Tag: Pick Me Up Theatre

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

Alison Taylor’s Mrs Alexander, left, Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, and Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan with Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble members Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Lee Harris. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

THE Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time is playing York for the third time in ten years.

First came the National Theatre’s bells-and-whistles production, winner of seven Olivier awards, at the Grand Opera House in January 2015, with its white box framework of graph-paper lines on moving walls and flooring to match the mathematical mind of teenage protagonist Christopher Boone.

Next, the performing arts department at All Saints RC School combined dance, original livemusicand movement sequences in a February 2023 adaptation wherein ten narrators represented Christopher’s imagination and inner thoughts, while highlighting  the key motifs of letters, as well as Chris’s love of numbers and space, through physical theatre and projections.

Now comes York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s interpretation, using University of York history graduate Simon Stephens’s superlative script, premiered by the National Theatre, under the imaginative and inventive direction of Andrew Isherwood,  a regular presence on the York stage and increasingly in the director’s chair too.

“Directing this show has absolutely been one of the best experiences over the past 12 years I’ve had making theatre,” he says in his programme note – and it shows in an ensemble production that is cinematic yet boldly theatrical in its fusion of video projection, effects and lighting and sound by Will Nicholson, always in harmony with the mathematical shapes, emotional frictions and physical theatre of Isherwood’s team of 11 players.

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone and his pet rat Toby with Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

His choice of recorded music is impeccable too, especially Cat Power’s heart-rending Maybe Not and Moby’s God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters, last used so evocatively in Robert De Niro and Al Pacino’s face-off in Heat in 1995.

On arrival, the audience is confronted by the sight of Elanor Kitchen’s model of a dead dog, Wellington, pinned to the ground by a garden fork, on the end-on raised stage. Welcome to a “murder mystery like no other”.

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher John Francis Boone is rocking, traumatised, even more so when accused of killing the dog by Mrs Shears (Natalie Melia), his potty-mouthed neighbour in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Christopher is 15 years three months and two days old; he attends a special needs school, and although he is never attributed with Asperger’s syndrome by source novel writer Mark Haddon, this fearful yet fearless boy can calculate A-level Maths to A* standard at 15 but is ill-equipped to work out everyday life.

Christopher does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour. He loves red, his lucky colour, but rejects an offer of Battenberg cake because of his dislike of yellow.

Such frankness and original thinking instil humour and wonderment in his bright, naive, unpredictable utterances, but pain and puzzlement bubble beneath the surface too in Jonathan Wells’s performance, expressed in his twitching, fidgety fingers and downward gaze.

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone, centre, with fellow Pick Me Up Theatre cast members Jon Cook, left, Lee Harris, Catherine Edge, Beryl Nairn and Tom Riddolls. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

This Elvington GP has favoured musical theatre in his York stage appearances, but here he returns to straight theatre for the first time since Berkoff and Strindberg plays in his Sheffield student days, making you wonder why he has not done so previously.

What a revelation his performance is. Slim of frame, boyish of looks, not unlike Ben Whishaw, he is 34 yet wholly believable as 15 – the age, by the way, that he took his A-level in computing, giving him an immediate connection with Christopher.

His physical demeanour is only part of the equation, Equally significant is how to convey Christopher’s intelligence and more significantly, the way he thinks, and both Wells and Isherwood maximise how Stephens’s script travels both inside and outside Christopher’s head as he vows to defy his father by “doing detective work” to hunt down Wellington’s killer.

Like a Keaton or Chaplin, Wells’s Christopher makes us laugh at the absurdity of others, or whoever he winds up with his candid, unconventional manner, but he never sets out to be a clown or funny. Christopher is serious, earnest, but his comments are the stuff of observational comedy.

Such is the skill of novelist Haddon and playwright Stephens’s writing, where we wholly empathise with the young boy who follows his own path, however unsafe he may feel amid the chaotic cacophony, on a bigger journey of discovery that combines abnormal intellect with bewildering, baffling new experiences.

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone cowers from his father Ed (Mike Hickman) as a policeman (Jon Cook) looks concerned. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Yes, we laugh, but we are also stopped regularly in our tracks by the feeble behaviour of his elders, but certainly not betters, who let him down, in particular his mendacious father Ed (Mike Hickman), a boiler engineer with a tendency to boil over into rage, even violence.

The one exception is special needs teacher and mentor Siobhan (Beryl Nairn), who encourages him in his writing.

Catherine Edge, so elegantly impressive in Settlement Players’ Separate Tables in February 2024, excels again as Judy, the mother that, spoiler alert, Christopher had been told was dead but had in fact fled to London with her feckless lover, neighbour Roger Shears (Lee Harris). Hers is the most emotionally complex role, the least black and white, and Edge finds those nuances.

In the ensemble, Alison Taylor, Natalie Melia, Lee Harris, Jon Cook, Tom Riddolls and Alexandra Mather both play multiple roles and bond in choreographed movement and babbling, threatening noise on Christopher’s first solo train journey to London with pet rat Toby, into the pandemonium of a Tube station, and out on to the alienating, disorientating streets.

Nicholson’s lighting is key to Pick Me Up’s technical flourish, but all in service of Wells’s remarkable portrayal of a boy with a beautiful mind in search of a safe haven.

Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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Pick Me Up Theatre go boldly into The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from today

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone – and his pet rat Toby – with Beryl Nairn’s Siobhan in Pick Me Up Theatre’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

PICK Me Up Theatre take on the challenge of bringing Simon Stephens’ stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s multi-million-selling novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time to the York stage from today.

The York company is following in the esteemed footsteps of the National Theatre, winner of seven Olivier awards for its remarkable production that played the Grand Opera House, York, on its first tour in January 2015.

