Jodie Comer’s defence lawyer Tessa Ensler in Prima Facie. Picture: Rankin
YOU won’t see a better performance in York this year, but chances are, you won’t see it, as all eight shows sold out within 20 minutes of general sales opening 11 months ago.
Killing Eve star Jodie Comer is completing her Prima Facie journey with a nine-city tour, revisiting the remarkable role that brought her both Olivier Award and Tony Award success in Australian lawyer-turned-playwright Suzie Miller’s solo play.
The Grand Opera House last had such a pre-show buzz when Six The Musical played York for the first time in October 2022, building all the more for Wednesday night’s 7.30pm start as the clock ticked towards 7.45pm.
Then, suddenly, the pre-show music desisted, and there was Comer’s defence lawyer Tessa Ensler, atop a table, frozen for the only moment in silhouette on Miriam Buether’s set of row upon row of case-note files. For the next 100 minutes, she will not stop, draw breath, save for the only costume not conducted on stage, when a drenching in the rain necessitates an exit, also allowing the plotline to move forward 1,016 days.
Comer does everything, and I do mean everything, not only voicing every character in the reportage style of Miller’s writing, but even turning the tables physically as the tables turn on her metaphorically in an adrenalised shock of a performance as Miller’s Prima Facie “takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game”.
That game is the game of law, where the playing pitch is the courtroom and Comer’s Tessa is the working-class Liverpool lass-turned-Cambridge-educated defence lawyer hotshot, showing off her case-winning skills to a percussive beat in a razzle-dazzle opening to Justin Martin’s searing production that could swap the wig and gown for top hat and tails.
We learn that a defence lawyer’s modus operandi has one over-riding rule: “It’s not what you know; it’s what you don’t know,” Tessa says. As in, not knowing whether the defendant did in fact commit the crime.
We learn too that in a world where we now have the Donald Trump-trademarked “alternative truth”, as well as half truths, lies, damned lies and statistics, we have “legal truth”. Not “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” of the oath to be taken on the Bible when entering the dock or witness box, but what constitutes the truth in law. A kind of law unto itself.
In a nutshell, Comer’s Tessa goes from defending the defendant at all costs to being put through the prosecution grilling herself after she is sexually assaulted. You forget you are a watching a play; you are living every moment, as Tessa is.
A barrister is often compared with an actor, with the need to perform, to express skill at delivery of lines, supplemented by a keen sense of the moment, and above all the ability to move an audience/jury. Here, in Comer’s hands, the two fuse into one, her performance so complete that I hesitate to call it a performance.
And yet, of course, it is: acting of the highest quality, a tour-de-force feat of movement and memory and emotion, of initial humour, then horror, steely resolve and despair, a woman operating in what is still a man’s world, where the jury numbers eight men to four women, and the defendant has all his braying buddies in the gallery.
No wonder, this tour carries the tagline “Something Has To Change”, a sentiment topped off by 1 In 3 (I’m Fine), the climactic song of the startling soundtrack by Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor .
Your reviewer – and yes, I did pay for a prime stalls seat, in the absence of press tickets – has not seen such furious, relentless female intensity since Diana Rigg in Medea in more than 40 years of reviewing.
Prima Facie is a Greek tragedy for today, and on her return to a North Yorkshire stage for the first time since her professional debut as spoilt, mouthy but bright Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in November 2010, Jodie Comer affirms she is a talent for the ages.
Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 3pm and 7.30pm. SOLD OUT.
YorkSettlement Community Players director Fleur Hebditch stands outside York Theatre Royal, where her production of Blue Remembered Hills opens on Wednesday
FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade in Scarborough, is making her York Settlement Community Players directorial debut with Blue Remembered Hills.
From Wednesday to February 28, her production of Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama will run at York Theatre Royal Studio.
This is the Potter one where seven children – five boys, two girls – are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them, but their innocence is short lived as reality hits hard.
“I first saw the play at the National Theatre in the 1990s with Steve Coogan in the role of Willie,” says Fleur. “Without giving the plot away, it just affected me so much that I can still remember images to this day – and I’ve never seen it since.”
On moving to York, her own involvement in theatre took a back seat while looking after her eldest daughter Ariel’s career as a stand-up comedian, who has performed at the Brighton Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe (with Spruce Moose).
“But then last year I spoke with Juliet [York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster] to see if she needed any help with the community production of His Last Report, and I worked as assistant director on that show,” says Fleur.
York Settlement Community Players cast members in rehearsal for Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders
“That’s where I met Helen Wilson and Maurice Crichton, who were in the cast, and they said they were always looking for directors for Settlement Players. ‘Oh, that’s my favourite job,’ I said.”
Fleur duly put forward Blue Remembered Hills for Settlement’s February’s choice of classic play for timely revival. “It’s Potter’s writing that attracted me, the stories he tells, and how he’s at the forefront of being able to be on the edge [as a playwright], which is the same with seven-year-old children in this play and how they’re playing in the fields and the barn,” she says. “I’m also attracted to dark tales, and this is one of them.”
Potter’s play calls on adults to play children who in turn are mirroring adult behaviour. “They’re all so different, and that goes back to the audition process,” says Fleur. “They were so impressive when we started with a workshop where I needed the actors to improvise and have a freedom to get into character, not as children but as human beings. At that point we then read the text.”
As stage manager Helen Wilson notes: “It’s a very, very physical play.” “That’s another reason I like it, as I was a dancer when I was young,” says Fleur, who has had her cast playing games of Tig in the rehearsal room. “There’s a lot of playing around and fighting in the play, and that’s why I’ve stripped away the props so that it’s just about the actors interacting.
“The play is just straight through, no interval, and it’s all over in an hour. That makes it very immediate, and so the audience is in the moment, just as the characters are. It’s very intense as well as really physical, and that helps the actors as they don’t have a break and their journey through the play is very focused.”
Potter’s dialogue matches that intensity. “He is quite fantastical in a lot of his plays, but this one is more naturalistic, because the language is colloquial, and that helps the actors find their characters. They speak as children without making it a parody,” says Fleur.
Victoria Delaney in the Blue Remembered Hills rehearsal room
“The beauty of his writing is that the words are very simplistic, but as we’ve gone through rehearsals, we’ve realised the depth of what we’ve been given to explore.”
Helen joins in: “Even the bully, Peter [played by Settlement newcomer Rich Wareham, after only four months in York] , you actually see the other side of him through Potter’s writing, so there’s a poignancy to him, even it’s only for a few seconds – and there is empathy with all of the characters.”
Fleur rejoins: “Being children, they have this innocence about them, where they don’t yet know what ‘wrong’ is. I decided to create each of their worlds by working individually with each actor, like working with Rich on bringing out the reasons for why he’s a bully; making him a more human character, rather than merely two-dimensional where you just think, ‘well, he’s a bully’. Bringing out the individuality has fed into the rehearsals really well.”
