh, I would love to sing that’, when nowadays I’m much more comfortable on the other side, directing.

“I still felt that way about the song after a few months, so I decided that I would scratch that [performing] itch once in a decade!”

Nik has been turning his hand to another skill. “We have to make 50-odd cake and pastry props,” he says. “We’ve been designing and making them ourselves, using various crafts, like making things out of Polystyrene and foam. After this interview, I’m off to finish off the Eiffel Tower and Blackpool Tower cakes!”

How does he rate his own baking skills? “I’m rubbish with pastry as I have hot hands, when cold hands are good for pastry making, but back in the day, I was quite renowned for my sponges and cakes in food tech at school,” says Nik. “But in lockdown, I just lost the knack. Neither of my banana breads worked, so I gave up.”

York Stage’s show could not be better timed. “This year’s final is on Channel 4 tomorrow night[4/11/2025); we open on Wednesday. Some people might think it was planned!” says Nik.

York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, November 5 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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York Stage to take deeper dive into “beautiful mess of growing up different in a northern city” in new staging of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie next October

York Stage’s poster to announce next October’s production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Grand Opera House, York

YORK Stage will present a “bold and gritty” new production of Sheffield-forged musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Grand Opera House, York, from October 16 to 24 2026.

Hold on. Didn’t York Stage perform Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae’s award-winning show at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, in June 2023? Yes indeed, but that was the York premiere of the Teen Version, starring Ryan Addyman, from Knaresborough, in the title role in his York Stage debut.

Now, director Nik Briggs has decided to re-imagine the award-winning musical with a “raw, authentic edge, capturing the electricity, humour and heart that has made Jamie a modern British classic”. How? By diving deeper into Jamie’s world.

Ryan Addyman as Jamie New in York Stage’s June 2023 York premiere of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Teen Edition. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Inspired by the Firecracker documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16, composer Dan Gillespie Sells (from Horsham’s finest pop practitioners The Feeling) and writer/lyricist Tom MacRae worked their magic from an original idea by director and co-writer Jonathan Butterell for the 2017 Sheffield Crucible Theatre premiere.

Inspired by a true story, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie follows 16-year-old Jamie New, who doesn’t quite fit in. Supported by his loving mum and his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps into the spotlight to become the star he was born to be.

York Stage’s 2026 production promises a fresh take on the hit West End show, blending Gillespie Sells’s infectious pop score and MacRae’s fearless, humorous book with York Stage’s trademark theatrical grit and emotional honesty.

 Nik Briggs: Directing York Stage’s 2026 production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

“This is a story about identity, courage and the power of self-expression,” says Nik. “Our new production will dive deeper into Jamie’s world – its highs, its heartache and its hope – and celebrate the beautiful mess of growing up different in a northern city. We can’t wait to share this version with York audiences.”

Next October’s full-scale production will feature a vibrant cast and professional creative team, marking another landmark moment for York Stage at the Grand Opera House. Tickets will go on sale soon at atgtickets.com/york.

Did you know?

EVERYBODY’S Talking About Jamie was last staged in York by Pick Me Up Theatre at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in July 2025, when 15-year-old York schoolboy Harvey Stevens took the lead role of Jamie New.

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REVIEW: York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York ****

Over the rainbow: Erin Childs’ Dorothy Gale performing the opening number in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz

APOLOGIES for taking so long to be off to see the Wizard – Prague holiday prevailed – but there is still time to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Grand Opera House.

That road starts outside the auditorium, a lovely welcoming touch by York Stage, whose abundantly colourful production is directed and produced by Nik Briggs, with fabulous ensemble choreography by Damien Poole and thrilling, resourceful musical direction by Jessica Viner, whose birthday happened to fall on the performance attended by your reviewer.

Such is the attention to detail that the Tannoy interval music includes Carry On Wayward Son by…Kansas, and it is to Kansas that we must head for L Frank Baum’s one heck of a weird story, so memorably converted from his 1900 novel to a film wonderland for Judy Garland as over-the-rainbow farm girl Dorothy Gale in 1939.

