Twinnie’s poster for her November 28 homecoming gig at The Crescent, York
TWINNIE, the Nashville country pop star with York roots, returns to her home city on her five-date Crazy Ex tour to play The Crescent on November 28.
She will be promoting her second album, Something We Used To Say, released last Friday with no fewer than 22 tracks, in keeping with 2024’s most expansive records, Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
Documenting the devastation of the end of her long-term relationship and her attempt to move on with the songs that featured on her Blue Hour project, the album arrives with Twinnie on the crest of a wave. She has made history as the first British artist to perform the American national anthem at Geodes Park, home of MLS team Nashville SC – “proper football, and I won’t call it ‘soccer’,” she says – in the the wake of making her Grand Ole Opry debut last November.
“It was an amazing experience, making history with my background as the first Romany Gypsy singer to sing there,” she says.
Twinnie: Making her mark in Nashville
Earlier this month, on November 2, she had the honour of performing a special Songwriter Session at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
On top of all that, Twinnie is appearing on prime-time television screens as new character Jade in Emmerdale on her long-awaited return to soap opera after being nominated for Best Newcomer at the Inside Soap Awards for her role as Porsche McQueen in Hollyoaks (a part she played from November 2014 to December 2015).
“My life has been a bit crazy recently juggling music and acting, lots of back and forth, but loving it!” says Twinnie, who made her Emmerdale debut on October 11. “I’ve loved being back on screen, especially as the show is shot in Yorkshire. Being able to be home with family and go to work on such an iconic show has been nothing short of amazing!”
Having landed BBC Radio 2’s Album of the Week for her 2020 debut, Hollywood Gypsy, exceeded 25 million streams for her first American label EP, Welcome To The Club, and released the ambitious, two-chapter Blue Hour project, Twinnie set about making her second album. “It was recorded in Nashville, where I moved last year, and in England too,” she says.
The artwork for Twinnie’s November 8 album, Something We Used To Say
“I really put the work in. With anything I do, I try to do it 110 per cent, drawing from other artists. I’ve really honed my craft. I’ll write twice a day at different sessions, sometimes three times. In Nashville writing rooms they realise ‘she knows how to write songs’, so they guide me rather than write songs for me.
“I’m that ‘5ft 8 British girl that talks funny’ – and there aren’t many doing that! I’ve really embedded myself in Nashville, where it really reminds me of being at home, going round for a cup of tea with my grandma, whereas in London I was missing that sense of community.
“I’d been going to Nashville on and off for seven or eight years, but as soon as I moved there, I made my Grand Ole Opry debut within eight months. Jamie Johnson made that happen for me: such a class act. A complete legend.”
You can take Twinnie out of Yorkshire but you can’t take the Yorkshire out of Twinnie, after first catching the eye as Twinnie-Lee Moore on the York musical theatre scene in her teenage days. “I’m big on authenticity. I still feel like I’m the same person,” she says. “I’m really proud to be putting Yorkshire and England on the American country music map, and my big ambition is to be the first British solo artist to have an American number one country album.”
Twinnie-Lee Moore, aged 21, in the role of double murderess Velma Kelly in Chicago, The Musical on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, in April 2009. Six years earlier, she had played Dorothy in the Summer Youth Project’s The Wizard Of Oz on that same stage
It is not a case of Twinnie jumping on a country bandwagon. “Country music is pop music, it’s in the pop culture, and I was doing it before The Shires became The Shires, when I was working with Ben [Earle] from that group,” she says.
Explaining how the album took shape, Twinnie says: “After the last two Blue Hour EPS, I wanted to put out a body of work telling people what I’d been through, being dropped in 2022 by a major label [BMG] and by my boyfriend. We had a break-up: I’ve gone independent and there was nothing keeping me there any more, so I moved to Nashville.
“I’m so glad that I did with all the experiences I’ve had, with my new album celebrating my new life, grieving my old one, moving away from my family. I don’t want to be famous; I want to be infamous and to have people resonate with the sentiments of my music. Just go for it; you only have one life, so you might as well make it an adventure. That’s why I’m going to stay in Nashville.”
Twinnie plays The Crescent, York, on November 28, 7.30pm. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Sam Griffiths: Singer, songwriter and frontman of The Howl And The Hum. Picture: Stewart Baxter
TONIGHT the new The Howl & The Hum play Leeds Irish Centre, still led by singer and songwriter Sam Griffiths but with a line-up wholly changed since the York band’s trio of elegiac, unforgettable valedictory gigs at The Crescent last December.
In the tradition of a seven-year hitch, Sam parted company with bassist Bradley Blackwell, guitarist Conor Hirons and drummer Jack Williams, who had first met at open-mic nights in his University of York days.
Now living and working in Leeds, he addresses his feelings over the impact of the band’s break-up, together with the pandemic and his life-changing future direction, on Same Mistake Twice, the second album under The Howl And The Hum’s moniker, the first as a solo project with musicians friends on hand.
Available on CD and digitally since September 6 and now on vinyl too after a not-uncommon delay in printing, the album is self-released on Miserable Disco Records with distribution by AWOL. To buy, either head to thehowlandthehum.com or townsendmusic.store/products/artist/The+Howl+%26+The+Hum.
Those are the facts. Let’s now quote Sam’s official statement on The Howl And The Hum chapter two. “This is an album about dread. About a very real, everyday dread so many of us feel surrounded by screens showing us how we should be, what a good person is, what a bad person is.
“It’s about trying to have and handle and process big, messy emotions in a world that wants things to be small, simple and quickly decided. Every person is flawed, every person has baggage, shrapnel they take with them that makes the airport security beep.”
The Howl & The Hum, 2016-2023: Conor Hirons, left, Jack Williams, Sam Griffiths, and Bradley Blackwell
Sam continues: “This album is about acknowledging that shrapnel, poking it, flipping it and seeing what lives under it, and learning to fall in love with the version of yourself full of holes and missing pieces.
“This is a break-up album mourning the loss of a band, and all that comes with it: ego trips, insecurities, lost friendships, fading love, rekindling old fires and a path to acceptance.”
In keeping with the confessional, frank tone and vulnerable soul-searching of an album that opens with the title track lyric “You left for London like everyone else does/I stayed in Yorkshire avoiding success”, Sam says: “I don’t think I have come up with any consistent label for what this new phase is – not to sound like an ambivalent polyamorist – and the reason I say that is I don’t like to put labels on it, though I’ll call it an expansive solo project with an elaborate number of co-writers, co-musicians and co-producers.
“Fifteen-plus musicians contributed and then there’s another whole team for distribution and PR. But as Mark E Smith used to say, ‘if it’s me and your Nan on bongos, then it’s The Fall’!”
As it happens, Sam’s grandmother’s upright piano does feature on the album. “She left it to me in her will,” Sam recalls. “She was a piano teacher and that piano was my musical upbringing. Three quarters of the new songs were written on there.”
The cover artwork for The Howl And The Hum’s Same Mistake Twice album
The album, the follow-up to 2020’s Covid-blighted Human Contact, takes its title from the defining opening couplet: “I never make the same mistake twice, I always aim for a third time”. “It’s a very human thing to do: to repeat a mistake,” says Sam, who was amused at the prospect of being asked “Why would you want to give your second album that title?’.
