Tag: The Citadel York

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when Dibley’s vicar is at your service. Here’s Hutch’s List No 48, from The York Press

Danny Horn’s Ray Davies leading The Kinks in Sunny Afternoon, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, from next Tuesday. Picture: Manuel Harlan

SUNNY Afternoon’s Kinks songs for dark nights, Dibley comedic delights and drag diva Velma Celli’s frock rock catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye.

Musical of the week: Sonia Freidman Productions and ATG Productions present Sunny Afternoon, Grand Opera House, York, November 11 to 15, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees

RETURNING to York for the first time since February 2017, four-time Olivier Award winner Sunny Afternoon charts the raw energy, euphoric highs, troubling lows, mendacious mismanagement and brotherly spats of Muswell Hill firebrands The Kinks, with an original story (and nearly 30 songs) by frontman Ray Davies.

The script is by Joe Penhall, who says: “As a band The Kinks were the perennial outsider – punk before punk.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

MarcoLooks: Exhibiting at Inspired – York Artists & Designer Makers Winter Fair at York Cemetery Chapel

Christmas presence of the week: Inspired – York Artists & Designer Makers Winter Fair, York Cemetery Chapel, Cemetery Road, York, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

NINE York artists and designers will be selling their work for the Christmas season in the divine setting of York Cemetery Chapel. Among them will be collagraphy printmaker Sally Clarke, jewellery designer Jo Bagshaw, artist Adrienne French, printmaker Petra Bradley and illustrator MarcoLooks . Enjoy a winter walk in the beautiful grounds too. Free entry, free parking.  

Clive Marshall RIP: York Railway Institute Band and York Opera perform in his memory at The Citadel tonight

Marshalling forces: York Railway Institute Band and York Opera, Clive Marshall Memorial Concert, The Citadel, Gillygate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK Railway Institute Band and York Opera members come together tonight for a charity musical tribute to much-loved colleague Clive Marshall (1936-2025). Expect soaring choruses, heartfelt arias and the very best of operatic overtures in tonight’s programme of popular classics, in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice, where Clive spent the final days of his life in March this year. 

He was chairman of the RI band, leading the trombone section for many years, and first performed for York Opera in 1968, going on to play multiple character roles and stage direct myriad productions too. Box office: https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793750 or on the door.

At your service, in the French style: Nicki Clay’s Reverend Geraldine Granger in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley

Village drama of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 11 to 15,7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

NICKI Clay is going doubly Dibley for MARMiTE Theatre in the new York company’s debut production of The Vicar Of Dibley, having played Geraldine Granger for The Monday Players in Escrick in May.  

Martyn Hunter directs Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter’s cherry-picking of the best of Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s first two TV series, bringing together all the favourite eccentric residents of Dibley as the new vicar’s arrival shakes up the parish council of this sleepy English village. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Velma Celli: Rock Queen, with a nod to David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane slash make-up, at York Theatre Royal

Drag night of the week: Velma Celli: Rock Queen, York Theatre Royal, November 12, 7.30pm

YORK’S international drag diva deluxe Velma Celli follows up her iconic October 1 appearance in Coronation Street soapland with an “overindulgent evening celebrating and re-imagining the best of rock classics” with her band. 

The alter ego of West End musical star Ian Stroughair, who has shone in Cats, Fame, Rent and Chicago, cabaret queen Velma’s live vocal drag act has been charming audiences for 14 years, whether at Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse, her Impossible Brunches at Impossible York, or in such shows as A Brief History Of Drag, My Divas, God Save The Queens, Equinox, Velma Celli Goes Gaga, Show Queen and Divalussion (with Christina Bianco). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Toby Lee’s 2025 tour show, An Evening of Blues & Soul, at The Crescent

Blues gig of the week: Toby Lee & James Emmanuel plus Isabella Coulstock, An Evening of Blues & Soul, The Crescent, York, November 12, 7.30pm

BLUES prodigy Toby Lee’s musical journey started at only four years old when his grandmother bought him a yellow and green ukulele. This little instrument went everywhere with him, and he played it constantly, mainly tunes by Elvis and Buddy Holly. At eight, he received his first electric guitar for Christmas while staying at a Cornish. By chance, staying there too was Uriah Heep’s Mick Box, who duly gave him tips and picks. From that moment, Lee knew precisely what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Now 20, he has shared stages with Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Peter Frampton, Slash, Lukas Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his hero, Joe Bonamassa, at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as touring as Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra’s special guest. On Tuesday, he is joined by James Emmanuel and Isabella Coulstock. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Beth McCarthy: Heading back home to York to play Big Ian’s A Night To Remember at York Barbican. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions

Charity event of the week: Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, November 12, 7.30pm

BIG Ian Donaghy hosts a “night of York helping York” featuring a 30-strong band led by George Hall  with a line-up of York party band HUGE, Jess Steel, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay, Graham Hodge, The Y Street Band, Simon Snaize, Annie-Rae Donaghy, fiddler Kieran O’Malley, Samantha Holden, Las Vegas Ken and musicians from York Music Forum, plus a guest choir. 

Proceeds from this three-hour fundraiser go to St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York, Accessible Arts & Media and York dementia projects. Tickets update: Balcony seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Staff woes: William Ilkley, left, Levi Payne and Dylan Allcock in John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, on tour at the SJT, Scarborough

One helluva party of the week: John Godber’s Black Tie Ball, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 12 to 15, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

ON the glitziest East Yorkshire fundraising night of the year, everyone wants to be there. The Bentleys are parked, the jazz band has arrived, the magician will be magic, but behind the bow ties, fake tans and equally fake booming laughter lie jealousies and avarice, divorces and affairs, as overdressed upstairs meets understaffed downstairs through a drunken gaze. 

