Tag: Rob Auton

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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 9, from Gazette & Herald

Stamford Bridge Community Choir: Using Makaton signing when performing at York Community Choir Festival tonight. Picture: Murray Swain

A CHORUS of song, a play counting the cost of economics and an eye for comedy help to fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box of entertainment for the week ahead.

Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MORE than 1,250 singers are performing this week at the JoRo. Tonight features Stagecoach Performing Arts Choir, The Sounds Fun Singers, The Garrowby Singers, In Harmony Ladies Choir and Stamford Bridge Community Choir; tomorrow, Huntington School Choirs; York Military Wives Choir and Heworth Community Choir, and Friday, York Theatre Royal Choir; Eboraca; Some Voices York; Bishopthorpe Community Choir and Harmonia.

The Saturday matinee presents Excel Learning Trust Schools’ Choir, The Rhythm Of Life Singers, The Fairburn Singers and The York Celebration Singers; Saturday evening, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, Chechelele, York Sing Space, The Wellbeing Choir and Main Street Sound Ladies Barbershop Chorus. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rob Auton: One in the eye for comedy at The Crescent, York, tonight

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Queenz: On song in Drag Me To The Disco at the Grand Opera House, York

Drag show of the week: Queenz, Drag Me To The Disco, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

JOIN the gals for “an electrifying, live vocal, drag-stravaganza, where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the party of a lifetime”, created and produced by David Griego. Flying their rainbow-coloured flag high in the sky, Bella Du-Ball, Dior Montay, Candy Caned, Billie Eyelash and ZeZe Van Cartier serve up sass, singalongs and a message of love, equality and acceptance.

Craig Colley, alias Billie Eyelash, says: “Drag queens really do come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want to see some hilarious, stupidly talented, beautiful and of course humble ones, Queenz really is the show for you.” Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer: Dancing on Speakeasy terms at York Barbican tomorrow

Dance spectacular of the week: Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez, Speakeasy, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez follow up Firedance with new show Speakeasy on their biggest tour so far. Expect exhilarating live music and breathtaking choreography as they unlock the door to an undercover world of elegance and iconic dance flavours. 

From the clandestine New York Speakeasy to the sultry Havana dance floors and from the burlesque cabaret clubs of the mid-1900s to the glittering mirror balls of Studio 54, this “delicious dance experience” serves up Mamba, Salsa, Charleston, Foxtrot and Samba moves.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Joe Sellman-Leava, left, and Dylan Howells in It’s The Economy, Stupid! at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Duncan McGlynn

Fringe show of the week: Worklight Theatre in It’s The Economy, Stupid!, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday,7.30pm

NAMED after the phrase coined by James Carville, strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, It’s the Economy, Stupid! employs storytelling to uncover the true cost of low financial literacy in a world ruled by money.

Directed by Katharina Reinthaller, this 60-minute Edinburgh Fringe hit tells the true story of a family caught up in the 1990s’ recession, losing home and livelihood under the economic conditions that led the world from post-war boom to housing and cost-of-living crises. Using an old board game, bags, boxes, projection mapping and a sprinkle of magic, writer Joe Sellman-Leava and Dylan Howells explore how macroeconomic forces can win elections and why the force that dominates personal lives is so complicated. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Greg Brice: Blues guitarist to play Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Greg Brice, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

BACK when Greg Brice played the pubs, clubs and bars of the West Midlands, he would find even tough audiences hanging on to his every word within a few bars. His intricate fingerstyle guitar and strident electric slide connected in the raw and immediate way that only proper roots music can. Now, in blues and Americana clubs alike, his songwriting is capturing people’s imagination. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Edwina Hayes: Heading from Beverley to Malton on Sunday night

Singer-songwriter of the week: An Evening With Edwina Hayes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm

EAST Riding musician Edwina Hayes brings together English folk, Americana and the northern singer-songwriter tradition to create her own sound. She has toured with Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Loudon Wainwright III and the late Nanci Griffith, who covered her song Pour Me A Drink and once called her “the sweetest voice in England”. She last released an album, Ruby Rose, in 2021. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Artwork by Rosebay, on show at Helmsley Arts Centre from today

Exhibition of the week: Rosebay, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to May 2

YORK Open Studios 2021 and Ryedale Open Studios 2023 artist Rosebay uses marker pens filled with acrylic paint as the quickest and most direct way to fill big canvasses that celebrate the unsung corners of the natural and built world. “The bark of a tree, a patch of rock, the place where weeds spring out of a crack in the pavement: all have their own magic and all are worthy of attention,” she says.

“Drawing on elements of Pop Art, graffiti art and cartography, sometimes my paintings home in on a tiny area and turn it into a whole landscape; sometimes I step back and take in a larger scene, often weaving together images I have seen as I walk.” Rosebay will be very happy to discuss her paintings when visiting the arts centre on March 16 and 30.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as March heralds an outburst of song. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 9 from The York Press

Something to be Smug about: Smug Roberts tops Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill today

A CHORUS of song, a clash of operas and an eye for comedy fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box of entertainment for the week ahead.

Extremely rare chance to see Channel 4 legend: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Smug Roberts, Russell Arathoon, Oliver Bowler and MC Tony Vino, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, doors 3.30pm for 4pm start

BACK in the day, today’s headline act, Manchester humorist and radio presenter Smug Roberts, released the novelty anthem Meat Pie, Sausage Roll (Come on England, Gi’s A Goal) as Grandad Roberts. Three years earlier, he was discovered by Caroline Aherne when playing his first gig. He has since starred in That Peter Kay Thing, Cold Feet, Phoenix Nights, 24 Hour Party People and Buried.

“Smug is one the great unsung heroes of stand-up comedy and one of comedy’s best-kept secrets,” says promoter Damion Larkin. “His act is a joy to behold. A true superstar, he’s arguably the only non-famous genius among his North West contemporaries, and he’s not very often around in town, so make sure you grab this chance to see him.” Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Opera International in Madama Butterfly, on tour from Ukraine at the Grand Opera House, York

Opera dilemma of the day: Either…Senbla presents Opera International’s tour of Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Madama Butterfly, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm.

BACK by overwhelming public demand, Opera International director Ellen Kent directs Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the heart-breaking story of the beautiful young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant.

Expect international soloists, full chorus and orchestra and exquisite sets, including a spectacular Japanese garden and fabulous costume, not least antique wedding kimonos from Japan. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

English Touring Opera in rehearsal for The Capulets And The Montagues, playing York Theatre Royal tonight. Picture: Craig Fuller

Or…English Touring Opera in What Dreams May Come, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2.30pm; The Capulets And The Montagues, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

ENGLISH Touring Opera return to York Theatre Royal with a brace of Shakespeare-inspired new productions. Mixing puppetry with works by Purcell, Finzi, Amy Beach and Britten, performed by a chamber ensemble, What Dreams May Come draws on hundreds of years of music inspired by and adapted from Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to depict the joys and sorrows of a long life well lived.

The Capulets And The Montagues, Bellini’s gritty re-working of Romeo And Juliet, brings the warring families’ emotional and political struggle to life with devastating power. Soprano Jessica Cale sings the role of Giulietta opposite mezzo-soprano Samantha Price as Romeo. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stamford Bridge Community Choir: Performing at York Community Choir Festival on March 5. Picture: Murray Swain

Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow until March 8, 7.30pm nightly, except 6pm tomorrow, plus  2.30pm Saturday matinee

A FESTIVAL that began in 2016 with only 11 choirs now comprises eight concerts showcasing up to five choirs per night. More than 1,250 singers, including school groups and choirs from Harrogate, Selby and Malton as well as York, will perform diverse music styles from pop to classical.