Vintage performance: Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man

A-level student Erin Childs takes that iconic ruby slipper-clicking  role in York Stage’s show, in tow with Toto, played by Briggs’s dog Freddie, leaving his mark on the production in more way than one with an urgent deposit, and, once on that yellow brick road by Elanor Kitchen’s puppet, handled so dextrously by puppeteer Sarah Jackson. No such mishap for the puppet.

Childs’ Dorothy hits the heights from the off with her rendition of Over The Rainbow, familiar yet with a finale that brings more resonance to the words. Kansas accent spot on, fringe flopping over her eyes, she leads Briggs’s high-spectacle staging of John Kane’s Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation with appropriate pluck and persistence, although her speaking voice tends towards being high pitched at times.

After the spectacular tornado de force of the storm scene, propelled by Adam Moore’s magical evocation of a twister that tosses Dorothy’s bed hither and thither, she is joined on the journey to Emerald City by Florence Poskitt’s Scarecrow, Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man and Finn East’s Lion (having played the Guard in Pick Me Up Theatre’s 2018 production).

Magical: Carly Morton’s Glinda

Poskitt, one half of musical duo Fladam, is a supremely expressive  physical comedic talent, perfectly suited to the wobbly legged, woolly thinking  Scarecrow, but every so often her lines were wont to lose clarity as sentences lengthened. Nevertheless, her performance is a work of clowning joy.

Hutchinson’s Tin Man conducts himself like a matinee idol from a Hollywood cigarette card series with just the right air of camp. Even better is Finn East’s Lion, his natural stage warmth, playfulness and show-stealing presence on full throttle. If I Were King Of The Forest had always been one of the lesser tunes in Harold Arlen and EY Harburg’s score…until now, when East parades his full vocal range like a latterday Meat Loaf.

Carly Morton’s Aunt Em/Glinda spars splendidly with Emily Alderson’s curmudgeonly Miss Glutch and green-with-envy Wicked Witch of the West, while Ian Giles picks up where he left off in reprising his Pick Me Up dual roles as Professor Marvel and the Wizard Of Oz with avuncular aplomb, aided by a giant screen representation of the Wizard’s face with Giles’s distinctively thick head of hair.

The green party: a stylish ensemble scene in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz

Ensemble supporting roles for Munchkins, Winkies and more besides are played with abundant energy by adults and juniors alike, at their best in Munchkinland and especially The Jitterbug.

Briggs calls on the costume wizardry of Charades and Sheffield Theatres, as well as York Stage resources, while Shone Productions’ set is top notch too. The poppy field dance is a particular delight.

Viner works her musicians to full capacity, taking on such familiar songs with relish as York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz feels very much at home at the Grand Opera House.  

York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Flo Poskitt’s Scarecrow, left, Stu Hutchinson’s Tin Man, Erin Childs’ Dorothy Gale and Finn East’s Lion in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz

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Childs’ play for Erin as she plays Dorothy in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz at Grand Opera House, York, from Friday

Erin Childs’ Dorothy looking out of the farm window

ERIN Childs is feeling at home in the lead role of Dorothy as York Stage skip down the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard Of Oz at the Grand Opera House, York.

“It’s so iconic,” says the 17-year-old A-level student from Dunnington, sitting in the Cumberland Street theatre’s foyer bar before performing songs from the show at a Networking and Meet The Team evening last Wednesday.

“I’m quite young to be playing Dorothy as it’s a very big role. I’m so grateful for the opportunity with a company that has such professional standards.”

Erin, who is studying Musical Theatre among four A-levels from this term, will take to the stage from Friday buoyed by achieving her LAMDA Grade 8 Award. “I got a distinction!” she says excitedly.

For the past seven years, she has trained under The Wizard Of Oz director Nik Briggs at York Stage School,  making her mark in a series of York Stage shows.