“But I’d already written that opening track, so let’s talk about mistakes. We can make mistakes and learn from them, but we can also go back to them and repeat them and that tells us more about us. The more fallible the human is, the more interesting.”
Talk turns to the album’s focus on dread. “There’s a lot to dread sadly, and it feels like there are a lot of reasons for it. The most inescapable moments in our lives are filled with dread,” says Sam.
“The way those moments build up, if I ignore them, it’s like the ivy growing on the side of a house, but if you shine a light on them it feels braver and maybe they will not be as devilish as they first seem.
“The album is an absolute exploration of dread but hopefully with a sense of fulfilment and coming out into the light, with music standing for joy and embracing the community around you.
“It’s trying to find our own version of the light, finding strange reflections in the gloom, rather than being as obvious as just walking into the light. You can find things that are closer than the light at the end of the tunnel, which is often unobtainable, whereas you could appreciate the earth under your feet in the tunnel.”
“We have this screwed-up version of what success is, but surely it should be about different versions of fulfilment,” says Sam Griffiths. Picture: Stewart Baxter
As indicated by that lyric quoted earlier – the act of staying in Yorkshire avoiding success – the album reflects on “the dream I had to be a super, mega pop star and then year by year that peels away and you get a little older and you think, ‘may I will not be a Premier League footballer’.
“’Maybe, at 32, I’m not going to be an astronaut’,” says Sam. “It’s about appreciating the things you do have, like a fine wine. You begin to see the problems in the dreams you have.
“Why do we hold success up to the light? We have this screwed-up version of what success is, but surely it should be about different versions of fulfilment, not financial or social mores, but security and space in this world?”
Among those making the album with Sam were tonight’s support act, Elanor Moss, and Matthew Herd, whose saxophone playing is now a prominent feature of the new The Howl & The Hum live line-up.
“Elanor and I met over Zoom in the middle of lockdown and started writing together,” says Sam. “We both got into songwriting while we were studying English Literature at university, starting at open-mic nights, and she introduced me to producer Joseph Futak, who’s based in Hackney. Matthew is the principal songwriter in a band called Seafarers and he’s London based too.”
Joining Sam and Matthew on stage tonight at the sold-out Leeds Brudenell Social Club will be drummer Dave Hamblett, London guitarist Arun Thavasothy and bass player Naomi McLeod, Sam’s house-mate in Leeds. Doors open at 7.30pm.Stage times: Elanor Moss, 8.15pm; The Howl & The Hum, 9.15pm.
Gerard Savva: Leading the York Stage cast as Bobby in Company at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
LOOK out for Godber at the double, Sondheim sophistication, a ground-breaking Black pioneer and Hull humour in the week ahead, recommends Charles Hutchinson.
Musical of the week: York Stage in Company, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
ON Bobby’s 35th birthday, his friends all have one question on their mind. Why is he not married? Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s bold, sophisticated and insightful revolutionary musical comedy follows Bobby as he navigates the world of dating and being the third wheel to all of his now happily (and unhappily) married friends, exploring the pros and cons of settling down and leaving his single life behind.
Nik Briggs directs a York Stage cast featuring Gerard Savva as Bobby, Florence Poskitt, Julia Anne Smith, Alexandra Mather, Joanne Theaker, Dan Crawfurd-Porter and Jack Hooper, among others. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for Lightning Seeds’ show at Scarborough Spa Grand Hall tonight
Pure and simply joyful every time: Lightning Seeds, Tomorrow’s Here Today, 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour, Scarborough Spa Grand Hall, tonight; The Welly, Hull, December 4; Leeds Beckett Students’ Union, December 6
TO mark their 35th anniversary, Liverpool singer, songwriter and producer Ian Broudie leads Lightning Seeds on their Tomorrow’s Here Today tour to accompany a new greatest hits album.
Here come Pure, The Life Of Riley, Change, Lucky You, Sense, All I Want, Sugar Coated Iceberg, You Showed Me, Emily Smiles, Three Lions et al and many more. Tonight doors open at 7pm; Casino play at 8pm, Lightning Seeds at 9pm. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk; Hull, giveitsomewelly.com; Leeds, leedsbeckettsu.co.uk.
Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch
Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they are expecting four days of hill running and total de-stressing. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.
The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling 1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Highwayman cast of Dylan Allcock, left, Emilio Encinoso-Gil, Matheea Ellerby and Jo Patmore in John Godber’s new historical play. Picture: Ian Hodgson
New play of the week: John Godber Company in The Highwayman, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm plus 2pm Friday and Saturday, sold out
AFTER more than 70 plays reflecting on modern life, John Godber goes back in history for the first time in The Highwayman. “It’s 1769 and Yorkshire’s population has exploded, the races at York are packed, the new theatre in Hull is thriving, and the Spa towns are full,” he says.
“Everyone is flocking north. Yorkshire is the place to be; a region drunk on making money, social climbing, gambling and gin, but with wealth in abundance, the temptation is great.” Enter the highwayman, John Swift and his partner, Molly May. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Paterson Joseph and Charles Ignatius Sancho: Storyteller and subject in Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal
Story of the week: Paterson Joseph, Sancho & Me, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm, with post-show discussion
CHARLES Ignatius Sancho, born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729, became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected man of letters in 18th century London – the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain.
Actor, author and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University Paterson Joseph tells his story, accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park, built around his book The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Joseph explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with his own story of growing up Black and British. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Irish band Adore: Headlining at The Crescent tomorrow. Picture: Fnatic
Indie gig of the week: Road Less Travelled presents Adore, Fuzz Lightyear and Tom Beer, The Crescent, York, tomorrow,7.30pm
RISING stars of the Irish music scene, Adore are a three-piece garage punk band from Galway, Donegal and Dublin, who refract surf, disco and pop through punk sensibilities, grounded in crunchy guitar, drum and bass.
Leeds four-piece Fuzz Lightyear, freshly signed to independent label Nice Swan Records, match the intensity of Idles and Gilla Band while applying wit and a lyrical openness to their songs. Bull frontman Tom Beer kicks off the triple bill with a solo set. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
New York Brass Band: Bringing New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz from old York to Milton Rooms, Malton
Jazz night of the week: Acorn Events presents New York Brass Band and The Ryedale Stray Notes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 7pm
NEW York Brass Band, from York, perform with a seven or eight-piece line-up of sax, tuba, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone in the New Orleans Mardi Gras jazz band tradition. Formed by James Lancaster in 2010, they are inspired by Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, Hot 8, Youngblood and Brassroots.
They have played at Glastonbury for the past eight festivals and at celebrity parties and weddings for Danny Jones, of McFly, Ellie Goulding, comedian Alex Brooker, Liam Gallagher and Jamie Oliver. Support act The Ryedale Stray Notes feature 25 talented young musicians “ready to raise the roof”. Proceeds go to Acorn Community Care to support vulnerable adults with physical and learning disabilities. Tickets: acornevents.org.uk or phone Ali on 07891 3889085.
Paddy Young: Topping the Rye Humour bill at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Lucas Smith
Variety night of the week: Rye Humour, Comedy vs Climate Change, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
RYE Humour’s variety bill of up-and-coming comics will be headlined by Chortle Best Newcomer winner Paddy Young, a stand-up with Scarborough roots. The 2023 BBC New Comedy Awards finalist and Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nominee has attracted 100 million views online for his sketches with Ed Night. His comedy special, filmed by American record label 800 Pound Gorilla Records, will be released shortly.
