Tag: The Basement City Screen Picturehouse

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 50, from The York Press

Follow the Yellow Brick Road at Christmas at Castle Howard: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

FROM The Wizard Of Oz wonderland at Castle Howard to daytime dancing at York Barbican, Gothic tales to Dickensian ghost stories, ’tis the season to be out and about, reports Charles Hutchinson.

Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4 2026

CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight tens of thousands of visitors over seven weeks.

Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is the highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.

Day Fever co-founders Jonny Owen and Vicky McClure: Bringing the fun of daytime dancing to York Barbican on Saturday

Dance party of the week: Day Fever, York Barbican, Saturday, 3pm to 8pm

LAUNCHED in early 2024 by Trigger Point actress Vicky McClure, filmmaker and broadcaster Jonny Owen, Reverend & The Makers frontman Jon McClure (no relation), brother Chris McClure and Sheffield businessman James O’Hara, Day Fever has fast become a cultural sensation, built on people craving a space to let loose, laugh and dance, all before 8pm.

“It feels like a massive house party at your nan’s,” says Vicky. “No drama, no egos, just people acting daft, getting dressed up and having the best time.” No dress code, no pressure, only wall-to-wall feel-good tunes and an open invitation to dance like nobody’s watching. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Primitives: Playing The Crescent tonight

Indie gig of the week: The Primitives, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

COVENTRY band The Primitives emerged from the UK independent music scene in 1984 with a sound that distilled the shimmering guitar chime of The Byrds, the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and Sixties’ girl group melodies into quickfire pop gems. After debut album Lovely, breakthrough single Crash and further albums Pure and Galore, they split in 1992, only to re-form in 2009.

This year, Elefant Records released the double vinyl collection Let’s Go Round Again – Second Wave Singles & Rarities 2011-2025, adding new material to A sides, B sides and more besides from the past 14 years. Tonight they head to York with a line-up featuring original members Tracy Tracy, vocals, Paul Court guitar/vocals, and Tig Williams, drums. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday and Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; November 25 to 28, 7.30pm; November 29, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

DIRECTED by Steve Tearle, this musical will take you to a world of pure imagination in Roald Dahl’s devilishly delicious tale of young golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket entering the scrumptious chocolate factory. There, he and his grandpa Joe, along with five more children, will meet the mysterious confectionary wizard Willy Wonka for an adventure like no other.

“The story of chocolate is at the very heart and history of this amazing city and it is only fitting that NE Theatre York brings Charlie And The Chocolate Factory to York,” says Steve. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mohammed Moussa: Headlining Say Owt’s bill on Sunday at The Crescent

Poetry gig of the week: Say Owt presents Mohammed Moussa, The Crescent, York, Sunday, midday

YORK spoken-word collective Say Owt welcomes Gaza Poets Society founder, Palestinian poet and podcaster Mohammad Moussa to The Crescent. Now living in Turkey, he writes with urgency, humour and hope, seeking to build connections across borders.

Supporting Mohammed on Sunday’s bill of shared personal stories will be York-based poets Nadira Alom and Minal Sukumar. Nadira writes about mental health and her experiences as a woman and a Muslim; Minal is a writer, performance poet and doctoral researcher at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York. Box office: thcrescentyork.com.

James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society with a brace of Charles Dickens’ ghost stories

Storyteller of the week: James Swanton presents Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, November 24 to 30, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 7pm; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm

YORK storyteller supreme and Gothic actor James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with two of Dickens’ seasonal ghost stories: A Christmas Carol, the famous saga of Scrooge (November 25 and 28, 7pm, and November 30, 2pm and 6pm), and The Haunted Man, a neglected Gothic classic (November 24 and 27, 7pm).

“Their words unlock a world teeming with chain-rattling spectres, with dark and shadowy doubles, with Ghosts of Christmases Past and Present and Yet To Come,” he says. “These tales chill the marrow and tickle the funny bone, but always they enchant, as only the works of a master storyteller can.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Robert Lloyd Parry’s performance of three M R James ghost stories, Not Truly Dead, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on November 23 (7.30pm) has sold out.

O’Hooley & Tidow: Playing NCEM

Folk gig of the week: O’Hooley & Tidow, So Long For Now, National Centre for Early Music, York, November 26, 7.30pm

AFTER 15 years of performing together, eight studio albums, four BBC Folk Award nominations, composing Gentleman Jack as the BBC/HBO drama theme tune and gigs at hundreds of UK and European venues and festivals, Yorkshire folk duo Belinda O’Hooley & Heidi Tidow have made the momentous decision to say farewell for now to explore other adventures.

To help their loving and loyal audiences process this news, they are embarking on one last tour of all their favourite venues from over the years, taking in the NCEM next Wednesday. Tickets update: Sold out. For returns only, ring 01904 658338.

Ross Noble: Geordie surrealist tapping into his Cranium Of Curiosities at the Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gig of the week: Ross Noble, Cranium Of Curiosities, Grand Opera House, York, November 26, 8pm

THE Wizard of Waffle, the Rambler Royale, the Noodlers’ Noodler is touring a tornado of tangents. “What the show will be about is anybody’s guess, but that’s all part of the fun when you look inside my Cranium of Curiosities,” says Newcastle-upon-Tyne stand-up comedian and actor Ross Noble, who cut his comedy teeth in York as the bygone Comedy Shack’s master of ceremonies at The Bonding Warehouse. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Rebecca Vaughan: Telling haunting tales of the festive season in Dafyd Productions’ Christmas Gothic at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Frailties of human nature of the week: Dafyd Productions in Christmas Gothic, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 27, 7.30pm

REGULAR York frequenters Dafyd Productions return with Christmas Gothic, an invitation to come in from the cold and enter into the Christmas spirit as a dark and spectral woman (Rebecca Vaughan) tells haunting tales of the festive season, lighting a candle to the frailties of human nature and illuminating the chilling depths of the bleak, wintry dark. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 49, from Gazette & Herald, 19/11/2025 onwards

Adrian Lillie and Charlotte Lloyd Webber, of CWL Design, standing by the 28ftChristmas tree in the Great Hall at Castle Howard, where their Wonderful Wizard Of Oz immersive experience enchants until January 4. Picture: Tom Arber

SNOW storms with clowns, Castle Howard’s immersive Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Count Arthur Strong and Adam Z Robinson’s solo takes on A Christmas Carol put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.

Christmas transformation of the week: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Castle Howard, near York, until January 4

CASTLE Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound for The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, set to delight tens of thousands of visitors over a seven-week period.

Created by CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, the show-stopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is a highlight of this winter’s transformation, with life-size fabricated shop fronts inspired by York’s Shambles, while the 28ft Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall. Leeds theatre company Imitating The Dog has provided the projections and soundscapes. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.  

Slava’s SnowShow: Arrival in York coincides with forecasts of snow across the North

Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm, today to Saturday; 2.30pm, tomorrow and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm

ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s  work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw

Straight-talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm

WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth ​for any of this.

Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York artist Lesley Birch at work in her studio for her Flower Power exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York. Picture: Esme Mai Photography

Blooms of the week: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm  

LESLEY Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition that coincides with the publication of her small artbook of the same title by independent York publisher Overt Books, also featuring Esme Mai’s photographs of Lesley’s home studio and the York artist’s free-verse musings. On show too are Pottery Showdown potter Jacqui Atkin’s ceramics.

Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm  

IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.

Gerard Hobson: Cut out for three days of Christmas art

Christmas exhibition of the week: Gerard Hobson, 51, Water Lane, Clifton, York, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm; Sunday, 12 noon to 4pm

YORK printmaker Geard Hobson’s artwork comprises hand-coloured, limited-edition linocut prints and cut-outs focused on nature and wildlife, inspired by the countryside around where he lives in York.

As well as prints and bird, animal, tree and mushroom cut-outs, he creates anything from cards, mugs, cushions and coasters to chopping boards, lampshades, tea towels, notepads and wrapping paper. This week’s festive exhibition focuses on Christmas gifts, cards, prints and cut-outs.

Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light. The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse awaits on Friday

Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.

Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.

Rant: Scottish quartet of fiddle players heads for Helmsley Arts Centre

Fiddlers of the week: Rant, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

SCOTTISH chamber-folk fiddlers Rant return to the road after releasing third album Spin last year, featuring their ambitious, bold and reflective reinterpretation of influential tracks by bands and players from across the globe from their formative years.

In the line-up are Bethany Reid, from Shetland, Anna Massie and Lauren MacColl from the Highland peninsula of the Black Isle, and Gillian Frame, from Arran, whose live set reflects years of honing their sound together and their love for the music of each home region through their writing, repertoire and stories. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Adam Z Robinson: Playing Scrooge and 27 more characters in A Christmas Carol at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale solo show of the week: The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company in A Christmas Carol, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

MARLEY was dead.. to begin with. So starts The Book of Darkness & Light Theatre Company’s ghostly staging of Charles Dickens’s festive tale, performed by Adam Z Robinson, whose solo adaptation “teases out the gothic aspects” and requires him to play 28 characters.

