Tag: Pocklington Arts Centre

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond as Carol concerts burst into festive song. Hutch’s List No. 52, from The York Press

Next Door But One movement director Bailey Dowler, left, with writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle and cast members Ceridwen Smith, centre, Annie Rae Donaghy and Emily Chattle rehearsing for their Explore York library tour of When Robins Appear

CAROL concerts, festive shows and a musical aboard a Christmas steamer fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box for December delights.

A different kind of Christmas show of the week: Next Door But One in When Robins Appear, York Explore, today and tomorrow, 11am and 2pm; Tang Hall Explore, December 15, 5.30pm; Clifton Explore, December 18, 5.30pm; York Explore, December 20 and 21, 11am and 2pm

WRITTEN and directed by Next Door But One artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, When Robins Appear follows two friends as they face the big changes of moving house, starting new schools and a first Christmas without Grandma, when the festive sparkle seems to be missing.

Equipped with the help of a magical Robin (played by Ceridwen Smith), 12-year-old Ellis (Annie Rae Donaghy) and Lowen (Emily Chattle) are whisked away on a heart-warming journey through their favourite wintery memories to find the magic again. Soon they discover that the real sparkle of Christmas will not be found under the tree, but in the laughter, love and unforgettable moments we share together and that can live forever in our hearts. Tickets update: Sold out. For returns only, go to: www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk.

Adrian Cook’s Captain, top, Alexandra Mather’s Reno Sweeney and Leo Portal’s Ship’s Purser in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes

Full steamer ahead of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 21, then December 27 to 30

DITCH York’s December chills and climb aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.

Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Freida Nipples: Hosting tonight’s Baps & Buns Burlesque at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Dr Lara McClure: Weird and wonderful storytelling in Christmas Presence

Cabaret night of the week: Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight, 7pm

YORK burlesque artiste Freida Nipples hosts her last Baps And Buns Burlesque of 2025 at Bluebird Bakery, joined by drag queens and acrobatic acts for a night of debauched and glamorous cabaret in Acomb. Sorry to raise hopes, but this one is waiting list only at bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

You may have better luck for Christmas Presence, Dr Lara McClure’s weird and wonderful stories for the festive season, on December 17 at 8.30pm. Tickets: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

Jingle All The Way cast members Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Hannah Christina in rehearsal with musical director Dylan Allcock for Elizabeth Godber’s Christmas play at Pocklington Arts Centre

Deer double act of the week: Jingle All The Way, Pocklington Arts Centre, until December 23; relaxed performance on December 14, 1.30pm

FROM the team behind The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish comes Elizabeth Godber’s latest Christmas family adventure, co-directed by Jane Thornton with musical direction by Dylan Allcock.

Reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie(Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes. Santa has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance? Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Eve Lorian: Conducting Prima Choral Artists in Christmas concerts at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York tonight and next Saturday

Choral concerts of the week: Prima Choral Artists, Family Christmas Concerts, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, today and December 20, 4pm to 5pm; Choirs At Christmas, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 16 to 18, 7.30pm

PRODUCED and conducted by Prima Choral Artists director Eve Lorian, these concerts combine her choir with the New World String Quartet, organist James Webb and pianist Greg Birch in reflective and cheerful Christmas celebrations. Here come high-spirited festive classics, modern choral arrangements and string and organ repertoire, including works by Tchaikovsky and Rawsthorne. Box office: primachoral.com and on the door.

The Joseph Rowntree Theatre plays hosts to three magical fundraising evenings of Christmas classics from Tuesday to Thursday. The Shepherd Brass Band’s brace of Gala Christmas Concerts on December 19 and 20 at 7.30pm are fully booked. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Christmas Carols composer Don Pears, left, York Guildhall Orchestra leader Fiona Love, producer Bob Whitney and conductor Simon Wright

Album launch of the week: A Christmas Selection Box, A Music Night Production with Don Pears and Singphonia Singers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7pm

THE Singphonia Singers, a group of talented performers formed by York composer Don Pears, showcases Don and Jo Pears’ festive album Christmas Carols in A Christmas Selection Box. The album will be on sale at Sunday’s concert or can be downloaded from Spotify, Apple iTunes and Amazon Music. Box office: 01904 501935, josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on the door.

Steve Cassidy: Performing at York’s Annual Community Carol Concert at York Barbican

Family festive fun of the week: York’s Annual Community Carol Concert, York Barbican, tomorrow, 2pm  

SUNDAY is the time to don Christmas jumpers and Santa hats for York’s Annual Community Carol Concert, where Shepherd Brass Band, St Paul’s CE Primary School Choir, All Saints RC School Choir andAmber Ford join special guest Ken Humphreys for an afternoon of Christmas cheer.

Carol concert regular Steve Cassidy sings with the ensemble, while the community singing will be led by musical director Mike Pratt.  The Reverend Andrew Foster and Adam Tomlinson will be on hosting duty. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The poster for The Bootleg Beatles’ Monday concert at York Barbican, focusing on the Fab Four’s five biggest-selling studio albums

Tribute show of the week: The Bootle Beatles, 5: The Concert, York Barbican, December 15, 7.30pm

THE Bootleg Beatles follow up their celebration of songs from The Beatles’ quintet of films with another Famous Five. This time, the focus is on the Fab Four’s top five-selling albums, the Bob Dylan-influenced Rubber Soul, the experimental Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, heralding the Summer of Love and psychedelia, The White Album, with its glorious mish-mash of styles, and their grand finale, Abbey Road. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Recommended but sold out already: Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra with special guests Imelda May, Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall and Sumudu Jayatilaka, at York Barbican on December 17, 7.3pm

Jools Holland: Sold-out return to York Barbican on December 17

Posted on

Elizabeth Godber’s Christmas show Jingle All The Way opens at Pocklington Arts Centre as reindeers start sleigh school

Jingle All The Way cast members Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Hannah Christina in rehearsal for Pocklington Arts Centre’s Christmas show with musical director Dylan Allcock

TODAY is Angela Stone’s last day as artistic director at Pocklington Arts Centre before moving to Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands.

Her last task in post is to oversee this evening’s opening of PAC’s Christmas show in her capacity as producer of Jingle All The Way.

Scottish-born Angela, who took over as artistic director in October 2022, says of this winter’s festive production: “We’re so proud to be staging our third Christmas adventure for all the family at Pocklington Arts Centre this December! We can’t wait to introduce audiences to our fabulous cast and deliver our trademark festive cheer.

“We take great pride in producing inclusive and engaging stories, bringing magical Christmas spirit to our stage and welcoming returning and new audiences to PAC.”

Suffused with humour, Christmas tunes, original songs, local references and festive fun, Jingle All The Way is written and co-directed by Elizabeth Godber, with Jane Thornton, from the John Godber Company stable, working alongside producer Angela in the same creative team behind PAC’s previous in-house Christmas productions, The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish. 

Dylan Allcock provides the musical direction for this new festive family adventure, wherein reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie(Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes.

The poster for Pocklington Arts Centre’s Christmas show Jingle All The Way

Although Rosie fits in quickly, Rex struggles to find where he belongs, but a school-wide competition might change all that. Santa has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance?