Although Aristotle once said, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man”, Fleur notes how a seven-year-old child’s behaviour differs from adulthood. “That’s a specific time when they go from one emotion to another in the blink of an eye, and you just have to put your adult self to one side because that’s how children are. It’s about having that freedom, where they go from being best friends one minute to falling out or pulling their hair. They can be feral.”
Fleur, by day a registrar at York Register Office, has enjoyed her Settlement directorial debut “immensely”. “I’ve been trusted to use my artistry and to be creative in the way I wanted, and having that freedom has been fantatstic,” she says.
York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2pm, February 21 and 28. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time,” says Jodie Comer, as she plays defence barrister Tessa Ensler on tour. Picture: Rankin
JODIE Comer willrevive her Olivier and Tony Award-winning solo performance in Suzie Miller’s sexual assault drama Prima Facie “one last time” on a 2026 tour booked into the Grand Opera House, York, from February 17 to 21.
The Killing Eve, The Bikeriders and 28 Years Later star last appeared on a North Yorkshire stage in her professional debut asspoilt, mouthy but bright, privately educated Ruby, playing opposite York actor Andrew Dunn in the world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in November 2010.
Tickets for the only Yorkshire venue on Prima Facie’s nine-city “Something Has To Change” tour went on sale on March 25 2025, for pre-sale to members at 10am and the general public at 12 noon, selling out only 20 minutes later.
Looking forward to reprising Miller’s monodrama on tour – directed by Justin Martin with music by Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor – Comer says: “It is a huge privilege to return to Prima Facie for one last time and take this important play on tour across the UK & Ireland. The resonance of Suzie Miller’s writing, both in London and New York, exceeded anything we could have imagined.
Jodie Comer in her professional theatre debut as Ruby in Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in 2010. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
“I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to get the team back together and take the production to theatres around the country, including my hometown of Liverpool. On a personal note, I can’t think of a better finale to what has been such an incredible and deeply rewarding chapter in my life.”
In criminal lawyer-turned playwright Miller’s Olivier Award winner for Best Play, Comer, 32, will play thoroughbred Tessa Ensler, a young, brilliant barrister who loves to win.
Ambitious Tessa has worked her way up from Liverpool and Luton council estates, via Cambridge University, to be at the top of her game in her early 30s as a criminal defence barrister for an esteemed London chambers: defending the accused, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case.
However, an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.
Jodie Comer in Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, on April 25 2022. Picture: Helen Murray
“She played by the rules, but the rules are broken,” as the sleeve to Miller’s script puts it, when Tessa, the woman who defends men accused of rape, is assaulted herself and ends up in the witness box.
In her 90-minute play, Miller, who was a lawyer for 15 years before focusing on writing since 2010, drew on research from trials at the Old Bailey to address how the legal system conducts sexual assault cases.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the Prima Facie 2026 tour,” says the Australian playwright, screenwriter, librettist, visual artist, novelist and human rights lawyer, who has degrees in both science and law.
“This play has already achieved more than we all could have dreamed, and Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution.”
“Jodie’s commitment to the story reaching so many new venues and communities means more people can be part of the conversation, and the solution,” says Prima Facie playwright Suzie Miller. Picture: Rankin
Liverpool-born Comer won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her 2022 performance as Tessa in her sold-out West End debut at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, repeating that feat in the Tony Awards when Miller’s play transferred to Broadway in 2023.
The NTLive (National Theatre) and Empire Street Productions live capture of Prima Facie has enjoyed two record-breaking cinema releases, with streaming on National Theatre At Home too, and Comer also has recorded an audiobook adaptation by Miller.
Now, opening at Richmond Theatre, Surrey, on January 23, Comer will complete the “perfect full circle by concluding the tour in her home city at the Liverpool Playhouse from March 17 to 21.
In an exclusive interview with Harpers Bazaar journalist Helena Lee on January 22, (https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a70089560/jodie-comer-prima-facie-play-tour/), Comer said: “Honestly, it’s just such a gift. I’ve got a fair chance to revisit Tess, to see how the character can develop and what further truth I can find. It’s rare.
Jodie Comer’s Tessa Ensler, the young, brilliant barrister who loves to win in Prima Facie. Picture: Rankin
“I’ve had so many different life experiences [since she first played Tess]. I’m coming into the room feeling a little more confident, a little more knowing, which is making for more detailed and revelatory discoveries.”
Comer’s Harpers Bazaar interview concluded: “We’re going out to regional, smaller cities and presenting Tess to the people she probably speaks to most. To go on this tour and have the final week in Liverpool – a homecoming for both Tess and myself – feels really quite magical.”
Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees, all sold out. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.
NO press tickets are being provided for Prima Facie’s visit to the Grand Opera House, York. Frustratingly, CharlesHutchPress will not be reviewing the hottest ticket of the year, so hot that he was unable to purchase one in the booking tsunami on March 25 last year.
Robin Herford directing rehearsals for the 2025-2026 tour of The Woman In Black. Picture: Mark Douet
ROBIN Herford commissioned and directed Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel The Woman In Black at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough in 1987.
First performed in the SJT bar over the Christmas season, it transferred to the London stage, where it ran for 33 years, including 13,000 performances at the Fortune Theatre, before closing in March 2023.
More than seven million people have seen Mallatratt’s play in the UK since the SJT premiere of its tale of elderly lawyer Arthur Kipps being convinced that a curse has been placed on his family by the spectre of the Woman in Black.
When Kipps hires an initially sceptical young actor to help him recount his story, as they delve into his past, the boundaries between fiction and reality begin to blur.
Now Herford is directing PW Productions’ 2025-2026 tour with a cast of John Mackay and Daniel Burke. Ahead of next week’s return to the Grand Opera House, York, he discusses The Woman In Black’s Scarborough premiere, longevity on the London stage, directorial challenges and ever-changing casts.
Did you anticipate The Woman In Black would have such a long life when it first opened at the SJT in 1987?
“No, absolutely not! When I commissioned my friend Stephen Mallatratt to adapt Susan Hill’s ghost story for the stage in the autumn of 1987, it was to run over Christmas for three and a half weeks in the bar of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, a space which doubled as an occasional studio theatre seating 70 people.
“We had a tiny budget, £1,000 for the set and costumes, enough money to pay for a maximum of four actors, and a very restricted acting area, so it had to be staged very ingeniously. Stephen’s brilliant solution – to turn it into a piece for only two speaking actors – actually meant we didn’t use up all of our allotted resources.
“By the end of the run, which went very well, we dared to wonder if it might warrant a London production.”
What happened next?
“We found a producer, Peter Wilson, who was willing to support us, and opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in January 1989. Favourable reviews enabled us to move into the Strand, then the Playhouse, and finally the Fortune Theatre by June of that year, where we stayed for 33 years. Extraordinary.”
What changes, if any, have you made to the production over that time?
“In essence, the play has changed very little. Moving into larger theatres gave us greater scope for special effects, for example the addition of a hidden staircase at the back of the stage, but its basic simplicity has been preserved, because that is built into the concept of how the story is told.