Join miserly misery Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey into the past, present and yet-to-come. The chilly atmosphere of Victorian London is brought to life and the spirits of Christmas return from the dead, all through the spellbinding art of storytelling that combines gripping narration with eerie recorded voices and an immersive soundscape. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Becky, left, and Rachel Unthank: Playing All Saints Church, Pocklington, this weekend

Recommended but sold out already: The Unthanks At 20, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Saturday, 7.30pm

POCKLINGTON’S Hurricane Promotions bring North Eastern folk band The Unthanks to All Saints Church as part of their 20th anniversary scaled-back, intimate series of shows in support of “today’s best small venues”.

 The Unthanks play Pocklington fresh from singing sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank and pianist Adrian McNally being part of the cast of eight for the October 22 to November 2 theatre piece for Bradford UK City of Culture 2025, creating and performing the music for Javaad Alipoor’s staging of York author Fiona Mozley’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Elmet.

The show poster for The Sounds Of Simon at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Tribute show of the week: The Sounds Of Simon, The Music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Old Friends, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

THE Sounds Of Simon, the UK’s longest-running tribute to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, takes a musical journey from their years as Simon and Garfunkel to the successes of their solo careers, as they explore the friendship that led to songs such as Mrs Robinson, The Sound Of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water,   onwards to You Can Call Me Al, Graceland and Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes.

The show incorporates elements of the duo’s famously fractious relationship, as well as replicating their beautiful harmonies, complemented by video clips, stories and memories from more than 50 years. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

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Ian Parks tops Navigators Art & Crooked Spire Press line-up at The Basement, City Screen. Who else is on November 21 bill?

Poet Ian Parks with his new collection The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening With Ian Parks and Friends on November 21 at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, presented in  tandem with Crooked Spire Press.

“This is one for lovers of poetry and folk music,” says organiser Richard Kitchen. “Ian is a widely published and much admired poet from Mexborough, described as ‘the finest love poet of his generation’, although his work vigorously addresses the political as well as the personal.”

Parks will be reading from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, published in October. In addition, he will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.

Joining Parks will be his chosen guests, award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail.

Navigators Art’s poster for An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends

Parks is the author of Selected Poems 1983-2023 and the editor of Versions Of The North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry. He has run the Read To Write Project in Doncaster for a decade.

His translations of the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy were a Poetry Book Society Choice.He has been a Hawthornden Fellow since 1991 and has held residencies at Gladstone’s Library, De Montfort Leicester and Hawkwood College, Stroud.

His poems have appeared in The Times, Poetry Review, the Independent On Sunday, Morning Star and Poetry (Chicago) and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Poet and novelist Janet Dean/Janet Dean Knight explores contemporary themes through the prism of history. She is widely published in anthologies and magazines in print and online.

Poet and critic Matthew Paul

Poet and critic Matthew Paul, originally from South London, now lives in South Yorkshire. His second poetry collection, The Last Corinthians, was published by Crooked Spire Press this year, following The Evening Entertainment (Eyewear Publishing) in 2017.

Paul is the author of two haiku collections, The Regulars (2006) and The Lammas Lands (2015) , and co-writer/editor (with John Barlow) of Wing Beats: British Birds In Haiku (2008) a Guardian book of the year, all published by Snapshot Press.

He co-edited Presence haiku journal, has contributed to the Guardian’s Country Diary column and posts blogs at www.matthewpaulpoetry.blog.

Singer-songwriter and poet Jane Stockdale is a skilled multi-instrumentalist who loves performing a cappella too.

Crooked Spire Press is a new independent publisher based in Chesterfield. Edited by Tim Fellows, it focuses on poetry pamphlets, collections and anthologies.

York singer-songwriter and poet Jane Stockdale

In 2025, it has published an anthology of poems from The Fig Tree as well as  Matthew Paul’s The Last Corinthians and Ian Parks’s The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will publish a further anthology of poems, based around coal mining.

Published every two months in the north, The Fig Tree is a vibrant online poetry magazine that reflects the diversity of modern life while looking back on childhood memories, working life, the natural world and family history.

The Fig Tree encourages poems in all forms that explore the relationship between poetry and the visual arts, poems that explore the tensions inherent in politics and the nature of the human condition.

“The bar will be open on Friday night and we hope to adjourn for a chat after the show with anyone who’d like to join us,” says Richard. Books will be available to buy. Tickets for this 7.30pm event cost £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.

Navigators Art’s Folk & Words at The Artful Dodger, Micklegate, York, November 20

Navigators Art’s poster for this autumn’s series of Folk & Word events

ON Thursday (20/11/2025) – and on the third Thursday of each month – Navigators Art play host to Folk & Word in The Artful Dodger’s function room, in Micklegate, York, at 7.30pm.

“This is a low-key and warmly welcoming open-mic night where writers and acoustic folk musicians can present new and original work,” says Richard Kitchen. “Each month we invite a poet and a musician to co-host the evening and bring a guest performer; then the floor is open to the audience. 

“Come and enjoy the safe, calm, friendly vibes of this unique monthly event. Entry is free with a purchase from the bar. Sign up from 7pm if you’d like to speak or play. Access is by the stairs only as it’s a listed building.” 

Explaining the modus operandi of Folk & Word, Richard says: “Time and ethos-wise, it fits somewhere between the long-running York Spoken Word, held monthly at The Exhibition, in Bootham, and the bi-monthly Howlers sessions at the Blue Boar, in Castlegate, with the bonus of a musical element.

“Although open-mic events are everywhere these days, not many highlight poetry and acoustic sounds, so we’re focusing on people with words to perform, whether spoken or sung – and spoken word can include stand-up comedy as well as poems! 

“It’s developing into a small cosy club. Everyone is supportive of each other and it feels good for one’s mental health. People leave feeling at peace, even if they move on to the bigger, noisier Thursday events elsewhere!”

Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen

Navigators Art: back story


LOOSE collective of York creatives that embraces visual art, spoken and written word, live music and community projects.

“We’re passionate about giving emerging artists and performers the opportunity to shine alongside more established names,” says co-founder Richard Kitchen.

“We oppose bigotry in any form and strive to achieve gender balance and across-the-board inclusivity in all our events and activities. Since 2020, we’ve worked with more than 200 individuals and organisations.

“We welcome commissions and new collaborations with artists, writers, musicians and performers of all genres.

“Our YO Underground events offer a platform for new work and experimentation. For details of all our events, visit https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance.”

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when a snowstorm spells theatrical joy. Hutch’s List No. 49, from The York Press

Slava’s SnowShow: Bringing joy to children and drawing out the inner child in adults at Grand Opera House, York

SNOW storms and Count Arthur Strong’s Scrooge; dancing full of Momentum and Jon Ronson’s latest psychopath tests put the ‘yes’ into November for Charles Hutchinson.

Weather forecast of the week: Slava’s SnowShow, Grand Opera House, York, November 19 to 23, 7.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday; 2.30pm, Thursday and Saturday; Sunday, 2pm and 6pm

ENTER an absurd and surrealistic world of “fools on the loose” in Slava Polunin’s  work of clown art, wherein each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform, and audience members being hypnotised by giant balloons. The finale is an “out-of-this-world snowstorm”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

London City Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures At An Exhibition at York Theatre Royal

Dance show of the week: London City Ballet: Momentum, York Theatre Royal, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

LONDON City Ballet, former resident company of Sadler’s Wells, returns to York Theatre Royal with Momentum, a new repertoire that showcases artists and works rarely seen in the UK.

Here come George Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento; New York City Ballets artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures At An Exhibition; Liam Scarlett’s Consolations & Liebestraum and Paris Opera Ballet premier danseur and emerging choreographer Florent Melac’s new work. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jason Manford’s show poster for A Manford All Seasons, returning to York Theatre Royal this weekend

Comedy gig of the week: Jason Manford in A Manford All Seasons, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

SALFORD comedian, writer, actor, singer and radio and television presenter Jason Manford makes his second York in his 2025 stand-up show. He cites Billy Connolly as his first inspiration and he cherishes such family-friendly entertainers as Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Pictish Trail: Expect psychedelic goo at Rise@Bluebird Bakery on Monday

Rising to the occasion: Blair Dunlop, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tonight, 7.30pm; Pictish Trail, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, November 17, 7pm

CHESTERFIELD folk musician, singer, songwriter, storyteller and actor Blair Dunlop performs traditional and contemporary songs from his five albums, released between 2012 and 2024, this weekend.

Known for his wildly inventive electro-acoustic pysch-pop, crafted on the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides, Pictish Trail, alias Johnny Lynch, has completed work on his new album, a sticky, shimmering swirl of sound and slime. To celebrate, he previews songs at Monday’s intimate show, performing in raw, exploratory mode, armed with acoustic guitar, sampler and his warped imagination. Expect tenderness, weirdness and generous dollops of goo. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. 