“It’s our third year at Pocklington Arts Centre, and I absolutely love working at Pocklington at Christmas,” says Elizabeth. “The audiences are fabulous, and we’ve really started to establish creating new work for younger-year children: we’re solidly for ten year olds and younger. Some have even come in pyjamas!

“Also, one of the things we were really keen on was to make the shows really accessible by doing half an hour each act. It’s very theatrical with masks and multi-role playing, and we’re very much into wholesome theatre. We make something that’s a little bit different to panto.”

She talks of the responsibility to “make sure that a child’s first experience of theatre is a positive one”. “The first time I went to the cinema I got really scared, because it was dark and scary, so I didn’t go back for a long time,” says Elizabeth, now 30.  “But I did go to the theatre with my parents [John and Jane Godber]: there’s a photo of me in my mum’s arms in the auditorium when I was three weeks old!”

Summing up Jingle All The way’s story, Elizabeth says: “Although reindeer Rex is a bit of a nerd and not very sporty, he decides to train for the competition to join Santa’s sleigh squad, so it’s an underdog story with a sibling rivalry, as twin brother and sister Rex and Rosie don’t always get on!”

Jingle All The Way runs at Pocklington  Arts Centre from December 11 to 23. Performances: December 11,  7pm; December 13, 1.30pm; December 14, 1.30pm (Relaxed Performance) and 4.30pm; December 19, 7pm; December 20 and 21, 1.30pm. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Meet The Cast

Emilio Encinoso-Gil

Part-Spanish actor from Hull who trained at Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA North).

Theatre credits include Do I Love You? (John Godber Company), On Your Marks (Dramatic Theatre CIC), and Peter Pan (Tony Peers Ltd). Screen work: Right Here In Hull, The Memory Project (Smashing Mirrors Theatre) and Scones & Skates (Hull Truck Theatre).

Contributed  voiceover work for Storyboard Media, Stage Door Theatre and Middle Child.

Hannah Christina

2025 graduate from first Acting cohort at Performers College Birmingham, where she appeared in graduate production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls, portraying Angie and Dull Gret.

Member of the Godber Theatre Foundation, making her professional debut in Jingle All The Way.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 52, from Gazette & Herald

Wanderful: Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York

CHRISTMAS music and pantomimes aplenty dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for December fun-filled fulfilment. 

Having a ball: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, until January 4 2026

CORONATION Street star Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother leads the cast of Tobias Turley’s Prince Charming, Bradley Judge’s Dandini and West End actress Rachel Grundy’s Cinderella in UK Productions’ Cinderella, scripted by Jon Monie. 

Directed by Ellis Kerkhoven, West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson bring the mayhem in Ugly Sisters mode as Harmony and Melody Hard-Up, joined in the comedy corner by Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Radiant: Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

No sleep till January 4: Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster directs returnee dame Robin Simpson’s Nurse Nellie, Jocasta Almgill’s Carabosse, Tommy Carmichael’s Jangles, CBeebies star Jennie Dale’s Fairy Moonbeam, Aoife Kenny’s Aurora and Harrogate actor Christian Mortimer’s Prince Michael of Moravia in Sleeping Beauty.

Written once more by Paul Hendy, the Theatre Royal’s festive extravaganza is co-produced with award-winning Evolution Productions, the same team behind All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, Jack And The Beanstalk and last winter’s Aladdin. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Hooked: Jamie McKeller savours the role of Captain Hook in Rowntree Players’ The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan at the JoRo. Picture: Matt Hillier

Putting ‘Pan’ into pantomime: Rowntree Players in The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Friday; Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm

HEAD to the fantastical world of Neverland in Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald’s pantomime for Rowntree Players. Cling on to your seats as Hannah King’s Peter Pan and the Lost Boys do battle with Jamie McKeller’s rather nasty Captain Hook and his even nastier bunch of pirates.

Fear not as Michael Cornell’s Nanny McFlea and McDonald’s ever-eager apprentice Barkly are on hand to assist in the most ridiculous of ways. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Paul Toy: Directing York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York

Nativity play of the week: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity For York, All Saints Church, North Street, York, tonight, 7.30pm

USING medieval scripts from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays and music both medieval and folk in style, Paul Toy’s community cast tells a familiar story of a marvellous birth, threaded with humour, reverence and, sadly, hatred, where candlelight emphasises the constant struggle of the light  against the darkness.

The performance lasts one hour with no interval. Refreshments will be available. Box office: 033 666 3366, ympst.co.uk/york-nativity or on the door.

Kate Rusby: Winter wonderland of South Yorkshire folk carols at York Barbican

Alternative carol concert of the week: Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7pm

BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby plays her regular festive fixture at York Barbican, returning with her folk band and the Brass Boys for two sets of jolly carols from South Yorkshire’s pubs, Christmas chart chestnuts and original winter songs.

Christmas Is Merry marks her 20th anniversary of these winter warmers, drawing on her six studio Christmas albums: 2008’s Sweet Bells, 2011’s While Mortals Sleep, 2015’s The Frost Is All Over, 2017’s Angels And Men, 2019’s Holly Head and 2023’s Light Years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Musical director Dylan Allcock in rehearsal with cast members Emilio Encinoso-Gil and Hannah Christina for Elizabeth Godber’s Jingle All The Way at Pocklington Arts Centre

Deer duo of the week: Jingle All The Way, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow to December 23; relaxed performance on December 14, 1.30pm

FROM the team behind The Elves And The Shoemaker Save Christmas and Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish comes Elizabeth Godber’s latest Christmas family adventure, co-directed by Jane Thornton with musical direction by Dylan Allcock.

Reindeer siblings Rex (Emilio Encinoso-Gil) and Rosie(Hannah Christina) are reluctant to start at a new school just before Christmas, especially when that school is the East Riding Reindeer Academy, home of supreme athletes. Although Rosie fits in quickly, Rex struggles to find where he belongs, but a school-wide competition might change all that. Santa has a position free on his sleigh squad; could this be Rex’s big chance? Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Setting sail in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes: Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather, second from left) and her Angels, Sophie Curry, left, Chloe Branton and Sophie Kemp. Picture: Felix Wahlberg

Getting a kick out of you musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Anything Goes, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday to December 30

DITCH York’s December chills and climb aboard the S.S. American as it sets sail in Andrew Isherwood’s all-singing, all-dancing staging of Anything Goes!, Cole Porter’s swish musical, charting the madcap antics of a motley crew leaving New York for London on a Christmas-themed steamer.

Meet nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney (Alexandra Mather) and lovelorn Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (Adam Price), who has stowed away on board in pursuit of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Claire Gordon-Brown). Alas, Hope is engaged to fellow passenger Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Neil Foster). Enter second-rate conman Moonface Martin (Fergus Powell) to join Reno in trying to help Billy win the love of his life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Swinton & District Excelsior Band: Festive cheer at Milton Rooms, Malton

Afternoon of festive music and joy: Swinton & District Excelsior Band’s Christmas Spectacular, Milton Rooms, Malton, December 14, 2pm

THIS musical matinee with the Swinton & District Excelsior Band features the senior band, training band and beginners’ group, who perform a joyful mix of carols and seasonal favourites with festive cheer for all the family. A raffle and retiring collection will boost band funds. Entry is free but donations are welcome at the close. To book, go to: ticketsource.co.uk/swinton-district-excelsior-band/t-nolgkxa.