“Two people alone in an empty theatre, and the whole auditorium is the set – not just what happens on the stage – a fact which really unsettles audiences, since it is no longer their ‘safe space’.
“I have tried to create a product which can expand or contract to fit whatever size of theatre we are playing. We use the magic of theatre, with such basic tools of light/darkness and sound/silence to build tension and atmosphere, and all the time, I have tried to ensure that the audience’s imagination continues to be the main driver to the action of the play. I show as little as possible and try to rely instead on the power of suggestion.”
John Mackay as Arthur Kipps, left, and Daniel Burke as The Actor in The Woman In Black
How does returning to a project differ from working on something new?
“Returning to a project may seem for a director to be a safe option, engendering a feeling of confidence and security, but for the new cast of actors, it is absolutely a new experience as they bring their own imaginations, intelligence and emotional responses into contact with the script, and this means a renewed, fresh show.
“Though the way the production works might remain largely unchanged, the characters created by the actors will be enormously diverse.”
How have you kept the theatre magic alive after so many years?
“Again, it’s the transfusion of new blood that a new cast brings to the play which keeps the magic alive. But also, it’s the freshness of response from new audiences, who are such a vital component in the theatre experience.
“To perform a story to a group of people at the same moment, who have come together on that day with a common purpose to hear that story, is really powerful and carries its own magic.”
How do you feel when you hear audience reactions to The Woman In Black?
“Audiences react to this play in a surprising variety of ways. As a rule, people don’t expect to be frightened in a theatre, but this play seems to buck this trend. Quite often, they will come expecting to be scared and react accordingly.
“Sometimes, they are not quite sure how they will respond and are surprised to hear themselves yelp involuntarily, often leading to laughter immediately afterwards. Sometimes, the play is received in silence, the audience reserving their appreciation until the curtain call, when at other times, a lot of humour is discovered in the early exchanges. There is no ‘right’ way to respond.
“This play particularly appeals to young people, and I take huge pleasure in seeing our next generation of theatregoers finding a show they can relate to and appreciating it to the full. Teachers find it a very fruitful piece to teach from, celebrating, as it does, the art of acting, as well as the simple joys of live theatre.”
Why do you think we as audience members enjoy being scared?
“I find this hard to answer, since I don’t particularly enjoy being scared as a member of an audience! I tend to switch off when presented with too much blood and gore, or by the wildly improbable.
“With this play, the story it relates is tragic and horrible, but it is also a very believable, human story, and we really care about all the people affected by its outcome. It’s a play about courage in the face of really challenging circumstances, demonstrated in contrasting ways.
The Woman In Black has starred such actors as Frank Finlay, Edward Petherbridge, Joseph Fiennes and Martin Freeman.Does each cast bring something fresh to the production?
“We’ve already talked about the immense contribution made by actors to the show. Those four actors, two hugely established, and two right at the start of their careers (it was Joseph Fiennes’ first professional job, whom I cast while he was still at drama school!) demonstrates the huge variety of actors who have stepped up and brought their own particular brand of magic to this show. I have indeed been blessed.”
The Woman In Black haunts Grand Opera House, York, from January 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Ancient Hostility: Passionate political and personal song in harmony at The Black Swan Inn, York
IN his first guide to the New Year, Charles Hutchinson picks out upcoming highlights on January’s calendar.
Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools III, The Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, January 4, 7.30pm, doors 7pm
WELCOME to A Feast Of Fools III, York arts collective Navigators Art’s sign-off to “Holiday’s end – the last gasp of Mischief” in a celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas is packed with live folk music and a nod to the pagan and the impish.
On the bill will be: Ancient Hostility, performing passionate political and personal song in harmony, in the vein of The Young Tradition, plus fiddle and squeezebox, and North West folk duo Joshua Arnold and Therine, presenting vocal-led trad and experimental versions of songs in the British folk canon on hurdy gurdy, harmonium and DIY instruments.
So too are Pefkin, whose slowly unfolding, ritualistic hymnals draw heavily on the landscape and the natural world, using processed violin/viola, electronics, voice and field recordings, and White Sail, York’s multi-instrumental alt-folk legends, weaving sound-spells for the season’s final curtain. Box office: www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance.
The Hammonds Band: A blast of brass at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Lorne Campbell
The Hammonds Band, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, January 11, 3pm
THE award-winning Hammonds Band returns to the SJT for an afternoon of the best of brass music. Founded by mill owner Sir Titus Salt in Saltaire as an amenity for the workers, the band later had a long association with Hammonds Sauce Works under the baton of the legendary Geoffrey Whitham. Now, under Morgan Griffiths’s direction, the band performs across the world. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Danielle Long’s Prince Valentine and Alice Rose’s Snow Whitein Pickering Musical Society’s panto Snow White
Pickering Musical Society in Snow White, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, January 14 to 25, 7.15pm, except January 19; 2.15pm, January 17, 18, 24 and 25
INTEREST has been “extraordinary” for Pickering Musical Society’s January 2026 pantomime, directed for the tenth year by resident director Luke Arnold. More than 1,000 tickets have sold already; January 18’s 2.15pm performance has sold out and several others are close behind.
Written by Ron Hall, the show combines comedy, spectacle, festive magic, dazzling scenery and colourful costumes and features such principals as Marcus Burnside’s Dame Dumpling, Danielle Long’s Prince Valentine, Alice Rose’s Snow White, Paula Cook’s Queen Lucrecia and Sue Smithson’s Fairy Dewdrop. Audiences are encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.littleboxoffice.com.
York actor Harry Summers: Wintering in panto villainy as Abanazar in Malton and Norton Musical Theatre’s Aladdin
Malton and Norton Musical Theatre in Aladdin – The Pantomime, Milton Rooms, Malton, January 17, 1.30pm, 5.15pm; January 18, 2pm; January 20 to 23, 7.15pm; January 24, 1pm, 5.15pm
BETWIXT York roles in York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy and Black Treacle Theatre’s Anne Boleyn, Harry Summers continues to corner the market in dark, dramatic and deliciously boo-worthy roles as wicked magician Abanazar in Malton and Norton Musical Theatre’s Aladdin.
Fresh from his villainous scene-stealing in The Spanish Tragedy, Thomas Jennings plays the Emperor, insisting he is “one of the good guys”, even if his idea of good includes execution and arranged marriages. Further principal players in the mystical land of Shangri-La include Harriet White’s Aladdin, Isabel Davis’s Princess Jasmine; Rory Queen’s dame, Widow Twankey, Tom Gleave’s Wishee Washee, Mark Summers’ Genie of the Lamp and Annabelle Free’s Spirit of the Ring. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Sue Perkins: Reflecting on stigma, humiliation and misunderstanding at the Grand Opera House, York
The Eternal Shame Of Sue Perkins, Grand Opera House, York, January 18, 7.30pm
YOU may know her as Bake-Off Sue, Taskmaster Sue, Just A Minute Sue, or the Sue that gives you travel envy, but stand-up Sue is full of surprises. In this new show, Sue Perkins shares the unlikely happenings from a career in the spotlight.
