Lauren Charlton-Mathews: Solo renditions of Stars And The Moon and The Flagmaker, 1775 in Songs For A New World. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen
WHEN Songs For A New World opened at the WPA Theatre in New York, Jason Robert Brown and his director, Daisy Prince, described it as “neither musical play nor revue, but a very theatrical song cycle”.
It becomes even more so in the hands of Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ musical director and producer Matthew Peter Clare and his co-director and co-stage designer, Mikhail Lim, as the York company follows up last week’s collaboration with Wharfemede Productions in another Brown work, The Last Five Years.
The traverse setting for that fractious two-hander makes way for an end-on design that makes full use of the St Margaret’s Church bare side wall, framed with netting and white sheets and a screen for Kelly Ann Bolland’s all-important scenic design.
Adam Price and Natalie Walker
The video footage, full of politicians promising peace, countered by war and destruction, racist hatred and financial meltdowns up to the present-day conflicts, serves as a modern update on the Pathé News reels so evocative of World War times, setting the tone for each song within the show’s themes of hope, faith, love and loss.
Almost two decades have passed since the Off Broadway premiere, and could anyone argue that the world has not worsened in that time? More war. More division in society and wealth. More mendacity in power. More moves to the right wing. More rules, CCTV and form-filling. Too much heat, and not only in the alarming change in climate.
The need for a “new world” – one of hope and love, faith in each other as much as in the One above, and loss of hubris and hunger alike – has never been greater.
Mikhail Lim: Co-director, co-stage designer, co-costume designer and vocalist
As Clare and Lim put it in their programme note: “Our reimagining of Songs For A New World addresses the ever-growing uncertainty and tension found within today’s political climate. The aim is to create a production that resonates deeply with an audience who are prepared to journey through the complexities of today’s societal landscape.”
Job done, courtesy of their emotionally charged direction; Freya McIntosh’s minimalist but moving choreography; the aforementioned designs; the impact of being in a church building, a place, a cradle, of grace, contemplation and the power of silence…
…Then add the palate of colours in Lim and McIntosh’s modern yet timeless costumes, each in two tones, for contrasts, connection and continuity, with an eye for composition reminiscent of a painting.
Katie Brier: Soloist for Just One Step and Surabaya-Santa
Each costume change, conducted en masse, adds to the visual pleasure, while the movement of wooden boxes throughout the performance is conducted with the significance of a chess move.
Crucially too, Clare and Lim have doubled the cast size to eight, making for more singing partnerships in a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted company, where both individual and ensemble can shine, framed so poetically by McIntosh’s measured choreography.
Responding to Clare’s keyboard-led nine piece band, Ayana Beatrice Poblete, Katie Brier, Reggie Challenger, Lauren Charlton-Mathews, Rachel Higgs, Mikhail Lim, Adam Price and Natalie Walker sing righteously, romantically, roundly well.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger
What of Brown’s songs? More melodic, less Sondheim than The Last Five Years, they hit both heart and soul, with The River Won’t Flow, Charlton-Mathews’ Stars And The Moon, Act I finale The Steam Train, Lim’s King Of The World, Challenger and Price’s Flying Home and the Higgs-fronted Final Transition: The New World all sung particularly passionately and persuasively.
Roll on this new world, and yes, let’s make a song and dance about it, like Jason Robert Brown and Black Sheep Theatre Productions have.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music,St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ artwork for Songs For A New World
Creative team: Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare
Co-director: Mikhail Lim Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh
Cast: Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger; Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.
Band:
Matthew Peter Clare, musical director and keys; Ben Huntley, guitar; Zander Lee, bass; Helen Warry and Elle Weaver, violin; Gregory Bush, viola; Mari MacGregor, violincello; Jude Austin, drums, and Jez Smith, auxiliary percussion.
The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
FROM a motley crew all at sea to Eighties’ pop and rock stars, a beehive buzz of a campaigning American teen to a boy with a stammer, Charles Hutchinson’s week promises both adventure and misadventure.
World premiere of the week: The Whitby Rebels, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until November 2, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
IN Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.