The raffle is ridiculously competitive, the coffee, cold, the service, awful, the guest speaker, drunk, and the hard -pressed caterers just want to go home. Welcome to the Brechtian hotel hell of John Godber’s satirical, visceral comedy drama, as told by the exasperated hotel staff, recounting the night’s mishaps at breakneck speed in the manner of Godber’s fellow wearers of tuxedos, Bouncers. Box office:  01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Amit Mistry: Topping the Funny Fridays bill

Comedy gig of the week: Funny Fridays, Patch@Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, November 14, 7.30pm to 9.30pm

AMIT Mistry headlines next Friday’s bill, joined by Lulu Simons, Gareth Harrison, Liam Alexander and Dominique McMillan, hosted by promoter Kaie Lingo. Doors open at 7pm for a night of “back-to-basics comedy fun” and tickets cost £10 at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets-1802236280229?aff=oddtdtcreator.

African rhythms of the week: N’Faly Kouyaté, National Centre for Early Music, York, November 12 , 7.30pm

Guinean multi-instrumentalist N’Faly Kouyaté: Starting his Finishing tour at the NCEM

AFTER gracing stages across the world with Afro Celt Sound System, avant-garde griot N’Faly Kouyaté has embarked on a profoundly personal journey that finds him opening his autumn UK tour in York, playing the National Centre for Early Music for the first time.

This masterful Guinean multi-instrumentalist, multi-linguist, inspired vocalist and living bridge between ancestral heritage and future sounds returns with his September 12 album Finishing, whose songs stir the soul, provoke reflection, elicit smiles and set bodies moving.

Finishing is billed as a “a spiritual call to action – an artistic manifesto shaped by the soul of a griot and the conscience of a world citizen”

Conceived during nine reflective months along the banks of the Bafing River in Guinea, then recorded in Brussels, this album is both a deeply personal reflection and a universal cry for justice, compassion and balance.

“Finishing is my musical answer to a world searching for meaning,” says N’Faly. “It is the echo of my ancestors carried by today’s rhythms, a call to reflection and action. I wanted every note to be a question, every chorus a step towards a fairer, more conscious future.”

Hailing from the illustrious Konkoba Kabinet Kouyaté lineage – he is a member of the Mandingue ethnic group of West Africa; his father was the griot Konkoba Kabinet Kouyaté, who lived in Siguiri, Guinea – N’Faly is a master of the kora and balafon, a genre-defying composer and a cultural custodian with a mission.

His journey has taken him from Guinea to the Royal Conservatory of Belgium in 1994, where he formed the ensemble Dunyakan, onwards to global stages with the Grammy-nominated Afro Celt Sound System and now his solo projects, all speaking to his ability to weave past and future into the sound of now.

Should you be asking “what is a griot?”, let N’Faly explain.”The griot is an advisor to the people and the king in West Africa,” he says. “The griot is from the Mandingue kingdom; Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.

“The king of this kingdom was the ancestor of Salif Keita, the Malian singer-songwriter. The griot is like the Bard in Celtic culture because we advise the king, the people, and if there’s a war somewhere, the griot comes to make peace.

“I continue the griot social class. I am griot, my father and my ancestors were griots. You can’t become griot; but you are born griot.”

How does this influence Finishing, N’Faly? “We griot, we advise all society. With this album you imagine the  artist finishing his dream to end all these horrible things in the world,” he says. “My dream was that if all these troubles could be finished, we could be happy. What a finishing that would be. For the people, we’re asking for the finishing of all this horror in our world.”

Finishing is an album rooted in a wish for healing. “We can use music to say to the political world ‘what we need is peace and love’,” says N’Faly, who spreads that message by singing songs in Mandinka (the language of Mandingue), Soussou, Pular, French and English as he dares to imagine a world where war, lies, theft and violence suddenly stopped.

The cover artwork for N’Faly Kouyaté’s Finishing album

Each track on Finishing pulses with urgency and purpose. Free Water, a collaboration with reggae luminary Tiken Jah Fakoly, is a passionate plea for water protection, while Khili Kanè condemns the corrosive effects of slander.

Mandela stands as a reverent salute to the late South African statesman and peacemaker, and Kolabana, featuring Senegalese hip-hop icon Didier Awadi, takes aim at global indifference in the face of crisis.

Elsewhere, songs such as Mökhöya, Halala and Kawa reflect on the quiet erosion of human value – mutual aid, dignity and humility – reminding us that these virtues are not nostalgic relics, but essential foundations for a liveable future.

“In my concerts I explain the words of all the songs and I use the job of my ancestors to play traditional music as well as modern,” says N’Faly, whose trademark “Afrotronix” sound is a fusion of AfroBeat, AfroTrap, AfroPop, RnB, Jazz and traditional Mandingue instrumentation as electronica meets djembe and kora.

“I am the protector of culture and tradition, and for me, we can use technology to serve tradition. If you want to interest young people, you have to sing in the language they want to hear and use the instruments and style of who they like – and statistically, much of my audience is aged 18 to 44 and upwards to 66-70.”

N’Faly will be joined on the NCEM stage by his wife, Muriel Kouyaté and Jay Chitul after rehearsing together in Brussels. Bring your dancing shoes,” he advises. Finishing will be on sale at the concert, along with T-shirts. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Did you know?

N’FALY Kouyaté’s collaborators range from Peter Gabriel and Sinead O’Connor to Tayc and Robert Plant, affirming how he is as comfortable in ancient traditions as he is on the modern sonic frontier.

“When I finished my studies in Belgium, I started to work with Afro Celt Sound System, whose albums were produced by Peter Gabriel, and we worked with him many times, recording at Real World studios in Bath and performing on stage with him.” says N’Faly.

He undertook an acting role in William Kentridge’s musical The Head And The Load, performing in Miami, Amsterdam, London and New York.  

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York Opera & York Railway Institute Band to honour Clive Marshall RIP with fundraising concert at The Citadel on Saturday

Clive Marshall RIP: Trombone player, character actor, director, chairman, designer, set builder, English and drama teacher, hockey player and club president

YORK Railway Institute Band and York Opera members will come together for one night only on Saturday (8/11/2025) for a charity musical tribute to much-loved colleague Clive Marshall (October 12 1936-March 11 2025).

