Tag: Pocklington Arts Centre

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as Strictly stars come dancing in clash of shows. Hutch’s List No. 24, from The Press

Hal Cruttenden: Dishing out the comical blows at Pocklington Arts Centre tonight. Picture: Matt Crockett

OPEN studios across York and beyond, Strictly dancers in  tandem, Les Miserables in its school edition and Elvis Costello’s early years are among Charles Hutchinson’s joyful June recommendations.

Comedy gig of the week: Hal Cruttenden: Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm

EALING comedian Hal Cruttenden’s new tour show promises to stick it to ‘The Man’, as long as ‘The Man’ doesn’t stick it back to him. Utilising his trademark hard-hitting comedy style, he pontificates on subjects such as middle-aged dating, social media, the insanity of modern politics and how his daughters love him but do not respect him. He believes that, after experiencing this gig, you will feel exactly the same way. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Es Devlin stands by her installation Library Of The Four Winds in the Temple of the Four Winds at Castle Howard. Picture: James Drury

Drawing workshop of the day: Es Devlin, Library Of The Four Winds, Temple of the Four Winds, Castle Howard, near York, today at 12 noon

TO mark today’s opening of her Library Of The Four Winds installation at the Temple of the Four Winds, Castle Howard, artist and designer Es Devlin will hold a 45-minute outdoor drawing workshop, with materials provided. Further workshops will follow at the installation every Saturday until September 26.

Devlin will be in conversation today with Nicholas Howard and Francis Terry in a 5.30pm event supported by the Georgian Society and National Lottery Heritage Fund. Library Of The Four Winds will be on show until September 27. For full details of the workshops, conversation and installation, go to: castlehoward.co.uk.

The Jazzville Quartet: Performing with Kirsty Hughes at The Old Paint Shop

Cabaret gig of the week: The Old Paint Shop presents The Jazzville Quartet, with Kirsty Hughes, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm

YORK jazz combo The Jazzville Quartet are joined by University of York alumna and Royal Academy of Music graduate Kirsty Hughes, showcasing her love of Judy Garland and the great jazz singers in an intimate cabaret performance.

Piano maestro and arranger Alec Robinson, saxophonist Alex Fisher, double bassist Tim Murgatroyd and drummer Steve Hanley will be exploring the Great American Songbook too in a celebration of swing, Latin classics and haunting jazz ballads. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Shechter II in Hofesh Shechter’s In The Brain at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Todd MacDonald

New dance work of the week: Shechter II in In The Brain, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

HOFESH Shechter’s exhilarating new full-length work for Shechter II, In The Brain, is a raw, electrifying dive into movement, rhythm, and collective energy, taking a pulsing, urgent journey into the depths of our consciousness, where stories dissolve, identity fades and only the beat remains.

In The Brain is a space to break free, to lose yourself, to surrender to the rush of movement, the weight of bass and the euphoria of bodies locked in Shechter’s signature groove. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Abstract artist Mark Ibson

Exhibition of the week: Mark Ibson, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until July 30

SELF-TAUGHT Bishop Wilton artist Mark Ibson’s abstract works are back on the bakery walls at Bluebird Bakery, where he is exhibiting new artworks in the form of experiments in surface texture and instinctive marking.

Initially a furniture and interior restorer, Ibsen began painting in 2012, holding his debut solo exhibition at Partisan, Micklegate, in May 2027 at the age of 47 after years of quietly painting and honing his skills at his studio in the former Herris Fisher blacksmith’s forge. “It seemed to be a natural progression,” he said at the time.

Ric Liptrot: Taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios in York this weekend

Open invitation of the weekend: North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in the second weekend of the summer edition of North Yorkshire Open Studios. Among those involved in and around York are Lucie Wake;  Alex Ash; Lincoln Lightfoot; Jon Haste; Ali Hunter; Veronica Ongaro; Di Gomery; Jill Tattersall; Evie Leach; Katrina Mansfield and Lesley Shaw.

So too are Lisa Power; Lu Mason; Ric Liptrot; Jo Walton; Kai West; Emily Littler; Hannah Arnup; Michelle Galloway; Janie Stevens; Toby Staunton; Gonzalo Blanco; Andrew Bloodworth; Justine Warner; Graham Jones; Nora Gaston and Freya Horsley. The full list of artists and makers can be found at nyos.org.uk.

Amy Dowden and Carlos Gu: Reborn at Grand Opera House, York

Strictly stars of the week combination number one: Amy & Carlos: Reborn, Amy Dowden and Carlos Gu, Grand Opera House, York, June 16, 7.30pm

AFTER making her stunning return to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor, Amy Dowden MBE truly feels Reborn in her tour show, accompanied by fellow Strictly professional Carlos Gu.

Back on stage after a triumphant debut season, Amy and Carlos will be sharing an intimate portrait of their lives and journeys, wherein the inspirational and transformative power of dance shines through.  Reborn features world-class dancers, live vocalists and a soundtrack of iconic anthems from across the decades. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nikita Kuzmin: Shining brightly in Supernova with Karen Hauer, on tour at York Barbican

Strictly stars of the week combination number two: Burn The Floor presents Nikita Kuzmin in Supernova, with special guest Karen Hauer, York Barbican, June 16, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing fan favourite Nikita Kuzmin takes centre stage in the explosive dance spectacular Supernova, joined by very special guest star Karen Hauer, Strictly’s longest-serving female professional.

Created in collaboration with choreographer and BAFTA award recipient Jason Gilkison and presented by international dance sensations Burn The Floor, Supernova is fuelled by the firepower of world-class performers and global creatives in an evening where artistry meets innovation and Kuzmin’s trademark charm, power and charisma shine brighter than ever. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

NE Theatre York’s poster for next week’s School Edition production of Les Miserables

Youth theatre show of the week: NE Theatre York in Les Miserables School Edition, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 16 to 20, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ALAIN Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of redemption will be performed by under-18s from NE Theatre York, directed by Steve Tearle, with a 15-piece orchestra under Joe Allen’s musical direction, projections by Tom Turner and the obligatory  barricade in the set design.

The musical tells the story of former prisoner Jean Valjean, who is pursued for 17 years by police inspector Javert against the backdrop of a brewing revolution in 19th-century Paris. The principal cast features Sam Brophy’s Jean Valjean, Will Roberts’s Javert, Emil Marczuk’s  Marius, Juliette Sellamuttu’s Fantine, Oscar Smith’s Enjolras, Callum Richardson’s Thenardier and Bella Gledhill’s Madame Thenardier. Box office:  01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Elvis Costello: Revisiting his 1977-1986 back catalogue in Radio Soul! at York Barbican

York gig of the week: Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello, York Barbican, June 17, 7.45pm

ELVIS Costello plays York Barbican for the first time since May 2013, joined by The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton for a set list drawn from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1896 Blood & Chocolate albums, complemented by “other surprises”.

“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to 50years ago,” says Costello, 71. “You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure.” His special guest will be Emily Moment. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin in myriad roles in Twice Nightly at Helmsley Arts Centre

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Helmsley Arts Centre, June 26 and 27, 7.30pm

WRITER and performer Dominic Goodwin, one-time manager of Helmsley Arts Centre, returns to his old stamping ground with his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over  variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. “It’s been an honour to perform these stars’ material, and even more so to have the backing of the families,” says Goodwin. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Al Dunn, Matt Freeman and Nick Bunt in Le Navet Bete’s Oh Zeus!. Picture: Mark Senior

In Focus: Le Navet Bete in Oh Zeus!, York Theatre Royal, June 18 to 20, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

CHAOTIC comedy specialists Le Navet Bete return to York Theatre Royal from tomorrow, this time with their riotous ride through the world of Greek mythology, Oh Zeus!.

The Exeter company previously toured their hit family shows Dracula: The Bloody Truth, King Arthur and Treasure Island to the St Leonard’s Place theatre.

Written by John Nicholson and Le Navet Bete and directed by Nicholson, Oh Zeus! finds the stability of Olympus being threatened by the marriage of Zeus’s daughter, Hebe, to a mere mortal, whereupon the King of the Gods hatches a plan to derail the wedding.

Cue three actors – company founders Al Dunn, Nick Bunt and Matt Freeman – playing 40 characters between them in a mythical farce that journeys through Ancient Greece, the Underworld and back.

Expect physical comedy, outrageous jokes, fast-paced pandemonium and togas aplenty in a show ideal for devotees of Fawlty Towers, Bottom and The Play That Goes Wrong.

Formed in 2008 in Exeter, Devon, Le Navet Bete travel around the UK and internationally, with support from Arts Council England, the Exeter Northcott Theatre and the Exeter Phoenix, on a mission to create and tour humorous, physical and accessible comedy theatre, replete with storytelling for “absolutely everyone (ages four to 104)” – although Oh Zeus! carries an age guidance of 12 plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 24, from Gazette & Herald

Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Picture: Johan Persson

COLD War espionage, artist open studios on moor and coast, Wright & Grainger in short form and Elvis Costello’s early years revisited make their mark on culture guide Charles Hutchinson.

Thriller of the week: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today, tomorrow and Saturday

FOR the first time, a John le Carré novel is being brought to life on stage by Chichester Festival Theatre in David Eldridge’s adaptation of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, a typically taut tale that journeys through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception and moral compromise.

Death In Paradise star Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer, Alec Leamas, is ready to come in from the cold, until veteran agent George Smiley persuades him to take one final mission against the East German Secret Service. Deep undercover, Leamas finds his convictions tested and his defences breached by Liz Gold, a quietly defiant librarian, whose compassion threatens to thaw his frostbitten heart. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Rich Hall: Delivering comedy’s version of Chin Music at Pocklington Arts Centre

American comedian of the week: Rich Hall: Chin Music, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm

THE expression “chin music” has two meanings. One is idle talk; the other is a ‘brushback’ throw in baseball or cricket to intimidate the batter. Both describe North Carolina-born Rich Hall’s comedy: idle but intimidating, sharp, quick, splenetic and improvisational. Don’t duck out of seeing him in action in Pocklington tonight. Box office: 017589 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Florence Poskitt’s Rita and Jamie McKeller’s Frank in Black Treacle Theatre’s Educating Rita at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Literature lessons of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Educating Rita, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm

YORK actors Florence Poskitt and Jamie McKeller team up for the first time under Jim Paterson’s direction in Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving double-hander about the power of education to change lives. When Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signs up for an Open University literature course, she meets disillusioned academic Frank, whose passion for teaching has long faded. 

Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and Frank reckons with his own choices and the possibility of a second chance. Change comes with difficult choices for both student and tutor, who must reconsider who they are and who they want to be. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Bluffs’ poster for Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Unscripted silliness of the week: Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tomorrow, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm

YORK troupe The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games and infuse them with storytelling flair in an evening of laughter, silliness and plot twists. Each fast-paced show is shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. Expect scenes inspired by classic literature, unexpected character mash-ups and even a fanfiction-inspired musical number.

The Bluffs are drawn from a melange of theatrical, comedy and musical backgrounds, from festival stages to pantomime and competitive Theatresports. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/unwritten-the-literary-improv-show-tickets-1984763723726.

Easingwold creative duo Wright & Grainger: Presenting Say It & Play It at The Old Paint Shop

The Old Paint Shop presents: Wright & Grainger Say It & Play it, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow, 8pm

FRIENDS and working partners since Easingwold schooldays, Wright & Grainger serve a carefully curated evening of stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos. Known for their internationally acclaimed adaptations of Ancient Greek myths, sometimes they do something a tad different.

Hence Say It & Play It will be a set full of Alexander Flanagan Wright & Phil Grainger’s shorter collaborative works, the poems that stand on their own, the beautiful tracks they have been writing. “It’s a gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff, grown and told on home turf,” they say. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Paul Weller: Heading back to the East Coast to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Seaside excursion of the week: Paul Weller, TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Friday, gates 6pm

PAUL Weller follows up April’s release of Weller At The BBC Vol 2 with his return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 7 2024. The Modfather, 68, will be expected to draw on material from his days in The Jam and Style Council, as well as his solo years, from 1992’s self-titled debut to July 2025’s Find El Dorado. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Mark Butler: Taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026

North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026, Moors and Coast, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in the second weekend of the summer edition of North Yorkshire Open Studios, including 73 representing the Moors and Coast. Among them will be Boo Barwick-Ward; Iona May Stock; Jo Naden; Sarah Sharpe, Alison Spaven; Anna Matyus; Pam Edwards; Deborah Wilkinson; Iona Harrison; Jonathan Pomroy and Stephen Bird.

So too will Rory Menage; Sue Slack; Mike Nowill; Studio Milena; Clare Belbin; Elizabeth Bailey; Lyn Bailey; Pauline Brown; Sally Parkin; Nettle Cottage Prints; Slab and Slip; Rebecca Callis; Kate Brown; Jess Shaw; Martin Gittins; Alice O’Neil and Gillies Jones. Full details can be found at nyos.org.uk.

Elvis Costello: Revisiting his early years in his Radio Soul! show at York Barbican. Picture: Ray Di Pietro

York gig of the week: Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello, York Barbican, June 17, 7.45pm

ELVIS Costello plays York Barbican for the first time since May 2013, joined by The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton for a set list drawn from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1896 Blood & Chocolate albums, complemented by “other surprises”.

“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to 50years ago,” says Costello, 71. “You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure.” His special guest will be Emily Moment. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin: Performing Twice Nightly over two nights at Helmsley Arts Centre

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Helmsley Arts Centre, June 26 and 27, 7.30pm

DOMINIC Goodwin, one-time manager of Helmsley Arts Centre, returns to his old stamping ground with his first one-man comedy show, written and performed by Goodwin and directed by York director Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over  variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. “It’s been an honour to perform these stars’ material, and even more so to have the backing of the families,” says Goodwin. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

York printmaker Michelle Hughes holding a copy of her debut book, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut

In Focus

Book event of the week: An Evening with Michelle Hughes, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, Kemps Books, Malton, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK linocut printmaker discusses her debut book, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, her creative story and upcoming tenth anniversary in business at Kemps Books. “Liz Kemp has been a huge supporter of my printmaking journey, selling my original prints in the early days, greeting cards over the years, and now stocking my book,” says Michelle. “Do come along and support a fabulous indie gift shop and bookshop.”

Published in February 2026, Michelle’s beautifully illustrated book shares how to design, carve and print birds and wildlife using traditional linocut techniques, guiding  readers from simple one-colour prints through to more advanced multi-colour methods, including jigsaw, reduction and multi-block printing.

“Whether you are completely new to linocut or already exploring printmaking, the book offers clear step-by-step guidance, practical tips and creative inspiration for capturing birds and wildlife in this rewarding craft,” says Michelle.

“During the evening you’ll enjoy my short talk about my journey to becoming a professional printmaker; behind-the-scenes insights into how the book was created, with a chance to see original prints and lino blocks featured in the book and a Q&A session about linocut printmaking, followed by a book signing.

Come and celebrate wildlife, printmaking and the joy of carving and printing by hand.” Tickets must be booked in advance in person in store or at kempsgeneralstore.co.uk/pages/events.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when festivals flow and love bites. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 21, from The York Press

Who’s who and what’s what at York Pride 2026 at Knavesmire

FESTIVALS full of Pride, ideas and comedy are the headline acts in Charles Hutchinson’s selection of culture in colourful bloom as May turns to June.

Putting the unity into community, love and equality: York Pride 2026, Knavesmire York, today, 11am to 7.30pm

THE 90-munite York Pride parade sets off from Parliament Street to Knavesmire at 12 noon for a full day of Pride, protest, visibility, music, cabaret, family entertainment and community celebration.

The main stage line-up features Nadine Coyle, Joe McElderry, Urban Cookie Collective, Nicki French, Michael Marouli, Roxanne Cooper, Sweet Like Sabrina, Heavenly Bodies, Jordan Smart, DJ Rory Hoy and York Stage’s cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. For full festival details, go to: yorkpride.org.uk. Entry is free.

Alexander McCall Smith: Discussing his books at York Festival of Ideas on June 7 at 6.30pm in Room PZA/103 in the Piazza Building, Campus East, University of York. Picture: Alexander McCall Smith Portraits

Festival of the fortnight: York Festival of Ideas, Place & Space, today until June 12

YORK Festival of Ideas 2026 explores Place and Space in more than 200 mostly free in-person and online events designed to educate, entertain and inspire. 

Led by the University of York, the event features world-class speakers (such as Nicola Sturgeon, Clive Myrie, Dame Kelly Holmes, Alexander McCall Smith, Sally Wainwright and Sian Williams), performances, exhibitions, tours, family-friendly activities, a Michael Morpurgo celebration day and much more, with topics ranging from archaeology to art, history to health, politics to psychology, football to Manchester’s Music Soul. For the full programme, go to:  yorkfestivalofideas.com.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Hosting the finale to Pocklington Arts Centre one-day Comedy Festival today

Comedy event of the week: Pocklington Comedy Festival, today, from 1pm

POCKLINGTON Arts Centre’s Comedy Festival opens with Seeta Wrightson’s work-in-progress (WIP) Fringe Preview of Middling at 1pm, followed by Out Of The Box at 2pm and Brennan Reece’s WIP Fringe Preview of New Jokes at 2.45pm.

Marcel Lucont presents Les Enfants Terribles – A Game Show For Awful Children at 4pm. Then come Tom Neenan’s WIP Fringe Preview at 4.30pm; Sarah Roberts’ WIP Fringe Preview at 6.15pm and the Mixed Bill finale at 8pm, bringing together Lou Wall, Marcel Lucont, Tal Davies, Pravanya Pillay and Raj Poojara, hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

“You sit here,” says Pierre Novellie, who will be standing over there at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Novellie idea of the week: Pierre Novellie, You Sit Here, I’ll Stand There, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 5pm, tickets available, and 8pm, sold out

IT’S  time for Pierre Novellie to do stand-up! It’s time for you to watch! “Why not just embrace that, for God’s sake?” he ask on his return to Theatre@41, Monkgate. “All earthly glories fade!

Novellie is co-host of the Frank Skinner, Budpod and Button Boys podcasts and has been seen and heard on World’s Most Dangerous Roads (Dave), The Mash Report (BBC2), Stand Up Central (Comedy Central), The Now Show and The News Quiz (BBC Radio 4). Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The ELO Experience: Celebrating 50 years of Jeff Lynne songs at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: The ELO Experience, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

IN 2025 Jeff Lynne’s ELO performed their last live shows on the Over & Out Tour. Now tribute act The ELO Experience are mounting their own 20th anniversary tour with a set of greatest hits and album gems spanning more than 50 years of Lynne’s music.

Between 1972 and 1986, ELO achieved more combined UK and US Top 40 hits than any other band, including 10538 Overture, Evil Woman, Living Thing, The Diary Of Horace Wimp, Don’t Bring Me Down and Mr Blue Sky. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The book cover artwork for Fiona Mozley’s new novel, Awake Awake

Book event of the week: An Evening with Fiona Mozley, Awake, Awake, Waterstones, Coney Street, York, June 4, 7pm

“WHAT if you can no longer trust your memories,” asks York author Fiona Mozley in her third novel, Awake Awake, published on June 4 by John Murray.

Booker-Shortlisted for her debut Elmet, and now resident in Edinburgh, Fiona returns to her home roots to discuss her new meditation on memory, loss and moral courage in a York-located story that revolves around a woman haunted by vivid memories of things she suspects never could have happened.  

Her hour-long talk will be followed by a Q&A between Fiona and the audience and a book-signing session will be held afterwards. Tickets: £6, Waterstones Plus Card members £5, at https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-evening-with-fiona-mozley-at-waterstones-york/york.

Molly Whitehouse and Dan Poppitt in rehearsal for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ premiere of Love At First Bite

Premiere of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Love At First Bite, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 4 to 6, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

JOSH Woodgate directs Dan Poppitt and Molly Whitehouse’s seductive new work Love At First Bite, wherein dating can be hell, but what if one of them were a creature of the night?” What happens when Alan and Minnie meet at a speed-dating night? A spark flickers. Dates follow. Laughter lingers.