This gig has been developed in collaboration with the Ryevitalise Landscape Partnership scheme, as part of a project that uses humour to explore environmental issues based around North Yorkshire’s rivers. Any questions about the evening, or accessibility, will be answered at events@comedyvsclimatechange.org.uk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Lucy Beaumont: Off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy gig of the week: Lucy Beaumont Live, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 8pm
HULL humorist, BAFTA nominee and Taskmaster star Lucy Beaumont is determined to let loose and let slip on her rollercoaster world with off-beat stories, unusual anecdotes and bizarre journeys through modern-day womanhood.
From the co-host of the chart-topping podcast Perfect Brains with Sam Campbell and creator of Meet The Richardsons comes a look at life through the Lucy lens. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kris Drever: “Beautiful and precise playing throughout his 80-minute set”. Picture: Paul Rhodes
THE Crescent and the Black Swan Folk Club keep finding the sweet spots.
Kris Drever has played in York many times (almost flaunting the fact he’s a Scotsman so close to the city walls after dark, and joking about it too).
He started around 2007 when the protégé was the junior partner and target of Eddi Reader’s jokes. He stole the show that night, and 17 years on he was the epitome of graciousness to Heather Cartwright (a fellow Glasgow resident), who opened for him.
Cartwright has a voice like a bonny sunlit stream. Her material draws on some interesting source material. The striking opening number, Dark Times, uses Bertolt Brecht’s memorable words “In the dark times/will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times”.
When Drever later sang “Strong men come, and strong men go” (from I’ll Always Leave The Light On), it was hard not to think they both had a certain president in mind.
As Cartwright relaxed, the performance grew stronger. She had the courage to stop and start her take on The Creggan White Hare again. Like Drever, Cartwright doesn’t just operate in the folk realm, and her closing love song, written from the perspective of a dog to its owner, could capture a billion cynophile hearts if she took it a little further.
Heather Cartwright: “A voice like a bonny sunlit stream”. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Where Cartwright’s ambition occasionally got ahead of her technique, Drever’s playing was precise and beautiful throughout his 80-minute set of 14 tunes. Drever wears his years well, but his Cranmer guitar was still more handsome (another Glasgow link).
The sounds his hands coaxed from it were simply glorious (and didn’t require that much tuning). An absolute highlight was his spare version of the Shetland traditional fiddle tune The Unst Bridal March.
Drever talked about aiming for the universal in his songwriting, and with Hunker Down/That Old Blitz Spirit he caught hold of the Covid zeitgeist. Commissions and collaboration certainly seems to bring the best out of him, but there was no room in the set for the likes of Scatterseed or its close relative Catterline, two of his very finest. Scapa Flow 1919 was a century adrift of any zeitgeist, but that in no way diminished its power.
The set included two new and unrecorded tunes being tested before a live audience, with Save A Space For Me the pick of the crop. He is not one for resting on his laurels, and his breakthrough album, Black Water, had to wait until the encore for an airing.
Assuming Drever ducked the English crossbows after the gig, York would be wise to set their gig-going cross-hairs on him next time he visits. Highly recommended.
The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood), left, peruses the Anarchist’s case file as Inspector Burton (Paul Osborne) interrupts him in Black Treacle Theatre’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist . Picture: John Saunders
FROM ‘Rocky 2’ for Jason Donovan to a music-hall spin on Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gents’, Charles Hutchinson looks at a mighty crowded week ahead.
Last chance to see: Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Of An Anarchist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
YORK company Black Treacle Theatre stage Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s uproarious 1970 Italian farce in a new adaptation by Tom Basden, creator of Plebs and Here We Go, who updates the setting to the rotten state of present-day Britain.
Shining a satirical light on bent coppers, politicians and everything in between under Jim Paterson’s direction, the riotous drama is set in a police station where a suspect has “accidentally”’ fallen to his death, but did he jump or was he pushed? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter (Andrew Isherwood’s Maniac) is brought in for questioning. Cue cover-ups, corruption and (in)competence. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
Dinosaur World Live: Invading York Theatre Royal on Monday and Tuesday
Children’s show of the week:Dinosaur World Live, York Theatre Royal, October 21, 4.30pm; October 22, 10.30am and 4.30pm
DARE to experience the dangers and delights of dinosaurs in this mind-expanding, “roarsome” interactive Jurassic adventure, winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best Family Show.
Grab your compass and join Dinosaur World’s intrepid explorer on a venture across uncharted territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing, life-like dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, not least every child’s favourite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. A post-show meet and greet offers brave explorers the chance to make a new dinosaur friend. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jason Donovan, centre, as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, back at its regular York haunt, the Grand Opera House, next week
Touringmusical of the week: The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, October 21 to 26, Monday to Thursday, 8pm; Friday, Saturday, 5.30pm and 8.30pm
AUSRALIAN actor, pop singer and soap star Jason Donovan returns to the Grand Opera House in a musical theatre role for the first time since playing drag act Mitzi Del Bar in Prisclla, Queen Of The Desert in November 2015.
“Rocky is panto for adults,” says Jason, 56, who is reprising his role as sweet transvestite Dr Frank N Furter on tour, after 25 years, in Richard O’Brien’s cult send-up of horror and science-fiction B-movies as squeaky clean American college couple Brad and Janet end up in the mad, seductive scientist’s Transylvanian lair. Box office: atgtickets.york.com.
Tempest Wisdom: Directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
Play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
‘TWO Gents’: possibly Shakespeare’s first play and definitely the only one with a part for a dog. But can the newly employed performers at Monkgate Music Hall pull off their production?
Under-rehearsed knife throwers, strongmen, musicians and comedians must pool their skills in Tempest Wisdom’s dazzling take on this rarely performed comedy, delivered by York Shakespeare Project. “Book now for the event of the 19th century!” says Tempest. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Steve Huison as his alter ego, working men’s club cabaret host Squinty McGinty, at The Crescent, York
Cabaret turn of the week, Steve Huison, Crescent Cabaret, The Crescent, York, October 23, doors, 6.30pm for 7.30pm start
AFTER exhibiting oil portraits of actors and musicians at Pyramid Gallery this summer, actor, artist and The Full Monty star Steve Huison presents The Crescent Cabaret in his guise as Squinty McGinty, “Agent to the Stars”, more usually to be found hosting Cabaret Saltaire.
Promoted in tandem with Pyramid Gallery owner and musician Terry Brett, who will make a stage appearance with Ukulele Sunshine Revival, this charity event will raise funds for Refugee Action York from meat raffle ticket sales at Huison’s affectionate, if outrageous, spoof of a typical northern working men’s club. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Andrej Uspenski
Dance show of the week: Company Wayne McGregor, Autobiography, V102 and V103, York Theatre Royal, October 25 and 26, 7.30pm
GENETIC code, AI and choreography merge in a Wayne McGregor work that reimagines and remakes itself anew for every performance. Layering choreographic imprints over personal memoir and in dialogue with a specially created algorithm that hijacks McGregor’s DNA data,Autobiography “upends the traditional nature of dance-making as artificial intelligence and instinct converge in creative authorship”.
