Conductor Charlotte Corderoy. Picture: Ryedale Festival
THE oldest professional orchestra in Britain in the world premiere of a flugelhorn concerto, alongside two classical symphonies, together constituted a mouth-watering opportunity. It offered precisely the kind of adventure for which Ryedale Festival has become renowned.
Although still in her 20s, Charlotte Corderoy is a conductor of considerable promise. All sides of her musical personality were on view here. At first, she took a cautious approach to Weber’s Second Symphony, meticulously strong on detail. The tension in her body language, however, did not always reflect the moods she was attempting to capture.
By the second slow movement, she had shaped some fine ensemble in the woodwinds, allowing the solo bassoon to shine. The busy final Scherzo was neatly clipped, with important attention to the composer’s telling rests – and his throwaway ending.
Gabriel Jackson built his new Flugelhorn Concerto, with accompaniment for strings, harp and percussion, around the numerical positions in the alphabet of the letters in ‘Roy Anthony Hargrove’, a trumpeter and flugelhornist in whose memory it was written.
The result, as he freely admits, is a pastoral reminiscence, but his method came across as something of a straitjacket, allowing very little room for any type of virtuoso display from the soloist, Imogen Whitehead.
Trumpet and flugelhorn soloist Imogen Whitehead. Picture: Matthew Johnson
It got off to a strong start, with some leaping string figures that recalled Britten, but these were barely recalled later. He soon toned things down by muting his soloist, in company with long, elegiac phrases to which Whitehead brought a lovely legato.
It is true that there were some fanfare-like moments and even string syncopation, but these soon dissipated into a duet between flugelhorn and vibraphone in full warble mode.
Much of what followed was similarly dream-centred, built around a dominant pedal, with only fleeting moments of activity in the strings. There was full-blown trumpeting at the very end. Whitehead had added some tightly decorative little roulades to her otherwise slow lines and was in admirable control throughout, but the piece as a whole never quite caught fire.
In Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, Corderoy was right in her element and altogether more relaxed. After a suitably weird opening Adagio, the entry into the Allegro was truly exciting, with syncopation taut and accents fierce. Some of the fortes in the slow movement were a touch forceful for the context, but the succeeding Scherzo was light and airy by contrast.
Excitement returned in the finale, where the composer’s ma non troppo was effectively ignored and Corderoy chose a cracking pace. The orchestra stayed right with her and the return of the main theme was absolutely gripping.
Eliza Carthy: Performing with The Restitution at Ryedale Festival
A MYTHICAL tale of a goddess, a near-future re-spinning of the selkie myth, an Arthurian quest of a lifetime, a bothersome briefcase in a love story and a nostalgia trip to variety’s golden days keep Charles Hutchinson entertained.
Folk gig of the week: Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, Ryedale Festival, Selby Abbey, tonight, 7pm
FLAMBOYANT Robin Hood’s Bay fiddler and singer Eliza Carthy continues to re-imagine traditional music with fiery imagination and fearless individuality. The daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, she grew up immersed in the folk world, and here she performs with her powerhouse touring band in one of Yorkshire’s most atmospheric and beautiful settings. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.
Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s SELENE at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Radical myth revamp of the week: Wright & Grainger and Theatre@41 present Megan Drury in SELENE, Halfway To Edinburgh Season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7pm, and tomorrow, 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.
The Three Inch Fools: Epic tale of Arthurian adventure and medieval mayhemat Helmsley Walled Garden
Outdoor theatre show of the week: The Three Inch Fools in King Arthur And The Holy Fail, Helmsley Walled Garden, tomorrow, 7pm
FOUNDED by Cumbrian brothers James and Stephen Hyde, The Three Inch Fools present an epic tale of Arthurian adventure and medieval mayhem, set in a land of daring quests, dashing knights and endless jousting.
Waiting in the wings is a would-be hero, by the name of Arthur, but when Camelot is rocked to its core by a tragic – and frankly improbable – incident involving a large table of an undisclosed shape, Arthur is thrust into the quest of a lifetime, Destiny awaits, chivalry calls and the quest to end all quests begins. Bring chairs, blankets and cushions. Picnics welcome. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s introverted Thomas and Lennie Longworth’s equally shy Daisy in A Brief Case Of Crazy
Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 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: Re-imagining selkie myth in a not-too-distant future
Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 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: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Elf Lyons, the woman on the edge at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Comedy gig of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh Season presents Elf Lyons Is The Woman On The Edge (Work In Progress), Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 7.30pm
LET London comedian, classically trained clown and Sky Arts Award winner Elf Lyons introduce this Work In Progress preview of her Edinburgh Fringe-bound show Elf Lyons Is The Woman On The Edge: “I’m sorry, I’ve said too much…”
She does, however, go on to say it will be “a completely normal, autobiographical (and in no way complex) observational stand-up show about love. A perfect show to take yourself to. Inspired by Vertigo, Apollo 13 the opera Pagliacci. Directed by Ingmar Bergman.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of his myriad roles in Twice Nightly
Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, Friday and Saturday, 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.