What’s the fallout when your pituitary gland goes haywire on live TV? How do you convince the public you didn’t really fall on to that vacuum cleaner attachment? And when intimate photos are splashed all over the internet, how do you switch the shame to dignity and joy? Find out in Perkins’ first live show in more than a decade, wherein she delivers a humorous treatise on stigma, humiliation and misunderstanding. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Deadpan Players’ Star Wars spoof at the JoRo, York
Deadpan Players in Star Wars: May The Farce Be With You, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 23, 7.30pm, and January 24, 2pm and 7.30pm
IN a time of deep unrest, rebel forces are fighting for survival. Led by Garth Vader, the Empire has created a sinister network called The Dark Web, through which Vader could travel back in time to crush the rebellion. Plucky Princess Slaya has encrypted and uploaded the password, along with a desperate cry for help to cute droid R2Ai.
Can Fluke Skywalker decipher the message, find Only One Kenobi, enlist the help of rogue pilot Ham Solo and the legendary, if rather pungent, Gedi Master, the diminutive but powerful “Odour”, then rescue the Princess and save the Galaxy? Find out by attending this fundraising event, with all proceeds going to Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Candlelighters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Snake Davis and special guest Sumudu Jayatilaka: Performing together at Helmsley Arts Centre
Snake & Sumudu, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 24 2026, 7.30pm
SAXOPHONIST to the stars Snake Davis and singer-songwriter Sumudu Jayatilaka often meet up to perform with Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra or to play together in arts centres.
Raised in Scunthorpe, now based in London, Sumudu has frequently toured as a backing vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and percussionist for Sir Van Morrison. At 15, she made her TV debut on BBCs Pebble Mill At One, performing her own composition, accompanied by Snake on sax and flute. Later they took part in a Royal Albert Hall concert with Burt Bacharach and Hal David. At Helmsley, expect classic pop, original compositions and a touch of soul and jazz. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Mike Joyce: Discussing his days on the beat with The Smiths at Pocklington Arts Centre
Mike Joyce, The Drums: My Life In The Smiths, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 28, 7.30pm
DRUMMER Mike Joyce has been asked numerous times, “What was it like being in The Smiths?”. “That’s one hell of a question to answer!” he says. Answer it, he does, however, both in his 2025 memoir and now in his touring show The Drums: My Life In The Smiths.
To reflect on being stationed behind singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr from 1982 to 1987, Joyce will be interviewed by the Guardian music journalist Dave Simpson, who lives near York. Audience members can put their questions to Joyce too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Kiara Nicole Pillai’s Molly and Jacob Butler’s Dan, her best friend, in Nick Lane’s Sleeping Beauty at the SJT, Scarborough. All pictures: Tony Bartholomew
NO rest for the wicked Crepuscula in Sleeping Beauty, and no rest for Sleeping Beauty either, or Molly, as writer Nick Lane calls her in his radical reboot of Charles Perrault’s tale.
Molly, spoiler alert, will not sleep through much of Act Two, in panto tradition, awaiting a Prince’s arrival to awake her from 100 years of deep slumber. The Prince, by the way, has been jettisoned too, replaced by best friend Dan.
Lane never goes down the obvious lane, nor indeed down familiar pantomime alleyways. He puts story first and foremost, appealing to children and the inner child in the adult alike, and rather than set-piece routines, he lets cast and audience have equal fun with how he can spin a familiar tale in new ways.
You Butter believe it: Annie Kirkman’s evil Crepuscula working in tandem with Oliver Mawdsley’s henchman Butter in Sleeping Beauty
What’s more, after 2024’s Aladdin didn’t match the peaks of Beauty And The Beast, Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland and A (Scarborough) Christmas Carol, Sleeping Beauty is Lane back at his best, pulling all the theatrical strings with his combination of thrills, spills and almost delirious silliness, topped off with big pop hits and a dance–off.
He happens to be directing the show for the first time too, no mean feat in the present circumstances when he is in the hop stage, awaiting his second hip operation as he heals from his first.
Sleeping Beauty moves between the modern world of Scarborough, or Scarborinia as Lane renames it this year, the Dreamland of the slumbering Molly (Kiara Nicole Pillai) and the Fairy world of Perrault’s creation, occupied by Aurore, the queen (Pillai again), Clair du Lune (Amy Drake) and Crepuscula (the outstanding Annie Kirkman).
Sleeping Beauty writer-director Nick Lane in the Stephen Joseph Theatre rehearsal room
On the cusp of turning 12, Molly is Aurore’s daughter, born half fairy, half human, and so a “hairy”, as her dad is plain old human Dave (Jacob Butler). To protect her from Crepuscula’s clutches with her finger-pricking plan, she is living with Auntie Claire (Claire de Lune in human form) and Uncle Harry (Oliver Mawdsley, a tooth fairy obsessed with dental hygiene and an unfortunate track record for magic tricks going wrong).
Are you keeping up with all this minutiae? The great joy is that Lane allows it all to take shape, to work its spell, as a journey of discovery not only for Molly but for the audience tooe, everything seeping in as another pop banger bounces around the stage under Alex Weatherill’s musical direction and Dylan Townley’s composition and sound design skills.
Kirkman, wickedly good as the intemperate baddie Crepuscula, holds the aces in Act One, constantly entering Molly’s Dreamland where she keeps having the same alarming dream, the one with the Hippo-Faced Man (Mawdsley again).
Oliver Mawdsley’s Uncle Harry: Fearing another magic spell could be going wrong in Sleeping Beauty
Into this world too come the most unconventional henchmen you are likely to encounter this season: Sock and Butter, conjured from, yes, a sock and a pack of butter by Crepuscula into full-sized form that finds Kirkman’s Crepuscula wiping butter from Butter’s unwanted clench on to audience members’ knees with a gurning look of disapproval.
Molly must find her way out of Dreamland before the 100 years are up, journeying in Act Two from Golden Miles’ happy place to the Weird Lands and finally, and most dangerously, the Nightmare Swamps.
Rather than slumbering through Act Two, like President Trump appearing to “fall asleep” at his December 2 cabinet meeting, Pillai’s Molly is centre stage and restless to leave her Dreamland, and Sleeping Beauty is so much better for awakening the world going on inside her head.
Drake’s five: Amy Drake in one of her quintet of roles in Sleeping Beauty, where she plays Auntie Claire/Clair de Lune, Amber, Fake Claire and Fluffy Robin
Lane’s cast is a delight, from Pillai’s gymnastic, livewire Molly and stern Aurore to Mawdsley’s disaster-prone Uncle Harry, Kirkman’s disdainful villain Crepuscula to Butler’s amusingly ordinary Dan and Dave and slippery Butter. Amy Drake, called on to play no fewer than five roles, is terrific throughout, full of contrasts, excellent comic timing and physical comedy too, especially as Fluffy Robin.