“My first was The Sound Of Music, when I played Brigitta von  Trapp, and I’ve also done Everybody’s Talking  About Jamie, playing Pritti Pasha at the Grand Opera House, and in May I was in A Midsummer Night’s Dream [set on a modern-day northern council state],” says Erin. “I was a chav fairy, Peaseblossom, and it was a very fun show to do.”

Erin Childs’ Dorothy with Toto (Freddie) in a field at York Maze

How is her American accent coming along for farm girl Dorothy? “I would say we’re doing it more generalised American than Kansas, just to save on confusion, because Kansas is a midwestern  American accent, which might be confusing, and we have to make it as accessible as possible,” says Erin.

She is looking forward to “bringing my own twist” to Dorothy in what she describes as “a kind of modernised” take on The Sound Of Music’s heartwarming tale of friendship, courage and the belief that there’s no place like home.

Erin’s Dorothy, her dog Toto and her friends, the Scarecrow (Flo Poskitt), Tin Man (Stu Hutchinson) and Cowardly Lion (Finn East), must journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Ian Giles).

In navigating the enchanting landscape of Oz, Dorothy will be watched closely by Glinda, the Good Witch (Carly Morton) as the Wicked Witch of the West (Emily Alderson) plots to thwart Dorothy’s quest and reclaim the magical ruby slippers.

“She’s going on this emotional journey, a journey of self-discovery, that everyone goes on with her, as she really embodies that we’re all searching for the same things – especially love – as we all have the same emotions,” says Erin. “She also finds love in herself, accepting who she is.”

She is thrilled by the prospect of singing Over The Rainbow. “It’s so special; a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Everyone knows the song, and the fact that I have this opportunity is incredible,” she says. “The Jitterbug is brilliant to do too because of the fantastic choreography that goes with it.”

Erin Childs’ Dorothy walking through the maze at York Maze in her ruby slippers

Erin will perform with not one but two Totos. “We have a puppet Toto, commissioned from Elanor Kitchen, and ‘real’ Toto, our director Nik’s dog, Freddie,” she says. “Nepotism at its finest,” Nik jokes.

“I’ve worked with Freddie at nearly every rehearsal to get that bond with him. He’s very unpredictable but his cuteness will override everything.”

If Freddie is a new acquaintance, Erin has worked with all her fellow principal cast members previously. “They’re phenomenal. What they bring to life in their characters is just amazing,” she says.

Erin has had a busy summer, combining The Wizard Of Oz rehearsals with working in the entertainments team at York Maze under York actor, entertainer and magician Josh Benson. “It’s involved lots of hosting and dancing,” she says. “Hopefully I’ll be doing the Halloween show there this year too.”

York Maze, by the way, has played its part in York Stage’s publicity campaign for The Wizard Of Oz. Photographs of Erin’s Dorothy, amid the sweetcorn sheaths, in ruby slippers and with Freddie in Toto mode, were taken there, along with the filming of the show’s promotional video, featuring Erin in costume singing Over The Rainbow.

The Yellow Brick Road awaits.

York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, September 12 to 20. Performances: 7.30pm, September 12, 13, 19 and 20; 7pm, September 16, 17 and 18; 4pm, September 14; 2.30pm, September 13 and 20. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Over the rainbow: Erin Childs’ Dorothy following a path through the maze at York Maze

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Re-meet Mark Holgate and Suzy Cooper, the fairy king and queen of York Stage’s ‘Dream’ as Shakespeare goes Shameless

Suzy Cooper’s Queen of the Fairies, Hippolyta, in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025.

Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York-born actor Mark Holgate in the dual roles of courtly Hippolyta and Theseus and the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon, in York Stage’s reinvention of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11.

In his tenth anniversary of producing and directing shows at the Grand Opera House, Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth, set to a Nineties and Noughties’ dancefloor soundtrack of Freed From Desire, No Limits, Show Me Love, Everytime We Touch et al as Shakespeare meets Shameless.