Bill Scott & Friends: In concert at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Yuletide Tales of the week: Bill Scott & Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 17, 7.30pm

THIS Christmas celebration “in harmony with a difference” comes to Pickering for the first time as vocal quartet Bill Scott, Lesley Machen, Jan Burtenshaw & Tim Tubbs perform a seasonal programme of carols, songs, poems and readings in every mood, from sacred, secular and lyrical to comic, sad and joyous.

Whether moved by the solemn beauty of a traditional carol or lifted by a light-hearted poem, this Yuletide fusion of music and tales promises to be a magical gathering. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk/events/yuletide-tales/.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 50, from Gazette & Herald

James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society with his Dickensian ghost stories

FROM Dickensian ghost stories and Gothic tales to mischievous mice and a festive talent showcase, ’tis the season to be out and about, reports Charles Hutchinson.

Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, until Sunday

YORK storyteller supreme and Gothic actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with two of Dickens’ seasonal ghost stories: The Haunted Man, a neglected Gothic classic (November 27, 7pm) and A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s saga (November 28, 7pm, and November 30, 2pm and 6pm).

“Their words unlock a world teeming with chain-rattling spectres, with dark and shadowy doubles, with Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present and Yet To Come,” he says. “These tales chill the marrow and tickle the funny bone, but always they enchant, as only the works of a master storyteller can.” Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Steve Tearle: Directing NE Theatre York in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

DIRECTED by Steve Tearle, this musical will take you to a world of pure imagination in Roald Dahl’s devilishly delicious tale of young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket entering the scrumptious chocolate factory. There, he and his grandpa Joe, along with five more children, will meet the mysterious confectionary wizard Willy Wonka for an adventure like no other.

“The story of chocolate is at the very heart and history of this amazing city and it is only fitting that NE Theatre York brings Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to York,” says Tearle. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rebecca Vaughan: Telling haunting tales of the festive season at Theatre@41

Frailties of human nature of the week: Dafyd Productions in Christmas Gothic, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

REGULAR York frequenters Dafyd Productions return with Christmas Gothic, an invitation to enter into the Christmas spirit as spectral woman (Rebecca Vaughan) tells haunting tales of the festive season, lighting a candle to the frailties of human nature and illuminating the chilling depths of bleak wintry darkness. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tucking into the cheese at A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House

Mischievous mice takeover of the week: A Christmas Mousequerade at Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, until January 4 2026

FAIRFAX House’s much-loved Christmas display returns for 2025 with a new theme of A Christmas Mousequerade, combining more mice than ever before in the “ultimate 18th century house party”.

A multitude of mice is dressed in hand-crafted and exquisitely miniature Georgian finery, custom made by Fairfax House volunteers, as you step into the glittering world of Georgian York and join the Fairfax family’s preparations for the most spectacular ball of the season. Tickets: https://fairfaxhouse.co.uk/event/christmas-at-fairfax-house/.

Poetry gig of the week: Stairwell Books presents Poetry For All, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm

THIS annual event is designed to remove as many barriers as possible from enjoying live poetry events. All poems are projected on a screen, and BSL (British Sign Language) interpreted by Dave Wycherley and Vicci Ackroyd in a venue with fab acoustics and level access throughout.

Headliners Dominic Berry and Pete Kalu will be supported by five York poets, co-hosted by Fay Roberts and Rose Drew. Service dogs are welcome; entry for carers is free. VI tarot card reader Gillian Avart will read your potential future. Look out for special guests too. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Kevin Daniel: Relatable storytelling at Milton Rooms, Malton. Picture: Steve Best

Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Kevin Daniel, Paul Tonkinson and Stephanie Laing, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

KEVIN Daniel combines a commanding stage presence with relatable storytelling and jokes aplenty. Paul Tonkinson, Yorkshireman, marathon runner and two-time Time Out Comedian of the Year, is noted for his effervescent physicality and skilful impressions, bringing alive exuberant, tender comic reflections of love, family and the day-to-day idiosyncrasies of 21st century living.

“Goofy and peculiar” host Stephanie Laing, an Edinburgh Fringe regular since 2010, fuses silliness, filth and unusual observations, underpinned by a disarming honesty and charming vulnerability. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Catenary Wires team up with poet Brian Bilston at Pocklington Arts Centre

Poetry-and-song union of the week: Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

POET Brian Bilston started out by sharing his brief, direct, and witty poems online and now has more than half a million followers on social media. The Catenary Wires comprise Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and Ian Button, who also play as Heavenly, whose T-shirt Bilston was spotted wearing at one of his gigs.

Word reached Fletcher and Pursey,  introductions were made, friendships were formed, and the Sounds Made By Humans album took shape: a collection of songs, where words and music have become intertwined. Friday’s first half features a solo spoken-word set by Bilston and a music set by The Catenary Wires; in the second, they unite to perform tracks from the album. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Poet Brian Bilston

Talent showcase of the week: HAC Studio Bar Festive Open Mic, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre plays host to a cosy evening for creatives to share their talents in the relaxed and friendly environment of the Studio Bar. Mulled wine and mince pies are on the menu and festive tunes will be the order of the day.

This Open Mic is a comfortable space for both seasoned performers and those taking the stage for the first time, as well as anyone who wants to enjoy a drink from the bar and be entertained by Ryedale talent. No need to book to listen or perform, just turn up.

Jake Lambert: The Sunshine Kid with bright ideas at Pocklington Arts Centre

Debut tour of the week: Jake Lambert, The Sunshine Kid, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

RAPIDLY rising stand-up comic Jake Lambert has chalked up more than 500 million views of his online videos featuring his gag-filled storytelling. Having supported Michael McIntyre on his worldwide tour, he is undertaking his inaugural international tour with his show The Sunshine Kid, selling out across the UK, Europe and Australia. Box office: 01759 301 5 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles: Christmas concert at Kirk Theatre

Christmas Singalong of the week: Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles and Scoble and Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, December 4, 7.30pm

THORNTON Le Dale Ukuleles’ Christmas Singalong is divided into two parts, kicking off with Scoble and Friends, a small group of talented singers and musicians.

Thornton Le Dale Ukuleles, the brainchild of leader John Scoble, will fill the stage with 40 players. Scoble provides tuition free of charge, while singer-songwriter David Swann gives lessons too. The group performs all genres of music, but virtually no George Formby, playing the melody as well as strumming and complementing ukuleles with other instruments. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 48, from Gazette & Herald

Danny Horn’s Ray Davies leading The Kinks in Sunny Afternoon, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Manuel Harlan

SUNNY Afternoon’s Kinks songs for dark nights, Dibley comedic delights and drag diva Velma Celli’s frock rock catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye.

Musical of the week: Sonia Freidman Productions and ATG Productions present Sunny Afternoon, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees

RETURNING to York for the first time since February 2017, four-time Olivier Award winner Sunny Afternoon charts the raw energy, euphoric highs, troubling lows, mendacious mismanagement and brotherly spats of Muswell Hill firebrands The Kinks, equipped with an original story (and nearly 30 songs) by frontman Ray Davies.