Director Andrew Isherwood is at the helm for Haddon’s story of fearful yet fearless 15-year-old Christopher Boone, who can work out A-level Maths but is ill-equipped to work out everyday life, distrusting strangers deeply, never venturing alone beyond the end of his road.

Novelist Haddon never called him autistic or attributed Asperger Syndrome to him, but Christopher does not like to be touched, is incapable of lying, can count binary numbers to infinity and has powers of logic beyond conventional reasoning or normal patterns of behaviour.

Everything changes when Christopher falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world.

“When I spoke to Pick Me Up producer Robert Readman in January last year, when we did Young Frankenstein, I put down a list of a range of shows I would love to be part of, and Curious Incident was one of them,” recalls Andrew. “I also said I didn’t understand any reluctance to do productions related to children’s stories.

“To my surprise, Robert already had this play on his radar and had secured the rights.” Now, to Andrew’s delight, Curious Incident forms Pick Me Up’s first show of 2025, with no fewer than three matinees in the hope of attracting school audiences to assist with their GCSE studies of Haddon’s book.

Andrew has seen the National Theatre show on its NT At Home streaming service but will be putting his own mark on the play. “I’m  certainly trying to do my own version with projection and contemporary classical music,” he says.

“Over the years, even when I was studying film and television at York St John, I’ve always had an affinity with Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore and John Williams and how films used their music, and we’ll be using music as part of the stream of consciousness in the play, to complement the scene, setting the mood and tone.”

Andrew brings his background in television and film and 12 years of acting on stage into his directorial role. “I like to set the scene to get it on its feet straightaway in rehearsals, where I’ll say, ‘show me what you’ve got’ and then we’ll adapt it from there. I’ll always listen to an idea and if it’s good, I’ll look to use it,” he says.  

Evocative lighting by Will Nicholson, on the back of his designs for Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women and Black Sheep Theatre’s The Tempest, will play its part in his third Theatre@41 show of 2025.

“We’re doing the show pretty much in the round, or more like a horseshoe, but with projection at the far end and we’ll be using a raised stage, like Pick Me Up did for Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and before that Shakespeare In Love,” says Andrew.

“There’ll be very little set, but lots of light boxes and lots of props, and lots of playing with levels, on the balcony as well as the stage, and plenty of sound effects too as we create illusions through sound and light.

“We’ll have strip lights around the stage and lights under the raised stage to serve a story purpose and thematic purpose, but I don’t want to overuse these effects in the first half hour because people can become desensitised.

“We want the audience to keep being surprised, so we’re doing it in a way where we don’t do things all the time. It’s not about throwing things at the wall and bombarding people with sound and noise, but it has to be evocative and emotional in its impact.”

The balance of visual and verbal is the key. “The play lends itself to strong visual representation but the actors shouldn’t be overpowered by that side of it, although they are always in shapes, whether standing in squares of triangles, because it’s always playing to how Christopher thinks mathematically,” says Andrew.

He has enjoyed bringing so many components together under his direction. “I like the opportunity to be more abstract as it’s non-linear. We can be more out there but hopefully be evocative too, as well as somewhat esoteric and abstract, all for the purpose of storytelling to put across what’s going on in Christopher’s mind, if we can pull it off.” he says.

“It’s abstract, it’s out there, but it’s got heart too, and a cast of 11 who I’ve encouraged to really go for it. I think they’re having a lot of fun with it – and they tell me they are!”

Jonathan Wells’s Christopher Boone and fellow cast members in a scene from The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Taking the role of Christopher will be 34-year-old Jonathan Wells. “I was about 15 when I first read it, Christopher’s age, and it was probably the first book I read from that teenage perspective, which was a new method of fiction for me,” he says. “It’s the way he sees and interprets the world that jumps out at you because it’s written in his words, seeing things the way he does, but with a back story too.

“I went back to the book after I got the part and it struck me how literal the play script is, how direct the transfer is from page to stage.”

Almost 20 years on, Jonathan notes how “there’s much more awareness now of neurodivergence and the different range of ‘normal’”. In turn he will bring both sympathy and empathy to playing Christopher. Sympthy first: “There are times when he is very vulnerable, not just when being hit by his dad, but also in thinking about his mother, who he thinks is dead, and it’s open to your interpretation how you present that sadness,” he says.

And empathy? “I think back to myself as a teenager, doing an A-level in computing at 15,” says Jonathan, finding common ground with Christopher’s gift for Maths. “My dad was a computer teacher and my brother was a teacher too, giving me some of his A-level Maths books.”

Jonathan went on to study medicine and is now in his fifth year as a GP in Elvington. “I’m also teaching medical students in the practice on Thursday mornings at the moment,” he says, keeping teaching in the family.

On the York stage scene, Jonathan has focused on musical theatre shows until now. “The last ‘straight’ play I did was at university in Sheffield, when I did Steven Berkoff’s The Trial and also did August Strindberg’s A Dream Play, another ensemble play, like ‘Curious Incident’, so it’s been nice to get back to that,” he says.

“Depending on the musical, depending on the show, you have more straightforward characters in musicals, where you can create as much depth as you like, but with a play like this you can really get into the depth of the character to spend a couple of hours on stage as Christopher.”

Jonathan reveals he did not apply initially for the role of Christopher. “I auditioned for one of the voice parts as I thought I’d be too old for Christopher, but at the audition Andrew had a thought: could I play Christopher?”

Further audition calls ensued, and Andrew had found his Christopher. “I’m playing him with that vulnerability you associate with young people, dressing in a tracksuit and T-shirts, as I would have done at that age, for the rehearsals as I don’t like rehearsing in my work clothes,” says Jonathan.