Presented as York Stage’s first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs’s ‘Dream’ will feature a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Whilst not being a musical, the show will include a live band alongside powerhouse vocals that York Stage are famous for with their musical production,” says Nik.

Mark Holgate and Suzy Cooper in rehearsal for York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Suzy last trod the Grand Opera House boards in dowager dame Berwick Kaler’s valedictory pantomime after 47 years on the York stage in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse, the final curtain falling on January 6 2024.

“It will be lovely to be back in York, performing at the Grand Opera House again,” says Suzy. ““I’ve not worked with Mark before, but he did the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre season in York the same summer that I did it at Blenheim, when we brushed shoulders in that amazing tent when we gathered for the start of the second summer. It’s going to be a lot of fun working with him.

“For ‘Dream’, the lovely Nik rang me and said, ‘it’s a very unusual thing we’re doing, a co-production with the Grand Opera House, and would you like to play Hippolyta?’. I didn’t  need to think about, and not to have to audition was music to my ears!”

Mark’s career has taken in the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cheek By Jowl, Sheffield Crucible and theatres across the UK, as well as such roles as Banquo in Macbeth and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre seasons in 2018 and 2019 in his home city.

Forest fireworks: Mark Holgate’s Oberon in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

He last performed on a York stage in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s staged  reading of Maryland, Lucy Kirkwood’s “howl” of a protest play, directed by Bridget Foreman at the Friargate Theatre in November 2021.

Mark’s participation in York Stage’s ‘Dream’ was “actually all down to my Dad”. “He has always been a great support of my acting career,” he says. “He read an article in The Press and sent it over to me, about York Stage putting on ‘Dream’ and that they were holding auditions. I dropped Nik a line, came to York Stage to meet him and that was that.” 

Reflecting on the contrast between his past Shakespeare experiences, including Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, and now with York Stage, Mark says: “The main difference is the rehearsal schedule. A lot of the cast have 9-5s and so rehearsals have worked around people’s availability. Whereas I would rehearse for three or four weeks consecutively, with this production you could have a gap of two weeks before being back in the room again.

“So you really have to be on your game at keeping track of everything you’ve discovered and set in rehearsal. Working in this way is completely new to me. It definitely keeps it fresh and exciting.”

Suzy Cooper: “Making decisions organically about how we’ll play Hippolyta’s relationship with Theseus”

Suzy adds: “Mark and I have had around five days’ rehearsals, which though it sounds really scary, as you’d normally do three weeks, but actually they’re intense days, so I just have to keep calm and carry on!

“We’re still undecided, right up to the last minute, making decisions organically about how we’ll play Hippolyta’s relationship with Theseus, where she’s been won as a prize, but maybe she’s not unhappy about that. Wait and see!

“It’s trickier than Titania, and you know me, I need to get my [acting] shoes on to get my feet rooted in a role.”

What are the challenges of playing two roles, Theseus and Oberon, in one play, Mark? “Remembering who I am playing in each scene. Only joking! Theseus is quite tricky as, once you’ve seen him in the first scene, he doesn’t appear again right till the end. Keeping hold of his journey after playing Oberon in between will be the challenge.

Mark Holgate’s Oberon and Suzy Cooper’s Hippolyta, centre, with Sam Roberts’s Demetrius, left, Amy Domeneghetti’s Helena, Will Parsons’ Lysander and Meg Olssen’s Hermia in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“I’m really looking forward to taking them on to the Grand Opera House stage. Both of my daughters have performed there but I never have. They beat me to it.”

York Stage’s ‘Dream’ calls on Mark to do a double act at the double with Suzy Cooper’s Hippolyta and Titania. “Suzy and I have never worked together but we have crossed paths. On the first day of rehearsal I was a bit nervous as usual on the first day. Like the first day of school. Then Suzy entered the room, I walked over and gave her a hug and all my nervous energy disappeared.

“She has been an absolute joy to work with and I really look forward to sharing the Grand Opera House stage with her.” 