Audience participation is key too, divided into four to shout out separate instructions, where Lane’s new expression “Bumfroth” earns Hutchinson’s Word of the Year for 2025, a far more worthy winner than the Oxford University Press picking that “rage bait” variation on “click bait”.
Lane’s direction is fun, lively, playful, imaginative and full of momentum, matching his writing’s sense of wonder, as if entering the world of Edward Lear or Lewis Carroll.
Let’s dance:Amy Drake, left, Kiara Nicole Pillai, Jacob Butler, Annie Kirkman and Oliver Mawdsley strike a pose on Helen Coyston’s stars-and-stripes set in Nick Lane’s Sleeping Beauty
Stephanie Dattani’s choreography hits the spot too, while Helen Coyston’s set, with Molly’s bedroom on the gantry and an open-plan design on ground level for maximum movement, is complemented by costume designs suited to each of the differing worlds. Crepuscula could be out of Six The Musical; Butter and Sock, from Leigh Bowery.
Mark ‘Tigger’ Johnson’s lighting design is suitably magical, while Magritte would love the multitude of lampshades decorating the sky above.
You should not rest until you have secured a ticket for this Sleeping Beauty, and should you be wondering, Nick Lane’s world of fantastical theatre will return for Puss In Boots from December 5 to 31 next year. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Annie Kirkman’s villainous Crepuscula putting Fairyland queen Aurore on alert in Sleeping Beauty
Having a laugh: Writer-director Nick Lane enjoying rehearsals for his variation on Sleeping Beauty at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture:Tony Bartholomew
REGULAR Christmas show writer Nick Lane is making his Stephen Joseph Theatre directorial debut with Sleeping Beauty, joined in the rehearsal room by actors Jacob Butler, Amy Drake, Annie Kirkman, Oliver Mawdsley and Kiara Nicole Pillai.
“Have you ever had one of those dream?” he asks. “You know the ones, the one where you’re running but you can’t get anywhere? Or the one where you really, really need the loo but people keep getting in your way?
“What about the dream where you get cursed by a wicked fairy to prick your finger on your 12th birthday and fall asleep for 100 years?
“Not had that one? Molly has. She’s been having it a lot recently. Her 12th birthday is just around the corner. The day before Christmas Eve, in fact.”
Her Auntie keeps saying “One more sleep”. “But if Molly’s not careful, she could end up having have the longest and craziest sleep of her life!” says Nick, introducing his typically unconventional take on a familiar tale, one that opens at the SJT tomorrow.
“I didn’t want to do that Sleeping Beauty – even when she is awake, she has no agency and she’s barely in it!” he says. “So I’ve found a way of subverting it, where she will not just spend the second half asleep in a bed. She will in fact be in a dream world, so she will be ‘asleep’ but we will see her dream world.”
Nick has “tried to remain second cousins with the original Charles Perrrault story”. “The Wicked Fairy wants Fairyland for herself, and so sending ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to sleep is part of the gambit of leveraging Fairyland for herself.
“In the original story, the Wicked Witch wanted to kill Sleeping Beauty, but you’re not going to get many laughs if you kill her, so we change it to tricking her into being asleep in Dreamland.”
Nick continues: “What we’ve done is play around with the idea that there are three different types of dream: the Golden Miles of happy dreams; the Weird Lands, and the Swamp of nightmares.
“Our Sleeping Beauty, Molly, has to navigate her way from one place to another to find her way out of Dreamland to save us from an authoritarian fairy.
“The journey, and the order of that journey is integral to the plot, as she journeys through nice dreams, weird dreams and awful dreams.”
Nick’s Sleeping Beauty is “just an ordinary girl called Molly”. “She lives with Auntie Claire and Uncle Harry, she’s about to turn 12, and she’s been having these strange dreams about pricking her finger,” he says.
“The idea is that Molly is half-fairy, half human, otherwise known as ‘Hairy’. Being brought up by her aunt and uncle, she doesn’t know that her mother’s the Queen of the Fairies but her dad is a mere human, a bloke called Dave, living in Scarborinia.”
Auntie Claire is in fact Clair de Lune; the authoritarian fairy is called Crepuscula and her mother is Aurore. “Their names are all to do with light: dawn light, twilight and night light,” says Nick.
“Our Crepuscula is a fairy supremacist who believes that humans have no place in Fairyland, and Aurore had no right to bring her daughter there as Crepuscula believes she should be ruling Fairyland.”
Out goes the usual Prince of the story too, replaced by plain old Dan, while Nick creates two henchmen characters, Sock and Butter, out of…a sock and a pack of butter.
He loves steering clear of the conventions of pantomime to create his own form of boisterous, madly inventive Christmas show. “The thing is, because they’re such well-known stories, pantomime does a good job of making them silly while still trying to stick to the story, but I have always thought, ‘why not try to do something different with the story, like making Aladdin rubbish at magic,” he says.
“This time I thought, ‘what if Sleeping Beauty could be ‘awake’ and make her way out through the 100 years’.”
Nick continues: “Pantomime tends to be a lot of mucking about and not enough storytelling, so I’m not a big fan of it. It doesn’t do a lot for me. I know it’s the only time that some people go to the theatre, but panto done badly is merely mucking around, when it needs to be more than that. What I do is kids’ stories but hopefully with adult appeal too – and kids are smarter than we think.”
As for Helen Coyston’s set design, Nick says: “Scarborinia is a kind of modern-day Scarborough, while Dreamland is more weird, with Sock and Butter living there, and it looks amazing. Like a quilt, all soft and lovely!”
Sleeping Beauty stays awake at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from November 29 to December 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Danny Horn’s Ray Davies leading The Kinks in Sunny Afternoon, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Manuel Harlan
SUNNY Afternoon’s Kinks songs for dark nights, Dibley comedic delights and drag diva Velma Celli’s frock rock catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye.
Musical of the week: Sonia Freidman Productions and ATG Productions present Sunny Afternoon, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees
RETURNING to York for the first time since February 2017, four-time Olivier Award winner Sunny Afternoon charts the raw energy, euphoric highs, troubling lows, mendacious mismanagement and brotherly spats of Muswell Hill firebrands The Kinks, equipped with an original story (and nearly 30 songs) by frontman Ray Davies.
The script is by Joe Penhall, who says: “As a band The Kinks were the perennial outsider – punk before punk.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Nicki Clay’s Reverend Geraldine Granger in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Paul Miles
Village drama of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre:41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
NICKI Clay is going doubly Dibley for MARMiTE Theatre in the new York company’s debut production of The Vicar Of Dibley, having played Geraldine Grainger for The Monday Players in Escrick in May.
Martyn Hunter directs Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter’s cherry-picking of the best of Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s first two TV series, bringing together all the favourite eccentric residents of Dibley as the new vicar’s arrival shakes up the parish council of this sleepy English village. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
N’Faly Kouyaté: Dancing shoes recommended
African rhythms of the week: N’Faly Kouyaté, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm
AFTER gracing stages across the world with Afro Celt Sound System — where Celtic voices and instrumentation met the vibrant heartbeat of African rhythms — avant-garde griot N’Faly Kouyaté embarks on a profoundly personal journey.
