Tag: Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the spooks and ghouls of Halloween. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 43, from The York Press

York drag diva Velma Celli adding vocal oomph to oompah band The Bavarian Strollers in Yorktoberfest’s big top at York Racecourse

FROM a new female spin on ‘Curious Incident’ to Yorktoberfest in a circus big top, Halloween shows to Leo Sayer’s last tour, Charles Hutchinson finds ways to brighten up darker nights.  

Festival of the week: Jamboree Entertainment presents Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, today, 1pm to 5pm & 7pm to 11pm

FOR the first time, James Cundall’s Jamboree Entertainment is staging Yorktoberfest, York’s traditional Bavarian beer festival, inside a Big Top, launched last weekend by aerial artist Zoe Kulyk twisting and tumbling from the rooftop. 

Look out today for outrageous York drag diva Velma Celli’s powerhouse singing and quick-fire critique of the costumes on display, complemented by oompah band The Bavarian Strollers’ traditional drinking songs and disco classics. Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest and at the entrance, subject to availability.

Ghost event of the week: The York Ghost Merchants present Mischief Night Ghost Week Trail, York Mansion House, York, today to November 1, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry 4pm

GROWING up in York, the young Guy Fawkes was a mischief-maker who caused no end of havoc for his school masters, long before he set his sights on a more famous prize. Join ghostly headmaster John Pulleyn, who needs your help to keep the peace, before Guy forks out more misrule than the city can handle!

Follow the trail around York Mansion House, solving puzzles and clues as you go. Everyone who completes the trail puzzle book successfully will be entered into a draw to win a unique ghost designed by the Ghost Merchants and inspired by the Mansion House building.  Tickets: Available on the door on the day of visit (no online sales).

Troy Hawke: “Navigating conversational minefields” at York Barbican tonight

Comedy gig of the week: Troy Hawke, Never Stop, Never Change!, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

TROY Hawke is the internet sensation creation of Michael Patrick “Milo” McCabe, the British television presenter, actor and stand-up character comedian. In Never Stop, Never Change!, angry security guards, barked compliments and crossed wires abound as Hawke navigates various conversational minefields, both online and in real life. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Freedom versus control : Sarah Belcher’s Deborah and Phil Corbitt’s Colin in the shifting sands of Alison Carr’s All At Sea at the SJT

Claustrophobic couple of the week: Stephen Joseph Theatre and Live Theatre, Newcastle, present All At Sea, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 31

MARIA Crocker directs Phil Corbitt and Sarah Belcher in All At Sea, Alison Carr’s new play inspired by the escapades of John and Anne Darwin in the early 2000s. Colin and Deborah are a couple with spiralling debt, a sky-high mortgage and seemingly nowhere to turn. Then Colin comes up with the idea of faking his own death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea for an insurance payout. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Alex Keenan’s Chris Boone and her dad, Joe McFadden’s Ed, in Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. Picture: Johan Persson

Reboot of the week: Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep present The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Grand Opera House, York, October 27 to 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

MELTING Pot and Birmingham Rep are touring a gender-swap reboot of Simon Stephens’s inventive adaptation of Mark Haddon’s compassionate novel, in which neurodivergent 15-year-old Chris Boone is now a female role, played by Alex Keenan and matinee alternate Imi Price.

Ned Bennett’s cast features Joe McFadden as dad Ed and Charlie Brooks as absentee mum Judy in the story of Chris becoming both detective and suspect when a neighbour’s dog is discovered killed, drawing her into a mystery that grows darker and more complex with every clue uncovered. Box office: atgtickets.co.uk/york.

Book talk of the week: A Way With Media presents John Lydon: I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right, Harrogate Theatre, October 27, 7.30pm

JOHN Lydon – aka Johnny Rotten – is a legend, an iconoclast, a revolutionary and a punk immortal, who changed the face of music, causing a political earthquake as frontman and lyricist of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd (PiL).

To coincide with A Way With Media’s special-edition boxed Flexi Bind Version of his I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right collection of random thoughts, life philosophies and personal anecdotes, Lydon, now 70, is undertaking a pyrotechnic, one-off tour to discuss how he sees life and to reflect on his extraordinary career, taking audience questions too. Sharing his thoughts, he could be wrong, he could be right. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Playing by the ghouls: Halloween In Concert at York Barbican

Graveyard smash of the week: Halloween In Concert, York Barbican, October 27, 7.30pm

IN a frighteningly good night of raves from beyond the grave, Halloween In Concert’s cast and band unleash a thrilling crescendo of all things Halloween. Expect big vocals and killer moves as the greatest spooky hits are resurrected, from Monster Mash, Highway To Hell, The Time Warp and Running Up That Hill to Hungry Like The Wolf, Maneater, Bat Out of Hell, She Wolf and Thriller. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Addams family in Wharfemede Productions’ The Addams Family Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: Simon Trow

Halloween family entertainment of the week: Wharfemede Productions in The Addams Family Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 27 to 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

COMPANY co-founder Helen Spencer directs North Yorkshire company Wharfemede Productions in  Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s devilishly funny, deeply kooky comedy The Addams Family Musical.

When Wednesday Addams falls in love with a “normal” young man and invites his respectable parents to dinner, chaos, secrets and macabre mayhem ensue in this spooky celebration of family, love and embracing the wonderfully weird, replete with sharp comedy, dazzling dance numbers, a witty score and a nine-piece band. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Scrum down for former England prop forward Joe Marler’s probing questions at York Barbican on Wednesday

Live podcast tour of the week: Joe Marler Will See You Live, York Barbican, October 28, 8pm

SINCE retiring from Rugby Union in 2024, England prop forward Joe Marler has been pushed into the mainstream by his “Big Dog” theory, people-reading prowess and relentless Traitor hunting in the 2025 debut series of The Celebrity Traitors.

This sparked his show format for Joe Marler Will See You Now, wherein Marler and his co-host and research assistant, comedian Jake Bhardwaj, apply acute observational skills to delve inside the mind of a celebrity guest with probing questions and unusual mind games. Who will be their guest in York? Find out on Wednesday night. Cue “ludicrous set-pieces and immersive audience participation”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Christopher Leslie in his haunting one-man adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde: Unbound at York Medical Society

Halloween solo show of the week: Christopher Leslie in Jekyll & Hyde: Unbound, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 27 to 30, 7.30pm

YORK writer, performer and Pop Yer Clogs Theatre company member Christopher Leslie presents his haunting one-man adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “bogey tale”, here re-titled Jekyll & Hyde: Unbound.

Lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, now living a sheltered, haunted  life, invites you into the Soho house once occupied by his former client, Doctor Henry Jekyll. Tonight, Utterson will speak at last, looking into the darkness of the human psyche and asking are we really who we appear to be? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Victoria Delaney’s Kat, left, Beryl Nain’s Ma and Clare Halliday’s Maudie in York Actors Collective’s The Strongbox

York premiere of the week: York Actors Collective in The Strongbox, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 29, 2.30pm & 7.45pm, October 30, 7.45pm, and October 31, 2pm

YORK Actors Collective presents Stephanie Jacob’s study of freedom and control The Strongbox,   in which a mother (Beryl Nairn’s Ma) and her daughter (Victoria Delaney’s Kat) keep a homeless woman (Clare Halliday’s Maudie) as a slave in their London home. Power shifts, however,  when the daughter becomes distracted by business and the mother falls ill.

“Three women learn how to live and survive by making their own rules, but at what cost?” asks director Angie Millard. “As Ma says, ‘ If you do and do and do and do to someone, can it be undone?’ That’s the question the play explores with honesty and some humour.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

“I am not retiring, just slowing the number of live shows down a little,” says Leo Sayer

The show must go on…for one last tour: Leo Sayer, Can’t Stop Loving You, York Barbican, October 30, 7.30pm

AFTER almost 60 years on the road, Leo Sayer, now 78, returns to the UK stage for “what could well be his final full UK tour”. “I love performing for my fans and look forward to doing so for many more years, but this will be the last time I play so many dates across the country. I am not retiring, just slowing the number of live shows down a little,” clarifies Sayer, in a year when he is releasing his autobiography and a career-spanning box set.

Cue The Show Must Go On, Thunder In My Heart, Moonlighting, One Man Band, When I Need You,  You Make Me Feel Like Dancing et al. Meanwhile, Brighton folk-rockers Levellers have sold out October 29’s York Barbican gig. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. 

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 43, from Gazette & Herald

Teacher Miss Hedge (Katie Spencer) steps in between school bully Dean Paxton (Cain Branton), left, and dreamer Jamie New (Frankie Bounds) in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

FROM a couple all at sea at the SJT to Yorktoberfest in a circus big top,  a piratical twist on The Comedy Of Errors to Bison Hip’s blues, Charles Hutchinson recommends ways to stay cheerful.

Bold and unapologetic musical of the week: York Stage in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday; 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

TOM MacRae and Dan Gillespie’s Sheffield musical plays the Grand Opera House for the first time in Nik Briggs’s production for York Stage that restores the grit to both complement and counter the glitz in the uplifting underdog story of Jamie New (Frankie Bounds), a 16-year-old schoolboy from a Steel City council estate with big dreams and the courage to stand out when it would be easier to stay quiet.

Equipped with the strength to face the world head on, Jamie fights prejudice, finds his voice and discovers the freedom of stepping into the spotlight on his own terms. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Over-reaching strategy: Phil Corbitt’s Colin puts yet another plan to Sarah Belcher’s exhausted Deborah in Alison Carr’s All At Sea

Premiere of the week: Stephen Joseph Theatre and Live Theatre, Newcastle, present All At Sea, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 31

MARIA Crocker directs Phil Corbitt and Sarah Belcher in All At Sea, Alison Carr’s new play inspired by the real-life escapades of John and Anne Darwin in the early 2000s.

Colin and Deborah are a couple with spiralling debt, a sky-high mortgage and seemingly nowhere to turn. Then Colin comes up with the idea of faking his own death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea for an insurance payout. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Amelia Bullmore’s Penelope comes face to face with Charlie Russell’s Odysseus in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

Greek tragedy twist of the week: Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Odyssey: Her Story, York Theatre Royal, until October 31

BOOKER Prize winner Margaret Atwood revisits Homer’s The Odyssey in an exuberantly irreverent and darkly humorous retelling where she gives voice to Odysseus’s silenced wife, Penelope – still awaiting his return 20 years after the Trojan War – and her chorus of maids in a tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge that exposes the truth behind the myth. Creative director Juliet Forster’s cast is led by Happy Valley and Riot Women star Amelia Bullmore. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ben Reeves-Rowley and Harry Summers in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Company’s piratical The Comedy Of Errors

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Comedy Of Errors, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATIE Leckey and Emily Carhart co-direct York Shakespeare Project in “ an exciting take on Shakespeare’s shortest and possibly funniest play”, giving a piratical, gender-swapping twist to The Comedy Of Errors in a convergence of the original text with slapstick, farce and physical comedy and a “celebration of relationships of many kinds, platonic, familial and romantic”.

“The morally questionable, yet still comedic, nature of many (if not all) of the characters put us in mind of some of our favourite piratical anti-heroes,” they say. “We felt like the framing device of piracy gave us the chance to include slapstick violence between ‘masters and servants’ in a way that wouldn’t seem too brutal or alien to a modern audience.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster for The Amy Winehouse Band’s Back To Black 20th Anniversary Tour

Going back to Back To Black: The Amy Winehouse Band, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

AMY Winehouse’s original band, who played with her from the very start, are marking the 20th anniversary of her iconic second album, Back To Black, the one that brought her five awards at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Performing with Amy that evening, as these musicians had done since her earliest gigs in London pubs, was her band. 

Led by Amy’s long-time musical director and bass player, Dale Davis, The Amy Winehouse Band features members who both toured and recorded with her throughout her career. Tomorrow’s gig will be the first of more than 50 on the anniversary itinerary, taking in Hull City Hall on February 12, Sheffield City Hall, February 13, and Harrogate Royal Hall, February 14 2027. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hudson & Hudson: Combining the magical and the marital at Helmsley Arts Centre

Magic show of the week: Hudson & Hudson Magicians: Married At First Sleight, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

ORIGINALLY from Hull, husband-and-wife magicians Alan and Kat Hudson appeared separately on Britain’s Got Talent before eventually forming a double act. Ant & Dec had suggested they should work together while they were on the show, but they both said no at the time. Between them, they have appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, ITV’s The Next Great Magician and in the West End production Wonderville.

Married At First Sleight mixes magic, mind-reading, comedy and audience participation with the realities of being married to the person with whom you also rehearse, tour and perform. Cue marital banter alongside the tricks. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

York drag diva Velma Celli leading the Yorktoberfest celebrations in the Big Top with The Bavarian Strollers at York Racecourse

Festival of the week: Jamboree Entertainment presents Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Friday, 7pm to 1pm; Saturday, 1pm to 5pm & 7pm to 11pm

FOR the first time, James Cundall’s Jamboree Entertainment is staging Yorktoberfest, York’s traditional Bavarian beer festival, inside a Big Top, launched last weekend by aerial artist Zoe Kulyk twisting and tumbling from the rooftop. 

Look out on Friday and Saturday for outrageous York drag diva Velma Celli’s powerhouse singing and quick-fire critique of the costumes on display and oompah band The Bavarian Strollers’ traditional drinking songs and disco classics. The Bavarian Bar and the Dog Haus serve up drinks and German-inspired food. Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest and at the entrance, subject to availability.