Tommy Banks; Turning up the heat at York Theatre Royal
Culinary event of the week: An Evening with Tommy Banks: Spinning Plates: Live, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm
MICHELIN-STARRED chef and entrepreneur 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, Roots York, in Marygate, York, and the Abbey Inn at Byland, as well as co-founding Jeopardy Hospitality, whose first venture is the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, Knaresborough. For one night only, he combines storytelling and immersive cinema to lift the lid on hospitality service at its most intense. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
CMAT: Songs of identity, grief and beauty standards at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: CMAT, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates 6pm
CMAT, alias Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, burst on to the music scene six years ago with her debut single Another Day (KFC). The Dublin-born, County Meath-raised singer and songwriter has since released three bitingly humorous, emotionally honest albums, 2022’s If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, 2023’s Crazymad, For Me and 2025’s Mercury Prize-nominated Euro-Country, her exploration of identity, grief and beauty standards, exemplified by Take A Sexy Picture Of Me. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk.
Danger on T-Rex Mountain in Dinosaur Adventure Live at York Theatre Royal
Children’s show of the week: Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, Saturday, 2.30pm
SIXTY-FIVE million years in the making, Dinosaur Adventure Live brings a fusion of family-friendly storytelling, puppetry, and roarsome science to the stage as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares.
From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed (carefully!), Mike Newman’s show blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning into an interactive stage experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Matt Ford: In full swing at Milton Rooms, Malton
In the swing of things: Ryedale Festival presents Matt Ford and The Swing Legends Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7pm
BRITISH singer and BBC Proms regular Matt Ford is joined by a full band to celebrate the songs of Frank Sinatra and fellow crooning legends Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Michael Bublé. From late-night ballads to high-octane numbers shaped by elegance and irresistible wit, this is music that still knows exactly how to swing. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
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.
Becca Magson’s Rita and Joe Gregory’s Frank in 1812 Theatre Company’s Educating Rita. Picture: Lauren Wyeth
RYEDALE Festival and 1812 Theatre’s Educating Rita, compact Shakespeare and Live At York Museum Gardens are uppermost in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations amid the July heatwave.
Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Educating Rita, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm
SAMANTHA Hughes directs Helmsley Arts Centre resident troupe 1812 Theatre Company in Willy Russell’s comedy Educating Rita, wherein Frank (Joe Gregory) is a tutor of English Literature in his 50s whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books.
Enter Rita (Becca Magson), a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, she slowly wins over the hesitant Frank with her highly original insights and refusal to accept “No” for an answer. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. Picture: Lauren Wyeth.
Michael Flatley’s Irish dancers in the 30th anniversary tour of Lord Of The Dance, in action at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Brian Doherty
Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.45pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy, after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.
The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour features “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.
Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing the indisposed Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), squeezing into York Theatre Royal this week
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.
Californian co-founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet at York Medical Society. Picture: Amie Barton-Young
Storytelling actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe world premiere, July 11, 7.30pm
THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in two York performances.
Smith also presents the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) ahead of his Edinburgh Fringe residency. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens
Rock and pop festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, tomorrow, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, Friday, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, Saturday, gates 4pm
WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts tomorrow with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.
Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.
Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.
Ross Noble: Playing York Comedy Festival at Live At York Museum Gardens on Sunday
Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live at York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates 3pm
TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm), from Russell Howard’s Good News, and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.
In Sunday’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); Barry From Watford (5.45pm), the 82-year-old comic creation of Alex Lowe; cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm) and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jared Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.
The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm as part of Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills
Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 10 to 26
RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, pianist Junyan Chen, The Gesualdo Six, Dunedin Consort, 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.
Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Picture: Matt Jopling
Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, York, July 10, 8.30pm; 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: York, https://bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise;Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Dame Imogen Cooper: “Held her audience in rapt admiration”. Picture: Sussie Ahlburg
BEETHOVEN’S last three piano sonatas represent the most free-wheeling in the classical repertory and there is no performer better suited to them than Dame Imogen Cooper. On the penultimate evening of the festival she held her audience in rapt admiration.
There is a special intimacy to these three works. Their early movements lure us into their web before finales that explore the very depths of emotion. Cooper caught at once the rhapsodic feel of Op 109 in E major, with its tempo changes but – as so often in this programme – managing all the while to maintain its overarching melodic contour, no easy feat.
There was immediate drama, too, in the Prestissimo that follows: she took this as her scherzo, although for Beethoven it was no joke. Only Beethoven would think of ending with a slow theme and variations, but Cooper brought to it a wonderful serenity, and when the theme returned in all its simplicity at the close, it was hard to hold back the tears.
The songful opening of Op 110 in A flat is marked con amabilità (sanft), an oddly bilingual statement. She took its ‘gentle amiability’ to mean something personal and allowed it to breathe, almost to excess, in her pauses and rests. But there was compensation in the way she attacked the second movement, balancing its percussion with its melody. Her measured arioso was followed by an equally smooth fugue
Beethoven’s final word on the piano sonata, Op 111 in C minor, is a kaleidoscope of contrasts, not least between minor and major. Cooper was alive to every nuance. The angry three-note motif emerged trombone-like in her left hand at the start, contrasted by the ethereal effect of the delicate high traceries in the closing Arietta and variations.
In between, she had plenty in reserve for when the going got active, including remarkable clarity in the fugue. National treasure is an overused title but Imogen Cooper undoubtedly qualifies.
Ryedale Festival, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Chloe Rooke, Hovingham Hall, July 27
Oboe player Helena Mackie: “Breath control to spare”
HAVE we reached a watershed where we can acknowledge the female of the species as at least as potent as the other half of humankind? At the very moment when the Lionesses were bringing home the bacon in Basel, two equally gritty young ladies were carrying all before them right here in Ryedale.
