Tag: Theatre@41 Monkgate

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

Emma Burke’s wartime nurse performing Anthem, from Chess

“THE show’s concept is playful, radical too, and has the potential to be rolled out again,” predicted your reviewer, when encountering June 2023’s “out of this world” Musicals In The Multiverse.

Sure enough, here comes the bigger, bolder sequel, still with a “big cast, bags of energy and enthusiasm, and a fun idea for a show”, still with Helen “Bells” Spencer as director and Matthew Clare in charge of the remarkable musical arrangements as songs are freed from the chains of their usual presentation.

The company and venue has changed, from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company and art deco Joseph Rowntree Theatre to Spencer and Nick Sephton’s Wetherby-based Wharfemede Productions and black-box Theatre@41, Monkgate.

The show title has replaced ‘In’ with the broader-sounding ‘Across’ to reflect an even more expansive multiverse: alternative worlds where musical favourites and newer works are turned on their head, taking on a new life with a change of gender, era, key or musical style, as musical director James Ball and his band, out of view behind curtains but worthy of a standing ovation in their own right, deliver Matthew Clare’s diverse, dazzling arrangements with such brio.

Nick Sephton and Helen “Bells” Spencer’s tender rendition of I Don’t Need A Roof

Attending Monday night’s dress rehearsal, the technical rough edges with the projection would be ironed out by tonight’s opening  show, and likewise Bells Spencer was keeping herself busy in taking notes, and even adjusting actors’ stage positions mid-number to achieve the right balance. Choreographer Connie Howcroft, when not performing, kept an eye on the big numbers too.

Musicals Across The Universe sits inside an end-on set design, usually bare to enable use of the full stage, even the stairway, with the occasional addition of chairs too, while projections, whether of a blur of Fake News or images of wartime Poland, accompany assorted numbers. Costume changes are frequent, sometimes amusing, often witty, always striking.

Act One opens with the full company finding its voice in Facade, a number from Jekyll And Hyde that is the essence of putting on a front, but with the truth still bursting through. As Long As He Needs Me, Nancy’s troublesome song from Oliver!, becomes more mournful, less desperate, in Jai Rowley’s interpretation.

The Place Where The Lost Things Go, from Mary Poppins Returns, is transformed into a children’s song, all the more moving in Matthew Warry’s performance, supported by Laertes Singhateh and Emelia Charlton-Matthews.

Lauren Charlton-Matthews: Outstanding rendition of Dear Bill from Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Simon Trow

Anthem, from Chess, takes on a Jazz Age air in Emma Burke’s rendition; Lauren Charlton-Matthews chose Dear Bill, from the Grand Opera House-bound Operation Mincement for her solo number, duly delivering the show’s best storytelling singing. 

Go The Distance/Defying Gravity, from Hercules/Wicked, vie for centre stage in a mash-up for David Copley-Martin, Emily Hardy, Naomi Mothersille and Zander Fick; partners Spencer and Sephton bring tender romance to Big Fish’s I Don’t Need A Roof and Tess Ellis revels in the stark solo spotlight in Miss Saigon’s Why God? Why?

Two Act One favourites follow in quick succession, first Rosy Rowley’s lonesome Mr Cellophane, from Chicago, her face marked by a painted tear, accompanied by the Dance Core in white masks with crimson lips and matching dark tears.

Listen, from Dreamgirls, branches out from dialogue to Jai Rowley expressing himself in British Sign Language, learned expressly for this performance, to be interpreted in song by James Ball as Matthew Warry takes over on piano.

Exchanging sign language: James Ball, left, and Jai Rowley in Listen

After the men-in-black smooth chops of When She Loved Me, from Toy Story, you will go potty for Connie Howcroft’s polka-dotty reinvention of Friend Like Me from Aladdin, with her Dance Core in tow.

Mickey Moran, outstanding in the 2023 show, comes to the fore in Act Two’s opening Queen Medley from We Will Rock You, both on lead vocals as bravura as Freddie Mercury and on guitar too. The show must go on, and indeed does with Naomi Mothersille leading Make Them Hear You from Ragtime.

Richard Bayton and James Ball address songs to each other as gay lovers on the path to separation, first in Bayton’s confessional Just Not Now, from I Love You Because, then Ball, wrought with tragedian drama in Abba’s The Winner Takes It All, from Mamma Mia!, the show’s outstanding solo turn.

It’s Never That Easy/I’ve Been Here Before, from Closer Than Ever, find Spencer, Howcroft, Emily Hardy and Naomi Mothersille in harmony; Tess Ellis, in cream, stands out from the crowd in the heartfelt Someone Like You, from Jekyll & Hyde, and Ben Holeyman does likewise in Gypsy’s Don’t Rain On My Parade. Take note of Kirsty Barnes, notebook in hand, in Santa Fe, from Newsies.

Life is a Cabaret for Zander Fick, surrounded by the Dance Core in Musicals Across The Multiverse. Picture: Simon Trow

Zander Fick, fresh from playing drag star Loco Chanel in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, dons fishnets, shiny red Latex top and matching high heels and lipstick, to darken Sally Bowles’s Cabaret, from Cabaret, into being more in keeping with the Emcee.

Bayton and Ellis, Holeyman and Barnes play two couples in declamatory tandem in the mash-up of Million Dreams and How Far I’ll Go from The Greatest Showman and Moana, and mother and child partnerships, Spencer and Singtaheh, Rowley times two and Charlton-Matthews a deux, express the bond movingly in Mamma Mia’s Slipping Through My Fingers. Abbie Law savours the last solo showcase in Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You, from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

The full company assembles for Blame It On The Boogie, from MJ The Musical, a celebratory finale led flamboyantly by Rosy Rowley and Mickey Moran that has everyone dancing to the Multiverse max.

Wharfemede Productions present Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rosy Rowley. front, left, and Mickey Moran, front, right, lead the outbreak of dancing in Blame It On The Boogie, the finale to Musicals Across The Multiverse

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More Things To Do in York & beyond when willow whispers and cinema pops outdoors. Hutch’s List No.39, from The York Press

Willow artist Laura Ellen Bacon in the saloon at her Whispers Of The Wilderness exhibition at Beningbrough Hall. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

WILLOW sculptures, outdoor cinema, musical premieres and the Yellow Brick Road are beckoning Charles Hutchinson. 

Exhibition opening of the week: Laura Ellen Bacon, Whispers Of The Wilderness, Exploring Wilderness Gardens, Beningbrough Hall, near York, until April 12 2026, Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm

WHISPERS Of The Wilderness brings together contemporary large-scale willow sculptures by Laura Ellen Bacon, historic pieces from across the National Trust collection to showcase Wilderness Gardens through time and a new drawing studio designed by artist Tanya Raabe-Webber.

Complemented by a new soundscape, audio chair, sketches of the developing sculptures and more, the exhibition is a sensory experience across the first-floor Reddihough Galleries and Great Hall. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/beningbrough.  

Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, Sunday’s screening at Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema at York Museum Gardens

Film event of the week: City Screen Picturehouse presents Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, York Museum Gardens, York, Stop Making Sense (PG), tonight, 6.30pm; 10 Things I Hate About You (12A), Sunday, 6.30pm

JONATHAN Demme’s Stop Making Sense, capturing David Byrne’s Talking Heads in perpetual motion at Hollywood’s Panatges Theatre in December 1983, re-emerges in a 40th anniversary restoration of “the greatest concert film of all time”.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Allison Janney, Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger star in 10 Things I Hate About You, wherein Cameron falls for Bianca on the first day of school, but not only his uncool status stops him from asking her out. Blankets, cushions and small camping chairs are allowed. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Hal Cruttenden: Reflecting on the insanity of modern politics at Burning Duck Comedy Club. Picture: Matt Crockett

“Take no prisoners” gig of the week: Hal Cruttenden Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

HAL Cruttenden promises to stick it to ‘The Man’, as long as ‘The Man’ does not stick it back to him. Expect hard-hitting pontificating on middle-aged dating, social media, the insanity of modern politics and his daughters loving him but not respecting him. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Artist Kerry Ann Moffat with her oil painting Sunlight Catching Wooden Sculpture at the Created In York pop-up gallery in High Petergate, York

Pop-up art space of the week: Created In York, hosted by Blank Canvas by Skippko charity, 22 High Petergate, York, 10.30am to 5pm, Thursdays to Saturdays; 11am to 4pm, Sundays

CHAMPIONING change through creativity, York art charity Skippko’s rolling programme of three-week Created In York shows is running in High Petergate until December 2025 in tandem with York Conservation Trust. On show until September 14 are oil paintings by Kerry Ann Moffat and linocuts and woodblock prints by Rachel Holborow.