Among the choirs will be Stamford Bridge Community Choir, who will use Makaton signing in their March 5 performance. Full details of all the choirs and their programmes can be found at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/all-shows/york-community-choir-festival. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Visible Women company members Caroline Greenwood, left, Linda Fletcher, Helen Wilson and Marie Louise Feeley: Two evenings of monologues for York International Women’s Week

York International Women’s Week (March 3 to 9): Lyrics Of Life by Visible Women, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, March 4 and 5, 7.30pm to 9.15pm

VISIBLE Women, a group of “mature female performers” from York, present both well-known and lesser-known monologues over two evenings.

“We met last year in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables, which had good parts for older women,” says York theatre group member Helen Wilson. “But as most playwrights are male, plays tend to be male dominated, so here we are doing our own thing!

“There are still not enough plays giving women of our age a platform. As Visible Women, we want to redress the balance. Let’s move this forward. Come along for an evening of entertainment for a good cause.”

Material by Alan Bennett, Joyce Grenfell and York playwright Sara Murphy, winner of the first Script Factor in York, will feature. Box office: email basicbafmaw@gmail.com or pay on the door. Proceeds from ticket sales (£7 each) will be donated to York Women’s Counselling (yorkwomenscounselling.org).

Rob Auton: One in the eye for comedy at The Crescent, York, on March 5

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, March 5, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley in Myra’s Story, a tragic tale of a middle-aged homeless alcoholic struggling to survive on the streets of Dublin, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Charity support of the week: Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley in Myra’s Story, Grand Opera House, York, March 4, 7.30pm

DIRECT from the West End, Irish playwright Brian Foster’s four-time Edinburgh Fringe hit, Myra’s Story, tells the turbulent, tragic tale of a middle-aged homeless alcoholic struggling to survive on the streets of Dublin as she begs from passers-by on Ha’penny Bridge.

Performed by Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley, this show will benefit Restore, the York charity that provides accommodation and support to those who would otherwise be homeless. The charity will be on hand to collect donations. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Queenz: On song in Drag Me To The Disco at the Grand Opera House, York

Drag show of the week: Queenz, Drag Me To The Disco, Grand Opera House, York, March 5, 7.30pm

JOIN the gals for “an electrifying, live vocal, drag-stravaganza, where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the party of a lifetime”, created and produced by David Griego. Flying their rainbow-coloured flag high in the sky, Bella Du-Ball, Dior Montay, Candy Caned, Billie Eyelash and ZeZe Van Cartier serve up sass, singalongs and a message of love, equality and acceptance.

Craig Colley, alias Billie Eyelash, says: “Drag queens really do come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want to see some hilarious, stupidly talented, beautiful and of course humble ones, Queenz really is the show for you.” Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer: On Speakeasy terms at York Barbican

Dance spectacular of the week: Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez, Speakeasy, York Barbican, March 6, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez follow up Firedance with new show Speakeasy on their biggest tour so far. Expect exhilarating live music and breathtaking choreography as they unlock the door to an undercover world of elegance and iconic dance flavours. 

From the clandestine New York Speakeasy to the sultry Havana dance floors and from the burlesque cabaret clubs of the mid-1900s to the glittering mirror balls of Studio 54, this “delicious dance experience” serves up Mamba, Salsa, Charleston, Foxtrot and Samba moves.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also taking to the Yorkshire dance floor at Hull City Hall, March 5; Sheffield City Hall, March 9, and Bradford St George’s Hall, March 15.

In Focus: York Late Music presents Trifarious: Roger Marsh At 75, today, 1pm; Elysian Singers, Arvo Pärt At 90, today, 7.30pm, both at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York

Trifarious: Marking Roger Marsh At 75 with this afternoon’s concert

YORK Late Music celebrates the music of Roger Marsh, a major contributor to the music and academic life during his time as Professor of Music at the University of York (1989 – 2019).

The programme includes works by Luciano Berio and Toru Takemitsu, who both have had a strong influence on his music, alongside pieces by two of his former students, Tom Armstrong and David Power.

Roger is coming over from France to hear this Roger Marsh At 75 concert.

Programme: Roger Marsh: Ferry Music; Tom Armstrong: The Chief Inspector Of Holes; David Power: Six De Chirico Miniatures – first performance; Toru Takemitsu: A Bird Came Down The Walk; Luciano Berio: Wasserklavier; Luciano Berio: Erdenklavier, and Roger Marsh: Easy Steps.

Here are Roger’s programme notes for the two works:

Ferry Music (1988) – for clarinet, piano and cello. This trio is composed around material originally invented for a music theatre piece Love On The Rocks – a piece concerning the mythical Charon, who poled the dead across the river into Hades. 

The piece is in five short movements, and the ferry takes approximately eight minutes to complete the crossing. For today’s performance the cello part has been rewritten for viola by Tom Armstrong.   

Easy Steps (1987) – for solo piano. The title Easy Steps may be misleading.  For the performer there is nothing easy aboutthis piece, some passages requiring a level of virtuosity which the Associated Board mayfind difficult to quantify. 

Rather the title has to do with the structure of the piece –alternating sections, horizontally then vertically conceived, increasing in complexity byeasy steps. 

Elysian Singers: Celebrating Arvo Pärt At 90 tonight. Picture: Linda Dawson

Elysian Singers: Arvo Pärt At 90

AS the great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt turns 90 this year, the Elysian Singers celebrate his enormous contribution to choral music over the last half century. York Late Music includes two of his most substantial unaccompanied pieces, alongside works by Baltic and American composers who were influenced by him.

Programme: Arvo Pärt: Nunc Dimittis; Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas; Eriks Esenvalds: The Heavens’ Flock; Morten Lauridsen: Madrigali; Eric Whitacre: When David Heard; David Lancaster: Of Trumpets And Angels – first performance, and Arvo Pärt: Seven Magnificat Antiphons

Here is David Lancaster’s programme note for Of Trumpets And Angels:

THIS new is a setting of John Donne’s Holy Sonnett XIII (What if this present were the world’s last night). This text contemplates the possibility of the current moment being the end of the world – something we may have all considered in recent days!

With this in mind, he focuses on the image of Christ crucified, questioning whether or not he should be afraid. He observes Christ’s tears and the blood from his wounds, wondering if such a compassionate figure could ever condemn him to damnation.

In the sestet, Donne seeks to atone for his earlier sins, in particular his love for ‘profane mistresses’, recognising the fallacy of making judgements based on outward appearance alone, and concluding that a beautiful appearance (like that of Christ) is indicative of a compassionate and merciful mindset.

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The eyes have it as Rob Auton makes open and shut case for comedy in new show at The Crescent and Leeds City Varieties

Do not just adjust your lenses: Everything will become clear in Rob Auton’s The Eyes Open And Shut Show at The Crescent, York

ROB Auton, York comedian, author, podcaster, actor, poet, graphic designer and illustrator, returns north from London on March 5 to present his 11th themed solo at The Crescent, York.

After exploring the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time, crowds and Rob Auton himself, he turns his surrealist focus on to his eyes in the Eyes Open And Shut Show, on tour from January 27 to May 4.

“This is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says Barmby Moor-born Rob. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut. After writing ten shows on specific themes, I wanted to think about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

Here, Rob only has eyes for Charles Hutchinson’s questions.

What colour are your eyes?