He is drawing not only on Simon Stephens’ script and Mark Haddon’s book for his portrayal of Christopher but also on Atypical, the Netflix series about Sam, an American high school teenager on the autism spectrum. “It’s a coming-of-age story and family drama, which has a lot of parallels with Haddon’s book, and I’ve taken a lot from Sam’s character,” says Jonathan.

His medical training has played its part too. “As part of our mandatory training, we have to do autism training, which has come a lot into the NHS with online training developed by a mother whose son has autism. That’s been really useful to learn more about the way it affects behaviour,” says Jonathan.

“I am very much aware I’m not an autism expert, and I’m probably at the other end of the spectrum, so I’m  playing him very much as a character [rather than from personal experience], drawing inspiration from what I’ve seen and read about it, taking that information, experimenting with different ways of moving and different ways of expressing the words, to keep the performance interesting.”

Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today (1/4/2025) to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when night-time incidents spark curiosity. Hutch’s List No. 13, from The York Press

Kiki Dee & Carmelo Ruggeri: Heading to All Saints Church, Pocklington on The Long Ride Home tour

FOUR nights of Greg Davies and tenth visit of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers are the headline acts in Charles Hutchinson’s bill for cultural satisfaction.

Acoustic duo of the week: Kiki Dee & Carmelo Luggeri, All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight, 7.30pm

JOIN Bradford-born singer Kiki Dee and guitarist Carmelo Luggeri for an acoustic journey through their songs and stories, taking in songs from 2022 album The Long Ride Home, Kate Bush and Frank Sinatra covers and hits from Kiki’s 55 years and more in the music business, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Star, I Got The Music In Me, Loving & Free and Amoureuse. Box office: kikiandcarmelo.com.

Brighouse & Rastrick Band: A blast of brass on Sunday afternoon at Pocklington Arts Centre

Brass concert of the week: Brighouse & Rastrick Band, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 2pm

FOREVER associated with 1977 number two hit and “unofficial encore” The Floral Dance, West Yorkshire’s Brighouse & Rastrick Band presents a concert suitable for casual listener and connoisseur alike.

The majority of premier band championships have been held by ‘Briggus’, most recently becoming the 2022 British Open and Brass in Concert champions. ‘Briggus’ are noted too for collaborations outside the brass band tradition, from the late Terry Wogan to Kate Rusby, classical actor Simon Callow to The Unthanks at York Minster in 2012. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Tom Holland: Hailing Caesars at Grand Opera House, York

History lesson of the week: Tom Holland, The Lives Of The Caesars, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Rest Is History podcaster and storyteller Tom Holland journeys back to the Roman empire to “get up close and personal” with Caesar, Augustus, Caligula and Nero as he spotlights the lives of the first 12 Roman emperors in conversation with Martha Kearney.

In this supreme arena, emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle, as highlighted in Holland’s new Penguin Classics translation of Suetonius’s Lives Of The Twelve Caesars. Expect revelations of the emperors’ shortfalls, sex scandals, tastes, foibles and eccentricities. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Vivienne Carlyle’s Mrs Johnstone and Sean Jones’s Mickey in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman

Musical of the week: Blood Brothers, Grand Opera House, York, April 1 to 5, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

WILLY Russell’s Liverpool musical makes its tenth visit to the Grand Opera House, and despite Sean Jones’s appearance in the 2022 tour being billed as his “last ever” after 23 years on and off as Mrs Johnstone’s son Mickey, here he is once more, still  “running around as a seven-year-old in a baggy green jumper and short trousers” at 54.

Scottish actress Vivienne Carlyle, who played Mrs Lyons on her previous Blood Brothers visit to York, takes the role of Mrs J in Russell’s moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Curiouser and curiouser: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Play of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 1 to 5,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday

ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Simon Stephens’s stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s story of Christopher Boone (Jonathan Wells), a 15-year-old boy with an extraordinary brain Exceptionally gifted at Maths, he finds everyday life and interaction with other people very confusing.

Christopher has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, hates being touched and deeply distrusts strangers, but everything changes when he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbour’s dog, propelling him on a journey of self-discovery that upturns his world. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Greg Davies: Milking it in his Full Fat Legend stand-up show

Comedy gigs of the week: Greg Davies: Full Fat Legend, York Barbican, April 2 to 5,

TOWERING comedian Greg Davies plays York Barbican for a full-fat four nights on his Full Fat Legend Tour, his first on British soil for seven years.

The 6ft 8 inch star of Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners, The Cleaner, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Man Down and Cuckoo is undertaking his biggest stand-up tour to date. He last played York Barbican on November 1 and 2 2017 on his You Magnificent Beast tour, his first travels for four years. Tickets update: Sold out; for returns only, go to yorkbarbican.co.uk. Davies’s Hull Connexin Live shows on June 3 and 4 and at Leeds First Direct Arena on June 20 are sold out too.

Daniel Wilmot’s Count Dracula in Baron Productions’ Dracula at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York

High stakes of the week: Baron Productions in Dracula, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, April 3 to 5, 7.30pm

FOUNDER and director Daniel Wilmot makes it Count when starring as the mysterious Dracula in York company Baron Productions’ account of Bram Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece in one of York’s most atmospheric churches.

When Jonathan Harker (Jack McAdam) embarks on a business trip to Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle, little does he know the terror that awaits him. Guided by the wise Professor Van Helsing (Lee Gemmell), a courageous group must gamble their lives, even their very souls, to stop Dracula’s evil plans to enslave the world. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions. 

Pianist Ian Pace

Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents The Beethoven Project: Ian Pace, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, April 5, 7.30pm

IN the second of The Beethoven Project concerts for York Late Music, pianist Ian Pace continues his exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies (transcribed by Franz Liszt) with his iconic Pastoral Symphony No. 6.