Bison Hip: A dose of the Glasgow blues at Ryedale Blues Club

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Bison Hip, Milton Rooms, Malton, October 29, 8pm

BISON Hip were formed by long-time friends Paul Sloway, Malcolm Button, Steven Radziwonik, John Gilmour Smith and Graeme Carswell during a lockdown Zoom call in 2020. “Maybe it was the mid-life crisis at play,” says vocalist Sloway.

“We wanted to take our love of blues and rock and mix it up with our experiences of life. Between us, we’ve been through so many things in life, ups and downs, some successes and plenty of failures, we wanted all that in the music. We needed to wrap it up in the DNA of our hometown, Glasgow, and hopefully that’s what we’ve achieved.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

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Premiere of the month: All At Sea, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, till 31/10/206

Sarah Belcher’s Deborah and Phil Corbitt’s Colin in Alison Carr’s All At Sea. Picture: Matt Savage

ALL At Sea, Alison Carr’s new play inspired by the notorious “canoe man” story, is making waves at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

Maria Crocker directs Phil Corbitt and Sarah Belcher in this premiere co-production with Newcastle’s Live Theatre. “This sharp and witty play requires two expert actors to bring this extraordinary couple to life, and this casting has delivered just that,” she says.

Drawing inspiration from Seaton Carew couple John and Anne Darwin, whose insurance fraud hit the headlines in the early 2000s, All At Sea is the story of Colin and Deborah, a couple with spiralling debt, a sky-high mortgage and seemingly nowhere to turn.

Then Colin comes up with the idea of faking his own death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea for an insurance payout.

Phil Corbitt’s Colin, the canoe man in All At Sea. Picture: Von Fox Promotions

“I’m often drawn to stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and if they’re rooted in the North East, then even better,” says director Maria.

“I first approached Alison with the idea for a play about the ‘canoe couple’ five years ago. I’d always been fascinated by the story, but during lockdown, in a time of confinement and claustrophobia, when we were all ‘locked in’ our flats and houses, it got me thinking about the reality of it all.”

Maria continues: “I wasn’t interested in putting the ‘real life’ version on stage and was certain that the story needed to be reimagined by someone who could tap into the potential darkness and horror, alongside the humour and absurdity.

Sarah Belcher’s Deborah in All At Sea. Picture: Matt Savage

“I knew Alison had to write it. Thankfully, she said yes. I offered Alison the seed of an idea and handed it over to her imagination. Alison has created something totally unique, inspired by the original story but completely her own; a sharp, witty and moving exploration of a relationship surviving under extreme pressure. It has been a real privilege to bring it to life.”

Stephen Joseph Theatre and Live Theatre, Newcastle, present All At Sea at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Did you know?

ALISON Carr’s earlier plays, Caterpillar and The Last Quiz Night On Earth, played the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

Who is in the creative team for All At Sea?

ALISON Carr, director; Maria Crocker, director; Hannah Sibai, designer;  Roma Yagnik, sound designer; Catja Hamilton, lighting designer, and Ziad Jabero, composer.

Phil Corbitt’s Colin emerging from the shadows in All At Sea. Picture: Matt Savage

REVIEW: Live Theatre, Newcastle and Stephen Joseph Theatre present All At Sea, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 31 ****

ALL At Sea, surely the perfect title for a show in Scarborough, is the third Alison Carr work to play Stephen Joseph Theatre, following Caterpillar and The Last Quiz Night On Earth.

This time, however, it is a premiere, one that carries the Made In Scarborough tag, albeit in a co-production with Live Theatre, Newcastle.

The story may sound familiar: a North Eastern man burdened with credit card debts and a heavy mortgage fakes his death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea, whereupon his wife enacts his complex plan to secure life insurance, lying to their sons all the while.

So far, so John and Anne Darwin, the canoe fraud couple from Seaton Carew, but that story is only an inspiration, a launching pad, for Carr’s psychological thriller that very much rows its own course.

Significantly too, condensed into 90 minutes, this is a two-hander as claustrophobic and compressed as the deceitful life that Colin (Phil Corbitt) must now live, hiding behind a fake wall in the sewing room, underneath the stairs, while awaiting the pay-out.

One stairwell step clicks to open and shut in Hannah Sibai’s domestic design, but like every one of Colin’s ideas, it is faulty, with a mind of its own. A mis-step, as it were.

Initially, Carr’s tone is humorous, in the manner of a jaunty episode of The Likely Lads, but All At Sea morphs into a study of a gradually fracturing marriage, one where Colin’s wife, Deborah (Sarah Belcher), has a mind of her own too.

Corbitt’s Colin foresees his maritime mishap turning into a merry time, bringing freedom and a new start with a false passport. Instead, this witless Walter Mitty is as much deceiving himself as everyone else, the escapist dreamer with no escape. He can only leave the house in disguise, always scurrying into his hole if the bell rings.

He has always controlled Deborah, manipulated her, but now she is the one who can live the double life, on the one hand still going along with his conceit, but on the other, suddenly blossoming with her pottery classes, brighter clothes and tipsy nights out. The more she does so, the more irritating she finds him – the sound of his mealtime chewing turned up to emphasise its impact in Roma Yagnik’s sound design.

The more Deborah finds self-expression and self-worth, the more the coercive yet impotent Colin belittles her, in a classic case of gaslighting, as Carr’s early humour dissipates into the torrid sea swell of Nora Helmer’s need to escape in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Instead of the avaricious, bullying, selfish, imprisoned Colin, Deborah is the one who finds the new identity.

Maria Crocker’s direction turns up the heat gradually, like a frog being placed in a pan of cold water, until the juddering finale that is darker than Whitby Jet yet feels like justice served. Belcher and Corbitt likewise bring rising intensity to the  disintegrating chemistry of the capricious, conniving Colin and Deborah, the devoted dormouse-turned independent free spirit as his canoe con capsizes. He is indeed dead to her after all.

Review by Charles Hutchinson

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Stephen Joseph Theatre’s actor-musician co-production of Calendar Girls The Musical nominated in UK Theatre Awards

Christina Meehan’s Annie and Karen Holmes’s Chris in Calendar Girls The Musical. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

STEPHEN Joseph Theatre artistic director Paul Robinson’s production of Calendar Girls The Musical is on the shortlist for a major award.

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s 2015 show has been revived this year in a co-production between the SJT, Scarborough, Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich and the Octagon Theatre, Bolton. 

Opening at the SJT, in late-June in its first-ever actor-musician staging in the round, Calendar Girls has been nominated for Best Musical Production, sponsored by Tysers Live, in the upcoming UK Theatre Awards.