This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. Bea Roberts’s new play tells their true story, boat on stage et al. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Songs For A New World
Song cycle of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
ON the heels of last week’s The Last Five Years, Black Sheep Theatre perform another Jason Robert Brown work, 1995’s Songs For A New World.
Defying conventional musical theatre formats, Brown and original director Daisy Prince say the non-linear show is “neither musical play nor revue”, but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle” that explores such universal themes as hope, faith, love and loss in its emotionally charged songs. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.
While & Matthews: Playing Hunmanby on closing night of 30th anniversary tour
Folk gig of the week: While & Matthews, Hunmanby Village Hall, near Filey, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of the longest-lasting female folk duo, singer-songwriters Chris While and Julie Matthews, concludes this weekend at Hunmanby Village Hall, where they sold out two years ago. Together they have played more than 2,500 gigs, appeared on 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.
Chris (vocals, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and percussion) and Julie (vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki) released their 13th studio album, Days Like These, on Fat Cat Records last month. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Arthur Smith: Grumpy old man of comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre
Comedy turn of the week: An Audience With Arthur Smith, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
COMPERE, playwright, panellist, performer and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart Arthur Smith worked previously as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher and teacher. He even advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.
A career in stand-up comedy was the only one that could follow a build-up like that, he decided, since when he has appeared on quiz shows and Loose Ends, been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith and presented BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Chrissie Hynde: Fronting The Pretenders at a sold-out York Barbican on Thursday
What an Eighties’ week at York Barbican: The Cult, Tuesday, sold out; Adam Ant, AntMusic 2024, Wednesday, limited ticket availability; The Pretenders, Thursday, sold out
THE Cult’s 8424: 40th Anniversary Tour brings Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy’s band to York with their pioneering fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and experimentalism. Pop icon Adam Ant performs his chart-topping hits and personal favourites in his AntMusic 2024 show on his return to the Barbican.
Chrissie Hynde leads The Pretenders in York, one of three additions to their extended 2024 tour, combining new tracks with classics such as Brass In Pocket and Back On The Chain Gang. Last year they released their 12th studio album, Relentless. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Katie Brice’s Tracy Turnblad and Neil Hurst’s Edna Turnblad in Hairspray The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: Hairspray, Grand Opera House, York, October 28 to November 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BASED on cult filmmaker John Waters’ 1988 American movie, Hairspray The Musical follows the progress of heroine Tracy Turnblad, with her big hair, big heart and big dreams to dance her way on to national television and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.
When Tracy (Katie Brice/Scarborough actress Alexandra Emerson-Kirby in her professional debut) becomes a local star, she uses her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance, and interracial unity in Baltimore. Look out for Yorkshireman Neil Hurst as Tracy’s mum, Edna, and Strictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton as villainous Velma Von Tussle. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.
Ciaran O’Breen as Captain Chatter and Hilson Agbangbe as Sonny in Wonder Boy, on tour at York Theatre Royal
Children’s story of the week: Wonder Boy, York Theatre Royal, October 29 to November 2; evenings, 7.30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; matinees, 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, next Saturday
OLIVIER Award winner Sally Cookson directs Bristol Old Vic’s touring production of Wonder Boy, Ross Willis’s exploration of the power of communication, told through the experiences of 12-year-old Sonny and his imaginary friend Captain Chatter.
Playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music combine in this innovative show that uses live creative captioning on stage throughout as Sonny, who lives with a stammer, must find a way to be heard in a world where language is power. When cast in a school production of Hamlet by the head teacher, he discovers the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Victoria Delaney and Tony Froud in J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, next week’s production by York Actors Collective. Picture: Clive Millard
Theatre Royal debut of the week: York Actors Collective in Mary Rose, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 30 to November 2, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday matinees
YORK Actors Collective make their York Theatre Royal debut with a revival of Peter Pan and Quality Street playwright J M Barrie’s Mary Rose, adapted and directed by Angie Millard.