Expect soaring choruses, heartfelt arias and the very best of operatic overtures in this 7.30pm concert of popular classics at The Citadel, Gillygate, York, all in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice, where Clive spent the final days of his life in March this year.

Clive, who trained as a teacher at St John’s Teacher Training College in York, was chairman of the York Railway Institute Band, leading the trombone section for many years, and first performed for York Opera – or City Opera Group, as it was then called – in 1968, going on to play multiple character roles and stage direct myriad productions too.  He was president of City of York Hockey Club to boot, playing into his 70s.

As an English and drama teacher, he taught at Derwent and Knavesmire Secondary Modern schools before becoming head of drama at Hemsworth High School in West Yorkshire. After early retirement from Hemsworth, he took on part-time teaching at Northfield School in Acomb and as a drama teacher at Bootham School until the age of 70.

York Opera chairman Ian Thomson-Smith says: “Clive was the heart and soul of York Opera for more than 50 years, as a director, performer, designer and set builder. So many of us who shared a stage with him will be forever grateful for his guidance, good humour and encouragement. This concert is a small way of recognising how much he has meant to us.”

York Railway Institute Band manager Martyn Groves-Williams adds: “Clive was a truly remarkable, talented and generous man, who thankfully lived a long and joyous life. His memory will be cherished by all of us who were lucky enough to be part of his banding life, and we shall all miss him dearly.”

Helen Lay, community and events fundraiser at St Leonard’s Hospice, says: “We’re incredibly grateful to the York Railway Institute Band and York Opera for teaming up for this special event in Clive’s memory.

“As a charity, we rely on brilliant events like this to raise much-needed funds, so we can continue providing our expert care and support to so many across our area. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone involved.”

Tickets cost £15, concessions £10 for students and under-16s, at https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793750 or on the door.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Opera in The Beggar’s Opera, The Citadel, York, October 23 to 25

Adrian Cook’s Peachum and Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera. All pictures: David Kessel

YORK Opera is back with a spring in its step. John Gay’s ballad opera of 1728, now nearing its 300th anniversary, was given lively and sometimes sparkling treatment by its director, Chris Charlton-Matthews, offering the company an opportunity to show its strength in depth.

The choice of venue, The Citadel in Gillygate, York was not an easy option. With the audience seated on three sides, mostly at tables in cabaret style, the performance was virtually in the round. This meant that much of the dialogue came and went, depending on where the performers were facing and, as so often with singers of all shades, words were clearer in song than in speech.

The production firmly reminded us of the wealth of our musical heritage, thanks to the composer Johann Pepusch – Berlin-born but London-based for more than 50 years – who gathered together its 69 songs mainly from British ballads, alongside several by living composers including Purcell.

This production gained immensely from its string quartet, oboe (Alex Nightingale) and harpsichord (Tim Tozer), conducted by John Atkin, who delivered a consistently vivid underlay.

Mark Simmonds’s Macheath: “Every inch the dashing womaniser” in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera

At the head of proceedings was Adrian Cook’s determined, ruthless Peachum, who was the undoubted mayor of this unruly parish, gamely supported by Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum and Hamish Brown’s Filch.

Alexandra Mather as their faux-naive daughter Polly and Sophie Horrocks as the more streetwise Lucy Lockit – rivals for the love of highwayman Macheath – were well contrasted, while Mark Simmonds was every inch the dashing womaniser they pursued.

There was a notable contribution, too, from Anthony Gardner’s gaoler Lockit – a David Jason look-alike – whose dialogues with Peachum were outstanding. The chorus was full-throated rather than subtle, but cameos from chorus members added considerable colour and kept up momentum.

Alexandra Mather’s faux-naive Polly Peachum

Even so, the performance lasted three hours and would have been punchier with half an hour excised.

The props by Teresa Carr and Jane Carr – a bar for the tavern, a desk for Peachum’s ‘office’ and a high trellis for the bars of Newgate prison – were more than enough to set the scenes, and Jane Woolgar’s choreography was consistently appealing.

The decision to dress the cast in costumes of every era (by the ever-imaginative Maggie Soper), to illustrate the maxim that the poor are always with us, was understandable but confusing.

The jollity of the proceedings was anyway inevitably at odds with the poverty-riddled story. The prologue and epilogue by the Beggar himself, Ian Thomson Smith, ensured a firm start and a happy ending.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 46, from Gazette & Herald

Susie Blake’s Shirley and Jason Durr’s Johnny ‘The Cyclops’ in Torben Betts’s Murder At Midnight at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith

A NEW crime caper and a ghost story, a clash of the blues and a Tommy Cooper tribute make their mark in Charles Hutchinson’s diary.

Deliciously twisted crime caper of the week: Original Theatre in Murder At Midnight, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 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.

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

Opera of the week: York Opera in The Beggar’s Opera, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 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.

Natasha Jones, left, and Florrie Stockbridge in Clap Trap Theatre’s Blindfold at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ghost story of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Blindfold, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

RYEDALE company Clap Trap Theatre’s cast of Natasha Jones, Florrie Stockbridge and Cal Stockbridge presents Blindfold, a ghost story by BAFTA-nominated North Yorkshire playwright and scriptwriter Tom Needham.

In 1914, two boyhood friends went to fight for their country but only one came back. After the war, the surviving soldier and his sister encounter an old friend who was being haunted by the ghost of a young man in a blindfold. Now, 100 years later, the discovery of letters re-awakens the ghost. Who is he and what does he want? Piece by piece, the lives of the long dead are brought to life and heartbreaking truths begin to emerge. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Heidi Talbot: Introducing new album Grace Untold at NCEM

Folk gig of the week: Heidi Talbot, Grace Untold UK Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 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.