Chloe Rooke conducted a chamber orchestra of members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with immense verve and boundless conviction. Her partner as soloist in Mozart’s Oboe Concerto was the RLPO’s principal, Helena Mackie, who showed similar confidence and enthusiasm. Both are still in their twenties.
Rooke positively bounced onto the platform for Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony (Italian) and it showed in her brisk conducting. What mattered, however, was that the orchestra responded to her with precision that spoke volumes for her direction.
There was a suspicion of deceleration when the dynamic level subsided but equally a renewal of tempo with every crescendo. But her acceleration towards the end was absolutely right.
The slow movement has sometimes been called the “Pilgrims’ March”; certainly there is a plodding character to its first theme. But the suaveness of the second theme suggested some happy walkers, topped off by the serenity of the closing pizzicato. The minuet was notable for the superb ensemble of horns and bassoons in its trio.
It is doubtful whether even Italians could dance the whirling saltarello at Rooke’s lightning pace. But the gutsy strings gave it their all and hung on gamely, a sure sign of their respect for her commands.
Mozart’s only surviving oboe concerto does not get the currency it deserves, perhaps because it may have been originally intended for the flute and is more often heard in that guise. But if Helena Mackie continues to promote it, that may well change. Her very opening phrase dazzled by its sheer length: she had breath control to burn. The first cadenza brought a pin-drop moment, so captivated was the arena.
There was a lovely cantabile to her line in the slow movement, which remained untrammelled when she engaged in dialogue with the orchestra. The closing rondo really danced, thanks to her twinkling fingers. With the orchestra keeping in close attendance, this was a thoroughly delightful adventure for which we had our two young ladies to thank.
The second half was French. After a calm, rather stately account of Fauré’s Pavane, without the optional chorus, it was left to Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, a full symphony in all but name, to round off the festival.
Poulenc’s endless capacity for fun, for pulling off tricks and pulling our legs, makes him a modern-day Haydn. Rooke captured the first movement’s jack-in-the-box quality right away. Poulenc’s colourful orchestration lent a Falstaffian quality to the scherzo, where the timpanist had a field day.
There was a nice lilt to the slow movement, alhough the woodwinds were allowed to upstage the strings. They, however, had their revenge in the finale, delivering pronounced rhythms among the circus thrills and spills. Its two themes were cleverly contrasted in the coda. Rooke may be an “Emerging Artist” in Holland but on this showing she has already emerged.
Conductor and composer Eric Whitacre. Picture: Marc Royce
THE concert opened with a charming theatrical gesture: the choir entered the auditorium in single file, splitting symmetrically to surround the audience — with conductor Eric Whitacre positioned halfway up the central aisle — to perform the composer’s Lux Aurumque.
I’ve attended a number of concerts here — almost all of them orchestral — and all compromised by the venue’s generous acoustic. That’s hardly surprising, given that Hovingham Hall’s concert space was originally the North Yorkshire estate’s 18th-century riding school. But not this time. The choral sound resonated beautifully, the balance was impeccable and so was the singing.
Not only is Eric Whitacre a superb composer and a highly accomplished conductor, but he’s also completely at ease in his role as presenter. Instantly engaging and often funny, he gave us a deeper understanding of the choral works being performed.
The second piece had the wonderfully descriptive title: Leonardo Dreams Of His Flying Machine. The opening burst into dissonant flight in a work that embraced the dramatic. The vocal landscape was rich, enhanced by miniature suspended cymbals and tambourines to sex-up the score. The result was a fitting tribute to the great innovator’s visionary ornithopter and his enduring fascination with flight.
As visually engaging as the conductor and chamber choir undoubtedly were, I couldn’t take my eyes off the elephant in the room: an upright piano, front and right of stage. Then, halfway through the programme, Mr Whitacre graciously welcomed the festival’s artistic director and distinguished pianist Christopher Glynn to the platform.
The composer’s Seal Lullaby is his setting of the Rudyard Kipling poem and reminded me of the music by Howard Blake in Dianne Jackson’s animated film of Raymond Briggs’s , The Snowman. The tonal harmonic clusters and gentle dissonances were very effective and sweetly sung, but it was a bit sugary for my palette. Given the instrument’s limitations, Christopher Glynn’s ability to produce such a refined sound was impressive.
Whitacre’s Sing Gently impressed both as a choral work and in its timely ambition. Written in 2020 during the global Covid-19 lockdown, the piece was commissioned for Virtual Choir 6. Its premiere performance featured 17,572 singers from 129 countries – making it his largest virtual choir to date (I looked these statistics up).
The setting of the lyrics – “May we sing together, always. May our hearts always be gentle” – was simple and unembellished, and the performance sincerely heartfelt. I thought this gentle plea for empathy, community and kindness really resonated in a world that seems to be embracing the exact opposite.
The composer’s Hurt couldn’t be more different. It is actually a choral arrangement of a Trent Reznor song recorded by Nine Inch Nails as part of their iconic 1994 album, The Downward Spiral and later by the great Johnny Cash on 2002’s American IV: The Man Comes Around.
National Youth Choir of Scotland artistic director Christopher Bell
The choir delivered a genuinely rich, darker sound world with prominent dissonances reinforcing the rawness of text: “I hurt myself today/ To see if I still feel/ I focus on the pain/ The only thing that’s real”.
The choir’s role worked brilliantly: transforming from support, commentary and then integrating with the excellent soloist. The sustained minor second cadence created a haunting effect.