Now, AISOMA, a new AI tool developed with Google Arts and Culture – “utilising machine-learning trained on hundreds of hours of McGregor’s choreographic archive – overwrites initial configurations to present fresh movement options to the performers, injecting unfamiliar and often startling content into the choreographic ecosystem”. “Life, writing itself anew,” explains McGregor. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Nadia Reid: Making her Band Room debut on the North York Moors
Moorland gig of the season: Nadia Reid, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, October 26, 7.30pm
THE Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham first tried to book New Zealand singer-songwriter sensation Nadia Reid on her first British tour in 2017. “Persistence has paid off,” he says, welcoming her to “the greatest small venue on Earth” as part of a series of intimate, magical solo shows.
Noted for her evocative lyrics and introspective, folk-infused soundscapes, Reid has been described as “an understated, wise guide through uncertain territory”, drawing comparison with Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Gillian Welch and Sandy Denny. Latest album Out of My Province took her to Matthew E White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where producer Trey Pollard surrounded her songs in luminous washes of southern country soul. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.
Elbow: First headliners confirmed for second season of Live At York Museum Gardens, staged by Futuresound Group next summer
Gig announcement of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3 2025
GUY Garvey’s Mercury Prize-winning Bury band Elbow are confirmed as the first headliner for Futuresound’s second Live At York Museum Gardens concert weekend, after the sold-out success of Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary shows and Jack Savoretti this summer.
Elbow will be supported by Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution. Box office: futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333.
Recommended but sold out: James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 24 to 30, 7pm
James Swanton: sell-out run of The Signal-Man at York Medical Society. Picture: Jtu Photography
“SOMETHING unprecedented has happened: we’ve sold out the entire run over a month in advance! A first in my experience,” says York gothic actor and storyteller James Swanton ahead of the home-city leg of his Halloween Dickens show, The Signal-Man, with The Trial For Murder “thrown in for fun”.
“The Signal-Manis one of the most powerful ghost stories of all time and certainly the most frightening ever written by Charles Dickens. It’s paired here with The Trial For Murder, in which Dickens treats the supernatural with just as much terrifying gravity.”
James adds: “We’re privileged to be a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants for their annual Ghost Week celebrations.”
What happens in The Signal-Man? “A red light. A black tunnel. A waving figure. A warning beyond understanding. And the fear that someone – that something – is drawing closer,” says the storyteller of Dickens’s darkest explorations of the spirit world.
Over the past year, James has played monsters in The First Omen (20th Century Studios) and Tarot(Sony), as well as the title roles in two BBC chillers: The Curse Of The Ninth in Inside No. 9 and Lot No. 249, Mark Gatiss’s annual ghost story, a performance that spurred the Telegraph reviewer to call James “the scariest man on TV this Christmas”.
His Dickens work includes sell-out seasons of the Christmas Books at the Charles Dickens Museum, London, and his one-man play Sikes & Nancy at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios.
Are you too late for tickets for The Signal-Man? Fear not, James will be returning to York Medical Society from November 25 to 28 and December 2 to 5 for his annual performances of Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, suitable for age eight upwards. Tickets for these 65-minute 7pm performances are on sale on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
One ghost story will be told each night: November 25 to 27 and December 2 to 4, A Christmas Carol; November 28, The Chimes; December 5, The Haunted Man.
In Focus: Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, York, Oct 24 to 26
Co-director and actor Mikhail Lim in one of myriad posters for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ production of Songs For A New World
YORK company Black Sheep Theatre Productions completes its October double bill of Jason Robert Brown productions with his 1995 theatrical song cycle Songs For A New World.
Tony Award-winning composer Brown is best known for his musicals Parade, 13 and The Last Five Years, the 2001 two-hander staged by Matthew Peter Clare’s company in collaboration with Wharfemede Productions at the NCEM last week.
First produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in New York, Songs For A New World defies conventional musical theatre formats. As described by Brown and original director Daisy Prince, the show is “neither musical play nor revue” but exists as a “very theatrical song cycle.”
“While it lacks a linear plot, the production explores universal themes such as hope, faith, love, and loss through a powerful collection of emotionally charged songs,” says Matthew, the production’s co-director, musical director and producer.
Black Sheep Theatre’s re-imagined production speaks directly to the growing uncertainty and tension of today’s political and social climate. Co-director Mikhail Lim and the creative team have crafted a fresh and relevant interpretation, designed to “resonate with audiences navigating the complexities of modern life”.
Songs For A New World cast member Rachel Higgs
This version expands the original cast of four to feature eight performers from York and beyond, creating a rich and multifaceted rendition.
“We believe this show will be a breakthrough in York’s theatre scene, offering something fresh, exciting, and deeply engaging,” says Mikhail. “The music alone will make audiences want to listen on repeat, but the show also connects emotionally, tugging on heartstrings and encouraging a renewed contemplation of today’s world.
“We hope audiences leave the theatre not only moved by the performances but also reflecting on the deeper themes we explore.”
After staging William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, now Black Sheep Theatre has worked meticulously on every aspect of Songs for A New World.
Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger in Songs For A New World
“The team is confident that this production will be a definitive version of Brown’s iconic work, delivering a truly unforgettable experience to all who attend,” says Matthew.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music,St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.
Creative team: Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare
Co-director: Mikhail Lim Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh
Cast: Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger; Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.
Henry Raby, left and Stu Freestone: Co-founders of Say Owt Slam
SAY Owt, York’s loveable gang of garrulous/grandiloquent/just plain good poets, is celebrating a decade of performance poetry, spoken word, rap and music at The Crescent Community Venue, York, on October 18.
Established in 2014, Say Owt hosts high-energy nights of words and verse, led by York-born artistic director, “nerd punk poet laureate”, playwright, Vandal Factory co-artistic director and arts & activism podcaster Henry Raby and co-founder, associate artist, actor, Nottingham Forest devotee and The Cheese Trader cheesemonger Stu Freestone.
“As our first ever event was ten years ago, the team has decided to host a party to celebrate,” says Henry. “Whether you’re a regular, or never been to a Say Owt gig before, everyone is welcome to this party of performance poetry.
Say Owt squad member Hannah Davies: Taking part in 10th anniversary Say Owt Slam, Henry Raby vs Hannah Davies vs Stu Freestone vs Bram Jarman
“It’s been a privilege to put on poetry gigs for the people of York. We’ve hosted such legends as Hollie McNish, Harry Baker and [Barmby Moor-raised] Rob Auton and made so many friends and met so many amazing poets along the way.”
Looking forward to next Friday’s 8pm party, Henry says: “We want this gig to be a poetry party. Get ready for cheering, thumping your feet on the floor and kindling a love for words!
“Our first ever event was a poetry slam, where poets battle to win the adoration of the audience, so we’ve decided the four members of the Say Owt Squad will take part in a mini-slam to find out once and for all who is the best poet out of the four: Henry Raby vs Hannah Davies vs Stu Freestone vs Bram Jarman!”
Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell: York poet and teacher, winner of Northern Debut Award for Poetry: Out-Spoken Press Programme at the 2022 Northern Writers’ Awards
What else, Henry? “We wanted to highlight the amazing spoken-word scene in York by inviting our local poet pals to take to the stage. Performers will include Crow Rudd (surveyor of Sad Poets Doorstep Club), Chloe Hanks (co-host of Howlers) and Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell (rouser at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb).