Robinson’s production moved on to Keswick throughout August and is now playing the New Wolsey before moving on to the Octagon throughout October.

Barlow and Firth’s much-loved show charts the story of a group of Yorkshire women who create a fabulous fundraising calendar after the death of one of their husbands.

CharlesHutchPress’s review concluded: “Honorary Yorkshiremen Barlow and Firth, in tandem with Robinson – a director at his best in comedy – have delivered the best version of Calendar Girls yet, not least thanks to the leading performances of Karen Holmes’s Chris and Christina Meehan’s Chris, Yorkshire women of such spirit and resilience.”

Robinson says: “Being nominated for a UK Theatre Award is an incredibly proud moment for us in Scarborough. It reflects not just the work on stage, but our shared commitment, alongside our vital regional partners, to bringing high-quality and engaging storytelling to local audiences.

“This production simply wouldn’t have been possible without the immense trust of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow; allowing us to take their beautiful show and create its first-ever actor-musician version was a huge leap of faith.

“I am immensely proud of our spectacular, multi-talented cast and crew, and our visionary creative team who pushed all the boundaries to bring our ambitious vision to life.”

Calendar Girls The Musical faces stiff competition in the awards, to be announced in London on October 12. The fellow nominees are: The High Life (National Theatre of Scotland & Dundee Rep Theatre co-production in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres); Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (Curve, Bristol Old Vic & Mayflower Southampton co-production) and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Birmingham Rep).

Since 1991, the annual UK Theatre Awards have celebrated the creative excellence and outstanding work seen on and off stage throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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REVIEW: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 3 ****

Frances Marshall’s Allistra Clay, left, Elizabeth Boag’s Devaney Dyer, Leigh Symonds’s Octavius and Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83 in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

YOU might think it would be impossible for Alan Ayckbourn still to come up with a first in his seventh decade as a playwright.

Wrong! You should know better! Play number 92 is his inaugural courtroom drama, but one set in a dystopian future in a first of its own: the first murder trial of a non-human in the year 2194, with the undercurrent of a detective story bubbling away too.

In a riff on the infamous promotional tagline for Ridley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction horror movie Alien, Ayckbourn pronounces that “in space no-one can hear you dream”: the first indication of the play’s lament for the decreasing role of the arts, whether theatre or music, whether Shakespeare or Tchaikovsky, on the educational curriculum now, let alone 168 years henceforward.

Latterly, Ayckbourn has switched between writing about the past and the future, but all the while commenting on the present that constantly disappoints, even disturbs, him.

Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83 and Olivia Woolhouse’s Hermione Quinque re-enacting the the tomb scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet in the courtroom in The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Rather than the grouchiness of ornery old age, his writing remains vibrant, innovative, full of wit and wisdom, surprise and mischief, more sage than rage in delivery at 87.

You will hear his recorded voice too in his original soundscape for The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, whether pronouncing the request for mobile phones to be switched to mute or announcing the journey from the surface to Defence Suite 19 of the Subterranean Hub 19, 27 levels down in the Citrus Legal Complex, and later, for Act II, some days later, to Courtroom 3  on Level 3 of Kevin Jenkins’ futuristic set design.

The Citrus Corporation runs everything, both the lay of the parched land and the law of the land, now that central government has been replaced by big corporations. It is uncomfortably close to today’s march of AI, the rise of the tech brothers and Elon Musk brandishing his Doge chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

On Earth, or Terra as it is now called, trees and house plants are confined to museums, music has been replaced by bleeps and beats (isn’t that happening already?!) and Shakespeare is no longer taught to the likes of Elizabeth Boag’s Devaney Dyer, the Firebrand Corporation’s Yorkshire-blunt chief engineer, whose skills are in her hands.

Alan Ayckbourn: First courtroom drama in his 92nd play. Picture: Tony Bartholomew, 2020

She is repairing Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83, a war hero from recent days, to prepare this battered military-issue android to face trial for killing a 13-year-old girl who had been in his care since her parents took their own lives. 

RSDO 83’s reconstruction is being overseen by Leigh Symonds’s Assistant Arbiter Octavius, a sanguine humanoid court official, who learns new words, aphorisms and phrases each day in a running joke by Ayckbourn that delights in the vagaries of the English language.

This is typical of the slower-than-usual release of accumulative humour in Ayckbourn’s script, where so much exposition is necessary to set up the milieu: a world outwardly unfamiliar and yet redolent of the woes and wars of today.

Once the characters and their characterisation, their tropes and mannersisms, become familiar, their interaction leads to drama that is both gravely serious and yet waspish in its wit underneath the troubled surface.

Leigh Symonds’s Assistant Arbiter Octavius, left, keeps his head down as Russell Richardson’s judge, Arbiter Jefferies, makes his point. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

RSDO 83 may be the accused in the legal landmark case, but humanity is on trial as Ayckbourn asks the question: What makes us human? Art, music, literature, as much as science, is the answer of a playwright who has long been fascinated by science fiction.

Allistra Clay (York actress Frances Marshall) is appointed RSDO 83’s defence counsel on the grounds that she will know nothing about the case, as she is from Titan. Titan, however, is milk and honey by comparison with the Earth. Not caught up in the war, it still values music and literature, and so she can call on her knowledge of Romeo And Juliet for this new tale of Romeo Oscar and a girl called Juliet that will mirror the tragic path of Shakespeare’s play.

The case for the defence will be laid out with the aid of Olivia Woolhouse’s Hermione Quinque, a waitress picked from multiple theatre trainees to play Juliet. This is the cue for Ayckbourn’s in-jokes about there being nothing new in most actors being unemployed or forming a company called Spare Parts.

Later, he will top those quips with Hermione saying she could do her part in the trial again as she had been better in rehearsal. You can sense Ayckbourn’s years of experience in the rehearsal room pouring out into this biting dialogue.

Hayden Wood’s prosecutor, Ronal Lime-Tyler, grills the defendant, Richard Stacey’s RSDO 83. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Yet he is wearing the equivalent of a judge’s black cap in passing sentence on mankind’s failings in Act Two, where Russell Richardson’s jaunty judge, Arbiter Jefferies, and Hayden Wood’s smarmy, smug prosecutor, Ronal Lime-Tyler, come to the fore, pitched against Marshall’s eloquent, meticulous Clay.

Stacey’s RSDO 83 and Woolhouse’s Hermione play out Romeo And Juliet’s fatal tomb scene: a play within a play that adds to the devastating impact of both. When Symonds’s Octavius borrows the closing couplet from Shakespeare’s tragedy, ”For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo”, its sentiment applies as much to Ayckbourn’s characters.

The poster, with its image of an android warrior holding the hand of young girl looking out over a desert, makes no mention of writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, but his name runs through every scene like a seaside stick of rock.  Once more, his writing will be music to your ears.