York RI Golden Rail Band: Performing Sounding Brass and Voices with York RI Golden Railway Band. Picture: Keith Meadley

Musical partnership of the week: Sounding Brass and Voices, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir and York RI Golden Rail Band, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK Philharmonic Male Voice Choir and York RI Golden Rail Band reunite for a fourth joint concert in a tender and thrilling pairing of brass and voices, celebrating 100 years of music.

“From romantic film music to toe-tapping hits, there will be something for everyone,” says Golden Rail Band conductor Nick Eastwood.  Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Musicals Across The Multiverse choreographer Connie Howcroft, right, working on moves with Zander Fick, Ben Holeyman, Abbie Law and Lauren Charlton-Matthews

Interdimensional journey of the week: Wharfemede Productions in Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

DIRECTOR Helen “Bells” Spencer and musical director Matthew Clare follow up 2023’s Musicals In The Multiverse 2023 with another blend of iconic musical theatre hits reconfigured with surprising twists. 

“Think unexpected style swaps, minor to major key switches, gender reversals, era-bending reinterpretations, genre mash-ups and more,” says Bells.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Debbie Isitt’s cast in rehearsal for the world premiere of Military Wives – The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Danny With A Camera

World premiere of the week: Military Wives – The Musical, York Theatre Royal, September 10 to 27, times vary

YORK Theatre Royal stages the world premiere of writer-director Debbie Isitt’s musical based on the 2019 film, rooted in Gareth Malone’s The Choir: Military Wives project.

Faced with husbands and partners being away at war, the women are isolated, bored and desperate to take their minds off feelings of impending doom. Enter Olive to help them form a choir. Cue a joyous celebration of female empowerment and friendship, courage and ‘unsung’ heroes. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Libby Greenhill’s Medium Alison, left, Hattie Wells’s Young Alison and Claire Morley’s Alison in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home

York premiere of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Fun Home, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, September 10 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees

ROBERT Readman directs the York premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Krow’s five-time Tony Award winner, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel. 

When her volatile father dies unexpectedly, Alison (Claire Morley) recalls how his temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, she relives her unique childhood at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions of her father’s hidden desires. Box office: ticketsourse.co.uk/pickmeuptheatrecom.

Rob Newman: Wondering where we are going in Where The Wild Things Were at The Crescent

The future, now: Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Rob Newman, Where The Wild Things Were, The Crescent, York, September 11, 7.30pm

ROB Newman wants to discuss where we are and where we are going, from future cities and philistine film directors to Dorothy Parker’s Multiverse Diaries. Throw in Pythagorean gangsters, intellectual bingo callers and a crazy character called Arlo for a comedic “tour-de-force utterly unlike anything else you will ever see anywhere else”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Mick Tickner: Headlining the Funny Fridays bill at Patch

Comedy gathering of the week: Funny Fridays, at Patch, Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, September 12, 7.30pm

AFTER May and June sell-outs and a summer break, Funny Fridays returns for a third night of stand-up hosted by promoter and comedian Katie Lingo. On the £10 bill are 2023 Hull Comedian of the Year Hannah Margaret, Jamie Clinton, Kerris Gibson, James Earl Marsters and headliner Mick Tickner. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets-1473792325519?aff=oddtdtcreator.

Erin Childs’ Dorothy with Toto (Freddie) in York Stage’s The Wizard Of Oz

Ruby slippers of the week: York Stage in The Wizard Of Oz, Grand Opera House, York, September 12 to 20, times vary

UNDER Nik Briggs’s direction, York Stage skips down the Yellow Brick Road as Erin Childs’ Dorothy, Toto and her friends, the Scarecrow (Flo Poskitt), Tin Man (Stu Hutchinson), and Cowardly Lion (Finn East), journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Ian Giles).

In navigating the enchanting landscape of Oz, Dorothy is watched closely by Glinda, the Good Witch (Carly Morton) as the Wicked Witch of the West (Emily Alderson) plots to thwart Dorothy’s quest and reclaim the magical ruby slippers. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Theatre@41, Monkgate, lines up autumn of Edinburgh Fringe comedy and theatre hits

Hal Cruttenden: Dishing it out at Theatre@41, Monkgate, but can he take it?

THE best of the Edinburgh Fringe, from stand-up comedy to new theatre, is bound for Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, this autumn.

 Comedy performers will be led off by Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You panellist Hal Cruttenden in Hal Cruttenden Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It on September 6, followed by four-time Edinburgh Award nominee Kieran Hodgson in Voice Of America on September 27, when he explores how a scared world feels about the USA and impersonates a bunch of old prospectors and former Presidents.

Creepy Boys were nominated for this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for their show Slugs. Now they bring their original madcap self-titled show to York on October 3. John Robertson Plays With His Audience, on November 16, is the latest show from the cult Dark Room host, packed with unpredictable improv and crowd work.

Kieran Hodgson: Voicing fears prompted by the USA

Innovative theatre comes in the form of a one-man Animal Farm, solo adaptation of Orwell’s prophetic novel, performed by Sam Blythe on September 20.

Theatre@41 chair Alan Park says: “Prior to the Edinburgh Fringe, we welcomed a number of stand-ups previewing their shows in the Halfway To Edinburgh season in July, including eventual Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Nicoresti, and it’s great to see more of these artists having success at the Fringe.

“The ethos of the Edinburgh Fringe resonates with our own belief in supporting new and emerging performers, so we’re really pleased to be welcoming these brilliant shows to our theatre this autumn.”

John Robertson: Playing with his York audience on November 16 Picture: Mark Dawson

Running from July 13 to 19, Halfway To Edinburgh featured Sam Nicoresti, Josie Long, Lulu Popplewell, Molly McGuinness, Phil Ellis, Hayley Ellis, Susan Riddell, Kate Dolan, Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, plus Nina Gilligan in her 2024 Fringe show
Goldfish.

“We were absolutely thrilled to bring such a fantastic calibre of comedic talent to York with Halfway To Edinburgh,” says Alan. “The festival was a unique opportunity for York audiences to experience the excitement and innovation of the Edinburgh Fringe without leaving the city. It was the perfect chance to see some incredible shows before they hit the big stage in Scotland.”

Tickets for the autumn season are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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What happens when iconic songs collide with parallel realities? Find out in Wharfemede Productions’ Musicals Across The Multiverse at Theatre@41 Monkgate

Wharfemede Productions artistic director Helen “Bells” Spencer, right, leading a rehearsal for Musicals Across The Multiverse

THE musical multiverse is on the move but with the visionary creative team of director Helen “Bells” Spencer and co-creator and musical director Matthew Clare still at the helm.

After the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company staged Musicals In The Multiverse as its “most ambitious concert production ever” in June 2023, now Helen’s Wetherby-founded company, Wharfemede Productions, takes up the multiverse mantle for Musicals Across The Multiverse, featuring a stellar cast of performers drawn from across Yorkshire’s vibrant talent pool.

Promising to be “even more inventive and boundary-pushing”, this out-of-this-universe sequel will take over Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from September 10 to 13, with its “nod to the Marvel franchise and the Spiderverse”.