Chris Wood: Seeking the truth in song at the NCEM

Folk gig of the week: Chris Wood, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 6.30pm 

REFLECTIONS on minor league football, empty nest syndrome, learning to swim and the Gecko as a metaphor for contemporary society add up to a typically wise and soulful Chris Wood set. Tom Robinson and Squeeze’s Chris Difford are fans, while The Unthanks look to him as an influence, and he has played with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in The Imagined Village project with Billy Bragg and Eliza Carthy.

In a world of soundbites and distractions, six-time BBC Folk Awards winner Wood is a truth seeker, whose uplifting and challenging writing is permeated with love and wry intelligence as he celebrates “the sheer one-thing-after-anotherness of life”. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

King For A Day: Paying tribute to Nat King Cole at York Theatre Royal

Nostalgia of  the week: King For A Day: The Nat King Cole Story, York Theatre Royal, November 17, 7.30pm

VOCALIST Atila and world-class musicians take a fresh, thoughtful and entertaining look at the life and work of Alabama pianist, singer and actor Nat King Cole, whose jazz and pop vocal styling in songs such as Nature Boy, Unforgettable and When I Fall In Love define a golden era of 20th century American music.

Cole’s most celebrated songs and stylish re-workings of his lesser-known gems are complemented by projections of rare archive images and footage, weaved together by narration. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Kerry Godliman: Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who has outsourced her memory to her phone in Bandwidth. Picture: Aemen Sukka, of Jiksaw

Straight talker of the week: Kerry Godliman: Bandwidth, York Theatre Royal, November 19, 7.30pm

WHILE parenting teenagers, bogged down with knicker admin and considering dealing HRT on the black market, Kerry Godliman can’t remember what was in her lost mum bag after outsourcing her memory to her phone. Welcome to the life of a middle-aged woman who lacks the bandwidth ​for any of this.

Godliman, comedian, actor, writer, podcaster and broadcaster, from Afterlife, Taskmaster and Trigger Point, builds her new stand-up show on straight-talking charm and quick wit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jon Ronson: Hosting Psychopath Night at York Barbican, where he will welcome questions from the audience

Mind-bending insights of the week: Jon Ronson: Psychopath Night, York Barbican, November 18, 7.30pm

WHAT happens when a psychopath is in power? Could you learn to spot a psychopath? Are you working for a psychopath? Is there a little bit of psychopath in all of us? Sixteen years since journalist, filmmaker and author Jon Ronson embarked on The Psychopath Test, he reopens the case.

Expect exclusive anecdotes and fresh reflections in Ronson’s exploration of madness and the elusive psychopathic mind, re-booted with mystery special guests whose tales were not in the original book. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Recommended but sold out already at York Barbican: Adam Ant  in Ant Music, November 19, doors 7pm.

Count Arthur Strong: Telling Ebenezer Scrooge’s tale in Charles Dickens guise at York Barbican

Dickens of a good show: Count Arthur Strong Is Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, York Barbican, November 20, 8pm; Whitby Pavilion Theatre, November 23, 7.30pm; Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 27, 8pm  

IN response to public pressure, doyen of light entertainment and raconteur Count Arthur Strong is extending his fond farewell with new dates aplenty for his one-man interpretation of A Christmas Carol, performing his own festive adaptation in the guise of literary great and travelling showman performer Charles Dickens. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Whitby, whitbypavilion.co.uk; Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk.

Pianist Robert Gammon

Dementia Friendly Tea Concert: Maria Marshall, Jill Shepherd and Robert Gammon, St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, November 20, 2.30pm

IN a change to the advertised programme, unfortunately Billy Marshall is unable to play, prompting cellist Maria Marshall and flautist Jill Shepherd to agree at short notice to join pianist Robert Gammon for Thursday’s concert. Plans are afoot for Billy to play next year instead.

The programme includes music by Mozart, Elgar’s Salut d’Amour, the charming Liebesleid by Fritz Kreisler, an attractive Berceuse by Edward German and a lovely baroque trio sonata by Boismortier. As usual, 45 minutes of music will be followed by tea, coffee and homemade cakes in the church hall. Seating is unreserved and there is no charge although donations are welcome.

Mexborough poet Ian Parks holding a copy of his new book The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light

Word-and-song gathering of the week: Navigators Art presents An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, November 21, 7.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to An Evening with Ian Parks and Friends, where Parks reads from his new collection, The Sons Of Darkness And The Sons Of Light, and will be in conversation with Crooked Spire Press publisher Tim Fellows.

Joining Parks will be award-winning York novelist and poet Janet Dean, poet and critic Matthew Paul and singer-songwriter Jane Stockdale, from York alt-folk trio White Sail. Tickets: £5 in advance at bit.ly/nav-events or £8 on the door from 7pm.

In Focus: Lesley Birch: Flower Power and Jacqui Atkin: Ceramics, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until mid-January 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm  

Lesley Birch at her Flower Power exhibition opening with Pyramid Gallery owner and curator Terry Brett

YORK artist Lesley Birch is showing 22 paintings from her Flower Power series in an exhibition at Pyramid Gallery that coincides with the blooming of her small art book of the same title.

The book is published by Overt Books, the independent York publisher set up by York Creatives creator Ben Porter.

“I’ve always meant to publish an art book and never quite got around to it, but with Ben’s help, I was able to pull together this small volume,” says Lesley. “There are beautiful photographs of my home studio from Esme Mai Photography, more photos by Eloise Ross, and some of my free verse musings to accompany photographs of the paintings.

Lesley Birch in her studio. Picture: Esme Mai Photography

“There are only 50 copies available at this time. I’m thrilled to say that there is a foreword from my generous PICA Studios studio mate Mark Hearld

Lesley is sharing space at Pyramid Gallery with ceramicist Jacqui Atkin, who works with The Pottery Showdown programme. “I love the combination of my flower paintings with Jacqui’s ceramics,” she says.  “They sit beautifully together and it was lovely to hear her details about making these exquisite pieces.”

Lesley’s Flower Power paintings were painted in response to abundant summer blooms in her garden and from Shambles Market in York.

Lesley Birch’s book cover for Flower Power

Sunflowers, from Lesley Birch’s Sunflower series

“I’m often keen on certain pots and vases too and I like to set up lots of bouquets here and there, playing with colour, texture and shape,” she says.

“I find myself immersed in a world of pure discovery and concentration.  These works I’ve been developing for the past ten months and they’re now finally ready to go out on show.”

The Flower Power book is priced at £12 plus £3 postage and packaging. Contact Lesley via lesleybirch@icloud.com for a copy.

Lesley Birch with summer blooms in her garden

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Irish comic Paddy Lennox to headline Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

Paddy Lennox: Topping bill at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club on Saturday

THIS Saturday offers a rare chance to see Irish comedian Paddy Lennox outside his national tour, headlining the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York.

Promoter Damion Larkin says: “Paddy has that rare Irish quality of being instantly likeable in every respect. He’s the kind of comedian you could take home to meet your parents or your kids, or down the pub to meet your mates – and he’d have everyone smiling within minutes.

“Both riotously funny and a complete gentleman, this is a comedian who’s universally well loved and not to be missed.  An engaging performer with a mischievous streak, Paddy’s charm lies in his effortless ability to turn the everyday into something delightfully absurd.”

Performing since 2001, Lennox’s career has taken him beyond the comedy circuit to theatre, television and radio, making appearances on Holby City, Doctors, CBeebies, BBC Radio 4, TalkSport and Sky Living.

He has supported such major names as Micky Flanagan and played gigs in Dubai, Singapore, Romania and Croatia as well as in the UK.

Joining Lennox on the 8pm bill will be Liverpudlian-in-exile Silky, Benny Shakes and master of ceremonies Kieran Lawless.

Liverpudlian-in-exile Silky

In only his fourth gig, Silky competed in the 1995 BBC New Comedy Awards final against Lee Mack (Mock The Week, Not Going Out) and Leeds comedian Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh).

As well as making TV appearances on The Stand-Up Show (BBC), The World Stands Up (Paramount) and the Comics Lounge (AUS), Silky has performed in China, the Philippines, the Gulf, Singapore, the USA, all over Europe and at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and Glastonbury Festival. 

He headlined the inaugural Frampton Mansell Comedy Festival (the world’s smallest) and does warm-up work for BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Benny Shakes’s jokes take in his daily struggles of living with a disability and observations on red-neck life. Host Kieran Lawless, an Irish comedian based in Manchester, has worked in comedy clubs across Ireland and the UK, including supporting Patrick Kielty in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.

Tickets are on sale at https://lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or on the door from 7.30pm. Further Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club gigs will follow on December 6, New Year’s Eve and January 3 2026.  

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when walls come alive with art and light. Hutch’s List No. 47, from The York Press

Principal dancers, dance captains and siblings Anna Mai Fitzpatrick and Fergus Fitzpatrick in Riverdance’s 30th anniversary show, The New Generation

LEFT-FIELD Halloween entertainment, garden art and light installations, Normal comedy and a splurge gun musical spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest.