The programme also includes Michael Finnissy’s English Country Tunes (1-3), Beethoven’s Six Goethe-Lieder (transcribed by Liszt) and a new work of three musical tributes by Steve Crowther, Rock With Stock, A Study In Glass and Louis’ Angry Blues. Box office: latemusic.org/product/ian-pace-concert-tickets/ or on the door.

The poster for the new additions to Lightning Seeds’ Tomorrow’s Here Today 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour

Gig announcement of the week: Lightning Seeds, Tomorrow’s Here Today 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, York Barbican, October 9, doors 7pm

LIVERPOOL singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie is extending Lightning Seeds’ 35th anniversary tour with 11 more dates this autumn. Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions and many more from his 20-track Tomorrow’s Here Today: 35 Years Of Lightning Seeds compilation album. This summer, Lightning Seeds will support York band Shed Seven at Millennium Square, Leeds, on July 11. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Our Star Theatre Company’s tour poster for Hannay Stands Fast

In Focus: Our Star Theatre Company in Hannay Stands Fast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

OUR Star Theatre Company cut a dash at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, on Thursday and Friday in Hannay Stands Fast, the sequel to The 39 Steps.

Adapted by David Edgar from John Buchan’s novel, this rip-roaring comedy finds dashing hero Richard Hannay back in the fray on a mission to thwart a new and deadly threat to his beloved England.

Engaged on this top-secret case by MI5, Hannay makes his way down to Cornwall to infiltrate a secretive organisation and learn their dastardly plans. Can he save the day to keep the nation safe for another day? Cue derring-do, utter chaos and laughs aplenty in a show replete with a train, motorbike, ambulance, car, police vehicle, even a horse.

“Like for our production of The 39 Steps, Hannay Stands Fast is taken on by four actors playing dozens of characters – 53 to be precise! – set in various locations created through quick and innovative uses of trunks, crates, suitcases, ladders, you name it!” says director Ben Mowbray, who founded the Ledbury, Herefordshire company in 2016.

Our Star Theatre Company are visiting York on the debut UK tour of the British professional premiere of Hannay Stands Fast with a cast of George Cooper as Hannay and Angharad Mortimer in her company debut as Mary Lambington (and others), joined by the multi-role-playing Daniel Davies and Mowbray as First and Second Clown.

Our Star Theatre Company in Hannay Stands Fast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 3 and 4, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Wonderland dazzles into the New Year. Hutch’s List No. 47, from Gazette & Herald

Born to pun: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

PANTOMIMES, theatrical family adventures and a Wonderland experience are still delighting in 2024 as Charles Hutchinson also looks ahead to 2025.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s bodacious baddie, Hugo Pompidou, in UK Productions’ Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Bea Clancy’s Harrietty Clock and Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Checks and stripes: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Madder than the Mad Hatter if you don’t see: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025

FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.

The stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.    

Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s villainous bruiser, Bill Sikes, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Dickens of a good show: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm on December 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm, December 28 and 29

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature John Biddle’s musical arrangements to complement Dickens’s fable of Oliver Twist being born in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld on his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Party invitation: The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Music talk to note: The Arts Society, Helmsley presents Christmas In Bach’s Leipzig: The Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 6 2025, 7.30pm

IN his illustrated talk, commentator, broadcaster, performer and lecturer Sandy Burnett explores how Johann Sebastian Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig.

An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work, where the  German composer draws on various forms, ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of the dance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Malton & Norton Musical Theatre’s poster for January’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk

First big show of the New Year at Milton Rooms, Malton: Malton & Norton Musical Theatre in Jack & The Beanstalk, January 18 to 25. Performances: January 18, 1pm and 5.15pm; January 19, 2pm; January 21 to 24, 7.15pm; January 25, 1pm and 5.15pm

MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre pantomime stars promise a family-friendly giant adventure packed with laughs, toe-tapping songs and plenty of audience participation.

Jack, his brave mother and their quirky friends will face off against the towering giant in a magical world full of comedy and surprises in an enchanting tale of bravery and beanstalks. Box office: 07833 759263 or yourboxoffice.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30 ****

Winter gruel charges: The Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble in Oliver Twist

BILLED as “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”, Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s turbulent tale of courage in adversity was first staged in Yorkshire as Hull Truck Theatre’s Christmas show in 2018.

Yes, ‘Christmas show’, as it comes booted with snippets of Victorian carols, folk  tunes and John Biddle compositions. It is not a musical, and definitely not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, instead being a storytelling piece of theatre with music as an Greek chorus-style ensemble commentary and complement to the unfolding drama.

Producer Robert Readman’s set is dominated by a huge bridge, on a diagonal across the stage that divides the audience into a traverse configuration, used traditionally to heighten a sense of combat or conflict.

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist

There would be no taking sides here, however, as everyone will be rooting for young Oliver Twist (Logan Willstrop, sharing performances with Frankie Whitford).

Born in a workhouse to a mother who loses her life, Oliver takes a 70-mile journey to London and is sold into an apprenticeship before being recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love.

Readman encloses Theatre@41’s black box Studio in wooden frames with a series of cloth “windows”, making the Victorian milieu all the more claustrophobic and imposing – and be warmed, look out for what will emerge through the cloth, even a Punch & Judy show.

The man in black: James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes casts his shadow over Oliver Twist

As ever with McAndrew, she combines well-sketched characterisation with detailed, evocative, fast-moving storytelling.

Hull Truck’s Fagin, my dears, was a woman, played by Flo Wilson. In Pick Me Up’s version, the thief chief is still performed by a woman, the show’s director Helen Spencer, but her Fagin is still referred to as “he”.

Spencer, who has had another splendid year astride the York stage, deepens her mezzo-soprano a tad, takes on a heavier physicality within a rags-and-riches coat and has something of the night about her. Having had to miss the first two performances with a “lost voice” she has certainly found it a terrific lead performance.