“Barrie uses dimensions of time to great effect,” she says. “His treatment of love, loss and unwavering hope draws in an audience and gives it universality. I’ve adapted the script to appeal to modern thinking but his themes are intact. The strange and ghostly atmosphere fits beautifully into our autumn slot, which includes Halloween and is a time for considering other worldliness.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Whitby Rebels cast on a boat trip in Scarborough’s South Bay: from left, Keith Bartlett, Duncan MacInnes, Jacky Naylor, Jacqueline King, Louise Mai Newberry and Kieran Foster
A NAUTICAL Yorkshire drama, a scene-stealing Shakespearean dog, a long-lasting folk duo and a “bit of rough” comedian spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest for the week ahead.
World premiere of the week: The Whitby Rebels, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until November 2, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
IN Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont, North Yorkshire.
This motley crew was assembled by Captain Jack Lammiman to complete a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring Whitby whaling Captain William Scoresby senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. Bea Roberts’s new play tells their true story, boat on stage et al. Box office: 01723 370541 or at sjt.uk.com.
Nick Patrick Jones’s Proteus, left, and Mark Payton’s Duke of Milan in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona. Picture: John Saunders
Comedyplay of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
‘TWO Gents’: possibly Shakespeare’s first play and definitely the only one with a part for a dog. But can the newly employed performers at Monkgate Music Hall pull off their production?
Under-rehearsed knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians must pool their skills in Tempest Wisdom’s dazzling take on this rarely performed comedy, delivered by York Shakespeare Project. “Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York musical actress Rachel Higgs in the poster for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Songs For A New World
Unconventional musical of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON the heels of last week’s debut NCEM collaboration with fellow York company Wharfemede Productions, The Last Five Years, Black Sheep Theatre perform another Jason Robert Brown work, 1995’s Songs For A New World.
Defying conventional musical theatre formats, Brown and original director Daisy Prince say the non-linear show is “neither musical play nor revue”, but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle” that explores such universal themes as hope, faith, love and loss in its emotionally charged songs. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.
Our Star Theatre Company cast members outside York Minster on October 15, when the Ledbury company staged Death(s) At Sea at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. On Friday they will be in Pickering
Sea, sailors and seriously bad acting: Our Star Theatre Company in Death(s) At Sea, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
A SMALL theatre company is performing its new murder mystery Death At Sea, but despite the cast’s best efforts, everything goes wrong in the telling of a thriller set on a small ship carrying only five passengers and its captain.
When one passenger, Mr Inus, is found dead, the others speculate and turn on each other until the real murderer is caught…but that isn’t how this play (within a play) goes! Props fail, the set falls down, actors get drunk and suffer concussion, and conversations in the wings reveal too much. Can they make it to the end before one of them really kills someone? Find out in Eleanor Catherine Smart’s nautical drama on Friday. Box office: 01751474833or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrej Uspenski
Dance show of the week: Company Wayne McGregor, Autobiography, V102 and V103, York Theatre Royal, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm
GENETIC code, AI and choreography merge in a Wayne McGregor work that reimagines and remakes itself anew for every performance. Layering choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks McGregor’s DNA data,Autobiography “upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”.
Now, AISOMA, a new AI tool developed with Google Arts and Culture – “utilising machine-learning trained on hundreds of hours of McGregor’s choreographic archive – overwrites initial configurations to present fresh movement options to the performers, injecting unfamiliar and often startling content into the choreographic ecosystem”. “Life, writing itself anew,” explains McGregor. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
While & Matthews: Playing Hunmanby on closing night of 30th anniversary tour
Folk gig of the week: While & Matthews, Hunmanby Village Hall, near Filey, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of the longest-lasting female folk duo, singer-songwriters Chris While and Julie Matthews, concludes this weekend at Hunmanby Village Hall, where they sold out two years ago. Together they have played more than 2,500 gigs, appeared on 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.
