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James Swanton returns to York Medical Society for eight performances of Dickensian Ghost Stories for Christmas

Dickensian storyteller James Swanton, switching to the lecture hall at York Medical Society

AFTER another sell-out season in 2023, gothic York actor James Swanton is reviving his Dickensian Ghost Stories for Christmas at York Medical Society, Stonegate, York,  from tonight to December 5.

Made up of James’s absorbing solo renditions of A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, they will play eight dates in York before transferring to London’s Charles Dickens Museum in the run-up to Christmas.

James is following up his October 24 to 30 run of Dickens’s The Signal-Man at York Medical Society – a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants – that sold out a month in advance. His other Dickensian theatre work prompted  Simon Callow to describe Swanton’s West End play Sikes & Nancy as “fantastical, startling and enthralling” and fellow Dickens enthusiast Miriam Margolyes to call his performances at the Dickens Museum “extraordinary”,  “superb” and “vivid”.

“I’ve had to skew my York shows early because of the exceptional demand down south,” says James. ‘Indeed, we’ve already sold out all 18 performances of A Christmas Carol in London!

‘But being a northerner, York is where I feel most at home – and there’s no better setting for Dickens than York Medical Society. We’ve moved to their largest space to accommodate more guests, but we’ve kept the vital period atmosphere. It’s a properly immersive experience: all gilt- framed portraits and heavy curtains and dim lighting.

‘I’ll be giving six performances of A Christmas Carol here in York. There’ll also be one showing apiece of The Chimes and The Haunted Man, its lesser-known but fascinating follow-ups, which have both sold out already.”

James is keen to emphasise the merits of all three stories. “Each of them brims with Dickens’s genius for the weird, which ranges from human eccentricities to full-blown phantoms. Dickens’s anger at social injustice also aligns sharply with our own – and in this age of rising austerity and fascism, we’re feeling the bite more than ever,” he says.

“Beyond anything, these stories are masterful exercises in theatrical storytelling, with a real sense of joy emerging from the Victorian gloom.”

Kit Harrington and James Swanton in Lot No. 249. Picture: Kieran McGuigan

Since last December’s run of Ghost Stories for Christmas, James has spent the year as various terrors on screen. “This time last year, I was terribly excited to be playing the Mummy in Lot No. 249, Mark Gatiss’s BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, in which I was unpardonably nasty to Kit Harington,” he recalls.

“I couldn’t have guessed I’d be filming as another BBC spook in January, when the wonderful Reece Shearsmith asked me to play the Curse of the Ninth Symphony in the last series of Inside No. 9.

Both programmes are available on BBC iPlayer, and James advises that they  make for “perfect Gothic viewing in the run-up to Christmas: two very classic ghost stories”.

They have been far from James’s only sinister appearances in recent times, however. “Every few weeks in 2024, I seem to have loomed up as some new monstrous entity,” James notes. “I played a couple of occult apparitions, the Hermit and the Magician, in a pleasingly ludicrous film called Tarot.

“My late grandad, Professor Walter Swanton, was a magician as well as a Punch-and-Judy man, so I’m sure he’d have been amused to see me sawing people in half!

‘I’ve also fathered the Antichrist in two big horror prequels. I was the Jackal in The First Omen, bringing little Damien into the world, and then Satan himself in the Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A. I was astonished to see myself next to Julia Garner on the poster for that one! Given I’ve played Lucifer in the York Mystery Plays, that felt like a full- circle moment.”

As usual, the York run of Ghost Stories for Christmas is selling quickly, so James has strategic advice for securing tickets. “The best availability comes at the start of the run in late-November,” he says. “You can still secure a place for A Christmas Carol then. With tickets being only £16 each, this could be the perfect way to kick off your festive celebrations.

“I greatly look forward to gathering people together for some heart- warming storytelling. And I promise I won’t dress up as Satan!”

“The emotional power of Dickens’s prose strikes differently with each return of Ghost Stories for Christmas,” says James Swanton. Picture: Jtu Photography

Here James Swanton discusses his latest York and London runs of Ghost Stories for Christmas, his work with Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith and his Hollywood roles with CharlesHutchPress.

 What draws you back to Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories each year and does each year bring new revelations and nuances to you?

“These annual performances remind me why I persist with acting at all. It’s restorative (and very rare) to feel you’re using every bit of yourself as an actor: full application of body and voice andmind and heart, with all the attendant fatigue. When you tether that to stories that people insist on hearing to the end, little proves more rewarding.

“And yes, the emotional power of Dickens’s prose strikes differently with each return. I’ve tinkered with my version of A Christmas Carol to include an episode that some audience members have told me they’ve missed in previous years. There’s one sentence there that brings a lump to my throat.

What makes York Medical Society such a suitable setting? Describe the bigger performance space this time…

“It’s the lecture hall, in which I premiered Irving Undead (my one-man resurrection of Victorian thespian Henry Irving) back in 2019. What we lose of the wood- panelled room’s sequestered gloom, we gain in 19th-century opulence.

“The hall has a raised stage, a very responsive acoustic and appropriately theatrical curtains. There’s also a portrait of Henry Belcombe, a former York Medical Society president, who actually knew Charles Dickens. He’ll be interested in watching what’s going on,  I’m sure.”

What will be the dates of your run at the Dickens Museum next month? Eighteen sell-outs already. You must be chuffed…

“Chuffed if not a little daunted! I’m there from December 10 to 23, in which time I’ll be giving 26 performances: a panto schedule! In total, I’m doing 40 live shows this Christmas season. Pray for me.

“What makes the enterprise sustainable at the Dickens Museum is the intimacy of the space – 30 people maximum – and the galvanising thrill of occupying a room in Dickens’s house. We share our back wall with Dickens’s front parlour. This makes me rather nervous of touching it mid-show.”

“In general, I think that ghosts serve as a form of collective wish fulfilment,” says James Swanton

The Signal-Man run sold out well in advance. How did it go? You are keen to do it again. When might you make that decision?

“I’ve got the York Ghost Merchants to thank for the sell-out, as they listed The Signal-Man (which I paired with The Trial For Murder) as a partner event for Ghost Week. Basking in their reflected light meant a shockingly high demand for tickets!

“In  truth, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy performing those texts at all: they were hellish to memorise and maddeningly elusive in rehearsal; all variegated shades of grey rather than Dickens’s usual glorious Technicolor. But the paradox is that you agonise in private so you can fly in public. They turned out to be deeply stimulating narratives to relate and audiences were wonderfully attentive.

“I haven’t decided when to revive them, but I’m not restricted to one set time of year as I am with these Christmas ghost stories. This gives me greater flexibility, though they do suit the darker months…”

Do supernatural tales serve a broader purpose in understanding life?

“In general, I think that ghosts serve as a form of collective wish fulfilment: the idea that we can beat back death and go on persisting, in no matter how limited a form.

“Where Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories are concerned, spirits serve a more didactic purpose. They’re generally there to teach an important human lesson – and, in classic Victorian fashion, they do so by being completely bloody terrifying. Marley’s Ghost might be the purest such example.”