“Brown.” 

What colour might you have liked your eyes to be?

“Owl eye orange.”

How good is your eyesight at the age of 42?

“7/10. Good enough for me to not wear glasses but bad enough for me to have gone for an eye test and got some glasses that I never wear.”

What makes you open your eyes widest?

“Putting my hand to my coat pocket and my phone not being in that specific pocket. Where is it? Ah, it’s in my trouser pocket. Return eyes to normal wideness.”

What makes you shut your eyes tightest?

“Chocolate bars getting smaller.”

How lightly do you sleep (when eyes are shut)?

“Very lightly, unfortunately.”

If ‘the eyes have it’, what do they have? 

“Whiteness?”

What is your favourite saying about eyes?

“Imagine if you could have trainers that were as comfortable for your feet as your eye sockets are for your eyes.” Rob Auton. 

To get an eyeful of Rob Auton, head to The Crescent, York, on Wednesday

Who do you see eye to eye with?

“Myself.”

Who don’t you see eye to eye with?

“Politicians who think it’s acceptable to kill innocent people.” 

If you could have eyes in the back of your head, what would you want to see? 

“A more peaceful world.”

Do you believe in the third eye?

“I think I do actually. Well, I’m not sure what it is but, if I’m guessing, it’s feeling certain energies? Getting a sense of something without seeing it or hearing it. I definitely believe in that.”

As you said in the show blurb, “I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut”. What have those explorations revealed?

“They’ve revealed that getting people to shut their eyes in shows and getting them into a meditative state, then speaking to them straight after they’ve opened them, can result in an audience member saying, “sorry I completely zoned out there, what did you ask me?”.

How has the show changed since last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe trial run?

“It’s actually changed a fair bit to be honest. Last year was a particularly chaotic year for me as we had quite a big house move. We were staying in a fair few different people’s houses, which I’m very grateful for, but it was an unsettled year.

“Edinburgh came around really quickly and I felt like I just about got away with it. From September until the tour starting I was working on the show pretty much every day. The main thing that has changed is I’ve now put my notebook down and am performing the show more. It was a leap I needed to make and am pleased I made the leap.” 

Do you remember your dreams (eyes shut) and do you ever write material prompted by dreams (eyes open)?

“I remember my dreams for about ten seconds, then they are gone. Bye bye. I’d like to keep a dream diary but never got around to it. I had a dream that I got a birthday present from Father Christmas once. It was mad, just a random person who I didn’t know giving me a birthday present.

“I haven’t really written any dream-based material. I’ve had some good ideas in my dreams though, I think. I once had a dream that you could get photographs taken in your dreams and print them off when you wake up. Hmm, maybe I need to flesh that out a bit.” 

Have you seen Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, his last film, released in 1999 with married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman leading the cast?  If so, did it make your eyes open wider or shut?

“I saw it a long time ago, I remember it being a very well-lit film. It makes a difference, doesn’t it? A film being well lit. The most eye-based film I’ve seen recently was Blink Twice [Zoë Kravitz’s 2024 directorial debut]. That made me open my eyes wide and also shut my eyes.” 

Last June, French company Iris Galerie opened its first Yorkshire location at Low Petergate, York, that will turn your eyes into photographic pieces of wall art. Would you want that on your wall?

“Ah wow, yeah, I think I would. Maybe I’ll go and check it art! I’d like to have a massive picture of my eye on the wall.” 

If you were to lose a sense, in what order would you put them in terms of importance to keep: sight; hearing; smell; taste; touch?

“I think I agree with the order you’ve put them in there.” 

Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show at The Crescent, York, on March 5, 7.30pm. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. Also playing Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on May 3, 7.30pm; 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

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Alistair David Greaves RIP, Burning Duck comedy promoter, allotment horticulturist and vegan restaurant connoisseur

Al Greaves: Burning Duck Comedy Club promoter and keen horticulturist

AL Greaves, promoter of the Burning Duck Comedy Club for 11 years in York and Leeds, has died at the age of 47.

The tragic news broke on The Crescent community venue website on Tuesday, when promoter Joe Coates posted: “Last week we learned of the passing of our friend and colleague Alistair Greaves, who left us suddenly on Wednesday 8th January.

“Many will know Al as the brains behind York-based independent comedy producers Burning Duck Comedy. With a genuine love for an oddball sense of humour, Al brought a widely eclectic programme of artists to York and Leeds over an 11-year period, from its initial home in the upstairs room of The Black Swan Inn, to The Basement in the City Screen Picturehouse before finding more permanent regular homes here at The Crescent and Theatre@41 on Monkgate.”

Paying tribute, Joe wrote: “Al was a brilliant promoter, open-minded and art focused. Working on his events would often involve long conversations about a new sound on his synthesizer, the layout of his allotment, a fab new vegan restaurant in town, or highly enthusiastic (and often very silly!) new ideas for hosting live comedy.

“Al was also keenly engaged in politics. He was a member of the Labour Party and more recently the Green Party with whom Al helped with fundraising and canvassing. He was considered and principled, but above all loved to engage in conversation with others, a beautiful humanist. We will all miss him very much. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.”

Never afraid to employ ukulele, looping pedals, props or whimsy, Middlesbrough-born Al first performed in London, where he established and compered Comedy Lake, the capital city’s number one underwater-themed comedy night in Archway, complete with resident shark, presenting the likes of Josh Widdecome and Sara Pascoe.

After returning north for family reasons, he set up the Burning Duck Comedy Club as “York’s most thought-provoking alternative comedy night: a handcrafted artisanal smorgasbang of the weirdest, wisest and most wonderful experimental musical, character, sketch, spoken-word and stand-up comedy performers”.

Sir Dickie Benson and comedy promoter Al Greaves, right, outside the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, ahead of the first Burning Duck Comedy Club gig in October 2014

He staged his first gig at the Black Swan in October 2014 with a bill of Seymour Mace, Tom Taylor, Nicola Mantalios-Lovett, York’s Peet Sutton as Sir Dickie Benson and compere Jack Gardner.

Already Al had won Beat The Gong at ARC, Stockton on Tees, performed in several shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, including Alistair Greaves Mixed Grill in 2011, and taken up the post of resident master of ceremonies at Verve Comedy Cellar in Leeds.

He went on to establish the Woodsduck Comedy Festival in 2015, participate regularly in the Great Yorkshire Fringe in York, move Burning Duck to The Basement, The Crescent and most recently, Theatre@41, since August 2022, and promote Burning Duck at the Hyde Park Book Club, Headingley, Leeds too.

“I don’t think it’s overstating it to say Al transformed our comedy offering at Theatre@41,” said chair Alan Park. “Starting back after Covid, we’d been approached by comedy agents directly and done a couple of comedy shows a season but they hadn’t done well and we thought, ‘is comedy for us?’.

“But then Maggie Smales, one of our trustees, reached out to Al,” said Alan.  “We said, ‘we don’t want to tread on your toes, but we’d love to work with you’.” Al put six shows in place for the autumn season and comedy has become a mainstay of the programming.

“Al had this encyclopaedic knowledge of comedians with the ability of a dark art to identify comedians that would suit a 100-seat venue. He understood us as a venue and had a great sense of what would play well here.

“I think Al is irreplaceable,” said Alan Park, chair of Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

“He also understood the life of a comedian, how they go from show to show with a suitcase and maybe arrive after a bus replaces a cancelled train. He would always arrive early, make them feel welcome and would chat with them when they probably hadn’t had an adult conversation all day – and he was always very supportive of support acts too.