“Musicals Across The Multiverse is a bold and exhilarating theatrical experience that reimagines your favourite musical theatre numbers like never before,” says Wharfemede Productions artistic director Bells, whose daily diary combines being a consultant psychiatrist with motherhood and her multiple theatrical pursuits.

“Step into a multiverse where the classics you know and love still exist, but not as you remember them. You’ll hear the songs that you know and love, but with their traditional presentation turned on its head, so they’re different but still recognisable.

Musical director Matthew Clare, right, in rehearsal with Wharfemede Productions cast members for Musicals Across The Multiverse

“Think unexpected style swaps, minor to major key switches, surprising gender reversals, era-bending reinterpretations, genre mash-ups and more, offering audiences a witty, heartfelt journey through the many worlds of the multiverse.

“Inventive, genre-defying and packed with surprises, Musicals Across The Multiverse is a celebration of creativity and theatrical flair that promises to delight, challenge and thrill audiences. This is musical theatre recharged, remixed and ready to take you on an interdimensional journey you won’t forget.”

Bell is “absolutely thrilled” to be working with Matthew again. “He’s incredibly talented,” she enthuses. “Collaborating with him is always a joy. He’s not only a brilliant musician and composer, but also an endlessly inspiring creative partner. His ability to take an idea and elevate it into something truly original is nothing short of magic.

“Our friendship and shared passion for musical theatre have been at the heart of developing this piece. We both love exploring the ‘what ifs’ of familiar stories and pushing the boundaries of traditional performance. We’re not afraid to take risks, flip conventions on their head, and do things a little differently – and that spirit of playful reinvention is what Musicals Across The Multiverse is all about.”

In Bells’ cast will be Abbie Law; Ben Holeyman; choreographer Connie Howcroft; David Copley-Martin; Ellie Carrier; Emilia Charlton-Mathews; Emily Hardy; Emma Burke; Jack Fry; Jai Rowley and James Ball.

Musicals Across The Multiverse choreographer Connie Howcroft, right, working on moves with Zander Fick, Ben Holeyman, Abbie Law and Lauren Charlton-Matthews

So too will Kirsty Barnes; Laertes Singhateh; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Matthew Warry; Mickey Moran; Naomi Mothersille; Nick Sephton; Richard Bayton; Rosy Rowley; Tess Ellis; Zander Fick and Bells herself.

“Our cast is nothing short of phenomenal,” she says. “This time we have multiple new additions from the production of Les Miserables I did this summer at Leeds Grand Theatre, and it means we now have a lovely mix of people from York and Leeds, who haven’t done a show together before, making it a really unique mix.

“They’ve thrown themselves into this wild, imaginative world with energy, humour and heart. Rehearsals have been full of laughter, creativity, and genuine moments of magic. Watching this show come to life with such an amazing group of performers from across Yorkshire has been a total privilege.

“Hopefully this format is something we can continue to grow. We’re now talking with The Carriageworks about taking shows there as well as to York.”

Bells and Matthew’s original concept for the parallel universes of this musical multiverse emerged from a conversation among York’s musical theatre performers about songs they would love to sing but would never have the opportunity to do so in a fully staged musical production, on account of, for example, the gender or the age of the character in the original setting.

“This is musical theatre recharged, remixed and ready to take you on an interdimensional journey you won’t forget,” says director Helen Spencer

“We pride ourselves in Wharfemede Productions on being an inclusive and welcoming artistic space for all,” says Bells. “The concept for this show allows our wonderfully talented and diverse cast to perform songs that explore and celebrate who they are, to push some of the traditional musical theatre boundaries and ultimately honour some of the best musical songs ever written.

“What’s been really lovely, working with Matthew, is how we can not only swap the gender in a song but also the feel of a song or the genre to match the gender swap. There isn’t a single song in this show that’s in its original format, which is an amazing challenge, but Matthew is such a genius in doing the musical arrangements.

“Santa Fe, from Disney’s Newsies, for example, was made famous by Jeremy Jordan in the Broadway musical, but is now being sung by Kirsty Barnes, who has just starred as Sister Mary Robert, the postulant in Sister Act, with LIDOS at The Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds.

“Matthew describes the arrangement as ‘written in the style of Chopin’s Preludes’, so it’s much more lyrical with piano and cello that really changes the song.”

Reflecting on lessons learnt from the first iteration of the musical multiverse, Bells says: “The  changes made to songs really excited everyone, and we’re always looking to push things further, like in the mash-ups, where we’ll have A Million Dreams, from The Greatest Showman, pared with How Far I’ll Go, from Disney’s Moana, and Defying Gravity, from Wicked, with Go The Distance, from Hercules.

Hands across the multiverse in the Long Marston Village Hub rehearsal room

“We got really good feedback on the close-harmony singing last time, singing that’s challenging but really lovely to do, so we’ll be doing more of that , and we’ll also have maybe four more solos than before as we had so  many people auditioning and the standard was so high.

“I’m also really excited about using British Sign Language again, as we did last time with Jack Fry for Cell Block Tango, from Chicago. Now we’ll be using it from Listen from Dreamgirls.

“Another highlight will be Zander Fick singing Sally Bowles’s Cabaret in a darker, more modern male version, where there will be no jazz hands to be seen.”

Among further “very different” interpretations will be Connie Howcroft’s rendition of the Genie’s Friend Like Me from Disney’s Aladdin. “It’s very clearly not a cartoon and not male!” says Bells.

“We also have a couple of major-to-minor key swaps that turn positive songs into ‘villain’ songs. Don’t Rain On My Parade is so well known that changing the key makes it so different and so challenging to sing – and it’s not only a genre swap but a gender swap too. It’s now more of an aggressive, very funky song, performed by Ben Holeyman.

The Wharfemede Productions cast for Musicals Across The Multiverse

“Emma Burke, who played Cosette in Les Miserables this summer, will do a very moving version of Anthem from Chess, in a gender and genre swap, highlighting the role of the Women Land’s Army in the Second World War.”

Look out too for three sets of mothers and children – Bells and Laertes Singhateh, Rosy and Jai Rowley and Emilia and Lauren Charlton-Mathews – singing Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia!

“It”s lovely for us to sing such a gorgeous song together,” says Bells. “Every mother feels that sense of pride yet loss at their children growing up.”

Matthew Warry will join Laertes, Jai and Lauren in The Place Where The Lost Things Go – “the Emily Blunt one” – from Mary Poppins Returns. “It’s a switch from Mary Poppins singing it, so now we have children singing an adult’s song,” says Bells.

As rehearsals take shape at Long Marston Village Hub, Bells concludes: “We can’t wait to share this unique, genre-bending show with you. Come and see what happens when musical theatre gets turned on its head – and support community theatre at its most daring, dynamic and joy-filled.”

Wharfemede Productions present Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Out of this universe: Wharfemede Productions’ poster for Musicals Across The Multiverse

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 31, from Gazette & Herald

Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at York Museums Trust, holding the Thor’s Hammer Pendant at the Viking North exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, York

VIKING treasures, street art indoors, Fringe comedy previews and Ryedale Festival’s Austen celebration bring out the summer smiles in Charles Hutchinson.

Museum launch of the week: Viking North, Yorkshire Museum, York

VIKING North is filled with magnificent objects, many unseen for generations and others that have never been on public display, adding up to “the best collection of Viking finds to be shown outside London” as these Viking treasures reveal the North’s power base, wealth and skills.

Telling the story of the Viking Age in the North of England from AD866 to 1066, the exhibition is underpinned by new archaeological research and cutting-edge technology and features objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard, co-owned with the British Museum, and specially loaned national and regional items, including from the Viking Army Camp at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.