“We’ve also invited back two Say Owt Slam Champions, previous winners at our poetry slams. Ruth Awolola is a Nigerian Jamaican poet, performer, theatre maker and creative facilitator, based in Manchester.
“Sophie Shepherd has been a poetry slam enthusiast ever since competing in the Say Owt slams whilst at York Uni [University of York]. She’s continued her love of slam since moving back down south by creating the Rhyme Against The Tide slam in Weston-super-Mare.”
West Yorkshire rapper, beatboxer and playwright Testament. Picture: Anthony Robling
On the bill too will be York alt-rock band Everything After Midnight, performing a special acoustic set. “They’ve recently decided to call it a day (or call it a night?), so they’ll be playing their second-to-last-ever gig at our birthday party! And you can’t spell ‘penultimate’ without ‘ultimate’!” says Henry.
“Finally, we have a very special guest in the form of West Yorkshire-based rapper and playwright Testament, whose critically acclaimed work ties together strands of poetry, rap and lyrics. He’s a Guinness World Record-breaking beatboxer with numerous TV appearances on BBC, ITV and Sky Arts to his name.
“He performed Orpheus In The Record Shop at Leeds Playhouse in 2020 and 2022; he’s appeared on the BBC Radio 4 poetry show The Verb, BBC1xtra and BBC Radio 6 Music many times, and his work has received praise from voices diverse as Alan Moore, Lauren Laverne, Mark Thomas and the progenitor of Hip-Hop himself, DJ Kool Herc.”
Say Owt 10th Birthday Bash,The Crescent Community Venue, The Crescent, York, October 18. Doors open at 7.30pm for 8pm start. Tickets £8 on £13 in advance, pay whichever tier you want, at https://thecrescentyork.com/events/the-big-say-owt-10th-birthday-bash/. Or, pay £15 on the door.
YORK unlocks for the weekend. Charles Hutchinson unlocks the door to multiple other delights too.
Festival of the week: York Unlocked 2024, today and tomorrow from 10am
IN its third year, York Unlocked welcomes residents and visitors to experience York’s architecture and open spaces with the chance to discover, explore and enjoy around 50 sites.
This year’s new addition is a children’s trail book; families can pick up a free copy from York Explore Library, All Saints’ Church, North Street, or The Guildhall. Full details of the participating locations, from Spark: York to City Screen Picturehouse, Terry’s Factory Clock Tower to Bishopthorpe Palace, Holgate Windmill to York Railway Station, can be found at york-unlocked.org.uk. Entry is free, including those requiring booking.
Rachel Croft: Heading back to York to play The Crescent
Return of the week: Black Deer Live in association with TalentBanq presents Rachel Croft Live, supported by Tom Sheldon Trio, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm
AFTER relocating to London almost three years ago, thunderous alt-rock singer-songwriter Rachel Croft returns to York for an explosive hometown show, backed by a full band.
Caffe Nero Artist of the Month in February 2024, she has performed at The O2 Arena Blue Room, Bush Hall and Camden Assembly in London, the Bitter End in New York and Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and such festivals as Cambridge Folk Festival, Secret Garden Party and Black Deer. Her cinematic songs have featured on Netflix, the BBC and in rotation in Tesco, Waterstones and Centre Parcs stores. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Much more than stripping assets: York’s queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, hosts The Exhibionists in The Old Paint Shop
Cabaret night of the week: Freida Nipples presents…The Exhibitionists, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm; Halloween Edition, October 26, 6pm and 9pm
YORK’S award-winning burlesque artiste Freida Nipples launches the Theatre Royal’s new Old Paint Shop cabaret season with some of her favourite fabulous performance artists from across Great Britain.
“From burlesque to drag and beyond, be sure to expect the unexpected,” she says. “Get ready to be dazzled, shocked and in awe. Only a few things are guaranteed: glamour, gags and giggles.” Tickets update: all three shows have sold out. For returns only, call 01904 623568.
Frankenstein (On A Budget): One man, one monster, one glorious dream at Friargate Theatre, York
“Comedy musical Hammer Horror homage you didn’t know you needed”: Frankenstein (On a Budget), Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
ONE man, one monster, one glorious dream to singlehandedly tell the most famous cult horror story of all time on absolutely no budget whatsoever. What could possibly go wrong? Inspired by Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff, Frankenstein (On a Budget) features one actor, some decidedly dodgy backdrops, new music, weather-based based puns, cardboard props, gore and flashing lights.
Can the ill-fated doctor build his monstrous creation, play 25 characters, sing songs aplenty, attempt accents from across the world, perform a dance routine, and ultimately save the day in only 60 minutes? Find out tonight. Age guidance: 14 upwards. Box office: ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.
The Shires: Playing York on intimate acoustic tour
Country gig of the week: The Shires: The Two Of Us Tour, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
GREAT Britain’s biggest country music export, The Shires, return to York on their intimate acoustic tour, where Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes play songs from 2015 debut, 2016’s My Universe, 2018’s Accidentally On Purpose, 2020’s Good Years and 2022’s 10 Year Plan.
The Shires have achieved three consecutive UK Top Three albums, four UK Country album chart toppers, more than 100 million streams, two gold-certified records and two CMA Awards, headlining the Royal Albert Hall too. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Aein Nasseri (Alland) and the CAPA College Chorus (Vox) in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Sanctuary. Picture: Robling Photography
Play of the week: Red Ladder Theatre Company in Sanctuary, Selby Abbey, October 7, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, October 8, 7.30pm; Wesley Centre, Harrogate, October 12,7.30pm
DIRECTED by new Red Ladder artistic director Cheryl Martin, this timely premiere by Sarah Woods and musician Boff Whalley tells the vital story of Alland, a young Iranian man who begs to be given sanctuary at St Mary’s Church in a northern town, sparking a community to react in all the ways each member believes to be right.
Featuring a chorus of Wakefield’s CAPA College students, Sanctuary mixes hard-hitting ideas with melodic tunes and harmonies, asking the question: do we want safety and freedom for only ourselves, or for us all? Box office: Selby, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Carrie Hope Fletcher: Love Letters in song form at York Barbican
Musical theatre revue of the week: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Love Letters, York Barbican, October 8, doors 7pm
WEST End musical theatre actress, author and vlogger Carrie Hope Fletcher explores all forms of love, from romantic to maternal, unrequited to obsessive, all told through a concert of musical theatre favourites, accompanied by specially written letters about each song by Carrie.
She is best known for playing Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Veronica in Heathers, Wednesday in The Addams Family, Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella on the London stage. Her special guest will be Bradley Jaden, her West End co-star in Les Miserables. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ed Gamble: Not discussing hot dogs in Hot Diggity Dog at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett
Comedy gig of the week: Ed Gamble, Hot Diggity Dog, Grand Opera House, York, October 9, 7.30pm
ED Gamble is promising “all your classicGamble ranting, raving and spluttering, but he’s doing fine mentally. Promise”. After all, he co-hosts the award-winning podcast Off Menuwith James Acaster, is a judge on Great British Menu and Taskmaster champion, hosts Taskmaster The Podcast and The Traitors: Uncloaked and has his own special, Blood Sugar, available on Amazon Prime. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Not Gonna Lie: Fool(ish) Improv use audience true stories to improvise “unbelievable comedy”
Improv gig of the week: Fool(ish) Improv present Not Gonna Lie, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 10, 8pm
PAUL Birch and co will take the truth to task by using real stories from the audience to improvise “unbelievable comedy”. Not so much Who’s Line Is It Anyway but more Who’s Lie Is It Anyway, Fool(ish) welcome you to a playful night of joy, nonsense and completely making things up.