“Yet beneath the rhythms of a familiar rom-com, something waits in the dark,” say Poppitt and Whitehouse, who play the lovers in York company Black Sheep’s premiere. “One of them is a vampire – but the secret shifts. Each night, the actors trade fangs and the audience is left to wonder who is hunter, who is prey.” Blending sharp-fanged wit with a brush of gothic shadow, their play toys with romance, rewrites folklore and invites audiences to consider what it means to love…and to hunger! Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Charlotte Hanna-Williams, left, Jamie-Rose Monk, Seán Carey, Holly Sumpton and Christian Andrews in SplitLip’s Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical. Picture: Matt Crockett

Musical of the week: SplitLip in Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Grand Opera House, York, June 2 to 6, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

THE year is 1943 and we are losing the war but, luckily, we can gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse. Singin’ In The Rain meets Strangers On A Train in SplitLip’s Operation Mincemeat, the Olivier and Tony award-winning musical take on the unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us the Second World War.

Bursting at the seams with chaos beyond invention, the question is: how did a dead body, a fake love letter and MI5 operative Ian Fleming come together to wrong-foot Hitler? Let  Christian Andrews, Holly Sumpton, Seán Carey, Charlotte Hanna-Williams and latest recruit Jamie-Rose Monk tell the tale. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sofia Romano in Silver Stage’s murder mystery Club Mistero, on tour at Helmsley Arts Centre

Immersive murder mystery of the week: Silver Stage & Solent University presents Club Mistero, Helmsley Arts Centre, June 5, 7.30pm

LOSE yourself inside the dazzling but dangerous Club Mistero in 1920s’ New York City, where a flighty barman, outspoken diva, secretive showgirl, neglected wife and an owner with eyes on every corner all become suspects when someone is, seemingly, nowhere to be found. Clutch your pearls, ol’ sport, murder is afoot.

In the heart of a speakeasy, surrounded by deception and secrets, a web of betrayal, revenge and power is spun, whereupon tensions rise as the line between friend and foe is blurred, but who will survive the night? Silver Stage’s Evelyn Foy, George Mclean, Niamh Boyle, Sofia Romano and Borna Vitlov will keep you guessing to the very end. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Navigators Art’s poster for On Location, on show at City Screen Picturehouse from June 7

Exhibition launch of the week: Navigators Art presents On Location, York Festival of Ideas, City Screen Picturehouse, York, June 7 to July 3, from 10.30am each day

ON Location, a free art exhibition of some of York’s finest visual artists, explores ideas of place and space, venturing widely beyond conventional landscapes. Open every day in the cafe and upstairs gallery from 10.30am, the show will be launched officially on June 8 from 6pm to 8.30pm in the gallery (free admission, no booking required, all welcome). 

The Gold brick road leads to York Barbican for Shalamar on their 50th anniversary tour

Gig announcement of the week: Shalamar, The Gold Tour, Celebrating 50 Years, York Barbican, July 2, 7.30pm

FORMED in Los Angeles in 1976, Shalamar became a defining force in late-1970s and 1980s’ R&B, funk and dance music with 18 UK Top 75 hits, 11 Top 40 singles, four Top Ten hits and more than 25 million records sold worldwide.

Body-popping Jeffrey Daniel and Howard Hewett, from the classic 1982 line-up, are joined by Carolyn Griffey, the female lead vocalist since 2001, to perform  A Night To Remember, Take That To The Bank, The Second Time Around, Make That Move, Dead Giveaway, There It Is,  Friends and Dancin’ In The Sheets et al. Special guest will be Gwen Dickey, The Voice of Rose Royce. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

York Opera cast members for Die Fledermaus: back row, David Hartley, Olivia Turner and Stephanie Wong; front row, John Soper and Alexandra Mather. Picture: John Saunders

In Focus: York Opera in Die Fledermaus, York Theatre Royal, June 3 to 6, 7.30pm Wednesday to Friday; 4pm, Saturday

YORK Opera is marking not one but two milestones with John Soper and  Elizabeth Watson’s production of Die Fledermaus next week.

This year is the company’s 60th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of its first appearance at York Theatre Royal: hence the summer production choice of Johann Strauss II’s party opera, wherein lavish host Prince Orlofsky seeks fresh amusement at his New Year’s Eve party. What better place for disguises, deception and revenge served with chilled champagne?

On an earlier occasion, Doctor Falke had been humiliated by his old friend Herr Eisenstein, who persuaded him to dress for a party as a bat [Die Fledermaus]. After much amusement and ridicule, eventually he was abandoned to wander the streets of Vienna.

Falke plots his revenge with a cocktail of hidden secrets, mistaken identities and a splash or two of champagne that leads to a comedy of errors that soon takes flight. Will the bat be revenged?

For an opera deemed the ideal introduction for those new to the genre, the cast includes an exciting mix of singers new to the group and familiar faces, singing an opera full of memorable tunes and comic moments in English. 

Alexandra Mather and Olivia Turner will share the role of Rosalinda; likewise, Stephanie Wong and LaLa Marais both will play Adele, after the decision to double cast the lead roles was made in response to the high calibre of talent displayed at the auditions.

The cast also features Molly Raine (Orlofsky); India Ashberry (Ida); Hamish Brown (Eisenstein); Karl Reiff (Alfredo); Ian Thomson-Smith (Falke); Mark Simmonds (Frank); Alex Holland (Dr Blind);Helen Tomlinson (Melanie); Katie Cole (Faustine) and Lilah Payton (Felicity).

Directors Soper and Watson say: “Prince Orlofsky states ‘when you have seen one opera, you have seen them all’. This is definitely not the case with a York Opera production. Our Die Fledermaus bubbles with lively choruses, memorable music and revenge – served chilled – just like flowing champagne.”

They are joined in the production team by conductor Edward Venn. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In Focus too: National Centre for Early Music presents Olivia Chaney, Sons Of Art: Purcell Revisited, York Festival of Ideas, NCEM, York, June 5, 7.30pm

Olivia Chaney

OLIVIA Chaney, York musician, Grammy nominee and haunting voice of Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”, plays a sold-out concert for York Festival of Ideas tonight.

Olivia’s deep connection to the music of Henry Purcell runs throughout her life. Now comes Sons Of Art, her latest performance and album project highlighting the deep affinities between the Baroque composer and the modern singer-songwriter: a shared immediacy, a delight in word-setting and a fearless mix of high art and street culture.

For Olivia, this is not classical crossover but a radical reclamation – a conversation across centuries that feels startlingly fresh. Tonight’s show is part of a tour heralding the upcoming Purcell album, as this modern English songwriter, now 44, reimagines Purcell’s works in a refreshingly natural and contemporary way, alongside original compositions and a chamber ensemble.

“It’s kind of a home show, as I’ve lived in York for seven years,” says Olivia. “My now husband [George Younge] was a lecturer in medieval history at the university, but he’s quit to be a furniture designer and maker, with his workshop in Escrick, though we may be moving from York.

“For this concert, I’ve been corresponding with Delma (NCEM director Delma Tomlin] and thought how nice it would be to combine with the York Festival of Ideas.

“I’ve played a few shows in York before, but usually at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall [at the University of York].”

Olivia, however, also took part in a poignant concert on February 28 at the NCEM, where Eliza Carthy and Special Guests performed The Songs of Martin Carthy in celebration of the Robin Hood’s Bay folk titan’s 60-year legacy.

“It was a really emotional night, and I did something – I wept,” she recalls. “We’d just done The Life & Songs of Martin Carthy, a huge event at EartH Theatre, in Hackney, in September put on with Jon Wilks, with all the great and good of the folk world, Maddy Prior, Billy Bragg, Peggy Seeger, Martin Simpson, Eliza, Martin, and video contributions by Paul Weller, Van Dyke Parks and Bob Dylan. That one was particularly moving, Dylan saying Martin was a huge influence on him.”

Since then, Olivia had been to America to record her next album. “I came home, jumped in the shower and headed to the NCEM to pay tribute to Martin. I hadn’t expected him to be there [given his health], but then I saw him shuffling out of the green room to watch the concert. It was such a moving night.”

Now, Sons Of Art finds Olivia renewing her creative partnership with New York producer-pianist Thomas Bartlett. “The first album I made with him was called Shelter,” she says. “I’d written it on the North York Moors at Hawnby – before I lived in Yorkshire – when I’d been touring heavily in America and wanted to get away from everything. I had a Bechstein piano that my friends helped me transport there, then I had this surreal experience of writing songs in this bucolic setting and then recording them in mid-Manhattan!”

The release of next album Circus Of Desire, was delayed by Covid’s intervention, being held back until 2024. In the hiatus, her Six French Songs EP emerged in 2023.

“My third album with Thomas [the aforementioned Sons Of Art] will come out next year, and this season’s shows are a signposting of the start of the project: one that I’ve wanted to do for more than a decade, revisiting Purcell.”

Meanwhile, Olivia’s profile has been heightened by the presence of her stark, haunting rendition of the 19th century traditional folk ballad Dark Eyed Sailor in a pivotal scene in Emerald Fennell’s outre film “Wuthering Heights”.

“In a sense, I can’t answer completely how it came about in that the director ‘stumbled across the song’, like how after I made Six French Songs, French director Andre Techine – who had Catherine DeNeuve in all his films – found my song Auprès de ma Blonde, one of the first things I put on YouTube, which I then re-recorded for him.” she says. “The film was premiered at Cannes but never got taken up, so I’ve never seen it.”

Back to Emerald… “Having seen other movies by both Andre and Emerald, I think they were each looking for music to drive their narrative, so maybe that’s why Emerld settled on Dark Eyed Sailor, which she decided would be in “Wuthering Heights” right from the beginning.”