Both Suzy and Mark have “previous” form for appearing in Shakespeare’s most performed comedy. “I’ve never played Titania before, but I did play the fairy, Mustardseed, and Snout the Tinker in Lucy Pitman-Wallace’s production at York Theatre Royal, with Malcom Skates as Bottom and Andrina Carroll as Titania, and then Peter Quince in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s production at Blenheim Palace in 2019, the summer when I also played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth,” says Suzy.

“Suzy has been an absolute joy to work with and I really look forward to sharing the Grand Opera House stage with her,” says Mark Holgate

“Those nights doing ‘Dream’ were so joyful, when director Juliet Forster said ‘just trust in what you do’, but Nik’s show is a very different ‘Dream to any I’ve seen or done before, with Nik’s wonderful design and working with a composer. It’s the youngest, most exciting version I’ve experienced. I’m seeing out my history in the play with these new actors.”

Mark was  part of Juliet Forster’s cast for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre production of ‘Dream’ at the Eye of York in 2018. “The audience just love it,” he says, exploring the 1595 play’s abiding  popularity. “Apart from theatre being a great form of escapism, the play itself is such a fantastic piece. It has great characters, it’s funny, dramatic, poetic, and in this production the songs, movement and storytelling from a superb ensemble will really blow your socks off.

“I hope people come to see it because it will be so different to the idea of Shakespeare that you have in your head. It will be a lot of fun. It’s on for only one week, so get those tickets booked.”

York Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees . Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dream casting: York Stage’s poster artwork for Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate’s participation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Panto queen Suzy Cooper and RSC actor Mark Holgate to star in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate: Playing Titania and Hippolyta and Oberon and Theseus respectively in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025.

Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York actor Mark Holgate as the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon, in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11.

In his tenth anniversary of producing and directing shows at the Grand Opera House, Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth.

Presented as York Stage’s first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs’s Dream will feature a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Whilst not being a musical, the show will include a live band alongside powerhouse vocals that York Stage are famous for with their musical production,” says Nik. “Keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks for more Dreamy cast announcements. The next one will be very soon.”

Suzy last trod the Grand Opera House boards in dowager dame Berwick Kaler’s valedictory pantomime after 47 years on the York stage in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse from December 9 2023 to January 6 2024.

Britannia rules the waves: Suzy Cooper’s fairy in Robinson Crusoe &The Pirates Of The River Ouse at the Grand Opera House, York, in December 2023. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“It will be lovely to be back in York, performing at the Grand Opera House again,” says Suzy, who will take the role of Hippolyta too opposite Holgate’s Theseus. “I’ve never played Titania before, but I did play the fairy, Mustardseed, at York Theatre Royal, with Malcom Skates as Bottom and Andrina Carroll as Titania, and then Peter Quince in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s production at Blenheim Palace in 2019 [when she also appeared as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth].

“I’ve not worked with Mark before, but he did the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre season the same summer that I did, and it’s going to be a lot of fun working with him.”

Explaining how this production and the initial casting came to fruition, producer-director Nik says: “This is a new venture for York Stage in our first co-production with the Grand Opera House, so as part of that we were looking at how we could create the next generation of York Stage productions.

“Like when we did our first pantomime [the socially distanced Jack And The Beanstalk in the Covid-shadowed winter of 2020] and we’ve also talked about using professional casting alongside our community casting, where a lot of our actors have professional credits too.

“It was important for York Stage to use professional actors with connections with York, and Suzy was someone I had wanted to work with for a long time. We’d talked several times about doing a show, and this was the perfect opportunity. It’s been in the offing since late-summer when we started talking about it.”

York Stage director Nik Briggs: Relocating Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from the court of Athens Court, a northern council estate

Nik continues: “We were thinking about making ‘Dream’ like Brassic or Shameless, set on a northern council estate. In the original telling, Hippolyta is the Amazon queen, who is almost a prisoner of the Athenian court, and the idea struck me that with Suzy being a southerner but adopted by York after performing here for nigh on 30 years, she would be ideal as the southern counterpoint to the northern world in the tumultuous battle that unfolds, adding a North-South divide to it.”