The mood shifted again with two of Moses Hogan’s well-known arrangements of African American spirituals: Elijah Rock and Joshua Fit The Battle (Of Jericho). Both pieces were great, bristling with vitality and razor-sharp articulation.
The vocal narrative was driven with authentic intent. However, the sheer rhythmic energy, dramatic dynamic contrasts and interplay between the powerful homophonic sections and lighter, more intricate imitation passages of the latter lingered longest in my mind.
Before looking at the musical offering from Bach, I must give a mention to Christopher Bell, the long-serving artistic director – and driving force – behind the very highly regarded NYCOS chamber choir. A point generously acknowledged by Eric Whitacre.
This and a slight whinge: the concert was about 15-20 minutes too long which, given the seating on offer, was a bit of an ask.
For me, the highlight of the concert was Come, Sweet Death: J S Bach, arranged (or rather, reimagined) by Edwin London and realised by Rhonda Sandberg.
That title needs a little unpacking: Bach’s Komm, Süßer Tod (Come, Sweet Death) was originally written in 1736 for solo voice and basso continuo. Edwin London’s concept transforms it into a richly layered choral work – the true act of creative reinterpretation – freeing the singers from strict rhythmic coordination, a distinctly modern choral approach. But it is Rhonda Sandberg who created the practical performing score, bringing London’s vision to life.
The choir reverted to surrounding the audience, with Eric Whitacre directing from the centre. All seemed like business as usual, as the Bach arrangement exchanged lines of recognisable authenticity. Then, suddenly, that world stopped – as if someone had pressed a button – and we were transported into the most exquisite, psychedelic, timeless sound world.
The music floated, as the choir bled out the original sacred tune like some otherworldly canon. A work of genius? Quite possibly. And a fitting close to a concert that constantly surprised.
Harvey Stephens’ Jamie New, front left, with his Sheffield schoolmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
FROM dazzling dancing to doodling, disco favourites to an orchestral festival debut, Charles Hutchinson highlights summer delights that lie ahead.
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness into the spotlight?
Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Helmsley Arts Centre’s poster for Doodle Fest’s creative workshops
Summer holiday activity of the week: Doodle Fest, The Art of Doodling Art Festival Creative Workshops, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 10am to 3pm, ages eight to 11; tomorrow, 9.30am to 11am, ages five to seven; tomorrow, 1pm to 4pm, ages 12 to 16
ARTIST Nicola Hutchinson guides participants through taking doodling skills to the next level, from experimenting with different forms and techniques to discovering new ways to express yourself through art. Turn your sketches into articulated characters; design giant doodled picture frames to showcase your masterpieces; let your imagination run wild as your doodles come to life in beautiful works of art.
All materials will be provided, but bring a sketchbook if you have one at home. All levels and abilities are welcome; snacks and drinks are provided; dress to get messy. Tickets: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Sharleen Spiteri: Fronting Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Judas Priest, tonight; Texas, Saturday. Gates open at 6pm
JUDAS Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Tonight’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons.
This weekend, Sharleen Spiteri leads Glasgow band Texas through five decades of hits, from I Don’t Want To Be A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Sun to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking. Rianne Downey supports. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts: Feel the power of ballads and anthems at Grand Opera House, York
Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.
Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend
Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Friday. Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm
AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.
Ellis-Bextor, 46, draws on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Fifties and Sixties’ tribute gig of the week: Music Masters, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
MUSIC Masters’ time machine of a five-piece band transport Friday’s audience back to 1950s and 1960s’ pop with their dedication to vintage vocal harmonies, instrumental prowess and revival of the spirit of a golden age when music was the heartbeat of a generation. As the old saying goes, “be there or be square”. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Ronan Keating: Returning to York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend on Saturday
Irish craic of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Saturday. Gates open at 11.15am; first race, 1.25pm; last race, 5pm
IRISH singer, presenter and talent-show judge Ronan Keating returns to the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, back on the Knavesmire track where he performed with Boyzone in July 2018.
Expect both solo and boy band favourites. “If you’re going to a festival or a racecourse, you have to give the people what they want, what they’re expecting, and because of the Boyzone documentary that’s on Sky and NOW TV, I’ll be doing more Boyzone hits than normal this time,” he says. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Helena Mackie: Soloist for Mozart’s Oboe Concerto at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Ryedale Festival debut
Ryedale Festival finale: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Final Gala Concert, Hovingham Hall, Sunday, 6.30pm
THE ‘Liverpool Phil’ make their Ryedale Festival debut this weekend, exploring the Italian vistas of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4, complemented by Mozart’s Oboe Concerto(featuring soloist Helena Mackie), Faure’s serene Pavane and Poulenc’s mischievous, charming Sinfonietta. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
Alan Fletcher: Heading to Pocklington with his band in September
Show announcement of the week: Alan Fletcher, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm
NEIGHBOURS soap star Alan Fletcher will swap Ramsay Street for Pocklington Arts Centre for an evening of song. Known to millions as Dr Karl Kennedy in the long-running Australian series, he has carved out a career as a musician too, first fronting rock band Waiting Room, then as an Americana and alt-country singer-songwriter.