The devil’s work: James Swanton as Lucifer in The Mysteries After Dark in Shambles Market, York, in September 2018

You have played Lucifer in the York Mystery Plays in Shambles Market and now two Hollywood roles where you “father the Antichrist”. How do you sleep at night?!

“To misquote Shakespeare: ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are me’. I’ve never lost a wink of sleep over any of this stuff. Hard to feel threatened when you’re repeatedly the source of the threat!”

Where did you film your two Hollywood movies? Do you enjoy the film-making process? You must spend many hours in the make-up/wardrobe department!

“Despite being set in New York, Apartment 7A was shot entirely at London studios and locations, though I did have to lurch off to the Netherlands for a couple of make-up fittings.

“The First Omen was meanwhile shot in Rome – my hotel room was just a few streets from the Vatican! – but  on that occasion, my make-up prep involved a 48-hour round-trip to Hollywood. It’s a realm quite as unreal as Billy Wilder and David Lynch warned us.

“I was there so fleetingly that I saw practically nothing: no HOLLYWOOD sign, no Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, no Universal Studios. Was I ever there at all? It was such an artificial dreamscape that I sometimes question it.

“Both were marathon make-up ordeals. It one day took them 12 hours to apply the full regalia for Apartment 7A, admittedly with a few pauses thrown in. On The First Omen, we averaged between seven and eight hours – about the time it takes to fly to Hollywood, now I think about it. My forty Dickens shows will be a breeze by comparison.”

James Swanton and Julia Garner in the poster for Apartment 7A. Picture: Paramount

When were The First Omen and Apartment 7A released? What did critics say of your performances? 

“The First Omen showed in cinemas worldwide in April. It’s now up on Disney +. Apartment 7A came to Paramount Plus for Halloween. Being one small cog in a very big machine, I’m not sure that critics had much of anything to say about me. I don’t seek out their probabledisapproval!”

Inside No. 9 was very well received. How did your involvement – working with Reece Shearsmith – come about? Might there be opportunities for you to do so again or indeed with Mark Gatiss?

“I’d met Reece towards the end of 2023 when we both guested on a panel about the silent horror film Häxan at the Regent Street Cinema in London. Given his decades-long friendship with Mark, Reece had also been aware of my work on the BBC’s Lot No. 249.

“I first got wind of the Inside No. 9 job when I got a text message from Michael Patrick, an extraordinary actor – he’s just played Richard III at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast – was was also shadowing on that final series.

“Reece had mentioned that he wanted me to play the Curse of the Ninth Symphony – and,  in one of those strange coincidences, Michael knew me from our university days! A few weeks later, I was billowing about a country house in Victorian dress and picking off my more illustrious co-stars. Business as usual.

“I’d love to work with both Mark and Reece again, either together or separately! We horror-obsessed northerners should stick together.

“Actually, I’ve done another panel with Reece since: a breakdown of our favourite vampire films for Hell Tor in Exeter, accompanied by horror expert Jonathan Rigby.”

James Swanton and Mark Gatiss in rehearsal together

Your late grandfather, Professor Walter Swanton, was a magician and a Punch-and-Judy man. Did you see him perform and did his performance style in any way rub off on you?

“It took me a long time to grasp it, but I almost certainly contracted the one-man show gene from him. One-man theatre is exactly what Punch and Judy is in miniature! He would carve and paint the heads of the puppets whilst my Grandma would make the costumes – another pleasing link, as she made me an awful lot of costumes as a child, generally to play some ghost or vampire.

“Grandad passed away in 2008, but I’ve been able to revisit his act via old family videos. This almost never happens in life, but he was actually better than I’d remembered: such a warm and expressive voice, with not a little of the jovial zaniness of his comedy hero Ken Dodd.”

How is your book on your horror acting heroes progressing?

“The bulk of the text is written! Thirteen highly involved chapters on thirteen different actors. I’m biding my time a bit with the publication, my thinking being that the more notoriety I build up in my own horror work, the easier it’ll be to shift copies. But it will see the light!”

Any news on what’s coming up for you in 2025?

“Absolutely none, I’m afraid. I keep putting it out into the universe that I’m desperate to play Richard III – and  given my Yorkshire roots, and my very real spinal kyphosis [a spinal deformity that causes an excessive curvature of the upper spine, making the back appear more rounded or hunched] , and my wraparound spookiness, I’d hope it would only be a matter of time. And wouldn’t the Minster make a great location? Let me dream!”

James Swanton’s Ghost Stories for Christmas run from November 25 to December 5  at York Medical Society, Stonegate, York. A Christmas Carol will be performed on November 25, 26 and 27 and December 2, 3 and 4; The Chimes on November 28; The Haunted Man on December 5. All performances start at 7pm and last approximately one hour. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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How did Richard III sound? Find out at Sunday’s world premiere at York Theatre Royal when avatar comes to life on film

Meet the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism: the world premiere of the “living and speaking” Richard III at York Theatre Royal on Sunday

IMAGINE if you could see and hear King Richard III speaking his own words. Imagine experiencing him breathing, thinking and effectively being “brought back to life”’.

On Sunday, in a six-hour conference-style launch event at York Theatre Royal, state-of-the-art technology will reveal for the first time a moving, “living” face of the long-dead king enunciating in the tongue of his Plantagenet time. More Yorkshire than pucker, apparently.

What began  for Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, voice teacher, vocal coach and project originator, more than a decade ago as an after-dinner entertainment to compare Shakespeare’s character with what we know of the real man, developed quickly into a research project.

The focus would be unique: to “explore the possibility of creating a literal voice for a long-dead historical figure”. Fast forward ten years to November 17 2024 when this international launch event will cover how the pieces of a complex puzzle came together using primary evidence.

This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism, one that uses an avatar of the person, based on the reconstruction of their head, to provide an entirely new way to learn of the past. In this instance, we can understand more about the last Plantagenet king of England, who reigned from June 26 1483 to August 22 1485, while also paving the way for other historical avatars.

Sunday’s “reveal” comes against the background of the endless controversy surrounding this besmirched monarch, Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, and the questions raised over his actions and personality: was he a good man or a murderous psychopath, the maligned, malignant Crookback of Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Richard the Third?

Now King Richard III will speak for himself after experts from across the United Kingdom and abroad joined in this pioneering collaboration. Some will share presentations during Sunday’s international launch event, booked into York Theatre Royal from 12 noon to 6pm, climaxing with the final “reveal” at 5.30pm.

Taking the rostrum along with Yvonne Morley-Chisholm will be the key collaborator, cranio-facial identification expert Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her Face Lab team, from Liverpool John Moores University, and Professor David Crystal OBE, linguist and specialist in Original Pronunciation.

Dr Bridget Foreman: York playwright and lecturer in playwriting at the University of York

Joining them will be playwright Dr Bridget Foreman, lecturer in playwriting at the University of York; Matthew Lewis, author, historian and History Hit podcaster; Philippa Langley MBE, author, historian and film producer, who led the search for Richard III’s remains under a Leicester car park, and actor Thomas Dennis, whose vocal performance and facial movements were chosen to animate the avatar made from King Richard III’s facial reconstruction.