Nik will be directing Mark Holgate for the first time too. “Our paths have never crossed before. Mark’s father had seen a piece in The Press about us looking for actors and said that Mark had had a career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cheek By Jowl, Sheffield Crucible and theatres across the UK and was a real master of Shakespearean acting, but he’d never performed at the Grand Opera House or York Theatre Royal.

“The opportunity to perform in one of the big theatres in his home city, with his family living in the city, was a real draw for him.  He’s played such roles as Banquo in Macbeth and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night – he was sensational in that – for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre but until now I wasn’t aware that he was from York.

“So we met up, he did some readings and he was exactly what I’d envisaged for Oberon. It really hinges on Oberon in this play, and Mark got my vision; he had just what I wanted from the role. It’s really exciting to see what he’ll bring to it.”

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate will star in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees . Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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REVIEW: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight at 7.30pm; tomorrow at 2.30pm & 7.30pm ****

Girl trouble: Gerard Savva’s Booby being given a hard time by Hannah Shaw’s Amy, back left, Alexandra Mather’s Susan, Julie Anne Smith’s Joanne, Jo Theaker’s Jenny, front, left, Mary Clare’s Sarah and, under the covers, Florence Poskitt’s April. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married?

On Gerard Savva’s return to the stage for the first time since 2008 to play Bobby, the question is: where has he been all these years?!

“He just applied from our social media posts and came down to audition for us!” explained York Stage director, choreographer and designer, when your reviewer asked him where he had discovered Savva’s talents. “I knew from his energy and initial chemistry that he was our Bobby!”

Just to re-emphasise the point: Savva isn’t just making a test-the-waters return in a chorus line: he is playing the lead, the suave, sleek Bobby, a charmer certainly, if elusive in the marriage stakes. He looks the matinee idol part too: tanned, immaculately coiffured, sharp suited and glittery in his T-shirt detail.

Briggs is in supreme form, not only in his casting – Savva is in good company in Company – but in his staging too, brightening the Theatre@41 black box with the prettiest of drapes and colourful boxes with ribbon that serve as both birthday presents and for standing on. Boxes, coincidence or not, have been prevalent in this autumn’s production in York and beyond, making for quick scene changes.

Company is Stephen Sondheim at his very best, here teaming up with George Furth for a bravura, sophisticated and wittily insightful 1970 American musical comedy that follows Savva’s Bobby as he “navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily and unhappily married friends”. Where will his exploration of the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind lead him? Ultimately into a celebration of being alive in Savva’s vocal high point.

The music has the pitter-patter of patter songs, a typically steep challenge, but one met brilliantly by Briggs’s company, in particular by Hannah Shaw’s Amy in Getting Married Today – the unbelievably fast one – and Julie Anne Smith’s heavy-drinking Joanne in The Ladies Who Lunch.

Florence Poskitt, ever the comic gem on the York musical theatre scene, is sublime as ditzy air hostess April, her bedroom scene with Savva’s Bobby receiving the biggest cheer on press night.

Couple after couple delight: Jack Hooper’s Harry and Mary Clare’s ever-questing Sarah; Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s  pot-stirring Peter and Alexandra Mather’s hippy-chic Susan; Stu Hutchinson’s David and Jo Theaker’s Jenny; Robbie Wallwork’s Paul and Hannah Shaw’s outstanding Amy, and Matthew Clarke’s Larry and Julie Anne Smith’s intemperate Joanne. Kelly Stocker’s Kathy and Lana Davies’s Marta add to the fun too.