Dance show of the week: Riverdance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, today and tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

VISITING 30 UK venues – one for each year of its history – from August to December 2025, the Irish dance extravaganza Riverdance rejuvenates the much-loved original show with new innovative choreography and costumes, plus state-of-the-art lighting, projection and motion graphics, in this 30th anniversary celebration.

For the first time, John McColgan directs “the New Generation” of Riverdance performers, none of them born when the show began. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Blair Bitch Project: Playing on Navigators Art’s bill at YO Underworld 6 at The Basement

Live, left-field, local new music, comedy and words for Halloween: Navigators Art presents YO Underworld 6, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm

IN this special Halloween edition, York arts collective Navigators Art plays host to riot grrrl punk and grunge-inspired York quartet Blair Bitch Project and improvising cellist and sound artist Gaia Blandina, performing collaborative, open-form pieces with Ish, featuring Iris Casling, double bass, Des Clarke, oboe, and Nika Ticciati, voice.

Joshua Arnold & Therine: Welcoming the coming of Samhain at YO Underworld 6

Taking part too are dark hurdy-gurdy and vocal-led trad and experimental drone folk combo Joshua Arnold & Therine, welcoming the coming of Samhain; Kane Bruce,  delivering his outrageously dark yet cheeky take on “taboo” topics, and Hull poet Melissa Shode, who explores identity in the socio-political climate and writes for release, justice and the voiceless. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Steve Gunn: Showcasing his two 2025 albums at The Band Room, Low Mill, tonight. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Moorland gig of the week: Steve Gunn, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, tonight, 7.30pm

STEVE Gunn, the ambient psychedelic American singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York, made his name as a guitarist in Kurt Vile’s backing band, The Violators. His myriad magical influences include Michael Chapman, Michael Hurley and John Fahey.

This weekend he will be showcasing his second album of 2025, Daylight Daylight, out on November 7 on No Quarter, as well as his first fully instrumental album, August’s Music For Writers. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.

Hands and Voices: York choir singing at Laughs, Lyrics & You! at the Gateway Centre on Sunday

Inclusive open mic event of the week: Accessible Arts & Media presents Laughs, Lyrics & You!, Gateway Centre, York, Sunday, 2.30pm to 5pm

WHAT is Laughs, Lyrics & You!? “The idea is to have an open mic-type event, in a relaxed and friendly environment that’s accessible and fun, with tea and cake too,” says Accessible Arts & Media (AAM) chief executive officer Chris Farrell. “Our projects, IMPs, Movers and Shakers and Hands and Voices, will start the show with their wonderful music, dances and stories.

“Then it’s over to whoever would like to perform. Any talent is welcome, a duet, a solo instrument, a poetry reading, a recording of some original music, jokes…whatever you can think of would be great!” To take part, performers must contact projects@aamedia.org.uk or ring Hannah on 07762 428818. Admission is free; donations welcome.

Artist Ric Liptrot: Taking part in That Acomb Arty Thing

Art event of the week: That Acomb Arty Thing, Art Trail, until November 2; Open Studios, November 1 and 2

DISCOVER York artists’ work in venues around Acomb on the autumn Art Trail featuring Carla Ballantine, Linda Braham, Ric Liptrot, Jelena Lunge, Rae Merriman, Isaac Savage, Ginette Speed, Donna Taylor and Dianne Turner.

North Yorkshire Open Studios participants are hosting open studios next Saturday and Sunday: Paul Mathieson & Peter Mathieson, 49 Jute Road, 10am to 4pm; Peijun Cao, 60 Jute Road, 10.30am to 5pm; Fran Brammer, 81 Jute Road, 10am to 4pm; Charlotte Lister & Charley Hellier, 7 Chestnut Grove, 10am to 2pm; Robin Grover-Jacques, 35 Chestnut Grove, 11am to 4pm, and Mo Nisbet, 116 Acomb Road, 11am to 4pm.

Blue sigh thinking? Henry Normal reflects on himself, his mistakes, his Z celebrity status, in The Slideshow

Normal service resumed: Henry Normal, The Slideshow, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 8pm

THE Slideshow, as poet, film and TV producer/writer Henry Normal explains, is a multi-MEdia spectacular with the emphasis on the “me” in his celebration of his “meteoric rise to Z celebrity status”, followed by his joyous and inevitable slide into physical and mental decline.

Expect poetry, photos, jokes, music, dance, song, circus skills, costume changes, props and stories, exploring where Normal  went wrong in life, plus lessons you can learn from his mistakes, in this memoir with cautionary verse. Box office: helmsleyarts.co.uk.

David Barrott, left, Catherine Edge and Adam Marsdin in rehearsal for Settlement Players’ production of Party Piece

Calamitous comedy misadventure of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 28 to November 1, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AMERICAN director, writer, producer, historian and stuntman Martin T Brooks directs Settlement Players for the first time in Richard Harris’s calamitous 1992 comedy Party Piece.

Michael and Roma Smethurst are preparing meticulously for their fancy-dress housewarming party. Mrs Hinson, not the biggest fan of her upper-class new neighbours, is keeping a criticising eye on the attendees. Then disasters strike: an embarrassing lack of guests, a burning barbeque, a marauding Zimmer frame and a corpse showing up at the front door. Cue chaos. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cassie Vallance, left, and Jane Bruce in Story Craft Theatre’s Bat, Cackle And Pop! at York Theatre Royal

Children’s Halloween show of the week: Story Craft Theatre in Bat, Cackle And Pop!, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 29 to 31, 10.30am and 1pm

WINIFRED the Witch thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday. Not so. There will be a big surprise party, but first, a special birthday cake must be made.

“We just need the last three rather spooky ingredients,” say York company Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance and Jane Bruce. “Our show is bubbling with all sorts of ghosts and ghouls – more silly than scary – and there’s plenty of opportunities to dabble in some spell making, as well as flying with luxury BAT Airways.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rory Stewart: Discussing his new book, Middleland, at York Barbican

Book event of the week: Toppings presents Rory Stewart, Middleland, York Barbican, October 30, 7pm

NOW Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and Alastair Campbell’s co-podcaster on The Rest Is Politics, Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as Conservative MP of Britain’s most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border.

Living in the Eden Valley, he found inspiration in the beauty of Cumbrian landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and the spirit of its people, prompting him to write Middleland: Dispatches From The Borders, a portrait of rural Britain today: a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics. Over to you, Rory.  Tickets: toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/rory-stewart-middleland/.

Fizzy with the singers in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone: Theo Rae, Isla Lightfoot, Olivia Swales and Beau Lettin

Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, October 31 to November 8, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday ; 2.30pm, both Saturdays and Sunday

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of 40 young performers in  Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s musical, replete with the movie songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand SlamandBugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

In Focus: Tom Grennan, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25 2026

BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is the first act to be confirmed for the Music Showcase Weekend at the 2026 York Racecourse flat racing season.

Grennan, 30, has achieved three UK number one albums, 2021’s Evering Road, 2023’s What Ifs & Maybes and 2025’s Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be, preceded by his top five-charting 2018 debut Lighting Matches. 

He has chalked up hit singles too with Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together (with Ella Henderson), Remind Me, Lionheart (Fearless, with Joel Corry), Here, How Does It Feel, It Can’t Be Christmas, By Your Side (Calvin Harris, featuring Tom Grennan) and Not Over Yet (KSI, featuring Tom Grennan).

Next summer’s Knavesmire gig will form part of a busy touring schedule for Grennan, who also co-hosts the You About? podcast with TV and radio presenter Roman Kemp.

Racing and music fans can take advantage of a price freeze on adult general admission on the track’s website, meaning entrance to the main Grandstand and Paddock enclosure, starts at just £40 per person for a group of six. As well as free car parking, no booking fees apply on this route to purchase. To book, visit www.yorkracecourse.co.uk.

On the racecourse, the racing action will see seven thoroughbred contests with combined prize money of £380,000. The Group Two feature race will be the Sky Bet York Stakes.

The Summer Music Saturday meeting will be held on June 27; the Friday evening Music Showcase Weekend meeting on July 24. Music acts for both those days are yet to be confirmed; keep checking www.yorkracecourse.co.uk for further announcements, expected soon.

James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship says: “It is great news that Tom Grennan is joining the artists to have performed on the Knavesmire; a performer who has gone from strength to strength. It will herald a month for music and racing fans to remember.”

In Focus too: Luxmuralis presents Echoes Of Yorkshire, York Museum Gardens, until November 2, 6pm to 8.20pm

Luxmuralis’s Echoes Of Yorkshire transforming the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in York Museum Gardens. Picture: Duncan Savage, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

LET light, colour and music surround you at the Echoes Of Yorkshire light and sound installation conjured by the internationally acclaimed Luxmuralis, who bring alive the culturally rich story of the Yorkshire Museum and York Museum Gardens.

Visitors are invited to “immerse yourself in the story of the historic site with contemporary light and music showcasing its age-defining artefacts and extraordinary exhibits. Join us to celebrate all that the museum and its gardens bring to our city and the wider north of England.”