Playwright Deborah McAndrew

Jennie Wogan-Wells’s abused Nancy is striving against the odds to make her way in a male-dominated world, her light snuffed out by the brutal darkness around her.

Logan Willstrop’s Oliver is full of expression, resilience and enquiry, while the ever-reliable Tracey Rea and Nick Sephton are amusing company as the besotted Widow Corney and Mr Bumble, albeit that Sephton’s towering Bumble has his darker side too, as he slams his cane against the floor with a thunderous thud.

Neil Foster is on contrasting double duty, as the exploitative Mr Sowerberry and the kindly Mr Brownlow, and likewise Rhian Wells makes her mark as Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin.

Matthew Warry, one of York’s best developing young talents, is in typically fine form as the cocky Noah Claypole, while Rich Musk’s cuts the mustard as Dr Grimwig.

Neil Foster’s Mr Brownlow in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist

As with Hull Truck’s production, the Artful Dodger is still called “Jack” but is played here by both a lass, Libby Greenhill, and a lad, Reuben Baines, splitting performances. Your reviewer saw Greenhill: a Chaplinesque figure with comic timing and plenty of pluck.

Young Logan is not the only Willstrop in Pick Me Up’s cast. His father James is a tall, gaunt, black of heart, black of coat, pock-marked Bill Sikes: darker still than his Frederick  Frankenstein in Readman’s production of Young Frankenstein in September last year.

Matthew Peter Clare leads the musical forces with typical dash and Spencer directs with drive and focus with excellent use of ensemble as well as individual expression in her principals. All in all, a Dickens of a good show.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Performances at 7.30pm, December 27, 28 and 30, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tracey Rea’s Widow Corney and Nick Sephton’s Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist
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More Things To Do in York and beyond the last-minute shopping rush. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 52, from The Press, York

Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s bullying bruiser Bill Sikes in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Harris Beattie and Jonathan Hanks in Northern Ballet’s revival of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Holly Cassidy and Grace Hussey-Burd in a scene from Riding Lights Theatre Company’s winter show A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Christmas Eve, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The poster for The Snowman screenings with live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film & music event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter: Performing as an acoustic duo at Huntington Working Men’s Club in the last gigs of their 30th anniversary celebrations this weekend. Picture: David Harrison

Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven’s Rick Witter and Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, tonight and Sunday, doors 7pm

AFTER two number one albums in a year, summer shows in York Museum Gardens and their biggest ever tour, Shed Seven end their 30th anniversary celebrations back home in York, where lead singer Rick Witter and guitarist Paul Banks play a weekend of acoustic sets in the intimate setting of a working men’s club.

“We’re finishing the year in the village where Rick and I first met back in 1984, and where all of this began,” says Banks. “What a journey we’ve been on.” Sheds’ bassist Tom Gladwin serves up a DJ set too. Box office for returns only: store.shedseven.com.

Nun better: Freida Nipples hosts her Baps & Buns burlesque Christmas cabaret at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Feast your eyes on: Freida Nipples’ Baps & Buns Burlesque Christmas Cabaret, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tonight, 8pm; doors open at 7pm

YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, presents drag, comedy and showgirls in her Baps & Buns Christmas Cabaret with festive good cheer after a joyous year of shows at Rise, Acomb’s answer to Paris’s Folies Bergère.

“Prepare yourself for an evening of debauchery and glamour in Acomb,” says Freida. “The big question is: are you ready for it?!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Central Methodist Church: Hosting City Screen Picturehouse’s pop-up Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, York

Pop-up film event of the festive season: City Screen Picturehouse presents Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, The Great Hall, Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York, until December 23

CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, has set up a pop-up screen at Central Methodist Church for the Christmas season. Dougal Wilson’s Paddington In Peru (PG) will be shown at 4pm on Sunday, followed by Jon Favreau’s Elf (PG) at 7pm and Monday screenings of Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and Frank Capra’s season-closing 1946 chestnut It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm. Box office: picturehouses.com/YorkXmas.

Ronan Keating: Playing at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next summer. Picture: Supplied by York Racecourse

Outdoor gig announcement of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 26

IRISH singer, charity campaigner and breakfast show host Ronan Keating will perform after the Saturday race card as the first act to be confirmed for next summer’s Music Showcase Weekend on Knavesmire. A further act will be announced for the evening meeting on July 25.

Keating, 47, has three decades of hits to call on, from Boyzone boy band days to his solo career, from Love Me For A Reason and When You Say Nothing At All to Life Is A Rollercoaster and If Tomorrow Never Comes. Olly Murs is confirmed already for the new 2025 race day of June 28. For race day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond at the height of Christmas cheer. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 46, from Gazette & Herald

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Deborah McAndrew’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 18 to 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol: Festive favourite makes its return to Leeds Grand Theatre

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for HAC Around The Tree, the last show of 2024 at Helmsley Arts Centre

Festive celebration of the week: HAC Around The Tree, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN the Helmsley Arts Centre Singers, 1812 Theatre Company, 1812 Youth Theatre, Ryedale Writers and invited guests for an evening of theatre, music, poetry and prose around the Christmas tree. The bar will be serving mulled wine and mince pies to spark up the festive spirit in Helmsley Arts Centre’s last event of 2024. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Step Into Christmas: Festive hit after festive hit at York Barbican

Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let It Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in the Nave of York Minster

Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm

THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.

Gary Stewart: Presenting tributes to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Gary Stewart presents Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

SCOTTISH-BORN Easingwold musician Gary Stewart presents Weetwood Mac and his Graceland band in a celebration of two career-defining works, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, from 1977, and Paul Simon’s Graceland, from 1986. “With combined sales of more than 50 million worldwide, both albums have stood the test of time and are cherished to this day,” says Stewart.