As well as exploring the true history of King Richard III, the event will feature discussions on a range of topics including Medieval History, Linguistics, Original (Historical) Pronunciation, Craniofacial Reconstruction, Forensic Psychology, Voice and Dialect, Historical Human Reconstruction, Postmortalism, CGI and Motion-Capture, among other specialisms.

Yvonne Morley-Chisholm said: “It’s been the greatest privilege to work with Professor Caroline Wilkinson. Her team at Face Lab are working towards animating the face of King Richard III from real-time motion capture.

“Professor Wilkinson’s work provides the physical nucleus while mine provides the vocal nucleus in this ‘world first’. This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism, using an avatar of the real king based on the reconstruction of his head.

“I am also deeply honoured to be working with Professor David Crystal, who is the internationally recognised, leading expert in Original Pronunciation. He has created a reconstruction of the king’s pronunciation using personal letters and documents. The result is as close as anyone can get to King Richard III’s speech from the time in which he lived and reigned.

“I am grateful for the many others who have helped to shape each piece of the puzzle in this pioneering and unique collaboration. The project has achieved more than I ever dared to imagine it could.

“We are bringing a long dead king back to a kind of ‘life’. We are learning more about the real man in doing so. With state-of-the-art motion-capture technology, CGI animation and the like, I hope that – for those who find history a little dull – we are making it ‘cool’.”

Professor Caroline Wilkinson said: “Since we produced the facial reconstruction of Richard III in 2012, we have dreamt about bringing him alive, to see him move and speak his own words. With the help of advanced digital avatar technology and Yvonne’s voice team, we have been able to realise this dream.

“The result has exceeded our expectations and represents the most authentic and realistic portrait of this great king, based on all the evidence available.”

Philippa Langley MBE: Author, historian and film producer, who led the search for Richard III’s remains

Professor David Crystal said: “I think people will be surprised to hear a kind of speech that is a fascinating mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar. English pronunciation has changed a lot since the 15th century, but it’s still very intelligible to modern ears.”

Matthew Lewis said: “We live in an age experienced and digested through media. We’re surrounded by the images and voices of all kinds of people. Yet not so long ago, we have no images beyond portraiture, which often comes years after a person’s death. We have no recordings of their voices to hear them, and in an age before diaries were commonplace, little hope of piercing beyond public personas.

“The Voice For Richard Project is a stunning example of how science, technology and history can come together to help bridge the distance of time that separates us from those we have heard of but could never have heard.

“This is as close as we can get to being in the room in the 15th century when a king speaks. I can’t wait for the world to see the culmination of ten years of hard work and innovation.”

Philippa Langley MBE said: “To help bring Richard to life, research into his character focused on contemporary descriptions from his own lifetime. These included private letters and a diary. The results corresponded directly with similar public descriptions offering a probability bordering on certainty of his recognised character from his lifetime.

“The results, to be premiered in York, will be a technological, scientific and historic break-through in aiding our understanding of the past and this important historical figure.

“It’s been the most incredible honour to be part of this cross-platform research over its ten years and I would like to thank Yvonne Morley-Chisholm for inviting me to be a part of her team. The world premiere in York promises to be extraordinary.”

Tickets: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii/. Further information: avoiceforrichard.co.uk. Sunday’s event will be live-streamed too at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii-livestream/.

The 16th century portrait of Richard III, by an unknown artist, that went on show at the Yorkshire Museum, York, from July to October 2021 as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Coming Home project. Measuring 25 ins by 18ins, the artwork known as “the Red Portrait” was painted years after his death but is believed to be based on an original painted in Richard’s lifetime

Richard III: the (hunch)back story

BORN on October 2 1452, he grew up at Middleham Castle in the Yorkshire Dales. Visited York several times during his short reign as King of England from June 26 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, aged 32.

Last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth was the penultimate battle in the Wars of the Roses and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The last battle? The Battle of Stoke Field, June 16 1487.

His remains were discovered in 2012 under a car park in Leicester by University of Leicester Archaeological Services and Philippa Langley MBE, of the Richard III Society, through her original Looking For Richard Project.

Philippa’s search for the king’s grave was the subject of the award-winning TV documentary Richard III: The King In The Car Park. The remains were identified using scientific disciplines including DNA analysis and are now interred at Leicester Cathedral.

A Voice for Richard III international launch event schedule, York Theatre Royal, Sunday

12 noon to 1.30pm: First session: From the myths to the man, presented by Dr Bridget Foreman, Matthew Lewis and Philippa Langley. 1.30pm: Lunch break.

2.30pm to 4pm: Second session: The experts speak: Historical Human reconstruction, presented by Prof Caroline Wilkinson, Prof David Crystal and Yvonne Morley-Chisholm. 4pm: Break.

4.30pm to 6pm: Third session: Continuation and culmination: the reveal (5.30pm). Documentary excerpts from History Hit, followed by Yvonne Morley-Chisholm talking with Thomas Dennis, the actor chosen to be the face and voice of the king, leading to film of King Richard III’s face speaking his own words in his own pronunciation.

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York Shakespeare Project director Tom Straszewski to hold July auditions for Marlowe’s Edward II. Here’s how to apply

York Shakespeare Project’s poster for this autumn’s production of Edward II

YORK Shakespeare Project is to hold auditions next month for its first foray into staging a play by one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

A diverse ensemble of 12 to 15 actors is sought for Christopher Marlowe’s intimate drama Edward II, to be staged by returning director Tom Straszewski at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

“We were delighted that Tom emerged from a strong field to be chosen as the director of the first non-Shakespeare play of YSP’s new project,” says chair Tony Froud.

“Strasz brings great knowledge and wide experience of directing Elizabethan and Jacobean drama and promises an innovative interpretation of Marlowe’s fascinating text.

“He previously directed The Merry Wives Of Windsor in 2012 and The Two Noble Kinsmen in 2018, now joining Paul Toy, Mark France and Ben Prusiner as three-time directors for YSP. We look forward to a memorable follow-up to Lucrece and Richard III, the first plays of phase two of YSP.”

In Marlowe’s historical tragedy, Edward II is finally king. Eager to bestow his gifts on those he loves, he calls back his exiled lover, Piers Gaveston. King, court and country are caught up in the heady atmosphere of their passions.

“This is a play about power and love – who has it, who gives it, who takes it, and who suffers for it,” says Tony. “For this production, we’ll begin by exploring the play through creative workshops, editing a script that reflects the people in the room.

Edward II director Tom Straszewski

“No characters will be cast until after this process: you will help decide this, alongside the director and rest of the ensemble.”

To audition, please complete this application form: https://forms.gle/DUGsmNVaLxkrJVZq5. To arrange your audition and/or if you have any questions, email Strasz at tom.straszewski@gmail.com, indicating your preferred day(s) and time.