This masterful Guinean multi-instrumentalist, inspired vocalist and living bridge between ancestral heritage and future sounds returns with his album Finishing, whose songs stir the soul, provoke reflection, elicit smiles and set bodies moving. Bring your dancing shoes! Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Velma Celli: Rock Queen with a nod to David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane slash. Picture: Sophie Eleanor Photography
Drag night of the week: Velma Celli: Rock Queen, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK’S international drag diva deluxe Velma Celli follows up her iconic October 1 appearance in Coronation Street soapland withan “overindulgent evening celebrating and re-imagining the best of rock classics” with her band.
The alter ego of West End musical star Ian Stroughair, who has shone in Cats, Fame, Rent and Chicago, cabaret queen Velma’s live vocal drag act has been charming audiences for 14 years, whether at Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse, her Impossible Brunches at Impossible York, or in such shows as A Brief History Of Drag, My Divas, God Save The Queens and Divalussion (with Christina Bianco). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Beth McCarthy: Heading back home to play Big Ian’s A Night To Remember charity concert. Picture: Duncan Lomax., Ravage Productions
Charity event of the week: Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm
BIG Ian Donaghy hosts a “night of York helping York” featuring a 30-strong band led by George Hall with a line-up of York party band HUGE, Jess Steel, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay, Graham Hodge, The Y Street Band, Simon Snaize, Annie-Rae Donaghy, fiddler Kieran O’Malley, Samantha Holden, Las Vegas Ken and musicians from York Music Forum, plus a guest choir.
Proceeds from this three-hour fundraiser go to St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York, Accessible Arts & Media and York dementia projects. Tickets update: Balcony seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Staff woes: William Ilkley, left, Levi Payne and Dylan Allcock in John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, on tour at the SJT, Scarborough
One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 12 to 15, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze.
The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Ensemble 360: Performing works by Shostakovich and Dvořák at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Matthew Johnson and Music in the Round
Classical matinee concert of the week: Ensemble 360, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm
ENSEMBLE 360’s chamber musicians Benjamin Nabarro and Claudia Ajmone-Marsan, violins, Rachel Roberts, viola, Gemma Rosefield, cello, and Tim Horton, piano, perform the dramatic intensity and soaring lyricism of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 and the radiant warmth and Czech folk-inspired melodies of Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, a piece cherished for its lush harmonies, spirited dances and seamless instrumental interplay. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Rock’n’roll show of the week: Two Pianos, Pocklington Arts Centre, Thursday, 7.30pm
IN the words of Jerry Lew Lewis, “Two Pianos are awesome rockers”. Tomorrow night, David Barton and Al Kilvo bring their rock’n’roll piano show to Pocklington for a journey through the golden age of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Ray Charles, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee and, yes, the “The Killer” himself. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Lydia Hough and Joseph Taylor in London City Ballet’s Pictures At An Exhibition, on tour at York Theatre Royal
Dance show of the week: London City Ballet: Momentum, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion); Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
LONDON City Ballet, former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, returns to York Theatre Royal with Momentum, a new repertoire that showcases artists rarely seen in the UK. Haieff Divertimento, an early George Balanchine work, was thought to be lost for 40 years after its premiere and remained unseen outside the USA until now. Emerging choreographer Florent Melac, premier danseur at Paris Opera Ballet, combines inventive transitions with intimate partnering in his fluid new work.
Alexei Ratmansky, New York City Ballet’s artist in residence, presents Pictures At An Exhibition, performed to Modest Mussorgsky’s eponymous score, set against a backdrop depicting Wassily Kandinsky’s paintings. Unseen in the UK since its 2009 premiere, Liam Scarlett’s Consolations & Liebestraum is a response to Franz Liszt’s piano score, depicting the life cycle of a relationship, its blossoming and later fracturing love. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Danny Horn’s Ray Davies leading The Kinks in Sunny Afternoon, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, from next Tuesday. Picture: Manuel Harlan
SUNNY Afternoon’s Kinks songs for dark nights, Dibley comedic delights and drag diva Velma Celli’s frock rock catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye.
Musical of the week: Sonia Freidman Productions and ATG Productions present Sunny Afternoon, Grand Opera House, York, November 11 to 15, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees
RETURNING to York for the first time since February 2017, four-time Olivier Award winner Sunny Afternoon charts the raw energy, euphoric highs, troubling lows, mendacious mismanagement and brotherly spats of Muswell Hill firebrands The Kinks, with an original story (and nearly 30 songs) by frontman Ray Davies.
The script is by Joe Penhall, who says: “As a band The Kinks were the perennial outsider – punk before punk.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
MarcoLooks: Exhibiting at Inspired – York Artists & Designer Makers Winter Fair at York Cemetery Chapel
Christmas presence of the week: Inspired – York Artists & Designer Makers Winter Fair, York Cemetery Chapel, Cemetery Road, York, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
NINE York artists and designers will be selling their work for the Christmas season in the divine setting of York Cemetery Chapel. Among them will be collagraphy printmaker Sally Clarke, jewellery designer Jo Bagshaw, artist Adrienne French, printmaker Petra Bradley and illustrator MarcoLooks . Enjoy a winter walk in the beautiful grounds too. Free entry, free parking.
Clive Marshall RIP: York Railway Institute Band and York Opera perform in his memory at The Citadeltonight
Marshalling forces: York Railway Institute Band and York Opera, Clive Marshall Memorial Concert, The Citadel, Gillygate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK Railway Institute Band and York Opera members come together tonight for a charity musical tribute to much-loved colleague Clive Marshall (1936-2025). Expect soaring choruses, heartfelt arias and the very best of operatic overtures in tonight’s programme of popular classics, in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice, where Clive spent the final days of his life in March this year.
He was chairman of the RI band, leading the trombone section for many years, and first performed for York Opera in 1968, going on to play multiple character roles and stage direct myriad productions too. Box office: https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793750 or on the door.
At your service, in the French style: Nicki Clay’s Reverend Geraldine Granger in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley
Village drama of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 11 to 15,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
NICKI Clay is going doubly Dibley for MARMiTE Theatre in the new York company’s debut production of The Vicar Of Dibley, having played Geraldine Granger for The Monday Players in Escrick in May.
Martyn Hunter directs Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter’s cherry-picking of the best of Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s first two TV series, bringing together all the favourite eccentric residents of Dibley as the new vicar’s arrival shakes up the parish council of this sleepy English village. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Velma Celli: Rock Queen, with a nod to David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane slash make-up, at York Theatre Royal
Drag night of the week: Velma Celli: Rock Queen, York Theatre Royal, November 12, 7.30pm
YORK’S international drag diva deluxe Velma Celli follows up her iconic October 1 appearance in Coronation Street soapland with an “overindulgent evening celebrating and re-imagining the best of rock classics” with her band.