Sea, Swell, Scribe: Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax combine in Pyramid Gallery’s exhibition of paintings, pottery and poetry

Exhibition of the week: Sea, Swell, Scribe, Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until August 31, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday

WHAT happens when you let a poet loose in an art gallery with a piece of charcoal? If the juxtaposition of sumptuous curvy and pointy pots against a backdrop of textured metallic atmospheric paintings is inspiring her, then she will scribble words and phrases all over the plinths

York artist Jo Walton, from Rogues Atelier, potter Ruth King, from the Craft Potters Association, and poet Nicky Kippax, from Bluebird Bakery, combine in a show planned and organised by Pyramid  gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane and curated by Walton. Kippax has written Eksphratic verse in response to the paintings and pots.

Street artist Al Murphy in his Naughty Corner at VandalFest at 2, Low Ousegate, York

Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, 2, Low Ousegate, York, Friday to Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm

VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block at 2 Low Ousegate, York, with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.

The stripped-out interior provides four floors of blank canvas for bold, site-specific “intervention” that cover walls, floors and ceilings, complemented by live DJ sets.  Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH. 

Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton

Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm

THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.

Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.

Rob Auton: Barmby Moor comedian previews his Edinburgh Fringe show, CAN: The Story Of A Man Called CAN, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Comedy event of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday

IN a week of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights, Nina Gilligan discusses memory loss, health anxiety and goldfish-related trauma in Goldfish tonight (8pm) and Hayley Ellis navigates middle age in Silly Mare (Work in Progress) tomorrow (8pm).

Susan Riddell and Kate Dolan, on Friday (7.30pm), and Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, on Saturday (7.30pm), round off the festival tasters. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Georgi Mottram: Classical BRIT Award nominee performing at Voices United concert in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice

Charity event of the week: Ian Stroughair presents Voices United: Rubies For Our Angel, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK cabaret artiste and West End musical actor Ian Stroughair co-hosts this fundraiser to mark St Leonard’s Hospice’s 40th anniversary with radio presenters Joanita Musisi and Laura Castle, introducing a night of musical theatre and rock and pop classics.

On the bill will be Stroughair in Velma Celli drag diva regalia; York singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan; York musical theatre actress Joanne Theaker; retro party band Jonny And The Dunebugs; The Voice UK 2024 semi-finalist Lois Morgan Gay and West End classical singer Georgi Mottram. Box office: https://shorturl.at/G3qhV or atgtickets.com/york.

Strictly between us: Anton du Beke and Giovanni Pernice team up for Together Again at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice in Together Again, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice promise “more fun, more dance, more song and even more entertainment than ever before” in the terpsichorean double act’s new show Together Again, full of breathtaking routines, stunning choreography and a seamless blend of Ballroom, Latin and musical theatre. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend

Coastal gig of the week: Craig David TS5 Show, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday; gates open at 6pm

SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night, patented at his Miami penthouse. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old-skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens

Community play of the week: His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to August 3  

FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.

Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In Focus: Clap Trap Theatre in Pennyroyal, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 19 & 20, 7.30pm

Florrie Stockbridge’s Daphne, left, and Natasha Jones’s Christine in Clap Trap Theatre’s Pennyroyal

HELMSLEY Arts Centre artistic director Natasha Jones and musical partner Florrie Stockbridge take to the stage this weekend in Clap Trap Theatre’s production of Lucy Roslyn’s Pennyroyal.

Premiered in 2022 at the Finborough Theatre, London, this heartrending play about sisterhood and motherhood, enduring love and regrets many years in the making explores the things expected of women and what happens if life does not go to plan.

When Daphne (played by Stockbridge) is diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency at 19, her sister Christine (Jones) steps in to help in the only way she knows how: by donating her eggs. For a while, the world seems corrected. However, as the years go by – and Daphne sets out on the long road of IVF – the sisters’ relationship begins to twist.

“I think of my body sometimes like it’s stubborn,” says Daphne. “We’re not good friends. Like it’s a spooky hotel, and I’m just a ghost haunting it. ’Cause you don’t live in a hotel, you just pass through.”

Pennyroyal is inspired by Edith Wharton’s 1922 novella The Old Maid, a 1922 novella adapted ten years later into a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Zoe Akins. One hundred years on, the story is re-imagined by Roslyn, an award-winning Camden Town performer and writer.

Her most recent work includes Orlando, a previous collaboration with director Josh Roche and Jessie Anand Productions that won the Origins Award at VAULT Festival before transferring to the Pleasance, Edinburgh.

Other work includes Showmanship (Theatre503) and Goody (Pleasance, Edinburgh and Greenwich Theatre – Les Enfants Terribles’ Greenwich Partnership Award 2017). Her debut, The State vs. John Hayes, started life at the Edinburgh Fringe, before touring to Theatre Royal Bath, The Lowry, Salford, the King’s Head Theatre, London,  and OSH Brooklyn, New York.

Jones and Stockbridge have received directing and production support from Libby Pearson. Roslyn’s 80-minute play contains strong language and discussion of infertility and domestic violence. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York beyond as the Vikings reveal power-base life skills. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 31, from The York Press

Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at York Museums Trust, holding the Thor’s Hammer Pendant at the Viking North exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, York

VIKING treasures, street art moved indoors, Fringe comedy previews and Ryedale Festival’s classical lustre bring out the summer smiles in Charles Hutchinson.

Museum launch of the week: Viking North, Yorkshire Museum, York

VIKING North is filled with magnificent objects, many unseen for generations and others that have never been on public display, adding up to “the best collection of Viking finds to be shown outside London” as these Viking treasures reveal the North’s power base, wealth and skills.

Telling the story of the Viking Age in the North of England from AD866 to 1066, the exhibition is underpinned by new archaeological research and cutting-edge technology and features objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard, co-owned with the British Museum, and specially loaned national and regional items, including from the Viking Army Camp at Aldwark, North Yorkshire.

Sea, Swell, Scribe: Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax combine in Pyramid Gallery’s exhibition of paintings, pottery and poetry

Exhibition launch of the week: Sea, Swell, Scribe, Jo Walton, Ruth King and Nicky Kippax, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, from today, 11am, to August 31, open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday

WHAT happens when you let a poet loose in an art gallery with a piece of charcoal? If the juxtaposition of sumptuous curvy and pointy pots against a backdrop of textured metallic atmospheric paintings is inspiring her, then she will scribble words and phrases all over the plinths.

Artist Jo Walton, left, potter Ruth King and poet Nicky Kippax

York artist Jo Walton, from Rogues Atelier, potter Ruth King, from the Craft Potters Association, and poet Nicky Kippax, from Bluebird Bakery, combine in a show planned and organised by Pyramid  gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane and curated by Walton. Kippax has written Eksphratic verse in response to the paintings and pots.

Here is one of Nicky Kippax’s poems form the exhibition, The First:

The first
creature to climb
from the sea had the logger
head of a turtle and nothing more
yet to unfold to body but unbeaten
in its lug to land, brow thrust against
the fret and neck amok. Look now –
as the suggestion of an arm
is beginning to break
free of itself.

Street artist Al Murphy in his Naughty Corner at VandalFest at 2, Low Ousegate, York

Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today and tomorrow, July 18 to 20 and July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm

VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block at 2 Low Ousegate, York, with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.

The stripped-out interior provides four floors of blank canvas for bold, site-specific “intervention” that cover walls, floors and ceilings, complemented by live DJ sets.  Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH. Visitors can support the cause by buying limited-edition artworks and merchandise.

Ryedale Festival artist in residence and soprano Claire Booth

Festival of the week; Ryedale Festival 2025, until July 27

THIS North Yorkshire festival of delights will be led off by 2025’s artists in residence, saxophonist Jess Gillam, soprano Claire Booth and viola player Timothy Ridout, along with Quatuor Mosaiques, VOCES8 and composer Eric Whitacre.

Pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Dame Imogen Cooper, organist Thomas Trotter, Arcangelo, York countertenor Iestyn Davies and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s festival debut are further highlights. Jazz, folk and literature weave into the programme too: reeds player Pete Long and vocalist Sara Oschlag salute Duke Ellington; Barnsley’s Kate Rusby showcases her new album, When They All Looked Up, and Dame Harriet Walter channels Jane Austen’s wit in Pride And Prejudice. Full details and tickets at: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.

McFly: Heading to the Scarborough seaside today

Coastal gig of the week: McFly, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today; gates open at 6pm

MCFLY’S Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd head to the Yorkshire coast to perform 5 Colours In Her Hair, Obviously, All About You, You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be OK, Star Girl, Don’t Stop Me Now, Obviously et al. Twin Atlantic and Devon complete the bill. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Josie Long: Opening Theatre@41’s week of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights. Picture: Matt Crockett

Comedy event of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 13 to 19

A WEEK of Edinburgh Fringe previews and comedy nights takes over Theatre@41, Monkgate, kicking off with comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker Josie Long’s Work In Progress on July 13 at 2pm, followed by two Mark Watson selections, Sam Nicoresti and Lulu Popplewell’s Fresh For The Fringe double bill at 7.30pm.

Molly McGuinness and Phil Ellis are in preview mode on July 14 (8pm); Nina Gilligan discusses memory loss, health anxiety and goldfish-related trauma in Goldfish on July 16 (8pm), and Hayley Ellis navigates middle age in Silly Mare (Work in Progress) on July 17 (8pm). Susan Riddell and Kate Dolan, on July 18 (7.30pm), and Barmby Moor surrealist Rob Auton and Chloe Petts, on July 19 (7.30pm), round off the festival previews. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Phil Grainger, left, and Alexander Flanagan Wright. Picture; Charlotte Graham


News just in: Wright & Grainger in The Gods The Gods The Gods, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, 7.30pm

IN a very late addition to Theatre@41’s packed programme for next week, Easingwold duo Wright & Grainger return their Edinburgh Fringe gig theatre hit The Gods The Gods The Gods to North Yorkshire soil for one night only.

Combining 12 tracks, four stories, three performers and one exhilarating experience, Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger mix big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word into a show that has headlined festivals and sold out venues from Wānaka Festival of Colour in New Zealand to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, to Stillington Mill. Please note: this event is standing room only; chairs will be available for those unable to stand. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Georgi Mottram: Classical BRIT Award nominee performing at Voices United concert in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice

Charity event of the week: Ian Stroughair presents Voices United: Rubies For Our Angel, Grand Opera House, York, July 18, 7.30pm

YORK cabaret artiste and West End musical actor Ian Stroughair co-hosts this fundraiser to mark St Leonard’s Hospice’s 40th anniversary with radio presenters Joanita Musisi and Laura Castle, introducing a night of musical theatre and rock and pop classics.

On the bill will be Stroughair in Velma Celli drag diva regalia; York singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan; York musical theatre actress Joanne Theaker; retro party band Jonny And The Dunebugs; The Voice UK 2024 semi-finalist Lois Morgan Gay and West End classical singer Georgi Mottram. Box office: https://shorturl.at/G3qhV or atgtickets.com/york.

Dance is SO embracing: Dancefloor double act Anton & Giovanni reunite for Together Again at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice in Together Again, York Barbican, July 18, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing alumni Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice promise “more fun, more dance, more song and even more entertainment than ever before” in the terpsichorean double act’s new show Together Again, full of breathtaking routines, stunning choreography and a seamless blend of Ballroom, Latin and musical theatre. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ancient Hostility: Harmony singing and drones at YO Underground 4 in The Basement

Navigators Art presents YO Underground 4, The Basement, City Screen, York, July 18, 7.30pm to 10.30pm

YORK arts collective Navigators Art plays host to a night of live, local and left-field folk song, electronica and film at The Basement. On the adventurous bill of York and regional acts will be: Andrew Metheven’s lo-fi folk music from the hills and the concrete; Ancient Hostility’s harmony singing and drones from members of Dawn Ray’d and All In Vain, and transdisciplinary artist Hannah-May Batley’s traveller ballads, storytelling, writing, performance and pigments.

Participating too will be: Mark Hanslip, who has a “PhD in shoving saxophones through computers” (possibly not literally); Namke Communications’ electronics and echoes, and multidisciplinary artist Things Found And Made, rummaging in zines, films, music, storytelling, pop-culture, esoterica and folklore. Box office: bit.ly/nav-events

The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, right, walking in Leeds with Reception writer-director Matt Aston

Gig announcement of the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, July 20, 8pm, doors 7pm

DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston join him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.  

Next Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-david-gedge-from-the-wedding-present-tickets-1472506409309?aff=oddtdtcreator.

Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/episodes/17507606-episode-233-interview-special-with-david-gedge-from-the-wedding-present

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 30 from Gazette & Herald

Christopher Glynn: Directing the 2025 Ryedale Festival, opening on Friday

RYEDALE Festival heads July’s summer delights, taking in the shipping forecast too, in Charles Hutchinson’s leisure list.

Festival of the week; Ryedale Festival 2025, July 11 to 27

ARTISTIC director Christopher Glynn presents a multitude of festival delights, led off by this year’s artists in residence, saxophonist Jess Gillam, soprano Claire Booth and viola player Timothy Ridout, joined by Quatuor Mosaiques, VOCES8 and composer Eric Whitacre.

The festival also welcomes pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Dame Imogen Cooper and organist Thomas Trotter; Arcangelo in Selby; York countertenor Iestyn Davies; the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s festival debut; a revival of long-neglected Tippett works and a new Arthur Bliss orchestration. 

Jazz, folk and literature weave into the programme too: reeds player Pete Long and vocalist Sara Oschlag salute Duke Ellington; Barnsley’s Kate Rusby showcases her new album, When They All Looked Up, and Dame Harriet Walter channels Jane Austen’s wit in Pride And Prejudice. Full details and tickets at: ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.

The ELO Experience, led by Andy Louis, at the Grand Opera House, York, tonight

Tribute gig of the week: The ELO Experience, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

THE ELO Experience have been bringing the music of Jeff Lynne and The Electric Orchestra to the stage since forming in Hull in 2006, performing 10538 Overture, Evil Woman, Living Thing, The Diary Of Horace Wimp, Don’t Bring Me Down, All Over The World, Mr Blue Sky et al.

Andy Louis fronts this tribute to  a songbook spanning more than 45 years, taking in such albums as A New World Record, Discovery and Out Of The Blue and  2016’s Alone In The Universe. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Blossoms, tomorrow; Rag’n’Bone Man, Friday, and McFly, Saturday. Gates open at 6pm

CHART-TOPPING Stockport indie group Blossoms make their Scarborough OAT debut tomorrow, supported by Inhaler and Leeds band Apollo Junction, promoting their August 22 new album What In The World.

Rag’N’Bone Man, alias blues, soul and hip-hop singer Rory Graham, cherry-picks from his albums Human, Life By Misadventure and What Do You Believe In? on Friday, with support from Elles Bailey and Kerr Mercer. McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd head to the Yorkshire coast on Saturday when Twin Atlantic and Devon complete the bill. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Vicki Mason’s Margaret Watson, Beaj Johnson’s Tom Musgrave and Becca Magson’s Emma Watson in 1812 Theatre Company’s production of The Watsons

Play of the week times two: The Watsons, 1812 Theatre Company, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to Saturday, 7.30pm; The Watsons, Black Treacle Theatre, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

TWO productions of Laura Wade’s The Watsons open on the same night in Helmsley and York.  What happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She has been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.