Auditions will take place in York at a venue yet to be confirmed on Tuesday, July 4 and Wednesday, July 5 at 6.30pm onwards and Saturday, July 8, 2pm onwards. “You’ll be asked to work in a small group on a short scene from the play,” says Tony.

“You will have the opportunity to review the play extract in advance of auditioning and do not need to learn a speech. All we want to see is how you work together and approach the text with adaptability and inventiveness.”

Those cast for YSP’s amateur production must be available for five evening/weekend workshops in late-July, the production week from October 15 to 22 and the majority of the rehearsal period.

“There will be two or three rehearsals per week between August and October, though you are unlikely to be required for every one,” says Tony. “If you are likely to be away for more than two weeks during the rehearsal period but are keen to audition, we’ll see if we can make this happen.”

YSP is seeking recruits for a technical team for make-up, sound, lighting, captions and videography too. If you can help, please email Strasz at tom.straszewski@gmail.com.

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REVIEW: York International Shakespeare Festival, York Shakespeare Project in Richard III, Friargate Theatre, York ***

Harry Summers’ Richard, Duke of Gloucester addressing the House of Commons benches in York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III. Pictures: John Saunders

ROUND Two of York Shakespeare Project begins with the knockout punch of “the York play”, Richard III. Here come 37 Shakespeare plays in 25 years, plus works by his contemporaries, in the sequel to “the most ambitious project ever mounted on the York amateur theatre circuit”.

Can the second cycle of the First Folio plus one surpass such ambitions, fulfilled after 20 years with The Tempest tour last autumn? Surely there would be no point starting to re-climb this artistic Everest otherwise.

Certainly, Dr Daniel Roy Connelly, former diplomat, actor, writer, academic, podcaster and director home and abroad, is in a fighting mood to match Shakespeare’s Richard in his YSP debut after moving to York.

Frank Brogan: Appearing in York Shakespeare Project’s two Richard III productions 21 years apart

“The opportunity to re-boot YSP’s cycle of the canon was very attractive to me,” he said in his CharlesHutchPress interview this week. “I’m someone who always wants to go either first or last, to set the bar high or to leave everyone with something to go home with.”

As befits the True & Fair Party (“We all deserve better”) prospective parliamentary candidate for York Outer at the next General Election, Connelly has placed Richard’s winter of discontent in our “frenetic, calculating and brutal 21st century Westminster with its endless Machiavellian bloodletting and daily treacheries”.

This is rather more the world of Malcolm Tucker’s The Thick Of It than Jim Hacker’s Yes, Prime Minister, Connelly being in mischief-making mood with his use of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg memes and a photo montage of political fashion statements (Churchill, jogger BoJo and Hague’s baseball cap faux pas) on a video screen kept in regular use from its opening shot of the House of Commons benches and cry of “Order, order”.

Clive Lyons, drink in hand, and a dismissive-looking Nell Frampton in the Westminster wars of York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III

Putin, Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping pop up on there too, as do PlantageNews headlines and social-media posts from media manipulators Richard, Duke Of Gloucester (Harry Summers) and the Duke of Buckingham (Rosy Rowley), updating on Richard’s progress to the throne and beyond.

Paranoia is everywhere, laptops constantly being tapped behind twitching drapes to each side of Richard Hampton, Jeremey Muldowney and Sarah Strong’s set design but always in view of the audience, in a merry-go-round of briefing and counter-briefing from the chairs’ ever-changing occupants.

Summers’ Richard, with his rock’n’roll quiff, oversized Harry Hill shirt collars and flamboyant cane, has a vaudevillian air, even a hint of Blockhead Ian Dury. For Shakespeare’s character assassination too, he has a stump of a left arm, a leg calliper and a facial scar, and like Ian McKellen’s film portrayal, he is pretty nifty with his only hand.

Grim prospects: Miranda Mufema’s Lady Anne and Frankie Hayes’s Duchess of York

Summers’ Richard is less the wintry malcontent, more the ever-quotable narcissist who relishes the rough and tumble of politics with a Johnsonsian thick skin and lack of moral compass. He is darkness with the shrug-of-the-shoulders nonchalance of Cabaret’s Emcee and a love of breaking down theatre’s fourth wall for choice asides, almost too likeable in the manner of a camp panto villain. 

Around him, amid the pinstripe suited superficial civility, spin furtive turns by Rowley’s Buckingham and Clive Lyons’s Lord Hastings and Frank Brogan’s fevered performance as a Yorkshire-voiced King Edward IV in a considerable casting upgrade from his Second Murderer/Messenger spear-carrying in John White’s Richard III in YSP’s 2002 debut!

Frankie Hayes (Sir William Catesby/Duchess of York), Jack Downey (an amusingly heartless Sir Richard Ratcliffe), Miranda Mufema (Lady Anne) and YSP’s new Nick Jones (a commanding Earl of Richmond) make their mark too. For stage presence, look no further than Thomas Jennings’s crop-haired hitman, relishing every cull with a glint in his eye and the click of his mobile phone camera.

Eli Cunniff’s costume designs, red and white buttonhole roses et al, together with Connelly’s spot-on soundbite selection of blues, jazz and more, underscore the noir vib, as the cultural references keep a’coming.

If looks could kill: Thomas Jennings’s brazen hitman

Cue a drunken chamber the morning after Richard’s coronation (a la lockdown “parties” at Number 10); Richard calling out to Alexa for answers as much as his kingdom for a horse in his hour of need, and Richard and Richmond sporting stab vests in white and red in the style of Banksy’s Union Flag design for Stormzy at Glastonbury.

Connelly conducts parliamentary business briskly, no prevaricating here, before the first-night pace and focus slips at the battlefield finale until Jones’s Richmond steers the reins in the home straight in more classical Bard style.

Throughout, Friargate Theatre’s compact, close-up stage feels crammed to the gills, especially with the shadowy figures in the wings, adding a noose of claustrophobia to Richard’s tyranny in Connelly’s state-of-the-nation’s rotten politics report. As promised, he does indeed “leave everyone with something to go home with”.

York Shakespeare Project in Richard III, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

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Daniel Connelly launches new York Shakespeare Project era with Richard III in warring 21st century House of Commons

Harry Summers’s smiling assassin Richard III with Rosy Rowley’s Duke of Buckingham in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III. Picture: John Saunders

THE first production of York Shakespeare Project’s second cycle of Shakespeare plays opens on Wednesday, directed by York newcomer Dr Daniel Roy Connelly.

As when YSP began its 20-year mission to present all the Bard’s works with John White’s Elizabethan production of Richard III at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in 2002, so “the York play” will be the opening act of a 25-year new project, this time at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York as part of the York International Shakespeare Festival.

Dr Connelly, newly moved to the city, is at the helm, having acted and directed in places as diverse as Rome, the United States, the Edinburgh Festival and Shanghai, where his 2009 production of David Henry Hwang’s M Butterfly was forced to close by the Chinese secret police.

