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Griffonage Theatre merge the madcap and the macabre in the high-pressure menace of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter

Katie Leckey: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Jack Mackay in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. York-based actor and director, originally from Belfast. Co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, studying MA Theatre-Making at University of York. Loves exploring the absurd and the obscure through clowning, physical theatre and snappy dialogue. Excited to make acting debut for Griffonage, having had a blast directing Patrick Hamilton’s Rope earlier this year

YORK company Griffonage Theatre follow up February’s production of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope with Harold Pinter’s 1957 one-act play The Dumb Waiter at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from Thursday to Saturday.

Two hitmen, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment, but why is a dumbwaiter in there, when the basement does not appear to be in a restaurant? To make matters worse, the loo won’t flush, the kettle won’t boil, and the two men are increasingly at odds with each other.

Unique to this madcap/macabre production, directed and designed by Wilf Tomlinson, actors Jack Mackay and Katie Leckey will alternate the roles of Ben and Gus at each performance.

Here, co-artistic directors Jack and Katie and fellow University of York student Wilf answer CharlesHutchPress’s questions collectively.

What attracted Griffonage Theatre to Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter?

“Firstly, it’s a good play! Short and snappy! We were raring to get another show on in the summer, but Jack’s just finishing his third year and Katie and Wilf are finishing up an MA in Theatre-Making.

“Rope was a very long and involved process, so we were looking for something a little slimmer and lighter that we could perform while our schedules were so busy. We wanted to have the chance to really dive into something in detail and we felt like this play, being one of the most well-known two-handers ever, was worth a shot!

“Pinter is a giant of British theatre, and he’s part of the creative pantheon that we all love very dearly. Pinter, Beckett, Kafka, etc. – they’re our bread and butter. The phrase ‘comedy of menace’, which is very closely associated with Pinter, appealed very strongly to the kind of madcap/macabre fusion we’re trying to champion with Griffonage Theatre.

“Drawing out humour in darkness (and darkness in humour) wherever it can be found has always been part of our mission statement, so we thought one of his one-acts would be perfect. As it turns out, The Dumb Waiter might be shorter, but it’s definitely not light. We found that out quite quickly!

“Pinter is masterful with his tonal shifts: the play is hysterical one minute and really dark and gritty the next, just the way we at Griffonage like our plays. There’s humour, yes, but such a powerful sense of abstraction, confusion, and of course a very sinister element that creeps in slowly over the course of the play.

“And we’ll be switching roles every night, so the atmosphere shifts completely with every performance. We were definitely attracted to the idea of bringing something to life in a way that differs every time.

“The rehearsal process has been so rewarding in bringing that complexity to the surface. It’s been a delight to discover. Hopefully audiences experience the same kind of discovery as we did.”

“Gus is a junior hitman. He’s nervous about the job. Which is rough, because things are about to get a lot stranger,” says Griffonage Theatre’s character profile on Facebook

Pinter has come back into favour. Why?

“We feel like there’s a kind of revolutionary cynicism in Pinter’s work that’s definitely appealing to modern audiences. In a wider political context, things have been quite scary recently and are still on dark paths in various parts of the world. Authoritarianism in particular looms large.

So much of Pinter’s writing is a critique – whether directly or obliquely – of unquestioned/unquestionable authority. You can certainly read The Dumb Waiter like that, though there’s a lot more going on in there, too.

“We’re a global, social, online society now, so audiences have never been more aware of those kinds of cultural trends. They’re looking for stories that express the frustration and anxiety that they feel day-to-day, but at the same time they’re also yearning for a bit of levity. Doom and gloom is all right, but if everything’s going to hell anyway, we should probably have a laugh while it does!

“Pinter speaks very strongly to that impulse. It’s the same reason we love Beckett so much.”

What are the strengths of a short play (one act, 55 minutes) as opposed to a longer one?

“In terms of the obvious, a shorter play means that a tighter turnaround on a busy schedule isn’t so frightening. Plus, you have time to unearth the depths of the text when you’re rehearsing a one-act play.

“There’s a lot of scholarship on Pinter, and we’ve luckily had time to square the wealth of critical writing about The Dumb Waiter with our own understanding of the play.