The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 3. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

ON the subject of names: here are the latest additions to Alan Ayckbourn’s notebook of nomenclatures across 92 plays: Octavius, Allistra, Ronal, Devaney, Romeo and Hermione are used for the first time in The Trial Of Romeo Oscar.

The poster for Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 37, from Gazette & Herald

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Nick Haeffner

WILKO Johnson’s miraculous renaissance, Alan Ayckbourn’s first courtroom drama, Phil Wang’s wise moustache and The Dunwells’ indie-folk rock spark Charles Hutchinson’s attention in the week ahead.

Punk godfather of the week: Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee   

WHEN Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012, he was given only one year left to live. Declining medical intervention, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life…only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll examines the life of this punk-movement godfather, tracing a career that spanned Dr Feelgood, the Solid Senders, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and a late-career turn to acting in Game Of Thrones. Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, this show serves as a practical masterclass in living life to the fullest. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Richard Stacey’s war hero RSDO 83 and York actress Frances Marshall’s defence counsel Allistra Clay in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 4

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?

In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Movies In The Moonlight at Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema’s season in York Museum Gardens

Cinema event of the week: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, Friday to Sunday, 6.30pm

CITY Screen Picturehouse moves outdoors for three evenings of open-air screenings, comprising Grease (PG) on Friday, The Shining (15) and Evolution Of Horror podcast introduction on Saturday and Jurassic Park (12A) on Sunday. Screenings start at dusk or as soon as darkness falls.

Blankets, cushions and small picnic chairs are allowed. A limited number of deck chairs will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis; rain ponchos can be bought at the event, should the need arise. Guests are encouraged to take away waste for recycling where possible. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Uh Oh! Here comes Phil Wang and his moustache that will “bristle with wisdom” at York Barbican

New moustache of the week: Phil Wang: Uh Oh, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

PHILIP Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a Malaysian-British stand-up comedian, comedy writer and member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, who co-created the BBC Radio 4 series Daphne Sounds Expensive.

Now comes his new stand-up show, Uh Oh. In the words of Phil, “he’s older than ever before. He’s got a moustache now. It bristles with wisdom. His eyes shine with good humour. His shoulders groan under the weight of being the only cool millennial left. Everyone’s an idiot but him. Nice is out. Right is in. The vibe shift is real. Old Wang’s riding it.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The boys Dunwell: Brothers Joseph and David, heading to Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale gig of the week: The Dunwells, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

LEEDS indie-folk pop band The Dunwells have combined strong vocals, powerful melodies and heartfelt lyrics across four studio albums, a live album and a number of standout EPs and singles.

Prolific songwriting  brothers Joseph and David Dunwell, along with friends Adam Taylor and Rob Clayton, have toured extensively in the USA, Europe and the UK, as well as undertaking support slots with  Mumford & Sons, Elbow, Tom Jones, Scouting For Girls and Bryan Adams on British tours. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Sax to the max: Snake Davis heads to Helmsley on his Everlasting Love Tour

Saxophonist of the week: Snake Davis Band, Everlasting Love Tour, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis is “so happy to be back at Helmsley Arts Centre yet again”, this time showcasing new tunes and a new album on the Everlasting Love Tour with his four-piece band featuring guitar, bass guitar and drums. 

The set spans “floaty to danceable, soul & Northern Soul to pop, jazz to world”, embracing original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train as Snake swaps performing arena and stadium gigs with stellar acts for playing intimate venues with his favourite musicians.  Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

James Felice & William Lawrence: Dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling at Pocklington Arts Centre

Americana gig of the week: James Felice & William Lawrence, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

JAMES Felice and  drummer William Lawrence, two members of New York State’s  Felice Brothers, are taking to the road to perform songs from their respective solo works in a dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling. James and William last appeared at Pocklington Arts Centre alongside Ian Felice and Jesske Hume in the Felice Brothers gig in June 2021. Box office: 01759 301547or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Alfie Moore: Offering the antidote to the breakdown of law and order, fake news and the price of baked beans in Acopalypse Now

Comedy gig of the week: Alfie Moore, Acopalypse Now, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Four Horsemen of Rising Crime, Global Warming, AI and Culture Wars are galloping towards us. Are we on the road to hell? Can we avoid the potholes? In this new tour show, ‘Fair Cop’ Alfie has the antidote to the breakdown of law and order, fake news and the price of baked beans.

Moore has encountered more than his fair share of egotistical dictators in his policing career and learnt when pragmatism, and more than a dash of humour, can defuse even the most menacing showdown. Join him as he saddles up to see off those bullies on their pesky ponies. Doomsday is no laughing matter, but this show will be. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Chance to perform of the week: HAC Studio Bar Open Mic – Under 18s, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2pm to 4pm

IN a special edition of Helmsley Arts Centre’s regular social event in the studio bar, young musicians and artists have the opportunity to perform. There is no need to book to take part or listen; just turn up. All under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. 

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No 36, from The York Press

Towering performances: Matthew Rutherford’s giant, Smog, and Jared More’s giant, Miff, in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s The Selfish Giant

A GIANT in a garden, Wendy turning piratical in a re-imagined Peter Pan, Alan Ayckbourn’s 92nd play and Wilko Johnson’s miraculous renaissance spark Charles Hutchinson’s attention in the week ahead.

Inspirational tale of love and generosity of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in The Selfish Giant, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, today, 1.30pm and 4.30pm

STEP into the magical world of the Giant’s garden, a place full of music, beauty, bird song and stories in Jon Boustead’s stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The Giant, however, is cross when he returns to find children – children! – playing happily in his beautiful orchard, whereupon he erects a big wall to terminate the fun.

Once winter seizes the garden in its icy fingers, will summer ever return? Through storytelling, interactive games, live music and puppetry, York company Riding Lights presents a 50-minute play for family audiences. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk. Age recommendation: Three upwards.

Neverland revamped: York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre in Wendy & Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm and 7pm

YORK Theatre Royal Youth Theatre returns to the Main House stage for the first time since 2019 for 46 performers, aged eight to 19, to present Ella Hickson’s feminist take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan in Lydia Crosland and Sophie-Jade Howell’s large-scale production.

A quiet sadness permeates the Darling household, until the unexpected arrival of a mischievous young boy called Peter and a rather sassy fairy, Tink, whereupon Wendy leads the rebellious lost boys, takes on the terrifying Captain Hook, finds the key to her parents’ lost happiness and discovers the power of being brave and strong. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s first courtroom drama, The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 4

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?

In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Silky: Hooking up at York Barbican tonight

Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, featuring Silky and Dave Johns, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

SILKY, Liverpudlian-in-exile and international act, is joined by Dave Johns, North Eastern stand-up,  scriptwriter and stage and screen actor, and  Jimmy Shirley, whose material addresses growing up in Liverpool in the 1990s, the absurdity of being a Scouser in Greece and the everyday things that annoy him every day.

Completing the line-up will be Gary Jennison, a surrealist force of nature who brings unscripted, unbridled chaos to dance-offs, game shows and observations with a twist while inviting the audience to steer his performance with suggestions and participation. Box office: https://lolcomedyclubs.co.ukor on the door from 7.30pm subject to availability. 

See the world more curiously in: Be Like Blippi, York Barbican, today, 1pm and 4pm

JOIN Blippi and Meekah for a one-of-a-kind interactive adventure that inspires children to move, play and explore like Blippi in a new show packed with high-energy music and surprises, featuring fan favourites The Excavator Song, Monster Truck, Dino Dance and Curious Like Me.  

Equipped with Blippi’s signature mix of play, learning, and exploration, Be Like Blippi invites you to break out your orange Blippi glasses and ignite your spark of curiosity. Please note, Blippi and Meekah will be played by professional stage performers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Andrew O’Neill: Charting the history of punk through the comedy lens. Picture: Andrew O’Neill

When punk rock meets comedy: Andrew O’Neill, History Of Punk, Theatre@41, Monkgate, tonight, 8pm

FRESH from asking “How do we get out of this mess” in his Halfway To Edinburgh preview of his surreal, political show Escape at Theatre@41 on July 24, cult comedian Andrew O’Neill returns to York, switching from suggesting ways we can find our way out of disagreements to refracting punk rock through stand-up comedy.

In the wake of A History Of Heavy Metal, he delivers a full-volume love letter to punk, from The Stooges to Pussy Riot, Amebix to X-Ray Spex. “Punk’s not dead,” says O’Neill, who has appeared on Good Omens, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Steve Coogan’s Saxondale. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Illegal Eagles: Checking in at the Hotel California

Tribute gig of the week: The Illegal Eagles, Hotel California Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Illegal Eagles mark 30 years on the road in 2026 with their new Hotel California Tour.  Renowned for their vocal and guitar prowess and ability to re-create the legendary sound of the Eagles, the tribute act’s milestone itinerary features a full performance of the iconic Hotel California album, featuring Life In The Fast Lane, New Kid in Town and the unforgettable title track. Expect all the timeless Eagles greatest hits too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Jeanette Hunter’s Pearl, Jackie Cox’s Jan, Nicky Clay’s Shelley and Gemma McDonald’s Linda in MARMiTE Theatre’s Ladies Day. Picture: Lucy Baines

Racing romp of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in Ladies Day, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 8 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LIFE is one long slog for four fish factory packers from Hull, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda, but their fortunes could change when they head to Knavesmire on the day Royal Ascot came to York in 2005.

Factory hairnets make way for fascinators as the friends hit the racecourse for an unforgettable day out. Secrets are spilled, along with copious amounts of champagne, as friendships are tested to the limits in Martyn Hunter’s s production of Amanda Whittington’s comedy gem. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner

Punk godfather of the week: Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll , York Theatre Royal, September 10 to 12, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee   

WHEN Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012, he was given only one year left to live. Declining medical intervention, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life…only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll examines the life of this punk-movement godfather, tracing a career that spanned Dr Feelgood, the Solid Senders, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and a late-career turn to acting in Game Of Thrones. Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, this show serves as a practical masterclass in living life to the fullest. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Movies In The Moonlight in Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema’s season at York Museum Gardens

Cinema event of the week: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, September 11 to 13, 6.30pm

CITY Screen Picturehouse moves outdoors for three evenings of open-air screenings, comprising Grease (PG) on September 11, The Shining (15) and Evolution Of Horror podcast introduction on September 12 and Jurassic Park (12A) on September 13. Screenings start at dusk or as soon as darkness falls.

Blankets, cushions and small picnic chairs are allowed. A limited number of deck chairs will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis; rain ponchos can bought at the event, should the need arise Guests are encouraged to take away waste for recycling where possible. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Uh Oh, here comes Phil Wang’s moustache, “bristling with wisdom” at York Barbican

New moustache of the week: Phil Wang: Uh Oh, York Barbican, September 11, 7.30pm

PHILIP Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a Malaysian-British stand-up comedian, comedy writer and member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, who co-created the BBC Radio 4 series Daphne Sounds Expensive.

Now comes his new stand-up show, Uh Oh. In the words of Phil, “he’s older than ever before. He’s got a moustache now. It bristles with wisdom. His eyes shine with good humour. His shoulders groan under the weight of being the only cool millennial left. Everyone’s an idiot but him. Nice is out. Right is in. The vibe shift is real. Old Wang’s riding it.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Riding Lights brings magical storytelling and plant-potting to The Selfish Giant at Friargate Theatre and on autumn tour

Matthew Rutherford, left, and Jared More in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s The Selfish Giant

RIDING Lights Theatre Company steps back into the magical world of the Giant’s garden in this season’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant.

Premiered under the artistic direction of the late Paul Burbridge in 2019, Jon Boustead’s stage adaptation of Wilde’s story from his 1888 collection The Happy Prince And Other Tales is being revived by the York company at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, this week ahead of this autumn’s 18-date tour, all preceded by a performance at The Big Feastival over the  August Bank Holiday weekend on Blur bassist Alex James’s farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire.

Artistic director Paul Birch directs Riding Lights returnees Jared More and Matthew Rutherford in an itinerary that will take in further Yorkshire performances at The Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds, September 13 (2pm); Skipton Town Hall, September 18 (11am & 2pm); CAST, Doncaster, September 27 (11am & 2pm); St Edmund’s Church, Roundhay, Leeds, September 28 (5pm); Gate Helmsley Village Hall, October 1 (6.30pm); Junction, Goole, October 4 (2pm), and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, October 26 (2pm & 6pm) and October 27 (11am and 2pm).

In a 50-minute show full of music, beauty, bird song and stories, the Giant is cross when he returns to find children – children! – playing happily in his beautiful orchard. Every day after school, they laugh and play games under the blossom trees, prompting him to erect a big wall to terminate their fun. Worse still, once winter seizes the garden in its icy fingers, will summer ever come back?

Riding Lights brings a fast-moving combination of storytelling, interactive games, live music and puppetry to The Selfish Giant’s inspirational tale of love and generosity, suitable for children aged three upwards and their families.

Performances at 1.30pm and 4.30pm at Friargate Theatre will be complemented by free craft activities, available each day between 12.30pm and 6pm in the café/bar space, and a meet & greet with Jared and Matthew will follow each performance.

Jared, last seen on Riding Lights duty in Christmas Inn Trouble last winter, will play Jack, the Storyteller, as well as voicing the puppet of a little boy and joining Matthew in playing the daffodils Daffy and Dil and wintry double act Snow and Frost. Matthew will be Smog the Giant on his return to Riding Lights after appearing in Night Falls and As You Like It.

Jared More and Matthew Rutherford’s daffodil duo Daffy and Dil in Riding Lights’ The Selfish Giant

“One of my first jobs after theatre training was appearing in The Selfish Giant in Riding Lights’ Christmas tour in 2019, directed by Paul Burbridge, when we toured mainly around North Yorkshire,” recalls Jared, who bears a distinctive Isle of Man accent. “We them made a film version, filmed in 2020 when Covid restrictions were lifted before locking down again for Christmas that year.”

Paul is delighted that Riding Lights is revisiting The Selfish Giant, a story that shows another side to Oscar Wilde. “He wrote a lot of children’s stories and this one really fits in with those stories being sweet and kind and loving, when we think of Wilde having an acerbic wit in his comedies of manners. The Selfish Giant shows a side of him that people maybe don’t know as well.”

At the same time, the imposition of barriers in The Selfish Giant chimes with his own experiences.  “Wilde knew what it was like to be excluded,” says Paul. “In the story, you have to go to a sad place to then have the redemption arc,” says Jared.

“It’s also about friendship and care, with a message that when someone is feeling sad, it’s best to stick around,” says Paul. “I like how the little boy brings care back to Smog’s life,” says Jared.

“If someone thinks the story is about bereavement, that works,” says Paul. “If they think it’s about lost friendship, that works too.” “Or if they think it’s about bullying, that also works,” says Matthew.

“As it’s a story for age three upwards, we’ve talked about it being about an emotional, rather than intellectual, response,” says Paul. “I love that we can make a work that is playful and celebratory  but it’s also not frightened to tread on emotional territory – and you can really feel that emotional response being experienced together in the room.”

Matthew says: “It’s fun to perform, particularly with it being interactive, so there are these emotional moments that really hit home, but we also get the children in the audience  to plant flowers in the Giant’s garden and later water them – and there’s something magical about that.

The Selfish Giant director Paul Birch

“Those moments connect us and we can honour children being part of the creative process, engaging with them in a way that is a privilege for us, when that would be harder with older audiences.”

Jared says: “One of the things I love about it is the essential ‘liveness’ to the show, where we’re actively inviting involvement. You have to go with how they react, so you are co-creating with the children, collaborating with them, which is something I love with children’s shows.”

Matthew adds: “There are those moments where the children can be complicit in it, like when a child spotted I had the wrong sock on the wrong foot and I could then acknowledge that they’d spotted it.”

This week’s audiences should expect a show delivered at breakneck pace. “That’s not to say it doesn’t have light and shade, but it’s definitely high energy,” says Jared.  

“But we’ve also trimmed it slightly to focus on the storytelling in the slower moments, which then resonate more,” says Matthew.

“It’s not frenzied storytelling, but when the show’s fast, it really is fast,” says Paul.

Riding Lights Theatre Company  presents The Selfish Giant, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate Theatre, York, until Saturday, 1.30pm and 4.30pm, and then on tour from September 12 to October 29. Box office: ridinglights.org/theselfishgiant.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 36, from Gazette & Herald

Jared More, left, and Matthew Rutherford in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s The Selfish Giant

A GIANT in a  garden, Wendy turning piratical in a re-imagined Peter Pan,  a slapstick take on The Three Musketeers and an enlightening Helmsley exhibition are among Charles Hutchinson’s highlights in the week ahead.

Inspirational tale of love and generosity of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in The Selfish Giant, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, until Saturday, 1.30pm and 4.30pm

STEP into the magical world of the Giant’s garden, a place full of music, beauty, bird song and stories in Jon Boustead’s stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The Giant, however, is cross when he returns to find children – children! – playing happily in his beautiful orchard, whereupon he erects a big wall to put a stop to all the fun.

Once winter seizes the garden in its icy fingers, will summer ever return? Through storytelling, interactive games, live music and puppetry, York company Riding Lights presents a 50-minute play for family audiences. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk. Age recommendation: Three upwards.

York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre’s cast in Wendy & Peter Pan. Picture: James Drury

Neverland revamped: York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre in Wendy & Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

YORK Theatre Royal Youth Theatre returns to the Main House stage for the first time since 2019 for 46 performers, aged eight to 19, to present Ella Hickson’s feminist take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan in Lydia Crosland and Sophie-Jade Howell’s large-scale production.

A quiet sadness permeates the Darling household, until the unexpected arrival of a mischievous young boy called Peter and a rather sassy fairy, Tink, whereupon Wendy leads the rebellious lost boys, takes on the terrifying Captain Hook, finds the key to her parents’ lost happiness and discovers the power of being brave and strong. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Romantics, Mystics and Revolutionaries

Spoken-word gig of the week: Say Owt presents Romantics, Mystics and Revolutionaries by Pete the Temp, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

POET, author and comic Pete the Temp’s Romantics, Mystics and Revolutionaries is a spoken-word show about rebellion, resistance and wild imagination. The 1800s’ Romantic movement began as a rebellion: against empire, industry and the mechanisation of the soul. Yorkshire became the epicentre of its rebellion. ​

Tomorrow’s storytelling stage show fuses scholarship with music, comedy and poetry in a spellbinding history of riot, repression and psychedelic experimentation. As we face this age of despair, find out what we can learn from past dreams of freedom and renewal. Bangladeshi-Geordie spoken-word poet and creative practitioner Tahmina Ali supports with her explorations of identity, belonging, motherhood, mental health and cultural inheritance, viewed through a distinctly northern lens. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Our Star Theatre Company: Whirlwind of confusion, mayhem and comical mishaps in The Three Musketeers

Slapstick silliness of the week: Our Star Theatre Company in The Three Musketeers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm  

OUR Star Theatre Company’s re-telling of The Three Musketeers is packed with humour, audience participation and energetically silly turns as a small troupe of performers gears up for its debut performance of Alexandre Dumas’s story.

However, what starts as a simple theatrical endeavour soon unravels into a whirlwind of confusion, mayhem and comical mishaps. From forgotten lines to chaotic set changes, the actors become entangled in a series of blunders. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Friday to October 4

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?

In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

See the world more curiously in: Be Like Blippi, York Barbican, Saturday, 1pm and 4pm

JOIN Blippi and Meekah for a one-of-a-kind interactive adventure that inspires children to move, play and explore like Blippi in a new show packed with high-energy music and surprises, featuring fan favourites The Excavator Song, Monster Truck, Dino Dance and Curious Like Me.  

