Mary Anning Rocks at the Yorkshire Museum, York. Picture: Antony Chappel Ross
DINOSAUR museum adventures and the CBeebies house party, CHIC’s good times on the coast and Sparks’ York return after 52 years offer contrasts aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s choices for the days ahead.
Last-chance holiday activities: Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York, open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm
AS the school summer holidays enter their final fortnight, the Yorkshire Museum invites visitors to “make the most of the interactive activities, craft sessions and amazing exhibits before term starts again”.
Grab a dinosaur backpack to explore the Mary Anning and Jurassic galleries in dino-themed entertainment for younger ones, while spotting fossils and dino bones on their adventures on August 21, 24 or 28. The final Melsonby Hoard treasure trove crafting session will be held on August 26, although Viking beaded jewellery and bug brooch making are available every day through the summer break. Pay once to receive all these free activities and unlimited return visits for a year. Tickets: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.
No common ground: Pandora Clifford’s Mags and Liz Garland’s Liz in Handbagged at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2013 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Nile Rodgers: Performing with CHIC at Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Coastal gig of the week: Nile Rodgers & CHIC, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates open at 6pm
IN the final Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert of the summer, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner and composer, producer, arranger and guitarist Nile Rodgers returns to the Yorkshire coast for the third time with CHIC, the New York City R&B and soul band he co-founded with Bernard Edwards.
Expect such disco dancefloor fillers as Le Freak, Good Times, We Are Family and I’m Coming Out. Acid jazz combo Brand New Heavies support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael: Playing York after 52-year hiatus on August 25. Picture: Munachi Osegbu
York gig of the week: Sparks, York Barbican, August 25, doors open at 7pm
CULT Californian pop-rock pioneers Sparks play York for the first time since 1974 on their 2025-2026 world tour, coinciding with this month’s release of latest album Live On The Moon.
The Mael brothers, Ron (keyboards), 81, and Russell (vocals), 77, are lining up a euphoric, career-spanning set, picking from such hits as This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Amateur Hour, Something For The Girl With Everything, Looks, Looks, Looks, The Number One Song In Heaven and Beat The Clock. Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The poster for CBeebies House Party Live! at York Barbican
Children’s show of the week: CBeebies House Party Live!, York Barbican, August 26, 11am and 2pm
DIRECTED by CBeebies superstar Justin Fletcher, CBeebies House Party Live! is a fun-packed family stage show full of sensational songs, stupendous surprises and mega moments.
Throwing an epic party just for you will be special guest Mr Tumble, Mister Maker, York Theatre Royal pantomime alumni Andy Day and Evie Pickerill, Duggee, Nigel Clarke and George Webster, who promise dancing, singing, streamers, giant jellies, bubbles galore and a CBeebies bedtime story. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Lee Gemmell’s Egyptology student Edward Bellingham in Baron Productions’ The Mummy Lot No. 249
Thriller of the month: Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Mummy Lot No. 249, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, August 28 & 29, 7.30pm
FOUNDED by Daniel Wilmot in 2015, York company Baron Productions presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1892 one-act play The Mummy Lot No. 249 as its 2026 summer show, in which Oxford student Abercrombie Smith discovers his neighbour, Egyptology student Edward Bellingham, has used ancient magic to reanimate a malevolent mummy to terrorise and attack his rivals.
Wilmot’s cast features Jack McAdam as Smith, Lee Gemmell as Bellingham, M. Alder as Peterson, Lauren Hegarty as Hastie and Ellie Guffick as Monkhouse Lee. Box office: https://www.ticketsource.com/baron-productions.
The artwork for the interactive Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote at Milton Rooms, Malton
Crime detection games ahead: Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 2, 7.30pm
HOSTED by super-fan, playwright and PopHorror co-producer Tim Benzie, cult event Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote comes to Malton with an interactive screening of NBC Universal Television’s classic Murder, She Wrote episode A Fashionable Way To Die, wherein Jessica Fletcher visits Paris to support her friend’s fashion show, but soon a murder takes place that only she (or you) can solve.
Combining games, prizes and audience participation, Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote features a race to solve the crime, via the Fameometer and the Suspiciometer; a Cabot Cove quiz; a singalong to the theme tune with new lyrics, plus clips and biographies of the campy guest stars. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Snake Davis Band: Heading back to Helmsley Arts Centre
Return upcoming: The Snake Davis Band, Everlasting Love Tour, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 12, 7.30pm
SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis is “so happy to be back at Helmsley Arts Centre yet again”, this time showcasing new tunes and his new album on the Everlasting Love Tour with his four-piece band featuring guitar, bass guitar and drums.
The set will span “floaty to danceable, soul and 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 own music choices and favourite musicians. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Michelle Yim in The Ballad Of Mulan, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Malcolm Tam
Tour show announcement of the week: Red Dragonfly Productions & Grist To The Mill Productions present The Ballad Of Mulan, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 12, 7.45pm; September 12, 2pm & 7.45pm
COMMISSIONED and performed by West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress Michelle Yim, The Ballad Of Mulantells the story of the real woman behind the legendary Chinese female warrior who disguised as a man to join the Empire’s army – and inspired Disney’s animation and live-feature Mulan.
Woman, warrior, legend, for ten years Mulan has fought for the Chinese Empire. Now, after one last battle, she will be going home, but can she return to her old life, becoming a woman again? Yim’s hour-long The Ballad Of Mulan presents a search for identity in a violent world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Doubles troubles: Husband-and-wife strife for Helen Clarke’s Margo and Jamie McKeller’s ageing club champ, Lionel, in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Magpies’ folk festival, Sue Slack’s landscape paintings and The Basement’s new comedy club should outshine this evening’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until Saturday, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday show
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax on the Scarborough coast
Coastal gig of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, Friday, gates 6pm
FLAMBOYANT, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill on Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Grim reading: Pandora Clifford’s Mags (a younger Margaret Thatcher) flicking through the headlines in Handbagged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2013 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their annual folk festival at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, Friday and Saturday. SOLD OUT
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, Saturday & Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on Saturday
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, Saturday, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Nice touch: Chloe Petts feeling lippy about playing Basement Comedy Club’s debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch gig, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
More Things To Do in York and beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 33, from The York Press, from August 15 onwards
Squash on the tennis court: Effie Warboys’ insufferably spoilt Chessie, front left, pushing around her doubles partner, Alexa Williams’s Belle, in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? In the background are Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony. Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Basement’s comedy launch night and Johnny Depp’s Scarborough return spark Charles Hutchinson’s curiosity.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15, 4.30pm, 6pm & 7.30pm
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 15 and 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market has returned for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day on the third of three weekends, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Cut Capers: Headlining Main Stage at The Magpies Festival on August 15
Folk festival fully booked: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, August 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents today’s line-up on the Main Stage of Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm).
The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on August 15
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, August 15, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Hollywood Vampires: Joe Perry, left, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen
Coastal gig of the week: Hollywood Vampires, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 15, gates 6pm
NAMED after Alice Cooper’s 1970s’ drinking club, American rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires return to Scarborough after their sold-out 2023 gig with the regular line-up of Cooper, film star and guitarist Johnny Depp, Aerosmith co-founder Joe Perry and Crossbone Skully and Warlock musician Tommy Henriksen. Punk icons The Damned support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.
Sara Barron: Compere for Basement Comedy Club debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch show, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, August 16, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-e-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, August 16, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Silent Disco falls even more silent
CANCELLED:Glasswerk presents Day Fever Silent Disco, York Museum Gardens, August 21, 6.30pm
YORK Museum Gardens will no longer be transformed into “the ultimate outdoor dance floor” for Day Fever’s first ever Silent Disco under the stars that would have followed the organisers’ series of York Barbican indoor events.
“It’s really simple,” said Day Fever’s co-organiser, actress Vicky McClure, before the late cancellation. “Everyone gets a pair of headphones. You’ll be connected to a Day Fever DJ, who will be playing non-stop Day Fever anthems from 6.30pm until 10m. Sing as loud as you like – no-one can hear.” Ticket refunds: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/York/Museum-Gardens/Day-Fever-Silent-Disco/42485814/.
Michelle Yim in The Ballad Of Mulan, on tour at York Theatre Royal.
Show announcement of the week: Red Dragonfly Productions & Grist To The Mill Productions present The Ballad Of Mulan, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 12, 7.45pm; September 12, 2pm & 7.45pm
COMMISSIONED and performed by West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress Michelle Yim, The Ballad Of Mulan tells the story of the real woman behind the legendary Chinese female warrior who disguised as a man to join the Empire’s army – and inspired Disney’s animation and live-feature Mulan.
Woman, warrior, legend, for ten years Mulan has fought for the Chinese Empire. Now, after one last battle, she will be going home, but can she return to her old life, becoming a woman again. Yim’s hour-long The Ballad Of Mulan presents a search for identity in a violent world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