The script is by Joe Penhall, who says: “As a band The Kinks were the perennial outsider – punk before punk.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nicki Clay’s Reverend Geraldine Granger in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Paul Miles

Village drama of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre:41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

NICKI Clay is going doubly Dibley for MARMiTE Theatre in the new York company’s debut production of The Vicar Of Dibley, having played Geraldine Grainger for The Monday Players in Escrick in May.  

Martyn Hunter directs Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter’s cherry-picking of the best of Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s first two TV series, bringing together all the favourite eccentric residents of Dibley as the new vicar’s arrival shakes up the parish council of this sleepy English village. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

N’Faly Kouyaté: Dancing shoes recommended

African rhythms of the week: N’Faly Kouyaté, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

AFTER gracing stages across the world with Afro Celt Sound System — where Celtic voices and instrumentation met the vibrant heartbeat of African rhythms — avant-garde griot N’Faly Kouyaté embarks on a profoundly personal journey.

This masterful Guinean multi-instrumentalist, inspired vocalist and living bridge between ancestral heritage and future sounds returns with his album Finishing, whose songs stir the soul, provoke reflection, elicit smiles and set bodies moving. Bring your dancing shoes! Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Velma Celli: Rock Queen with a nod to David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane slash. Picture: Sophie Eleanor Photography

Drag night of the week: Velma Celli: Rock Queen, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK’S international drag diva deluxe Velma Celli follows up her iconic October 1 appearance in Coronation Street soapland withan “overindulgent evening celebrating and re-imagining the best of rock classics” with her band. 

The alter ego of West End musical star Ian Stroughair, who has shone in Cats, Fame, Rent and Chicago, cabaret queen Velma’s live vocal drag act has been charming audiences for 14 years, whether at Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse, her Impossible Brunches at Impossible York, or in such shows as A Brief History Of Drag, My Divas, God Save The Queens and Divalussion (with Christina Bianco). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Beth McCarthy: Heading back home to play Big Ian’s A Night To Remember charity concert. Picture: Duncan Lomax., Ravage Productions

Charity event of the week: Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

BIG Ian Donaghy hosts a “night of York helping York” featuring a 30-strong band led by George Hall  with a line-up of York party band HUGE, Jess Steel, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay, Graham Hodge, The Y Street Band, Simon Snaize, Annie-Rae Donaghy, fiddler Kieran O’Malley, Samantha Holden, Las Vegas Ken and musicians from York Music Forum, plus a guest choir. 

Proceeds from this three-hour fundraiser go to St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York, Accessible Arts & Media and York dementia projects. Tickets update: Balcony seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Staff woes: William Ilkley, left, Levi Payne and Dylan Allcock in John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, on tour at the SJT, Scarborough

One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 12 to 15, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze. 

The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office:  01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Ensemble 360: Performing works by Shostakovich and Dvořák at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Matthew Johnson and Music in the Round

Classical matinee concert of the week: Ensemble 360, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

ENSEMBLE 360’s chamber musicians Benjamin Nabarro and Claudia Ajmone-Marsan, violins, Rachel Roberts, viola, Gemma Rosefield, cello, and Tim Horton, piano, perform the dramatic intensity and soaring lyricism of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 and the radiant warmth and Czech folk-inspired melodies of Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, a piece cherished for its lush harmonies, spirited dances and seamless instrumental interplay. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Rock’n’roll show of the week: Two Pianos, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 7.30pm

IN the words of Jerry Lew Lewis, “Two Pianos are awesome rockers”. Tomorrow night, David Barton and Al Kilvo  bring their rock’n’roll piano show to Pocklington for a journey through the golden age of  Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Ray Charles, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee and, yes, the “The Killer” himself. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Lydia Hough and Joseph Taylor in London City Ballet’s Pictures At An Exhibition, on tour at York Theatre Royal

Dance show of the week: London City Ballet: Momentum, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion); Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

LONDON City Ballet, former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, returns to York Theatre Royal with Momentum, a new repertoire that showcases artists rarely seen in the UK. Haieff Divertimento, an early George Balanchine work, was thought to be lost for 40 years after its premiere and remained unseen outside the USA until now. Emerging choreographer Florent Melac, premier danseur at Paris Opera Ballet, combines inventive transitions with intimate partnering in his fluid new work.

Alexei Ratmansky, New York City Ballet’s artist in residence, presents Pictures At An Exhibition, performed to Modest Mussorgsky’s eponymous score, set against a backdrop depicting Wassily Kandinsky’s paintings. Unseen in the UK since its 2009 premiere, Liam Scarlett’s Consolations & Liebestraum is a response to Franz Liszt’s piano score, depicting the life cycle of a relationship, its blossoming and later fracturing love. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 48, from Gazette & Herald

Mark Kermode Taking part in Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s Beyond the Frame strand at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Julie Edwards Visuals

THE 15th Aesthetica Short Film Festival tops the bill in a week when hauntings and musical buns rise to the occasion, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.

Festival of the week: Aesthetica Short Film Festival, all over York, today to Sunday

NOT so much a film festival as a “screen and media event”, in its 15th year, York’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival is bigger and broader than ever. Not only more than 300 shorts, features, documentaries, animations and experimental films, but also the VR & Games Lab; masterclasses and panels; workshops and roundtables; networking and pitching; Listening Pitch premieres; the inaugural New Music Stage and Aesthetica Fringe shows; Beyond the Frame events at York Theatre Royal; the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO and the Podcasting strand. For the full programme and tickets, go to: asff.co.uk.

Mary Gauthier: Playing Pocklington Arts Centre tonight

Troubadour of the week: Mary Gauthier, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 7pm

MARY Gauthier hung up her chef’s coat to move to Nashville at 40 to start a troubadour career, going from open-mic gigs to playing Newport Folk Festival a year later. Twenty-five years ago, this courageous lesbian songwriter’s groundbreaking debut album Drag Queens In Limousines announced: “Drag queens in limousines, nuns in blue jeans, dreamers with big dreams, they all took me in.”

The song has become an anthem for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider: as it turns out, all of us. It is typical of her deeply personal, yet paradoxically universal work, written in reaction to what matters most to her, as Gauthier expresses boldly what is often too hard for us to say. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Bugsy at the double: Zachary Stoney, from Team Malone, left, and Dan Tomlin, from Team Bugsy, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone

Young performers of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of more than 40 young performers in Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s musical, replete with the film songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand Slam and Bugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

David Sturzaker’s Gareth Southgate giving a team talk in James Graham’s Dear England, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre

Sporting drama of the week: National Theatre in Dear England, Leeds Grand Theatre, until Saturday, kick-off at 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JAMES Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play (and forthcoming television drama) takes its name from revolutionary England football  manager Gareth Southgate’s open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Sturzaker plays Southgate, Samantha Womack, team psychologist Pippa Grange, in this “inspiring, at times heart-breaking and ultimately uplifting story” of England, penalties, lost finals and a new-found national identity. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Ben Rosenfield and Laura McKeller in Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours’ The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!

