Paul Hawkyard’s villain Ivan Tobebooed and Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
OUT with the old, in with the new, as the pantomimes season concludes and Charles Hutchinson’s 2025 diary starts to take shape.
Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025
LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.
Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025
THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too, in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.
Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre
“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025
SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.
Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York
New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am
IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Professor Kettlestring: Launching a new attraction in York next month
First grand opening of the New Year: The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, Merchantgate, York, from January 10 2025
WELCOME to Matthew and Marianne Tritton-Hughes’s new attraction, The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, an immersive, educational world of more than 20 optical illusions, interactive exhibits and brain-bending challenges designed for curious minds of all ages.
Visitors can walk into the Professor’s sideways living room, disappear into his incognito chamber and discover a kitchen parlour where heads appear severed on platters. Box office: puzzlingworldyork.co.uk.
Jessica Steel: Performing at The Crescent in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity
Fundraiser of the month ahead: Lindow Man and Jessica Steel & Stuart Allan, The Crescent, York, January 11 2025, 7.30pm
ELECTRIFYING York soul, blues and rock’n’roll trio Lindow Man and York blues and soul singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan will play in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity.
Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity is committed to addressing inequalities in hands-on charitable support for families looking after children with life-threatening conditions by working towards providing practical and emotional help to parents and carers via Family Support Workers. Pizzas from Curious Pizza Company will be available on the night. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Chris McCausland: Playing the Grand Opera House in 2025 and 2026
Comedy gig announcement of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 2025 and May 17 2026
AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland will return to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026.
Appearing on Sky Max over Christmas with fellow comic Lee Mack as sparring neighbours who must take on a gang of thieves in the festive film Bad Tidings, McCausland has added a second York date after selling out the first. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Public Service Broadcasting: Heading to York Barbican in March
Belated York debut announced: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27 2025, doors 7pm
AFTER 15 years of “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future”, London archivist art rock pioneers Public Service Broadcasting will make their York Barbican debut next spring with a line-up of corduroy-clad J Willgoose Esq., drummer companion Wrigglesworth, flugelhorn player J F Abraham and Mr B, specialist in visuals and set design for live performances.
Last October’s fifth studio album, The Last Flight, was built around the ill-fated final flight of American aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937, when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Howl & The Hum’s singular voice, Sam Griffiths. Picture: Stewart Baxter
TONIGHT will be the last time The Howl And The Hum frontman and sublime songwriter Sam Griffiths plays The Crescent in York before packing his bags on Thursday to start a new life in London.
Latterly living in Leeds, but with his band rooted in the York scene since 2017, Sam is to take up a post teaching guitar at a primary school and will live in Walthamstow, home to Europe’s longest street market, by the way.
He hinted at the move south during The Howl & The Hum’s divine set at their traditional Christmas gig at The Crescent last night, a tease greeted with jovial Yorkshire jeers, and then confirmed his exit in conversation with CharlesHutchPress post-show, still dressed as a King from the band’s Nativity play attire for their 17-song set.
Sam will play an intimate, seated solo set under The Howl & The Hum moniker tonight when Diehard Christmas, one of several Scrooge-spirited withering wintry missives he has composed, will definitely feature.
CharlesHutchPress, reviewing elsewhere earlier in the evening, caught the second half of last night’s set, after support spots by Seafarers’ Scottish songwriter and saxophonist Matthew Herd and Leeds musician Marnie Glum.
Herd’s sax and keys have become integral to Griffiths’ new line-up of The Howl And The Hum, also featuring Sam’s Leeds flatmate Naomi McLeod on bass, Dave Hamblett on drums and Arun Thavasothy on guitar.
His King’s crown removed after Echo, Griffiths went into solo mode on guitar for No Calories In Cocaine, Sunny Christmas – written on a cocktail of spite and drink, he said – and Hostages, a trilogy of blissed release from pain marked by a stillness and grace in performance that has come to mark his magnetic stage craft, laced with disarming wit and charm between songs.
Griffiths’s fellow Kings and the Virgin Mary (or maybe Naomi was an angel?) returned for a glorious home run of Sweet Fading Silver, Hall Of Fame, second album title track Same Mistake Twice and debut single Godmanchester Chinese Bridge, still arguably the most beautiful song ever written in York.
Herd’s saxophone grows on you, the more it caresses each Griffiths search for beauty in nature or forensic coroner’s inquest into relationship fallouts or navigation through the vulnerabilities of a wasted night.
