Sarah Williams – charleshutchpress

March 28, 2026April 10, 2026

More Things To Do in York and beyond as the clocks go forward and arts spring up. Hutch’s List No. 12, from The York Press

James Bye, left, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn in Danny Robins’ 2:22 A Ghost Story, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

THE clock is ticking to see a ghostly thriller, a madcap murder mystery, a poetic book launch and an unjust trial as Charles Hutchinson sets his arts alarm.

Supernatural thriller of the week: 2:22 A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, March 30 to April 4, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

“THERE’S something in our house. I hear it every night. At the same time,” says Jenny, who believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam is having none of it. Whereupon they argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben. Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening and is moving closer. Only by staying up until 2:22 will they know the answer.

James Bye, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn perform Uncanny and The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s supernatural thriller, the Best New Play winner at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, on its return to York. As secrets emerge and ghosts may or may not appear, dare you discover the truth? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

What We Could Have, by Sarah Williams, from the Other Viewpoints exhibition at Pyramid Gallery

Meet The Makers event of the week: Other Viewpoints, Lesley Williams, Sarah Williams, Peter Heaton and Adele Howitt, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today, 11.30am to 2.30pm

YORKSHIRE artists Lesley Williams, Sarah Williams and Peter Heaton and ceramicist Adele Howitt have teamed up for Other Viewpoints, on show until May 9. Today, they will be on hand to discuss their work.

Lesley, from York, makes semi-abstract oil paintings based on rural landscape and gardens; Sarah, also from York, employs colours, textural marks and shapes in blending abstract and figurative elements; Peter, from North Yorkshire, is exhibiting landscape fine art prints, and Hornsea maker Adele’s ceramics are marked by notions of the living landscape, abstraction, pollen grains and natural pattern.

Main Street Sound: In harmony with Harmonia at the NCEM

Choral concert of the week: Choirs In Harmony, Main Street Sound & Harmonia, National Centre for Early Music, York, today, 7.30pm

CHOIRS In Harmony brings together two Yorkshire vocal groups for an evening of rich, expressive choral music. York’s only ladies’ barbershop chorus, Main Street Sound, and Malton contemporary, folk, jazz, and musical theatre ladies’ choir Harmonia join forces to showcase a vibrant mix of contemporary arrangements, close harmony and uplifting ensemble singing. Expect moments of intimacy, bursts of energy and the joy of voices uniting in a space made for resonance. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Giddy up: Country queen Twinnie rides into The Crescent tonight

Recommended but sold out already: Twinnie, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm

BORN in York and now established as the UK’s leading country-pop trailblazer on the American circuit after her West End musical theatre days and TV soap career as Porsche McQueen in Hollyoaks and ruthless boxing promoter Jade Garrick in Emmerdale, Twinnie-Lee Moore returns home on her Dirt Road Disco Tour.

Noted for her fearless honesty and storytelling truths, she blends Nashville-inspired country roots with pop hooks and her own gypsy-influenced flair in songs of empowerment, vulnerability, and unapologetic individuality. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in November 2023 as the first British Romani Traveller to perform in the circle and featured on Rob Brydon’s Honky Tonk Road Trip documentary series on BBC Two last year.

Lucy Keirl in rehearsal for the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s madcap musical mystery Murder For Two. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Whodunit of the week: Murder For Two, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today to April 18, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

JOE Kinosian and Kellen Blair’s fast-paced musical whodunit is a madcap murder mystery with a twist, performed by two actors, Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl, who play 13 characters between them, plus the piano, as they put the laughter into manslaughter.

When famous novelist Arthur Whitney is found dead at his birthday party, it is time to call in the detectives, but they are out of town. Enter Officer Marcus Moscowicz, a neighbourhood cop who dreams of climbing the ranks. Here is his chance to prove his super sleuthing skills and solve the crime before the real detective arrives. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Stu Freestone: Launching first poetry collection at The Crescent

Book launch of the week: York Literature Festival and Say Owt present Stu Freestone, The Lights That Blur Between, The Crescent, York, March 30, 7pm to 10pm

YORK performance poet, Say Owt gobby collective associate artist and Cheese Trader cheesemonger Stu Freestone launches his debut poetry collection, The Lights That Blur Between, with two sets, one comedic, the other accompanied by guitarist Simone Focarelli, accordionist Ben Crosthwaite and drummer Joe Douglas. In support will be Grantham singer-songwriter Adam Leeson and York political satirist and performance poet Sarah Armitage.