This is but one highlight from the diverse career of the former British diplomat (or “Foreign Office office boy” as he calls himself on his podcast). Step forward: theatre director. Actor. Poet. Author. Professor. Teacher. Prospective parliamentary candidate. That all adds up to a polymath.

Now, leading off YSP’s new era of staging Shakespeare’s First Folio and plays by his contemporaries, Dr Connelly is taking on “Shakespeare’s astonishing depiction of Richard III as both physically and mentally deformed, and, as a result, inherently evil”.

His modern-day makeover is set in a frenetic, calculating and brutal 21st century Westminster with its endless Machiavellian bloodletting and daily treacheries. In his contemporary vision, Richard and Buckingham excel as social-media manipulators within a world of warring political parties. “In the shadowy corridors of power, everyone is culpable,” he says.

While on the subject of politics, Dr Connelly will be the prospective parliamentary candidate for the True & Fair Party for York Outer at the next General Election.

To catch a flavour of his philosophy on life, head to The Anarchist Monastery, the podcast he co-presents with Hugh Bernays, the York artist and craftsman who believes “it is better to work under-cover”, although he does surface to do a weekly show.

Here Dr Connelly discusses Richard III, the play, the rotten reputation and relationship with York, York Shakespeare Project, York International Shakespeare Festival, diplomacy, 21st century politics and podcasting with CharlesHutchPress.

“The best remedy would be for the pro-Richard camp to write the play they believe Richard deserves,” says Dr Daniel Roy Connelly in the face of York’s antipathy to Shakespeare’s play

What brought you to York after such an itinerant career, Daniel?

“My son moved here from Rome four years ago. I miss him enormously and it was time to pack up and follow him substantively. And what a beautiful city to find myself in…”

Why did Shakespeare give Richard such a sour portrait when York and the Richard III Society view him much more favourably and therefore feel antipathy towards the Bard’s characterisation? 

“Thirty years after Richard’s death, Sir Thomas More, the Tudor statesman and Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, described Richard as ‘malicious, wrathfull, envious, and from afore his birth, ever frowarde’.  He was also ‘close and secrete, a deepe dissimuler’. Hardly a glowing reference.

“Elizabeth I – the last of the Tudors – was the granddaughter of Henry VII, who vanquished Richard at Bosworth Field. Politically, Richard’s characterisation had for long been warped and Shakespeare wrote in line with the various 16th-century mythologies.

“His portrait of Richard III may not serve the interests of history, but then that’s hardly the concern of a master storyteller on the stage. So, while I have some sympathy for the Ricardians and the people of York over Shakespeare’s unsubtle appropriation of Richard’s character, drama loves conflict and the best dramatists, put simply, make stuff up to enable it.

“The best remedy, then, would be for the pro-Richard camp to write the play they believe Richard deserves.”

As a former diplomat yourself, how do you think Shakespeare’s Richard III would have fared in the diplomatic services. Would his skill set be suitable or unsuitable?

“It’s said that a diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. As such, and in the service of government, diplomacy is a career that upholds dissimulation.

“In Shakespeare’s Richard we see a master of guile, no more so than when he speaks of clothing his naked villainy in order to ‘seem a saint, when most I play the devil’. ‘Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,’ he says in the immediately prior play Henry VI, Part 3. With that kind of skill set, he’d be an absolute high-flyer in the Diplomatic Service.”

Dr Daniel Roy Connelly, right, rehearsing Richard III with his York Shakespeare Project cast. Picture John Saunders

What attracted you to working with York Shakespeare Project, as the outset of the 25-year phase two?

“The opportunity to re-boot YSP’s cycle of the canon was very attractive to me. I’m someone who always wants to go either first or last, to set the bar high or to leave everyone with something to go home with.

“YSP have been very supportive of my attempts to bring a contemporary Richard to the stage – I have a stellar cast and crew – and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a partnership that has worked very well. I have nothing but enthusiasm for YSP’s commitment to producing Shakespeare’s remarkable output.”

Discuss how Laurence Olivier and Ian McKellen’s screen portraits – 40 years apart – of Richard as “a petty, narcissistic and vengeful psychopath” have prompted you to stage a modern-day Richard III in the House of Commons to highlight parallels with the politics and politicians of today.

“If the above clutch of adjectives sounds familiar, we need look no further than contemporary British politics, which is why I have decided to set my version in our parliament.

“Telling Shakespeare’s Richard through what is comfortably the most corrupt institution in the country, the play – and I hope my interpretation of it – explores the cut and thrust of power’s crucible, with laws ignored and lies sown.

“I believe that a parliamentary production of Richard III is not only long overdue, it’s also bang on time. Prepare, then, for British politics as played out, murderously, on the floor of the house.”

This production forms part of the York International Shakespeare Festival, and you have experienced an international career as a diplomat and theatre director. What makes Shakespeare’s work so universal?

“I’ve seen Shakespeare performed across the globe in many cultures and languages. I’ve also taught his work in America, Europe and Asia. Actors and students well know there’s never been a storyteller like him.

“Shakespeare takes our humanity, creates recognisable conflict in recognisable people, which often – in tragedy at least – leads to dire consequences. He also shows us what love is and what love isn’t, hate too, and what loss means and how joy and comedy can elevate our lives. In doing so, he expands our understanding of what makes us human and offers us ready advice as to how we can survive such a troubling condition.

Miranda Mufema’s Lady Anne in rehearsal for Richard III. Picture: John Saunders

“In 2012, Shakespeare’s Globe in London produced 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 languages, including Maori, Swahili, Pashto and Mandarin. A quick glance at Wikipedia reveals 140 Shakespeare festivals in the United States alone. It’s hard to argue against that kind of reach and durability. He’s doing something right for sure.”

What are the tenets of the True and Fair Party, for whom you are the prospective parliamentary candidate for York Outer?

“There’s no point in continuing to drink from the well if the water is poisoned. Essentially, Gina Miller’s True & Fair Party came into being to clean up the UK’s polluted politics and to propel national governance into the 21st century, with more accountability, openness, and a focus on a kinder, more empathic way of doing business.

“The party also has a broad swath of unique and compelling manifesto commitments, such as introducing legally binding contracts for MPs, switching to the proportional representation the country is crying out for, or banning the sale of alcohol on the parliamentary estate.

“But first and foremost, the party is committed to disinfecting our country’s political slurries and to showing the electorate that not all politicians are in it for themselves; that there is desire and energy for meaningful change.

“These are the tenets that drew me to True & Fair, and so I’d like to show the voters of York Outer that a better, more compassionate and caring way is possible.”

Find out more at: https://www.trueandfairparty.uk/daniel-roy-connelly

What topics do you discuss with Hugh Bernays in a typical episode of your made-in-York weekly podcast The Anarchist Monastery?

“Hugh and I have just started our podcasting journey in a place we call The Anarchist Monastery, where we have a weekly discussion of our lives here in York – both of us as outsiders, one long-standing and one newbie.

“We also chat about my many global travels, our mental health and our lives as lovers of history, theatre and literature. All in all, it’s an interrogation of wayfaring. We’re learning all the time about what’s needed to make a successful podcast and we’re having a blast doing it.”