But that’s the thing with Sam Griffiths: he keeps surpassing that early peak, whether Dirt or first encore The Only Boy Racer Left On The Island, He has even found the perfect finale in the communal balm of the “Everything will be alright’ closing refrain to Everything Is Not On Fire.
After more than 12 years, this eloquent, exquisitely poetic University of York alumnus is returning south, but with the promise of Christmas reunions at The Crescent for years to come.
In the meantime, thank you, Sam, for so many Miserable Disco nights. It’s been emotional, as Vinnie once said. May The Howl & The Hum prosper, wherever the path leads you next.
Pocklington Arts Centre cast members Levi Payne, left, Caitlin Townend and Dylan Allcock in Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish
CHRISTMAS shows dominate Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations but there is still room to fit in comedy and a homeward-bound singer-songwriter too.
East Riding Christmas play of the week: Jack Frost’s Christmas Wish, Pocklington Arts Centre, until December 24
ELIZABETH Godber’s second Christmas show for Pocklington Arts Centre invites everyone aged three to 103 to join Jack Frost (Levi Payne) and his friends Oslo the Rabbit (Dylan Allcock) and Blue the Winter Sprite (Caitlin Townend) as they race across the world to make his one wish come true: to be home for Christmas. Could that home be in East Yorkshire?
Wrap up warm for a frosty adventure from the team who delivered The Elves And The Shoemaker: Save Christmas last winter, steered by director Jane Thornton. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Saving Scarborough:Stephen Brailsford’s Captain Cliff in Captain Cliff & The Seagull Squad at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Coastal children’s play of the week: Captain Cliff & The Seagull Squad, The McCarthy, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until December 21
ON a busy day at Scarborough’s South Bay, judges from Britain’s Best Beach are soon to arrive, but after a big rush of tourists, the bins are overflowing with rubbish in a play for children aged up to six, written and directed by Rob Salmon for the SJT and CU (Coventry University), Scarborough.
Faced by litter everywhere and a pile of something sticky by the rock shop, who can save Scarborough? Step forward Captain Cliff and the Seagull Squad, who must complete four missions, one for each season. Cue a rescue adventure full of songs, silliness and festive fun. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club
Comedy gigs of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Specials, York Barbican, Michael Legge, tonight; Mike Newall, December 20, both 8pm
TONIGHT’S headliner, Michael Legge, combines improvised irreverence with spiky tongue-in-cheek antics. “This livewire performer has ‘funny’ popping out of him at every opportunity,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin.
Mancunian Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on Friday with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says Larkin. Both nights will feature two support acts too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ian Stroughair: Performing at York’s Annual Community Carol Concert
York’s Annual Community Carol Concert, York Barbican, Sunday 2pm
YORK RI Golden Rail Band, Knavesmire Primary School, Heworth Community Choir and Ian Stroughair, York’s West End showman behind drag diva Velma Celli, join forces for an afternoon of Christmas carols and songs.
Regular participant Steve Cassidy will sing with the ensemble, while the community singing will be led by musical director Mike Pratt. Proceeds go to the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of York’s Christmas Cheer Fund and York Hospital Radio. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Snow queen of folk:Kate Rusby’s Winter Light tour arrives at York Barbican on December 17
Christmas folk concert of the week: Kate Rusby, Winter Light Tour, York Barbican, December 17, 7pm
BARNSLEY folk songstress Kate Rusby draws on her seven Christmas albums – she released her latest, Light Years, in 2023 – for her annual celebration of South Yorkshire carols sung in pubs through the winter months.
Spreading Yuletide joy, Kate will be joined by her regular band, featuring her husband, producer, guitarist and banjo player Damien O’Kane, bolstered by the Brass Boys quintet. Look out for the fancy-dress finale. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Sam Griffiths: Singer, songwriter and frontman of The Howl And The Hum. Picture: Stewart Baxter
Christmas double joy of the week: Please Please You & Brudenell Presents present The Howl & The Hum, The Crescent, York, full band band show, December 17, 7.30pm; solo show, December 18, 7pm
IN the wake of a sublime sold-out gig at Leeds Irish Centre on November 15 and the autumn release of second album Same Mistake Twice, York band The Howl & The Hum end the year with their now obligatory festive celebrations at The Crescent.
Frontman and songwriter Sam Griffiths will be joined by his full band – saxophonist and keyboard player Matthew Herd, drummer Dave Hamblett, guitarist Arun Thavasothy and bass player Naomi McLeod – on Tuesday night and will then play an intimate, stripped-back, seated solo show on Wednesday. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
The poster for Step Into Christmas at York Barbican
Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, December 19, 7.30pm
THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let it Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody.