In 2024, singer and guitarist Fletcher’s five-piece band sold out 22 British dates promoting his album The Point. Now they return to showcase latest album Back To School. His compositions blend humour (For The Love Of Lager, How Good Is Bed) and poignant reflections on love, life and everything in between (Hey You, The Point, Back To School). Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Kate Rusby: Performing with the Singy Songy Session Band at Ryedale Festival. Picture: David Angel
In Focus: Ryedale Festival, Kate Rusby, When They All Looked Up, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 25, 7pm, sold out
BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby makes her Ryedale Festival debut on Friday, performing songs from her new album with her Singy Songy Session Band.
Released on Pure Records on April 25, When They All Looked Up is Kate’s first studio set of new material since 2019’s Philosphers, Poets & Kings. In that time, she has delivered the Christmas albums Holly Head in 2019 and Light Years in 2023 and the covers collection Hand Me Down in 2020.
Combining original compositions with re-imagined traditional songs, When They All Looked Up spans a dynamic sonic landscape, from intimate acoustic arrangements to rich, immersive soundscapes, on intimate, uplifting, joyous and profoundly moving songs that explore human stories, themes of resilience, self-discovery and connection.
First single Let Your Light Shine is a heartfelt message to Kate’s teenage daughters, Daisy and Phoebe, and to all in need of encouragement, elevated by the addition of Barnsley Youth Choir’s Senior Choir.
The album cover artwork for Kate Rusby’s When They All Looked Up
“This song is my advice to my daughters, but also to anyone who might need to hear it,” says Kate. “It’s about embracing who you are, having faith in your unique gifts, and letting the world see your light. Be strong, be positive and be kind.”
The full track listing is: How The World Goes; Today Again; Ettrick; Let Your Light Shine; The Moon Man; Judges And Juries; The Barnsley Youth And Temperance Society; The Girl With The Curse; Master Kilby; The Yorkshire Couple and Coal Not Dole.
On December 20, Kate will bring her Christmas Is Merry tour – her 20th anniversary celebration of festive folk joy – to York Barbican. As ever, she will perform traditional South Yorkshire carols, Christmas chestnuts and her own winter songs, drawn from her six Christmas albums, in the company of her regular band and the “Brass Boys” at 7pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens
YORK Theatre Royal’s community play takes top billing in Charles Hutchinson’s selections for summer satisfaction.
Community play of the week: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company present His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, today to August 3
FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.
Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Bean there, done that: “Appetite For Destruction” artist Lincoln Lightfoot takes his spay can to York’s iconic Bile Beans mural advert at VandalFest
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today, Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH.
Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre today
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Craig David TS5 Show plus special guest Patrick Nazemi, today; Judas Priest, July 23. Gates open at 6pm
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this weekend. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.
Judas Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Wednesday’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Heather Leech in Gleowit Productions’ King Harold’s Mother at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Historical solo show of the week: Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
IN 1066, a mother loses four sons; three killed at the Battle of Hastings, one branded as a traitor. However, these are times of turmoil, where crowns on the head go with swords in the hand, and this mother has lost everything.
Two years later in Exeter, King Harold’s mother, Gytha Thorkelsdottir, makes her last stand against the might of the new king, William. She is forced to face the consequences of her own actions, to accept the overwhelming might of the Conqueror. Is nothing all she is left with? Is nothing better than this, asks Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, written and performed by Heather Leech. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton
Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm
THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.
Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, left, and Reception writer-director Matt Aston, pictured walking through Leeds, will be teaming up for a chat at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, on Sunday
Gig and chat show the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7pm
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
Out with the old, in with New: Harvey Stevens’ Jamie, front left, with his Sheffield school classmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New is terrified of the future and has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. He knows he can be a sensation. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness, into the spotlight?
Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, July 24, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.
Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for Knavesmire
Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25.Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm
AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.
Ellis-Bextor, 46, will draw on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home, from a pop career now stretching beyond 25 years. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
In Focus: The Floating Fringe, Arts Barge, York, July 24 to 26
The launch poster for The Floating Fringe
ALL aboard for The Floating Fringe, a celebration of grassroots, home-grown performances on the Arts Barge, moored at Foss Basin Moorings, off Tower Street, York.
This bold new arts festival is taking over the Selby Tony former cargo barge for three jam-packed days of comedy, theatre and family entertainment, offering a long-overdue space for the city’s vibrant and emerging Fringe scene.
“Led by a new generation of creatives, The Floating Fringe is here to shake things up,” says lead organiser Kai West, the York artist, printmaker and Bull band member. “It’s a spirited response to past commercial Fringe attempts that failed to take root, replacing polished formulas with passion, playfulness and local and up-and-coming talent.
“This is about more than just putting on a show. It’s about building a community. With its intimate setting and grassroots ethos, The Floating Fringe aims to be the artistic home for Fringe arts, acts and audiences alike: a long-awaited space for expression where alternative, up-and-coming and independent voices can truly thrive.”
Kai continues: “York has always had the talent, the audiences and the appetite for Fringe. What it’s been missing is a space that actually belongs to the community. After seeing other commercial attempts come and go, we wanted to create something independent, accessible and genuinely rooted in York’s creative scene. The Arts Barge has always been about building something meaningful for York, by York. The Fringe is just another part of that.”
The Arts Barge itself is part of that story. A passion project years in the making, it was crowd-funded and community-built by the Arts Barge Project to bring an accessible floating arts space to York. Now fully operational and moored in the centre of the city, the barge is more than a venue. “It’s a symbol of what’s possible when local creatives are given the freedom to build something of their own,” says Kai.
From comedy to original theatre and family-friendly daytime shows, The Floating Fringe promises a weekend packed with performances, connection and grassroots energy. “Whether you’re a Fringe fanatic or just curious to see what York’s creative underground has to offer, everyone is welcome aboard,” says Kai.