The alter ego of West End musical star Ian Stroughair, who has shone in Cats, Fame, Rent and Chicago, cabaret queen Velma’s live vocal drag act has been charming audiences for 14 years, whether at Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse, her Impossible Brunches at Impossible York, or in such shows as A Brief History Of Drag, My Divas, God Save The Queens, Equinox, Velma Celli Goes Gaga, Show Queen and Divalussion (with Christina Bianco). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for Toby Lee’s 2025 tour show, An Evening of Blues & Soul, at The Crescent
Blues gig of the week: Toby Lee & James Emmanuel plus Isabella Coulstock, An Evening of Blues & Soul, The Crescent, York, November 12, 7.30pm
BLUES prodigy Toby Lee’s musical journey started at only four years old when his grandmother bought him a yellow and green ukulele. This little instrument went everywhere with him, and he played it constantly, mainly tunes by Elvis and Buddy Holly. At eight, he received his first electric guitar for Christmas while staying at a Cornish. By chance, staying there too was Uriah Heep’s Mick Box, who duly gave him tips and picks. From that moment, Lee knew precisely what he wanted to do when he grew up.
Now 20, he has shared stages with Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Peter Frampton, Slash, Lukas Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his hero, Joe Bonamassa, at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as touring as Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra’s special guest. On Tuesday, he is joined by James Emmanuel and Isabella Coulstock. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Beth McCarthy: Heading back home to York to play Big Ian’s A Night To Remember at York Barbican. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions
Charity event of the week: Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, November 12, 7.30pm
BIG Ian Donaghy hosts a “night of York helping York” featuring a 30-strong band led by George Hall with a line-up of York party band HUGE, Jess Steel, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay, Graham Hodge, The Y Street Band, Simon Snaize, Annie-Rae Donaghy, fiddler Kieran O’Malley, Samantha Holden, Las Vegas Ken and musicians from York Music Forum, plus a guest choir.
Proceeds from this three-hour fundraiser go to St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York, Accessible Arts & Media and York dementia projects. Tickets update: Balcony seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Staff woes: William Ilkley, left, Levi Payne and Dylan Allcock in John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, on tour at the SJT, Scarborough
One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 12 to 15, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze.
The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Amit Mistry: Topping the Funny Fridays bill
Comedy gig of the week: Funny Fridays, Patch@Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, November 14, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
African rhythms of the week: N’Faly Kouyaté, National Centre for Early Music, York, November 12 , 7.30pm
Guinean multi-instrumentalist N’Faly Kouyaté: Starting his Finishing tour at the NCEM
AFTER gracing stages across the world with Afro Celt Sound System, avant-garde griot N’Faly Kouyaté has embarked on a profoundly personal journey that finds him opening his autumn UK tour in York, playing the National Centre for Early Music for the first time.
This masterful Guinean multi-instrumentalist, multi-linguist, inspired vocalist and living bridge between ancestral heritage and future sounds returns with his September 12 album Finishing, whose songs stir the soul, provoke reflection, elicit smiles and set bodies moving.
Finishingis billed as a “a spiritual call to action – an artistic manifesto shaped by the soul of a griot and the conscience of a world citizen”
Conceived during nine reflective months along the banks of the Bafing River in Guinea, then recorded in Brussels, this album is both a deeply personal reflection and a universal cry for justice, compassion and balance.
“Finishing is my musical answer to a world searching for meaning,” says N’Faly. “It is the echo of my ancestors carried by today’s rhythms, a call to reflection and action. I wanted every note to be a question, every chorus a step towards a fairer, more conscious future.”
Hailing from the illustrious Konkoba Kabinet Kouyaté lineage – he is a member of the Mandingue ethnic group of West Africa; his father was the griot Konkoba Kabinet Kouyaté, who lived in Siguiri, Guinea – N’Faly is a master of the kora and balafon, a genre-defying composer and a cultural custodian with a mission.
His journey has taken him from Guinea to the Royal Conservatory of Belgium in 1994, where he formed the ensemble Dunyakan, onwards to global stages with the Grammy-nominated Afro Celt Sound System and now his solo projects, all speaking to his ability to weave past and future into the sound of now.
Should you be asking “what is a griot?”, let N’Faly explain.”The griot is an advisor to the people and the king in West Africa,” he says. “The griot is from the Mandingue kingdom; Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.
“The king of this kingdom was the ancestor of Salif Keita, the Malian singer-songwriter. The griot is like the Bard in Celtic culture because we advise the king, the people, and if there’s a war somewhere, the griot comes to make peace.
“I continue the griot social class. I am griot, my father and my ancestors were griots. You can’t become griot; but you are born griot.”
How does this influence Finishing, N’Faly? “We griot, we advise all society. With this album you imagine the artist finishing his dream to end all these horrible things in the world,” he says. “My dream was that if all these troubles could be finished, we could be happy. What a finishing that would be. For the people, we’re asking for the finishing of all this horror in our world.”
Finishing is an album rooted in a wish for healing. “We can use music to say to the political world ‘what we need is peace and love’,” says N’Faly, who spreads that message by singing songs in Mandinka (the language of Mandingue), Soussou, Pular, French and English as he dares to imagine a world where war, lies, theft and violence suddenly stopped.
The cover artwork for N’Faly Kouyaté’s Finishing album
Each track on Finishing pulses with urgency and purpose. Free Water, a collaboration with reggae luminary Tiken Jah Fakoly, is a passionate plea for water protection, while Khili Kanè condemns the corrosive effects of slander.
Mandela stands as a reverent salute to the late South African statesman and peacemaker, and Kolabana, featuring Senegalese hip-hop icon Didier Awadi, takes aim at global indifference in the face of crisis.
Elsewhere, songs such as Mökhöya, Halala and Kawa reflect on the quiet erosion of human value – mutual aid, dignity and humility – reminding us that these virtues are not nostalgic relics, but essential foundations for a liveable future.
“In my concerts I explain the words of all the songs and I use the job of my ancestors to play traditional music as well as modern,” says N’Faly, whose trademark “Afrotronix” sound is a fusion of AfroBeat, AfroTrap, AfroPop, RnB, Jazz and traditional Mandingue instrumentation as electronica meets djembe and kora.
“I am the protector of culture and tradition, and for me, we can use technology to serve tradition. If you want to interest young people, you have to sing in the language they want to hear and use the instruments and style of who they like – and statistically, much of my audience is aged 18 to 44 and upwards to 66-70.”
N’Faly will be joined on the NCEM stage by his wife, Muriel Kouyaté and Jay Chitul after rehearsing together in Brussels. Bring your dancing shoes,” he advises. Finishing will be on sale at the concert, along with T-shirts. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Did you know?
N’FALY Kouyaté’s collaborators range from Peter Gabriel and Sinead O’Connor to Tayc and Robert Plant, affirming how he is as comfortable in ancient traditions as he is on the modern sonic frontier.
“When I finished my studies in Belgium, I started to work with Afro Celt Sound System, whose albums were produced by Peter Gabriel, and we worked with him many times, recording at Real World studios in Bath and performing on stage with him.” says N’Faly.