Briggs’s costumes and choreography are full of panache; musical director James Robert Ball and his band play gorgeously, and lighting designer Adam Moore, sound designer Ollie Nash and hair and make-up artist Phoebe Kilvington are at the top of their game too. Don’t miss this savvy, snazzy, snappy New York classic; you will be in the best of Company if you go. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Stage in School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Finn East’s Dewey Finn: Reasserting his golden talent to amuse. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg

AS the new school year settles its feet under the table, School Of Rock opens for alternative lessons in life: music to the ears of anyone who believes that education should add up to more than Rishi Sunak’s vision of compulsory Maths to the age of 18.

After John Godber’s Teechers and Willy Russell’s Our Day Out both espoused the value of looking outside the box to stimulate children’s minds and actions, a more innocent force does so in School Of Rock in the idiot-savant form of Dewey Finn (Finn East).

Kicked out of his band, this failed rock-god guitarist is now in danger of being booted out of best mate Ned Schneebly’s (James Robert Ball) flat for pushing his freeloading beyond the tolerance of Ned’s insufferable, controlling partner Patty Di Marco (a suitably shrill and shrewish Amy Barrett).

Down but not yet out, he pretends to be teacher Ned to take up a substitute teacher’s post at posh and proper prep school Horace Green, immediately jettisoning Maths, tests and gold stars for lessons in the history of rock. Heavy rock, hard rock, not the swiftly dismissed Taylor Swift and Kanye.

Dewey is committing identity fraud, but he has a rebellious charm, the cheeky big kid within him encouraging his young charges to express themselves, all the more so in the hands of Finn East, who may have shades of Jack Black (from Richard Linklater’s 2003 film) in his performance but bags of personality of his own making, built on his instinctive comic timing and irrepressible stage presence.

He just happens to be a cracking rock singer too, and these are big, big rock songs, challenging to sing in the compositions of Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock.

Crucial too, in the guise of Dewey, is his interaction, his easy connection with the multitude of children that makes up the Next Generation of the title: led by the supremely talented young band of Charlie Jewison’s knee-slide guitarist Zack Mooneyham, Daniel Tomlin’s geeky keyboard wizard Lawrence Turner, Zack Denison’s all-action drummer Freddie Hamilton and Matilda Park’s ace “bass face” Katie Travis (Park having mastered bass in a matter of weeks).

Plenty of children’s roles add to the joy in Julian “Downton Abbey”  Fellowes’ ebullient script (rooted in Mike White’s screenplay), from Theo Rae’s fashion-fixated Billy Sandford to Molly Thorne’s bossy Summer Hathaway and Eady Mensah’s shy Tomika, from Team Gibson (with performances being shared with Team Fender, the names referring to makes of guitar).

Adults tend to play second fiddle, except for Megan Waite’s operatic-voiced head teacher, Rosalie Mullins, so repressed and orderly until Dewey brings out the Stevie Nicks butterfly from her dowdy chrysalis, and Dewey’s flatmates, Barrett’s ever-exasperated Patty and Ball’s Ned, a bundle of nerdy nerves that craves release in reconnecting with his past. Look out too for late replacement Flo Poskitt’s comical cameos as Ms Sheinkopf and Mrs Sandford.

School Of Rock is described as “technically challenging”, partly on account of having two bands, not only the burgeoning young players but musical director Stephen Hackshaw’s band that plays in the theatre boxes, rather than the pit, at one point stepping forward to watch the young’uns in the climactic Battle of the Bands.

The first night is not without technical hitches in the sound balance, but these are ironed out quickly, and in every way this is a show with high production values, from Nik Briggs’s direction, bringing out such confident, expressive, energetic performances in his next generation, to Danielle Mullan-Hill in her rock choreography, peaking with Stick It To The Man.

Lighting designer Adam Moore and sound designer Ian Thomson evoke the atmosphere of a rock gig, the lighting rig absolutely looking the part, topped off by fireworks fizzing at the finale. Briggs’s set and costume design rock, and Phoebe Kilvington’s hair and make-up is the icing on the cake.

The accents are uniformly spot on too in this all-American celebration of music, friendship and the power of self-expression, where the young cast all deserves gold stars and Finn East reasserts his golden talent to amuse.