5pm to 6pm, Robocop vs The Terminator vs Gabriel Featherstone. Three titans of entertainment face off in a bloody, mind-mangling, no-holds-barred battle to the death.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Richard Brown: Nauseatingly Woke Full-Grown Jellyfish. Underground Fringe favourite known for thoughtful, intelligent and dark alternative comedy.
8pm to 9pm, Seymour Mace Does Things With Stuff. “It’s better than watching people do things,” says Seymour. “It’s better than paying to watch people do things. I was doped up on watching other people do things. I forgot how to do things I’ve just remembered. Look what I done!”
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Theo Mason Wood: Legalise Kissing. York-raised Netflix writer and award-winning comedian delivers a punk-clown manifesto on love, identity and modern chaos in a genre-defying mix of stand-up, surreal storytelling and live techno anthems. “This is comedy like you’ve never seen before,” says Mason Wood.
Bobby Cockles
Friday
5pm to 6pm, Clown: Bobby Cockles Goes To Hell! The Good Room presents a dark stand-up journey through the terrible adventure of a cursed Cockney clown. Being in love can be absolute hell!
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Eryn Tett Is Sponsored By The Global Megacorp Institute of Manchester, work in progress. Multi award-winner is developing her next show: an immersive comedy packed with her trademark offbeat (mostly “yo mama”) jokes, top-secret ceremonies and a non-stop handshake.
8pm to 9pm, York The Plank: A Bunch of Local Legends. Fast, furious and gloriously chaotic stand-up comedy showcase helmed by Chris Booker, comedian, aspiring sci-fi writer and charmingly under-qualified sea captain for the night.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Thor Odin Stenhaug, One Night Stand Baby. A show about love, life (drawings) and being not only a son to your parents but more like a mutual friend.
Sir Dickie Benson
Saturday
2pm to 3pm, Moon Rabbit Theatre presents Shirley: A Ghost Story. Why do people write ghost stories? Is it to explain away the fear? To spread it? Or do they write to reveal the ghosts inside them?
3.30pm to 4.30pm, Caroline McEvoy: Train Man. Tale of sibling rivalry in post-Troubles Northern Ireland, told with gut-punch gags and emotional blows as McEvoy reckons with her lifelong battle with her younger brother, who loves trains and getting his way.
5pm to 6pm, Alfie Packham: My Apologies To The Chef. Voilà! Alfie serves up new jokes in his fresh show about friends, family, loneliness, enemies – and which of these he prefers. Bon appétit.
6.30pm to 7.30pm, Jain Edwards, She-Devil. Jain isn’t like other girls. She’s worse. But she’s finally ready to lean in (and receive a little forehead kiss from hubby). Expect silly, subversive comedy in a show about conspiracy theories, autism and men turning on you.
9.30pm to 10.30pm, Sir Dickie Benson Interacts With The Audience Whether They Like It Or Not. Encounter the last Hollywood hell-raiser; an octogenarian, thespian barbarian with a pint of vodka and a smouldering hash pipe whose capacity for drink is matched only by his boundless charm and mercurial temper.
Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at York Museums Trust, holding the Thor’s Hammer Pendant at the Viking North exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING treasures, street art indoors, Fringe comedy previews and Ryedale Festival’s Austen celebration bring out the summer smiles in Charles Hutchinson.
Museum launch of the week: Viking North, Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING North is filled with magnificent objects, many unseen for generations and others that have never been on public display, adding up to “the best collection of Viking finds to be shown outside London” as these Viking treasures reveal the North’s power base, wealth and skills.
Telling the story of the Viking Age in the North of England from AD866 to 1066, the exhibition is underpinned by new archaeological research and cutting-edge technology and features objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard, co-owned with the British Museum, and specially loaned national and regional items, including from the Viking Army Camp at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.
Sea, Swell, Scribe: Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax combine in Pyramid Gallery’s exhibition of paintings, pottery and poetry
Exhibition of the week: Sea, Swell, Scribe, Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until August 31, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday
WHAT happens when you let a poet loose in an art gallery with a piece of charcoal? If the juxtaposition of sumptuous curvy and pointy pots against a backdrop of textured metallic atmospheric paintings is inspiring her, then she will scribble words and phrases all over the plinths
York artist Jo Walton, from Rogues Atelier, potter Ruth King, from the Craft Potters Association, and poet Nicky Kippax, from Bluebird Bakery, combine in a show planned and organised by Pyramid gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane and curated by Walton. Kippax has written Eksphratic verse in response to the paintings and pots.
Street artist Al Murphy in his Naughty Corner at VandalFest at 2, Low Ousegate, York
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, 2, Low Ousegate, York, Friday to Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block at 2 Low Ousegate, York, with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
The stripped-out interior provides four floors of blank canvas for bold, site-specific “intervention” that cover walls, floors and ceilings, complemented by live DJ sets. Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH.
Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton
Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm
THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.
Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
Rob Auton: Barmby Moor comedian previews his Edinburgh Fringe show, CAN: The Story Of A Man Called CAN, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Comedy event of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday
IN a week of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights, Nina Gilligan discusses memory loss, health anxiety and goldfish-related trauma in Goldfish tonight (8pm) and Hayley Ellis navigates middle age in Silly Mare (Work in Progress) tomorrow (8pm).