“He will go down as the man who revolutionised our comedy offering. People would come up and say they didn’t know this place existed until they came to a Burning Duck show and so we shall forever be in debt to him. I can confirm that we’ll be going ahead with all the shows he had put in place for us this year. Al had built up Burning Duck here and we don’t want to see it crumble.”

Alan added: “Al wasn’t doing it for anything but his love of comedy. It wasn’t for commercial gain. He just loved presenting comedy. There was no ego and he was just a joy to work with him. It was always a collaboration with him.

“He’d sit on a step or in the corner at Theatre@41, and you’d hear him laughing at a gag that no-one else got. He had this very alternative sense of humour and was such a great student of comedy. Every comedy agent we’ve spoken to has been devastated by his death because he really knew his comedy. I think he’s irreplaceable.”

Al’s humour might be best described as oddball. For example, he created the character comedy act Peter Bread, a York tour guide and baker, pioneer of York’s first ever Toast Walk, a tour that “bypassed York’s boring supernatural history, instead concentrating on telling the history of the city through baking” in another way to raise a laugh.

And should you be wondering why Burning Duck is so named, here is Al’s explanation. “It’s inspired by a joke I heard which I thought was amusing,” he said. “Why do elephants have flat feet? For stamping out Burning Ducks! I liked the randomness of the punchline and thought that anybody with a similar sense of humour might enjoy my nights.

“Al cared about the acts and the people who came to the shows,” said comedian Rob Auton

“Although about a year later I discovered that there was an earlier bit to the joke which was, ‘Why do ducks have flat feet? For stamping out fires’, which adds the context I missed when I heard the joke for the first time.”

Barmby Moor comedian Rob Auton typifies the comedy circuit’s affection for Al, first appearing on a Burning Duck bill in 2015. “I am gutted about the passing of Al. As a promoter he was a constant positive in every show I’ve ever done in York and Leeds.

“He cared about the acts and the people who came to the shows. I took home many an apple and chocolate bar from the supermarket spread he could be bothered to buy and put on a table. I think he really wanted to make things feel proper.”

Fellow York and Leeds comedy promoter Toby Clouston Jones, of the Hyena Lounge Comedy Club, said: “In an industry infested with sharks, narcissists and psychopaths, Al Greaves was that incredibly rare breed – a really nice bloke.

“He loved both comedy and comedians; the stranger the better was his cup of tea. Yet he seemed his most happiest when discussing his allotment and the pleasure it brought to him. The world needs more Al Greaves, not less.”

Martin Witts, who ran the Great Yorkshire Fringe in York from 2015 to 2019, spoke of Al’s involvement with the festival. “He started with us in 2016, initially as an intern, then worked at the middle tent, and he always delivered. Over the last two Fringes, we did more with Burning Duck and it was lovely to be able to pass acts on to him.

“I was very fond of him. As I got to know him, I realised what he was about was concentrating on getting his comedy nights right. We were choosy about who we worked with, but Al was a great addition as he knew there were different shades to comedy.

“Al was just at the point where I would have loved to have seen him open his own comedy club in York,” said Great Yorkshire Fringe director Martin Witts. Picture: Steve Ullathorne

“What makes a good comedy promoter is being in the game a certain amount of time because acts then trust you and return to you, and Al’s promotions were always good. He was just at the point where I would have loved to have seen him open his own comedy club in York.”

Al was more than a comedy promoter. His Alistair David Greaves Instagram site profiled him as #live music/comedy productions and vegan salads; #RHSLevel3 Horticulture and #secretbedroomfolktronica, with a link to alsallotment.wordpress.com, where could be found a profusion of images from his allotment and myriad vegan platters.

What made Al laugh? “It’s difficult to define, but there’s something satisfying about watching comedy that feels ‘truthful’, even when it’s also palpably absurd,” he said in a 2015 interview.

What did not make him laugh? “I try to be open minded and not too prescriptive about the type of comedy I enjoy, though personally I get turned off by comedy which feels ‘contrived’ or is overly predicated on perpetuating lazy and inaccurate stereotypes. Or when comedians pretend to get angry about things that aren’t actually that bad and overcompensate for lazy writing by shouting.

“Comedians will always elaborate on the truth to try and make a story funnier, or shoehorn in a clever pun, but I think the comedy still has to be somehow ‘believable’.” How astute he was.

Al had set out in 2014 to “create an environment in which performers feel they have more freedom to take risks and adopt a more experimental approach in their act, while also trying to foster a local audience who want to watch that sort of thing”.

He achieved those goals, savouring how “one of the highlights of live comedy is that it’s one of the few mediums where magical things can take place that seem relevant and funny only in that moment”. Thank you, Al, for conjuring such a profusion of magical things.

A memorial wake for Al Greaves will be held at The Crescent, York, on February 18. “For friends of Al’s we’ll be gathering to celebrate the life of a real good egg,” says promoter Joe Coates.

The Burning Duck Comedy Club programme for 2025 in York put together by Al Greaves
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More Things To Do in York and beyond in 2025, whether new or Oldman. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 1, from The Press, York

Laura Fraser’s DI Bea Metcalf on the York waterfront in Channel 4’s crime drama Patience. Picture: Channel 4

FROM a neurodiverse TV crime drama to an Oscar winner’s stage return, Charles Hutchinson picks highlights of the year ahead.

Seeing York through a different lens: Patience, Channel 4 from January 8, 9pm

CHANNEL 4’s six-part police procedural drama Patience, set in York, opens with the two-part Paper Mountain Girl, on January 8 and 9, wherein autistic Police Records Office civilian worker Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis) brings her unique investigative insight to helping DI Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser) and her team.

Written for Eagle Eye Drama by Matt Baker, from Pocklington, Patience is as much a celebration of neurodiversity as a crime puzzle-solver. “The centre of York itself is a little bit like a puzzle,” he says.   

Lara McClure: Atmospheric storytelling at A Feast Of Fools II at the Black Swan Inn

Out with the old, in with the new: Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools II, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, Sunday, 7pm to 10.30pm; doors, 6pm

YORK collective Navigators Art presents a last gasp of mischief in an alternative end-of-season celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas, packed with live folk music, spoken word and a nod to the pagan and the impish.

Dr Lara McClure sets the scene with atmospheric storytelling, joined by York musicians Oli Collier, singer, guitarist and rising star Henry Parker, York alt-folk legends White Sail and poet and experimental musician Thomas Pearson. Book tickets at  bit.ly/nav-feast2.

Seeing eye to eye: Rob Auton in his new touring comedy vehicle The Eyes Open And Shut Show

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, March 5, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

On the back of last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe trial run, Auton goes on the road from January 27 to May 4 with his eyes very much open. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

York-raised artist Harland Miller with his title work for the XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: courtesy of White Cube (Ollie Hammick), 2019

No stopping him this time, please: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, March 14 to August 31, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

AFTER the first Covid lockdown curtailed his York, So Good They Named It Once show only a month into its 2020 run, international artist and writer Harland Miller returns to the city where he was raised to present XXX, a new exhibition that showcases paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series.

Stirred by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities.

Harland Miller, XXX, oil on canvas, 2019. Copyright: Harland Miller. Photo copyright: White Cube, Theo Christelis

Coinciding with the release of a book of the same title by Phaidon, XXX features several new Miller works, including one that celebrates his home city, in a hard-edged series that melds the sacred seamlessly with the everyday, drawing inspiration from medieval manuscripts, where monks often laboured to produce intricate illuminated letters to mark the beginning of chapters.