In the 30-year collaboration of sculptor and artist Peter Walker and composer David Harper, Luxmuralis travels the world to create stories in light and sound for audiences at locations ranging from the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral, London, to city-wide open-air projections in places such as Oxford and Limburg in the Netherlands.

Through combining fine art, light and sound, Luxmuralis reflects closely on the history and heritage of places by weaves together the contemporary and the ancient.

Now, for the first time, Luxmuralis is transforming the walls of York in Echoes Of Yorkshire in York Museum Gardens for ten evenings filled with six looping art installations and landscape lighting by Steve Rainsford.

Ticketed entry time slots are given every 20 minutes, but once in the gardens visitors can journey through the experience at their own pace with a recommended walking time of one hour. Refreshments will be available to buy on the night, including from Thor’s tipi.

Echoes Of Yorkshire is suitable for all ages. Audiences will experience the gardens’ history from the Roman period to its time as an abbey (St Mary’s Abbey) in tandem with Luxmuralis’s showcase of the Yorkshire Museum’s collections that span 60 million years from the Jurassic and the Mesolithic, through to the Romans, Viking, Anglo Saxon and Medieval.

Welcoming Luxmuralis to York Museum Gardens, Siona Mackelworth, head of audience and programme for York Museums Trust, says: “We are delighted that Luxmuralis agreed to produce a very special and bespoke show for us here in York.

“This is a celebration of all that the Yorkshire Museum brings to the city, its history and the location as the repository of great discoveries and stories. With this amount of content, the Luxmuralis light and sound show looks amazing.”

Luxmuralis artistic director Peter Walker says: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the team at Yorkshire Museum to deliver a truly distinctive experience set within the stunning and historically rich Museum Gardens.

“By drawing inspiration from the museum’s collections, this light installation re-imagines the architecture and landscape in an entirely new and transformative way.”

Tickets cost £13.50 per adult; £9.50 for children aged five to 16; free admission for under-fives. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk. Echoes Of Yorkshire is on a constant loop from 6pm to 8.20pm each night. Please note, only assistance dogs will be allowed into the gardens during the event.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 46 of criminally good entertainment, from The York Press

Martha Tilston: Playing The Basement tonight at City Screen Picturehouse

CRIMINAL investigations and a brace of plays with murder at the core, Charles Hutchinson detects a theme to his latest recommendations.

Singer-songwriter of the week: Martha Tilston, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm

BORN in Bristol and now living in Cornwall, singer, songwriter and filmmaker Martha Tilston writes songs from the heart as a balm for the modern age.

Tilston, who has worked Zero 7, Damien Rice, Nick Harper, Kae Tempest and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame, combines raw vocals and sparkling melodies with thought-provoking lyrics and filmic movements, inviting her audience to “connect with longed-for parts of ourselves”. Box office: marthatilston.co.uk.

Jennifer Rees: Exploring stories of serial killers in forensic detail at the Grand Opera House, York

Criminal investigations of the week: Strange But True Crimes with Jennifer Rees, Grand Opera House, York, October 21, 7.30pm

FORMER forensics lecturer and Psychology Of Serial Killers presenter Jennifer Rees explores stories such as the serial killer who gained work in law enforcement while on the run – and ended up hunting himself.

Watch out too for the female, balloon-carrying killer clown, serial killers on game shows – how  their appearances led to their identification – and  many more stories. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Jason Durr’s Jonny ‘The Cyclops’, right, accosting the nervous burglar in Torben Betts’s comedy thriller Murder At Midnight. Picture: Pamela Raith

Deliciously twisted crime caper of the week: Original Theatre in Murder At Midnight, York Theatre Royal, October 21 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

ON New Year’s Eve, in a quiet corner of Kent, a killer is in the house in Torben Betts’s comedy thriller Murder At Midnight, part two of a crime trilogy for Original Theatre that began last year with Murder In The Dark, this time starring Jason Durr, Susie Blake, Max Howden and Katie McGlynn.

Meet Jonny ‘The Cyclops’, his glamorous wife, his trigger-happy sidekick, his mum – who sees things – and her very jittery carer, plus a vicar, apparently hiding something, and a nervous burglar dressed as a clown. Throw in a suitcase full of cash, a stash of deadly weapons and one infamous unsolved murder…what could possibly go wrong? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon: Showcasing new album Rainy Sunday Afternoon at York Barbican. Picture: Kevin Westerberg

Recommended but sold out already: The Divine Comedy, York Barbican, October 21, doors 7pm

IN the wake of composing all the original songs for the 2023 global blockbuster Wonka, North Irishman Neil Hannon has returned to his Divine Comedy guise for September 19’s Rainy Sunday Afternoon: album number 13 and his first studio set since 2019’s Office Politics.

Recorded at Abbey Road, London, the album was written, arranged and produced by Hannon, who covers his usual range of emotions: sad, funny, angry and everything in between. Hear Hannon songs new and old next Tuesday, when Studio Electrophonique will be the special guest. Box office, for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Katie Melia’s Show White in Steve Coates Music Productions’ Disenchanted, turning fairy tales on their head at the JoRo

Cheeky twist on fairy tales of the week: Steve Coates Music Productions in Disenchanted, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 22 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATIE Melia directs and leads the cast as Snow White in Steve Coates Music Productions’ production of  Disenchanted, the musical with the feminist twist that turns fairy tales upside down, from the Little Mermaid hitting the bottle to Belle ending up in a straitjacket for chatting with the cutlery.

Forget the damsels in distress, Snow White, Cinderella and their royal crew want to set the record straight. Equipped with sass, wit, and powerhouse vocals, these not-so-princessy princesses flip the script, spill the tea and reclaim their stories as they challenge outdated happily-ever-afters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Making an impression: Dead Ringers on 25th anniversary tour

Comedy nights of the week: Dead Ringers, October 22, 3pm and 7.30pm, and Nick Mohammed Is Mr Swallow: Show Pony, October 26, 8pm, both at Grand Opera, House, York  

TO mark its 25th anniversary, BBC Radio 4’s topical satire show Dead Ringers takes to the road with a full UK tour for the first time as long-standing cast members Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod and Duncan Wisbey take a trip through classic sketches and unrivalled impressions, peppered with  topical humour.

Celebrity Traitors competitor, Taskmaster contestant and Ted Lasso actor Nick Mohammed returns to York as his alter-ego Mr Swallow. Expect magic, music and new mistakes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Harry Summers, left, and Emma Scott in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy. Picture: John Saunders

Revenge drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Spanish Tragedy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 25, 7.30pm

PAUL Toy directs York Shakespeare Project for the fourth time – and the first since Troilus And Cressida in 2011– in “the most popular play of the Elizabethan era, outselling Shakespeare”: Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, the circa 1592 blueprint for the Revenge Tragedy genre.

No Kyd, maybe no Hamlet or The Duchess Of Malfi, as treachery, deceit and disguise are wrapped inside a torrid tale of vengeance-seeking ghosts, madness, a play-within-a-play and a Machiavellian villain, delivered by Toy with masks, music and dance. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. 

Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera. Picture: John Saunders

Opera of the week: York Opera in The Beggar’s Opera, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, October 23 to 25, 7.30pm

YORK Opera stage John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch’s 1728 satirical ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera in an immersive production under the musical direction of John Atkin and stage direction of Chris Charlton-Matthews, with choreography by Jane Woolgar.

Watch out! You may find yourself next to a cast member, whether Mark Simmonds’ Macheath, Adrian Cook’s Peachum, Anthony Gardner’s Lockit, Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum, Sophie Horrocks’ Lucy Lockit, Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum, Ian Thomson-Smith’s Beggar or Jake Mansfield’s Player. Box office: tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793200.

Heidi Talbot: Introducing November 21 album Grace Untold at NCEM on October 23

Folk gig of the week: Heidi Talbot, Grace Untold UK Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, October 23, 7.30pm

IRISH folk singer Heidi Talbot returns to the NCEM stage to preview her November 21 album Grace Untold, a collection of songs based around Irish goddesses and inspirational women.

This is an album rooted in personal experience and collective lore as Heidi pays tribute to female strength, focusing on legendary figures and the unsung heroines within her own family. Box office: 01904 658338 or necem.co.uk.

Riverdance: The New Generation performs the Irish dancers’ 30th anniversary show at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Riverdance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees

VISITING 30 UK venues – one for each year of its history – from August to December 2025, the Irish dance extravaganza Riverdance rejuvenates the much-loved original show with new innovative choreography and costumes, plus state-of-the-art lighting, projection and motion graphics, in this 30th anniversary celebration.

For the first time, John McColgan directs “the New Generation” of Riverdance performers, none of them born when the show began. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Singer-songwriter of the week: Martha Tilston, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

Martha Tilston: Singer, songwriter and film-maker making her York debut tomorrow

A CURSORY click on Martha Tilston’s name online will reveal she is 50 and was born in Brighton in 1975.

Not so, says Martha in conversation. She is in fact 49 and her birthplace was Bristol in 1976, although ironically this phone interview was conducted as Martha walked on Brighton beach, having played Komedia there the previous night.