“Littered with gossip and controversy, Rumours and Graceland elevated their artists to new heights of popularity, inspiring the popular music canon for decades to come. This evening celebrates a time of artistic discovery and re-creates the excitement of the era, with these seminal albums lovingly interpreted by some of today’s finest touring musicians.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at York Barbican

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Special, York Barbican, featuring Mike Newall, Friday, 8pm

MANCUNIAN Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin. Two support acts feature too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The Snowman: Two screenings with a live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Helen Spencer takes on double challenge of playing gang boss Fagin and directing Oliver Twist for Pick Me Up Theatre

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

IN a new twist, the opening of Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, is being delayed by a day through cast illness.

All being well, the curtain will now rise on the York company’s winter production on Wednesday night.

At the show’s helm both on stage and off is Helen “Bells” Spencer, who is not only playing Fagin in Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, but also has taken over the director’s seat from producer and designer Robert Readman five weeks ago.

“Robert started rehearsals while I was still rehearsing Last Five Years [Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede  Productions’ November musical at the NCEM], so I wasn’t available until that was over, and then, after a while, he asked me to step in, taking over his vision.

“I’ve worked with Robert a lot over the last couple of years, so I know how his mind works. When Pick Me Up had to pull the original dates for Young Frankenstein, I took over the reins with Andrew Isherwood to re-mount the production, but this is a slightly different situation from that one, as we’re still working to Robert’s ideas.

Playwright Deborah McAndrew

“We have a lot of mutual respect, so I can crack on, but it’s certainly a challenge that so many young people are in it. We have two ‘teams’: two Olivers, two Dodgers, two Roses, two Bets and ‘Children’s’ roles too; there are about 12 young people in all, ranging from eight to 17, so I’m working with a big age differences in the young cast.”

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, McAndrew’s stage adaptation “on the surface looks like an easy show, but it’s definitely not,” says Helen. “It’s incredibly complex, and one of the things that makes it harder is that no-one knows the songs in the way they do with Oliver! – and there are no recordings, bar for one song.”

Devised at the Bolton Octagon and staged at Hull Truck Theatre in December 2018 as “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist!”, McAndrew’s adaptation is an ensemble piece. “There’s a Greek-style chorus commenting on what’s happening and actors taking on different roles, so it’s quite a different way of working to what most people are used to in musical theatre,” says Helen.

“It’s not like coming on, singing a solo and going off, so the logistics have been more complex, especially when you have no familiarity with the score. I feel like what we got was the script and the basic score and we’ve tried to create our version with the actors we have and the musicians we have.

“I’m really glad I haven’t seen it before as we just want to do a version that makes sense to us, with the core adult cast pulling together to create the ensemble, and some of the adversity we’ve experienced has worked to our advantage.”

Into the dark: James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes

Readman has designed the set with a bridge across the stage. “We’ve been lucky to get into the theatre early enough to work on the show with the set in place. It  will look fantastic, very atmospheric, and not what people might expect at all,” says Helen.

“The show will have Christmassy moments but it will have a darkness to it too to allow characters like James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes to be really horrible, which has been a real joy in rehearsals.

“When you think of actors like James, Jennie Wogan-Wells [who plays Nancy] and me, we’re very happy to do musical theatre, with James as the classic leading man, Jennie as the bright-eyed leading lady, and me doing comic parts, so I think people will be surprised to see us in these darker roles – though I used to do straight acting roles before musical theatre and I always enjoyed playing serious parts.”

Helen will play Fagin, who runs a band of pickpockets and thieves in London’s grimy Victorian underworld, where Oliver is the new recruit in his search for a home, family and love. “I suppose the most obvious thing to say is that I’m a female and the original was not,” she says.

“We had a discussion about whether I should play it as a woman, or a women playing a man, and we decided to lean into being a female taking on a male part, so all the references are still to ‘he’ and ‘him’. I’m playing him as an old man.

Tracey Rea’s Widow Corney and Nick Sephton’s Mr Bumble in a scene from Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist

“We decided to see how it would feel, and it does feel right. The way the script has been written, it is right to do it this way, rather than make it wholly appropriate to a woman. It’s so exciting to play a male character, which I would never do normally.

“To have the chance to do that, having a face-off and a bit of fisticuffs with Sikes, it’s so liberating, even though he’s an older, frailer man, because if you were an older woman you wouldn’t deliver it that way.”

Describing the music, Helen says: “What strikes me is that they’re not conventional songs; they are more conversational songs, no big numbers, but there are a couple of fun chorus bits. It’s very much about creating the atmosphere in the scenes, rather than through big numbers and big choreography.

“What we need is the actors’ expertise because the songs are difficult and the text is difficult, and that’s been a challenge for even our most experienced cast members, but everyone has risen to it.”

Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, December 18 to 30, 7.30pm, except December 23 to 26 and 29; Saturday and Sunday matinees, 2.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Who’s in Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast for Oliver Twist?

Frankie Whitford: Playing Oliver Twist in Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Oliver Twist – Frankie Whitford/Logan Willstrop; Fagin – Helen Spencer; Mr Bumble – Nick Sephton; Widow Corney – Tracey Rea; Mr Sowerberry and Mr Brownlow – Neil Foster; Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin – Rhian Wells; Noah Claypole – Matthew Warry; Charlotte Sowerberry – Ruby Salter; Artful Dodger – Libby Greenhill/Reuben Baines; Nancy – Jennie Wogan-Wells; Bill Sikes – James Willstrop; Bet – Rosie Musk/Tempi Singhateh; Rose – Isla Whitford/Rosie Musk; Dr Grimwig – Rich Musk; Children – Lao Singhateh, Matilda Foster, Tempi Singhateh and Bea Wells.