“Come confess and unburden yourselves of some silly secrets, tales of the office and childhood memories and we will shape them into surreal sketches and sensational scenes,” say the Yorkshire improvisers trained by the best in Chicago Long-Form improv. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Sharleen Spiteri: Leading Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer
Gig announcement of the week: Texas, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26 2025
SCOTTISH band Texas, fronted as ever by Sharleen Spiteri, will return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 2018 to showcase five decades of songs, from I Don’t Want A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Son to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking next summer. Irish rock band The Script are confirmed already for July 5. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Rievaulx Abbey, mixed media, by Robert Dutton, on show in A Yorkshire Year at Nunnington Hall
YORKSHIRE landscapes, campsite class division, horror movies to the max and a talkative traveller herald the arrival of the arts autumn for Charles Hutchinson.
Exhibition of the week: A Yorkshire Year, Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, until December 5
THE changing landscape of the Yorkshire countryside and coastline is captured by Yorkshire artists Robert Dutton, from Nunnington, and Andrew Moodie, from Harrogate, in seasonal images.
Dutton presents a dramatic interpretation of the untamed expanses of Yorkshire, from meandering freshwater rivers and hidden woodlands to the stark beauty of the moors. Moodie directs his attention to the undulating valleys of the Yorkshire Dales, as well as coastal villages. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Normal admission prices apply at nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.
The artwork for the Dead Northern 2024 Horror Film Festival at City Screen Picturehouse, York
Film event of the week: Dead Northern 2024 Horror Film Festival, City Screen, Picturehouse, York, today and tomorrow
IN “the world’s most haunted city”, Dead Northern presents a festival of movies, music and social gatherings. Today opens with Demonic Shorts at 11am, followed by the regional premiere of Scopophobia, 12.30pm; Slasher, Thriller and Creature Shorts, 2.30pm; UK premiere of The Healing, 4.30pm; Dead Talk film-making panel, 7.30pm; regional premiere of Kill Your Lover, 9pm, and VIP Awards Party at Revolution, York,11pm.
Tomorrow features the Mad Props documentary, 11am; mini-feature Strike,12.45pm; feature film The Monster Beneath Us, 1.15pm; music mini-feature The Black Quarry, 3.45pm; Music Videos, 4.30pm; UK premiere of Kill Victoria, 6.30pm, and world premiere of Lake Jesup, 8.30pm. Guests must be aged over 18 to access screenings and live events. Box office: deadnorthern.co.uk/dead-northern-2024-film-festival.
Tom Gallagher, Annie Kirkman and Laura Jennifer Banks in a scene from John Godber’s revival of Perfect Pitch
Touring play of the week: John Godber Company in Perfect Pitch, Harrogate Theatre, today, 2pm and 7.30pm; Pocklington Arts Centre, October 9 and 10, 7.30pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, November 13 to 16, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
WHEN teacher Matt (Frazer Hammill) borrows his parents’ caravan for a week on the Yorkshire coast with partner Rose (Annie Kirkman), they are expecting four days of hill running and total de-stressing. However, with a Tribfest taking place nearby, Grant (Tom Gallagher) and Steph’s (Laura Jennifer Banks) pop-up tent is an unwelcome addition to their perfect pitch.
The class divide and loo cassettes become an issue as writer-director John Godber reignites his unsettling1998 state-of-the-nation comedy, set on an eroding coastline, as Matt and Rose are inducted into the world of caravanning and karaoke. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The bird man of RedHouse Originals Gallery: artist Jim Moir at his Birdland exhibition in Harrogate
Last chance to see: Jim Moir, Birdland, RedHouse Originals Gallery, Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate, today, 10am, 10am to 5pm
“PEOPLE think that I am a comedian, but art comes first,” says Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves, as he mounts his second RedHouse show. “This one is Birdland because of my love of birds. I spend most of my days bird watching and painting,” he says.
On show – and for sale – is an exclusive collection of 50 new paintings celebrating his favourite subject ahead of the October 24 release of his second bird book, More Birds, Paintings Of British Birds, published by Unbound. Free entry.
Clare Ferguson-Walker and Robin Ince: Plenty to discuss at Pocklington Arts Centre
Double act of the week: Clare Ferguson-Walker & Robin Ince, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm
TAKE a tour around two marvellous minds via the vehicles of poetry, storytelling, jokes, and general silliness when Clare Ferguson-Walker and Robin Ince link up in Pock. Poet, comedienne, sculptor and singer Clare’s explosive second collection, Chrysalis, lays bare the poet’s soul on a journey laced with humour and humane observation.
Humorist, presenter, poet and author Ince co-hosts the BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox. His books include Bibliomaniac, The Importance Of Being Interested, I’m A Joke And So Are You and his next work, Normally Weird And Weirdly Normal: My Adventures In Neurodiversity, will be published next May. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The cover design for Michael Palin’s new diary collection
Globe-trotter of the week: Michael Palin, Grand Opera House, York, October 3, 7.30pm
IN the words of Monty Python alumnus, actor, presenter and Yorkshireman Michael Palin: “In There And Back – The Diary Tour 2024, I’ll bring to life the fourth collection of my diaries and the first to be released for ten years.
“Lots of fun as I go through the Noughties, and some dark times too. I constantly surprise myself with the sheer amount I took on.” Tickets update: still available at atgtickets.com/york.
Barbara Dickson: Acoustic October concerts in Pocklington and Leeds
Folk gigs of the week: Hurricane Promotions present Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4 (sold out) and October 16, 7.30pm. Also Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, October 20, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland explore her catalogue of songs in these acoustic concerts in intimate settings, where the pair will let the words and melodies take centre stage as they draw on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, from Another Suitcase In Another Hall to I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Mundane matters: Josh Widdicombe mulls over really niche observations about silly little thingsin 2025 and 2026
Gig announcement of the week: Josh Widdicombe, Not My Cup Of Tea Tour, Hull City Hall, October 2 2025, and York Barbican, February 28 2026
PARENTING Hell podcaster and comedian Josh Widdicombe, droll observer of the absurd side of the mundane, will take stock of the little things that niggle him, from motorway hotels to children’s parties, and explain why he has finally decided to embrace middle age, hot drinks and doing the school run in his 58-date tour show, Not My Cup Of Tea.
“That’s my favourite type of stand-up: really niche observations about silly little things that you wouldn’t think about. I’ve got no interest in the big topics.” Box office: joshwiddicombe.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk; hulltheatres.co.uk.
In Focus: Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show, The Crescent, York, tomorrow. More Yorkshire shows to follow
This is the modern world:Mark Thomas returns to stand-up venting at The Crescent, York. Picture: Tony Pletts
LAST appearing in York in Ed Edwards’s one-man play England & Son in the Theatre Royal Studio last September, South London’s grouchy “godfather of political comedy”, Mark Thomas, returns to polemical stand-up in Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show at The Crescent tomorrow night.