In these works, the Yorkshire Pop artist – who is represented by White Cube – uses bold colours and typefaces to accentuate the expressive versatility of monosyllabic words and acronyms such as ESP, IF and Star.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a Q&A with the artist plus community activities to “inspire, inform and involve all”. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.

Gary Oldman in the dressing room when visiting York Theatre Royal last March to plan this spring’s production of Krapp’s Last Tape

Theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate: Teaming up as Titania and Oberon – and Hippolyta and Theseus too – in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Look who’s back too: Suzy Cooper in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025. Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York actor Mark Holgate as the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon.

Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Beach hut five, Shed Seven: York band to make Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut in June

“Biggest ever headline show in their home county”: Shed Seven, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 14

IN the aftermath of their 30th anniversary celebrations and two number one albums in 2024, refulgent York band Shed Seven will focus on the great outdoors in the summer ahead, fulfilling a dream by making a long-overdue Scarborough OAT debut, when Jake Bugg and Cast will be their special guests. “It’s a stunning and historic venue…Yorkshire’s very own Hollywood Bowl!” enthuses lead singer Rick Witter.

The Sheds also return to Leeds Millennium Square on July 11, supported by Lightning Seeds and The Sherlocks. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk; Leeds,  gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.

Bridget Foreman: Co-writer of York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights’ community play His Last Report

Community play of the year: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company in His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, July 22 to August 3

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and York company Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch will co-direct a large-scale community project that focuses on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking 1900s’ investigation into the harsh realities of poverty.

Told through the voices of York’s residents, both past and present, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will ask “What is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed?” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.


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Who won the 2024 Hutch Awards?

Nothing could burst Shed Seven’s celebratory balloons in 2024. Picture: Chris Little

CharlesHutchPress doffs his cap to the makers, creators, artists and shakers who shaped York’s year of culture.

Story of the year and gigs of the year: Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary annus mirabilis

GOING for gold anew, York’s likely lad Britpop veterans had the alchemist’s touch throughout their busiest ever year, matching Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Elton John in notching two number one  albums in a year in January’s studio set A Matter Of Time and October’s newly re-recorded compilation Liquid Gold.

In a year of resurgent upward motion in York, one that ended with York City atop the National League, Shed Seven’s resurrection was crystallised by lead singer Rick Witter’s name being appropriated for a council road gritter but even more so by two nights of homecoming concerts at York Museum Gardens in July, when special guest Peter Doherty’s beatific smile best captured the exultant mood of celebration.

Tristan Sturrock’s Blue Beard versus Katy Owen’s Mother Superior in Wise Children’s Blue Beard at York Theatre Royal

You Should Have Seen It play of the year: Wise Children’s Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9

“IT certainly won’t be boring,” promised Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice, and it certainly wasn’t. Blue Beard, her table-turning twist on the gruesome fairytale, was everything modern theatre should be: intelligent, topical, provocative, surprising; full of music, politics, “tender truths”, mirror balls and dazzling costumery.

It had comedy as much as tragedy; actors as skilled at musicianship as acting and dancing to boot, all while embracing the Greek, Shakespearean, cabaret, kitchen-sink and multi-media ages of theatre. So, why oh why, weren’t the audiences bigger?

Angst and anger: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot

York debut of the year: Bright Light Musical Productions in Green Day’s American Idiot, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, July 4 to 6

BRIGHT Light Musical Productions staged the York premiere of punk rock opera Green Day’s American Idiot in Dan Crawfurd-Porter’s high-octane, politically driven, perfectly-timed production that opened on American Independence Day and the UK General Election day, also marking the 20th anniversary of Green Day’s groundbreaking album American Idiot.

“Personally, the issues it tackles have affected me profoundly, as they have many others,” said Crawfurd-Porter. “The aim is to give a voice to those who feel unheard, just as it has given one to me.” The show, with its commentary on America and the impact of politics at large, did just that.

Jack Savoretti performing at Live At York Museum Gardens, presented by the Futuresound Group. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Event launch of the year: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, July 18, 19 and 20

LEEDS concert and festival promoters Futuresound stretched their wings to launch Live At York Museum Gardens, selling out all three nights featuring Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti and a brace of gigs by local heroes Shed Seven, each bill featuring York and Yorkshire support acts. One complaint, from Clifton, over the Sheds’ noise levels was rejected by City of York Council, and Mercury Prize winners Elbow are booked already for 2025.

Rob Auton: Comedy mined from self-examination at The Crescent, York

Comedy show of the year: Rob Auton in The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28

ROB Auton, hirsute York/Barmby Moor stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returned north from London with his tenth themed solo show.

After mulling over the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds in past outings, surrealist visionary Rob turned the spotlight on himself, exploring memories and feelings from his daily life, but with the observational comic’s gift for making the personal universal as the sublime and the ridiculous strolled giddily hand in hand.

Bristol street artist Inkie’s artwork for Rise Of The Vandals at 2, Low Ousegate, York

Exhibition of the year: Bombsquad’s Rise Of The Vandals, 2, Low Ousegate, York, June 22 and 23, June 28 to 30 and July 5 to 7

YORK art collective Bombsquad launched Rise Of The Vandals in a celebration of the city’s street art scene, taking over a disused office block with the owner’s permission but suffused with the underground spirit of squatters’ rights. Art was not only wall to wall, but even the loos were given a black-and-white checkerboard revamp too.

Spread over four floors in one of the tallest buildings in the city, the installation showcased retrospective and contemporary spray paint culture, graffiti, street art and public art in three galleries, complemented by a cinema room, an art shop and live DJs. There really should be more such artistic insurrections in York, instead of turning every shell of a building into another hotel or yet more student accommodation.

Honourable mention: National Treasures, an exhibition built around Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond, as part of the National Gallery’s bicentenary, at York Art Gallery, May 10 to September 8.

Leading lights: Riding Lights’ new executive director Oliver Brown, left, and artistic director Paul Birch at Friargate Theatre in York

Re-enter stage right: Riding Lights Theatre Company and Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, under the new artistic directorship of Paul Birch, picking up the baton from late founder Paul Burbridge. York Theatre Royal Studio, re-booting for cabaret nights as The Old Paint Shop.

Behind you: Departing dame Berwick Kaler gave his last pantomime performance as Dotty Dullally at the Grand Opera House, York, on January 6 2024. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Exit stage left: Dowager dame Berwick Kaler, from York pantomimes after 47 years; Harkirit Bopara, from The Crescent community venue; The Howl & The Hum’s Sam Griffiths, from York and Leeds for London; At The Mill, from serving up theatre, comedy, music, fine dining and Saturday sausage sandwiches at Stillington Mill; The Victoria Vaults, from promoting gigs, in an enforced pub closure on December 11 after 160 years. The very next day, City of York Council upheld York CAMRA’s request to list the Nunnery Lane premises as a community asset. Watch this space.

Gordon Kane RIP. Picture: Gareth Jenkins

Gone but not forgotten: Gordon Kane, actor and good sport

A SCOTSMAN by birth and richly theatrical accent, but long resident in York, this delightfully playful screen and stage actor, and casual cricketer and golfer to boot, appeared in Time Bandits, The Comic Strip Presents and latterly Nolly and Buffering, but around Yorkshire he will be treasured for his work for York Theatre Royal, Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, Harrogate Theatre and Hull Truck Theatre, not least in John Godber’s plays.

His good friend Mark Addy delivered the eulogy – written with typically mischievous humour by Gordon himself – at December 18’s funeral at York Cemetery.  