Halloween horrors and jump scares of the week: Neon Crypt and The Deathly Dark Tours in The Wetwang Hauntings – Live!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BETWEEN 1986 and 1993, a series of often violent hauntings rocked the small Yorkshire town of Wetwang. The cases went cold and all the records were lost…until now! Join York ghost walk guide Dr Dorian Deathly and his team as they dig into the history and horrors of these cases. “This show is not for the faint of heart,” he forewarns. Suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jessica Shaw’s Forms Of Water, on show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Ryedale exhibition of the week: Jessica Shaw, Forms Of Water, Helmsley Arts Centre, until February 27 2026

BASED on the edge of the North York Moors, printmaker Jessica Shaw explores the impact of water and ice on landscape, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s assertion that “in time and with water, everything changes”. 

Combining screenprint, woodcut, monoprint and etching with diverse media such as gouache and acrylic ink, her work draws from organic patterns and shapes made by water and ice, detailing their effect on the North York Moors National Park’s topography by highlighting the shapes of its high ground and the curls of its rivers, to the ephemeral ice patterns found in puddles and windows in winter.  

Katie Leckey: Directing Griffonage Theatre in Kafka By Candlelight

Deliciously disturbing stories of the week: Griffonage Theatre, Kafka By Candlelight, The House Of Trembling Madness, Lendal, York, tonight to Friday, 6.30pm and 8.30pm  

“NO rest for the week,” say Griffonage Theatre, York’s purveyors of the madcap and the macabre, who are performing Kafka By Candlelight in the cavernous belly of the House Of Trembling Madness cellar as part of Aesthetica Short Film Festival’s debut  Aesthetica Fringe, featuring 25 shows across the city.

This one showcases five of Franz Kafka’s strangest short stories, told disturbingly in the darkness with the audience in masks (optional). “Dare to join us?” they tease. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/kafka-by-candlelight-tickets-1815618316259.

Entwined: Nik Briggs’s cooking copper, Ben, and Harriet Yorke’s carer, Gemma, in York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical

York musical premiere of the week: York Stage in The Great British Bake Off Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

BAKING battles, singing sponges and a sprinkling of hilarity is the recipe for York Stage’s York premiere of The Great British Bake Off Musical, rising to the occasion under the direction of Nik Briggs, who also makes a rare stage appearance as one of the Bake Off contestants.

Expect a sweet and savoury symphony of British wit and oven mitts, propelled by a menu of  jazz hands and jubilant original songs that capture the essence of the Bake Off tent, from nerve-wracking technical challenges to triumphant showstoppers. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride, where cakes crumble, friendships form and dreams become fruitful reality. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Understaffed and overworked: The hotel workforce on clean-up duty in John Godber Company’s Black Tie Ball. Picture: John Godber Company

One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze. 

The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Offcut Theatre’s poster for Libby Pearson’s Four By Three

Uplifting mini-dramas of the week: Offcut Theatre in Libby Pearson’s Four by Three, Milton Rooms, Malton, Thursday, 7.30pm

PAULINE, Bill and Martin invite you into parts of their lives through three separate monologues before coming together in a short play in Libby Pearson’s hopeful, uplifting, light-hearted look at the need for human contact.

In The Woman Next Door, is Pauline a lonely, nosey neighbour or a woman full of unfulfilled longing? In Silk FM, Bill runs a very local radio station; catch it on Thursdays, 1pm to 3pm, term-time only. In The Picker, Martin is desperate to be acknowledged for his innovative litter-picking ideas. In Shelved, Pauline, Bill and Martin run a volunteer-led library, where the council may have plans for it, but so do they. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Posted on

John Bramwell takes solo route through songs new & Kloot at Pocklington gig

John Bramwell: Playing solo at Pocklington Arts Centre tomorrow night

HYDE singer, song-spinner and sage John Bramwell has been on a never-ending rolling adventure since working away from his cherished Mancunian band I Am Kloot. Next stop, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow.

Leading light of those Mercury Prize nominees from 1999 to 2014 and screen goddess Cate Blachett’s “favourite songwriter of all time”, Bramwell will be spotlighting songs old and new, as well as his sophomore solo album, February 2024’s The Light Fantastic, in his Pock one-man show.

“I’ve been touring with my full band, then touring as a trio, and now some solo dates,” says John. “A different set of songs, of course. With this set there’s more Kloot in there and more from the new album, not The Light Fantastic , but the next one, out next March, on Townsend Music again. Three songs from that…

“…and stories from my past. Just funny stuff that happened with John Peel. Getting to tour with John Cooper Clarke and how he’d try out his gags on me on his way to gigs. Remembering my late friend Bryan Glancy [who played with Bramwell in The Mouth before he formed I Am Kloot].

“I’ve written a song about him, When The Light  Goes Out. I literally just had this dream about him and it was almost like the song was there.”

What happened with John Peel [the legendary late-night BBC Radio One presenter]? “I made this single, Black And White, as Johnny Dangerously, a name I got when I walked on stage, tripped up, went over the edge. The place went crazy. I got a massive cheer,” he recalls.

Pooling redundancy money from being relieved of his position in the Tesco wine and spirits department with a sum from his dad, John printed up vinyl copies of Black And Blue. “It was at the point when Peel said he couldn’t receive cassettes any more, so I went down to London on the train and waited for Peel to come out of his studio. ‘You’re John Peel,’ I said. He looked at his stomach and said, ‘it would appear I am’!”

Vinyl handed over, it turned out the trip was worthwhile. “Peel played it the following night. Among a lot of German industrial rock, and lots of bands with dyed black hair, of course, in the middle of all that, I’d released a ballad – but he played it!”

When playing Kloot songs, John will tell stories of what happened when making recordings. “Like not wanting to have the opening to Northern Skies, which to me is like Suspicious Minds, but Garvey [producer Guy Garvey, of Elbow], said no-one would notice – and he was right.”

Provisionally, he is toying with calling next year’s album Still Got The Magic. “I played a new song at one gig and it got an amazing reaction. I don’t write as much as I did: the quantity isn’t there but there’s still the quality,” says John.

“This new album will be purely a solo record. Just me, because my finger-style playing is really coming on, so I’m actually recording at home, a place near Monmouth, rather than on the boat that I rent by the River Wye at Symonds Yat.”

Pressing John on I Am Kloot’s legacy, he says: “As I find now, what people say to me, is that there’s a spirituality to it, the lyrics and the form, that I didn’t realise, being at the centre of it. It’s very emotional without being sentimental.

John Bramwell, centre, in I Am Kloot days with Andy Humphries and Peter Jobson

“So The Light Fantastic  really is the breakaway, but I think this new album, with me and the guitar, is more of a culmination of Kloot.

“Looking back, Moulin Rouge [released in April 2008] is my favourite Kloot album – and the least successful. I love the feel of it. It reminds me of how, when playing with Andy  [drummer Andy Humphries] and Peter [bassist Peter Jobson], we were really mashed together on those songs.”

Looking ahead, John’s next album after “Still Got The Magic” (TBC) will be a band record.  “That’s the key for me: rather than being purely solo, I look forward to working with the band  again, and after that, it’s great to bounce off new ideas.

