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.
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.