One problem: Jane Austen did not finish this story. Who will write Emma’s happy ending now? Step forward Wade, who looks under Austen’s bonnet to ask: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Bridgerton meets Austentatious, Regency flair meets modern twists, as Pauline Noakes directs in Helmsley; Jim Paterson directs in York. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Second Summer Of Love: Emmy Happisburgh’s coming-of-age and midlife- recovery tale at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

One for the ravers: Contentment Productions in Second Summer Of Love, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

ORIGINAL raver Louise wonders how she went from Ecstasy-taking idealist to respectable, disillusioned, suburban Surrey mum. Triggered  by her daughter’s anti-drugs homework and at peak mid-life crisis, Louise flashes back to the week’s emotional happenings and the early Nineties’ rave scene.

Writer-performer Emmy Happisburgh’s play addresses the universal themes of coming of age and fulfilling potential while offering a new perspective for conversations on recreational drug use, recovery from addiction and embracing mid-life. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

An old story told in a new way: Russell Lucas’s Titanic tale of Edward Dorking in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: Steve Ullathorne

Titanic struggle of the week: Russell Lucas in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 12, 3pm

EDWARD Dorking was openly gay. On Wednesday, April 10 1912, he set sail for New York on a ticket bought for him by his mother in the hope his American family could put him “right”.

Writer-performer Russell Lucas’s Third Class charts Dorking’s journey from boarding the Titanic to swimming for 30 minutes towards an already full collapsible lifeboat,  and how, on arrival in New York, he toured the vaudeville circuit as an angry campaigner against the injustices of the shipping disaster. Using music, movement, projection and text, Lucas gives a “thrilling new perspective on what feels a familiar tale”, topped off with a Q&A. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Charlie Connelly: Rain later, talk now, as he celebrates the quirks and joys of the shipping forecast at the Milton Rooms, Malton

From Viking to South East Iceland: Charlie Connelly’s Attention All Shipping, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 16, 7.30pm

AS the shipping forecast embarks on its second century, author and broadcaster Charlie Connelly celebrates what he regards as the greatest invention of the modern age. How did a weather forecast for ships capture the hearts of a nation, from salty old sea dog to insomniac landlubber? How is it possible for “rain later” to be “good”? And where on earth is North Utsire?

Delving into the history of the forecast and the extraordinary people who made it, Connelly explains what those curious phrases really mean, assesses its cultural impact and shares rip-roaring adventures from his own extraordinary journey through the 31 sea areas. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Drummer Tom Townend: Bandleader for Tommy T’s Blue Note Dance Party at Pocklington Arts Centre

Jazz At PAC Presents: Tommy T’s Blue Note Dance Party, Pocklington Arts Centre, July 17, 8pm

HERE come the hippest tunes in a night of Blue Note Records’ coolest cuts: all killer, no filler, with grooves from Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey and more, brought to Pocklington by bandleader Tom Townsend, drums, Paul Baxter, double bass, Andrzej Baranek, piano, Tom Sharpe, trumpet, and Kyran Matthews, saxophone. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when it’s never too late for Early Music. Hutch’s List No. 30, from The York Press

Richard Hawley: Revisiting Coles Corner with strings attached at Live At York Museum Gardens today. Picture: Dean Chalkley

WHAT happens when York Museum Gardens turns into Coles Corner and the same play opens in two places at once? Find out in Charles Hutchinson’s leisure list.

Open-air concert of the week: Futuresound Group  presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Richard Hawley, today; gates open at 5pm

SHEFFIELD guitarist, songwriter and crooner Richard Hawley revisits his 1995 album Coles Corner with a string section on its 20th anniversary this evening, complemented by Hawley highlights from his 2001 to 2024 albums (9pm to 10.30pm).

He will be preceded by Mercury Prize-winning Leeds band English Teacher (7.45pm to 8.30pm); Manchester-based American songwriter BC Camplight, introducing his new album, A Sober Conversation (6.30pm to 7.15pm), and Scottish musician Hamish Hawk, whose latest album, A Firmer Hand, emerged last August (5.40pm to 6.10pm). Box office: seetickets.com.

The Tallis Scholars: Performing Glorious Creatures, directed by Peter Philips, at York Minster at 7.30pm tonight at York Early Music Festival. Picture: Hugo Glendinning

Festival of the week:  York Early Music Festival, Heaven & Hell, until July 11

EIGHT days of classical music are under way featuring international artists such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, Helen Charlston & Toby Carr and the York debut of Le Consort, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “but not quite as you know it” on Sunday.

Directed by Delma Tomlin, the festival weaves together three main strands: the 400th anniversary of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, the Baroque music of Vivaldi and Bach and reflections on Man’s fall from grace, from Heaven to Hell. Full programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.

Bridget Christie: Late replacement for Maisie Adam at Futuresound Group’s inaugural York Comedy Festival. Picture: Natasha Pszenicki

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, York Comedy Festival, Sunday, 2.30pm to 7.30pm

HARROGATE comedian Maisie Adam will not be playing the inaugural York Comedy Festival this weekend after all. The reason: “Unforeseen circumstances”. Into her slot steps trailblazing Bridget Christie, Gloucester-born subversive stand-up, Taskmaster participant and writer and star of Channel 4 comedy-drama The Change.

The Sunday fun-day bill will be topped by Dara Ó Briain and Katherine Ryan. Angelos Epithemiou, Joel Dommett, Vittorio Angelone, Clinton Baptiste and Scott Bennett perform too, hosted by “the fabulous” Stephen Bailey. Tickets update: last few still available at york-comedy-festival.com.

Justin Panks: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse

The other comedy bill in York this weekend: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Justin, Panks, Tony Vino, Liam Bolton and MC Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen, York, tonight, 8pm

COMEDIAN and podcaster Justin Panks tops tonight’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club with his skewed observational eye and ability to approach seemingly ordinary subjects from extraordinary angles in his raw, honest  tales of relationships, parenthood and life in general.  

Tony Vino bills himself as “the only half-Spanish, half-Scottish hybrid working comic in the world”; experimental Liam Bolton favours a bewildering, train-of-thought approach to unpredictable stand-up comedy; Damion Larkin hosts in improvisational style. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or on the door.

The Script: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend

Coastal gig of the week: The Script and Tom Walker, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today; gates open at 6pm

THE Script head to the Yorkshire coast this weekend as part of the Irish rock-pop act’s Satellites UK tour, completing their hat-trick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre visits after appearances in 2018 and 2022.  Special guest Tom Walker, the Scottish singer-songwriter, performs songs from 2019 chart topper What A Time To Be Alive and 2024’s I Am. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Dianne Buswell and Vito Coppola: Red Hot and Ready to dance at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne & Vito, Red Hot & Ready!, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola are Red Hot and Ready to perform a dance show with a difference, choreographed by BAFTA award winner Jason Gilkison. The dream team will be joined by a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Florence Poskitt’s Margaret Watson, left, Jennifer Jones’s Elizabeth Watson and Livy Potter’s Emma Watson in Black Treacle Theatre’s The Watsons at the JoRo

Play of the week times two: The Watsons, Black Treacle Theatre, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm and .30pm Saturday matinee; The Watsons, 1812 Theatre Company, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm

TWO productions of Laura Wade’s The Watsons open on the same night in York and Helmsley.  What happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She has been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.

One problem: Jane Austen did not finish this story. Who will write Emma’s happy ending now? Step forward Wade, who takes her incomplete novel to fashion a sparklingly witty play that looks under Austen’s bonnet to ask: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Bridgerton meets Austentatious, Regency flair meets modern twists, as Jim Paterson directs in York; Pauline Noakes in Helmsley. Box office: York, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. 

York debut of the week: Kemah Bob in Miss Fortunate, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 9, 8pm

“LIFE is gunna life and brains are gunna brain,” says Kemah Bob as the American host of the Foc It Up Comedy Club and podcast brings their debut stand-up tour to York in a show directed by Desiree Burch and Sarah Chew.