He undertook an acting role in William Kentridge’s musical The Head And The Load, performing in Miami, Amsterdam, London and New York.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn: Marking 60th anniversary of his comedy Relatively Speaking with rehearsed reading and Q&A at the SJT tomorrow. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
FROM garden ghosts to Friends parody, Ayckbourn anniversary celebrations to Toussaint’s saxophone, Charles Hutchinson finds joy both outdoors and indoors.
Anniversary landmark of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Sunday, 2.30pm
AS part of the SJT’s fundraising weekend with Director Emeritus Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Sunday’s 60th anniversary rehearsed reading of Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking will be followed by a Q&A with Sir Alan.
Greg and Ginny are living together, but Greg suspects he is not the only man in her life. Prompted by Ginny’s plan to “visit her parents”, he decides to follow her. Ginny is in fact going to see a considerably older lover, but only to break up with him. Greg mistakes the ex-lover and his wife for Ginny’s parents, a situation only compounded by Ginny’s arrival. Antony Eden directs a cast of Hayden Wood, Gina Burnell, Liza Goddard and Russell Richardson. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Ghosts In The Garden: York’s haunted history told in 58 wire-mesh sculptures
Spectral trail of the season: Ghosts In The Garden, across York, until November 2
ORGANISED by York BID (Business Improvement District), the Ghosts In The Gardens sculpture trail has returned to York’s public gardens, ruins, hidden corners and green spaces in a free family event featuring 58 3D wire-mesh figures inspired by York’s haunted history.
Crafted in partnership with York creative team Unconventional Design, the translucent figures range from soldiers to monks, with ten new spectral sculptures to “ensure fresh surprises for returning visitors”.
Dave Johns: Playing Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club tonight in rare York outing
Comedy gig of the week: Dave Johns, Paul Pirie, Josh Sedman and Damion Larkin, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, YO1 Live Lounge, York Barbican, today, 8pm
I, DANIEL Blake actor and comedian Dave Johns has appeared on the stand-up circuit since 1989. Now highly selective about where and when he performs, tonight’s show is a rare chance to catch him in York.
Scotsman Paul Pirie specialises in blurring the lines between real-life anecdotes and flight of fancy, jumping from bitchy to silly. Yorkshire comedian Josh Sedman is equipped with quips, “Wetherby Teeth” and a lovely head of hair. Promoter Damion Larkin hosts as ever. Doors open at 7:30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Dame Imogen Cooper: Piano concert at Helmsley Arts Centre tonight. Picture: Sussie Ahlburg
Classical concert of the week: Dame Imogen Cooper, Helmsley Arts Centre, today, 7.30pm
AFTER playing St Peter’s Church, Norton, at July’s Ryedale Festival, pianist Dame Imogen Cooper returns to Ryedale this weekend to play Bach’s Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen G’mein, arranged by Kempff; Bach’s chorale-prelude Nun Komm’ der Heiden Heiland, arranged by Busoni and Schubert’s Four Impromptus, D. 899. Post-interval, her programme continues with Beethoven’s Seven Bagatelles and Schubert’s Four Impromptus, D. 935. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Alicia Belgarde (Monica), left, Daniel Parkinson (Chandler), Enzo Benvenuti (Ross), Eva Hope (Rachel), Amelia Atherton (Phoebe) and Ronnie Burden (Joey) in Friends! The Musical Parody, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith
The one where they sing: Friends! The Musical Parody, Grand Opera House, York, September 30 to October 4, Tuesday to Thursday, 7.30pm; Friday, 5.30pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
NEW York and Las Vegas hit Friends! The Musical Parody is a musical comedy packed with iconic moments from all ten seasons of the beloved television series, complemented by an original musical score. Join Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe, the world’s most famous group of twenty-somethings, as they navigate love, friendship and life’s ups and downs in 1990s’ New York City.
“Whether you’re in a love triangle, trying to make it as an actor, or just can’t quit your day job, you’ll be laughing, crying, and quoting your favourite lines all night long,” the show promises. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Saxophonist Jean Toussaint: Opening autumn season at National Centre for Early Music on Wednesday
Jazz gig of the week: Jean Toussaint, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, October 1, 7.20pm
THE Jean Toussaint Quintet – saxophonist, composer and bandleader Toussaint, pianist Emile Hinton, bassist Conor Murray, drummer Ben Brown and trumpet player Joti – showcases his JT5 project’s latest album, recorded at London’s Vortex jazz club in 2024.
York Music Forum students will be working with Toussaint earlier in the day to share their work on stage from 7.20pm to 7.40pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Sue Ryding, left, recalling her 40-year comedy partnership with the late Maggie Fox (inset) in LipService in Funny Stuff at Pocklington Arts Centre
Reflections on grief: LipService in Funny Stuff, Pocklington Arts Centre, October 2, 7.30pm
SUE Ryding is one half of legendary satirical duo LipService. In March 2022, her comedy partner, York actress and writer Maggie Fox, died leaving Sue with a shipping container full of 40 years of stage props, costumes, wigs, hats, shoes, sheep, you name it.
This show looks at all the “stuff” we accumulate, hoard and hate to let go in her humorous and creative response to grief, wherein Sue struggles to part with a life-sized stuffed sheep, a badger onesie, some ruby slippers, a sinking bog, Charlotte Bronte’s knickers and a host of soft toys. Touring anecdotes are combined with archive footage from LipService shows. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Tom Smith: Editors’ frontman, playing solo show at Stockton on the Forest Village Hall
Indie rock gig of the week: Tom Smith, Stockton on the Forest Village Hall, near York, October 3, 7.45pm
TOM Smith, frontman of Birmingham indie rock band Editors since 2022, heads north to play a seated village hall gig in North Yorkshire, hosted by Off The Beaten Track and The Crescent, York. Expect a selection of new solo work alongside Editors’ favourites. Box office for returns only: thecrescentyork.com.
Cooper Robson: Say Owt Slam special guest at The Crescent, York
Sizzling spoken words of the week: Say Owt Slam with special guest Cooper Robson, The Crescent, York, October 3, 7.30pm
HEATON slam champion and left-wing, left-field loudmouth Cooper Robson returns to York for a special-guest full set of hard-hitting poetry, raucous comedy and outlandish at The Crescent. Robson sports “more meter than Mo Farrah, more nonsense than a sapling touching Tolkien-tree”, while spouting more trash than a government coastal policy. Box office: thecrescentyork.com or on the door.
Pixies: Playing York for first time in 40-year career next May
Gig announcement of the week: Pixies, York Barbican, May 20 2026
CELEBRATING 40 years since their 1986 formation in Boston, Massachusetts, Pixies will head out on their Pixies 40 worldwide tour next year. The British and European leg will open with their long-overdue York debut on May 20 at York Barbican.
Founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering will be touring with bassist Emma Richardson as they head to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Tickets for their only Yorkshire concert are on sale at bnds.us/ziwfqx or yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/pixies.