York Shakespeare Project in Richard III, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, April 26 to 29, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

Introducing: The Anarchist Monastery podcast

Dr Daniel Roy Connelly: “Ascertaining who we are and how we got here” in his podcast with Hugh Bernays

THE Anarchist Monastery is not so much a building, more a state of mind, one shared by craftsman and resident Hugh Bernays and Dr Daniel Roy Connelly, a visitor, teacher, theatre director and author.

From the 2000-year-old-city of York, Hugh and Daniel interrogate each another to try to ascertain who we are and how we got here, probing little known histories of this beautiful city in search of where ‘here’ really is.

“If you’re the kind of person who values the use of the imagination and likes to take the road less travelled in coming to an understanding of the world, The Anarchist Monastery is the podcast for you. Don’t be late – join the siblinghood,” they say.

Available on all major podcast platforms. Head to: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anarchist-monastery/id1680351791

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More Things To Do in York and beyond, strictly in the name of entertainment. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 17, from The Press

Boundary breakers: Kevin Clifton’s Scott Hastings and Faye Brookes’s Fran in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

SHAKESPEARE all shook up, a trio of musicals, a singular Magic Number, orchestral Potter and Tolkien and rocking Goths put Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead in good shape.

Dance show of the week: Strictly Ballroom The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

STRICTLY Come Dancing champ Kevin Clifton is joined by Dancing On ice runner-up and Coronation Street soap star Faye Brookes in Baz Luhrmann’s Australian romantic comedy musical.

Directed by Strictly’s Aussie-born judge Craig Revel Horwood, it follows rebellious ballroom dancer Scott Hastings (Clifton) as he falls out with the Australian Federation and finds himself dancing with Fran (Brookes), a beginner with no moves at all. Inspired by one another, this unlikely pairing gathers the courage to defy both convention and families. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

From Ukraine, with love: Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre, from Ukraine, will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream at York International Shakespeare Festival on April 28. Picture: Oleksii Tovpyha

Festival of the week and beyond: York International Shakespeare Festival, various venues, running until May 1

THIS festival’s fifth edition combines more than 40 live events with others online, taking in international, national and York-made performances, talks, workshops, exhibitions and discussions.

Look out for the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre, from Ukraine, performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream (April 28); Flabbergast Theatre’s The Tragedy Of Macbeth (April 26); artists from Poland, Croatia and Romania and Tim Crouch’s exploration of King Lear in a post-pandemic world, virtual-reality head set et al, in Truth’s A Dog Must To Kennel (April 29). For the full programme and tickets, go to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Virtual reality meets King Lear: Tim Crouch in Truth’s A Dog Must To Kennel at the York International Shakespeare Festival. Picture: Stuart Armitt

Soundtracks of the week: The Music Of The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit and The Rings Of Power In Concert, York Barbican, Monday, 4pm; The Magical Music Of Harry Potter Live In Concert, Monday, 8pm

THIS brace of concerts has been rearranged from April 6 to 24, both featuring a symphonic orchestra, choir, star soloists and an original actor. The first, a two-hour matinee celebrating the music inspired by the work of J R R Tolkien, spans the threatening sounds of Mordor, the shrill attack of the black riders and the beautiful lyrical melodies of the elves. 

The second showcases the Harry Potter film soundtracks by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat, complemented by music from the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child stage show. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Crowning gory: Harry Summers’ Richard, seated, becomes king in a York Shakespeare Project rehearsal for Richard III. Picture: John Saunders

“Petty, narcissistic and vengeful psychopath” of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Richard III, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

PHASE Two of York Shakespeare Project, projected to run for 25 years, is launched with former British diplomat Daniel Roy Connolly’s modern-day account of “the York play”, Richard III, set amid the frenetic, calculating and brutal politicking of the House of Commons.

“Telling Shakespeare through what is comfortably the most corrupt institution in the country, the play explores the cut and thrust of power’s crucible, with laws ignored and lies sown,” he says. Harry Summers leads the cast. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

Romeo Stodart: Solo night at the Fulford Arms for the Magic Numbers singer

Low-key gig of the week: An Evening With Romeo Of The Magic Numbers, Fulford Arms, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

O ROMEO, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo Stodart on Sunday night? The lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of indie rockers The Magic Numbers will be in lonesome mode at the Fulford Arms. Expect Magic Numbers gems and equally magic numbers from 2011 solo album The Moon And You. Box office: thecrescentyork.seetickets.com.

Steve Tearle: Director, Narrator and Mystery Man in NE’s Into The Woods

Bewitching show of the week: NE in Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

STEPHEN Sondheim’s darkly witty musical is a grown-up twist on the classic fairytales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack And The Beanstalk, here narrated by NE director Steve Tearle.

After the curse of a once-beautiful witch (Pascha Turnbull) leaves a baker (Chris Hagyard) and his wife (Perri-Ann Barley) childless, they venture into the woods to find the ingredients needed to reverse the spell.  Encounters with all manner of fairytale favourites ensue, each on a quest to fulfil a wish. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mayflies writer-composer Gus Gowland, seated with cast members Emma Thornett, left, Rumi Sutton and Nuno Queimado

Musical premiere of the week: Gus Gowland’s Mayflies, York Theatre Royal, April 28 to May 13, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

THREE into two will go when York Theatre Royal stages the world premiere of resident artist Gus Gowland’s musical Mayflies, wherein he explores how people present different versions of themselves in relationships and how it can then all come crashing down.

Three actors, Nuno Queimado (May), Rumi Sutton (May/Fly) and Emma Thornett (Fly), will alternate the roles, with each pairing offering a different perspective on the relationships within this contemporary love story, traced by Gowland from first flourish on a dating app to the last goodbye in person. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Cold Cave: Headlining the Friday bill at the Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival in Whitby

Goth gathering of the week: Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival Spring Gathering 2023, Whitby Pavilion, Whitby, April 28 and 29

BACK in black in the home of Dracula, Whitby’s premier gothic music and alternative arts festival returns with headline appearances by Cold Cave (April 28) and New Model Army (April 29) and a Friday club night into the early hours by Leeds living legends Carpe Noctum.

The Friday bill features a rare performance from American goth rock special guests Christian Death, alongside sets by The Rose Of Avalanche and Siberia. Saturday features special guests Lebanon Hanover, Ist Ist and The Nosferatu. Box office: ticketweb.uk.

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York Shakespeare Project to stage Richard III and Lucrece at York International Shakespeare Festival on 25-year mission

Harry Summers: Facing a winter of discontent as Richard, Duke of Gloucester in York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III

AS in 2002, York Shakespeare Project launches a mission to perform all of Shakespeare’s plays with Richard III, staged at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, from April 26 to 29.

The first cycle concluded with a tour of The Tempest last September, and now YSP has initiated a bold endeavour to combine Shakespeare’s works with the best of his contemporaries over the next 25 years.