Susan Riddell and Kate Dolan, on Friday (7.30pm), and Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, on Saturday (7.30pm), round off the festival tasters. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Georgi Mottram: Classical BRIT Award nominee performing at Voices United concert in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice
Charity event of the week: Ian Stroughair presents Voices United: Rubies For Our Angel, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK cabaret artiste and West End musical actor Ian Stroughair co-hosts this fundraiser to mark St Leonard’s Hospice’s 40th anniversary with radio presenters Joanita Musisi and Laura Castle, introducing a night of musical theatre and rock and pop classics.
On the bill will be Stroughair in Velma Celli drag diva regalia; York singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan; York musical theatre actress Joanne Theaker; retro party band Jonny And The Dunebugs; The Voice UK 2024 semi-finalist Lois Morgan Gay and West End classical singer Georgi Mottram. Box office: https://shorturl.at/G3qhV or atgtickets.com/york.
Strictly between us: Anton du Beke and Giovanni Pernice team up for Together Again at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice in Together Again, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice promise “more fun, more dance, more song and even more entertainment than ever before” in the terpsichorean double act’s new show Together Again, full of breathtaking routines, stunning choreography and a seamless blend of Ballroom, Latin and musical theatre. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend
Coastal gig of the week: Craig David TS5 Show, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday; gates open at 6pm
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night, patented at his Miami penthouse. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old-skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens
Community play of the week: His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to August 3
FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.
Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In Focus: Clap Trap Theatre in Pennyroyal, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 19 & 20, 7.30pm
Florrie Stockbridge’s Daphne, left, and Natasha Jones’s Christine in Clap Trap Theatre’s Pennyroyal
HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones and musical partner Florrie Stockbridge take to the stage this weekend in Clap Trap Theatre’s production of Lucy Roslyn’s Pennyroyal.
Premiered in 2022 at the Finborough Theatre, London, this heartrending play about sisterhood and motherhood, enduring love and regrets many years in the making explores the things expected of women and what happens if life does not go to plan.
When Daphne (played by Stockbridge) is diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency at 19, her sister Christine (Jones) steps in to help in the only way she knows how: by donating her eggs. For a while, the world seems corrected. However, as the years go by – and Daphne sets out on the long road of IVF – the sisters’ relationship begins to twist.
“I think of my body sometimes like it’s stubborn,” says Daphne. “We’re not good friends. Like it’s a spooky hotel, and I’m just a ghost haunting it. ’Cause you don’t live in a hotel, you just pass through.”
Pennyroyal is inspired by Edith Wharton’s 1922 novella The Old Maid, a 1922 novella adapted ten years later into a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Zoe Akins. One hundred years on, the story is re-imagined by Roslyn, an award-winning Camden Town performer and writer.
Her most recent work includes Orlando, a previous collaboration with director Josh Roche and Jessie Anand Productions that won the Origins Award at VAULT Festival before transferring to the Pleasance, Edinburgh.
Other work includes Showmanship (Theatre503) and Goody (Pleasance, Edinburgh and Greenwich Theatre – Les Enfants Terribles’ Greenwich Partnership Award 2017). Her debut, The State vs. John Hayes, started life at the Edinburgh Fringe, before touring to Theatre Royal Bath, The Lowry, Salford, the King’s Head Theatre, London, and OSH Brooklyn, New York.
Jones and Stockbridge have received directing and production support from Libby Pearson. Roslyn’s 80-minute play contains strong language and discussion of infertility and domestic violence. Box office: 01439 771700or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at York Museums Trust, holding the Thor’s Hammer Pendant at the Viking North exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING treasures, street art moved indoors, Fringe comedy previews and Ryedale Festival’s classical lustre bring out the summer smiles in Charles Hutchinson.
Museum launch of the week: Viking North, Yorkshire Museum, York
VIKING North is filled with magnificent objects, many unseen for generations and others that have never been on public display, adding up to “the best collection of Viking finds to be shown outside London” as these Viking treasures reveal the North’s power base, wealth and skills.
Telling the story of the Viking Age in the North of England from AD866 to 1066, the exhibition is underpinned by new archaeological research and cutting-edge technology and features objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard, co-owned with the British Museum, and specially loaned national and regional items, including from the Viking Army Camp at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.
Sea, Swell, Scribe: Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax combine in Pyramid Gallery’s exhibition of paintings, pottery and poetry
Exhibition launch of the week: Sea, Swell, Scribe, Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, from today, 11am, to August 31, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday
WHAT happens when you let a poet loose in an art gallery with a piece of charcoal? If the juxtaposition of sumptuous curvy and pointy pots against a backdrop of textured metallic atmospheric paintings is inspiring her, then she will scribble words and phrases all over the plinths.
Artist Jo Walton, left, potter Ruth King and poet Nicky Kippax
York artist Jo Walton, from Rogues Atelier, potter Ruth King, from the Craft Potters Association, and poet Nicky Kippax, from Bluebird Bakery, combine in a show planned and organised by Pyramid gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane and curated by Walton. Kippax has written Eksphratic verse in response to the paintings and pots.
Here is one of Nicky Kippax’s poems form the exhibition, The First:
The first creature to climb from the sea had the logger head of a turtle and nothing more yet to unfold to body but unbeaten in its lug to land, brow thrust against the fret and neck amok. Look now – as the suggestion of an arm is beginning to break free of itself.