Chris (vocals, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and percussion) and Julie (vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki) released their 13th studio album, Days Like These, on Fat Cat Records last month. Once again they cover a wide range of topics and the full spectrum of human emotions on 12 tracks. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Arthur Smith: Grumpy old man of comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre
Comedy turn of the week: An Audience With Arthur Smith, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
COMPERE, playwright, panellist, performer and Edinburgh Fringe stalwart Arthur Smith worked previously as a road sweeper, dustman, market researcher and teacher. He even advertised chicken burgers in supermarkets dressed as a fox.
A career in stand-up comedy was the only one that could follow a build-up like that, he decided, since when he has appeared on quiz shows and Loose Ends, been a regular Grumpy Old Man and Countdown wordsmith and presented BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage and Radio 2’s The Smith Lectures. He describes himself as Radio 4’s “bit of rough”. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Pat Fulgoni Blues Experience: Returning to Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Pat Fulgoni Blues Experience, Milton Rooms, Malton, October 31, 8pm
SINGER Pat Fulgoni returns to Ryedale Blues Club with his band of Jacob Beckwith on guitar, Rory Wells on bass, Sam Bolt on keys and Zebedee Sylvester on drums.
Expect soaring soulful vocals over vibey guitar and piano-orientated blues in a set originals complemented by renditions of Ray Charles, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson. Box office: 01653 692240 or themiltonrooms.com.
In Focus: The English Civil War comes to Nunnington Hall this half-term
Nunnington Hall: Recalling the English Civil War over the autumn half-term. Picture: Andrew Davies
VISITORS to Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, can dive back in history to the time of the English Civil War throughout the autumn half-term.
From Saturday, October 26 to Friday, November 1, you can train up to become a soldier, with family games such as archery and hobby-horse races, or become a spy for the Royalist side by cracking the secret message in a code breaker trail.
For one weekend only, on November 2 and 3, the grounds of the National Trust property will be turned into an English Civil War encampment by the United Kingdom’s longest-running re-enactment society, The Sealed Knot.
Families will be invited to try on armour, chat to costumed re-enactors and watch show-stopping musket drills happening throughout the day.
Inside the house, children can enjoy playing with the shadow puppet theatre and the Civil War-themed crafts.
Sarah Nolan, visitor experience officer at Nunnington Hall, says: “We’re delighted to bring the UK’s oldest, and Europe’s biggest, re-enactment society to Nunnington and allow our visitors to experience history at its most immersive.
The Sealed Knot: Taking part in the English Civil War activities at Nunnington Hall. Picture: Levitt Parkes
“There’s a fantastic link between Nunnington Hall and the English Civil War, as it’s where Roundhead soldiers lived during the siege of nearby Helmsley Castle, 380 years ago!
“We’ve put together a host of children’s activities to choose from, offering a fun day out for all the family.”
In addition, Nunnington Hall is decorated for autumn and a range of seasonal treats is available in the tearoom.
Normal admission applies for access to the house, gardens and all activities; entry is free for National Trust members and under fives.
Nunnington Hall is open every day until Sunday, November 3, from 10.30am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission applies with free admission for National Trust members and under fives.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall,
The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood), left, peruses the Anarchist’s case file as Inspector Burton (Paul Osborne) interrupts him in Black Treacle Theatre’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist . Picture: John Saunders
FROM ‘Rocky 2’ for Jason Donovan to a music-hall spin on Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gents’, Charles Hutchinson looks at a mighty crowded week ahead.
Last chance to see: Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Of An Anarchist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
YORK company Black Treacle Theatre stage Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s uproarious 1970 Italian farce in a new adaptation by Tom Basden, creator of Plebs and Here We Go, who updates the setting to the rotten state of present-day Britain.
Shining a satirical light on bent coppers, politicians and everything in between under Jim Paterson’s direction, the riotous drama is set in a police station where a suspect has “accidentally”’ fallen to his death, but did he jump or was he pushed? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter (Andrew Isherwood’s Maniac) is brought in for questioning. Cue cover-ups, corruption and (in)competence. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
Dinosaur World Live: Invading York Theatre Royal on Monday and Tuesday
Children’s show of the week:Dinosaur World Live, York Theatre Royal, October 21, 4.30pm; October 22, 10.30am and 4.30pm
DARE to experience the dangers and delights of dinosaurs in this mind-expanding, “roarsome” interactive Jurassic adventure, winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best Family Show.