Esteemed York thespian John White directed YSP’s debut production of Richard III in Elizabethan garb at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre from October 30 to November 2 2002.

In contrast, Daniel Roy Connelly’s 2023 incarnation of “the York play”, part of the York International Shakespeare Festival, is rooted firmly in the 21st century. His production is set in a frenetic, calculating and brutal Westminster, with endless Machiavellian bloodletting and daily treacheries.

Connelly espouses that the England of Richard III could hardly be closer to today’s political minefield. “Telling Shakespeare through what is comfortably the most corrupt institution in the county, the play explores the cut and thrust of power’s crucible, with laws ignored and lies sown,” he contends.

“I believe that a parliamentary telling of Richard III is not only long overdue, it’s also bang on time. Prepare then for British politics as played out, murderously, on the floor of the House of Commons.”

Daniel Roy Connolly: Former diplomat directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in Richard III

Audiences may find Connelly’s contemporary vision remarkably familiar. Richard and Buckingham excel as social media manipulators within a world of warring political parties. In the shadowy corridors of power, everyone is culpable.

Richard’s watchword? “My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns me for a villain”.

Making his YSP bow, Connelly is a former British diplomat, theatre director, actor, author and academic. He has acted in and directed theatre in the United States, the UK, Italy and China, where his 2009 production of David Henry Hwang’s M Butterfly was forced to close by the Chinese secret police.

In his cast will be: Harry Summers as Richard, Duke of Gloucester/Richard III; Rosy Rowley, Duke of Buckingham; Miranda Mufema, Lady Anne;  Emily Hansen, Queen Margaret; Andrea Mitchell, Queen Elizabeth; Frankie Hayes, Duchess of York/Sir William Catesby, and Matt Simpson, Duke of Clarence.

So too will be: Jack Downey, Sir Richard Ratcliffe; Clive Lyons, Lord Hastings; Michael Peirce, Young York/Lord Grey/Murderer; Nell Frampton, Prince Edward/Rivers; Frank Brogan, King Edward IV/Stanley; Thomas Jennings, Sir James Tyrell; Nick Jones, Earl of Richmond; James Tyler, Archbishop, and Anna Kedge, Marquis of Dorset.

Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights and on 01904 655317.

Elizabeth Elsworth’s regal, calculating Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, opposite Jim Paterson’s Mark Antony in York Shakespeare Project’s Antony And Cleopatra in 2019. Now she is directing YSP’s semi-staged version of Lucrece in her directorial debut

YORK Shakespeare Project will mark Shakespeare’s birthday on April 23 with three performances of Lucrece, a semi-staged version of his early narrative poem The Rape Of Lucrece, at Friargate Theatre, York.

Its original production was set to play at the Mansion House in April 2020 as a culminating feature of then YSP chair Councillor Janet Looker’s year as Lord Mayor, until the pandemic lockdown enforced its postponement.

Now it will be presented under Elizabeth Elsworth’s direction in performances at 2.30pm and 6pm on Sunday and 6pm on Monday as part of the York International Shakespeare Festival.

By the time of the poem’s publication in 1594, Shakespeare already had written the three parts of Henry VI, Two Gentlemen Of Verona and Richard III. When an outbreak of the plague caused a Tudor lockdown that closed London’s theatres, Shakespeare turned to poetry, exploring the theme of misplaced desire in Venus And Adonis and again in Lucrece, as it was entitled on the original frontispiece.

Extremely successful in his lifetime, these poems established Shakespeare as a poet but are rarely heard today. Just as his plays are celebrated for giving extraordinary life to their characters and stories, so he charts the inner worlds and challenges of the characters in The Rape Of Lucrece.

Emma Scott in the title role for York Shakespeare Project’s semi-staged version of Lucrece

In doing so, he gives voice to the unspeakable, his writing taking his audience to the heart of the matter. A voice is heard and actions will have consequences. In verse both gripping and heartfelt, he depicts an action resonating beyond Lucrece herself as she faces life-changing questions. How do you speak to power? To whom do you complain?

Lucrece speaks to the “MeToo” generation about situations and decisions that touch lives so deeply in a rare opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s writing at it most poignant and immediate.

Making her directorial debut, Elizabeth Elsworth has been a familiar face in many YSP productions, notably playing Katherine in Henry VIII in 2017 and Cleopatra in Antony And Cleopatra in 2019.

Emma Scott, who played Macbeth in Leo Doulton’s 2021 production of “the Scottish play”, takes the title role of Lucrece, alongside Stuart Lindsay as Tarquin; Diana Wyatt, Maid/Narrator; Judith Ireland, Player Queen/Narrator; Catherine Edge, Brutus/Narrator; Paul French, Lucretius/Narrator;  Jay Wadhawan, Collatine and a female chorus of Sally Mitcham, Sonia De Lorenzo and Lydia McCudden.

Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights or 01904 655317.

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Now is the Summers of our discontent as Harry lands title role in York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III this spring

Harry Summers: Title role in York Shakespeare Project’s Richard III this spring

REHEARSALS are under way for Richard III, the first production of York Shakespeare Project’s phase two.

Dr Daniel Roy Connelly’s cast will be led by Harry Summers in the winter-of-discontent role of Richard Duke of Gloucester/Richard III.

Further roles will go to Rosy Rowley, Duke of Buckingham; Miranda Mufema, Lady Anne;  
Emily Hansen, Queen Margaret; Andrea Mitchell, Queen Elizabeth; Frankie Hayes, Duchess of York/Sir William Catesby; Matt Simpson, Duke of Clarence, and Jack Downey, Sir Richard Ratcliffe.

Clive Lyons will play Lord Hastings; Michael Peirce, Young York/Lord Grey/Murderer;  Nell Frampton, Prince Edward/Rivers; Frank Brogan, King Edward IV/Stanley; Thomas Jennings, Sir James Tyrell; Nick Jones, Earl of Richmond; James Tyler, Archbishop, and Anna Kedge, Marquis of Dorset.

Dr Daniel Roy Connelly: Making his York Shakespeare Project debut as director of Richard III

As was the case when YSP began its 20-year mission to present all 37 of the Bard’s works with the 2002 production of Richard III at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, so Richard III will be the opening play once more, this time at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York from April 26 to 29.

A newcomer to York, theatre director, actor, poet, professor and former British diplomat Dr Connelly is at the helm after directing in places as diverse as Shanghai, Rome, America and the Edinburgh Festival. He will refract Richard’s turbulent tale of politics, power and corruption through today’s lens. 

Richard III will be one of two YSP productions at the 2023 York International Shakespeare Festival, along with Liz Elsworth’s semi-staged version of Shakespeare’s narrative poem The Rape Of Lucrece.

YSP begins a new chapter in 2023 with a 25-year project to stage not only those plays again, but also the best works by his Elizabethan and Jacobean contemporaries.

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As York Shakespeare Project opens phase two with Edward III at Black Swan Inn, director Tony Froud looks at the future

Mark Hird: Taking the role of King Edward in tonight’s rehearsed reading of Edward III by the York Shakespeare Project at the Black Swan Inn

PHASE two of York Shakespeare Project (YSP) begins tonight with a staged rehearsed reading of Edward III upstairs at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, at 7.30pm.