Born in Houston, Texas, and now living in London, Bob has been seen on QI, Richard Osman’s House Of Games, Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club, Don’t Hate The Playaz and Guessable and heard on the Off Menu podcast, The Guilty Feminist, James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds, Springleaf and Brett Goldstein’s Films To Be Buried With. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

An old story told in a new way: Russell Lucas’s Titanic tale of Edward Dorking in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: Steve Ullathorne

Titanic struggle of the week: Russell Lucas in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 12, 3pm

EDWARD Dorking was openly gay. On Wednesday, April 10 1912, he set sail for New York on a ticket bought for him by his mother in the hope his American family could put him “right”.

Writer-performer Russell Lucas’s Third Class charts Dorking’s journey from boarding the Titanic to swimming for 30 minutes towards an already full collapsible lifeboat,  and how, on arrival in New York, he toured the vaudeville circuit as an angry campaigner against the injustices of the shipping disaster. Using music, movement, projection and text, Lucas gives a “thrilling new perspective on what feels a familiar tale”, topped off with a Q&A. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

In Focus: Contentment Productions in Second Summer Of Love, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 10, 7.30pm

Second Summer Of Love: Emmy Happisburgh’s coming-of-age and midlife-recovery tale at Theatre@41, Monkgate

ORIGINAL raver Louise wonders how she went from Ecstasy-taking idealist to respectable, disillusioned, suburban Surrey mum. Triggered  by her daughter’s anti-drugs homework and at peak mid-life crisis, Louise flashes back to the week’s emotional happenings and the early Nineties’ rave scene.

Writer-performer Emmy Happisburgh’s play addresses the universal themes of coming of age and fulfilling potential while offering a new perspective for conversations on recreational drug use, raising palms to the skies in fields, recovery from addiction and embracing mid-life.

Originally Second Summer Of Love was developed with producers Pants On Fire as a 15-minute and showcased by Emmy at the SHORTS Festival 2020.

“The play premiered as a one-woman performance at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe,” she says. “Then it was refreshed in 2023; some scenes were re-written, taking into consideration reviewers’ practical criticisms and audience responses.

“We enlisted two more actors and Scott Le Crass to direct and tested out this new version for Contentment Productions on a three-night run in Worthing and Guildford where it sold out.” 

In this 60-minute performance, Emmy’s Louise is joined by Molly, played by Emmy’s daughter, Rosa Strudwick, and Christopher Freestone’s Brian, prompted by Louise’s flashbacks,

“Now our cast of three is playing 15 dates this summer and autumn, from York to Penzance, to connect with our target audiences, build partnerships, give us feedback and raise awareness of of our play to help us develop and upscale it into a fully cast production for larger auditoriums.”

Memories around Sterns nightclub in Worthing – a venue that Carl Cox once called “100 per cent equivalent to the Hacienda in Manchester” – wove themselves into Emmy’s play. “Second Summer Of Love isn’t a ‘true story’ but it’s inspired by real-life events and real people from when I was luckily, and very accidentally, right in the middle of the rave zeitgeist,” she says.

“It’s not a tale I’ve seen authentically told in theatres; especially not by a mid-life woman. I’m grateful to bring the ‘one love’ message of the original rave movement to the stage. I’m excited to play several different characters, using the physical skills of Le Coq again and genuinely overjoyed to be in scenes opposite Rosa and Christopher.”

Director Scott Le Crass adds: “I’m excited to direct Second Summer Of Love as it’s a fresh voice. It’s a perspective which I’ve never seen on stage. Older female voices are something we need to champion more and in a way which is strong, dynamic and playful. This play embodies that.”

Happisburgh trained at the Poor School and Guildford School of Acting; Le Crass trained as an actor at Arts Ed and was a director on Birmingham Rep’s first Foundry Programme; Freestone trained with Actor in Session, and Strudwick was trained through the LAMDA examination syllabus by Happisburgh.

For tickets, go to: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until July 5 ***1/2

Annabel van Griethuysen’s hostess Marlene Cabana vamping it up in York Light Opera Company’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen Photography

EUROBEAT is essentially Eurovision by another name, and if you love the campery, pageantry and “political” shenanigans of Eurovision, then you will love Eurobeat.

Presented in York its third iteration (after 2008’s Eurobeat…Almost European and 2016’s Eurobeat Moldova), this affectionate send-up is the work of Aussie composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie, a Eurovision devotee whose love of the annual song contest pre-dates Australia’s inclusion since 2015’s special guest appearance.

Should you still be wondering why the faraway land of Oz is involved, apparently Aussies have a long-standing affection for Eurovision and the nation is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Emma Swainston’s Astrid Lungstomberg waving the flag for Swedish entry Semaphore Of Love

Christie updates his show with each re-telling, tongue pushed further into cheek, politically and culturally savvy to the world’s woes, and steeped in Eurovision’s tropes, gauche jokes and awkward silences, while keeping the distance of a mischievous onlooker.

In the words of York Light director Neil Wood, “it’s fun”. “It ends up as more of an event, though it’s still a theatre show, and from the audience point of view, it’s a blast!” he says. “If you want to come in costume, you’re more than welcome to do so. We’ll have slash curtains, glitter and haze, everything you’d expect from Eurovision, but without the big budget.”

No-one took up the costume invitation at Wednesday’s press night: auditorium conditions were too hot and airless for that, but a Portuguese flag was waved enthusiastically from the front row, probably doubling as a cooling fan too.

Zander Fick’s punctilious martinet, Master of Protocols “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

Welcome to Lichtenstein, hosts apparently by default of Eurobeat 2025. Up on the mezzanine level are Joy Warner’s Fanny Feuberger and Simon Kelly’s Kevin Kupferblum, starchy Cultural Ambassors with their regal airs and cod European accents.

They look over everything and, in turn, tend to be overlooked by show-off show hostess Marlene Cabana (Annabel van Griethuysen), glamorous Lichtenstein singing star, who has a costume change for every song and a putdown quip or three for every contestant and national stereotype.  She is as much the mouthpiece for Christie as an echo of Terry Wogan and Graham Norton’s mickey-taking.

Annabel Van Griethuysen (could the lead actress have a more pan-European name?) is fabulous from start to finish. Her five-star Marlene is an irresistible, irrepressible force, with no time for woke sensibilities, and an Alpine European accent befitting a Bond Girl of Connery days. She takes the demands of direct address in her sassy stride, always accompanied by eye contact.

This Is How I Dance (by not dancing): Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe) in statuesque form for Lithuania in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

As well as parading her operatic prowess in her singing, especially in Act Two, Van Griethuysen does pretty much all of the script’s heavy lifting, aided occasionally by the staid Cultural Ambassadors and Zander Fick’s Master of Protocols, “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, a moribund martinet whose every energy-draining interjection is begrudged by Marlene as unnecessary competition for her limelight-hogging.

Trained in opera and jazz singing, Fick has been carving a niche for himself on the York stage in a series of impressively understated yet bang-on performances since moving here from South Africa in April 2023. Once again he favours less is more as he blossoms on the arid terrain of the humourless killjoy, making being “boring” highly watchable.

The importance of being Earnestasia: Emma Rockliff performing Romanian entry Listen

In Act One, somewhat reluctantly on each occasion, hostess Marlene has to make way for the ten acts (nine European, plus the United Kingdom, she quips), looking to upstage them on each costume change. The songs must do their talking for them.

Christie plays on each nation’s Eurovision history and characteristics, kicking off with the infectious, over-calculated melody hooks of Sweden’s Semaphore Of Love, sung by Emma Swainston’s Agnetha-blonde Astrid Lungstomberg.

Poland’s Obwody Wirujące (Kit Stroud, Sophie Cunningham and Chloe Branton), all hard hats and robotic movements, clash for attention with three maids in traditional dress, their song pulling in different directions too. Romania’s Earnestasia (Emily Rockliff) throws in every outdated Eurovision cliché, boom-bang-a-bang style, in Listen. 

Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) at odds with each other in the United Kingdom’s typically unloveable Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore

The United Kingdom’s  Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) are akin to a washed-up cabaret act from a bygone era on a crash course to nil points with Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore. Or more accurately, why don’t you love us anymore, post-Brexit?

Representing Lithuania are Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe), seriously Eastern European yet delightfully, cutely devoid of self-awareness (unlike hostess Marlene) in singing This Is How I Dance, statuesque to a T, eschewing dance steps in the best moment of Wood and Sarah Cragg’s amusing choreography.

Greece is the word: Chloë Chapman’s Persephone performing Oh Aphrodite, a song she also choreographed

On song for Greece is Persephone (Chloë Chapman), tapping into Greek tragedies in the highly theatrical Oh Aphrodite. Portugal’s Mateus Villela (boy band looker Cain Branton) lives up to the lonesome title Guy With The Guitar, ushering off violinists while stoically declining to play his allotted instrument until the last note in one of Christie’s titular best jokes.

Vatican City (rather than Italy) gives Christie the chance to take pot shots at the Catholic church before Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony (Evie Latham, Lizzie Kearton, Sophie Cunningham and Emma Swainston) catch the Sixties girl group habit in Good Girl – throwing in a Bucks Fizz costume “strip” for good measure.

Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony: Vatican City’s answer to a Sixties’ girl group

Christie’s best pastiche goes to France’s Estelle LaCroix (Amy Greene), in red beret and matching lipstick, with a mime artiste to one side and a cyclist with baguettes and string of garlic to the other, as she sings the Gallic ballad Je Vous Deteste Tous, resolutely in French bien sur, her disdain writ large.

Norway closes the contest with Hammer Of Thor (Daniel Wood and Matt Tapp) hammering out the heavily metallic The Vikings, wherein an accountant sheds his day-job skin to join the Nordic warrior beside him as if on a Jorvik Viking Festival weekender in York.

Time for an interval break, one where audience members must pick their top three, either by utilising a somewhat resistant QR Code or resorting to time-honoured pen and paper.

Pulling the heart strings, but not playing the guitar ones: Cain Branton’s Mateus Villela holds back on his fret work in Portuguese entry Guy With A Guitar

Van Griethuysen’s hostess comes even more into her element as the Eurovision send-ups continue, the tension rises and the forced jollity of a Euro party takes over. Martin Lay’s band has fun; costumier Carly Price has even more fun.

Who wins? That’s up to you each show, but you’re on to a winner here if Eurovision is your guilty pleasure.

York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York,  until July 5. Performances: 7.30pm, tonight and July 1 to 4, plus 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Who wins at Eurobeat? You decide in the audience vote

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as the heat is on for summer entertainment. Hutch’s List No. 27, from The York Press

Out of the woods and into The Basement for Navigators Art’s Making Waves Live!, Sounds Of The Solstice today

BEST Musical multiple award winner Dear Evan Hansen and a Eurovision spoof light Charles Hutchinson’s fire as the June heat rises.

Midsummer festival of the weekend: Navigators Art presents Making Waves Live! Sounds Of The Solstice, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, 4pm to 10pm 

FAVOURITE Navigators Art poets, comedians, singers and bands from the past two years will be complemented new friends in sessions from 4pm to 6.30pm, then 7.30pm to 10pm.

Taking part will be folk song duo Adderstone, poet Becca Drake, comedian Cooper Robson, storyteller Lara McClure, punk/jazz trio Borgia, psychedelic band Soma Crew; Will Martin; Jessica Van Smith; Cai Moriarty & Mason Chetnik, Mike Amber and more. Box office:  bit.ly/nav-events.

The Wild Murphys: Performing One Night In Dublin for one night in York

Irish craic of the week: One Night In Dublin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THE Wild Murphys revel in sing-along Irish classics Galway Girl, I’ll Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town, Whiskey In The Jar, The Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band and many more in two hours of song and humour.

Songs by The Pogues, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, The Fureys, Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys receive the fiddle and accordion treatment. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Flowers And Friendship Bracelets: Celebrating Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo’s pop power at Grand Opera House

Pop party of the week: Flowers And Friendship Bracelets, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday

FLOWERS And Friendship Bracelets combines music, dance and excitement in “the ultimate pop concert in celebration of the biggest hits from the hottest artistes of the moment”. The songs of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter will climax with a huge pop party finale. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia: Absolute Focus programme on santoor and tabla at the NCEM on Sunday evening

Indian classical concert of the week: Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia, Absolute Focus, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 6.30pm 

HUSBAND and wife duo Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, on santoor, and Jax Ahluwalia, on tabla, perform their Absolute Focus programme at the NCEM. These former students of  the late Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Ustaad Tari work on diverse projects, from Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon and Disney series to live theatre, while introducing Indian classical music to audiences around the world in concerts of meditative introspection and energy-filled heights. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Looking to fit in: Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Last chance to see: Dear Evan Hansen, Grand Opera House, York, June 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees

THE Grand Opera House will be the last English port of call on the UK tour of Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levinson’s Olivier, Tony and Grammy Best Musical award winner.

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder that inhibits his ability to connect with his peers. After the death of fellow student Connor Murphy, Evan (played by Ryan Kopel) entangles himself in an unwieldy fib, claiming he was Connor’s secret best friend. Thrust ever deeper into a web of lies, he gains everything he has ever wanted: a chance to belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Ione Cummings’ Antonia in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann. Picture: John Saunders

Opera of the week: York Opera in The Tales Of Hoffmann, York Theatre Royal, June 25 to 28, 7.15pm plus 4pm Saturday matinee

ELIZABETH Watson and John Soper direct York Opera in Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, based on three short stories by German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Tenors Karl Reiff and Hamish Brown perform the title role on alternate nights; Hoffmann’s evil enemies will be played by Ian Thomson- Smith and Mark Simmonds and his love interests will be sung by Stephanie Wong (Olympia), Ione Cummings (Antonia) and Katie Cole (Giulietta). Alexandra Mather takes the role of Hoffmann’s loyal friend, Nicklaus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Light Opera Company cast members in rehearsal for Neil Wood’s production of Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

Eurovision celebration of the week: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat – Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm, June 25 to 27 and July 1 to 4; 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5

AUSTRALIAN composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie’s high-octane, electrifying musical Eurobeat: The Pride Of Europe celebrates the vibrant energy and spirit of the continent. Expect non-stop, infectious Eurobeat rhythms, dazzling visuals and a show to leave audiences breathless. 

Prepare to dance and soak up the fun of an annual European song contest where audience participation decides the winner. Neil Wood directs a cast led by Annabel van Griethuysen as hostess Marlene Cabana and Zander Fick as master of protocols Bjorn Bjornson. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Just like hat: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre’s guys rehearsing Guys And Dolls for next week’s Joseph Rowntree Theatre run

Burgeoning talent of the week: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre in Guys And Dolls, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 26 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MALTON company Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre heads to York to present Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ musical fable of Broadway, Guys And Dolls.

Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy finds gambler Nathan Detroit seeking the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck. Into the story venture his girlfriend, nightclub performer Adelaide, fellow gambler Sky Masterson and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Snow Patrol: More likely sun than snow on return to Yorkshire coastline on Friday

Coastal gig of the week: Snow Patrol, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 27; gates open at 6pm

SNOW Patrol visit Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday for the first time since July 2021. The Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band will be led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time members Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, and Johnny McDaid, piano. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Danny Lee Grew: Mind-boggling magic at Friargate Theatre, York

Magic show of the week: Danny Lee Grew, 24K Magic, Friargate Theatre, York, June 27, 7.30pm

CLACTON-ON-SEA magician Danny Lee Grew presents his new mind-boggling one-man show of magic, illusion, laughs, gasps and sleight of hand sorcery. 24K Magic showcases the kind of magic usually seen on television, but now live, in the flesh and under the most impossible conditions. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.