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Slam dunk! Say Owt celebrates ten years of battles of poetic wits, spoken word and rap with Oct 18 birthday bash at The Crescent

Henry Raby, left and Stu Freestone: Co-founders of Say Owt Slam

SAY Owt, York’s loveable gang of garrulous/grandiloquent/just plain good poets, is celebrating a decade of performance poetry, spoken word, rap and music at The Crescent Community Venue, York, on October 18.

Established in 2014, Say Owt hosts high-energy nights of words and verse, led by York-born artistic director, “nerd punk poet laureate”, playwright, Vandal Factory co-artistic director and arts & activism podcaster Henry Raby and co-founder, associate artist, actor, Nottingham Forest devotee and The Cheese Trader cheesemonger Stu Freestone.

“As our first ever event was ten years ago, the team has decided to host a party to celebrate,” says Henry. “Whether you’re a regular, or never been to a Say Owt gig before, everyone is welcome to this party of performance poetry.

Say Owt squad member Hannah Davies: Taking part in 10th anniversary Say Owt Slam, Henry Raby vs Hannah Davies vs Stu Freestone vs Bram Jarman

“It’s been a privilege to put on poetry gigs for the people of York. We’ve hosted such legends as Hollie McNish, Harry Baker and [Barmby Moor-raised] Rob Auton and made so many friends and met so many amazing poets along the way.”

Looking forward to next Friday’s 8pm party, Henry says: “We want this gig to be a poetry party. Get ready for cheering, thumping your feet on the floor and kindling a love for words!

“Our first ever event was a poetry slam, where poets battle to win the adoration of the audience, so we’ve decided the four members of the Say Owt Squad will take part in a mini-slam to find out once and for all who is the best poet out of the four: Henry Raby vs Hannah Davies vs Stu Freestone vs Bram Jarman!”

Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell: York poet and teacher, winner of Northern Debut Award for Poetry: Out-Spoken Press Programme at the 2022 Northern Writers’ Awards

What else, Henry? “We wanted to highlight the amazing spoken-word scene in York by inviting our local poet pals to take to the stage. Performers will include Crow Rudd (surveyor of Sad Poets Doorstep Club), Chloe Hanks (co-host of Howlers) and Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell (rouser at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb).

“We’ve also invited back two Say Owt Slam Champions, previous winners at our poetry slams. Ruth Awolola is a Nigerian Jamaican poet, performer, theatre maker and creative facilitator, based in Manchester.

“Sophie Shepherd has been a poetry slam enthusiast ever since competing in the Say Owt slams whilst at York Uni [University of York]. She’s continued her love of slam since moving back down south by creating the Rhyme Against The Tide slam in Weston-super-Mare.”

West Yorkshire rapper, beatboxer and playwright Testament. Picture: Anthony Robling

On the bill too will be York alt-rock band Everything After Midnight, performing a special acoustic set. “They’ve recently decided to call it a day (or call it a night?), so they’ll be playing their second-to-last-ever gig at our birthday party! And you can’t spell ‘penultimate’ without ‘ultimate’!” says Henry.

“Finally, we have a very special guest in the form of West Yorkshire-based rapper and playwright Testament, whose critically acclaimed work ties together strands of poetry, rap and lyrics. He’s a Guinness World Record-breaking beatboxer with numerous TV appearances on BBC, ITV and Sky Arts to his name.

“He performed Orpheus In The Record Shop at Leeds Playhouse in 2020 and 2022; he’s appeared on the BBC Radio 4 poetry show The Verb, BBC1xtra and BBC Radio 6 Music many times, and his work has received praise from voices diverse as Alan Moore, Lauren Laverne, Mark Thomas and the progenitor of Hip-Hop himself, DJ Kool Herc.”

Say Owt 10th Birthday Bash,The Crescent Community Venue, The Crescent, York, October 18. Doors open at 7.30pm for 8pm start. Tickets £8 on £13 in advance, pay whichever tier you want, at https://thecrescentyork.com/events/the-big-say-owt-10th-birthday-bash/. Or, pay £15 on the door.

Rob Auton: Say Owt alumnus
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First memory, first girlfriend, first job, York comedian Rob Auton discusses Rob Auton in The Rob Auton Show. UPDATED

Rob Auton: Memories

ROB Auton, York stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returns north from London with his tenth themed solo show.

After the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, Rob turns the spotlight on himself, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis in The Rob Auton Show.

“The first one I ever did was The Yellow Show, though I think I should have done a show called The Rob Auton Show at the start, not when I’m scraping the barrel for a title!” he says, ahead of tonight’s(28/2/2024) gig at The Crescent, York, with further Yorkshire shows this week in Hull tomorrow, Leeds on Friday and Hebden Bridge on Saturday.

“But having done a show about crowds, I thought ‘it’s time to turn the mirror on me’, and I’ve moved far enough on from childhood and university days to have plenty in my rear-view mirror and feel mature enough to look back on.”

Rob built up the show’s content over 35 work-in-progress shows all over Wales and at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. “The reason I love doing those shows is you’ve got to get the roughest one out  of the way as early as possible, starting out last January. You’re listening for the reaction, for someone to prick a hole in the black piece of paper for the first glint of light to shine through,” he says.

“I was playing Corby, sitting in the dressing room, a bit worried, when suddenly I thought of something, and in the show that became the one moment where they laughed.”

The subject: “Remembering when my family and I went to Lightwater Valley [the adventure park at North Stainley, near Ripon] in 1997…on the day Diana died.”

Rob relishes putting a show together. “I just love the craft, and that’s why I love doing a daily podcast. I like to sit down and work on something, crafting it, rather than having it handed to me on the plate,” he says.

“For the work-in-progress shows I was picking out moments from my childhood: first memory, first girlfriend, first job, and what I’m finding is that when I speak of my first memory, of the footstool in my granny and grandpa’s house, it makes people connect with their own memories. That’s where the gold lies because they can then relax into the show.”

Memories within a family can differ. “I’d say things to my parents that I remembered happening in my life, but they’d say they didn’t recall them!” says Rob, who grew up in Barmby Moor.

Breaking (but not actually) breaking his duck: York comedian Rob Auton making his Edinburgh Fringe debut with The Yellow Show in 2012

What’s more, “there’s that thing with a story that it changes every time you tell it, and then how do you explain what the brain lets in, something that’s said and then stays with you for years?”

Better out, than in, as the saying goes. “Just vocalising all these thoughts that have been rattling around my head for years feels really good – and how strange some of them are,” says Rob.

“Going back to that footstool – made from orange and black plastic weaved material – I don’t know why it’s such a specific memory, but then there are the emotions that go with it, being a grandchild in the room, feeling warm and secure.”

Tapping into emotions is the key, Rob believes. “I’m massively into the ethos that if you can make people feel something, they will remember it. Maybe make them feel optimistic. That’s my goal,” he says.

A graphic designer by training, at Northumbria University, with a past in thinking too far outside the box in the London advertising industry, Rob has a way with a ballpoint pen as much as words, often combining the two in his satirical or surrealist poster prints (on sale at £15 a pop post-show, along with assorted books full of Auton philosophy, poetry and pictures and  new I’m Here For The Human Experience T-shirt).

The visual is important to Rob, but so too is the visual in the verbal.  “Totally! It’s that thing of painting pictures in words and using words as efficiently as possible, dropping things into people’s heads that aren’t there already, doing that in a specific way and in the exact words that come into my head,” he says.