One of the longest-surviving alternative comics after close to 40 years of stand-up, theatre, journalism, human rights campaigning and the odd bout of performance art, his latest tour’s fusillade of jokes, rants, politics, play and the occasional sing-song adds up to “generally mucking about trying to have fun and upset (shall we say) the right people”.
Gaffa Tapes…Old Title, New Show? Explain the extended tag, Mark. “What happened is I liked the idea of ‘Gaffa Tapes’ as a title and had it last year for my Edinburgh Fringe show, but halfway through the Fringe run I got Covid and had to stop.
“Last year I toured England & Son, written by Ed Edwards, which I was really pleased with. It picked up more awards than I’d ever done before – six awards – and one of them was to perform the play in Australia, taking it out to Adelaide for five weeks – and we might be going to New York …
“But we made no money out of it. I thought, ‘right, how do we make some money?’, so it’s great to be getting back to stand-up. What I love about stand-up is… and this is simple…if you stop doing it, they say you’ll feel rusty, so if you have a hiatus, what you have to learn to do is put your hand on the neck of the beast.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to do all the clubs at the bottom of the eco-system, doing ten minutes here, ten minutes there, doing shows in different places, and the thing about it is, I died on my arse a couple of times, which feels horrible each and every time…
“But if you take a break, you need to get your muscle memory back working again. That’s why I loved doing Edinburgh this summer. I did 26 gigs. It’s just bang, bang, bang, every night. You can muck around, try things out.
Mark Thomas in England & Son, toured to York Theatre Royal Studio in 2023. Picture: Alex Brenner
“The riots were happening around that time, so I wrote about them – and it’s important to be able to talk about that. It’s a living, breathing affecting thing. I love being a warrior in the culture wars, and it’s good to be back on the battlefield.”
The tectonic plates of the political landscape keep shifting: fresh meat to a polemicist comedian’s grist. “Things are always changing,” says Mark. “What I love is that when I started work on the show, there was loads going on, because the Tories were no longer in power, and it’s good to be able to react to that and to suggest what should be happening.
“I was at the Diggers Festival, celebrating Gerrard Winstanley [English Protestant religious reformer, political philosopher, activist and leader and co-founder of the ‘True Levellers’ or ‘Diggers’], doing a talk in a church, where someone said, ‘if you get rid of the oath to the King, that would be the most radical thing you could do’.
“I said, ‘well, actually, I don’ think it is. If you want democracy to work, you should have voting at 16, proportional representation, and you need to abolish the House of Lords’…whereas they’re just tidying up what [Tony] Blair started all those years ago. The most radical thing would be to ban donations to political parties. Make it state-funded, giving money to run parties and campaigns, making it a level playing field.
“Do you know who is the only other country in Europe to have a ‘first past the post’ electoral system? Belarus. So if anyone is out of step, it’s us. I think eventually PR [proportional representation] will come in; it’s just a question of what form it takes.”
How does the change of ruling party in Westminster from the Conservatives to Labour after 14 years have an impact on Thomas’s venting? “It changes the goalposts because it’s a new set of people to attack for a new set of reasons,” says Mark. “It’s the new austerity that they’re proposing that’s not great.
“The fact is that Starmer got some of the things right over the riots. I find it fascinating that there is this a disconnect; the idea that everyone who rioted was a racist, but not everyone was, because riots have a movement of their own, but certainly the organisers were far right.
“I didn’t vote Labour. I’m a Socilaist, why on Earth would I vote Labour?” says Mark Thomas. Picture: Art by Tracey Moberly
“You can be a Zen Buddhist but if you set fire to an asylum seekers’ hotel, then you’re a racist.”
Long associated with spouting anti-Tory sentiment aplenty, Thomas will hold the incoming Labour Party to account too. “I think it’s healthier that way in politics. The honeymoon period is over already,” he says.
“I didn’t vote Labour. I’m a Socialist, why on Earth would I vote Labour? There shouldn’t be a honeymoon period anyway, but I expect the right-wing press to go at Labour with gusto because they want to shape not only this government, but the next Tory one too.”
Any suggestions for policy change, Mark? “Local government can run the bus companies, but it’s really important that it’s not about making the maximum profit. That’s what used to happen until Thatcher changed it,” he says.
“I’m lucky now – because I’m 61, I get the 60+ London Oyster card for £20 [administration fee] that allows me to travel everywhere in London for free and I use buses a lot. That’s one of the great things about London: wherever you are, there will be a night bus coming along in a moment.”
He is looking forward eagerly to tomorrow’s return to The Crescent. “I love The Crescent,” he enthuses. “What they may lack in technical facilities, it’s a proper community venue. I always say, when talking about what community venues could be, take a look at this place.”
Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes, Burning Duck Comedy, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Marsdsen Mechanics, November 8, 8pm; Social, Hull, November 16, 8pm; Sheffield Memorial Hall November 10, 8pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, February 5 2025; Wakefield Theatre Royal, February 6 2025, 7.30pm.
Box office:York, thecrescentyork.com; Marsden, 01484 844587 or marsdenmechanics.co.uk; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Hull, socialhumberstreet.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Wakefield Theatre Royal, 01924 211311 or theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk (on sale soon) Age guidance: 16 plus.
Mark Thomas: the back story
The next step for Mark Thomas: Touring Gaffa Tapes
“IF you don’t know what Mark does, ask your parents. In his time, he has won eight awards for performing, three for human rights work… and one he invented for himself. He has made six series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product and three Dispatches for Channel 4, made five series of The Manifesto for BBC Radio 4, written five books and four play scripts, curated and authored two art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and was commissioned to write a show for the Royal Opera House.
“He has forced a politician to resign, changed laws on tax and protest, become the Guinness Book of Records world-record holder for the number of protests in 24 hours, taken the police to court three times and won (the fourth is in the pipeline), walked the length of the Israeli Wall in the West Bank (that’s 724km), and generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset (shall we say) the right people.”
Eddie Lundon, left, and Gary Daly of China Crisis: “Fashioning a twist on essentially a greatest hits setlist”
SEEING a singer or band live should be different to listening to their recordings. China Crisis, who enjoyed sustained mid-tier success in the 1980s, are a fine example.
At The Crescent, they managed to fashion a twist on essentially a greatest hits setlist. They did so primarily by performing as a trio, comprising original Kirkby brothers in arms Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon and their musical impresario, Jack Hymer, whose keyboards subtly reinvented their layered sound.
It’s the way he tells’em: Gary Daly’s “comic stand-up pizazz”
This was pure China Crisis, keeping the worst pale white funk at bay. No saxophone, bass or drums, but they weren’t missed, thanks to Hymer’s cinematic keys.
No review of a China Crisis concert fails to mention Daly’s comic stand-up pizazz. He was hilarious from start to finish: anecdotes about their time at the top, jokes or “oh no missus” Frankie Howerd facial expressions, all nailed.
Jack Hymer: “His keyboards subtly reinvented China Crisis’s layered sound”
Even Lundon on guitar, who must have heard it all, was laughing too. With a comic’s command of the audience, Daly could have talked all night, and probably would, but he needed to get home. It added so much to the performance, making it a full grin of music, comedy and memories.