Street artist Al Murphy in his Naughty Corner at VandalFest at 2, Low Ousegate, York
Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today and tomorrow, July 18 to 20 and July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm
VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block at 2 Low Ousegate, York, with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.
The stripped-out interior provides four floors of blank canvas for bold, site-specific “intervention” that cover walls, floors and ceilings, complemented by live DJ sets. Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH. Visitors can support the cause by buying limited-edition artworks and merchandise.
Ryedale Festival artist in residence and soprano Claire Booth
Festival of the week; Ryedale Festival 2025, until July 27
THIS North Yorkshire festival of delights will be led off by 2025’s artists in residence, saxophonist Jess Gillam, soprano Claire Booth and viola player Timothy Ridout, along with Quatuor Mosaiques, VOCES8 and composer Eric Whitacre.
Pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Dame Imogen Cooper, organist Thomas Trotter, Arcangelo, York countertenor Iestyn Davies and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s festival debut are further highlights. Jazz, folk and literature weave into the programme too: reeds player Pete Long and vocalist Sara Oschlag salute Duke Ellington; Barnsley’s Kate Rusby showcases her new album, When They All Looked Up, and Dame Harriet Walter channels Jane Austen’s wit in Pride And Prejudice. Full details and tickets at: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.
McFly: Heading to the Scarborough seaside today
Coastal gig of the week: McFly, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today; gates open at 6pm
MCFLY’S Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd head to the Yorkshire coast to perform 5 Colours In Her Hair, Obviously, All About You, You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be OK, Star Girl, Don’t Stop Me Now, Obviously et al. Twin Atlantic and Devon complete the bill. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Josie Long: Opening Theatre@41’s week of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights. Picture: Matt Crockett
Comedy event of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 13 to 19
A WEEK of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights takes over Theatre@41, Monkgate, kicking off with comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker Josie Long’s Work In Progress on July 13 at 2pm, followed by two Mark Watson selections, Sam Nicoresti and Lulu Popplewell’s Fresh For The Fringe double bill at 7.30pm.
Molly McGuinness and Phil Ellis are in preview mode on July 14 (8pm); Nina Gilligan discusses memory loss, health anxiety and goldfish-related trauma in Goldfish on July 16 (8pm), and Hayley Ellis navigates middle age in Silly Mare (Work in Progress) on July 17 (8pm). Susan Riddell and Kate Dolan, on July 18 (7.30pm), and Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, on July 19 (7.30pm), round off the festival previews. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Phil Grainger, left, and Alexander Flanagan Wright. Picture; Charlotte Graham
News just in: Wright & Grainger in The Gods The Gods The Gods, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, 7.30pm
IN a very late addition to Theatre@41’s packed programme for next week, Easingwold duo Wright & Grainger return their Edinburgh Fringe gig theatre hit The Gods The Gods The Gods to North Yorkshire soil for one night only.
Combining 12 tracks, four stories, three performers and one exhilarating experience, Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger mix big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word into a show that has headlined festivals and sold out venues from Wānaka Festival of Colour in New Zealand to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, to Stillington Mill. Please note: this event is standing room only; chairs will be available for those unable to stand. Box office:tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Georgi Mottram: Classical BRIT Award nominee performing at Voices United concert in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice
Charity event of the week: Ian Stroughair presents Voices United: Rubies For Our Angel, Grand Opera House, York, July 18, 7.30pm
YORK cabaret artiste and West End musical actor Ian Stroughair co-hosts this fundraiser to mark St Leonard’s Hospice’s 40th anniversary with radio presenters Joanita Musisi and Laura Castle, introducing a night of musical theatre and rock and pop classics.
On the bill will be Stroughair in Velma Celli drag diva regalia; York singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan; York musical theatre actress Joanne Theaker; retro party band Jonny And The Dunebugs; The Voice UK 2024 semi-finalist Lois Morgan Gay and West End classical singer Georgi Mottram. Box office: https://shorturl.at/G3qhV or atgtickets.com/york.
Dance isSO embracing:Dancefloor double act Anton & Giovannireunite for Together Again at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice in Together Again, York Barbican, July 18, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice promise “more fun, more dance, more song and even more entertainment than ever before” in the terpsichorean double act’s new show Together Again, full of breathtaking routines, stunning choreography and a seamless blend of Ballroom, Latin and musical theatre. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ancient Hostility: Harmony singing and drones at YO Underground 4 in The Basement
Navigators Art presents YO Underground 4, The Basement, City Screen, York, July 18, 7.30pm to 10.30pm
YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to a night of live, local and left-field folk song, electronica and film at The Basement. On the adventurous bill of York and regional acts will be: Andrew Metheven’s lo-fi folk music from the hills and the concrete; Ancient Hostility’s harmony singing and drones from members of Dawn Ray’d and All In Vain, and transdisciplinary artist Hannah-May Batley’s traveller ballads, storytelling, writing, performance and pigments.
Participating too will be: Mark Hanslip, who has a “PhD in shoving saxophones through computers” (possibly not literally); Namke Communications’ electronics and echoes, and multidisciplinary artist Things Found And Made, rummaging in zines, films, music, storytelling, pop-culture, esoterica and folklore. Box office: bit.ly/nav-events
The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, right, walking in Leeds with Reception writer-director Matt Aston
Gig announcement of the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, July 20, 8pm, doors 7pm
DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston join him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.
Next Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-david-gedge-from-the-wedding-present-tickets-1472506409309?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:
