Tag: Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough

Posted on

Tuck into kidnapping & murder when stakes are high & steaks are missing in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel

Alice Pryor, back row, left, Bill Champion, Shelley Atkinson, Thomas Cotran, front row, left, and Michael Hugo in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

CLAYBODY Theatre are heading to Scarborough and Harrogate with Deborah McAndrew’s stage adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s 1902 rollicking comedy thriller The Grand Babylon Hotel.

The Stoke-on-Trent company’s co-artistic director Conrad Nelson directs Shelley Atkinson, Thomas Cotran, Michael Hugo, Alice Pryor and Bill Champion in Bennett’s tale of Nella Racksole discovering steak and beer are not on the Grand Babylon Hotel menu for her birthday treat, whereupon her American Railroad millionaire father obligingly buys the chef, the kitchen, the hotel.

However, Theodore Racksole soon finds more on his plate than a juicy steak, with kidnapping and murder for starters. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew? 

Conrad left the artistic director’s role at Northern Broadsides in 2018, the same year that Deborah wrote her last play for the Halifax company. The couple headed off to the Potteries, establishing Claybody Theatre and forging links with the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, their partners for The Grand Babylon Hotel, whose tour arrives at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow. Harrogate Theatre awaits from April 1 to 4.

Here director Conrad and writer Deborah discuss comedy styles, touring, Bennett’s stories and the need for silliness in 2026.

What inspired you to take your work on the road?

Conrad: “It’s a first for Claybody, but not for us as artists. It’s been an ambition for the company for some time, and of course we have a history of touring with previous companies.But also, we were heavily encouraged by fellow artists, artistic directors, theatres and other supporters who will often travel to Stoke-on-Trent to see us.”

Deborah: “When you’re adapting a piece, the material often invites a certain type of treatment. I always knew that this novel would respond best to a small cast, multi-rolling, narrative storytelling, hat swapping, comic playing…in the style of [Patrick Barlow’s] The 39 Steps. Therefore, it’s portable. One of the first things I said was: ‘I think this could tour’.”

Playwright Deborah McAndrew

How did this tour take shape, Deborah?

“We approached the New Vic and said, ‘Do you fancy making this show with us?’ and they said ‘yes’. So we did the show there in the autumn, and we acquired funding from Arts Council England for a short tour, with the plan being to run it at The Dipping House in Stoke and then take it on the road to Hull, Scarborough, Colchester and Harrogate.”

Why tour this 1902 Arnold Bennett story in Deborah’s adaption now?

Conrad: “It’s a great introduction for people who haven’t been to the theatre before or haven’t been for a while; it’s a popular piece of well-crafted, high-quality theatre, which will speak to pretty much anyone, and that’s what theatres are wanting and needing right now to fill their auditorium.”

Deborah: “It’s something that can be absolutely billed as a comedy. People want to be entertained, they want light relief, and it’s the job of those of us who work in the arts to bring relief, distraction and enjoyment. As well as to enlighten, expose and discuss.

“The scales too often weigh heavily on the worthy side of the work, and actually, we must remember the value of the arts in lifting people’s hearts, bringing them together with other human beings to have an experience which makes them more fortified to go out and tackle their lives and the world outside – which at the moment is full of uncertainty, anxiety, violence and concern.

“Going out there with a comedy is right for the times, right for the audience and absolutely right for what we need to do with Claybody right now.”

Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion in the role of Theodore Racksole. Picture: Andrew Billington

To those new to Claybody Theatre’s work, how would you describe the style of this show?

Conrad: “It’s billed as a ‘rollicking comedy thriller’, and we’d invite audiences to come with an open heart, an open mind, and just be ready to be entertained. Within the rollicking comedy, there is real quality; it’s accessible and it’s fun.

“It’s driven by the thing that audiences love most; creativity with actors. We’re making this work with a lot of love, and it’s for the audience, not for ourselves. That’s critical in the way that we make work; how is it going to be received? How is it going to charm, affect, cheer? Without the audience, we are nowhere.”

Deborah: “The characters are warm and likeable, even the dastardly villain is somebody you want to be in the room with. There’s a lovely warmth and charm about these actors that we’re working with as well. They’re people who you want to spend an evening with and have a laugh with.”

Which character did you enjoy writing most and why, Deborah?

“Well, I like funny voices! That’s probably the actor in me. Nanny Heidi is not in the book – I would say, her, because she’s brilliantly performed by Shelley Atkinson, who knows how to do that size of characterisation. And the very ridiculous Frenchman who’s on the boats, which was written by me, and Conrad and Mike Hugo just run with it.”

How would you describe Claybody Theatre’s connection with the audience, Conrad?

“The audience are the whole reason to exist, from the start of the writing into rehearsals, it is a participatory event, and it’s grounded in that. We keep that connection at the forefront of everything we do.

“Deborah had the idea that this show should be an actor–driven piece that would be ideal to tour. All the cast have a fantastic synergy with the audience, establishing that wonderful connection that makes people want to see them again. They are magical performers; it’s not every actor’s gift to be a communicator, but our cast are just really good at delivering the text. It’s a bit of a romp but done with such high quality.”

Thomas Cotran and Alice Pryor in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

What draws you to Arnold Bennett’s writing, Deborah, having done Anna Of The Five Towns for the New Vic before the pandemic and The Card in 2022?

“He has brilliant female characters, I really love his women, they feel very real. He writes about characters that I want to spend time with.

“They’re a bit more caricatured in The Grand Babylon Hotel, because it’s a pot-boiler; he wrote it for pure entertainment in serial form. But when you get into his more literary works, like Anna Of The Five Towns, or The Old Wives Tale, you get these complex and interesting characters, particularly female characters.

“His stories respond very well to being transferred to the stage with all these great characters, and when we’re looking for stories to do with Claybody that are related to the Potteries, his work stands out.

“But also when we’ve been asked by our friends at Hull [Truck Theatre], Harrogate and Scarborough, ‘did we have anything we could take there’, it’s expensive to tour, but I thought Bennett’s storytelling would respond to a small cast.”

On tour, how does each theatre space shape the way you tell the story, Conrad?

“Well, the space does really tell the story. You come in, and you play the space that you’ve got. You look at the merits of the space and then play it.

“In the conversion to thrust, in-the-round in Scarborough, and then a traditional proscenium arch space like Harrogate, it doesn’t matter where you see it from, the stage has to feel deep, otherwise you get very flat performances.

Michael Hugo’s Ticket Collector in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

“So you respond to the size and intimacy of space, and that’s also to do with the actors’ experience. When the actors come in on the morning, they have to convert their performance extremely quickly. It’s exciting, it gives it a bit of frisson!

“If you come and see it on the first night, you’ll get that lovely energy of actors figuring out what it sounds like. Because you can open your mouth in a different space and it sounds completely different; that’s part of the director’s job to make sure that you’re telling the actor truthfully how it plays.”

Why is it important to create shows that celebrate silliness these days?

Conrad: “I think that’s partly to do with what audiences respond to. You can do a really well crafted, difficult piece of theatre, and then somebody puts on a hat and does a f*rt gag and it gets the biggest response of the evening.

“So we like a bit of bonkers, a bit of eccentricity, you just have to look around on any high street and you will see it in spades. People are anything but dull and characterless. And given the right motivation, we all love a bit of nuts.”

Deborah: “Comedy has always been used as a tool of anarchy. We use comedy to undermine some of the power that people have; it’s being used as a weapon across the world right now, isn’t it? Comedy helps us get through dark times.

“The Grand Babylon Hotel is silly and easy to go with, and hopefully people who might be feeling a bit down, or don’t feel like coming out the theatre, will actually be glad they did. They might get their tank topped up a bit in terms of resilience because I think that’s what comedy can do for us.”

Shelley Atkinson’s Nanny Heidi: the character that Deborah McAndrew most enjoyed writing in her script for The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

How does the cast share out the parts in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Deborah?

“We have the two American central characters, Theodore and Nella, then three multi-rolling clowns playing everybody else, including the gang of villains. It feels very modern. Bennett was writing at the turn of the [20th] century, so it’s late-Victorian, but feels Edwardian, and we’ve lifted it to ten years later than that.

“Only two characters are American. They’re staying at the Grand Babylon Hotel in London, modelled on The Savoy – Bennett loved that hotel , and of course The Savoy has its famous  Arnold Bennett Omelette [created for the novelist in 1929 with its combination of smoked haddock, Gruyère cheese and béchamel sauce].

“The characters are mostly English but there’s also a fake Russian, a Belgian too. I’ve had lots of fun with French, German and Italian characters where I’ve added the actual language, but done in a way that the audience will be able to understand.”  

How would you sum up the reaction to the show so far?

Deborah: “What really tells you how they feel is the comments on our Facebook pages, where the response has been chock-full of people saying they’ve been laughing all the way through. Ninety-nine per cent have said they’ve really loved it, and felt they really needed a play like this time when the world is so full of anxieties. This show affirms our humanity, our connectedness, as we laugh together.

“We’re very proud of this show, taking great pleasure in listening to the audience, feeling the warmth in the room.”

Conrad: “That’s the key. As much as attention to detail is important in our work, we are making the show for our audience, not for ourselves. That’s why we still make theatre: that connection between the artist and the audience.”

Claybody Theatre, The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 18 to 21, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

In the shadows: Michael Hugo in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond a mysterious garden and abstract surrealism. Hutch’s List No. 10, from The York Press

Elizabeth Marsh in rehearsal for The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, an hotel comedy thriller, a surrealist wine bar exhibition and Pulp confessions exhibition stir Charles Hutchinson’s interest.  

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Leeds abstract surrealist Nicolas Dixon, front, spotted at Thursday’s launch of his RARE v WET exhibition with WET proprietors James Wall and Ella Williams and RARE Collective organiser Sharon McDonagh, right

Exhibition of the week: Nicolas Dixon, RARE v WET, at WET, Micklegate, York, until April 22

YORK  artist and event organiser Sharon McDonagh and DJ/artist Sola launch their RARE v WET series of solo exhibitions in aid of York charity SASH (Safe and Sound Homes) at WET, James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant, with Nicolas Dixon first up.

Leeds abstract surrealist Dixon’s murals and artworks have become landmarks in Leeds, including at Kirkgate Market, Trinity Shopping Centre and the University of Leeds, as well as Leeds United tributes to the 1972 FA Cup Winners at Elland Road and the iconic Bielsa the Redeemer in Wortley. On show is a mixture of new and older work, both prints and originals.

Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion as American billionaire Theodore Racksole in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel, on tour at the SJT next week. Picture: Andrew Billington

Thriller of the week: Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 18 to 21, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

CONRAD Nelson directs an ensemble cast of multiple flamboyant characters in a rollicking comedy thriller of rapid-fire character changes, sharp humour and theatrical fun, presented in association with the New Vic Theatre.

In Deborah McAndrew’s  adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s novel, Nella Racksole discovers steak and beer are not on the menu for her birthday treat at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel, prompting  her American millionaire father to buy the chef, the kitchen, the entire hotel. Cue  kidnapping and murder. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew? Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Baroque Alchemy’s Lyndy Mayle and Piers Adams: Playing NCEM tonight

Classical-electronic concert of the week: Baroque Alchemy, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

ANCIENT and modern meet in a spectacular musical fusion in Baroque Alchemy, the realisation of recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and keyboard player Lyndy Mayle’s long-held dream. Ever since the rise of synth-led bands and New Age music in the 1980s, Red Priest frontman Adams has nurtured a vision to combine the drama of baroque music with the expansive sound-world of the electronic era. Now Baroque Alchemy turn the traditional early music recital on its head for the 21st century. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes: Evoking the Grand Ole Opry in A Country Night In Nashville at the Grand Opera House

Tribute gig of the week: A Country Night In Nashville, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

A COUNTRY Night In Nashville re-creates the scene of a buzzing Honky Tonk in downtown Nashville, capturing the energy and atmosphere of a night in the home of country music in a journey through the history of its biggest stars past and present. Hits from Johnny Cash to Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton to The Chicks, Willie Nelson to Kacey Musgraves are showcased by Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The book cover for Mark Webber’s I’m With Pulp, Are You?, under discussion by the author and guitarist at York Literature Festival

Book event of the week: York Literature Festival, I’m With Pulp, Are You?, An Evening With Mark Webber, The Crescent, York, March 17, 7pm

PULP guitarist and avant-garde film curator Mark Webber discusses I’m With Pulp, Are You?, his visually rich chronicle of the Sheffield band’s history from the perspective of a fan-turned-manager-turned-guitarist.

In his music memoir, 40 years of archived material comes to life as Chesterfield-born Webber recalls his fascination with David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and counterculture, writing fanzines and organising concerts from the age of 15, joining Pulp in 1995 and playing on Different Class, This Is Hardcore, We Love Life and More, 2025’s recording renaissance after a 24-year hiatus. Box office: 01904 623568, yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk.

Bluey’s Big Play: Australian fun and games for children at the Grand Opera House

Children’s show of the week: Windmill Theatre Co in Bluey’s Big Play, Grand Opera House, York, March 19 to 22, 10am, Thursday and Friday; 10am, 1pm and 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

COMBINING puppets and original voices from Ludo Studios’  Emmy Award-winning Australian children’s television series, including Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti as Dad and Mum, this theatrical adaptation is based on an original story by Bluey creator Joe Brumm, featuring music by series composer Joff Bush. When Dad wants a bean bag time-out, Bluey and Bingo have other plans as they pull out all the games and cleverness at their disposal.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Scouting For Girls: Re-visiting Everybody Wants To Be On TV at York Barbican

York Barbican gigs of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, March 17, doors 7pm; The Brand New Heavies, March 19

AS Scouting For Girls’ vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Roy Stride puts it: “I can’t believe we’re already celebrating the 15th anniversary of our second album [Everybody Wants To Be On TV], and I’m beyond excited to get back on the road in 2026! The shows are going to be immense: a massive nostalgic Scouting singalong every night.” Expect further hits to feature too.

Ealing Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies – Simon Bartholomew, vocals and guitar, Andrew Levy, bass and keyboards, and Angela Ricci, vocals  – mark their 35th anniversary with a 12-date tour that takes in York Barbican as their only Yorkshire destination. Expect  joy, funk, love and fancy clothes. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Brand New Heavies: Acid Jazz joy, funk, love and fancy clothes at York Barbican

Comedy classic of the week: Rowntree Players in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 19 to 21, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

ROWNTREE Players bring Oscar Wilde’s cherished 1895 farcical comedy of manners to the York stage in the original four-act version reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, under the direction of Hannah Shaw.

Lizzie Lawton’s John Worthing and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff lead double lives under the false name of “Ernest” to escape social obligations, leading to romantic entanglements and comedic misunderstandings, played out by a cast featuring Jeanette Hambridge’s Lady Bracknell, Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax, Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, Wayne Osguthorpe’s Reverend Canon Chasuble, Rebecca Thomson’s Miss Prism and Max Palmer’s Lane/Merriman. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

A collage from the rehearsal photo-shoot for Rowntree Players’ production of The Importance Of Being Earnest

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

FRESH from being picked as the Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025, Rob Rouse is touring Funny Bones: a daft whirlwind of craftily spun tall tales, a bucketful of manic energy, canny stagecraft, eerily convincing characters and a barrage of one-liners.

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Super scooper: Funny Bones comedian Rob Rouse and his skeleton dog on tour at Helmsley and Scarborough

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 10, from Gazette & Herald

Elliot Mackenzie and Henry Jenkinson in rehearsal for John Doyle’s actor-musician production of The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mark Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, two cases for Sherlock Holmes, daft Funny Bones and chocolate cookery tips hit the sweet pot for Charles Hutchinson.   

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical , York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Josh Jones: Striving to earn his cat’s respect at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Wrestling with humour: Josh Jones, I Haven’t Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

MANCHESTER comedian Josh Jones follows up Gobsmacked with I Haven’t  Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show as he finds himself knee deep into his 30s, where nothing thrills him more than a Greggs’ Sausage Roll.

Living a more sedate life is not without its challenges, however, as he is yet to earn his cat’s respect. “I’ll be keeping it light: nothing super-political, nothing controversial, and it’s definitely not going to change your life,” he says of a set brimful of history, felines and his love of wrestling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cookery book talk of the week: Kemps Books presents Edd Kimber In Conversation, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EDD Kimber, 2010 winner of the inaugural Great British Bake Off, discusses his new book, Chocolate Baking, The Ultimate Guide To Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries (Quadrille Publishing, March 5), a celebration of the world’s most-loved ingredient in 100 recipes that showcase chocolate in all its forms, sometimes rich and bold, sometimes subtle and surprising.

Expect delicious insights, behind-the-scenes baking stories and possibly a little tasting and demonstration too from Bradford-raised, London-based Kimber. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jazz singer Claire Martin: Teaming up with IG4 at NCEM, York

Jazz gig of the week: IG4 with Claire Martin, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

VOCALIST Claire Martin joins IG4  pianist and composer Nikki Iles, saxophonist Karen Sharp and rising star bassist Ewan Hastie, 2022 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, to perform Iles’s new arrangements of Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Anthony Newley and Joni Mitchell songs, complemented by her stylish reworking of the American songbook, including Cole Porter and Johnny Mandel. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Super-scooper: Rob Rouse going walkies with his skeletal dog in Funny Bones at Pocklington, Helmsley and Scarborough

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

FRESH from being picked as the Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025, Rob Rouse is touring Funny Bones: a daft whirlwind of craftily spun tall tales, a bucketful of manic energy, canny stagecraft, eerily convincing characters and a barrage of one-liners.

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The poster for Ready Steady 60’s Show at Helmsley Arts Centre

Tribute gig of the week: Ready Steady 60’s Show, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

READY Steady 60’s Show celebrates the best of the Mod 1960s and British Beat boom in the four-piece tribute band’s two-hour show, paying homage to The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, The Move, The Hollies, and The Animals. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.       

Baron Productions’ cast members at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, where they will perform Friday and Saturday’s Sherlock Holmes double bill

Thriller double bill of the week: Baron Productions in Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal In Bohemia and The Speckled Band, St  Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson embark on two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most captivating cases, presented by York company Baron Productions. London private detective Holmes has always despised love, until the day he pits his wits against mysterious blackmailer Irene Adler, who has a powerful hold over the King of Bohemia, one that could turn Holmes into a changed man if he dares do battle with her.

Then, when a desperate young woman begs Holmes for protection against her cruel stepfather, he and Watson must face a deranged doctor – who can commit horrible murders without entering his victims’ rooms – and a sinister “speckled band”. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.

The 309s: Bringing together Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan at Milton Rooms, Malton

Swing jive gig of the week: The 309s, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

WEST Yorkshire five-piece The 309s have spent 14 years purveying their swing jive repertoire all over the country. Think Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan joining forces to make a classic 20th century sound at the roots of rock’n’roll.

The 309s pick songs mostly from the southern States of America from 1925 and 1955, from Western Swing, created by Wills in Texas, through to rock’n’roll’s early days in Memphis, Tennessee, while taking in country boogie and jump blues too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Scouting For Girls: Marking 15th anniversary of platinum-selling Everybody Wants To Be On TV album at York Barbican

Anniversary gig  of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, York Barbican, March 17, doors 7pm

AS Scouting For Girls’ vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Roy Stride puts it: “I can’t believe we’re already celebrating the 15th anniversary of our second album [Everybody Wants To Be On TV], and I’m beyond excited to get back on the road in 2026! The shows are going to be immense: a massive nostalgic Scouting singalong every night.” Expect further hits to feature too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Posted on

REVIEW: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, and on tour *****

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.

Posted on

Fleur blooms in Settlement Players directorial debut with Blue Remembered Hills at York Theatre Royal Studio

York Settlement 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.

Posted on

Jodie Comer returns to North Yorkshire stage for first time since her 2010 SJT professional debut, now starring in sold-out Prima Facie at Grand Opera House, York

“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 will revive 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 as spoilt, 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.

Jodie Comer in the tour poster for Prima Facie

Posted on

Meet Robin Herford, director of The Woman In Black since SJT premiere in 1987, now bringing latest cast to Grand Opera House

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.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 1, from Gazette & Herald

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 White in 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.

Posted on

REVIEW: Sleeping Beauty, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until Dec 31 ****

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
Posted on

How Nick Lane is reawakening Sleeping Beauty in dreamland at the SJT with a girl called Molly and a Prince jettisoned for Dan

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.