Meanwhile, the Barbican’s 7.30pm screening of the Christmas rom-com The Holiday with a live orchestra on December 16 has sold out. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Homeward bound: Benjamin Francis Leftwich will make a sold-out return to York on December 19
Homecoming of the week: The Crescent & Brudenell presents Benjamin Francis Leftwich, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 19, 7.30pm
“I FEEL like there’s nowhere for me to hide on this record,” says York-born singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich of Some Things Break, his fifth album, released in February. “I’m proud of so much of my earlier work, but trying to replicate that now would feel very obsequious and fake. I’m proud of this – it’s from the heart.”
Now living in London, Leftwich heads back to his home city for a sold-out show in the quietude of St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate. Nadia Kadek supports. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in Carols By Candlelight
Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, December 20, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm
THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.
Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre
Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day
IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.
When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.
The Corrs: Heading to the Scarborough coast next summer
Gig announcement of the week: The Corrs and Natalie Imbruglia, TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 11 2025
THE Corrs, Irish sibling purveyors of sleek pop rock, lush harmonies and Celtic folk trimmings, will line up as ever with Andrea on lead vocals, piano and tin whistle, Sharon on violin, piano and vocals, Caroline, on drums, piano and vocals, and Jim on guitar, keyboards and vocals.
Former Neighbours soap actress, Torn hit-maker and The Masked Singer 2022 winner Natalie Imbruglia will support. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
NORTH London alt-indie duo Blue Violet support Echobelly at The Crescent, York, tonight on their 16-date tour that also visits Leeds Brudenell Social Club on December 3 and Network 2, Sheffield, on December 4.
In the wake of releasing latest single Barefoot On The Seine, they will be showcasing their imminent new album, Faux Animaux, out on Me & My Records via High Head Recordings on January 24 2025.
Barefoot On The Seine – inspired by witnessing protests in Chicago and Europe – is a “schizophrenic dispatch from the edges of a Parisian riot: its verses lost in graceful Gallic romance; its choruses all grunge rock eruptions; its whole a righteous call to arms in support of essential personal freedoms”.
Singer Sarah McGrigor says: “It’s a protest song that promotes the message that love conquers all. It is about freedom; the freedom to make the world you want to live in a reality.
The cover artwork for Blue Violet’s Faux Animaux
“The freedom to make choices about how you wish to live your life – who you are, who you want to be, what clothes you want to wear – and, most importantly, that no-one has the right to tell you otherwise. It’s a kickback at anyone who thinks it is their right to try and make anyone feel small or insignificant.”
Guitarist Sam Gotley adds: “We weren’t going to release this song as a single, but in the midst of so much political unrest this year when many feel so vulnerable, it felt like this song might speak to people and remind them that love and acceptance is always the way forward.”
In April, Blue Violet – Blue for their melancholic element; Violet for the vividness – shared lead single Boogie Shoes, a grainy glam stomp aimed midway between Queens Of The Stone Age and St Vincent.
This was followed by Imagine Me, where, amid dark 1980s’ electro-rock tones akin to a more seductive Depeche Mode, the song portrays a lustful temptress (be she a groupie, cougar, stalker or lovelorn loner) frustrated that the sexual encounter she so meticulously plots is over in a flash. The most recent single, Survival, is a gentle paean that channels Metric, Mazzy Star, Cigarettes After Sex and Julee Cruise.
The poster for Echobelly’s November and December tour with Blue Violet in support
On Faux Animaux, Blue Violet continue their exploration of rich electronic avenues inspired by Anna Calvi, St Vincent, Radiohead, David Bowie and Twin Peaks. Recorded in J&J Studios in Bristol with Bat For Lashes and Hannah Peel mixer and producer TJ Allen, the album promises “a unified and sophisticated update of modern British alt-pop, drifting from sizzling space disco to stunning, cinematic vistas”.
The duo’s songs spotlight not only failings of humankind but also those of its leaders. As Gotley says: “The fake animals could be seen as the powers that be, leading us down paths that result in us ignoring our more natural instincts, often making decisions without our permission.”
The track listing will be: Sweet Success; Imagine Me; Survival; Talking To You; The Librarian; Cold Hearts; Boogie Shoes; Fire; Teeth Out; Barefoot On The Seine and Faux Animaux.
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
AUSTRALIAN 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.