Grab your compass and join Dinosaur World’s intrepid explorer on a venture across uncharted territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing, life-like dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, not least every child’s favourite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. A post-show meet and greet offers brave explorers the chance to make a new dinosaur friend. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jason Donovan, centre, as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, back at its regular York haunt, the Grand Opera House, next week
Touringmusical of the week: The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, October 21 to 26, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday, Saturday, 5.30pm and 8.30pm
AUSRALIAN actor, pop singer and soap star Jason Donovan returns to the Grand Opera House in a musical theatre role for the first time since playing drag act Mitzi Del Bar in Prisclla, Queen Of The Desert in November 2015.
“Rocky is panto for adults,” says Jason, 56, who is reprising his role as sweet transvestite Dr Frank N Furter on tour, after 25 years, in Richard O’Brien’s cult send-up of horror and science-fiction B-movies as squeaky clean American college couple Brad and Janet end up in the mad, seductive scientist’s Transylvanian lair. Box office: atgtickets.york.com.
Tempest Wisdom: Directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
Play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
‘TWO Gents’: possibly Shakespeare’s first play and definitely the only one with a part for a dog. But can the newly employed performers at Monkgate Music Hall pull off their production?
Under-rehearsed knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians must pool their skills in Tempest Wisdom’s dazzling take on this rarely performed comedy, delivered by York Shakespeare Project. “Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Steve Huison as his alter ego, working men’s club cabaret host Squinty McGinty, at The Crescent, York
Cabaret turn of the week, Steve Huison, Crescent Cabaret, The Crescent, York, October 23, doors, 6.30pm for 7.30pm start
AFTER exhibiting oil portraits of actors and musicians at Pyramid Gallery this summer, actor, artist and The Full Monty star Steve Huison presents The Crescent Cabaret in his guise as Squinty McGinty, “Agent to the Stars”, more usually to be found hosting Cabaret Saltaire.
Promoted in tandem with Pyramid Gallery owner and musician Terry Brett, who will make a stage appearance with Ukulele Sunshine Revival, this charity event will raise funds for Refugee Action York from meat raffle ticket sales at Huison’s affectionate, if outrageous, spoof of a typical northern working men’s club. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrej Uspenski
Dance show of the week: Company Wayne McGregor, Autobiography, V102 and V103, York Theatre Royal, October 25 and 26, 7.30pm
GENETIC code, AI and choreography merge in a Wayne McGregor work that reimagines and remakes itself anew for every performance. Layering choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks McGregor’s DNA data,Autobiography “upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”.
Now, AISOMA, a new AI tool developed with Google Arts and Culture – “utilising machine-learning trained on hundreds of hours of McGregor’s choreographic archive – overwrites initial configurations to present fresh movement options to the performers, injecting unfamiliar and often startling content into the choreographic ecosystem”. “Life, writing itself anew,” explains McGregor. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Nadia Reid: Making her Band Room debut on the North York Moors
Moorland gig of the season: Nadia Reid, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, October 26, 7.30pm
THE Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham first tried to book New Zealand singer-songwriter sensation Nadia Reid on her first British tour in 2017. “Persistence has paid off,” he says, welcoming her to “the greatest small venue on Earth” as part of a series of intimate, magical solo shows.
Noted for her evocative lyrics and introspective, folk-infused soundscapes, Reid has been described as “an understated, wise guide through uncertain territory”, drawing comparison with Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Gillian Welch and Sandy Denny. Latest album Out of My Province took her to Matthew E White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where producer Trey Pollard surrounded her songs in luminous washes of southern country soul. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.
Elbow: First headliners confirmed for second season of Live At York Museum Gardens, staged by Futuresound Group next summer
Gig announcement of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3 2025
GUY Garvey’s Mercury Prize-winning Bury band Elbow are confirmed as the first headliner for Futuresound’s second Live At York Museum Gardens concert weekend, after the sold-out success of Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary shows and Jack Savoretti this summer.