What’s more, Emerald was insistent on using the version she had first heard, rather than a new recording. Namely, Olivia’s recording to harmonium accompaniment for BBC Radio 2’s The Folk Show, made on May 22 2013. “There’s something about the rawness of radio sessions, and that was my first ever live session for Mark Radcliffe’s show,” she says.

“I remember painting my nails on the way to the studio, and I guess that session was the beginning of me finding my sound, delving back into folk music.

“In a way it’s a surprise that Emerald hasn’t chosen something from my albums, but she ended up using the song twice, once when  Cathy realises she has married the wrong man, and then later an instrumental version, orchestrating out my harmonium.”

How did Olivia react when she attended the premiere. “What was a big surprise was that I thought it might be a little bit imperceptible, or be swamped  by all the other music [by Charli xcx], but I was struck by how spare it was, so that you could hardly hear my harmonium,” she says.

“Emily Brontë’s novel is in my top ten, and I thought, ‘how can they use this happy song?’, but Emerald uses it so cleverly, where it’s seven years since Heathcliff went away and has now returned, so the theme is fidelity, as so many songs about sailors and soldiers are.”

Olivia reckons Fennel’s previous work, Saltburn, is superior. ““Wuthering Heights” is so ambitious, so hard to pull off, but where it maybe fails is in its humour,” she says. “But then there is no humour in my work. I’m not into humour in my art. I like humour but I want to be moved by art.”

Olivia Chaney, Sons Of Art: Purcell Revisited, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, June 5, 7.30pm. SOLD OUT.

Olivia Chaney: back story

BORN in Florence to a writer and painter-turned-academic, Olivia  grew up listening to everything from Prince to Joni Mitchell to Henry Purcell.

This eclectic mix of influences sparked a passion for song-writing that she nurtured at Chetham’s School of Music and The Royal Academy.

After showcasing at SXSW and a stint as lead singer for electronica outfit Zero 7, she signed with Nonesuch, leading to collaborations with Kronos Quartet and a Grammy nomination for Offa Rex, The Queen Of Hearts, a collection of Fairport Convention-era classics made with Portland, Oregon band The Decemberists in 2017.

Olivia’s first solo album, 2015’s The Longest River, produced by Leo Abrahams, was followed by 2018’s Shelter,  recorded in New York City with producer-pianist Thomas Bartlett. Both explored inherited trauma, the clash of tradition and modernity and the paradoxes of love. 

In 2023 came Six French Songs, her spontaneous set of French chanson, from medieval ballad to 1960s’ pop, made over two summer evenings at Reservoir Studios with Bartlett and violinist Sam Amidon.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 21, from Gazette & Herald

John Robb: Discussing his new memoir, Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories, at Pocklington Arts Centre

WILDLIFE photography and nature-inspired poetry and music turn Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts to the sunnier days ahead. 

Talk of the week: John Robb, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm

JOHN Robb is a multi-faceted creature: author, musician, journalist, Louder Than War music website boss, Louder Than Words and Louder Than War Live festivals boss, Eco champion, vegan behemoth and punk rock warlord, as well as TV and radio talking head, frontman of post-punk mainstays The Membranes and ambassador for home-town Blackpool. 

To mark the May 12 publication of his memoir, Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories, he is undertaking a spoken-word and book tour, where each show comprises a one-hour talk by Robb, followed by a conversation and Q&A with a special guest. Tomorrow, he welcomes Pauline Murray, Penetration singer and author of Life’s A Gamble, her 2023 autobiography. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Nobody puts Baby’s poster in the corner for Dirty Dancing In Concert at York Barbican

Film event of the week: Dirty Dancing In Concert, tomorrow, 7.30pm

RELIVE the film that stole the hearts of generations with this live-to-screen concert event featuring Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama projected in full, accompanied by a live band and singers performing every song from the soundtrack. 

Feel the romance, rhythm and emotion as the love story of Baby and Johnny (Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze) comes to life on a full-size cinema screen. A dance-along encore party follows the final scene. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk

Now you see him, now you don’t: Daniel Davis and Georgina Sockett in Our Star Theatre Company’s The Invisible Man, to be spotted at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Vanishing act of the week: Our Star Theatre Company in The Invisible Man, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

THE thought of invisibility, and the advantages it could bring, has captured the imagination since HG Wells’s science-fiction novella was published in 1897. The Invisible Man has been adapted many times for film, but rarely for the stage. 

Here comes Derek Webb’s original, fast-paced and riotous adaptation boasting 15 characters, split between  three energetic actors, Daniel Davis, Georgina Sockett and Rhys Harris-Clarke, aided by quick and daft costume changes, prop manipulation, whacky imagination and tons of tongue-and-cheek fun in Herefordshire company Our Star’s touring production, directed by founder Ben Mowbray. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

The poster for The Future Is Vintage, the latest Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox concert at York Barbican

Retro gig of the week: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Future Is Vintage Tour 2026, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm

SCOTT Bradlee’s troupe of singers, dancers and instrumentalists perform a new show in signature time-twisting style, putting a retro spin on everything from Seventies’ rock classics and Britpop hits to the latest chart toppers and movie and video game soundtracks. 

“We’re humbly presenting our own unique vision of a spectacular future; one that is built upon the timeless musical genres of the past and the authentically human spirit of creativity that inspired them,” says founder and arranger Bradlee, who invites you to dress in your vintage best for the full time-travel experience. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Ocelots’ Ashley and Brandon Watson

Literature-inspired musings of the week: The Ocelots, The Arts Barge, Foss Basin Moorings, Tower Street, York, Friday,7.30pm

BLOOD harmonies are at the centre of The Ocelots’ sound with its Americana echoes of Neil Young and Sufjan Stevens. Twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson, from Wexford, Ireland, blend absurdity and sincerity in an array of literature-inspired musings.

Open tunings and clawhammer banjo merge country-folk contemplation with urban imagery, as heard on 2020’s Started To Wonder and 2025’s Everything, When Said Slowly albums and 2023’s Addlepated and March 2026’s Revisions EPs. Fionnuala Mary Bradbury supports. Box office: artsbarge.com.

Ian Smith: Stories of stress, love and buying a magic spell off Amazon in Foot Spa Half Empty at Helmsley Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Ian Smith, Foot Spa Half Empty, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday 8pm

EDINBURGH Comedy Award nominee and Northern News podcast co-host Ian Smith heads out on tour with Foot Spa Half Empty, his new show about stress, love and buying a magic spell off Amazon, in his follow-up to 2023’s Crushing.

Smith, 37, from Goole, has appeared on Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, The Stand Up Sketch Show, BBC Radio 4’sThe News Quiz, The Unbelievable Truth and Just A Minute and hosted his own Radio 4 series, Ian Smith Is Stressed. Box office:  01439 771700  or  helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Mike Amber: Taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock songs with Lola-Mae at Navigators Art’s Back To The Garden night of poetry and music

Nature lovers of the week: Navigators Art presents Back To The Garden, York Festival of Ideas, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 7.30pm, doors 7pm

NAVIGATORS Art has invited York performers to celebrate and explore the York Festival of Ideas theme of Place and Space with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens.

Original words and music feature alongside well-loved works by familiar names in the company of storyteller Lara McClure; Mike Amber & Lola-Mae, taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock; poet and novelist Janet Dean; performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette and alt folk band Sofa Sofa, whose songs are rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love. Box office: ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Country Bound: Performing upbeat country songs, complemented by floor fillers re-imagined in a country music style, at Milton Rooms, Malton

Country gig of the week: Country Bound, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

COUNTRY Bound put the ‘fun’ into country function band, performing upbeat modern and classic country songs, complemented by classic floor fillers re-imagined in a country music style.

Fronted by Micki Consiglio, they cover hits by Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Zach Brown Band, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Dolly Parton, Lady A, Blake Shelton, Faith Hill, Morgan Wallen, Billy Cyrus, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Kacey Musgraves, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Kelsea Ballerini, Kenny Rogers, Patsy Cline and more. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Rick Wakeman: The Wizard of Prog reunites with the English Rock Ensemble at York Barbican next March

Gig announcement of the week: Rick Wakeman, The Wizard of Prog, Ultimate Highlights Concert Tour with English Rock Ensemble, York Barbican, March 11 2027

KEYBOARD player extraordinaire Rick Wakeman, who turned 77 on May 18, will be reuniting with the English Rock Ensemble to focus on a broad sweep across his classic back catalogue, including extracts from epic concept albums Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table, Yes material and surprises.

The band line-up reassembles from 2025’s Return Of The Caped Crusader Part 2 tour: Wakeman, Jesse Smith (lead vocals), Adam Wakeman (keyboard, guitars and vocals), Dave Colquhoun (guitars and vocals), Lee Pomeroy (bass and vocals), Adam Falkner (drums) and backing vocalists Sara Davey, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson and Jo Marshall. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/rick-27.

Paul Hobson’s A Toad Swims Across Its Woodland Pond: Grand Prize winner in British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026, on show at Nunnington Hall

In Focus: British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026, Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, until July 5, open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm

THE winners of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026 have been unveiled at the National Trust’s Nunnington Hall, where 75 photographs are on show.

Paul Hobson’s A Toad Swims Across Its Woodland Pond, photographed from a pond-floor perspective in Sheffield, has taken the top prize from more than 12,000 images submitted by professional and amateur photographers. 

“I am lucky to have a pond close to my house that has relatively clear water,” says Hobson. “Toads use this pond to breed in, and I decided I wanted to try to capture an image looking up from the bottom of the pond.”

To accomplish this, he housed the camera inside a home-built glass box, complete with old tripod legs and ballast to prevent sinking, and triggered the camera using an adapted long cable release.

“I had to wait quite a long time until a toad swam across the surface,” says Hobson. “Most of them would usually swim below it and rest on the glass. He was eventually successful, however, and the outcome provides a rare view of a toad in its woodland home.

Ben Lucas’s Feathery Pillow: Winner of the Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award 2026

Ben Lucas won the Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 award with Feathery Pillow, his charming image of a mute swan cygnet taking a nap on its sibling’s back. “Nature can often be so cruel, but tender moments like this warm my heart,” he says.

The annual showcase of nature photography is a crucial reminder of what value British woodlands, wetlands and other ecosystems still hold.

“This year’s winners celebrate the wonder, diversity and character of British wildlife in truly exceptional ways,” say British Wildlife Photography Awards director Will Nicholls. “From familiar species to rarely seen moments, the portfolio showcases the skill and passion of the photographers behind the lens.

“Together, they offer a joyful celebration of Britain’s natural world, while also reminding us why these places and species are so deserving of our care and protection.”

Photographers competed in 11 categories in the adult competition: Animal Behaviour, Animal Portraits, Botanical Britain, Black & White, Coast & Marine, Habitat, Hidden Britain, Urban Wildlife and Wild Woods, plus British Seasons and Documentary Series making up the special awards.

Three photographs from the British Wildlife Photography Award 2026 exhibition

Further awards were given for Wildlife in HD Video and three age groups in the youth competition: age 11 and under, 12 to 14 and 15 to 17.

All awarded images are published by Graffeg Books in a hardback coffee-table book, available online at bwpawards.org, with a foreword by actor, writer and director Mackenzie Crook.

The 2027 competition is open for entries at bwpawards.org, inviting photographers of all levels of experience to submit their photos of Britain’s nature at its best.

Nunnington Hall invites visitors take time in the organic gardens overlooking the River Rye to spot many birds and insects and maybe the occasional otter or kingfisher that calls the garden home.

Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall. Entry is free for National Trust members and under-fives.

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Kelly Munro-Fawcett takes up venue director’s post at Pocklington Arts Centre

Kelly Munro-Fawcett: Taking up the venue director’s post at Pocklington Arts Centre

KELLY Munro-Fawcett is settling in as Pocklington Arts Centre’s venue director, marking an exciting new chapter for the East Yorkshire cultural hub.

Taking over from Angela Stone, who held the post from October 2022 to January 2026 before returning to her native Scotland, Kelly brings a wealth of experience across performance, producing and creative health.

Beginning her career as an actress, playing such Shakespearean roles as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she then founded RedBobble Arts, a socially engaged theatre company known for mounting touring productions and delivering impactful work in communities.

Latterly, she held the role of senior project manager at Hoot Creative Arts, a creative health organisation based at Bates Mill, Huddersfield.

Stepping into the leadership of Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC), Kelly vows to build on the  strong foundations and deep community roots established when the former Ritz Cinema and Penny Arcadia Museum opened as a 200-seat multi-purpose arts and entertainment venue in 2000.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Pocklington Arts Centre,” says Kelly, 42, who lives in Leeds. “Live performance has always been very close to my heart, and this venue is something truly special. It’s not only known for the quality of its artistic programme, but also for the role it plays at the centre of the community.”

PAC combines live music, comedy, theatre and exhibitions with a community programme of creative activities designed to support health and wellbeing.

“What really drew me to this role is the unique balance Pocklington Arts Centre holds,” says Kelly. “It is both a destination for world-class performance and a welcoming civic space shaped by its community. That legacy, developed for over 20 years by Janet Farmer and then Angela Stone, is something I have deep respect for and I’m committed to carrying forward.”

Kelly, who took up her post last month, will be working with a team of dedicated staff and more than 50 volunteers as Pocklington Arts Centre continues to play a vital role in the market town’s cultural and social life.

Looking ahead, her focus will be on sustaining PAC’s high-quality programme while ensuring the venue’s long-term resilience and relevance.

“My priority is to maintain the quality of the programme audiences know and love, while also strengthening the organisation for the future,” she says. “That includes growing audiences, particularly as more families make Pocklington their home, and continuing to expand opportunities for people to engage creatively.

“There’s a real sense of care and commitment here, and I’m looking forward to working with the team, volunteers and the wider community to shape what comes next.”

“My style of working is collaborative,” says Kelly Munro-Fawcett. Picture: Rachael Munro-Fawcett

Kelly is beginning a period of engagement with staff, volunteers and stakeholders as she develops plans for PAC’s future.

Welcoming her to Pocklington, town council deputy clerk Claire Findlay, says: “Having spent time with Kelly, I am confident that she and the wider team will build on past successes and steer our amazing arts centre into a bright and secure future.”

Kelly, who was appointed by the town council after undergoing three interviews, says: “My style of working is collaborative. It’s about partnerships, and the more minds you have on a project, the better the outcome.

“What I’ve been doing in five weeks in post is building up my ideas of what might be needed, and for the direction of travel, but I can’t begin to do that until I’ve met the local community: audience members; participants in the community; Friends of Pocklington Arts Centre, which has 500 members; Pocklington Town Council and those behind Pocklington’s bid to be the first UK Town of Culture in 2028.

“I’m also reaching out to people who’ve come to PAC in the past. It’s about respecting what worked previously, what do they want see more of, because ultimately we’re a creative community hub as well as being an award-winning live venue.”

Discussions have taken place already with the Godber family over staging a fourth Christmas show written by John’s daughter Elizabeth and directed by Jane Thornton, and now formal approval is awaited from PAC’s principal funding body, Pocklington Town Council.

Originally from Birmingham and raised in Nottingham, Kelly moved north to study at Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, graduating with first class honours. “I originally wanted to go to Manchester Metropolitan University – like Julie Walters – but Arden turned out to be great because they trained you not only as an actor but also to have a social conscience, because they taught you that art reflects the country you live in,” she says.

“They also taught us how to make our own theatre, which was an incredible opportunity – and the three founding members of RedBobble all came from Arden when we formed the company in 2011 to focus on live performance, community engagement and neuro-diverse empowerment.”

Kelly draws on her ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] in her working practice. “It gives you the ability to see the bigger picture, like spotting patterns and trends, to bring together people or concepts or a multi-disciplinary arts team,” she says.

“It also helps to make me creative; it gives you empathy, with the ability to put yourself in other people’s shoes and to be super-focused. If I’m passionate about something, I won’t stop; I’ll forget to have lunch.

“Having ADHD makes me really keen to support people to achieve their full potential, and that’s why I’m so passionate about the live shows and community programme at PAC.”

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How Lovely for online sketch star Daniel Foxx to play Pocklington Arts Centre, navigating realities of dating in 30s in Oct

Daniel Foxx’s tour poster for How Lovely

ONLINE sensation, comedian and author Daniel Foxx will bring his new stand-up show, How Lovely, to Pocklington Arts Centre on October 31.

Best known for his viral comedy sketches, Foxx has amassed millions of views across social media. His on-screen appearances span BBC One, BBC Three, ITV and Comedy Central and he has appeared live as tour support for Josh Widdicombe, Rosie Jones and Judi Love.

In How Lovely, Foxx reflects on how he was was determined to handle his Big Break-up with the grace of Julia Roberts, but didn’t, as he navigates the realities of dating in your 30s, a rising Le Creuset obsession and the pursuit of the perfect 12-step skincare routine, all while trying hard to emanate love and light.

Foxx’s debut show, Villain, toured internationally, including a sell-out run at New York’s SoHo Playhouse and London’s legendary Clapham Grand. He co-hosts the podcast Welcome To Hell with fellow comic Dane Buckley and is the author of the hit book Bedtime Stories For Privileged Children. His latest tour show will look to build on that momentum.

Foxx’s appearance adds to a packed 2026 comedy programme at Pocklington Arts Centre, where upcoming shows include Andy Parsons’ Please #@!$ To Mars on May 22 (8pm); Rich Hall’s Chin Music, June 10 (8pm), Hal Cruttenden’s Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It, June 12 and 13 (7.30pm); Neil Delamere in Reinventing The Neil, July 30 (7.30pm) and PAC Comedy Club, featuring Rob Deering, Eleanor Tiernan, Oliver Bowler and Tom Wrigglesworth, October 1 (8pm).  

Daniel Foxx: “Determined to handle his Big Break-up with the grace of Julia Roberts”

Further dates for the diary are: Ignacio Lopez in Nada, October 3 (8pm); Simon Evans in Staring At The Sun, October 21 (7.30pm); Tez Ilyas’s Tez Things I Hate About You, October 23 (8pm) and Brian Bilston’s How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside, November 14, 7.30pm.

 Pocklington Arts Centre’s Comedy Festival will take place on May 30, opening with Seeta Wrightson’s work-in-progress Fringe Preview of Middling at 1pm, followed by Out Of The Box at 2pm and Brennan Reece’s work-in-progress Fringe Preview of New Jokes at 2.45pm.

Marcel Lucont will present Les Enfants Terribles – A Game Show For Awful Children at 4pm. Then come Tom Neenan’s work-in-progress Fringe Preview at 4.30pm; Sarah Roberts’ work-in-progress  Fringe Preview at 6.15pm and the Mixed Bill finale at 8pm, bringing together Lou Wall, Marcel Lucont, Tal Davies, Pravanya Pillay and Raj Poojara, hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean.

Tickets for all shows are available from pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

DANIEL Foxx’s How Lovely tour also will visit Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre on May 30 at 7.45pm. Box office: 01723 370541 or www.sjt.uk.com.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 17, from The York Press

Eileen Walsh in rehearsal for her lead role as Sheila Gold in the world premiere of The Psychic at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Manuel Harlan

DYSON and Nyman’s world premiere dark thriller and women sporting Holmes & Watson waxed moustaches tickle Charles Hutchinson’s fancy in his recommendations for the week ahead.

World premiere of the week: The Psychic, York Theatre Royal, until May 23

“IS any of it real,” ask Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman in The Psychic, the latest spook-fest from the writer-director duo behind Ghost Stories. In their twisted new thriller, popular TV psychic Sheila Gold loses a high-profile court case that brands her a charlatan, costing her not only her reputation but also a fortune in legal fees.

When a wealthy couple ask Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child, she senses an opportunity to bleed them for money. What follows makes her question everything she has ever believed, leading her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Writer-directors Andy Nyman, left, and Jeremy Dyson in the rehearsal room for The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Cutting-edge music and art collaboration of the week: York Late Music presents Late Music Ensemble: Picture This!, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate York, tonight, 7.30pm

INSPIRED by the relationship between visual art and music, Picture This! explores how composers have responded to artworks across time, from Modest Mussorgsky to the present day.

Today’s audience is invited on a promenade through an imagined exhibition, where works by Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Bridget Riley and John Martin, alongside sculpture by Alexander Calder, are reflected in a musical programme featuring a new arrangement of Pictures At An Exhibition, Igor Stravinsky’s miniature tribute to Pablo Picasso, songs by Don van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) and David Byrne, plus new works. Nick Williams gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.  

Feeling his collar: Tom Davis in Spudgun, full of freshly cooked observations on life’s hot topics

Comedy gig of the week: Tom Davis in Spudgun, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

CROYDON comedy turn, actor and podcaster Tom Davis is back on the road, firing out his freshly cooked observations on life’s hot topics. Co-host of the Wolf And Owl podcast with Romesh Ranganathan, star of BAFTA and Royal Television Society award-winning comedy series Murder In Successville and BBC One comedy King Gary, he also has his own Sky and NOW TV special, Underdog.  “Get ready,” he says. “This one is fully loaded.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Hank, Pattie & The Current: Innovative twist on traditional bluegrass at Selby Town Hall

Bluegrass gig of the week: Hank, Pattie & The Current, Selby Town Hall, tonight, 7.30pm

HARD-HITTING bluegrass pickers who moonlight as symphonic classical musicians, Hank, Pattie & The Current approach their string band much as they would a string quartet. The Raleigh, North Carolina four-piece are led by Hank Smith’s banjo and Pattie Hopkins Kinlaw’s fiddle in an innovative twist on traditional bluegrass flavoured with classical, Motown,  jazz and pop. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.

Steve Cassidy: Leading his band through rock and country numbers at the JoRo

Vintage performance of the week: Steve Cassidy Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Steve Cassidy Band return to their favourite home-city venue with guests in tow for a night of rock and country music chosen to appeal to all age groups. Steve, a three-time winner on New Faces, recorded with John Barry as a teenager and performed on shows with legends of the music industry. His line-up features John Lewis, guitar, George Hall, keyboards, Mick Hull, bass, guitar and ukulele, and Brian Thomson, percussion. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Katherine Priddy: Showcasing new album These Frightening Machines at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Katherine Priddy, Pocklington Arts Centre, Sunday, 8pm

AFTER writing and recording two songs with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and appearing on Later…With Jools Holland, Birmingham folk singer-songwriter Katherine Priddy released her third album, These Frightening Machines, in March on Cooking Vinyl.

Priddy’s new compositions explore what it means to keep going when things fall apart, to hold on to connections in a world that sometimes divides and to figure out where we fit into the machines and systems we find ourselves confronting. Northallerton singer-songwriter George Boomsma supports. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Farewell tour for opera impresario and director Ellen Kent

Exit stage left: Ellen Kent, The Farewell Tour, Madama Butterfly, May 3, 7.30pm, and Carmen, May 4, 7.30pm, both at Grand Opera House, York

OPERA impresario and director Ellen Kent is on the road with her farewell tour, presented by Senbla, featuring Opera International Kyiv, from Ukraine, in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Bizet’s Carmen.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles, Madama Butterfly’s heart-breaking story of the beautiful young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant will be led by sopranos Elena Dee and Viktoria Melnyk, mezzo-soprano Yelyzaveta Bielous and tenors Oleksii Srebnytskyi and Hovhannes Andreasyan. Sung in French with English surtitles, Carmen promises passion, sexual jealousy, death and unforgettable arias, performed by Dee, Melynk and Mariia Davydova. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Laura Castle’s Dr John Watson, left, and Laura McKeller’s Sherlock Holmes in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskerville

Mystery thriller of the week: Neon Crypt in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 5 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

JOIN York company Neon Crypt for side-splitting stupidity, hot dog disguises and absolute terror in Jamie McKeller’s staging of Peepolykus co-artistic director John Nicholson’s incredibly high-brow adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

Sherlock Holmes (Laura McKeller) and Dr Watson (Laura Castle) must unravel the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville, found dead on his estate with a look of terror still etched on his face and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body. Look out for Michael Cornell popping up as Sir Henry and Sir Charles Baskerville and Yokel 2. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster artwork for K-Pop All Stars, bound for Grand Opera House, York

Tribute gig of the week: K-Pop All Stars, Grand Opera House, York, May 6, 7pm

RIDE the global K-pop wave with K-Pop All Stars’ explosive live celebration of the music, artists and Korean culture that is taking over the pop world. Feel the power of stadium-sized anthems, razor-sharp choreography and a cast that delivers every beat with precision and passion, performing hits by Blackpink, NewJeans, Katseye, BTS, Itzy, Stray Kids, Twice, Jung Kook and more. Cue light sticks glowing in the crowd. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dervish: Traditional Irish folk music at National Centre for Early Music. Picture: Tim Jarvis

Recommended but sold out already: Dervish, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, May 6, 7.30pm

LEGENDARY Irish traditional folk music band Dervish, recipients of a BBC lifetime achievement award in 2019, have recorded and performed all over the world, playing at festivals from Rio to Glastonbury. Fronted by singer Cathy Jordan. the line-up of fiery fiddle, flute, bouzouki, mandola, bodhran and accordion delivers vibrant sets of tunes and compelling songs. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

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Courtney Marie Andrews’ Valentine date: May 21 at All Saints Church, Pocklington CANCELLED

Courtney Marie Andrews: Completing hat-trick of Pocklington appearances on May 21. Picture: Wyndham Garnett

NEWSFLASH: 24/4/2026

VALENTINE’S day for Courtney Marie Andrews at All Saints Church, Pocklington, is OFF. The no-show is attributed to “unforeseen circumstances”, says Hurricane Promotions promoter James Duffy.

“She has just been announced as tour support for Glen Hansard across Europe,” he adds. That tour will take in Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom, May 20, Albert Hall, Manchester, May 22, and Roundhouse, London, May 23, on either side of what would have been Courtney Marie’s third appearance in Pocklington.

VALENTINE’S day falls on May 21 at All Saints Church, Pocklington, when Phoenix, Arizona singer, songwriter, poet, musician and artist Courtney Marie Andrews promotes her new album.

“Valentine is a record in pursuit of love,” says Grammy nominee Courtney Marie, 35.  Love, however is “a lot more than I gave it credit for. It’s built over years, it’s built with trust; with changes, it becomes something new and unrecognizable, the deeper you go”.

Released in January, Valentine is her most sonically explorative record: she plays flute, high-strung guitars and myriad synths, while drawing heavy inspiration from her art outside music.

Courtney Marie is a vivid poet and an accomplished painter, and across Valentine you can feel these disciplines interwoven, everything feeding the beauty and clarity of everything else.

Written at the junction of intense endings and beginnings in her life, Valentine demands more of those we love and reveals a stronger, wiser and more clear-eyed Courtney Marie in the process. The album is both lush and elemental, precise in its construction but rich with sonic and lyrical layers. In love and on Valentine, there is no quarter for empty gestures.

From her first recordings in 2008 to 2016’s breakthrough, Honest Life, 2020’s Grammy-nominated Old Flowers to her ninth studio album, Loose Future, Courtney Marie has challenged herself, finding new interplays of folk and Americana.

“As a songwriter, you can make the same record over and over again, and I’m not interested in that,” she says. “I make records to stand alone and stand apart from each other.”

Co-produced with Jerry Bernhardt and recorded almost entirely to tape, Valentine features complete in-studio performances. “We thought a lot about Lee Hazlewood, about Big Star’s Third and Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk,” says Courtney Marie.

“I was in one of the darkest periods of my life, and songs were the only way I could reckon with it. I felt cursed, and the only mental cure felt like songwriting and painting.”

The near-death of a loved one loomed over everything, and while that person eventually recovered from both sickness and psychosis, Courtney Marie was more sure that death was coming, rather than recovery.

Her grief was acute, volatile. The decline coincided with a new romance, but rather than lift her up, the two emotional poles seemed to bleed into each other to sow doubt, trouble, even obsession.

“I was grappling with what I felt sure was death, and with the end of that relationship, while I was also grappling with something new but quite unstable,” she says. “Here was this new relationship evolving alongside the collapse of another.”

The result was a feeling of “limerence, but a somehow empowered limerence,” she says: consuming and fierce, piled high with insecurity and fantasy, and filling every inch of a space she feared was hollowing out.

The poster artwork for Courtney Marie Andrews’ All Saints Church concert in Pocklington

It was painful, she says, and not far off from the pain of grief, but through her own exploration of music and art, Courtney Marie found a way to grow stronger inside this feeling. “I didn’t want to slink into my pain; I wanted to embrace it, own it,” she explains.

The songs that emerged are devotional in their lyrics but defiant in their energy: a high-wire balance that permeates Valentine, typified by lead single Everyone Wants To Feel Like You Do with its indictment of the type of man who feels he can move through the world whatever way he wants without consequence.

Here, Courtney Marie’s singing is classic honey-and-vinegar, sounding sweet but carrying a sting. “It’s this funny double-edged thing because you do want to feel like that person, but you’re not sure if you should, because it’s a person so disconnected, without a care in the world or a care for other people,” she says.

“I played the guitar solo like I didn’t care in that song. I thought ‘I’m just gonna play it like I don’t give a s**t what anyone else is doing.’”

Little Picture Of A Butterfly is another example, one where the reclamation of power in the lyrics (“Soulmates what a pretty thought/but either you do, or you do not”) mirrors the same in the music. “It’s such a trad song in a lot of ways but we added flute, we added organ and all these Brian Wilson harmonies,” she says.

Keeper is the only co-written song on Valentine, one whose back story reads like a short film. “I was at dinner with a dear friend [singer-songwriter Kate York] , and I was really going through it. I asked her if I’m a keeper, and we both just started crying,” recalls Courtney Marie. “We wrote the song then and there, line by line over dinner. I went home and put a melody over it after.”

As she releases her tenth studio set, only now is she appreciating the centrality of her power as a singer. “Historically my favourite artists weren’t looked at as singers. They were looked at as writers,” she says. “And I sort of dissociated myself from singing; I chose to use it when it behoved me, but I wasn’t connected with it.”

However, the more interdisciplinary her work became, the more that belief seemed to dissolve. “Singing is another stroke. The most direct line to your heart. Everything is colour, texture. The way you sing can change everything, for both you and the people listening,” she says.

In rejecting the objectification of love, the love filled with gestures and objects instead of trust, mess, and growth, Courtney Marie has delivered her most beautiful and loving album to date.

Come May 21, at 7.30pm, Courtney Marie will be completing a hat-trick of Pocklington appearances. She had been booked to follow up her December 2018 debut at Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 2020, but the pandemic restrictions put paid to that show and its rearranged date of June 17 2021. Third time lucky, she finally returned on June 19 2022.

Promoted by Hurricane Promotions, tickets for Courtney Marie’s Valentine’s night in Pock are on sale at £25 via courtneymarieandrews.com.

Question: What is “limerence”?

Answer:  The involuntary state of intense romantic infatuation, obsession and emotional dependency on another person (the “limerent object”). The term was coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in 1979, defining a feeling that differs from love by being focused primarily on the uncertainty of reciprocation, often causing obsessive thinking, idealisation and emotional volatility, ranging from ecstasy to despair.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond when putting Easter eggs baskets aplenty. Hutch’s List No. 13, from The York Press

York linocut printmaker and wildlife artist Gerard Hobson with one of his 13 bird boxes for the Castle Howard Easter Family Trail. Picture: David Scott

FROM a bird box trail and Vanbrugh’s architecture at Castle Howard to Horrible Histories in concert and a very hungry caterpillar, Charles Hutchinson embraces Easter’s extra spring in the step.

Birdlife event of the week: Castle Howard Easter Family Trail, Castle Howard Gardens & Arboretum, near York, until April 19

CASTLE Howard has collaborated with York artist and printmaker Gerard Hobson on a new interactive Easter trail, comprising 13 handmade wooden bird boxes installed for a springtime adventure across Castle Howard Gardens and the Arboretum.

The boxes house Hobson’s linocuts of birds, including swallow, magpie, woodpecker and wren, as part of a story designed for children as they all prepare for spring. “Young explorers will discover interesting facts about our feathered friends and learn more about their homes along the way,” he says. Admission is included in Castle Howard and Arboretum day tickets at castlehoward.co.uk/castlehowardarboretumtrust.org.

James B Partridge: Teaching the world to sing Primary School Bangers at York Barbican. Picture: Rebecca Johnson

“School” concert of the week: James B Partridge, Primary School Bangers, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

TEACHER James B Partridge brings his viral hit show Primary School Bangers to York for a night of massive singalongs, throwback mash-ups and tongue-in-cheek humour. What started in the classroom has become a nationwide phenomenon – from Glastonbury to sold-out theatres – as James leads audiences through the songs that defined school days.

“Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or just someone who remembers every word to He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands, this one’s for you,” he says.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

Architect Roz Barr: Curator and designer of Staging The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard. Picture: Carole Poirot

Exhibition of the week: Staging The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard, on show at Castle Howard, near York, until October 31

STAGING The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard celebrates its creator, the architect and playwright Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726), on the 300th anniversary of his death.

Designed and curated by architect Roz Barr, the exhibition chronicles the story of the stately home’s creation, exploring Vanbrugh’s visionary use of scale, shadow and light and his creative relationship with the third Earl of Carlisle, as shown in letters by Vanbrugh on public display for the first time. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.

Chris Helme: Showcasing new album Forest For The Trees at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Recommended but sold out already: Chris Helme, Forest For The Trees Album Launch, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, April 5 and 6, doors 7.30pm

YORK songwriter and former Seahorses frontman Chris Helme plays a brace of official album launch gigs for Forest For The Trees after a busy 2025 touring his World Of My Own album.

Helme returned to the studio to record stripped-back versions of raw, soulful and bruised songs from his 30-year back catalogue. Forest For The Trees is the first of an ongoing series of recordings, showcasing gently crafted versions of Love Me & Leave Me, Standing On Your Head and other Seahorses classics and more besides.

Harrie Hayes’s Queen Elizabeth I makes her point to Richard David-Caine’s William Shakespeare in Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage! Picture: Matt Crockett

“The ultimate first concert for children”: Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage!, York Barbican, April 6, 2.30pm and 6.30pm; April 7, 11am and 3pm

FOR the first time, favourite songs and actors from Horrible Histories’ CBBC TV series will be live – and dead! – on stage in York. When Queen Elizabeth I asks William Shakespeare to create the greatest show on earth, he runs into trouble with monstrous King Henry VIII and Queen Victoria.

Once Death appears, Boudica and Cleopatra want to take over! Can things turn any worse? Of course they can! Cue songs such as Stupid Deaths, Charles II, Dick Turpin and The Monarchs Song, performed to a band led by Horrible Histories’ song master, Richie Webb. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Jason Fox: Helping you to reboot your thinking and challenge your limits at York Barbican

Advice of the week: Jason Fox: Embrace The Chaos, York Barbican, April 8, 7.30pm

SOME people are built to embrace the chaos. Adventurer, Royal Marine Commando and UK Special Forces soldier Jason Fox is one of them, having survived myriad hostile outposts as an elite operator, documentary maker and expedition leader.  

In his new show, Foxy shares stories of his close brushes with enemy gunmen, terrorist bomb makers and cartel leaders, while revealing his strategies for surviving and thriving in environments as life-threatening as the Arctic Circle and Afghan Badlands. Using principles from his military operations, he will help you to reboot your thinking, challenge your limits, change your habits, transform and rebalance your life – and he will answer audience questions too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Clowning skills aplenty in Out Of The Box at Helmsley Arts Centre

Family show of the week: Darryl J Carrington in Out Of The Box, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 9, 2pm

DARRYL J Carrington transforms everyday objects into extraordinary adventures in Out Of The Box, where a toothbrush stars in a balancing act, a string sparks a heist and a tea party lands on someone’s head in an hour of joyful chaos, jaw-dropping skill and irresistible fun.

Carrington brings five-star Edinburgh Fringe reviews, the Brighton Fringe’s Best Family Show prize and more than 20 years of circus and clowning experience to his silent comedy’s blend of juggling, inventive physical theatre and audience interaction. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Professor Danny and lab assistant Crazy Kazy in Top Secret’s show The Magic Of Science, High Voltage

Fun experiments of the week: Top Secret in The Magic Of Science, High Voltage, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 9, 2pm

JOIN Top Secret as they go on a high-voltage adventure, The Magic Of Science, to ask the question “Is it magic…or is it science?” in a fast-moving, colourful, interactive show filled with mystery, suspense, experiments and loads of mess.

Danny Hunt and Stephanie Clarke take on the guise of Professor Danny and his lab assistant Crazy Kazy as they fuse the mystery of magic with wondrous and miraculous feats of science. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Abigail Bailey and the meal-seeking caterpillar in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, munching its way through York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith

Children’s show of the week: ROYO presents The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, York Theatre Royal, April 9 to 11; Thursday, 2pm and 4pm; Friday and Saturday, 11am and 2pm

CREATED by Jonathan Rockefeller, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show features 75 lovable puppets in a faithful 50-minute adaptation of four stories by author/illustrator Eric Carle:Brown Bear, Brown Bear, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, The Very Busy Spider and the titular star of the show. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar has delighted generations of readers since its publication in 1969, selling more than 48 million copies worldwide. Telling those tales will be a cast of Abigail Bailey, Oliver Davis, Connor Keetley and  Amber Wadey. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Tribute act at the double of the week: Nic Cage Against The Machine, The Crescent, York, April 10, 7.30pm

MOVE over Elvana, the covers- band conflation of Elvis and Nirvana. Here comes the even wilder Nic Cage Against The Machine, a tribute to Californian rock band Rage Against The Machine, fronted by an homage to Hollywood ‘s Nouveau Shamanic method actor supreme Nicolas Cage, with props. “Not sure what more you’re looking for here – if you’re not sold already I don’t know what to tell you,” says The Crescent website. Leeds fun punks Moose Knuckle support. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

York Stage cast members in Come From Away, making its York debut at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Musical of the week: York Stage in Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, April 10 to 18, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Saturday matinees 2.30pm; Sunday matinee,  4pm

NIK Briggs directs the York premiere of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning musical account of the real-life story of 7,000 air passengers being grounded in Canada in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander  invites these “come from aways” into their lives with open hearts.

Performed by a cast of 19, Come From Away is “more than just a musical,” says Briggs. “It’s a celebration of humanity, resilience and the power of community. Step into a world where kindness conquers all, brought to life with invigorating, electrifying music and stories that will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the goodness of people.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Brief Encounter actor Cyril Raymond and stage actress Janet Morrison, with Nicholas Crosse, the son he never met and was given up for adoption by Janet, a story told for the first time in Joanna Crosse’s documentary Briefest Encounters

Film event of the week: Brief Encounter, Briefest Encounters and Q&A, City Screen Picturehouse, York, April 10, 7pm

NEXT Friday’s screening of the 80th anniversary restoration of David Lean’s Brief Encounter (PG) will be followed by North Rigton-raised journalist, researcher and filmmaker Joanna Crosse’s new documentary, uncovering the untold love story behind the 1945 film, revealing the hidden past of her grandfather, actor Cyril Raymond,  who played Laura’s cuckolded husband Fred.

In an uncanny twist of fate, Raymond had a ‘brief encounter’ with actress Janet Morrison during a transatlantic stage production in 1929 that resulted in a child being born out of wedlock. Cinema myth meets lived experience in Briefest Encounters as interviews, letters, Raymond’s rediscovered diaries and archive material show how interrupted love, inherited silence and duty shaped family lives for generations. Crosse and fellow Meaningful Films filmmaker Luke Taylor will take part in a Q&A afterwards. Box office: picturehouses.com.