“In more creative terms, the strengths of a one-act lie in its conciseness. It’s commonly said that the measure of a good scene is in its efficiency: its ability to convey a lot of information and emotion in a short space of time. And, of course, 55 minutes is basically the perfect amount of time to build tension without it becoming gruelling. One act, no interval, no escape. It becomes a bit of a pressure cooker. The Dumb Waiter nails that for us.”

What does an early Pinter play say to a modern audience?

“This play in particular has a lot to say about how we distract ourselves from the realities of life with oversaturated guff. These two men are involved in some very shady and violent business, but they don’t ever discuss it. Instead, they just postulate and jabber.

“Not to read into it too much, but as people living in an age of distraction, we’re dealing with a lot of the same questions that Ben and Gus have. They’re very concerned with trivia, banter, cross-talk. There’s a powerful sense of avoidance – the fear of looking danger in the eye. And yet the more it’s avoided, the greater the fear becomes.

“Ben is the senior partner. He runs things around here. Or does he? The dumbwaiter would beg to differ,” reckon Griffonage Theatre in their Facebook character profile

“Fast-talking comedies are in right now – just look at Succession – but it’s the underlying anxiety behind that fast-talking that really pushes the buttons of modern audiences. That same kind of dynamic is present in The Dumb Waiter especially. Why are we here? Why do we continue to do our jobs if we are unhappy or unsettled? Who really is upstairs?

“We are all seeking some sort of answer, but it’s all too easy to make a cuppa and chat about football or a sensationalised story the media are pushing at us rather than open that can of worms. But of course, it could mean nothing at all.

“If you could ask him, Pinter would say you have to watch the play yourself and find out what it means for you individually. We’ve taken that approach as actors/directors, interpreting it our own way, and I hope we can lead the audience to do that as well.”

On a theatrical history note, The Dumb Waiter was written in 1957 but not premiered until 1960, after both The Room and The Birthday Party. How do the plays compare?

“The Dumb Waiter is quite an unconventional play. It forms a loose trifecta with The Room and The Birthday Party, but both of those plays have coming-and-going – the injection of strangers into a familiar space. That’s the source of the menace, and along the way there’s a lot of playing with the typical comedy-of-manners scenario.

“The Dumb Waiter is not like that. It’s pure claustrophobia. It’s two men in a high-pressure environment with no option of leaving. There’s a growing and pervading sense of entrapment. Any external figures are kept deliberately shadowy, ambiguous, almost eldritch in nature.

“We’ve drawn a lot of similarities between it and Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, which is much more famously idiosyncratic, but there’s much to compare. Two men, waiting alone for someone to arrive.

“You could say it’s like Godot in a box. Perhaps that was a little harder to market than something more knowingly subversive like The Birthday Party. But it’s forged its own place as one of Pinter’s finest, if not his magnum opus.”

What is the symbolism of the dumbwaiter [a small freight elevator or lift to carry food] in The Dumb Waiter?

“We don’t want to give too much away for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, but suffice to say that the play keeps things very ambiguous. We’ve been treating the dumbwaiter almost like a character of its own (which is helped by the fact that a real person is operating it backstage).

“There’s a nice metatextual angle there – a hidden figure manipulating the events onstage. You could see it as a representation of faceless, arbitrary authority. Its ‘dumbness’ is definitely part of that – it seems to delight in creating confusion without explanation. In terms of what it actually represents, the possibilities are endless. We hope everyone will have their own kind of reaction to it.”

Where are the “angry young men” of British playwriting today, Jack?

 “They’re out there! Don’t worry about that. But it’s no secret that theatre’s in a difficult place at the moment, and the main obstacle to young people is that it’s getting increasingly more difficult to bring shows to a wider audience.

Jack Mackay: Alternating the roles of Ben and Gus with Katie Leckey in Griffonage Theatre’s The Dumb Waiter. Author, actor and theatre-maker based in York. As co-founder and co-artistic director of Griffonage Theatre, he directed their debut show Poe In Pitch Black and starred as Rupert Cadell in Rope. His debut bookl, Gloam, a horror novel for children, will be published internationally in the autumn of 2025

“A lot of it relies on marketing, which relies on funding, and funding is hard to get. But we’ve worked a lot recently with local writers – a lot of them are students like ourselves, and there’s a great deal of fire and passion and a desire to understand our world and maybe even change it.

“Katie and I are strong believers in the necessity of art as a vehicle for that. And the York theatre scene is very welcoming to new talent. We have a lot of love for Theatre@41 for that reason. Very soon we’ll be making our own original work, and it’s our mission to help provide young playwrights with a platform to get their voices heard, too.”

What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Jack?

“The alternating-roles idea started because we couldn’t choose which character we liked more, so we had the hare-brained idea of just playing both. Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller did it [in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein], so why not us?

“It certainly ramped up the challenge. But when we got into rehearsal, it developed into so much more than a gimmick. We take a character-first approach to production, so we got really into the nitty-gritty of taking apart both Ben and Gus and figuring out who they are.

“When we realised we had different ideas about that, we rejoiced. We suddenly understood that our different impulses about the way these men feel about their situation (and how much they know/understand) meant that every show would be different.

“Everything – from line delivery to the actual physical blocking onstage – changes when we swap roles. It’s a testament to Pinter’s excellence as a playwright that such a short and deceptively simple text can be so malleable.

“It’s given us a lot to chew on as performers, but it’s revealed such a fertile ground for interpretation in the text itself. It’s quite transformative.”

What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Katie?

“SO MUCH. This has been the most fascinating rehearsal process I’ve ever been a part of, as we get to see how the other person interprets the exact same character totally differently. Sometimes I’ll watch Jack make a blocking or delivery choice and think ‘Why is Gus/Ben doing that? He wouldn’t do that!’

“But then I remember that Jack’s interpretation of Gus/Ben is a completely separate entity to mine. There’s been a few times, too, where Jack has done something and I’ve loved it so much that I try to vary it and put my own character’s spin on it, to see what the outcome is.

“I think The Dumb Waiter is one of only a few plays where this technique can really be effective, as Pinter tells us so little about the men and their situation, so there’s a lot of free rein for an actor to glean what they want from each tiny, seemingly insignificant thing.

Director/designer Wilf Tomlinson. York-based theatre-maker born and raised in North Yorkshire with a background in acting and singing, The Dumb Waiter marks his professional directoral debut. Having studied collaborative devising at university, he specialises in object theatre and puppetry

“Obviously, in each variation the lines are the same, but each time we perform it, it has a completely different feeling to it, and the blocking is different too. I think this approach has enabled us to actively think about what we are guiding the audience to believe about what is happening in the play, and what it means, if anything at all.”

What does alternating the roles of Ben and Gus bring to the play, Wilf?

“From a director’s standpoint, the process of alternating roles has allowed us to create two distinct characterisations for each character. Physicalisation is distinct between each character and each actor, as a result of the differing knowledge that we decided each character has.

“Katie is a much colder and unscrupulous Ben, whereas Jack is fighting with himself the whole way through. Katie’s Gus is a bit airheaded and doesn’t catch on, whereas Jack’s gets suspicious.

“Focusing on these character distinctions from the start of the rehearsal process was effective dramaturgically in creating two entirely different performances that can be performed night to night.”

What will be your design for The Dumb Waiter, Wilf?

“Our main aim was to create an atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobia. We’ve opted for a thrust configuration and utilised the balcony space in Theatre@41’s John Cooper Studio so that some members of the audience are actually looking down, as if into a pit.

“We’ve tried to make the space seem cramped and claustrophobic for our performers, with the audience essentially as voyeurs looking in. In the same vein, I’ve tried to design the set itself in the vein of a rusty dilapidated shack, which jars with the idea that this is supposed to be a café prep room. It’s abandoned and misused: a literal black box of tension and confusion for Ben and Gus.”

What’s coming next for Griffonage Theatre?

“We’re all finishing university soon, and we’re very excited to take Griffonage to the next step, and the next step after that! We’ve recently started a Writer’s Room, where local writers can come together, share their work and learn from each other, and that’s been a really exciting development for us.

“Some are beginners looking to learn the basics; others are totally invested in performing their work and come to us for beta readers and workshopping. In 2025, we’re hoping to provide those creatives a platform to show off their work and get audience feedback. Championing people who are passionate and driven to create – that’s always been one of our main goals.

“We’re also hoping to branch out a bit and offer some acting workshops in and around York soon. Oh, of course a few plays are brewing, too. Something about a diva with no hair, and another about a spirit who’s not so good at haunting spring to mind…

“Very soon, we’re starting work on adapting, workshopping and devising something from the ground up: theatre with an ensemble focus. York’s got such a wonderful base of creative people that we just can’t wait to get better acquainted with. In the meantime, follow us at facebook.com/griffonagetheatre to keep up to date! We hope The Dumb Waiter surprises and delights.”

Griffonage Theatre in The Dumb Waiter, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm ***

Carly Bednar’s Leila Arden in rehearsal for Rope

GRIFFONAGE Theatre may well be a new name to you, rooted in a word that means “careless handwriting: a crude or illegible scrawl”.

The York company has its roots in the University of York, where director Katie Leckey is studying for a Masters in theatre-making.

Already, the company with the mantra of “making the strange familiar, and the familiar strange” has staged Poe In The Pitch Black in the non-theatrical but very atmospheric Perky Peacock café, in the 14th century Barker Tower on North Street.

Rope, Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 thriller famous for Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking 1948 film version, marks Griffonage’s move into a formal theatre space, the black box of the John Cooper Studio at Theatre@41.

Set designer Alicia Oldbury keeps it as black as the humour and mood of the piece with its shadows of the rise of British fascism. On the walls are mirrors and picture frames left blank, to match the values of William Osbon’s weak-minded Charles Granillo and especially Nick Clark’s fly Wyndham Brandon treating lives as worthless.

Rope opens in the smart London home where Brandon and Granillo will host the weirdest of dinner parties. Not in the dining room, where the table is now buried under a heap of books left to Brandon to sell, but the drawing room where the maid, Sabot (Molly Raine), sets up the food and cutlery on a wooden chest.

In that chest, as we know from the opening scene in the dark, is the body of Granillo and Brandon’s fellow Oxford student, the sporty Ronald Kentley. This is no spoiler alert: Rope is not so much a whodunit or whydunit (disdain, pleasure, arrogance, contempt), but a case of will the smug, wealthy duo get away with their “perfect crime”?

Enter, at Brandon and Granillo’s calculated invitation: glamorous socialite but not bright Leila Arden (Carly Bednar, delightfully daffy performance; too-modern dress); awfully nice but a tad dim student – and Brandon’s former school fag – Kenneth Raglan (Peter Hopwood, dressed in black tie and a never-removed top hat,) and the Oscar Wilde of Brandon’s circuit, Rupert Cadell, a droll poet with a lame leg but tack-sharp mind (Griffonage co-artistic director Jack Mackay).

Completing the assortment of guests as eccentric as the meal’s random contents are Ronald’s esteemed, book-collector father Sir William Kentley (Liam Godfrey, as suitably stiff in his disposition as a book cover) and his taciturn sister Mrs Debenham (Frankie Hayes, as disapproving in manner as Lady Bracknell, but saying everything in a look rather than words).

A white door of an erratic nature, period furniture, a drinks trolley, a piano, all play their part, lighting is kept simple, and tension takes its time to turn to Hitchcockian horror, hushed arguments broken like glass by fevered shouts as the cigarettes pile up and the drinks click in.

The atmosphere is awkward, as it would be, lightened by the nervous chatter of Bednar’s Leila, but Rope tightens its grip once the Mackay’s Cadell and Clark’s Brandon – the two outstanding performers – lock horns, one ultimately smarter than the other, as Osbon’s tad-hammy Granillo, by now a drunk, quivering wreck, slumps by the chest.

Rope is the work of a young company finding its feet, a new addition to the Theatre@41 portfolio with plenty of room to grow and another production on its way.

Box office: tickets.41monkgate.

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The last dinner party? Not the in vogue band but York company Griffonage Theatre staging Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope

Carly Bednar in rehearsal for her role as Leila Arden in Griffonage Theatre’s Rope. Picture: Ella Tomlin

HALFWAY through her MA in theatre studies, Katie Leckey is directing York company Griffonage Theatre in their Theatre@41 debut in Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope from Wednesday to Saturday.

Built around an invitation to a dinner party like no other, against the backdrop of Britain’s flirtation with fascism, this 1929 whodunit states exactly who did it, but the mystery is: will they be caught? Cue a soiree full of eccentric characters, ticking clocks and hushed arguments.

Leckey’s cast comprises predominantly actors aged 21 or 22: Nick Clark as Wyndham Branson; Will Obson as Charles Granillo; Jack Mackay as Rupert Cadell; Carly Bednar as Leila Arden; Peter Hopwood as Kenneth Raglan and Molly Raine as Sabot.

They will be joined by two older actors, Liam Godrey as Sir Johnstone Kentley and Frankie Hayes as Mrs Debenham. Alicia Oldsbury is the set designer; Grace Trapps, the costumier; Margaux Campbell, the fight choreographer.

“We are so excited to have audiences begin to see this show!” says Katie. “It’s been something of a passion project for me and the entire process has been so rewarding already.”

Katie Leckey directing the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan’s Society’s Patience, aloongside production manager Sam Armstrong. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Here, CharlesHutchPress puts questions to director Katie Leckey on staging Rope, the rise of Griffonage Theatre and her plans for the year ahead.

When and where did you form Griffonage Theatre?

“We were formed about a year ago after a University of York Shakespeare Society production of Julius Caesar that I directed and in which my fellow co-artistic director, Jack Mackay, played Caesar.

“We realised that we had very similar creative styles and overlapping interests during that rehearsal process and this sparked a discussion about how we could branch out of university and into the York theatre scene.

Griffonage Theatre co-artistic director Jack Mackay rehearsing his role as Rupert Cadell. Picture: Ella Tomlin

“We were keen to put on plays that are underperformed (like Rope) or a little bit strange, silly or macabre! York is the perfect place to do this as there’s such a wealth of storytelling potential and inspiration everywhere!

“Jack and I like to (half) joke that we would get nothing done without our amazing executive producer, Anna Njoroge, who is basically a wizard at organisation and the main reason our ideas aren’t sitting dormant in our heads!”

How is the University of York involved?

“Like I say, Griffonage wouldn’t have been born had it not been for the university’s performance societies and the experience that we got from being involved in those. Jack is now chair of the Shakespeare Society, and I learnt a lot from directing and performing with and eventually being the chair of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, especially about adapting older texts for audiences today in an accessible way – something that is a real goal of our company.

“Jack is studying English Literature at the uni, and I just finished the same degree for my undergraduate studies, so we’re also very keen to explore new writing and ways of facilitating that being put on in the city, alongside putting on adaptations of more well-established playwrights.”

Molly Raine’s Sabot, left, and Frankie Hayes’ Mrs Debenham. Picture: Ella Tomlin

What is your specialist focus in your MA in theatre studies?

“I’m halfway through my MA in theatre-making and it’s just amazing! I’m very interested in physical theatre and clowning in my individual practice as a performer. As a director, though, I find the juiciest plays are the ones that have darker themes that I can present through the guise of light-heartedness.

“I think the best plays are ones that aren’t easily labelled as one thing or another, which is why I’m drawn to surrealist and absurdist themes and imagery as well. The MA has equipped me so far with lots of practical skills in running rehearsals, workshops and (perhaps most importantly) working with others in an ensemble to create interesting and often experimental art.”

What first brought you to York?

“I’m originally from Northern Ireland – from the rural town of Ballyclare about 20 minutes away from Belfast – and came over here to study for my undergrad degree – I liked it so much that I’ve decided to stay! It’s just the most gorgeous, historic place and I love the fact that everyone knows everyone somehow or other! Also being able to access so much theatre and arts on my doorstep here was definitely a draw as well.

Katie Leckey exercising her comedic chops as Samuel Beckett in University of York Drama Society’s 2023 Edinburgh Fringe show, Dan Sinclair’s The Courteous Enemy. Picture:Tegan Steward 

Where did you take your first steps in theatre?

“I was so privileged to have a great drama teacher at my secondary school, who put on a musical in our assembly hall every year! My first production was Annie when I was around 13 or so, and I just remember growing in confidence after each rehearsal and the feeling of becoming an entirely different person for a few hours!

“As time went on, I had singing lessons and just kept acting in anything I could on the side of everything else. Obviously, I enjoy the bigger picture of storytelling, because I decided to do an English Lit degree, but it was only when I was given the chance to direct Patience as part of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in my second year of Uni (after a bit of a hiatus from all things theatre during Covid) that all the stars aligned for me.

“I realised that directing was a way of combining all my passions and interests into one activity! And I’ve been absolutely determined tm make, and be in, as much theatre as I can ever since!”

Katie Leckey as the Duchess in University of York Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s 2023 production of The Gondoliers. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick 

Hence the rise of Griffonage Theatre. Why choose that name?

“If you ask the dictionary, Griffonage means ‘careless handwriting: a crude or illegible scrawl’. Jack and I felt like the word really summed up our creative process – something that’s a little careless, crude (mostly from my end) or even illegible is usually the spark for our ideas, and we are so passionate about how we turn these scrawls into something palpable for audiences to enjoy!

“We also liked how it has connotations with the mythical beast the Griffin, as we’re constantly in awe of things that are inexplicable, fantastical and ancient.”

What is Griffonage Theatre’s mission statement?

“We are a team of York-based storytellers who leap at the opportunity to shock and delight. We revel in the grotesque, in the weaving of new worlds, and in sharing the beauty and terror of humanity’s strangest stories.

“Our ambition is to reveal the dark hearts of stories across a wide range of genres: to galvanise narratives that have been lost and to foster the creation of exciting, original work.”

Griffonage Theatre’s cast for Poe In The Pitch Black at the Perky Peacock cafe. Picture: Lotty Farmer

What has the company done so far?

“We had a sold-out site-specific show, Poe In The Pitch Black, at the Perky Peacock café [in the mediaeval, wood-beamed Barker Tower on North Street]. We adapted three of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and told them in the dark, using age-old practical theatrical techniques to spook our audiences!

“We crammed them in! We were able to get 20 spectators in, along with five actors. It was definitely a squeeze in the lower room!

“A particular highlight of the show was the creation of a puppet for the character of the old man in the Tell Tale Heart (performed by Will Osbon, who is returning to play Charles Granillo in Rope), which we were told sufficiently creeped out a lot of our audience!”

How did the chance to perform at Theatre@41 emerge?

“I had the joy of performing in York Settlement Community Players’ Government Inspector last October and got to know the brilliant Alan Park [Theatre@41’s chair], as he was directing the show!

Katie Leckey’s Dobchinsky in York Settlement Community Players’ Government Inpector. Picture: Sarah Ford

“I approached him with the idea of putting a play on at the theatre and was completely shocked that he didn’t shrug me off right away; in fact he was keen that we got everything sorted as soon as possible!

“It’s truly a privilege to be able to put our show on at all, never mind in a space at the heart of the community in York! It’s just so special!”

What attracted you to Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play Rope?

“It’s just genius. Its readability was the first thing that struck me – the stage directions are a hoot! I really recommend for people to read the play, as well as watching it, as it really is fantastic. Hamilton’s grasp of character is phenomenal.

“The play is at once funny and dark, light but intense, deeply philosophical yet entirely playful. I was also fascinated by the fact that it was so heavily concerned with the rise of British fascism pre-World War Two. It’s such a poignant meditation on war, justice, self-awareness and the value of all human life.

Liam Godfrey as Sir Johnstone Kentley, left, Nick Clark as Wyndham Brandon and Peter Hopwood as Kenneth Raglan in the Rope rehearsal room. Picture: Ella Tomlin

“It’s also genuinely hilarious and includes a lot of delightful witticisms and snarky comments. The fact that it is based on a real murder case also intrigued me greatly. With the growing popularity of ‘true crime’ as a genre, it’s utterly fascinating to see a play that attempts to directly confront its viewers with their own desire to witness violence and its consequences.

“It’s very interesting from a queer perspective as well. Without spoiling too much, I would recommend contemplating what the overt and implied relationships between the characters say about the implications of the story itself.

What does Rope say to a modern audience?

“Aside from a few 1920s slang terms, Rope is inherently modern in its sensibilities, despite the fact it has nearly been 100 years since its first performance. (Indeed, this isn’t surprising considering Hamilton coined the thoroughly modern word ‘gaslight’).

“This is why we’ve chosen to make the set look like it hasn’t been moved for 100 years – as something of a time capsule, but also a direct reflection of today. The play acts as a warning for what can happen if you let insidious beliefs and attitudes fester, but beyond this it asks the audience to evaluate themselves what justice looks like, and if it is attainable or desirable at all.

“Furthermore, it delights in the small things: dancing, eating, drinking and socialising – reminding audiences that while they should be alert to little cruelties and genuine evils alike, there is still some good in most people, and this can be seen in the most unlikely of circumstances, including an outré dinner party.”

Mollie Raine’s Sabot and Nick Clark’s Wyndham Brandon in a light moment mid-rehearsal. Picture: Ella Tomlin

Have you seen Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking single-take 1948 film version, shot with the camera kept in continuous motion?

“I love this question! Yes! I actually watched it as soon as I finished reading theplay for the first time! I remember turning to Jack in utter amazement at somemoments (mostly when Jimmy Stewart did anything as Rupert – his performance is phenomenal!) and in complete horror at the extraordinarycensorship that the film was subject to!

“The deviation from Hamilton’s originalis masterful in a way only Hitchcock is, and the choice to set it in post-WW2America is also a stroke of total genius, but it does, at least in my opinionremove some of the most unique and interesting qualities of the original.”

When did you last attend a dinner party?

“For my friend Grace’s birthday a few months ago. It was so much fun, we dressed up in formal clothes and had a little boogie afterwards as well!”

Who would be your ideal guests at a dinner party and why?

“This is so tough! I would have to say Oscar Wilde as he was the subject of my dissertation at undergrad and I would honestly love to be the butt of some of his quips. My fiancé Peter Hopwood (who plays Raglan in the show!) because I feel like I always need a wingman to back me up in dinner party-discussion and he certainly knows me best!

Peter Hopwood: Ideal dinner party guest, fiancé and Rope cast member. Picture: Ella Tomlin

I would also love Mary Wollstonecraft [18th century British writer, philosopher and advocate of women’s rights] to be there just because I feel like she would be so interesting to chat with about philosophy and womanhood.

“I would invite Dolly Parton because she’s just the greatest and my complete idol. I would bring Jack [co-artistic director Jack Mackay] as a scribe, so I could remember what we chatted about. Finally, I think I would invite Samuel Beckett, just to ask him what on earth was he thinking when he wrote his televised play Quad.”

What makes a good dinner party?

“A good host. Unfortunately for the characters in Rope…

“Also some gentle jazz music in the background is a must; it just feels too awkward otherwise!”

Katie Leckey as Jennet Marlin in York Theatre Royal’s 2023 community play, Sovereign, at King’s Manor, Exhibition Square, York. Picture: James Drury

You participated in York Theatre Royal’s community play, Sovereign, at King’s Manor last summer. In a cast of thousands (!), who did you play?

“I played Jennet Marlin (spoiler alert: she was a baddie!) – and what a great time I had. Playing her was a little bit out of my comfort zone but I grew to love her and her very sour face! The people I met as part of it was definitely the highlight. I also LOVED the costume; it made me feel like a real princess – and as a person who usually plays fools this was a unique occasion!”

What comes next for you and Griffonage Theatre?

“Oh, now that would be telling… but since you’ve pulled my leg – personally I’m going to finish my masters in September and start looking for jobs in the industry and I’m also hoping to get married in the winter!

“Griffonage are making our return to Theatre@41 in July this year, and we can’t WAIT to reveal what we’re up to!”

Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as arts take to the bike & beach. Hutch’s List No. 8 for 2024, from The Press, York

Pilot Theatre’s cast for A Song For Ella Grey at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Topher McGrillis

BEACH encounters with Orpheus, tandem cyclists divided by Brexit,  a joyful mess in art, an Eighties rom-com revisited, Ukrainian opera and big summer concerts brighten Charles Hutchinson’s days ahead.

York play of the week: Pilot Theatre in A Song For Ella Grey, York Theatre Royal, February 20 to 24, 7pm plus 1pm, Thursday and 2pm, Saturday; Hull Truck Theatre, March 5 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Wednesday and Saturday

IN Zoe Cooper’s stage adaptation of David Almond’s novel for York company Pilot Theatre and Newcastle’s Northern Stage, Claire and her best friend, Ella Grey, are ordinary kids from ordinary families in an ordinary world as modern teenagers meet ancient forces.

They and their friends fall in and out of love, play music and dance, stare at the stars, yearn for excitement, and have parties on Northumbrian beaches. One day, a stranger, a musician called Orpheus, appears on the beach and entrances them all, especially Ella. Where has Orpheus come from and what path will Ella follow in this contemporary re-telling of the ancient Greek myth. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Displayful artists Luke Beech, Wendy Galloway, Kate Fox and Liberty Hodes, exhibiting at Scarborough Art Gallery. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Coastal exhibition of the season: Displayful, Scarborough Art Gallery until May 7

DISPLAYFUL celebrates happy accidents and joyful mess, aiming to brighten the winter months by inviting visitors to enjoy uplifting contemporary artistic responses to objects from the collections of Scarborough Museums and Galleries.

The show combines new work by five regional artists, Luke Beech, Kate Fox, Wendy Galloway, Liberty Hodes and Angela Knipe, alongside historical artefacts and asks audiences to consider new possibilities for the lives of objects.

Amber Davies’s Vivian and Oliver Savile’s Edward, centre, in a scene from Pretty Woman The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next week

Musical of the week: Pretty Woman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 20 to 24, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BILLED as Hollywood’s ultimate rom-com, live on stage, Pretty Woman: The Musical is set once upon a time in the late 1980s, when Hollywood Boulevard hooker Vivian meets entrepreneur Edward Lewis and her life changes forever.

Amber Davies plays Vivian opposite Oliver Savile’s Edward; 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba, last seen at this theatre in fishnets in March 2022 as Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, has two roles as hotel manager Barnard Thompson/Happy Man, and Natalie Paris will be Vivian’s wisecracking roommate Kit De Luca. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The poster artwork for Dnipro Opera’s Madama Butterfly at York Barbican

Opera of the week: Dnipro Opera in Madama Butterfly, York Barbican, February 20, 7pm

DNIPRO Opera, the Ukrainian National Opera, returns to British shores after last year’s visit to perform Puccini’s favourite work, Madama Butterfly, sung in Italian with English surtitles (CORRECT).

Set in Japan in 1904, this torrid tale of innocent love crushed between two contrasting cultures charts the affair between an American naval officer and his young Japanese bride, whose self-sacrifice and defiance of her family leads to tragedy. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Carly Bednar in rehearsal for her role as Leila Arden in Griffonage Theatre’s Rope at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Thriller of the week: Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm

HALFWAY through her MA in theatre studies, Katie Leckey directs York company Griffonage Theatre in their Theatre@41 debut in Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope, with its invitation to a dinner party like no other.

Set in 1929 against the backdrop of Britain’s flirtation with fascism, this whodunit states exactly who did it, but the mystery is will they be caught? Cue a soiree full of eccentric characters, ticking clocks and hushed arguments. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

An Eiffel and an earful: Don (John Lister) and Carol (Kate Caute) share a cycle but not political views in Paris in 1812 Theatre Company’s Scary Bikers

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Scary Bikers, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY’S 1812 Theatre Company stage their first John Godber comedy next week, his 2018 two hander Scary Bikers. Outwardly, redundant miner Don (John Lister) and former private school teacher Carol (Kate Caute) have little in common, but beneath the surface their former spouses are buried next to each other. Soon widowed Don and Carol bump into each other.

An innocent coffee leads to a bike ride through the Yorkshire Dales, then a bike tour across Europe to Florence. All looks promising for a budding romance, but their departure date is June 23 2016 and Don and Carol are on the opposite sides of the Brexit fence. Box office: helmsleyarts.co.uk or in person from the arts centre.

S Club: Post-racing party songs at York Racecourse on July 27

Bring it all back: S Club, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 27

JULY 27 will be S Club Party time after the Saturday afternoon race card on the Knavesmire track. Once S Club 7, now the five-piece S Club comprises Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh, following last April’s death of Paul Cattermole from heart complications at 46 and Hannah Spearritt not featuring in 2023’s 25th anniversary tour.

This month finds S Club in the USA playing Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Roll on summertime to enjoy chart toppers Bring It All Back, Never Had A Dream Come True, Don’t Stop Movin’ and Have You Ever, plus You’re My Number One, Reach, Two In A Million, S Club Party et al in York. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

James: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in July. Picture: Paul Dixon

Yorkshire gig announcement of the week: James, supported by Reverend & The Makers and Girlband!, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26

MANCHESTER band James play Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time on July 26, the night when Leeds lads Kaiser Chiefs finish off the evening card at York Races.

“If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come,” says James bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” New album Yummy arrives on April 12. Box office: James, ticketmaster.co.uk from 9am on Friday; Kaiser Chiefs, yorkracecourse.co.uk.