“I’ve sprung this idea of doing an album every 18 months, and as the label has pointed out, that would mean I’d be touring all the time. If the health holds, I’ll be doing 90 gigs a year. I’ve got my stories, I’ve got my two guitars It’s what I’m meant to be doing. “

At this point, I praised on John for changing the word “trip” to “skip” in his opening lyric to The Light Fantastic: “As I skip the light fantastic/And I live my life of ease/I’ve put my heart out on elastic/And my soul upon the breeze”.  “I thought it was ‘skip’! I always thought that! Maybe in different parts of the country it’s different,” he says. “My girlfriend is Scottish and they have different meanings for some words.

“If I’d known it was ‘trip the light fantastic’, I wouldn’t have used it, as I don’t like the psychedelic stuff like LSD!”

It was time to mention John’s prodigiously long hair in the latest publicity photograph. “I’ve had it cut, though it’s still long. I went to get it cut to shoulder length, but the barber refused to cut it that far, saying it was magnificent and he’d cut it for free. So, it’s still long, not crazy, crazy long.”

John Bramwell, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, October 17, 8pm. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

“Cate Blanchett’s favourite songwriter of all time”? She chose the John Bramwell-penned Proof, from I Am Kloot’s Sky At Night, as her Desert Island Disc on BBC Radio 4 in December 2022.

John Bramwell’s promo, featuring Cate again: https://youtu.be/zmaLfoETfKc?si=lTHKO1o-jETZswaI

John Bramwell on writing songs for 2024’s The Light Fantastic

“AFTER both my mum and dad died, I started writing these songs to cheer myself up. “The themes are taken from my dreams at the time. Wake up and take whatever impression I had from what I could remember of my dream and write that.”

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No.45, from Gazette & Herald

Courtney Brown: Directing Pickering Musical Society for the first time in My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Picture: Robert David Photography

FROM Rodgers & Hammerstein favourites to Caliban’s dancing revenge, Francis Rossi’s songs and stories to German beer festivities, Charles Hutchinson delights in October’s diversity.

Musical revue of the week: Pickering Musical Society presents My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight  to Sunday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LONG-TIME member Courtney Brown directs Pickering Musical Society for the first time in My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein, a showcase of the very best of Broadway’s most iconic songwriting partnership.

As well as the cheeky charm of Honey Bun, the playful fun of The Lonely Goatherd and the rousing barn-dance energy of The Farmer And The Cowman, the show feature songs from The Sound Of Music, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific and The King And I. Dancers from the Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance take part too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Eddi Reader: Playing York for the first time in seven years at The Citadel

Seven-year itch of the week: Hurricane Promotions presents Eddi Reader, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

EDDI Reader, the Glasgow-born singer who fronted Fairground Attraction, topping the charts with Perfect, also has ten solo albums, three BRIT awards and an MBE for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts to her name.

Straddling differing musical styles and making them her own, from the traditional to the contemporary, and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns to boot, she brings romanticism to her joyful performances, this time with her full band in her first show in York for seven years. Eilidh Patterson supports. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block team up at the NCEM, York

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block Band, The Banjovial Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

GROUNDBREAKING  banjo players Damien O’Kane and Ron Block follow up their Banjophony and Banjophonics albums with this month’s Banjovial and an accompanying tour.

O’Kane, renowned for his work with Barnsley songstress Kate Rusby, is a maestro of Irish traditional music, here expressed on his Irish tenor banjo; Block, a key component of Alison Krauss & Union Station, infuses his signature five-string bluegrass banjo with soulful depth and rhythmic innovation. Together, their styles intertwine in an exhilarating dance of technical mastery. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Francis Rossi: Shaking up the Status Quo with songs and stories at York Barbican. Picture: Jodiphotography

Hits and titbits aplenty: An Evening of Francis Rossi’s Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

IN his one-man show, Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi performs signature Quo hits, plus personal favourites and deeper cuts, while telling first-hand backstage tales of appearing more than 100 times on Top Of The Pops, why Quo went on first at Live Aid, life with Rick Parfitt, notching 57 hits, fellow stars and misadventures across the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Natnael Dawit in Shobana Jeyasingh Dance’s We Caliban at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Dance show of the week: Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in We Caliban, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion) and Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm

SHOBANA Jeyasingh turns her sharp creative eye to Shakespeare’s final play The Tempest in a new co-production with Sadler’s Wells. A tale of power lost and regained, the play is the starting point for Jeyasingh’s dramatic and contemporary reckoning, We Caliban.

Written as Europe was taking its first step towards colonialism, The Tempest is Prospero’s story. We Caliban is Caliban’s untold story that started and continued long after Prospero’s brief stay. Performed by eight dancers, complemented by Will Duke’s projections and Thierry Pécou’s music, this impressionistic work draws on present-day parallels and the international and intercultural discourse around colonialism, as well as Jeyasingh’s personal experiences. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

John Bramwell: Playing solo in Pocklington

As recommended by Cate Blanchett: John Bramwell, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

HYDE singer, song-spinner and sage John Bramwell, leading light of Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014 and screen goddess Cate Blachett’s “favourite songwriter of all time”, has been on a never-ending rolling adventure since his workings away from his cherished Mancunian band.

His sophomore solo album, February 2024’s The Light Fantastic, will be at the heart of his Pocklington one-man show. “After both my mum and dad died, I started writing these songs to cheer myself up,” Bramwell admits with trademark candour. “The themes are taken from my dreams at the time. Wake up and take whatever impression I had from what I could remember of my dream and write that.” He promises new material and Kloot songs too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Sam Moss: Heading out on to the moors at The Band Room. Picture: Jake Xerxes Fussell

Moorland gig of the week: Sam Moss, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, Saturday, 7.30pm

FINGERPICKING folk virtuoso guitarist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Moss heads to the North York Moors this weekend from Staunton, Virginia, USA, to showcase his February 2025 album Swimming, championed by the scribes of Uncut, No Depression and Paste and Los Angeles online magazine Aquarium Drunkward, no less. “For the record, he is a renowned woodworker too, particularly celebrated for his incredible spoons,” says Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham. Sofa Sofa support (as sofas always do!). Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.

Drag diva Velma Celli lights up Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse. Picture: Sophie Eleanor

Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, Saturday, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm; October 24, 7pm to 11pm; October 25, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm

MAKING its debut in 2021, Yorktoberfest returns for its fifth anniversary with beer, bratwurst and all things Bavarian. Step inside the giant marquee, fill your stein at the Bavarian bar with beer from Brew York and grab a bite from the German-inspired Dog Haus food stall.

The Bavarian Strollers oompah band will perform thigh-slapping music and drinking songs; York drag diva Velma Celli will add to the party atmosphere with powerhouse songs and saucy patter. Doors open at 6.30pm and 12.30pm. Tickets: ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond monsters, ghosts, banjos and bratwurst. Hutch’s List No. 45, from The York Press

Anna Soden: No bum deal, bum steer or bum’s rush, for that would be a bummer at tonight’s hour of comedy, It Comes Out You Bum, at The Old Paint Shop

FROM royal history re-told to Dickens’ ghost stories, magical monsters to banjo brilliance, Charles Hutchinson delights in October’s diversity.