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, ends Saturday ****

Pick Me Up Theatre in an ensemble scene in Nativity! The Musical

WHY revive Nativity! The Musical only two years after Pick Me Up Theatre first staged Debbie Issit’s cheery, nicely cheesy family show at the Grand Opera House?

“It was such a success last time that I secured the rights the day after we closed in 2022! I just love the show so much,” reasons producer Robert Readman.

This time he hands the directorial reins to Lesley Lettin, from the Attitude Dance Club, who handles the choreography too (as she did in 2022 under the name Lesley Hill).

All but two of the adult cast are new, Alison Taylor serving another term as enervated St Bernadette’s Roman Catholic School head teacher Mrs Bevan and Jonny Holbek switching from flouncing  local theatre critic Patrick Burns to supercilious Gordon Shakespeare, the pretentious theatre director from posh rival school Oakmoor Prep.

Every one of the 48 children is a debutant too, divided into St Bernadette’s Team Maddens and Team Poppy and  Oakmoor Prep’s Team Shake and Team Speare. Adam Tomlinson is on musical director duty (Sam Johnson in 2022).

‘Tis the Nativity! season, the climax to the Michaelmas term, in Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager’s musical adaptation of their hit 2009 British comedy, the first in a frantic franchise of four festive films.

Alex Hogg’s Mr Maddens . left, and Adam Sowter’s Mr Poppy in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Nativity! The Musical

Producer Readman sums up this comforting show’s appeal as a combination of “British humour, children being themselves, pathos and daftness, and a romantic, happy end”. Lettin promised “more lights and more sparkle” for 2024, and shining performances duly abound.

BAFTA Award-winning Isitt’s musical takes the form of a Nativity play within a play, framing her stage adaptation around her original story of flustered, by-the-book teacher Mr Maddens (Alex Hogg) and his unconventional, idiot savant new assistant Mr Poppy (Adam Sowter) struggling with unpredictable children, unruly animals and an underwhelmed head mistress, Taylor’s Mrs Bevan, when striving to stage St Bernadette’s musical version of the Nativity in Coventry.

As ever seeking to outdo the cutting-edge, arty, costly show mounted at the neighbouring Oakmoor Prep by his scornful, ex-childhood friend, Holbek’s smug Gordon Shakespeare, Maddens ups the ante by boasting that Jennifer Lore (Alexandra Mather), his still-missed ex-girlfriend, now working as a Hollywood producer, will be coming to the show with a view to turning it into a film.

Unfortunately, Maddens is lying: he and Jennifer don’t talk any more (and so might she be lying too?!). Doubly unfortunately, Mr Poppy, Mrs Bevan and the local media’s enthusiasm only makes matters worse.

Hogg’s hangdog Mr Maddens is weary, self-destructively driven, to the point of being harsh on the children, but beneath the cold front, he is caring too, and a romantic at heart, although a deflated one. In Holbek’s hands, beastly bête noir Gordon Shakespeare has become even more priggish, self-satisfied, preening and dangerously obsessive. You will love his loathsome air, and his clash of personality and theatre styles with Hogg’s more prosaic Mr Maddens is the stuff of theatrical civil wars across the land.

Lesley Lettin: Director and choreographer of Pick Me Up Theatre’s Nativity! The Musical

Adam Sowter, one half of York musical duo Fladam with Flo Poskitt, is the very definition of irrepressible as Mr Poppy with his Midlands accent, spiky hair and daft lad enthusiasm. His Mr Poppy snaps, crackles and pops, and he plays keyboards  flamboyantly to boot. 

You would not be surprised to see him turn up as the silly-billy cheeky-chappie in a pantomime, such is his bond with younger and older audience members alike.

Crucially too, the exuberance of Sowter’s Mr Poppy rubs off on St Bernadette’s  suddenly excited and motivated pupils, stirring their imaginations with his own inner child, while playing puppy to Cracker the dog (Branwell) too.

Just as the new Wicked film calls for an acknowledgement of the right to be different,  individual and expressive, so Mr Poppy’s positivity makes the case for why the arts, forever undervalued, should matter more in schools, championing  the unconventional among the conventional, as much among teachers as pupils. Taylor’s Mrs Bevan comes around to that way of thinking at the very last, just as retirement beckons.

Hot on the heels of appearing in York Stage’s Company earlier this month, Alexandra Mather is a spot-on choice to play Jennifer Lore, who foregoes love to pursue the Hollywood dream, only for that dream, spoiler alert, to be dashed by endless compromise in the one darker side to Isitt’s story.

Hollywood dream performance: Alexandra Mather’s Jennifer Lore

Possessor of an operatic mezzo-soprano voice often in demand from York Opera, Mather sings splendidly and dramatically in a show that revels in such film favourites as One Night One Moment and She’s The Brightest Star, bolstered by extra Christmas-spirited Isitt-Nicky Ager compositions  for the stage version.

Lettin’s direction is assured, strong on humour and pathos too, while her choreography is exemplified by the ensemble setpiece Sparkle And Shine, the dancing always full of character with plenty of scope for individual highlights as well as teamwork in Nativity play tradition.

The teams of children throw themselves wholeheartedly into Isitt’s theatrical fun and games, school tropes and the climactic bonkers Nativity play in the Coventry cathedral ruin Look out for the Stars (Eliza Clarke and Ellen Dickson) , Ollies (Taylor Carlyle and Hughie Clelland) and Angel Gabriels (Finlay Walter and Dan Tomlin, flying high above the stage).

Adam Tomlinson leads his band with customary flair, precision and Weetabix energy through George Dyer’s orchestrations, and although your reviewer may be biased, who could not delight in James Willstrop’s acerbic local paper theatre critic, Coventry’s answer to Frank Rich, one of a series of scene-stealing cameos from the former squash champ in an ultimately superior show to 2022.

Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday.  Performances: 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Note of disappointment: James Willstrop’s local theatre critic, Patrick Burns, puts poison pen to paper
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Pick Me Up Theatre to launch revival of Nativity! The Musical with 48 school children in cast at Grand Opera House. UPDATED with interviews 25/11/2024

Adam Sowter: Christmas jumper at the ready to play Mr Poppy in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Nativity! The Musical

PICK Me Up Theatre have revealed the full cast for Nativity! The Musical in the return of the York company’s hit show from two years ago at the Grand Opera House, York, from Friday.

Adam Sowter, of musical duo Fladam, will be effervescent assistant Mr Poppy alongside Alex Hogg as downtrodden teacher Mr Maddens, Alexandra Mather as Hollywood-bound Jennifer Lore, Jonny Holbek as dastardly, pretentious Mr Shakespeare and James Willstrop as the acid-tongued critic Patrick Burns and Hollywood producer Mr Taylor.

They will be joined by David Todd as Lord Mayor, Alison Taylor as headmistress Mrs Bevan, Victoria Lightfoot as TJ’s Mum and Branwell as Cracker the dog.

Jonny Holbek’s dastardly, supercilious Gordon Shakespeare. In 2022, he played Patrick Burns, the acerbic theatre critic

Forty-eight children chosen from across Yorkshire will play the students of rival schools St Bernadette’s and posh Oakmoor Preparatory School.

Adapted for the stage by Debbie Isitt, creator of the 2009 to 2018 film franchise (Nativity!, Nativity 2!, Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s The Donkey?! and Nativity Rocks!), the musical follows St Bernadette’s Roman Catholic Primary School, where exasperated teacher Mr Maddens and his buoyant new assistant, Mr Poppy, attempt to mount a musical version of the Nativity.

What could possibly go wrong when they promise it will be adapted into a Hollywood movie in order to outdo Oakmoor Prep?

Alex Hogg’s lovelorn primary school teacher Mr Maddens

The show features songs from the first film, such as Sparkle And Shine, Nazareth, One Night One Moment and She’s The Brightest Star. The book, music and lyrics are by Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager; orchestrations are by George Dyer.

Pick Me Up’s revival is directed and choreographed by Attitude Dance Club owner Lesley Lettin, joined in the production team by musical director Adam Tomlinson and producer Robert Readman.

Here Lesley Lettin and Robert Readman discuss Nativity plays past and present, Christmas jumpers and tea towels with CharlesHutchPress

Lesley Lettin: Lover of the Christmas jumper

Why revive the show?

Lesley: After the huge success from the 2022 production and the sheer volume of talented kids available around York currently, we had to revisit Nativity again.  It’s a perfect way into Christmas and an alternative option to the traditional pantomime.”

Robert: “It was such a success last time that I secured the rights the day after we closed in 2022! I just love the show so much.”

What will be the major differences from last time?

Lesley: “A whole new cast with the exception of Alison Taylor’s Mrs Bevan and Jonny Holbek, More lights and more sparkle!

Alison Taylor: Returning to the role of St Bernadette’s head teacher Mrs Bevan

“Since knowing Adam Sowter from The Full Monty The Musical days back in 2009,  I knew he would be the perfect Mr Poppy. Alex Hogg, a seriously good performer who has been on the York stage a number of times, plays a super Mr Maddens, and watch out for celestial Jonny Holbek as Gordon Shakespeare.

“Our kids are all new this time round – both groups. Their performances are truly brilliant and trust me, the stages in York are well equipped with ridiculously brilliant talent in the years ahead! Look out for our Stars (Eliza Clarke and Ellen Dickson) , Ollies (Taylor Carlyle and Hughie Clelland) and Angel Gabriels (Finlay Walter and Dan Tomlin).”

Does Nativity! The Musical work better than the original film?

Lesley: “If you love the movie, you will love the musical and if you love the musical, you will love the movie! They both represent the brilliance of Debbie Isitt perfectly.”

James Willstrop: Waspish words as Patrick Burns, theatre critic for the Coventry Evening Telegraph

What do you recall of your own Nativity play experiences as a child?

Lesley: “Well, I played the donkey in my school Nativity so I couldn’t bring what I brought to the school stage to the Grand Opera House stage unfortunately. It would have been a more memorable experience had my school had our own Mr Poppy!”

Robert: “I never appeared in a Nativity play at school/church, but my brother Mark was a very nasty  King Herod in Bubwith Church in 1969!”

What is the best use for a tea towel:  the washing up or Nativity costume?

Lesley: “It’s got to be costume. Either the dishwasher or my husband will do the drying at home!”


Alexandra Mather’s Jennifer Lore: Drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood

Robert: “Neither, they make fantastic puppets. See artist Sarah Young (who I trained with in Brighton in the 1980s) and her tea towel puppet kits online.”

Do you like Christmas jumpers? If so, why?  If not, why not?

Lesley: “Yes, they are the best! Christmas is my favourite time of the year and the beauty of doing this show early is I don’t have to wait till December for the countdown to start – and I’m sure everyone leaving the theatre after Nativity! will be getting their trees up and putting their jumpers on too!”

Robert: “I’ve only worn one twice – both at the Grand Opera House for Nativity! I get far too warm in any jumper.”

Adam Tomlinson: Musical director for Nativity! The Musical

What would be your Christmas message to the world?

Lesley:  “Christmas is a gentle reminder that love, generosity and hope have the power to sparkle and shine in the darkest of days.” 

Robert: “Relax, do one act of kindness to a stranger, don’t stress, answer the door to carollers. I used to hide as a child/teenager/now…”

Pick Me Up Theatre in Nativity! The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, November 22 to 30. Performances: 7.30pm nightly, except November 25; 2.30pm, November 23, 24 and 30. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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