Opener Callum Spencer also put in the effort. Playing solo without his band, he really sold his from-the-heart songs. If this particularly audience were too mature to dance with him in the dark, you sense his moment may well come.
Callum Spencer: “From-the-heart songs”
China Crisis are playfully spinning out their autumn as a band in style. Their melodies stand up beyond a certain nostalgia for lop-sided fringes and Cheggers Plays Pop. Their halcyon days were of a different time, but with Daly commentating, you can appreciate just how much they were influenced by what was going on around them.
Daly’s chameleon voice sometimes reflects those influences (George Michael and David Byrne receiving a namecheck) but reveals enough of himself for us to care. This was the band that Steely Dan’s Walter Becker famously loved so much that he signed on to produce them – and you get the fresh artistry of the arrangements (Daly at one point finger-conducting a lovely bit on It’s Never Too Late, but never ramming it home).
China Crisis guitarist Eddie Lundon
Over two leisurely sets, 18 songs were played out, to the visible pleasure of all present. There were many standouts (mostly in the second set, “the ones you know” according to Daly) with a deliciously purple patch running through Arizona Sky to Wishful Thinking, their finest hour.
Another wonderful Crescent night thanks to promoters Please Please You.
Review by Paul Rhodes. Pictures by Paul Rhodes and Carl Letman.
Gary Daly: “Chameleon voice sometimes reflects his influences but reveals enough of himself for us to care”
Lord Of The Dance: “Aiming to leave the audience spellbound” at York Barbican
THE summer festival season enters the final furlong with the focus turning to the new season ahead, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.
Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, York Barbican, today, 2.30pm and 7.45pm; tomorrow, 7.45pm
IN the words of Lord Of The Dance impresario Michael Flatley: “Our 2024 tour promises to be an extraordinary journey that will take audiences to the next level once again.
“In 2024, this extraordinary experience for fans will feature new staging, fresh choreography, new costumes, cutting-edge technology, and special effects lighting. It’s a celebration of a lifetime of standing ovations and we aim to leave the audience spellbound.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Living History Weekend: The past comes alive at Eden Camp today and tomorrow
Family fun day out of the week: Living History Weekend at Eden Camp Modern History Museum, Edenhouse Road, Old Malton, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
STEP back in time to be immersed in history at Eden Camp, where the past comes alive with re-enactors around every corner, from captivating displays to engaging talks and activities galore. You can meet with medics; try your hand at authentic ration recipes; explore the intricate details of a Sherman tank and groove to live music in the engine shed. Dressing up in 1940s’ fashion is encouraged. Tickets: edencamp.digitickets.co.uk/tickets.
The Last Dinner Party: Playing Leeds Festival’s main stage at 2.20pm tomorrow. Picture: Leeds Festival website
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Leeds, today and tomorrow
AFTER “Mother Nature played her part”, Storm Lilian has put paid to the BBC Radio 1 stage and the new The Aux stage, but The Chevron stage is expected to reopen today.
Blink 182 and Gerry Cinnamon top today’s bill at Leeds Festival, when Two Door Cinema Club and The Prodigy. Tomorrow has Fred Again and Lana Del Rey on headline duty, backed up by Raye, Fontaines DC, Bleachers and The Last Dinner Party. Look out too for Sonny Fodera and Barry Can’t Swim. Box office: leedsfestival.com/tickets.
Lana Del Rey: Playing the main stage at Leeds Festival tomorrow at 7.30pm. Picture: Leeds Festival website
York gig of the week: New York Brass Band, Big Summer Party, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm
YORK’S top brass come together for an evening of big, bangin’, brassy tunes at The Crescent, featuring a line-up of percussion, saxophone, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone.
Taking inspiration from contemporary New Orleans musicians, the New York Brass Band will be in party mood after festivals appearances at Glastonbury and Latitude. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
New York Brass Band: Big, bangin’, brassy tunes at The Crescent tonight
Coastal gig of the week: Becky Hill, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 29, gates 6pm
BRIT Award-winning Becky Hillis a pop powerhouse with a reputation as a pioneer in electronic music, not least in her collaborations in the dance-pop genre with everyone from David Guetta to Little Simz over the past decade.
Hill has written or performed on 17 UK Top 40 singles, including five top ten singles and a number one, amassing more than four billion streams on Spotify. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Steve Cassidy: Playing with his band and friends at the JoRo Theatre
New amid the familiar: Steve Cassidy Band & Friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, September 1, 7.30pm
YORK’S Steve Cassidy Band return to their favourite venue, where three-time New Faces winner, singer, guitarist and songwriter Cassidy is joined by John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele and guitar, Brian Thompson on drums and George Hall on keyboards.
Expect a few special guests throughout an entertaining night of rock, country and instrumental music, plus new pieces prepared specifically for this concert. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Robyn Hitchcock: Heading for The Crescent next month
Art rocker returns: Robyn Hitchcock, The Crescent, York, September 1, 7.30pm
IN a career spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a one-of-a-kind artist: surrealist rock’n’roller, acoustic troubadour, poet, painter and writer.
From The Soft Boys’ art-rock and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to such solo masterpieces as 1984’s I Often Dream Of Trains and 1990’s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted songs with recurring references to marine life, obsolete electric transport, ghosts and cheese. Tickets for this seated show are on sale at thecrescentyork.com.
Olivia Graham: Performing in the style of the Celtic bards of old at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Richard Gatecliffe
Come, all ye old souls and dreamers: Olivia Graham, An Evening In Avalon, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 6, 7.30pm
CELTIC folk musician Olivia Graham delivers a spellbinding evening of enchanting music, woven through the tales of Morgan Le Fay and other legendary figures from across the British Isles.
Performed in the style of the Celtic bards of old, An Evening In Avalon embarks on a magical journey through Ancient Ireland, Dark Age Britain and even the elusive shores of mystical Avalon itself. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Snake Davis: On his own at Helmsley Arts Centre
Saxophone solo: Snake Davis, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 6, 7.30pm
ONCE a member of York jazz and soul band Zoot And The Roots, saxophonist Snake Davis will be on his own in this informal acoustic evening of music and chat in two parts. Not really on his own, he clarifies, because in Part One he will have his musical instrument family with him: myriad saxophones plus flutes, whistles, steel handpan, didgeridoo and the Japanese Shakuhachi. Questions are encouraged.
In Part Two, the focus is on My Greatest Hits, highlighting Snake’s work as sax hired gun to the stars, adding Olly Murs and Shania Twain to the list this year after sax solos forTake That, M-People, Lisa Stansfield and The Office theme tune. Playing the songs in context, he will tell the stories behind them. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
There’s no bursting Andy Parsons’ balloon: Comedian will be in “Bafflingly Optimistic” mood at Joseph Rowntree Theatre in October
Comedy gig announcement of the week: Andy Parsons: Bafflingly Optimistic, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 11
DESPITE everything that Great Britain has had to face in recent years, Mock The Week lynchpin, Stacktivist Action Group podcaster and comedian Andy Parsons has found cause to be optimistic.
“I think there are reasons to be hopeful,” says Parsons, 55. “It’s not a depressing show. The positive side is the pandemic is over, we are statistically more united as a nation than it might seem. And despite what you’ve heard, comics are not being cancelled.” Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