Homecoming of the week: Anna Soden, It Comes Out Your Bum, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm

NOW based in Brighton but very much shaped in York, comedian, actor, writer, TikTok sensation and award-nominated Theatre Royal pantomime cow in Jack And The Beanstalk, Anna Soden delivers her debut hour of madcap comedy, full of brainwaves, songs, revenge and talking out your ass. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Robin Simpson: Monster storyteller and York Theatre Royal pantomime dame, performing at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Spooky entertainment of the week: Robin Simpson’s Magic, Monsters And Mayhem!, Rise at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Sunday, doors 4pm

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime dame Robin Simpson – soon to give his Nurse Nellie in Sleeping Beauty this winter – celebrates witches, wizards, ghosts and goblins in his storytelling show.

“The audience is in charge in this interactive performance, ideal for fans of spooky stories and silly songs,” says Robin. “The show is perfect for Years 5 and upwards, but smaller siblings and their grown-ups are very welcome too.” Tickets: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Out for revenge: Henry VIII’s wives turn the tables in SIX The Musical, returning to the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday. Picture: Pamela Raith

Recommended but sold-out already: SIX The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, October 14 to 18; Tuesday & Thursday, 8pm; Wednesday & Friday, 6pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 4pm and 8pm

FROM Tudor queens to pop princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power. Think you know the rhyme? Think again. Divorced. Beheaded. LIVE!

Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow’s hit show is making its third visit to York, but it’s third time unlucky if you haven’t booked yet. Like Anne Boleyn’s head, every seat has gone.

Eddi Reader: Performing with her full band at The Citadel

Seven-year itch of the week: Hurricane Promotions presents Eddi Reader, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, October 15, 7.30pm

EDDI Reader, the Glasgow-born singer who fronted Fairground Attraction, topping the charts with Perfect, also has ten solo albums, three BRIT awards and an MBE for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts to her name.

Straddling differing musical styles and making them her own, from the traditional to the contemporary, and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns to boot, she brings romanticism to her joyful performances, this time with her full band in her first show in York for seven years. Eilidh Patterson supports. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Damien O’Kane and Ron Block: Banjovial partnership at the NCEM

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block Band, The Banjovial Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, October 15, 7.30pm

GROUNDBREAKING  banjo  players Damien O’Kane and Ron Block follow up their Banjophony and Banjophonics albums with this month’s Banjovial and an accompanying tour.

O’Kane, renowned for his work with Barnsley songstress Kate Rusby, is a maestro of Irish traditional music, here expressed on his Irish tenor banjo; Block, a key component of Alison Krauss & Union Station, infuses his signature five-string bluegrass banjo with soulful depth and rhythmic innovation. Together, their styles intertwine in an exhilarating dance of technical mastery. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Francis Rossi: Solo show of song and chat at York Barbican. Picture: Jodiphotography

Hits and titbits aplenty: An Evening of Francis Rossi’s Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More, York Barbican, October 16, 7.30pm

IN his one-man show, Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi performs signature Quo hits, plus personal favourites and deeper cuts, while telling first-hand backstage tales of appearing more than 100 times on Top Of The Pops, why they went on first at Live Aid, life with Rick Parfitt, notching 57 hits, fellow stars and misadventures across the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

James Swanton: Halloween beckons, so here comes his double bill of Dickens’ ghost stories at York Medical Society. Picture: Jtu Photography

Ghost stories of the week: James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 16, 17, 20 to 23, 7pm; October 27 and 28, 5.30pm and 7.30pm

A RED light. A black tunnel. A waving figure. A warning beyond understanding. Here comes the fear that  someone, that something, is drawing closer. Gothic York storyteller James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with The Signal-Man, “one of the most powerful ghost stories of all time and certainly the most frightening ever written by Charles Dickens”.

Swanton pairs it with The Trial For Murder, wherein Dickens treats the supernatural with just as much terrifying gravity. Tickets update: all ten performances bar October 21 have sold out. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Natnael Dawitin in Shobana Jeyasingh Dance’s We Caliban, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Dance show of the week: Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in We Caliban, York Theatre Royal, October 17, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion) and October 18, 2pm and 7.30pm

SHOBANA Jeyasingh turns her sharp creative eye to Shakespeare’s final play The Tempest in a new co-production with Sadler’s Wells. A tale of power lost and regained, the play is the starting point for Jeyasingh’s dramatic and contemporary reckoning, We Caliban.

Written as Europe was taking its first step towards colonialism, The Tempest is Prospero’s story. We Caliban is Caliban’s untold story that started and continued long after Prospero’s brief stay. Performed by eight dancers, complemented by Will Duke’s projections and Thierry Pécou’s music, this impressionistic work draws on present-day parallels and the international and intercultural discourse around colonialism, as well as Jeyasingh’s personal experiences. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

John Bramwell: Playing solo in Pocklington

As recommended by Cate Blanchett: John Bramwell, Pocklington Arts Centre, October 17, 8pm

HYDE singer, song-spinner and sage John Bramwell, leading light of Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014 and screen goddess Cate Blachett’s “favourite songwriter of all time”, has been on a never-ending rolling adventure since his workings away from his cherished Mancunian band.

His sophomore solo album, February 2024’s The Light Fantastic, will be at the heart of his Pocklington one-man show. . “After both my mum and dad died, I started writing these songs to cheer myself up,” Bramwell admits with trademark candour. “The themes are taken from my dreams at the time. Wake up and take whatever impression I had from what I could remember of my dream and write that.” He promises new material and Kloot songs too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Velma Celli: York drag diva lighting up Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse. Picture: Sophie Eleanor

Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, October 18, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm; October 24, 7pm to 11pm; October 25, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm

MAKING its debut in 2021, Yorktoberfest returns for its fifth anniversary with beer, bratwurst and all things Bavarian. Step inside the giant marquee, fill your stein at the Bavarian Bar with beer from Brew York and grab a bite from the German-inspired Dog Haus food stall.

The Bavarian Strollers oompah band will perform thigh-slapping music and drinking songs; York drag diva Velma Celli will add to the party atmosphere with powerhouse songs and saucy patter. Doors open at 6.30pm and 12.30pm. Tickets: ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest.

In Focus: Charlie Higson and Jim Moir: A Very Short But Epic History Of The Monarchy, York Theatre Royal, Oct 13, 7.30pm

In the frame: Author Charlie Higson and artist Jim Moir discuss royalty and comedy at York Theatre Royal on Monday

36 kings. Five queens. Two comedy legends. Join Charlie Higson and Jim Moir (alias Vic Reeves) for the rip-roaring story of every English ruler since Harold was shot in the eye at the Battle of Hastings.

Higson has always been interested in the story of the fabled English monarchy: from the b*stardly to the benevolent,the brilliant to the brutal. “Far from being a nice, colourful pageant of men and women in funny hats waving to adoring crowds, it’s a story of regicide, fratricide, patricide, uxoricide and mariticide (you might have to look those last two up),” he says.

Launched for the coronation of his namesake King Charles III, Charlie’s podcast Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee takes a deep dive into the murky lives of our monarchs. Now, his new book of the show features illustrations by artist Jim Moir, his compadre in comedy.

On Monday, Charlie and Jim will first share stories from their comic collaborations over 30 years, including Shooting Stars, Randell And Hopkirk Deceased and The Smell Of Reeves and Mortimer. Then they will take the plunge into the storied history of this most treasured of institutions. Bloody treachery? Check. Unruly incest? Check. Short parliaments? Check. A couple of Cromwells? Check.