Just like him: Daniel Taylor in the guise of Tommy Cooper at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Daniel Taylor Productions presents The Very Best Of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That), Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 7.30pm

PRODUCED and performed by award-winning West End and Unbreakable star Daniel Taylor, this 90-minute tribute show has the blessing of the Tommy Cooper Estate.

Recapturing the mayhem and misfiring magic of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers, Taylor gives you a glimpse into the life of the comedy giant, celebrating his best one-liners, dazzling wordplay and celebrated tricks, including Glass/Bottle, Dappy Duck, Spot the Dog and Jar/Spoon. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Riverdance: The New Generation celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Irish dance phenomenon at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Riverdance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, Friday to Sunday, 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.

The poster for Them Heavy Souls’ blues revue at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Blues gig of the week: Them Heavy Souls, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

MARK Christian Hawkins, top session guitarist for 30 years, is a gun for hire stepping out of the shadows with his British blues rock revue show, featuring stage and screen actress Lucy Crawford on vocals (last spotted playing Miss Prism in York company’s Pop Your Clogs Theatre’s The Importance Of Being Earnest).

Playing music from the golden era of 1966 to 1975, Them Heavy Souls capture the power and magic of  Led Zeppelin/Jimmy Page, Cream/Eric Clapton, Yardbirds/Jeff Beck, Humble Pie/Peter Frampton and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, delivered with vintage guitars, amplification and a nod to improvisation. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Alex Hamilton: Leading his blues trio at Helmsley Arts Centre

The other blues gig of the week, on the very same night: The Alex Hamilton Band, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

GUITARIST Alex Hamilton is joined in his blues/rock/Americana trio by father Nick Hamilton on bass and Martin Bell on drums. He combines melodic rock vocals, hard-hitting lyrics and a heart-felt guitar technique, as heard on his albums Ghost Train, Shipwrecked and On The Radio, as well as in concert venues around the world. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Gunn in for you: Steve Gunn promotes his two 2025 albums at The Band Room this weekend. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Moorland gig of the week: Steve Gunn, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, Saturday, 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.

On being Normal: Henry Normal discusses himself at Helmsley Arts Centre

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”, together with 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 his live performed memoir with cautionary verse. For tickets for this adventure into understanding the human condition from the inside, go to: helmsleyarts.co.uk.

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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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York Opera to stage John Gay’s satire The Beggar’s Opera at The Citadel next week

Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum, left, Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum and Adrian Cook’s Peachum in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera. All pictures: John Saunders

YORK Opera will stage John Gay’s 18th-century satirical ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera at The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, from October 23 to 25.

After June’s successful staging of Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann at York Theatre Royal, the autumn production of librettist and lyricist Gay and composer Johann Christoph Pepusch’s three-act 1728 opera is presented under the musical direction of John Atkin and stage direction of Chris Charlton-Matthews, with choreography by Jane Woolgar.

The Beggar has written an opera!  Well, not exactly “written”. He has borrowed all the tunes from folk ditties or well-known melodies – and his plot is not exactly the usual operatic fare – although he says he has followed all the conventions: a hero, a doomed love affair, prisoners in chains. 

However, the hero is a highwayman and completely faithless to his many wives, while every lady’s virtue is for sale and marriage is the way to become a rich widow. All the characters are villains, from gang leader Peachum, who sells his own gang members to be hanged in order to claim the reward, to crooked gaoler Lockit, who runs a line in comfortable manacles, and the utterly psychotic Matt o’the Mint, murderer and arsonist. Could the Beggar be sending up the politicians of his day – but surely they are not crooks, are they?

Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum and Adrian Cook’s Peachum

York Opera will stage an immersive production of this classic satire, where you may find yourself seated next to a cast member, so be careful where you sit!  That demure lady to your side might just be a pickpocket after your snuffbox!

To be fully in the mood, join Polly and her evil father Mr Peachum at his speakeasy for a gin tasting sponsored by York Gin before each show. Please note that entry to this tasting does not include entry to the show and vice versa. Here is the link: https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1819083.

Principal roles will be taken by a combination of established and new soloists: Mark Simmonds as Macheath, Adrian Cook as Peachum, Anthony Gardner as Lockit, Alexandra Mather as Polly Peachum, Sophie Horrocks as Lucy Lockit, Cathy Atkin as Mrs Peachum, Ian Thomson-Smith as The Beggar and Jake Mansfield as The Player.

Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum

After The Beggar’s Opera, the company will continue rehearsals for November 8’s concert in conjunction with the York R.I. Brass Band to celebrate the life and musical talents of Clive Marshall, a leading member of both organisations, who died on March 11.

Featuring principals, players and chorus, Opera Meets Brass: A Musical Tribute to Clive Marshall will be held at The Citadel to raise funds for St Leonard’s Hospice in its 40th anniversary year. Tickets (£15, students and under 16s £10) are available at https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera.

Then it will be full steam ahead to Christmas for York Opera’s Carols At Christmas concerts at Acomb on December 11, 7.30pm, Haxby, December 12, 7.30pm, and York, December 13, 4.30pm.

York Opera in The Beggar’s Opera, The Citadel, Gillygate, York, October 23 to 25, 7.30pm. Box office: https://tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793200.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No.45, from Gazette & Herald

Courtney Brown: Directing Pickering Musical Society for the first time in My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Picture: Robert David Photography

FROM Rodgers & Hammerstein favourites to Caliban’s dancing revenge, Francis Rossi’s songs and stories to German beer festivities, Charles Hutchinson delights in October’s diversity.

Musical revue of the week: Pickering Musical Society presents My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight  to Sunday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LONG-TIME member Courtney Brown directs Pickering Musical Society for the first time in My Favourite Things – The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein, a showcase of the very best of Broadway’s most iconic songwriting partnership.

As well as the cheeky charm of Honey Bun, the playful fun of The Lonely Goatherd and the rousing barn-dance energy of The Farmer And The Cowman, the show feature songs from The Sound Of Music, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific and The King And I. Dancers from the Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance take part too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Eddi Reader: Playing York for the first time in seven years at The Citadel

Seven-year itch of the week: Hurricane Promotions presents Eddi Reader, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

EDDI Reader, the Glasgow-born singer who fronted Fairground Attraction, topping the charts with Perfect, also has ten solo albums, three BRIT awards and an MBE for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts to her name.