“Neil Young talks about being like a transistor radio, picking up things like antennae do, and then giving them to the world. You have to be alert to capture it, and I’m definitely in the market for picking up new ideas every day. That’s how I make a living, taking things I hear and working them into the show.”

Coming next from Rob will be the Eyes Open And Shut Show, now being knocked into shape for this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. “When I start working on something new, it’s like I have a bell in my head that goes off,” he says. “Your brain morphs into something else and becomes alert to what you’re on the lookout for: new things, trying to make something fresh and interesting.

“That’s what’s exciting about doing shows, stepping into that arena where anything can happen. I just try to stay faithful to the fact that people want to see that risk: the knife edge of something being funny or not. I’ll always take that risk.”

Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm; Mortimer Suite, Hull City Hall, February 29, 7.30pm; The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 1, 7.30pm; Hebden Bridge Trades Club, March 2, doors 7.30pm, sold out.

Box office: York, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com.

Rob Auton: the back story

Rob Auton in The Hair Show

Name: Rob Auton.

Occupation: London-based York cult comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, illustrator and 2014 Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence.

Raised: Barmby Moor.

Educated: Pocklington schooldays; York College; Northumbria University, Newcastle.

First job: “The Crab Cake Kid”/kitchen worker in York restaurant at 16.

First job after university: Graphic designer for advertising firm in London.

First stand-up gig: 2008.

Edinburgh Fringe headline debut: The Yellow Show, 2012.

Shows: The Yellow Show; The Sky Show; The Face Show; The Water Show; The Sleep Show; The Hair Show; The Talk Show; The Time Show; The Crowd Show; The Rob Auton Show (sold-out month-long 2023 Edinburgh Fringe run; Soho Theatre, London, main house, January 22 to 27; now on tour, culminating in Machynlleth Comedy Festival show in Wales on May 6).

Accolade: Won Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe at Edinburgh in August 2013, aged 30. The joke? “I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.”

Appeared on: The End Of The F***ing World (Netflix/Channel 4); Miracle Workers (TBS); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky One); Cold Feet (ITV); Random Acts (Channel 4); Stand-Up Central With Rob Delaney (Comedy Central); Auton clip went viral with more than 11 million views on Facebook alone. Look out for cameo in latest series of Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck (BBC One).

On the radio: Stewart Lee: Unreliable Narrator (BBC Radio 4); Front Row (BBC Radio 4); Sara Cox Show (BBC Radio 2);Jonathan RossShow (BBC Radio 2); Craig Charles (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Afternoon Edition with Nihal Arthanayake (BBC Radio 5 Live).

Poetry collective: Member of Bang Said The Gun, stand-up poetry collective founded by Dan Cockrill and Martin Galton.

Podcast: The Rob Auton Daily Podcast, since 2020. Gold winner for Best Daily Podcast at 2020 British Podcast Awards. Two million listeners.

More podcasting: Chief squirrel correspondent on Shaun Keaveny’s new podcast Daily Grind. 

Books: Three collections of writing and drawing, Take Hair, Petrol Honey and In Heaven The Onions Make You Laugh, for Burning Eye Books; I Strongly Believe In Incredible Things, poetic prose, short stories and ballpoint pen drawings detailing and celebrating everyday wonders, for HarperCollins’ Mudlark, 2021.

Spoken word album: At Home With Rob, on Scroobius Pip’s record label Speech Development Records.

Coming next: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, Assembly Roxy, Upstairs, July 31 to August 25, 2.15pm. Box office: assemblyfestival.com.

“This is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says Rob. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut. After writing ten shows on specific themes, I wanted to think about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when it ‘definitely won’t be boring’! Here’s Hutch’s List No. 9 for 2024, from The Press

Wise Children “open the bloody door” to Emma Rice’s beguiling but disturbing Blue Beard at York Theatre Royal from Tuesday. Picture: Steve Tanner

PANTO dame tales and a comedian’s first-time memories, a classic thriller and a feminist fairytale, a community choir festival and a prog-rock legend make Charles Hutchinson’s list of upcoming cultural highlights.

Play of the week: Wise Children in Emma Rice’s Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

BLUE Beard meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret. She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign as writer-director Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this beguiling, disturbing tale.

Applying Rice’s signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance, all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rick Wakeman: Last return of the Caped Crusader at York Barbican

Catch him while you can: Rick Wakeman, Return Of The Caped Crusader, York Barbican, tonight (24/02/2024), 7.30pm

PROG-ROCK icon and Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, 76, is to call time on his one-man shows to concentrate on composing, recording and collaborating, but not before playing York. “I always planned to stop touring by my 77th birthday,” he says. “For those of you who wish to send me a card, it’s 18th May!”

Saturday’s show opens with Wakeman’s new arrangements of Yes material for band and vocalists, followed after the interval by his epic work Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Robin Simpson on dame duty in York Theatre Royal’s All New Adventures Of Peter Pan

Pantomime revelations of the week: Robin Simpson: There Ain’t Nothing Like A Dame, Rise, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, 6.30pm

ALREADY confirmed for his return for Aladdin from December 3 to January 5 2025, York Theatre Royal’s resident dame, Robin Simpson, takes a peak behind the wigs into the glitz and glamour of life as a pantomime dame.

Simpson provides an insight into the origins of the character, backstage antics and classic cheeky panto humour as he reveals “what it’s really like to frock up and tread the boards”. Expect cheesy gags, naughty nonsense and even a silly sing-song.

“I’ve run this event before and it was mostly for slightly older children and adults. Ages 7/8 and above really,” says Robin. “The show includes stories, song-sheet sing-alongs and silly poems. It’s not at all serious!

“It’s fun to approach storytelling from the perspective of the dame. It’s a little more anarchic. I also start with a brief history of the pantomime, from Roman times to the modern day.

“I do this while getting dressed and made up into the dame with the idea that, by the time I’m talking about Dan Leno and the Victorian dame, I’m completely changed. There’s room for questions and chat too about being in a panto and what happens on stage and backstage. Like I say, it’s for KS2 and adults really.”

Earlier in the day, at 4.30pm, in an interactive one-hour event for children aged three to six, Robin and Susanna Meese will be spinning the Storywheel to reveal much-loved nursery tales. “It’s a wheel of fortune-style story generator where random fairytales are told and there’s lots of dressing-up, musical instruments, songs, props, puppets and play,” says Robin.

Afterwards, children can delve into story bags full of goodies and stay and play with the hosts, who will have everything needed for the children to tell the tales, including puppets, props, and costumes. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise

Maura Jackson: Public speaker, charity boss and now comedian, playing Theatre@41 tomorrow

Storyteller of the week: Maura Jackson: More O’ Me, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

AT 53 Maura Jackson cannot decide if she is a keynote speaker, charity CEO or comedian. Thanks to “the recklessness of menopause”, she is all three.

After living a life and a half and taking up stand-up in 2022 on a whim, storyteller Jackson takes tomorrow’s audience on a humorous rollercoaster of life-defining moments, good or bad. Despite her professed aversion to drama, she is surrounded by it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Neil McDermott, left, and Todd Boyce in Sleuth, “the thriller about thrillers”, at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman

Thriller of the week: Sleuth, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday

TODD Boyce, best known for playing Coronation Street’s notorious baddie Stephen Reid, will be joined by EastEnders soap star Neil McDermott in Anthony Shaffer’s dark psychological thriller about thrillers, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.