Singer, songwriter and film-maker Martha now lives in Cornwall. “We spent a lot of our childhood down near St Ives, spending long summers in the same house on a farm,” she says.

“I think for part of me, the first place where you connect with nature, you connect with forever, it resonates forever.” Hence the move to Cornwall in adult years.

“That connection has always got to mean something [when writing songs]. When I teach songwriting, I talk about how the ‘comet’ comes in, and how you then transmute or alchemise it, so you’re like a forge,” she says.

“When a feeling pokes an emotion, I feel alive in that moment or sad. It’s not like a feeling that ‘I’m going to turn this into a song’, but a feeling of ‘I need to do something with it’. That’s what’s great about creativity. It’s beautiful to share it, but more than anything it calibrates experience.”

Martha will be playing York for the first time. “I’ve never played there, though my family are around Hebden Bridge, and my mother’s mother’s from Yorkshire,” she says. “I think the booking came through my new booking agent, James Nicholls. He’s good at marrying me up with venues, and York has been on my radar for a while. Now things are aligned.

“I’ve played Leeds, Hebden Bridge and a lovely festival in Settle, and now York. Playing a place for the first time, generally it’s nice, like meeting an edge, a coastline, dipping your toes in again, because you don’t know how it’s going to go.

“You step on [stage], you read the room, and there’s less expectation – though I like playing familiar places too, where it feels like home – but this feels new and this is what ‘humanness’ is.

“We like things that are new; we crave things that are new. We can get scared of adrenaline but we need to be pushed into it.”

Reflecting on that Komedia gig, Martha says. “It’s always a bit of a conversation. It can be like a family gathering, where there could be a curveball, or things that aren’t being said, but last night was really beautiful because everyone enjoyed it so loudly from the first song. It felt like we were creating the night together.

“But also people come with stuff, especially with what’s happening right now, such a lot of heavy stuff, so there’s a lot of love and people are really energetically open to hope.

“I think humans are not feeling great about themselves, so like a child, we play up more, but a gig is a space where it can remind us that humans are lovely.”

The cover artwork for Martha Tilston’s album Luminous

Martha, who has worked Zero 7,Damien Rice, Nick Harper, Kae Tempest and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame, as well as making her own records, writes songs from the heart as a balm for the modern age, inviting her audiences to “connect with longed-for parts of ourselves”.

She does so not only through song but also through storytelling, taking part in songwriting retreats at a “Secret Clifftop House near Penzance” and storytelling and creativity camps on Dartmoor.

“It’s so magical,” she says. “The thing is, we are storytellers, and stories are so important, hearing stories and not just ones we know, but hearing new stories, and not about how we mess things up, but we have to get to stories about being harmonious with each other; stories that take you off somewhere else and touch your humanity.”

 If “songs are mini-films”, as Martha describes them, then how apt that she has branched out into film-making too for 2021’s The Tape, a “gripping and surprising” feature film for which Martha has credits as director, writer, singer, star. “It’s a story that’s not Armageddon; it’s quite hopeful! A folk musical of hope and connection set in Cornwall,” she says. “You can find it on Amazon Prime.”

It may have escaped your attention that Martha released her latest album in 2023, as she said in this interview, or February 2024 for its “full release”, as her website states. “It slipped out. No press,” she says of Luminous. “It wasn’t even on Spotify at first. I just wanted to put it out on Bandcamp, as a small release, but it’s one that people have really connected with – and it is now on Spotify!”

Luminous is described on her website as “a collection of songs that soothe, heal, and open our hearts – it feels like now is a time when we might need a little musical balm! So sit back and let the songs hold you”.

“I wanted to write an album that was a balm for our times, for me and my friends, founded on love being the answer as we’ve tried everything else,” says Martha.

 “I didn’t want to talk to journalists, to talk it up, before I knew how it landed. I wanted to see how it speaks to people without shouting about it.

“I also though the folk press wouldn’t ‘get’ it because it’s not particularly folky, but I didn’t want to fit in with a crowd that maybe it didn’t fit in with anyway.”

Luminous was a memorable recording experience for Martha. “I sang with the Murmuration Choir from Bristol and the One Voice Community Choir from Cornwall (Penryn], and we recorded the album in my friend’s barn, where we had to stop each time the tractor went by!” she says.

Tomorrow’s audience can look forward to a new Martha composition, River. “It’s about how sometimes, when life can throw us challenges, or as my friend said, ‘life can get lifey’, there’s always a place for us to be at peace, but it’s hard to access. A river under a bedrock that can help you when you’re anxious,” she says.

“So I wrote this song to remind me that there is that place. Sometimes it’s comforting to know that, at times when we go through challenges or are in a moment of suffering.”

Hurricane Promotions presents Martha Tilston at The Basement, City Screen, York, October 18, 7.30pm. Also St Mary’s, Todmorden, October 19, with special guest Molly Tilston, 7.30pm. Box office: marthatilston.co.uk.” We hope you can join us as we travel round, for a little song, heart and connection,”  says Martha.  

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Folk singer Martha Tilston to play The Basement at City Screen on October 18

Martha Tilston: Booked into The Basement for October 18

FOLK singer-songwriter Martha Tilston will play The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on October 18 at 7.30m.

Born in Bristol and now living in Cornwall, she has performed on prestigious stages and festival bills and toured internationally; gained a nomination for BBC Best Newcomer; appeared as a guest vocalist for Zero 7 and worked with Damien Rice, Nick Harper, Kae Tempest and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame.

Tilston, 49, has recorded the albums Rolling (2003); Bimbling (2004); Ropeswing (Martha Tilston and The Woods); Of Milkmaids And Architects (2007); ‘Til I Reach The Sea (2007); Lucy And The Wolves (2010); Machines Of Love And Grace (2012); The Sea (2014); Nomad (2017), The Tape (2021) and Luminous (2023).

The poster for Martha Tilston’s concert at The Basement

Tilston has ventured into the world of film making, gaining nominations for best arts film for 2018’s The Clifftop Sessions and releasing her first feature film The Tape,  with an accompanying soundtrack album, in 2021.

She performs in concert with long-time collaborators and musicians Matt Tweed and Matt Kelly, entwining raw vocals, sparkling melodies and thought-provoking lyrics with filmic movements and earthy basslines. Tickets for this Hurricane Promotions concert are on sale at marthatilston.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when seeking cultural nourishment. Here’s Hutch’s List No 42, from The York Press

York oboe player Desmond Clarke: Performing on Navigators Art’s YO Underground #5 bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

FOOD for thought for heading out and about as York Food & Drink Festival opens and Inspector Morse is on the case in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.

Navigators Art presents YO Underground #5, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art’s regular fulcrum of left-field new music, words and performance returns this weekend with a focus on ethnic instruments, acoustic-electronic improvisation, words and guitar-based fusion, plus passionate new songwriting.

Expect bold, beautiful and adventurous sounds from flautist Carmen Troncoso, York oboe player Desmond Clarke and Osc~, No Spinoza and a new York ‘supergroup’, the NSC Sound Union, combining members of Soma Crew and Namke Communications. Admission is £6 at www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance) or £10 on the door.

Sam Blythe: Taking on a multitude of roles in George Orwell’s Animal Farm at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Solo show of the week: Sam Blythe in Animal Farm, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

CELEBRATING 70 years of its publication on August 17 1945 and 30 since the first performance of Guy Masterson’s solo adaptation of George’s Orwell’s satirical allegorical dystopian novella, Sam Blythe takes up Masterson’s mantle on stage.

Bringing all of Orwell’s multiple characters to vivid life, Blythe transforms into Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, Boxer, Clover, Mollie, Benjamin, Muriel, the Sheep, Dogs, Cows, Hens and the Cat in a performance designed to shock, enchant, bewitch and bewilder, ringing out Orwell’s prescient warning that politicians through the ages, and of all creeds and colours, will often let power corrupt them. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rebecca Vaughan’s Lady Susan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan. Picture: Seamus Flanagan

Magnificently crafted tale of manipulation and manners of the week: Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm

DYAD Productions return with a new solo comedy show, Jane Austen’s 1794 tale of manipulation and manners. Directed by Andrew Margerison, company regular Rebecca Vaughan plays devil-may-care widow Lady Susan, oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica, long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine, family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia.

At the vanguard of Vaughan’s wickedly humorous adaptation is the charming, scheming and witty Lady Susan, taking on society and making it her own, but has this coquette met her match? Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Skosh chef-proprietor Neil Bentinck: Cookery demonstration at St Crux Hall on September 27 at 1pm at York Food & Drink Festival

Festival of the week: York Food & Drink Festival, cooking until September 28

HIGHLIGHTS of this autumn’s York Food & Drink Festival include 70 street food and produce stands in Parliament Street; the Entertainment Marquee on Parliament Street, serving a bill of Live for St Leonard’s Hospice music acts; more live music in St Sampson’s Square, and demonstrations, events, tastings, and sampling at St Crux Hall.