York Stage presents School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus  2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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REVIEW: York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Gold top performance: Reuben Khan’s Joseph in York Stage’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick

AFTER Lee Mead, Keith Jack, Joe McElderry and Union J’s Jaymi Hensley, Joseph’s coat of many colours fits Reuben Khan delightfully lightly at the Grand Opera House.

The University of York psychology student, from Burnley, has plenty on his mind: third-year studies; his debut York Stage title role and applications to London drama schools to do a Masters degree in musical theatre.

On the evidence of his assured performance at 23, especially vocally, his future looks as bright as the Technicolor Dreamcoat that had him “saying the colours of Jospeh’s coat before I could spell them” on car journeys with his mum.

Director, producer and designer Nik Briggs returns to Lloyd Webber and Rice’s early musical for the first time since his “Joseph as you’ve never seen it before” show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in November 2018 with its  cast of 50 and Joseph in pyjamas.

Performing on crutches: Finn East’s Simeon singing with the Brothers

The Grand Opera House offers the opportunity to deliver a production on a bigger scale, not in cast size, but in lighting, staging and visual impact, aided by the fabulous parade of costume designs from Charades Theatrical Costume, St Helens.

The stage is built from scratch, as first the Narrator, Hannah Shaw, then Joseph and children from York Stage School (divided into Team Canaan and Team Egypt) oversee the creation of the world of Canaan, home to Jacob and his 11 sons (some of them daughters in Briggs’s company).

It looks so inviting, you want to book a holiday there. All it needs now to complete the scene is a camel. Oh, and here comes a camel on wheels, pretty much life-size!

From the off, this sung-through pop musical moves at a lick: typified by Finn East’s Simeon defying his injured knee to speed around on crutches, popping up everywhere and taking on a second role too as the Snake.

Hannah Shaw, who studied music at York St John University, sets the tone and style in glittering dress and shiny boots, engaging with the children like a teacher, driving the show forward and singing with oomph, both in her high notes and a lower register.

Storyteller in song: Hannah Shaw’s Narrator

Reuben Khan’s Joseph sings like a dream, whatever a song demands, whether tenderness, drama, power, or emotion further heightened by standing atop a ladder on a stage suddenly full of them in one of Briggs’s most striking designs.

Khan’s characterisation of Joseph has to be expressed largely through Rice’s narrative lyrics, and he does so particularly strongly in the dark ballad Close Every Door, while Any Dream Will Do is as irresistible as ever.

Lesley Hill’s choreography is as playful, fun and camp as this glitterball of a musical demands, at its best in the glorious ensemble number Joseph’s Coat, where Adam Moore’s lighting design matches every change of colour in the lyric.

Briggs’s company revels in playing old favourites with a knowing campness that has only increased with the passing of the years, especially in Jacob (Martin Rowley) and the brothers’ cod rendition of the sad chanson Those Canaan Days, exaggerated French accents et al.

The York Stage company in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Benjamin’s Calypso is even dafter, full of Caribbean joy as Cyanne Unamba-Oparah’s Judah has the brothers walking on sunshine.

Pop hit after pop hit hits home in all manner of musical styles, from Alex Hogg leading the brothers in the One More Angel In Heaven hoedown to Matthew Clarke’s vainglorious Potiphar luxuriating in the richness of his self-titled song.

In the absence of Carly Morton with shingles (get well soon, Carly), Amy Barrett takes on the rock’n’roll role of Pharaoh, traditionally played in sequinned-Elvis-in-Las-Vegas style. Not so much Elvis as Elvira here, but her Song Of The King is still a peach (one of the 29 colours in Joseph’s coat, by the way).

Adam Tomlinson’s 15-piece orchestra is on top form throughout, savouring the multitude of song styles and pumping up the beat for the Joseph Megamix finale as the party vibe suffuses the cast and cheering audience alike.

York Stage in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight, Wednesday and Thursday; 5pm and 8pm, Friday; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york