What happens? A young man arrives at the impressive home of a famous mystery writer, only to be unwittingly drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and gamesmanship, where nothing is quite as it seems. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Rob Auton: Star of The Rob Auton Show, full of firsts, from memories to girlfriends to jobs

Comedy gig(s) of the week: Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm; Mortimer Suite, Hull City Hall, February 29, 7.30pm; The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 1, 7.30pm

ROB Auton, Pocklington-raised stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returns north from London with his self-titled tenth themed solo show.

After the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, Auton turns the spotlight on himself, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.

Skylights: Lighting up York Barbican in November

Gig announcement of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, November 2

YORK band Skylights will play their biggest home-city show yet this autumn, with tickets newly on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk in a week when latest release Time To Let Things Go has risen to number two in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart.

Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the biggest venue in our home city of York, the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here, so to headline will be the perfect way to finish what’s going to be a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.”

In Focus: York Community Choir Festival 2024

Jessa Liversidge: Directing Easingwold Community Singers’ performance at the York Community Choir Festival

York Community Choir Festival 2024, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 25, 6pm; February 26 to March 1, 7.30pm; March 2, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

THE 8th York Community Choir Festival spreads 31 choirs across eight concerts over six days at the JoRo. On the opening evening, Easingwold Community Singers will be premiering director Jessa Liversidge’s arrangement of The Secret Of Happiness from the American musical Daddy Long Legs, with permission of composer and lyricist Paul Gordon.

“Festival organiser Graham Mitchell wanted a choir to perform this song,” says Jessa. “I bought the music but couldn’t find a choral arrangement, so I chanced my arm on contacting the composer to ask if there were any arrangements or could I do one, and he said, ‘yes, you can’.

“It’s a lovely gentle song. Hopefully it will go well, and I can then send Paul a recording.”

Choirs range from York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir to The Rolling Tones, Sounds Fun Singers to York Military Wives Choir, Selby Youth Choir to Track 29 Ladies Close Harmony Chorus. Six choirs from Huntington School perform next Friday, taking up all the first-half programme. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

York Community Choir Festival: the programme

Sunday, 6pm

Selby Youth Choir, Bishopthorpe Community Choir, Eboraca, Easingwold Community Singers.

Monday, 7.30pm

Community Chorus, York Celebration Singers, Euphonics, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir.

Tuesday, 7.30pm

Jubilate, Some Voices York, Sounds Fun Singers, Abbey Belles Chorus.

Wednesday, 7.30pm

Stagecoach Youth Junior Choir, The Garrowby Singers, In Harmony, Stamford Bridge Community Choir.

Thursday, 7.30pm

York Military Wives Choir, Harmonia, Spirit of Harmony Barbershop Chorus, Heworth Community Choir.

Friday, 7.30pm

Huntington School Choirs, Vivace! Aviva York Choir, Main Street Sound Ladies, Barbershop Chorus

Saturday, 2.30pm

Singing Communities, Fairburn Singers, Daytones Harmony Chorus,

The Rolling Tones.

Saturday, 7.30pm

Headlands Primary School, York Sing Space Musical Theatre Choir, Track 29 Ladies Close Harmony Chorus, The Wellbeing Choir.

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More Things To Do in Ryedale, York and beyond when comedy bites. Here’s Hutch’s List No 3, from Gazette and Herald

Deaf comedian Steve Day: Playing on the Hilarity Bites bill at Milton Rooms, Malton

A DEAF comedian and history-charting musicians, a classic thriller and a feminist fairytale, a community choir festival and a prog-rock legend make Charles Hutchinson’s list of upcoming cultural highlights.

Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Steve Day, Ashley Frieze and Carl Jones, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday (23/02/2024), 8pm

THE first Hilarity Bites bill of 2024 will be headlined by Steve Day, who describes himself as “Britain’s only deaf comedian and if there are any others he hasn’t heard them”! Actually, a couple of others have started since he wrote that joke, but it is only a joke after all.

On the bill too are guitar-toting funny man Ashley Frieze, with his charming, daft and warm brand of music-infused stand-up, and Midlands storytelling comedian Carl Jones, a football fanatic who interviews comedy cohorts for his ​Premier League nostalgia podcast When Football Began Again. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Chris Green and Sophie Matthews: 600 years of music crammed into 90 minutes at Pocklington Arts Centre

Musical tour of the week: Green Matthews: A Brief History Of Music, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

STRING player Chris Green and woodwind player Sophie Matthews take in 600 years of musical history in 90 minutes, spanning the Middle Ages to the 20th century in a whistle-stop tour of Western music.

Featuring long-forgotten songs, tunes and jokes too, Green and Matthews paint a vibrant and vivid picture of our musical DNA, mixing the familiar and the obscure, the raucous and the reflective and the courtly and the commonplace. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Skylights: Lighting up York Barbican in November

Gig announcement of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, November 2

YORK band Skylights will play their biggest home-city show yet this autumn, with tickets going on sale on Friday at 10am at ticketmaster.co.uk in a week when latest release Time To Let Things Go has risen to number two in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart.

Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the biggest venue in our home city of York, the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here, so to headline will be the perfect way to finish what’s going to be a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.”

Rick Wakeman: Return Of The Caped Crusader at York Barbican

Catch him while you can: Rick Wakeman, Return Of The Caped Crusader, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm

PROG-ROCK icon and Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, 76, is to call time on his one-man shows to concentrate on composing, recording and collaborating, but not before playing York. “I always planned to stop touring by my 77th birthday,” he says. “For those of you who wish to send me a card, it’s 18th May!”

Saturday’s show opens with Wakeman’s new arrangements of Yes material for band and vocalists, followed after the interval by his epic work Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Jessa Liversidge: Directing Easingwold Community Singers’ performance at the York Community Choir Festival

Choirs galore: York Community Choir Festival 2024, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 25, 6pm; February 26 to March 1, 7.30pm; March 2, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

THE 8th York Community Choir Festival spreads 31 choirs across eight concerts over six days at the JoRo. On the opening evening, Easingwold Community Singers will be premiering director Jessa Liversidge’s arrangement of The Secret Of Happiness  from the American musical Daddy Long Legs, with permission of composer and lyricist Paul Gordon.

Choirs range from York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir to The Rolling Tones, Sounds Fun Singers to York Military Wives Choir, Selby Youth Choir to Track 29 Ladies Close Harmony Chorus. Six choirs from Huntington School perform next Friday, taking up all the first-half programme. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Todd Boyce, left, and Neil McDermott in Sleuth, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman

Thriller of the week: Sleuth, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday

TODD Boyce, best known for playing Coronation Street’s notorious baddie Stephen Reid, will be joined by EastEnders soap star Neil McDermott in Anthony Shaffer’s dark psychological thriller about thrillers, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.

What happens? A young man arrives at the impressive home of a famous mystery writer, only to be unwittingly drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and gamesmanship, where nothing is quite as it seems. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Emma Rice: Writer-director of Wise Children’s Blue Beard, playing York Theatre Royal from next Tuesday

Play of the week: Wise Children in Emma Rice’s Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

BLUE Beard meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret. She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign as writer-director Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this beguiling, disturbing tale.

Applying Rice’s signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance, all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Star of The Rob Auton Show, full of firsts, from memories to girlfriends to jobs

Comedy gig(s) of the week: Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm; Mortimer Suite, Hull City Hall, February 29, 7.30pm; The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 1, 7.30pm

ROB Auton, Pocklington-raised stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returns north from London with his self-titled tenth themed solo show.

After the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, Auton turns the spotlight on himself, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.

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