Further events will be two taste trails; the Food Factory in St Crux Hall and Museum Gardens; the Pork Pie competition in Bedern Hall; Curry & Comedy at the NCEM; Yahala Mataam’s refugee pop-up restaurant night and cookery school; Tang’s festival debut; Jorvik Viking Centre’s activities with an historic twist and the Meet The Makers drinks fair. For the full festival programme, head to: yorkfoodfestival.com.

One of Simon Baxter’s photographs from All The Wood’s A Stage, his joint exhibition with Joe Cornish at Nunnington Hall. Picture: Simon Baxter

Ryedale exhibition launch of the week: All The Wood’s A Stage, Nunnington Hall, near York, from today to March 29 2026

ALL The Wood’s A Stage will continue the 2022 showcase Woodland Sanctuary, exhibited originally at the Moors Centre in Danby. This latest chapter features predominantly new photographs that celebrate the beauty and vital significance of trees, woodlands and forests across the UK.

Photographers Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter depict trees as silent performers on nature’s stage, encouraging us to observe, listen and reflect. Trees provide joy, peace and inspiration, being lungs of the Earth, guardians of biodiversity and a crucial part of our mental and physical well-being. Through changing seasons, they symbolise life, death and renewal. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/nunnington-hall.

The poster for The Return Of The Legends, featuring Strictly Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite, at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: The Return Of The Legends, starring Brendan, James, Pasha, Vincent and Ian, York Barbican, today, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone and Ian Waite follow up 2024’s  Legends Of The Dancefloor with new Latin, tango, rumba and ballroom routines and more Strictly stories in The Return Of The Legends. Joined by a supporting cast, they deliver a night of dancing, camaraderie, music and laughter. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.  

Robert Took, Georgina Liley, Catherine Warnock and James McLean in Mikron Theatre’s Hush Hush!, on tour at Clements Hall, York

Touring play of the week: Mikron Theatre in Hush Hush!, Clements Hall, York, Sunday, 4pm

IN a daring theatrical mission, Marsden’s Mikron Theatre Company infiltrates the clandestine world of wartime code-breaking in Lucie Raine’s Hush Hush!, exposing the vital contributions of the unsung heroes of Bletchley Park’s Hut 3, whose ingenuity and unwavering resolve helped secure victory.

Peggy Valentine arrives at Bletchley in 1940, 18 years old, headstrong and gifted. Finding herself in a world of boffins, soldiers and debutantes, Peggy must shoulder the burden of high-pressure war work while navigating a new world of feuds, friendships and growing up in a frame of absolute secrecy. Mikron’s crack team of actor-musicians, Georgina Liley, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and familiar face James McLean, blends original songs, live music and compelling storytelling. Box office for returns only: 01484843701 or email admin@mikron.org.uk.

Tom Chambers as Detective Chief Inspector Morse in the first Inspector Morse original stage play, House Of Ghosts, at Grand Opera House, York

Murder mystery of the week: Inspector Morse: House Of Ghosts, Grand Opera House, York, September 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre and Simon Friend Entertainment are touring the Inspector Morse franchise’s debut original stage play, House Of Ghosts, penned by Alma Cullen, directed by Anthony Banks and starring Tom Chambers.

A chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress dies suddenly on stage during a performance, prompting Detective Chief Inspector Morse to embark on a gripping investigation. What begins as a suspicious death inquiry takes a darker turn when the legendary inspector, in tandem with Detective Sergeant Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years earlier. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kieran Hodgson: Voicing his thoughts on the USA

Comedy gig of the week: Kieran Hodgson: Voice Of America, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 26, 8pm

AMERICA. What happened, man? Ever since he was a little loser kid in a little loser country (yes, England), Holmfirth-born Kieran Hodgson has been putting on an American accent and dreaming a big American dream.

Nowadays, however, it’s not so simple. Didn’t America go completely bananas? Didn’t he get too old for dreaming? And when Hollywood comes calling, does Kieran actually sound American after all? Here he assesses how a scared world feels about the USA and impersonates a bunch of old prospectors and former Presidents. Box office for returns only: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The horror, the horror: Dead Northern returns to City Screen Picturehouse

Film event of the week: Dead Northern presents The Festival of Horror, City Screen Picturehouse, York, September 26 to 28

IN “the world’s most haunted city”, Dead Northern hosts three days of film and live events, taking in music, social activities, food, drink and merchandise. Friday Frights opens with a 10.30am showcase of student short films and videos, followed by UK premiere of Sun at noon with a Q&A.

The 2pm short film showcase focuses on Teeth, Claws, Tentacles and Clowns. At 4pm the Dead Talks talk reveals Dracula’s mysterious connection to York under the splendid title of Who Are You Calling A Count?! A mystery Dracula classic film re-surfaces at 5pm and the UK premiere of Hellhouse LLC: Lineage is booked in for 7.30pm. The night concludes with the Welcome Social & Quiz with the Independent Horror Society.

Saturday Screams kicks off with the Flesh & Bone short film showcase at 10.30am, followed by the world premiere of A Mother’s Recall at noon and the Twisted Tales short film showcase at 1.45pm.

The 3.30pm UK film premiere will be Home Education, concluding with a Q&A, and the 5.30pm classic feature will be the 40th anniversary release of A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

7.30pm’s Signature Live Event will be Spirits By Spirits; the 8.45pm feature film will be The Beast Of Riverside Hollow, with a Q&A, and the night ends with the VIP Awards Party at 11pm.

Day three, Sunday Shock The 28th, launches with the 10.30am classic feature, 1981’s Evil Dead, followed by the UK premiere of Nightfall – A Paranormal Investigation at noon and the Spectres & Shadows short film showcase at 1.30pm.

The UK premiere of Tabula Rasa will be shown at 2.45pm; the 4.15pm screening of He Kills At Night will include a Q&A, and Inside The Mind will be the theme of the 6pm short film showcase. In Dead Talks Part II at 7.30pm, the Independent Horror Society welcomes special guests for When Horror Struck Again, a discussion on underrated sequels.

The festival concludes with a classic feature, 1987’s Evil Dead II.  For more details on Dead Northern Part VI 2025 Horror Film Festival, visit deadnorthern.co.uk/dead-northern-2025-horror-film-festival.

In Focus: York Printmakers’ 10th Anniversary Handmade Print Fair, York Cemetery, today and tomorrow

Russell Hughes discussing monoprinting. Picture: Chris Kendall Photography

THIS weekend York Printmakers celebrates a decade of creativity, collaboration and craftsmanship with its 10th Annual Print Fair, designed for lovers of original art and handmade processes.

This year’s fair reflects the group’s continuing mission: to keep traditional printmaking alive, accessible and valued.

Over the past decade, York Printmakers has grown into a vibrant collective of more than 40 artists, all committed to the authenticity of printmaking. The fair showcases a wide range of techniques — from linocut to collagraph, screen print to woodcut — all created by hand.

“People are often surprised to learn the difference between a reproduction and a handmade print,” says founding member Sally Clarke. “At our fair, you get to see the blocks, the plates, the tools — and meet the people who made them.

“In a world where everything is easily copied, our fair champions the original: prints made by hand, with care and intention.”

Bridget Hunt describing how to make a collograph plate. Picture: Chris Kendall Photography

This year’s milestone event reflects on ten years of artistic evolution, celebrating the unique voices of long-standing members while championing the newer members to the collective: artists whose fresh perspectives and experimental approaches are helping to shape the future of the craft.

“It’s always a pleasure to welcome new members, especially those just discovering printmaking or beginning their creative journey,” says long-standing member Russell Hughes. “They bring energy and new ideas that inspire even the most experienced among us. And in return, we’re able to share knowledge and techniques that have stood the test of time. That exchange is what keeps the group dynamic and evolving.”

Visitors can explore a rich variety of work, meet the makers and buy original prints directly from the artists.

York Printmakers’ 10th Anniversary Handmade Print Fair,  Chapel and Harriet Room, York Cemetery, Cemetery Road, York, September 20 and 21, 10am to 5pm. Free entry.

York Printmakers’ poster for this weekend’s print fair at York Cemetery

In Focus too: Pete McKee, Viva La Nan!, RedHouse Gallery, Harrogate, and McKee Gallery, Sheffield

Pete McKee’s poster for September 27’s Viva La Nan! launch at RedHouse Gallery, Harrogate

PETE McKee’s double exhibition celebrating the beloved nans of his childhood will open across two Yorkshire galleries this autumn.

Viva La Nan! will go on view at RedHouse Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, from September 27 to October 4 and the McKee Gallery, Leah’s Yard, Cambridge Street, Sheffield, for two days only, October 11 and 12, presenting more than 120 drawings on paper created “in tribute to Nans, Grandmothers, Grandmas,Grannies, Grans, Nanas”.

Each gallery will be home to a completely different exhibition with “fans of art and fans of Nans” invited to enjoy both shows. The heart-warming collection includes original drawings on paper, showcasing the development of McKee’s process from sketchbook to final painting, and the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to own a unique McKee artwork, with prices ranging from just £75 to £2,450.