In Focus: James Graham’s Punch, Leeds Playhouse, April 7 to 11

Jack James Ryan’s Jacob in Punch. Picture: Pamela Raith

OLIVIER Award-winning playwright James Graham’s Punch is a true story of hope, humanity and the possibility of change.

Based on Jacob Dunne book Right From Wrong, it tells Jacob’s story of being a Nottingham teenager from The Meadows estate who spent his Saturday nights seeking thrills with his friends.

One fateful weekend, an impulsive punch leads to fatal consequences. After serving prison time, Jacob finds himself lost and directionless. Searching for answers, Joan and David – the parents of his victim James Hodgkinson – ask to meet, sparking a profound transformation in Jacob’s life.

Jacob’s unflinching account of the power of forgiveness sparked courthouse discussion and parliamentary debate in the House of Commons on the topic of Restorative Justice at the time of Punch’s 2024 premiere at the Nottingham Playhouse. The play was even cited by a judge when sentencing a one-punch case.

Finty Williams, left, Matthew Flynn, Grace Hodgett Young, Elan Butler (hidden), Jack James Ryan and Laura Tebbutt in Punch. Picture: Pamela Raith

Nottingham playwright Graham is one of Great Britain’s most celebrated writers, winning multiple Olivier Awards, as well as receiving BAFTA, Emmy and Tony Award nominations. His political drama This House opened at Leeds Playhouse in 2018. Now he returns to the Leeds theatre from April 7 to 11 with the energetic, entertaining but heartbreaking Punch after runs in London and on Broadway last year.

To complement Graham’s play, a Talking Circle structure will sit front of house to provide a space for audiences to gather and reflect on the performance, while post-show discussions on related themes will be led by expert speakers.

Graham was awarded the Longford Trust’s Kevin Pakenham Award for Punch, joined on the honours’ board by David Shields, winner of the Best Performance in a Play prize at the 2024 UK Theatre Awards 2024 for his lead role in the premiere.

On tour, the role of Jacob will be played by Jack James Ryan (Sing Street, Lyric Hammersmith; Coronation Street, ITV), joined in Adam Penford’s cast by Elan Butler (The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return, Southwark Playhouse and UK Tour; Masters Of The Air, Apple TV+) as Raf and Sam and Matthew Flynn (The Winter’s Tale, Royal Shakespeare Company; Say Nothing, Disney/FX) as David, the father of James Hodgkinson.

Finty Williams’s Joan and Matthew Flynn’s David, James’s parents in Punch. Picture: Pamela Raith

In the company too will be Olivier-nominated Grace Hodgett Young (Sunset Boulevard, Savoy Theatre/St James Theatre; Hadestown, Lyric Theatre) as Clare and Nicola; Laura Tebbutt (Mrs Doubtfire, Shaftesbury Theatre; School Of Rock, Gillian Lynne Theatre) as Jacob’s mum and Wendy and Finty Williams (The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, national tour; Run Away, Netflix) as James’s mother, Joan.

The original creative team returns, including production designer Anna Fleischle (Death Of A Salesman, Broadway; 2:22 A Ghost Story, Young Vic Theatre); lighting designer Robbie Butler (How To Win Against History, Bristol Old Vic; Death In Venice, Welsh National Opera); sound designer and composer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite (Work It Out, HOME; Lost And Found, Factory International) and movement director Leanne Pinder (The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Mountview; Disruption, The Park Theatre).

Punch is dedicated to the memory of James Hodgkinson and all victims of one punch. “James dedicated his life to the helping and healing,” says playwright James Graham in his programme note. “His 28 years were a testament to his outlook and his values – a volunteer, a mentor, a paramedic. He was loved by his family and friends, and he gave love in return.

“Theatre can and should be a restorative space of empathy, and increased understanding. We hope to honour and do justice to the man James was.”

Nottingham Playhouse, in association with KPPL Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures and Eilene Davidson Productions, presents Punch, Leeds Playhouse, April 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 1pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees. Age guidance: 12 plus. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 13, from Gazette & Herald

York artist Gerard Hobson installing one of 13 bird boxes for the Castle Howard Easter Family Trail. Picture: David Scott

FROM a bird box trail and Vanbrugh’s architecture at Castle Howard to Horrible Histories in concert and the magic of science, Charles Hutchinson embraces Easter’s extra spring in the step.

Birdlife event of the week: Castle Howard Easter Family Trail, Castle Howard Gardens & Arboretum, near York, until April 19

CASTLE Howard has collaborated with York artist and printmaker Gerard Hobson on a new interactive Easter trail, comprising 13 handmade wooden bird boxes installed for a springtime adventure across Castle Howard Gardens and the Arboretum.

The boxes house Hobson’s linocuts of birds, including swallow, magpie, woodpecker and wren, as part of a story designed for children as they all prepare for spring. “Young explorers will discover interesting facts about our feathered friends and learn more about their homes along the way,” he says. Admission is included in Castle Howard and Arboretum day tickets at castlehoward.co.uk/castlehowardarboretumtrust.org.

Architect Roz Barr: Designer and curator of Staging The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard. Picture: Carole Poirot

Exhibition of the week: Staging The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard, on show at Castle Howard, near York, until October 31.

STAGING The Baroque: Vanbrugh At Castle Howard celebrates its creator, the architect and playwright Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726), on the 300th anniversary of his death.

Designed and curated by architect Roz Barr, the exhibition chronicles the story of the stately home’s creation, exploring Vanbrugh’s visionary use of scale, shadow and light and his creative relationship with the third Earl of Carlisle, as shown in letters by Vanbrugh on public display for the first time. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.

Pickering singer-songwriter David Swann

Folk gig of the week: David Swann, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.30pm

PICKERING folk singer and songwriter David Swann writes comic songs about the people, places and history of his native North Yorkshire, as well as songs of love lost and found. He accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and ukulele and always encourages audience participation.

Swann runs the Ryedale Songwriters Circle, encouraging and promoting songwriting through workshops and concerts, and has won BBC Radio York’s Song for Yorkshire competition, Bedale Acoustic Music Festival’s inaugural Songwriting Competition for the Harvey Blogg Cup and the anthem-writing competition for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

James B Partridge. Hosting Primary School Bangers at York Barbican. Picture: Rebecca Johnson

“School” concert of the week: James B Partridge, Primary School Bangers, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 7pm

TEACHER James B Partridge brings his viral hit show Primary School Bangers to York for a night of massive singalongs, throwback mash-ups and tongue-in-cheek humour. What started in the classroom has become a nationwide phenomenon – from Glastonbury to sold-out theatres – as James leads audiences through the songs that defined school days.

“Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or just someone who remembers every word to He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands, this one’s for you,” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

Horrible Histories : Live – and Dead! – in concert at York Barbican

“The ultimate first concert for children”: Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage!, York Barbican, April 6, 2.30pm and 6.30pm

FOR the first time, favourite songs and actors from Horrible Histories’ BAFTA Award-winning CBBC TV series will be live – and dead! – on stage in York. When William Shakespeare is asked to create the greatest show on earth, he runs into trouble with monstrous monarchs King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria.

Once Death appears, Boudica and Cleopatra want to take over! Can things turn any worse? Of course they can! Cue songs such as Stupid Deaths, Charles II, Dick Turpin and The Monarchs Song, performed to a band led by Horrible Histories’ song master, Richie Webb. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Jason Fox: Embracing the chaos at York Barbican

Advice of the week: Jason Fox, Embrace The Chaos, York Barbican, April 8, 7.30pm

SOME people are built to embrace the chaos. Adventurer, Royal Marine Commando and UK Special Forces soldier Jason Fox is one of them, having survived myriad hostile outposts as an elite operator, documentary maker and expedition leader.  

In his new show, Foxy shares stories of his close brushes with enemy gunmen, terrorist bomb makers and cartel leaders, while revealing his strategies for surviving and thriving in environments as life-threatening as the Arctic Circle and Afghan Badlands. Using principles from his military operations, he will help you to reboot your thinking, challenge your limits, change your habits, transform and rebalance your life – and he will answer audience questions too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Out Of The Box: Transforming everyday objects into extraordinary adventures at Helmsley Arts Centre

Family show of the week: Darryl J Carrington in Out Of The Box, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 9, 2pm

DARRYL J Carrington transforms everyday objects into extraordinary adventures in Out Of The Box, where a toothbrush stars in a balancing act, a string sparks a heist and a tea party lands on someone’s head in an hour of joyful chaos, jaw-dropping skill and irresistible fun.

Carrington brings five-star Edinburgh Fringe reviews, the Brighton Fringe’s Best Family Show prize and more than 20 years of circus and clowning experience to his silent comedy’s blend of juggling, inventive physical theatre and audience interaction. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Top Secret: Asking “Is it magic…or is it science?” in April 9’s interactive show, replete with mystery, suspense, experiments and mess, at Pocklington Arts Centre

Fun experiments of the week: Top Secret in The Magic Of Science, High Voltage, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 9, 2pm

JOIN Top Secret as they go on a high-voltage adventure, The Magic Of Science, to ask the question “Is it magic…or is it science?” in a fast-moving, colourful, interactive show filled with mystery, suspense, experiments and loads of mess.

Danny Hunt and Stephanie Clarke take on the guise of Professor Danny and his lab assistant Crazy Kazy as they fuse the mystery of magic with wondrous and miraculous feats of science. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Alison Moyet: Revisiting synth-pop songs from Yazoo’s two albums after more than 40 years at York Barbican. Picture: Naomi Davison

Gig announcement of the week: Alison Moyet, Songs Of Yazoo, the minutes and Other Tour, York Barbican, November 18

BASILDON soul, blues and pop singer-songwriter Alison Moyet will play York in one of ten new additions to her autumn tour, when she will focus on songs from Yazoo’s 1982-1983 catalogue, recorded with Vince Clarke, and a selection from her solo electronica albums, 2013’s the minutesand 2017’s Other, both co-written with producer Guy Sigsworth.

“Many years touring the same pool of songs and I am keen for a palate refresher,” says Moyet, 64. “Specifying which years I will be fishing from too, I think, is a grand way to serve pot luck for specific tastes. No bones.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.