Their rip-roaring journey takes in the Normans, Tudors and Stuarts, not to mention the infamous Blois (how can we forget them?), tin an “utterly engrossing and grossly entertaining primer on who ruled when and why – with never-before-seen illustrations”!

A signed copy of Higson & Moir’s book Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee: An Epically Short History Of Our Kings and Queens (RRP £22) is included when purchasing Band 1 (£55) tickets, available for collection on the night. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 43, from Gazette & Herald

Ghosts In The Garden: York’s haunted history told in 58 wire-mesh sculptures

FROM garden ghosts to a lonely whale, Toussaint’s saxophone to Kurdish comedy, Charles Hutchinson finds joy both outdoors and indoors.

Spectral trail of the season: Ghosts In The Garden, across York, until November 2

ORGANISED by York BID (Business Improvement District), the Ghosts In The Gardens sculpture trail has returned to York’s public gardens, ruins, hidden corners and green spaces in a free family event featuring 58 3D wire-mesh figures inspired by York’s haunted history.

Crafted in partnership with York creative team Unconventional Design, the translucent figures range from soldiers to monks, with ten new spectral sculptures to “ensure fresh surprises for returning visitors”.

Saxophonist Jean Toussaint: Opening autumn season at National Centre for Early Music tonight

Jazz gig of the week: Jean Toussaint, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tonight, 7.20pm

THE Jean Toussaint Quintet – saxophonist, composer and bandleader Toussaint, pianist Emile Hinton, bassist Conor Murray, drummer Ben Brown and trumpet player Joti (CORRECT) – showcases his JT5 project’s latest album, recorded at London’s Vortex jazz club in 2024.

York Music Forum students will be working with Toussaint earlier in the day to share their work on stage from 7.20pm to 7.40pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Gemma Curry in Hoglets Theatre’s The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale at York Theatre Royal Studio

Children’s show of the week: Hoglets Theatre in The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 4.30pm; Saturday, 11am and 2pm

FRESH from an award-winning Edinburgh Fringe run, York company Hoglets Theatre invite primary-age children and families to an exciting adventure packed with beautiful handmade puppets, sea creatures, original songs and audience interaction aplenty.

Performed, crafted and directed by Gemma Curry, The Tale Of The Loneliest Whale celebrates friendship, difference and the beauty of being yourself in Andy Curry’s tale of Whale singing his heart out into the deep blue sea, but nobody singing back until…a mysterious voice echoes through the waves, whereupon Whale embarks on an unforgettable adventure. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Cooper Robson: Say Owt Slam special guest at The Crescent, York

Sizzling spoken words of the week: Say Owt Slam with special guest Cooper Robson, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.30pm

HEATON slam champion and left-wing, left-field loudmouth Cooper Robson returns to York for a special-guest full set of hard-hitting poetry, raucous comedy and outlandish at The Crescent. Robson sports “more meter than Mo Farrah, more nonsense than a sapling touching Tolkien-tree”, while spouting more trash than a government coastal policy. Box office: thecrescentyork.com or on the door.

Helen Lederer: For bitter, for farce at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy conversation of the week: Helen Lederer, Not That I’m Bitter, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

FROM Absolutely Fabulous to French & Saunders, Helen Lederer has been a familiar face in British comedy since her 1980s’ alt. comedy beginnings, being “in the spotlight but not always centre stage”. Now, she brings her signature wit and warmth to page and stage as she shares stories of fame, failure, family and finding your voice when the odds are stacked against you in a man’s world.

Expect sharp observations, outrageous anecdotes and a refreshingly candid take on everything from mental health to midlife reinvention, in conversation with presenter and podcaster Johnny Ianson, as Lederer discusses her memoir Not That I’m Bitter as part of East Riding Libraries Festival of Words. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The Creepy Boys: Teenage birthday party. Picture: Nick Robertson Photography

“Bizarre comedy with just a splash of the occult”:  The Creepy Boys, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 8pm

THE Creepy Boys, Canadian creators of cult-smash Slugs and 2025 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees, present their existential self-titled show – and you’re invited as they throw their 13th birthday party. Expect games. Gifts. Possibly Satan. Probably Cake.

Combining 2000s’ sexy songs and dances, satanic rituals and Willem Dafoe, horny little boys Sam Kruger and S.E. Grummett will do whatever it takes to make their birthday dreams come true, even re-enacting their own birth, while interrogating the trappings of millennial nostalgia, before driving the show off a wild horror-comedy cliff. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Kae Kurd in What’s O’Kurd: That’s what’s occurring at Pocklington Arts Centre on Saturday

Comedy gig of the week: Kae Kurd: What’s O’Kurd, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

KAE Kurd, British-Kurdish stand-up comedian, Ain’t Got A Clue podcaster and lead writer and voice of ITV’s dating show Loaded In Paradise, brings his new tour, What’s O’Kurd, to Pocklington.

Born Korang Abdulla in Saqqez, Iran, and now based in South London, Kae performed his debut show Kurd Your Enthusiasm at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, since when he has toured Spoken Kurd Tour in 2021 and Kurd Immunity in 2023. He has written for Cunk & Other Humans (BBC), Have I Got News For You (BBC) and A League of Their Own (Sky One), as well as for the i newspaper and Total Politics, and has appeared on Mock The Week and Celebrity Masterchef. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Our Biggest Ever Open Mic: Saturday’s evening of anything-goes entertainment at Milton Rooms, Malton

Open opportunity of the week: Our Biggest Ever Open Mic, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7pm

THE stage is all yours on Saturday at the Milton Rooms’ “Biggest Ever Open Mic evening” for all manner of performers.  Admission is free and doors and the bar will be open at 6.30pm. Tech support will be provided. Go for it! For more information, email info@themiltonrooms.com.

Martin Ledger of Alchemy Live: Finding himself in Dire Straits in a good way at Helmsley Arts Centre

Tribute show of the week: Alchemy Live, The Music Of Dire Straits, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

FORMED by life-long Dire Straits fans and full-time musicians Martin Ledger and Neil Scott, Alchemy Live announced their first show for Friday the 13th in 2022 in York, duly selling out there and around Yorkshire and moving on to theatre shows from January 2023.

Fast forward to 2025 and the launch of an expanded line-up, featuring pedal steel and saxophone, enabling them to tackle the huge production of Dire Straits’ final album On Every Street and the resultant live record On The Night. Every song choice is taken from a specific live performance in Dire Straits’ history, for example the show-opening Money For Nothing from Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985, “with every nuance of Mark Knopfler’s playing technique followed faithfully” throughout. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Pixies: Playing York for first time in 40-year career next May

Gig announcement of the week: Pixies, York Barbican, May 20 2026

CELEBRATING 40 years since their 1986 formation in Boston, Massachusetts, Pixies will head out on their Pixies 40 worldwide tour next year. The British and European leg will open with their long-overdue York debut on May 20 at York Barbican.

Founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering will be touring with bassist Emma Richardson as they head to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Tickets for their only Yorkshire concert are on sale at bnds.us/ziwfqx or yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/pixies.