Straddling differing musical styles and making them her own, from the traditional to the contemporary, and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns to boot, she brings romanticism to her joyful performances, this time with her full band in her first show in York for seven years. Eilidh Patterson supports. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block team up at the NCEM, York

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block Band, The Banjovial Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

GROUNDBREAKING  banjo players Damien O’Kane and Ron Block follow up their Banjophony and Banjophonics albums with this month’s Banjovial and an accompanying tour.

O’Kane, renowned for his work with Barnsley songstress Kate Rusby, is a maestro of Irish traditional music, here expressed on his Irish tenor banjo; Block, a key component of Alison Krauss & Union Station, infuses his signature five-string bluegrass banjo with soulful depth and rhythmic innovation. Together, their styles intertwine in an exhilarating dance of technical mastery. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Francis Rossi: Shaking up the Status Quo with songs and stories at York Barbican. Picture: Jodiphotography

Hits and titbits aplenty: An Evening of Francis Rossi’s Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

IN his one-man show, Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi performs signature Quo hits, plus personal favourites and deeper cuts, while telling first-hand backstage tales of appearing more than 100 times on Top Of The Pops, why Quo went on first at Live Aid, life with Rick Parfitt, notching 57 hits, fellow stars and misadventures across the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Natnael Dawit in Shobana Jeyasingh Dance’s We Caliban at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Dance show of the week: Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in We Caliban, York Theatre Royal, Friday, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion) and Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm

SHOBANA Jeyasingh turns her sharp creative eye to Shakespeare’s final play The Tempest in a new co-production with Sadler’s Wells. A tale of power lost and regained, the play is the starting point for Jeyasingh’s dramatic and contemporary reckoning, We Caliban.

Written as Europe was taking its first step towards colonialism, The Tempest is Prospero’s story. We Caliban is Caliban’s untold story that started and continued long after Prospero’s brief stay. Performed by eight dancers, complemented by Will Duke’s projections and Thierry Pécou’s music, this impressionistic work draws on present-day parallels and the international and intercultural discourse around colonialism, as well as Jeyasingh’s personal experiences. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

John Bramwell: Playing solo in Pocklington

As recommended by Cate Blanchett: John Bramwell, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

HYDE singer, song-spinner and sage John Bramwell, leading light of Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014 and screen goddess Cate Blachett’s “favourite songwriter of all time”, has been on a never-ending rolling adventure since his workings away from his cherished Mancunian band.

His sophomore solo album, February 2024’s The Light Fantastic, will be at the heart of his Pocklington one-man show. “After both my mum and dad died, I started writing these songs to cheer myself up,” Bramwell admits with trademark candour. “The themes are taken from my dreams at the time. Wake up and take whatever impression I had from what I could remember of my dream and write that.” He promises new material and Kloot songs too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Sam Moss: Heading out on to the moors at The Band Room. Picture: Jake Xerxes Fussell

Moorland gig of the week: Sam Moss, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, Saturday, 7.30pm

FINGERPICKING folk virtuoso guitarist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Moss heads to the North York Moors this weekend from Staunton, Virginia, USA, to showcase his February 2025 album Swimming, championed by the scribes of Uncut, No Depression and Paste and Los Angeles online magazine Aquarium Drunkward, no less. “For the record, he is a renowned woodworker too, particularly celebrated for his incredible spoons,” says Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham. Sofa Sofa support (as sofas always do!). Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.

Drag diva Velma Celli lights up Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse. Picture: Sophie Eleanor

Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, Saturday, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm; October 24, 7pm to 11pm; October 25, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm

MAKING its debut in 2021, Yorktoberfest returns for its fifth anniversary with beer, bratwurst and all things Bavarian. Step inside the giant marquee, fill your stein at the Bavarian bar with beer from Brew York and grab a bite from the German-inspired Dog Haus food stall.

The Bavarian Strollers oompah band will perform thigh-slapping music and drinking songs; York drag diva Velma Celli will add to the party atmosphere with powerhouse songs and saucy patter. Doors open at 6.30pm and 12.30pm. Tickets: ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest.

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Seven-year itch of the week: Hurricane Promotions presents Eddi Reader, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, October 15, 7.30pm

Eddi Reader

EDDI Reader will play her first York show in seven years tonight, accompanied by her full band at The Citadel, the old Salvation Army building in Gillygate, now home to the York City Church.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” says the Glasgow-born singer, who fronted Fairground Attraction, topping the charts with Perfect, and has a dozen solo albums, three BRIT awards and an MBE for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts to her name.

“I’m excited to be playing there. I’m lucky enough to have audiences that keep turning up, and new ones turning up too. My journey has been really blessed, with lots of songs over the years, and my songwriting broadening. ”

Eddi’s Scottish folk band Fairground Attraction famously broke up after only one studio album, The First Of A Million Kisses, a year after winning the BRIT Awards for best album and single in 1989 to pursue solo careers.

That split came in January 1990 in the throes of recording their second album that instead took the form of B-sides and unreleased songs from ‘Million Kisses’ sessions on Ay Fond Kiss in June that year. Roll on to 2024 when, in the shadow of band member Mark E Nevin’s wife, Louise, having a life-threatening health issue, the group re-grouped.

“There was no pressure getting back together,” says Eddi. “We got together for only 14 days to try to get an album out, and we succeeded. I noted how things came back, like control issues that had been poisonous 35 years ago and were still there, but also how my experiences had expanded. When I thought ‘that’s not how you do it’, I sensed how diplomatic you have to be. I had to unlearn a lot of stuff.

“I think you have to accept a lot of things are just the way they are, and it’s OK to accept it, to forgive it and move on. My expectations are always very high, expecting it to be a family, but you can’t expect everyone to be a long-lost buddy, with me being the one who wants it to be happy ever after.

“It wasn’t as easy as it might have been, but I realised that with bands, you get together with another human being and you try to create something, and when you do, it’s lovely. People think it must be easy but it isn’t. You know that the love is there but you don’t know how to reach it, so all you can do is pour love on it.”

The album, Beautiful Happening, duly arrived on September 27 2024, coincidentally the day when Louise was given the all clear, making the title even more resonant.

Straddling differing musical styles and making them her own, from the traditional to the contemporary, and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns to boot, Eddi took on another role in 2023 when making her London theatre debut at @sohoplace, Charing Cross Road.

Headhunted by director Jonathan Butterell, she played the Balladeer for five months in a stage adaptation of Annie Proulx short story Brokeback Mountain, singing the folk and American songs of The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells. Among those who attended were her fellow members of Fairground Attraction.

“I really, really enjoyed the experience, providing me with an acting role as a woman from the Mid West, leading a band,” says Eddi, who told one interview [by Caitlin Devlin, June 14 2023] that “in my head it’s Wyoming 1968”.

“I got some voice coaching for the role, had to play guitar as well as sing, and at the end I had to come on and play the dead young man’s mother.”

Eddi had previous acting experience, both on stage and screen. “I’d done a bit of that before, and I’ve always enjoyed playing a character, like in The Trick Is To Keep Breathing [as a psychic voice] at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow [in 1993]. The biggest was the John Byrne one, Your Cheatin’ Heart, playing Joleen Jowett [opposite Tilda Swinton’s Cissie Crouch in a six-part BBC mini-series about the Scottish country music scene in 1990].”

Whether re-forming Fairground Attraction last year, appearing in Brokeback Mountain, making solo records or never going on stage with a set list, authenticity drives Eddi. “It sounds like a cliché, but I don’t see any other way to do it. All alternatives are painful, because if you’re not true to yourself, you’re not authentic” she says.

“I’m just getting the dishes done, making the bed, but I did have a number one and I still enjoy singing it. I’m very grateful that it opened doors for me.”

Never under-estimate a singer’s skill. “It’s a mistake that people make when they say ‘just a singer’, because sometimes the singer hears things in music that not even the writer knows are there, so it’s like being the Columbo of music! Finding the feeling can make a song much more potent sung by a woman when written by a man!” says Eddi.

“You have to find the character in the melody as well as the lyrics; that gives the extra help to get the emotion across – and that’s different from acting, though I do see similarities.”

Eddi continues: “I’ll hear something that everyone else thinks is an old baggy hat on a coat stand, but I’m thinking, no, look at it, imagine making something with that. I see the movie!

“Like the Robert Burns songs I do. I saw him as being like a songwriter in his mid-twenties now; something of the young David Bowie about him, or Johnny Rotten or Tom Waits; there’s just something more of now about the songs, but being of then, so that didn’t matter because I could feel my way into Rabbie Burns’ words.”

Now 66, Eddi has “never felt unequal to any musician, male or female”. “I’ve never had a challenge in that way,” she says. “I’ve never noticed anyone getting in the way. I just plough my own furrow; I just do my own thing. I’m not difficult! I’m looking for jewels in the junk shop.”

What’s coming next from Eddi? “Me and John [husband John Douglas] are doing a little duo thing that we’re getting together at the moment,” she says. “We haven’t recorded it yet. We’ve got one song written so far. Eleven to go!”

Eddi Reader plays The Citadel, Gillygate, York, tonight, 7.30pm, with Alan Kelly, John Douglas, Boo Hewerdine and Kevin MacGuire, supported by Eilidh Patterson. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond monsters, ghosts, banjos and bratwurst. Hutch’s List No. 45, from The York Press

Anna Soden: No bum deal, bum steer or bum’s rush, for that would be a bummer at tonight’s hour of comedy, It Comes Out You Bum, at The Old Paint Shop

FROM royal history re-told to Dickens’ ghost stories, magical monsters to banjo brilliance, Charles Hutchinson delights in October’s diversity.

Homecoming of the week: Anna Soden, It Comes Out Your Bum, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm

NOW based in Brighton but very much shaped in York, comedian, actor, writer, TikTok sensation and award-nominated Theatre Royal pantomime cow in Jack And The Beanstalk, Anna Soden delivers her debut hour of madcap comedy, full of brainwaves, songs, revenge and talking out your ass. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Robin Simpson: Monster storyteller and York Theatre Royal pantomime dame, performing at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Spooky entertainment of the week: Robin Simpson’s Magic, Monsters And Mayhem!, Rise at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Sunday, doors 4pm

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime dame Robin Simpson – soon to give his Nurse Nellie in Sleeping Beauty this winter – celebrates witches, wizards, ghosts and goblins in his storytelling show.

“The audience is in charge in this interactive performance, ideal for fans of spooky stories and silly songs,” says Robin. “The show is perfect for Years 5 and upwards, but smaller siblings and their grown-ups are very welcome too.” Tickets: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Out for revenge: Henry VIII’s wives turn the tables in SIX The Musical, returning to the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday. Picture: Pamela Raith

Recommended but sold-out already: SIX The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, October 14 to 18; Tuesday & Thursday, 8pm; Wednesday & Friday, 6pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 4pm and 8pm

FROM Tudor queens to pop princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power. Think you know the rhyme? Think again. Divorced. Beheaded. LIVE!

Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow’s hit show is making its third visit to York, but it’s third time unlucky if you haven’t booked yet. Like Anne Boleyn’s head, every seat has gone.

Eddi Reader: Performing with her full band at The Citadel

Seven-year itch of the week: Hurricane Promotions presents Eddi Reader, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, October 15, 7.30pm

EDDI Reader, the Glasgow-born singer who fronted Fairground Attraction, topping the charts with Perfect, also has ten solo albums, three BRIT awards and an MBE for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts to her name.

Straddling differing musical styles and making them her own, from the traditional to the contemporary, and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns to boot, she brings romanticism to her joyful performances, this time with her full band in her first show in York for seven years. Eilidh Patterson supports. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Damien O’Kane and Ron Block: Banjovial partnership at the NCEM

Banjo at the double: Damien O’Kane and Ron Block Band, The Banjovial Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, October 15, 7.30pm

GROUNDBREAKING  banjo  players Damien O’Kane and Ron Block follow up their Banjophony and Banjophonics albums with this month’s Banjovial and an accompanying tour.

O’Kane, renowned for his work with Barnsley songstress Kate Rusby, is a maestro of Irish traditional music, here expressed on his Irish tenor banjo; Block, a key component of Alison Krauss & Union Station, infuses his signature five-string bluegrass banjo with soulful depth and rhythmic innovation. Together, their styles intertwine in an exhilarating dance of technical mastery. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Francis Rossi: Solo show of song and chat at York Barbican. Picture: Jodiphotography

Hits and titbits aplenty: An Evening of Francis Rossi’s Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More, York Barbican, October 16, 7.30pm

IN his one-man show, Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi performs signature Quo hits, plus personal favourites and deeper cuts, while telling first-hand backstage tales of appearing more than 100 times on Top Of The Pops, why they went on first at Live Aid, life with Rick Parfitt, notching 57 hits, fellow stars and misadventures across the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

James Swanton: Halloween beckons, so here comes his double bill of Dickens’ ghost stories at York Medical Society. Picture: Jtu Photography

Ghost stories of the week: James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 16, 17, 20 to 23, 7pm; October 27 and 28, 5.30pm and 7.30pm

A RED light. A black tunnel. A waving figure. A warning beyond understanding. Here comes the fear that  someone, that something, is drawing closer. Gothic York storyteller James Swanton returns to York Medical Society with The Signal-Man, “one of the most powerful ghost stories of all time and certainly the most frightening ever written by Charles Dickens”.

Swanton pairs it with The Trial For Murder, wherein Dickens treats the supernatural with just as much terrifying gravity. Tickets update: all ten performances bar October 21 have sold out. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Natnael Dawitin in Shobana Jeyasingh Dance’s We Caliban, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Dance show of the week: Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in We Caliban, York Theatre Royal, October 17, 7.30pm (with post-show discussion) and October 18, 2pm and 7.30pm

SHOBANA Jeyasingh turns her sharp creative eye to Shakespeare’s final play The Tempest in a new co-production with Sadler’s Wells. A tale of power lost and regained, the play is the starting point for Jeyasingh’s dramatic and contemporary reckoning, We Caliban.

Written as Europe was taking its first step towards colonialism, The Tempest is Prospero’s story. We Caliban is Caliban’s untold story that started and continued long after Prospero’s brief stay. Performed by eight dancers, complemented by Will Duke’s projections and Thierry Pécou’s music, this impressionistic work draws on present-day parallels and the international and intercultural discourse around colonialism, as well as Jeyasingh’s personal experiences. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

John Bramwell: Playing solo in Pocklington

As recommended by Cate Blanchett: John Bramwell, Pocklington Arts Centre, October 17, 8pm

HYDE singer, song-spinner and sage John Bramwell, leading light of Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014 and screen goddess Cate Blachett’s “favourite songwriter of all time”, has been on a never-ending rolling adventure since his workings away from his cherished Mancunian band.

His sophomore solo album, February 2024’s The Light Fantastic, will be at the heart of his Pocklington one-man show. . “After both my mum and dad died, I started writing these songs to cheer myself up,” Bramwell admits with trademark candour. “The themes are taken from my dreams at the time. Wake up and take whatever impression I had from what I could remember of my dream and write that.” He promises new material and Kloot songs too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Velma Celli: York drag diva lighting up Yorktoberfest at York Racecourse. Picture: Sophie Eleanor

Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, York, October 18, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm; October 24, 7pm to 11pm; October 25, 1pm to 5pm and 7pm to 11pm

MAKING its debut in 2021, Yorktoberfest returns for its fifth anniversary with beer, bratwurst and all things Bavarian. Step inside the giant marquee, fill your stein at the Bavarian Bar with beer from Brew York and grab a bite from the German-inspired Dog Haus food stall.

The Bavarian Strollers oompah band will perform thigh-slapping music and drinking songs; York drag diva Velma Celli will add to the party atmosphere with powerhouse songs and saucy patter. Doors open at 6.30pm and 12.30pm. Tickets: ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest.

In Focus: Charlie Higson and Jim Moir: A Very Short But Epic History Of The Monarchy, York Theatre Royal, Oct 13, 7.30pm

In the frame: Author Charlie Higson and artist Jim Moir discuss royalty and comedy at York Theatre Royal on Monday

36 kings. Five queens. Two comedy legends. Join Charlie Higson and Jim Moir (alias Vic Reeves) for the rip-roaring story of every English ruler since Harold was shot in the eye at the Battle of Hastings.

Higson has always been interested in the story of the fabled English monarchy: from the b*stardly to the benevolent,the brilliant to the brutal. “Far from being a nice, colourful pageant of men and women in funny hats waving to adoring crowds, it’s a story of regicide, fratricide, patricide, uxoricide and mariticide (you might have to look those last two up),” he says.

Launched for the coronation of his namesake King Charles III, Charlie’s podcast Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee takes a deep dive into the murky lives of our monarchs. Now, his new book of the show features illustrations by artist Jim Moir, his compadre in comedy.

On Monday, Charlie and Jim will first share stories from their comic collaborations over 30 years, including Shooting Stars, Randell And Hopkirk Deceased and The Smell Of Reeves and Mortimer. Then they will take the plunge into the storied history of this most treasured of institutions. Bloody treachery? Check. Unruly incest? Check. Short parliaments? Check. A couple of Cromwells? Check.

Their rip-roaring journey takes in the Normans, Tudors and Stuarts, not to mention the infamous Blois (how can we forget them?), tin an “utterly engrossing and grossly entertaining primer on who ruled when and why – with never-before-seen illustrations”!

A signed copy of Higson & Moir’s book Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee: An Epically Short History Of Our Kings and Queens (RRP £22) is included when purchasing Band 1 (£55) tickets, available for collection on the night. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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‘Artists are very difficult to be around,’ says Benjamin Francis Leftwich as he plays homecoming gig at The Citadel tomorrow

Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Looking to a higher power as a conduit for his songwriting. Picture: Harvey Pearson

NOW living in North London, singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich heads back home tomorrow (25/2/2022)  to play The Citadel, his second church gig in York after his sold-out Minster concert in 2019.

The 7.30pm show is part of a 26-date tour from February 1 to March 4, showcasing To Carry A Whale, his fourth album for Dirty Hit Records, released last June.

Recorded over four months in his Tottenham home, at Urchin Studios in Hackney, in a hotel room in Niagara and in a Southend studio owned by Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s Sam Duckworth, who shared production duties with Adele collaborator Eg White, it was the first record to be made by Ben entirely sober.

He has maintained that state since spending 28 days in rehab in January 2018, and it is reflected in the album title. “To Carry A Whale is an observation on what it’s like to be a sober alcoholic addict several years in,” he says. “A whale is heavy to carry. It’s gonna hurt you to carry it, but it’s also beautiful, and it’s a miracle to be able to carry all that at all.”

Carry it he does, but Ben is thriving on his creativity at 32. “I’m very lucky to do this, to write songs. I’ve been given a gift and I’m the custodian of it for now,” he says.

At the time of this interview – pre-tour in January – he was in a West Hampstead studio. “I’m working with Jimmy Hogarth and Bonnie Kemplay, a new artist with Dirty Hit,” he said. “We’re just jamming, writing a bit with Jimmy, who’s a legendary producer who’s also worked with Sam Griffiths [Ben’s fellow York songwriter and frontman of The Howl & The Hum].”

The artwork for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s fourth album, To carry A Whale, released last June

Ben is now on the road, playing solo around the country. “That’s been a been a big conversation with my managers and label: should I play with musicians or go it alone – and we decided I’d do it totally solo, with just my tour manager James Kellegher and a sound engineer,” he says.

“I kind of like it this way. It gives me freedom with the set list and logistically it’s easier to tour this way. That’s how my bread is buttered. That’s how I started.”

Add the support acts Elanor Moss and Wounded Bear (alias Josh Finn), and “it will be three musicians singing from the heart and hopefully breaking hearts too,” says Ben.

Expect a few piano-based numbers in an acoustic set where all four albums – 2011’s Top 40 debut Last Smoke Before The Storm, when he was Dirty Hit’s first signing, 2016’s After The Rain, 2019’s Gratitude and last year’s To Carry A Whale – will be represented.

“Of course, I want to do songs from the latest record, but I have four to pick from and I’m under no illusion that people aren’t coming to see me for the songs they first loved,” says Ben.  “If I play songs they don’t know, then the line between disrespect and a musician’s right to autonomy is a fine one, but it should always be an opportunity to play new songs.”

Whereas actors and dancers must be disciplined team players, always on time for rehearsals and performances, rock musicians tend to be born out of rejecting rules, codes of conduct and 9 to 5 rituals.

“I’m very lucky to do this, to write songs,” says Ben. “I’ve been given a gift and I’m the custodian of it for now”

“It’s funny; I’ve got really into musical theatre – randomly but now I love it – and that’s a world where you train hard, you’re on a contract, whereas the life of a musician…you turn up when  you want, you might turn up high, you might be drunk; you might cancel the gig if you don’t feel like playing, but that’s why so many great songs have come out of that madness!” says Ben.

“Artists are very difficult to be around. We’re very prideful; we’re a nightmare to be in a relationship with; we want to be the centre of attention.”

 Yet, for all the baggage that goes with the outsider’s role, at the same time he feels a calling, a responsibility even, to create songs. “I believe that the songs are above us, to reach for, and if we limit a higher power, a god, when we can pluck magic out of nothing, then we limit the potential for beauty,” says Ben.

“For me, I have so many situations where songs come together in different ways. I think it’s like, ‘I’m not God, I can’t do this on my own’, but sometimes songs land on my lap, like when I was writing my first album on my own out of necessity.

“But so many wonderful songs come out of collaborations, though it takes a long time to be open hearted enough to entertain the thought that my ideas might not be my best just on their own.

“Allowing someone like Sam Duckworth to be the co-captain of the ship gave To Carry A Whale a cohesive energy that really benefited it.”

Benjamin Francis Leftwich in contemplative mood at York Minster ahead of playing the Nave in April 2019

Artists are sensitive, says Ben, to the point where “sadly it’s no secret that lots of us decide we don’t want to be alive anymore”, as he struggled after his father, University of York politics professor Dr Adrian Leftwich, died from cancer in April 2013. 

“It’s hard to explain. Single parents, teachers, are the real rock stars, but we do have things we struggle with, and it’s good to talk about it. There’s a lot of witchcraft around, but the only touchstone to spiritual growth that I’ve experienced is suffering.”

From there, as well as “from above”, come the songs of To Carry A Whale. “It was an honest record; I surrendered to it, I said what I wanted to say, people are discovering it, and I’m really looking forward to playing the songs at The Citadel,” he says.

“I last went there for a religious ceremony when I was at school [he attended Bootham School], so I know it’s a magical place to play.”

Looking to the future, Ben already has a producer lined up for his next album. “It’s half written, but whether it’s a year or ten, it will be finished when it is,” he says. “I’ll colour it in as it goes along.”

Benjamin Francis Leftwich plays The Citadel, Gillygate, York, tomorrow (25/2/2022), supported by Elanor Moss and Wounded Bear, at 7.30pm. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. Also playing The Foundry, Sheffield, tonight; The Parish, Huddersfield, Saturday.