Freestone’s poems explore the nostalgia of adolescence, relationships, loss and processing, as well as humorous themes of condiment addiction, festival trips gone wrong, cheesemonger battle raps and the perils of “after-work’ drinking in his honest portrayal of life experiences. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Dan Poppitt, Charlie Clarke, front, and Georgina Burt in rehearsal for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Parade

The other American musical of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

PRESENTED by York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions under the direction of Matthew Peter Clare, Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s stirring Tony Award-winning musical explores love and hope against the odds, set against a backdrop of political injustice and rising racial tension.

Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew, is put on trial for murder in Marietta, Georgia, but when the world seems against you, receiving a fair trial might prove impossible. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Alison Moyet: Re-visiting Yazoo’s two synth-pop albums after more than 40 years at York Barbican. Picture: Naomi Davison

Gig announcement of the week: Alison Moyet, Songs Of Yazoo, the minutes and Other Tour, York Barbican, November 18

BASILDON soul, blues and pop singer-songwriter Alison Moyet will play York in one of ten new additions to her autumn tour, when she will focus on songs from Yazoo’s 1982-1983 catalogue, recorded with Vince Clarke, and a selection from her solo electronica albums, 2013’s the minutesand 2017’s Other, both co-written with producer Guy Sigsworth.

“Many years touring the same pool of songs and I am keen for a palate refresher,” says Moyet, 64. “Specifying which years I will be fishing from too, I think, is a grand way to serve pot luck for specific tastes. No bones.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

March 26, 2026March 26, 2026

Meet The Makers at Pyramid Gallery on Saturday as Lesley Williams, Sarah Williams, Peter Heaton and Adele Howitt exhibit Other Viewpoints art and ceramics

Moorland, by Lesley Williams

SATURDAY will be the chance to meet Yorkshire artists Lesley Williams, Sarah Williams and Peter Heaton and ceramicist Adele Howitt from 11.30am to 2.30pm at their Other Viewpoints exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York.

York artist Lesley Williams gained a BA Hons in textile design at Nottingham Trent University and an MA in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University.

She taught art and design for many years before concentrating on her own work, which has been collected both here and abroad.

She makes semi-abstract oil paintings based on the rural landscape and gardens and developed over time. From relatively figurative starting points, multiple layers are created, allowing for the subtle sensations and memories of the time and place to be included.

“Circular motifs create a sense of depth” in Lesley Williams’ artworks

The qualities of colour light and energy seen and felt on site are depicted using translucent layers that encourage the viewer to look beyond the surface. Circular motifs are often contained within the composition, in order to create a sense of depth and as a reference to the ever-continuing nature of time and the seasons.

Sarah Williams, from York, graduated with distinction from Norwich Art School in 1984 with a first class degree in Fine Art and achieved the prestigious Stowell’s Trophy Award at the Royal Academy.

This success granted her an unconditional place on the Masters degree in painting at the Royal Academy, paving the way for exhibitions spanning England and Switzerland, where Sarah shared a studio with Kurt Rup.

Sarah’s fine art work is rooted in personal narratives, employing a diverse array of materials including encaustic enamels and spray paint. While her repertoire encompasses various media, her primary focus revolves around the meticulous use of oils on stretched canvases.

What We Could Have, by Sarah Williams

Conceptually, Sarah employs colours, textural marks and shapes to construct a visual realm that blends seamlessly abstract and figurative elements. The aim is to elicit a nuanced emotional response, allowing viewers to interpret and connect individually with the expressive tapestry.

Peter, who will be exhibiting fine art prints, studied for a Fine Art degree at Nottingham Trent University and later gained an M.A. in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University.

Living in North Yorkshire, he has exhibited widely since 1987, and his work has featured in publications and on television and is in private collections in Europe and the USA.

“The majority of my work is concerned with landscape, in one form or other,” he says. “I am always observing, collecting information and images. I make work constantly, if not photographs, musical sketches or scraps of writing. Interpreting, re-imagining places and situations.