This rarely performed 1592 history play is now widely accepted as a collaboration between William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd, replete with its celebration of Edward’s victories over the French, satirical digs at the Scots and depiction of the Black Prince.

Rehearsed February readings will be a regular part of YSP’s broadened remit to include work by the best of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, alongside a second staging of all his works, over the next 25 years.

Tony Froud’s cast will be led by Pick Me Up Theatre luminary Mark Hird in the title role. “At short notice, I’ve been able to bring together a strong cast that mixes YSP stalwarts, such as Liz Elsworth and Emma Scott, with new faces to us, such as Mark,” says Tony.

Hird’s King Edward will be joined by Elsworth’s Derby and Queen Philippa; Scott’s Gobin de Grey, Villiers, Frenchman 3 and Captain; Ben Thorburn’s Prince Edward; Nell Frampton’s Warwick and Salisbury; Bill Laverick’s Audley and Messenger and Stuart Lindsay’s Lodowick, Frenchman 4 and King David.

In the company too are: Sally Mitcham’s William Montague, Jon Copland, Herald 1, Frenchman 2 and Earl Douglas; Joy Warner’s Squire, Artois and Frenchman 1; Tom Jennings’s Herald 2 and Prince Charles; Jodie Fletcher’s Herald 3, Lorraine, Mariner and Messenger 2; Harry Summers’ King John and Lara Stafford’s Prince Philip and Countess Salisbury.

“It will be a one-night-only show, following the pattern of Ben Prusiner’s season of John Fletcher comedies and Jim Paterson’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which showed the impressive quality of performance that can be achieved in a short time by a good cast,” says Tony.

“The rehearsed reading puts a great emphasis on the language, so do come along to meet some colourful characters and hear some fabulous language in a plot that will take you from London to Calais via Northumberland and Crecy.”

YSP completed its mission to perform all 37 of  Shakespeare’s plays within 20 years with last September’s tour of The Tempest, but it had long been decided the project would continue. “The committee made the decision after about 15 years that YSP would do another cycle,” recalls Tony.

Why do Phase two? “Shakespeare is always relevant and will always find a new audience, and YSP will continue to find new ways to present Shakespeare suitable to the times,” says Tony.

“We will always be open to challenging ways of performing Shakespeare, like we did for Maggie Smales’s all-female Henry V.

“When you think that YSP’s first production of Richard III was in 2002, 21 years later we will look at politics, power and corruption through today’s lens in our new Richard III in April. All those things will be pertinent to anyone who has had their eye on Westminster in the last few years.”

Tony Froud: Directing York Shakespesare Project’s rehearsed reading of Edward III

More than 300 actors have performed in YSP productions to date. “It’s a matter of principle that we always have open auditions for our directors and our actors, so we ensure that we’re open to new ideas and new talent,” says Tony.

“That will continue with Dr Daniel Roy Connelly’s cast of 16 for Richard III, which will be a rich mix of faces familiar and new. We’ve often gained from our association with York’s universities and that will again be reflected in this cast.”

Tony welcomes the decision to expand YSP’s brief in phase two. “It’s very exciting to open up the opportunity to perform the best writing of the time beyond Shakespeare to see how his contemporaries have contributed to that extraordinary period of dramatic writing,” he says.

“We’ll be doing that when we put on Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, and also through the annual series of rehearsed readings, which will allow us to explore less commercial texts too.”

Next year’s plays are scheduled to be on the theme of the Plantagenets. “It will be interesting to see what ideas come up for combining Shakespeare’s plays in different ways to phase one,” says Tony.

YSP will be looking to add new sites too. “Like we did outdoors at Holy Trinity Church and the Bar Convent [Living Heritage Centre], which both made very atmospheric venues for our Sonnets shows,” says Tony. “Doing Edward III upstairs at the Black Swan is another example of doing that.

“We plan to open up to new audiences, especially in the summer when we do the Sonnets, and we’ll look to do more of what we did on the outdoor space at Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre.”

Since last October’s annual general meeting, a new committee of nine has been in place. “The likes of Frank Brogan and Janet Looker, who had seen the original project through to its completion, decided to take a well-earned rest from their long involvement.

“Now we have a committee of mainly young members, who will be bringing a lot of energy and new ideas,” says Tony, 68, who will represent the older brigade alongside Sam Valentine. “Hopefully a lot of the younger members will still be involved in 25 years’ time.”

York Shakespeare Project has charity status and its shows must keep a tight rein on budgets. “We have to be very careful with our finances. Very few of our Shakespeare productions have made a profit, so we have to be creative and look elsewhere to ensure our continued success,” says Tony.

“The directors receive an honorarium, but outside that role, we rely on the talents and generosity of a host of volunteers for each production.”

Tickets for tonight’s 7.30pm performance cost £5 on the door or at eventbrite.com/e/edward-iii-tickets-518511741577. Looking ahead, Dr Daniel Roy Connelly’s debut YSP production of Richard III at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, will run from April 26 to 29.

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York Shakespeare Project launches phase two with January auditions for Richard III UPDATED 4/1/2022

York Shakespeare Project in The Tempest in Autumn 2022. A new chapter will open in springtime

DR Daniel Roy Connelly is to direct the first production of York Shakespeare Project’s second cycle of Shakespeare plays.

As was the case when YSP began its 20-year mission to present all the Bard’s works with the October-November 2002 production of Richard III at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, so Richard of York’s winter of discontent will be the opening play once more, this time at Friargate Theatre from April 26 to 29.

Dr Connelly, a newcomer to York, will be at the helm, having directed in places as diverse as Shanghai, Rome, America and the Edinburgh Festival.  

This former British diplomat, theatre director, actor, poet and professor will hold auditions at Southlands Methodist Church, in Bishopthorpe Road, on January 10 and 11, from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, and January 14, 2pm to 5pm.

Those interested are asked to fill out the form below to secure an audition slot: https://forms.gle/T4F7Q7aHJCFAqnWe8

Dr Daniel Roy Connelly: Director of York Shakespeare Project’s 2023 production of Richard III

“If you want to audition, but these dates don’t suit, please indicate on the form and we will see what we can do,” advises YSP’s Facebook notice.

Richard III will be one of two YSP productions at the 2023 York International Shakespeare Festival. Auditions for a semi-staged version of Shakespeare’s narrative poem The Rape Of Lucrece, directed by Liz Elsworth, will take place in late-January.

This autumn, YSP completed its goal of performing all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays with its 35th production and first tour: Philip Parr’s production of The Tempest, whose travels concluded at York Theatre Royal on October 1.

YSP begins a new chapter in 2023 with a 25-year project to stage not only those plays again, but also the best works by his contemporaries.

“This expanded remit allows both for a new generation-spanning mission to perform the whole canon of Shakespeare’s works, alongside a wider vision of celebrating and sharing Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre with new audiences,” says YSP.