A Lovely Cup O’ Tea, by Pete McKee

“I wanted to create an exhibition celebrating the power of Nans and the love we have for them,” says Pete, who grew up on a Sheffield housing estate. “It shows the beauty and dignity of women who have lived through hardship and pain; women who have worked and toiled and managed to raise us on next to nothing. I consider my nans as iconic figures to be put on a pedestal and worshipped for the mighty women that they are”

The double exhibition coincides with McKee’s first major museum show, The Boy Name With A Leg Named Brian, on show until November 2 at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, where it has drawn 80,000 viewers already.

McKee’s work captures life’s simple pleasures with an innocence often lost in today’s fragmented and high-octane society. His images make you stop and think, laugh out loud or break your heart.

Viva La Nan! artworks by Pete McKee

To celebrate the Harrogate opening, Pete will launch the show in person on September 27 at 10am, when the first 50 visitors will receive a signed limited edition copy of the exhibition exclusive Daily Nan newspaper.

On October 12, the curious and adventurous are invited to join Pete and RedHouse on an unforgettable “Yorkshire road trip” with McKee Travel: the Harrogate to Sheffield Bus Tour to see both Sheffield shows on one day.

“We’ll be making a grand day of it,” says RedHouse Gallery’s David McTague. “Not only will you see the second phase of the exhibition at the McKee Gallery, but we’ll also provide onboard entertainment and stop for a spot of afternoon tea. Before heading home, we’ll also drop by the Weston Park Museum and meet the artist at his concurrent show, The Boy With The Leg Named Brian.”

McKee Travel’s Yorkshire road trip from Harrogate to Sheffield on October 12

Here is the itinerary: 9.10am, coach departs Harrogate from RedHouse Gallery; 11am, arrive in Sheffield and visit Viva La Nan! at Leah’s Yard; 12.30pm,  afternoon tea at the Chocolate Bar; 2pm, visit to McKee’s exhibition at Weston Park Museum; 4pm, coach to depart from Sheffield and arrive in Harrogate circa 5.40pm.

Ticket includes seat reservation on McKee Travel coach; on-board entertainment, including bingo; exclusive exhibition paraphernalia; priority entry to Viva La Nan! at Leah’s Yard; reservation at Chocolate Afternoon Tea Experience; entry to Pete McKee: The Boy With The Leg Named Brian; Meet & Greet with the artist at Weston Park Museum. For tickets, go to https://www.redhouseoriginals.com/shop/artwork/gift-voucher/mckee-travel-hgate-bus-ticket.

At RedHouse, in addition to Viva La Nan!, a selection of original archive paintings by Pete McKee will be on view in the first floor gallery rooms. Highlights include Room 414, McKee’s homage to legendary guitarist Robert Johnson: The King Of Delta Blues, and Music For Pleasure, an artwork created for Rhoda Dakar’s album Version Girl. On show too will be Gone To The Dogs, an exceptionally rare “early years” painting from 2003.

Acid House, from the Viva La Nan! series, by Pete McKee

In a further celebration of the Harrogate opening of Viva La Nan!, a selection of original McKee drawings will be available at exclusive Collector Prices, starting at £195, with all artworks signed by McKee and sold framed to the artist’s specifications, with selected works presented in vintage frames.

“I wanted to make my artwork accessible,” says Pete. “I want people to be able to have that pleasure of owning a piece of original artwork and looking at it every day, knowing that you own a bit of the artist’s soul.”

Pete McKee, Viva La Nan!, RedHouse Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, September 27 to October 4, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; The McKee Gallery, Cambridge Street, Leah’s Yard, Sheffield, October 11. 10am to 5.30pm, and October 12, 11am to 4pm.

Sheffield artist Pete McKee

Pete McKee: back story

BORN in Sheffield in 1967, Pete McKee creates iconic and enduring images that reflect his experiences of growing up on a council estate, surrounded by working-class culture and humour.

This down-to-earth and nostalgic thread runs through all of his work and has gained him a worldwide following.

Comics were a large part of Pete’s childhood and he would read “any that he could get his hands on”, when  Whizzer and Chips, The Dandy, The Beano and Hergé’s beloved Tintin were particular favourites.

Pete McKee at work on Viva La Nan!

Pete has collaborated with Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Oasis, Sir Paul Smith, Arctic Monkeys, Richard Hawley, Disney, Warp Films, Clarks Shoes, The Human League, Rega and BBC 6 Music. Noel Gallagher once phoned him to say that McKee’s painting of a child practising guitar on a bed summed up his youth. McKee fans include actress Maxine Peake and filmmaker Ken Loach.

Longstanding supporter of Teenage Cancer Trust Charity, designing concert posters for charity’s Royal Albert Hall shows.  

Opened McKee Gallery in Sheffield in 2010, putting on first major exhibition in 2013, The Joy Of Sheff, and since then showcasing numerous shows such as Six Weeks To Eternity, 2016, This Class Works, 2018, and Frank and Joy: A Love Story, 2023.

Pete McKee in his studio

Now holding his longest-running exhibition yet, A Boy With A Leg Named Brian, at Weston Park Museum in Sheffield, from November 29 2024 until November 2 2025.

Patron of Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, Art+; one of his most notable annual projects being the charity’s Christmas card design.

Received honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 2018, when presented as a Doctor of Arts at that year’s graduation.

A work in progress for the Viva La Nan! series

In 2024, after more than a decade at Sharrow Vale Road, the McKee Gallery relocated to Leah’s Yard, Cambridge Street, in Sheffield city centre.

Pete’s modus operandi: “I’ve got my own path to plough and I do that regardless of what fashions are, or what the art world deems to be appropriate. I’ve got my own niche. It’s my world and I have people that follow me, like my work, and understand it. I just want people to enjoy what they see.”

Pete’s website can be found at www.petemckee.com.

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Navigators Art to host Folk & Word Open at Artful Dodger tonight and YO Underground #5 at The Basement on Saturday

The poster for Navigators Art’s YO Underground #5 bill at The Basement on Saturday

YORK arts collective Navigators Art will hold a Folk & Word Open Mic upstairs at The Artful Dodger, Micklegate, tonight and subsequently on the third Thursday of each month.

Poets and singers can sign up from 7pm for the 7.30pm start. “We welcome writers and ‘wordful’ acoustic musicians who’d like to share their work,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “Bring a poem, a guitar, a voice. All are welcome. We have a safe, friendly ethos. Access is by stairs only, sorry.” Entry is free with a purchase from the bar.

Navigators Art’s regular fulcrum of bold, left-field new music, words and performance will return to The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, for YO Underground #5 on Saturday at 7.30pm.

York flute and recorder player Carmen Tronsoco

“This edition features ethnic instruments, acoustic-electronic improvisation, words and guitar-based fusion, plus passionate new songwriting,” says Richard. “Expect bold, beautiful and adventurous sounds.”

On the bill will be Carmen Troncoso’s ethnic woody wind-blown instruments; York oboe musician Desmond Clarke & Osc~, featuring Barrington Brook, Iris Casling, Nika Ticciati and Gaia Blandina; No Spinoza’s words and guitar-based fusions, and a new York ‘supergroup’, the NSC Sound Union, combining members of Soma Crew, Namke Communications, Simon Micklethwaite and two others.

 Carmen Tronsoco is a flautist, recorder player and creative researcher. “In my artistic projects, I explore imaginative ways of engaging with my instruments, viewing them not as mere tools but as autonomous entities — or even creatures — capable of unfolding and revealing their own character,” she says.

York oboe player Desmond Clarke

“My practice aims to express the evolving, dynamic relationship between human and non-human agents.”

Desmond Clarke’s performances explore the boundaries and overlaps between acoustic instruments and their electronically inflected mirror images. Osc~ is a loose collective of musicians, based in the north, interested in long-form improvised musical performances. Previous performances have included four, seven, eight and 24-hour-long improvised megastructures.

No Spinoza is Thomas Pearson, a musician, poet and artist from the north east whose music – electronic folk with an art-rock edge – has received airplay on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio York and on radio and playlists worldwide. His fourth album will be released later this year.

No Spinoza’s Thomas Pearson

As Thomas Pearson, his writing has been published in various books and magazines, from Litmus to the Architects’ Journal. His artwork has been exhibited at the National Poetry Library, the Royal Academy of Arts and as a large-scale landscape installation at RSPB Saltholme, near Middlesbrough.

NSC Sound Union, formed by members of long-standing York bands Neuschlaufen and Soma Crew, meets the two bands half way: the improvisation from Neuschlaufen versus the discipline of Soma Crew. “Find out at each show which one comes out on top,” says Richard. “It’s never the same show twice.”

Admission is £6 in advance at www.ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance) or £10 on the door. The Basement is fully accessible.

Navigators Art raised £1,500 for Palestine aid at last Sunday’s A Gig For Gaza fundraiser at at The Crescent.

What happens when Neuschlaufen’s improvisation meets Soma Crew’s discipline? Find out at The Basement on Saturday

Osc~: Loose collective of northern musicians interested in long-form improvised musical performances