Sarah Williams’ “primary focus revolves around the meticulous use of oils on stretched canvases”

“Often, when beginning work on a new project, I discover that actually the beginnings of it were seeded years before in images made, collected and forgotten.

“However, it is only in my studio that I discover how the work is going to reveal itself and take form. This process is always difficult, where time is lost, and ideas fail and are reborn continuously, until a thread can be followed out, and the path through the work becomes clearer.”

Peter continues: “A piece becomes complete when I feel it fits with the image that I have of it completed…the problem being that this also changes … but the work remains, as a marker along a section of a route now passed.

“I feel that it is important to never close off a piece of work, to leave space for the viewer to bring their own thoughts and interpretations to the pieces, to complete the work on their own terms, using their own reference points and imagination.

“I feel that it is important to never close off a piece of work, to leave space for the viewer to bring their own thoughts and interpretations,” says Peter Heaton

“Over the last few years, my work has evolved from being purely photographic, to now being a hybrid of various media which are combined in creating the final completed images.”

Adele Howitt, from Hornsea, is a designer and maker of ceramics with a portfolio of architectural ceramics and public realm art, placed within outside and inside spaces, and is a Crafts Council member and Homo Faber selected member.

An important element to this portfolio is the range of studio ceramics that explores the wider realm of landscape. Notions of the living landscape, abstraction, pollen grains and natural pattern mark her ceramic art.

Slab work is twisted and turned to add detailed relief, utilising the traditional pottery techniques discovered while investigating the South Yorkshire Potteries. The clay is a sculptural medium, opposing the tradition of using it as a technical medium or as an exploration of the vessel.

Frosted Celandine, by Adele Howitt

Adele’s techniques include drawing, hand building, coil/slab building, hand-thrown elements, extruded clay, printing and glazing.

A restricted palette of matt glazes – engobes – is applied to red, black or white clay. Wild plants growing in post-industrial historic landscapes are studied alongside research into their genus, revealing the structure of their pollen grains.

“This is paired with sketches of wild meadows that capture and distil the movement of nature,” says Adele. “This search is developed into three-dimensional form that utilises the most sustainable and precious material of clay.

“The ceramic manifestations include methods of construction include slab work, throwing, hand-building, sprig and press moulds, combined to create and enlarge the research into intricate sculptures.”

Other Viewpoints runs at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until May 9. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday; closed on Sundays.

Heuchera, by Adele Howitt

March 23, 2022March 23, 2022

Let’s talk about gigs, music culture and stories, mental health and The Twenty Seven Club at York Literature Festival

*Harkirit Boparai: Taking part in tomorrow’s panel discussion*

GIG-GOING: Live Music and Literature Stories will be the focus of a York Literature Festival panel discussion at the Fulford Arms, Fulford Road, York, tomorrow (24/3/2022).

This discussion and celebration of music culture explores how we document live music and the power of stories and publishing to unite music scenes.

Billed as “a must for musicians, reviewers, bloggers, promoters, photographers or anyone who understands the importance of music culture”, this 7.30pm event features a panel of Harkirit Boparai, Sarah Williams and Amy McCarthy.

Harkirit is the venue manager and concert promoter (for Ouroboros) at The Crescent community venue and a vital cog in the Music Venue Trust; Sarah edits Shout Louder, a webzine dedicated to the modern punk scene, and Papercuts, an independently published series of anecdotes about DIY culture; Amy is a PhD student researching music memoirs as part of the York Music Stories project.

*The book cover artwork for Lucy Nichol’s The Twenty Seven Club*

The panel discussion will be followed by a reading and interview with Newcastle author Lucy Nichol, whose debut novel, The Twenty Seven Club, explores mental health and the media through the 1990s’ music scene in Hull.

Lucy’s story begins with Emma hearing of the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, prompting her to ask why so many musicians died aged 27 [bluesman Robert Johnson, Rolling Stone Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse among them].

Lucy, author, freelance writer, PR and marketing consultant, mental health campaigner, flunked punk and addiction stigma buster, will be discussing her novel’s darkly comic journey of self-discovery, friendship, fandom and hope in conversation with Amy McCarthy.

On the bill too will be spoken-word contributions from Hannah Davies and live music from Jack Woods. Tickets are on sale at yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk or at thefulfordarms.com.