Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted officer worker Thomas struggling with his bothersome briefcase in A Brief Case Of Crazy
SILENCE is golden in A Brief Case Of Crazy, a retro ray of comedic sunshine from Skedaddle Theatre that elicits the broadest of smiles and makes the heart pound with glee.
Trained in physical theatre at East 15 Acting School, Roan Armitt-Brewster, Lennie Longworth and Samuel Cunningham draw inspiration from another Rowan, Atkinson’s Mr Bean, as well as the black-and-white cinema of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
There are shades too of Nick Park and Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit comedies and Belgian surrealist René Magrittein the design for this hour-long “silent love story with a very loud heart”.
Armitt-Brewster, who appeared on the Theatre Royal main stage in Around The World In 80 Days-ish and the 2024 pantomime Aladdin, has described A Brief Case Of Crazy as “the sweatiest, stinkiest show in the world”.
In 1940s’ vintage woollen tank top, cardigan and fitted suit respectively, and sometimes in coats and bowler hats too, in such hot conditions for performing, Armitt-Brewster, Longworth and Cunningham must have felt even sweatier, even stickier. Nevertheless, they put everything into such a physically demanding show, one that keeps them constantly on the move, regularly breaking into ever-faster dance routines.
They do not speak a word, but their facial mannerisms speak volumes, and all manner of sound effects and recorded songs and incidental music are the trigger for crisply choreographed movements of exquisite comic timing, especially in scenes on the London Underground.
Armitt-Bewster’s Thomas, in his specs and tank top that have not changed since childhood, is an introverted, nervy, nerdy office drone with a hidden crush on Longworth’s just-as-shy co-worker Daisy, in woolly hat, green cardigan and red skirt, who turns out to be equally secretly love struck (both of them keeping a photo of the other in a stashed-away folder).
Always standing in the way of love’s true path Cunningham’s office boss Simon, a preening poltroon with a large mirror in his briefcase, a snarling growl for Armitt-Brewster’s timid Thomas on every entrance and a red rose for Daisy, stolen each time from knock-kneed Thomas.
Love-struck: Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s timid Thomas and Lennie Longworth’s equally shy co-worker in A Brief Case Of Crazy
Can love prevail or will dastardly Simon spoil everything? The office “romance” is played with mime and clowning, dance steps and slapstick set-pieces, sometimes involving the drawers of the office chest, where one opens as another is pushed shut. Always keep an eye out for the unexpected, such as the office sunflower suddenly growing taller in the pot when love is declared.
The characters are caricatures with familiar tropes, but beneath the comedy lies pathos too, as bullying and grief suddenly rise to the surface in a brief, deeply moving puppetry scene that takes Thomas back to his childhood.
In the blink of an eye, amid the changing sounds of a hospital, the scene recalls how Thomas was picked on, how he injured himself in a fall, how his mother tended to his injuries, and how that handkerchief went from her hand to his after she dies all too young. When theatre is this economical but visually rich in its storytelling style, it is all the more impactful.
Indeed, the timing is so well judged throughout that only once – in a sequence of love-blossoming dance routines in quick-quick succession, where Armitt-Brewster plays Astaire to Longworth’s Rogers – could the editing be tighter. Maybe trim a song, but definitely keep in Armitt-Brewster tap-dancing finale.
All three performances are a delight, from Armitt-Brewster’s tragicomic office nerd to Longworth’s toothy, Chaplinesque Daisy – you could picture her playing Shakespeare’s Puck – topped off with Cunningham’s vainglorious Simon, the cadaverous cad of the piece.
From a trio of misbehaving briefcases to the cast’s ability to put both commotion and emotion into motion, A Brief Case Of Crazy is an utter joy in its celebration of the romance of the underdog, its empowerment of being different, its love and refinement of a time-honoured but increasingly neglected performance style. You’d be crazy to miss it.
Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7pm; tomorrow, 2pm and 7pm.Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s awkwardoffice worker Thomas in Skedaddle Theatre’s A Brief Case Of Crazy
INSPIRED by the comic genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean, Skedaddle Theatre’s silent love story A Brief Case Of Crazy plays York Theatre Royal Studio from Thursday to Saturday.
This physical comedy with a very loud heart will be staged with slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry by writer-performers Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Lennie Longworth and Samuel Cunningham.
Meet Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Longworth’s Daisy. His quest for love must contend with Cunningham’s boisterous boss Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover how what lies on the inside counts most?
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Inspector Fix, right, in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal in July 2024
Actor, dancer, singer and physical comedian Armitt-Brewster will be returning to the Theatre Royal stage after parading his dextrous comedic skills as the Knife Thrower and Inspector Fox in Around The World In 80 Days-ish in July 2024 and as pantomime buffoon PC World in Aladdin that winter.
“I really enjoyed the panto,” he says. “It was my first time of doing it, and it’s such a brilliant form of theatre, a staple in so many parts of the world, that’s great for getting young people into the theatre as often it’s the first show they see.”
A Brief Case Of Crazy will find Armitt-Brewster putting the motion into commotion once more over its hour-long span. “I love movement and how choreography can create an image or an emotion with physicality,” he says. “Why I’m really fascinated by it is that I reckon you could perform it to a group of aliens and they would enjoy it.”
“It’s the sweatiest, stinkiest show in the world, and the level of performance has to be incredible: the refinement, the speed of it,” says Rowan. Picture: Mitch Donald
Both of Rowan’s parents are professors of English Literature – his mother now retired, his father still tutoring in Lincolnshire for a couple more years – so he has always been surrounded by stories and the power of language.
“My parents were keen on me using good grammar and knowing how to formulate sentences, so I’ve always loved text, performing in plays, but I also acquired a love of physical comedy – object manipulation, clowning, mime, puppetry – because there are no language barriers.
“We want to unite people with our work, with its positivity that appeals to people of all backgrounds, letting them all enjoy the story.”
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted Thomas and Lennie Longworth’s Daisy, his equally shy colleague in A Brief Case Of Crazy. Picture: Mitch Donald
For all its comedy, A Brief Case Of Crazy has “deep-rooted themes” too, says Rowan. “It looks at grief, romance, belonging and differences within people, and it’s very pro the underdog. One of the things that’s happening is that almost always we have an adult audience, though it’s appropriate for children too.
“We try to cater for the children with the fun and the energy, but with the story, we’re trying to connect with adults. It’s a fine balance, and we’ve worked really hard at that since we first did the show two years ago.”
Rowan recalls how that creative process overlapped with his commitments to Around The World In 80 Days-ish. “I was rehearsing or performing in York for six days a week, then having to go down to Essex to rehearse on Sundays after a night’s sleep on the bus, then coming back to York late on Sundays to do ‘Around The World’ again the next week, and we opened at the Edinburgh Fringe a week after the York run finished!” he says.
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas with his bothersome briefcase in A Brief Case Of Crazy. Picture: Mitch Donald
“We began Skedaddle as a cohort of very young creatives, when luckily we were able to rehearse at the studios at East 15 [Acting School], where we’d all trained on the physical theatre course.
“The show has developed massively since then. It’s still small-scale but our plan is to scale it up, working with a producer, Mitch Donaldson of Shoddy Theatre.”
Armitt-Brewster is sporting a dapper moustache for his latest role. “It’s more for the show than a personal preference, but it’s certainly a different look,” he says. “I’m going to have it until October 23, so I’ll just have to get used to it!”
Rowan Armitt-Brewster in York Theatre Royal’s announcement photo for his pantomime debut in Aladdin in December 2024
What should this week’s audiences expect from the performance behind that facial topiary? “It’s an hour of constant energy,” he says. “It’s the sweatiest, stinkiest show in the world, and the level of performance has to be incredible: the refinement, the speed of it.
“It takes weeks to make it really detailed, and as a company of course we believe that perfection doesn’t exist, but we aim for the one below that, whatever that is!”
Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, Thursday to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee.Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.
Super Furry Animals: Flower power in the botanical gardens at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Ryan Eddleston
NINE comedians on one day in a garden, a mythical tale of a goddess and the dark side of the moon, a near-future re-spinning of the selkie myth and a bothersome briefcase in a love story keep Charles Hutchinson’s head spinning with artistic possibilities.
Rock gig of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Super Furry Animals, today, gates 4pm
FUTURESOUND’S third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts climaxes today with Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals’ headline set. On the bill too are singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.
The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey 1 at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills
Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, until July 26
RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, The Gesualdo Six, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.
Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.
Cutting a dash: Russell Kane’s 7.10pm set will last 25 minutes at York Comedy Festival tomorrow
Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live At York Museum Gardens, York, tomorrow, gates 3pm
TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm) and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.
In tomorrow’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Alex Lowe’s 82-year-old comic creation Barry From Watford (5.45pm); cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm) and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jarred Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.
Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s SELENE, part of Theatre@41’s Halfway To Edinburgh Season
Radical myth revamp of the week: Wright & Grainger and Theatre@41 present Megan Drury in SELENE, Halfway To Edinburgh Season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, now 7pm; July 16, 8.30pm
AUSTRALIAN actor Megan Drury stars in Easingwold duo Phil Grainger and Alexander Flanagan Wright’s tale of the goddess and the dark side of the moon in a radical explosion of an ancient myth.
A young girl watches the moon landings on repeat. A teenager makes a list of all the things they are not. A young adult starts to discover who they are. Expect a story addressing the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, the things orbiting around us as we grow up and not least the wild stuff inside us. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
UPDATE: 13/7/2026
STATEMENT from Team 41: “As you may have noticed the show now partially clashes with England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
“To allow people to catch as much of the match as possible, we’ve moved the start time for Wright & Grainger’s SELENE to 19:00.
“The show is 70 minutes long, so you’ll hopefully be able to enjoy Wright & Grainger’s SELENE and then see the match from the first Hydration Break.
“There is another performance of SELENE on Thursday at 8.30pm, so if you would prefer to move to that show, send an email to boxoffice@41monkgate.co.uk.”
Silence is golden: Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas in A Brief Case Of Crazy at York Theatre Royal Studio
Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, July 16 to 18, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee
INSPIRED by the timeless genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mr Bean,Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Samuel Cunningham and Lennie Longworth’s physical comedy A Brief Case Of Crazy is a silent love story with a very loud heart, told through slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry.
Meet Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Daisy. His quest for love must contend with a boisterous boss named Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover that what’s on the inside counts most? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.
Hannah Davies & Jack Woods: Performing The Ballad Of Blea Wyke at Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17. Picture: Matt Jopling
Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm
IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore.
On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of three of his multiple roles in Twice Nightly at Friargate Theatre
Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, July 17 & 18, 7.30pm
RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.
Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. Box office: York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.
Turning up the heat: North Yorkshire chef Tommy Banks
Culinary event of the week: An Evening with Tommy Banks: Spinning Plates: Live, York Theatre Royal, July 17, 7.30pm
MICHELIN-STARRED chef, restaurateur and hospitality leader Tommy Banks makes the trip from his Oldstead family farm to York Theatre Royal to bring his extraordinary story to the stage for the first and only time. Told across three intersecting timelines – the past 25 years, the defining 12 months and the opening night for his latest pub —each moment teeters on a knife-edge.
Banks runs the Black Swan at Oldstead (head chef since June 2013), Roots York, in Marygate, York (since 2018) , and the Abbey Inn at Byland (since 2023), as well as co-founding Jeopardy Hospitality, whose first venture is the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, Knaresborough, in 2025.
His debut cookbook, Roots, was published by Orion in April 2018. He set up the food box business Made In Oldstead in 2020, Banks Brothers canned wine company in 2021, Tommy’s Pie Shop in 2024 and Tommy Banks Hospitality, for large-scale events, stadia catering and corporate hospitality nationwide, in 2025.
In 2019, Banks became resident chef at Lord’s Cricket Ground; in 2022, chef partner of Twickenham Stadium; in 2025, chef partner of Sunderland AFC. A lifelong Sunderland supporter, he now leads the culinary offering at Banks on the Wear and oversees corporate hospitality at the football ground.
Exemplified by the three-acre kitchen garden by the Black Swan, sustainability sits at the heart of everything Banks does. His field-to-fork commitment to responsible growing, foraging and low-impact cooking has been recognised with a Michelin Green Star, while his dedication to nurturing future talent continues through apprenticeship programmes and industry partnerships.
For one night only, he combines storytelling and immersive cinema to lift the lid on hospitality service at its most intense, reflecting on a lifetime of ambition, vulnerability, risk and pressure (cookers).
Set against a turbulent backdrop, where soaring business rates and crushing VAT force three pubs to close every week, Banks exposes the brutal reality of keeping the doors open while revealing the plate-spinning demands of leadership and what it takes to pursue excellence.
Along the way, discover the community of talent he has built in the once-sleepy village of Oldstead, firmly rooted in camaraderie, resilience and Yorkshire grit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
This Is Torture for Sean Walsh: Anxiety levels rising at Harrogate Theatre, York Theatre Royal and the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Jiksaw
Gig announcement of the week: Sean Walsh, This Is Torture, Harrogate Theatre, October 6, and York Theatre Royal, November 6, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, April 14 2027
I’M A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2022 series survivor Sean Walsh has decided to name his latest stand-up tour show after the phrase he says the most: “This Is Torture”. The dishevelled Camden comedian will be bringing his signature blend of chaos and charm to Harrogate, York and the newly added Scarborough to put himself through an anxiety filled-hour, as he indeed will on no fewer than 71 occasions on a tour now extended by 37 dates.
The ever-observant Walsh’s podcasting portfolio takes in co-hosting Oh My Dog! with Jack Dee, where guests discuss their special canine bonds, and What’s Upset You Now?, putting the world to rights in cathartic trips to the pub with Paul McCaffrey. In addition, on Class Clown, he sits down with the boldest rule-breakers in entertainment to explore the personal battles that shaped them.
In 2024, he made his Shakespearean debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at Stafford Gatehouse, then played Yvan in a tour of Yasmina Reza’s Art. Tickets: www.seannwalsh.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Scarborough,01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
In Focus: Navigators Art presents Moss Glow And Shadow Bloom, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight 7.45pm
York singer Gabriella Hunzinger
YORK arts collective Navigators Art’s final gig before a summer break brings together four Yorkshire performers whose work conjures unique worlds up in a magical programme of electronic, acoustic and vocal sounds, influenced by folk traditions and environmental awareness.
Combining ancient and modern iconography, art, poetry and music, the bill features York singer Gabriella Hunzinger, No Spinoza, previewing forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, Sheffield experimental songwriter Pefkin and Things Found And Made’s lost cinematic folk-tales.
No Spinoza’s Thomas Pearson
GABRIELLA HUNZINGER: Her songs take wisdom from nature’s seasonal cycles and explore connections between ourselves, the earth and what lies beyond our conscious experience. Accompanied by cellist Filipe Massumi and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Webster.
NO SPINOZA: Welcome to the thematic universe of forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, where Thomas Pearson’s songs bridge history and legend, ancient and modern. Featured in session on BBC Introducing.
Pefkin
PEFKIN: Sheffield performing and recording artist. Multi-instrumentalist and experimental songwriter of slowly unfolding psychedelic hymnals, inspired by nature.
THINGS FOUND AND MADE: Lost cinematic folk-tales: imagined histories, half remembered rituals of sound and nature, from York.
Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.
David Abécassis’s Clown, left, Maria Gray’s Acrobat, Kiefer Moriarty’s Ringmaster, Ambika Sharma’s Trick Rider and Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Knife Thrower in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theayre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
THIS circus has left town twice before, in 2021 after 23 days and 2023 after only three for a national tour, but all the stops are pulled out for the big top’s return under a new-ish name, Around The World In 80 Days-ish.
This time, at the height of the circus summer season, creative director Juliet Forster’s dandy adaptation has a bonus to go with the bonanza: a circus school for five to 11-year-olds to learn the tricks of the trade in a one-hour pre-show workshop. All the thrill of learning a skill with aerial artiste Maria Gray as well as the fun of the fair that follows.
At Thursday’s matinee, participating children take their seats, or rather they grab red-and-white striped cushions to sit on the “grass” newly “grown” to create a lawn from the stage-front to the stalls seating. White fencing acts as a perimeter, but not as a boundary as it turns out post-interval, when one young chap starts chipping in with a running commentary as David Abécassis’s servant Passepartout and Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s spiv London detective Fix conduct an increasingly drunken conversation on a see-saw, where everything is in the balance.
Not a loose cannon: Maria Gray’s resolute record-breaking travel writer Nellie Bly. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Already a comic high-point of adroit manoeuvres and verbal fencing from past productions, it now has a new juggling ingredient: how to negotiate the scene while being “accosted” by the world’s young heckler. “He’s a baddie,” the boy helpfully advises. Fix in a fix? Not here, where the Edinburgh Fringe-bound Armitt-Brewster, actor, dancer, singer and physical comedian, handles the unexpected competition for attention with Chaplin-esque elan in tandem with the eyebrow-raising-Abécassis.
Armitt-Brewster, who will be appearing in his Skedaddle Theatre show A Brief Case Of Crazy next month, is typical of Forster’s canny casting for a globe-travelling tale that demands physical elasticity, verbal vigour and, yes, circus skills in a play within a circus show. Likewise the ursine, Abécassis, so at ease with his Lecoq-trained clownery, bonhomie and French accent.
We begin amid the bunting and lights of Verne’s Circus, where Kiefer Moriarty’s punctilious, flustered Irish Ringmaster is striving to pull the story’s strings with the aid/hindrance of his company of Abécassis’s Clown, Gray’s Acrobat, Ambika Sharma’s Trick Rider and Armitt-Brewster’s Knife Thrower.
In the balance: David Abécassis’s Passepartout, left, and Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s detective Fix mid-negotiation in Around The World In 80 Days-ish. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Together they will tell the tale of Verne’s Around The World In 80 Days, wherein Moriarty’s upright, uptight, unflustered, unscrupulous, ever-punctual, tea-drinking Victorian English gent Phileas Fogg will strike a wager with his starchy, sceptical Reform Club cronies – represented by moustaches on sticks – that he can traverse the world in that time.
There will be a distraction, not that talkative little lad by the fence, but the rather more persistent New York World reporter Nellie Bly, who, spoiler alert, outdid the fictional Fogg by crossing the globe in only 72 days, setting off from New York on her 25,000-mile journey on November 14 1889.
Feminist, fearless, and full of wonder in her elegant travelogue prose, she is but one feather in the cap of the multi-role-playing Maria Gray, who pulls off American, North Eastern, Scottish, Welsh and Hull accents, as well spinning shapes in her solo aerial routine (recalling her role as Cobweb in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Eye Of York).
Kiefer Moriarty in a clowning scene in Around The Wold In 80 Days-ish. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Nellie manages to wind up Moriarty’s exasperated Ringmaster and Fogg alike in her interjections, conducted at a different pace to the ever-racing Fogg as the revolving signage announces each new destination.
Writer-director Forster wastes no time in pricking the balloon that Fogg travelled in such a form of transportation. Only in screen versions, not the book. Imagination and ingenuity against the odds will play their part, as they do in Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps, playing across town at the Grand Opera House this week, and in Mischief’s “Go Wrong” roster of calamitous comedies.
Props and costumes, as well as dexterity and clowning, combine in conveying an elephant, a train, a trading vessel, whatever, in spectacular, often unexpected ways, peaking with slow-motion bridge collapse denoted by ladders in slow motion.
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Knife Thrower. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Fogg may be in a rush but the first act ironically is a little slow. Not so the superior second act, where the verbal to-and-fro becomes quicker and funnier and the circus acrobatics and physical set-pieces pile up under Asha Jennings-Grant’s movement direction. Edwin Gray’s sound design excels too, especially in an explosive scene, and Sara Perks’s designs and costumes are a vision.
Why, there is even romance in the slow-burning relationship of old-stick Fogg and Sharma’s Indian princess Aouda, who amusingly challenges stereotypes in a piece of metatheatre in keeping with Forster’s feminist vibe.
Around The World In 80 Days-ish, York Theatre Royal, July 27, 2.30pm, 7.30pm; July 29, 2pm; July 30, 5.30pm; July 31, 7pm; August 1, 2pm, 7pm; August 2, 6.30pm; August 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In suspense: Maria Gray’s Acrobat in Around The World In 80 Days-ish. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Kiefer Moriarty with fellow cast members Ambika Sharma, left, and Maria Gray in Around The World In 80 Days-ish at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
YORK Theatre Royal’s Around The World In 80 Days keeps coming around again, returning this summer for a third run, this time under a new-ish title.