Equipped with Blippi’s signature mix of play, learning, and exploration, Be Like Blippi invites you to break out your orange Blippi glasses and ignite your spark of curiosity. Please note, Blippi and Meekah will be played by professional stage performers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Illegal Eagles: Checking into the Hotel California at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: The Illegal Eagles, Hotel California Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Illegal Eagles mark 30 years on the road in 2026 with their new Hotel California Tour.  Renowned for their vocal and guitar prowess and ability to re-create the legendary sound of the Eagles, the tribute act’s milestone itinerary features a full performance of the iconic Hotel California album, featuring Life In The Fast Lane, New Kid in Town and the unforgettable title track. Expect all the timeless Eagles greatest hits too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Robert Dutton & Andrew Moodie: Launching Into The Light exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre

Exhibition of the week: Robert Dutton & Andrew Moodie, Into The Light, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 8 to 30

THIS exhibition presents landscapes that evoke a strong affinity for different reasons. Dramatic mountainous terrain, breathtaking moorland landscapes and coastal sea sand and communities all have their place.

“We hope that Into the Light may extend beyond the artwork to suggest a sense of optimism, moving from darkness to light, in a sometimes troubled world,” say artists Robert Dutton and Andrew Moodie. “The paintings are presented both to inspire you and also to bring you that same sense of awe and wonder with nature that we felt as we painted them, enjoying the unique quality of the light that led us to each location.”

Jeanette Hunter’s Pearl, left, Jackie Cox’s Jan, Nicki Clay’s Shelley and Gemma McDonald’s Linda in MARMiTE Theatre’s Ladies Day. Picture: Lucy Baines

Racing romp of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in Ladies Day, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 8 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LIFE is one long slog for four fish factory packers from Hull, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda, but their fortunes could change when they head to Knavesmire on the day Royal Ascot came to York in 2005.

Factory hairnets make way for fascinators as the friends hit the racecourse for an unforgettable day out. Secrets are spilled, along with copious amounts of champagne, as their friendships are tested to the limits in Martyn Hunter’s s production of Amanda Whittington’s comedy gem. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/

Louisa Ashdown in the rehearsal room for Hephaestus Theatre’s Richard iii Redux

Introducing: Hephaestus Theatre in Richard iii Redux, The Basement, City Screen Playhouse, York, September 10, 7.30pm

UNIVERSITY of York theatre graduates Eleanor Doig (producer) and Louisa Ashdown (director and performer) introduce new York company Hephaestus Theatre in Kaite O’Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli’s dark comedy Richard iii Redux.

The company’s mission is to tell disabled stories and put disabled and neuro-diverse actors on stage and behind the scenes, this time with Ashdown playing The Actor opposite Georgina Way’s Presenter (on film) in a journey to find who the real Richard iii was while exploring the challenges of being a disabled actor. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.

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Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s futuristic 92nd play, The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, his first courtroom drama

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

REHEARSALS are into tech week for Alan Ayckbourn’s 92nd play, the groundbreaking The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, whose premiere will run at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from September 4 to October 3.

Directed by Sir Alan, Elizabeth Boag, Frances Marshall, Russell Richardson, Richard Stacey, Leigh Symonds, Hayden Wood and Olivia Woolhouse will be performing his first courtroom drama.

No ordinary courtroom drama at that, but one set in the year 2194, with the undercurrent of a detective story too, when “humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different”.

“Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case,” reveals Sir Alan. “Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, the evidence is polarising, and selecting an impartial jury is proving to be a challenge.”

Introduced by Ayckbourn’s observation that “in space, no-one can hear you dream”, The Trial Of Romeo Oscar asks a question that artists have been positing for centuries:  what makes us human?

“When you reach my age, you really only have the choice as a writer of either looking back or moving forward,” says Sir Alan, now 87. “At the moment, I’m sort of swinging between past and future with each play. But where we’re going, particularly with AI, is always interesting. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Look at Shakespeare, he went into complete fantasy and was none the worse for that!”

Why has Sir Alan not written a courtroom drama until now? “They all required big casts,” he says. “You could use the audience as the jury, which is a gimmick many theatre directors have used, or you could have 12 actors sitting around for a long time before doing anything.

Playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn in his Scarborough garden. Picture: Tony Bartholomew, 2020

“The advantage of me doing the play set in 2194 is that most of the cast can be virtual, invisible to the audience, so we only hear their voices.

“It’s set so far in the future that you would think that by then they would be bringing in witnesses by video or hologram.”

The Trial Of Romeo Oscar nevertheless ends up with a cast of seven: “That’s still quite big for the SJT,” says Sir Alan. “The play is still within the tradition of a courtroom drama with a judge, defendant, prosecution and defence lawyers and witnesses, but it’s a very different world.

“Firstly, because the defendant is an android, and secondly, because it’s a world no longer ruled by politicians but now run by huge corporations, in this case the Citrus organisation in London. It’s a post-holocaust world after a World War of some description, and it’s the first play of mine to be set entirely underground but still on Earth – and it features my first replicant.

“The war has been over for 20 years and was fought by frontline troops that were all androids, where humans had very little involvement, except remotely. Like now, with drone controllers sitting safely in their bunkers.”

Sir Alan continues: “In a sense, the androids return home as war heroes and are one step closer to being independent citizens, after being prescribed as a different class of being for so long.

“They are sentient, although they are made on work benches, so people argue that they have no soul, but it was increasingly apparent in my last android play [2023’s Constant Companions, featuring an android building janitor named Jan Sixty and an auto-domestic maid named ED] that they were seeking independence at the end.

The poster for Alan Ayckbourn’s courtroom drama The Trial Of Romeo Oscar

“Now, in The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, they have been granted responsibilities and acknowledged as having independence, and as a result, they also become liable to be prosecuted. This trial is the first case because previously it was impossible to think of an android killing a human, but this looks a slam-dunk case.  

“Into this mix we bring an outsider, a defence counsel shipped in from an Earth colony, Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite.”

Ayckbourn’s play may be set in the future, but one too close for comfort. “If politicians keep mucking up in the way they are, someone is going to grab the reins of power in the way that Trump has. Only one step from a businessman, where that gap is growing smaller, and now what I’ve done is to extend that possibility to infinity,” he says.

“In my youth, I used to read so much sci-fi literature, and the thing that I latched on to was how they presented conundrums and made them into parables for today.”

Drawing parallels with the rise in racism and right-wing intolerance today, Sir Alan says: “If you then introduce another race, in other words the androids, where do they fit in? They’re the next victims of racism, seen as a threat, ‘taking our jobs away’. All that racism and sexism starts all over again.”

Ayckbourn’s world in 2194 is one where the arts have virtually disappeared. “After the war, humanity vowed that anything that was created before that should not be encouraged,” he says. “It is a dark premise, but all the better for producing laughter as we will recognize some of it as being close to where we are now. It’s what I call ‘oh my God’ laughter.”

What makes us human, Sir Alan? The arts, music, Shakespeare, this play’s message, he would no doubt reply.

Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 4 to October 3. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

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