Elbow will be supported by Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution. Box office: futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333.
Recommended but sold out: James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 24 to 30, 7pm
James Swanton: sell-out run of The Signal-Man at York Medical Society. Picture: Jtu Photography
“SOMETHING unprecedented has happened: we’ve sold out the entire run over a month in advance! A first in my experience,” says York gothic actor and storyteller James Swanton ahead of the home-city leg of his Halloween Dickens show, The Signal-Man, with The Trial For Murder “thrown in for fun”.
“The Signal-Manis one of the most powerful ghost stories of all time and certainly the most frightening ever written by Charles Dickens. It’s paired here with The Trial For Murder, in which Dickens treats the supernatural with just as much terrifying gravity.”
James adds: “We’re privileged to be a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants for their annual Ghost Week celebrations.”
What happens in The Signal-Man? “A red light. A black tunnel. A waving figure. A warning beyond understanding. And the fear that someone – that something – is drawing closer,” says the storyteller of Dickens’s darkest explorations of the spirit world.
Over the past year, James has played monsters in The First Omen (20th Century Studios) and Tarot(Sony), as well as the title roles in two BBC chillers: The Curse Of The Ninth in Inside No. 9 and Lot No. 249, Mark Gatiss’s annual ghost story, a performance that spurred the Telegraph reviewer to call James “the scariest man on TV this Christmas”.
His Dickens work includes sell-out seasons of the Christmas Books at the Charles Dickens Museum, London, and his one-man play Sikes & Nancy at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios.
Are you too late for tickets for The Signal-Man? Fear not, James will be returning to York Medical Society from November 25 to 28 and December 2 to 5 for his annual performances of Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, suitable for age eight upwards. Tickets for these 65-minute 7pm performances are on sale on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
One ghost story will be told each night: November 25 to 27 and December 2 to 4, A Christmas Carol; November 28, The Chimes; December 5, The Haunted Man.
In Focus: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, York, Oct 24 to 26
Co-director and actor Mikhail Lim in one of myriad posters for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ production of Songs For A New World
YORK company Black Sheep Theatre Productions completes its October double bill of Jason Robert Brown productions with his 1995 theatrical song cycle Songs For A New World.
Tony Award-winning composer Brown is best known for his musicals Parade, 13 and The Last Five Years, the 2001 two-hander staged by Matthew Peter Clare’s company in collaboration with Wharfemede Productions at the NCEM last week.
First produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in New York, Songs For A New World defies conventional musical theatre formats. As described by Brown and original director Daisy Prince, the show is “neither musical play nor revue” but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle.”
“While it lacks a linear plot, the production explores universal themes such as hope, faith, love, and loss through a powerful collection of emotionally charged songs,” says Matthew, the production’s co-director, musical director and producer.
Black Sheep Theatre’s re-imagined production speaks directly to the growing uncertainty and tension of today’s political and social climate. Co-director Mikhail Lim and the creative team have crafted a fresh and relevant interpretation, designed to “resonate with audiences navigating the complexities of modern life”.
Songs For A New World cast member Rachel Higgs
This version expands the original cast of four to feature eight performers from York and beyond, creating a rich and multifaceted rendition.
“We believe this show will be a breakthrough in York’s theatre scene, offering something fresh, exciting, and deeply engaging,” says Mikhail. “The music alone will make audiences want to listen on repeat, but the show also connects emotionally, tugging on heartstrings and encouraging a renewed contemplation of today’s world.
“We hope audiences leave the theatre not only moved by the performances but also reflecting on the deeper themes we explore.”
After staging William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, now Black Sheep Theatre has worked meticulously on every aspect of Songs for A New World.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Songs For A New World
“The team is confident that this production will be a definitive version of Brown’s iconic work, delivering a truly unforgettable experience to all who attend,” says Matthew.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music,St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Creative team: Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare
Co-director: Mikhail Lim Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh
Cast: Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger; Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.