Adapted and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster from Jules Verne’s 1873 novel, the circus-themed production was first staged under Covid social-distancing restrictions on a circus trailer, visiting playing fields on all four corners of York in 23 days in August 2021.
That tour concluded in the Theatre Royal main house, where the Theatre Royal’s subsequent co-production with Tilted Wig opened its 2023 tour of England, Scotland and Wales on home turf in early February.
Now Forster’s adaptation returns with a new name, Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, and a new cast of Kiefer Moriarty as circus Ringmaster and globe-travelling Phileas Fogg, York actress Maria Gray as world record-chasing American investigative journalist Nellie Bly and Acrobat, Ambika Sharma as Aouda and Trick Rider, David Abecassis as Passepartout and Clown and completing the cast is Rowan Armitt-Brewster as detective Fix and Knife Thrower.
“The first time, it was right off the back of Covid, staged mainly on school playing fields, ending with the last four days inside the Theatre Royal, all with social distancing,” recalls Juliet. “Then we had only the first three days of the tour, so we feel it was a show that we hadn’t yet fully shared with Theatre Royal audiences.
“When Paul Crewes joined as chief executive last October, he mentioned that he’d really loved the show, so now it’s back with the addition of aerial work this time, which had been too much of a complication before, when we were dependent on the Covid restrictions, but we knew it could work indoors.”
Juliet’s adaptation introduces the real-life character of young journalist Nellie Bly, who actually did circumnavigate the world and in less time than the fictional Fogg. Her version sets up the pair as rival around-the-world travellers, putting the now largely forgotten Nellie Bly in the spotlight.
“Jules Verne’s story is a lot of fun as the characters race against time to complete a full circuit of the Earth, and in this version, fact and fiction also go head-to-head as Nellie Bly puts in an appearance,” says Juliet.
“It’s a joyful, very energetic, very silly and highly acrobatic re-telling of the story, delivering the kind of experience that live theatre does best.”
Crucial to the show’s success is the multi-role-playing format as the rag-tag band of travelling circus performers embarks on a daring mission to recreate the unflappable Phileas Fogg’s bid to traverse the globe in 80 days, embracing different modes of transport to navigate the frantic race. Expect aerial feats and acrobatics, hoop work and even feigned drunkenness from the versatile company
To the fore is Kiefer Moriarty’s Ringmaster and Phileas Fogg. “I saw Kiefer in Magic Goes Wrong and was looking for actors who’d been in Mischief’s ‘Go Wrong’ shows, as they understand how comedy works,” says Juliet.
“We met, he signed up, and I look forward to him bringing his own thing to his roles. He’s part of an entirely new cast, who can all bring their own angle, while keeping the DNA of what we know works well.”
Kiefer, who memorably held his breath for 12 minutes under water in Magic Goes Wrong, will be parading circus skills. “I’ve done whip-cracking skills before and I’ll be riding a mini-clown’s bike, which I rode for the first time at the press launch,” he says.
“I’ve never seen a live performance of Around The Days, but I’ve seen the David Niven film, which was my father’s favourite film, so we watched it quite often! I saw the Jackie Chan one as a kid, which was an OK film, I suppose, as the politest way to put it, and then there was the David Tennant one for the BBC that I haven’t seen. But performing in it will be my first live experience of it.”
He loves the thrill of live performance, whether in Magic Goes Wrong or now in Around The World In 80 Days-ish. “That’s where the magic happens, when the choreography is going right, the magic is going right, and I really love the choreography, getting involved with getting it in place,” says Kiefer.
“I’ve seen the trailer for this show [from the past productions], and there are some amazing set-pieces in it that I can’t wait to do.”
Around The World In 80 Days-Ish, York Theatre Royal, July 18 to August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 2pm, July 24, 25, 29, August 1; 2.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3; 5.30pm, July 23, 30; 6.30pm, July 19, 26, August 2; 7pm, July 18, 24, 25, 31, August 1; 7.30pm, July 20, 27, August 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
