Tag: Theatre@41 Monkgate

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the Shakespeare shake-up & art weekends. Hutch’s List No. 15, from The York Press

Rug weaver Jacqueline James: Demonstrating her craft on her loom in Rosslyn Street, Clifton, at York Open Studios h home in York.

SHAKESPEARE is in the spotlight with international guests and a York nightclub rom-com while artists and makers open their studios, as Charles Hutchinson’s diary bulges with inviting opportunities aplenty.

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, today & tomorrow, then April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm

ACROSS two weekends, 150 artists and makers within York and a ten-mile radius of the city are welcoming visitors to 107 workplaces and studios.

This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular contributor or the 27 new participants, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.

The Rollin Stoned: Rolling out The Rolling Stones’ hits and deeper cuts in Malton tribute show

Tribute gig of the week: The Rollin Stoned, Milton Rooms, Malton, tonight, 8pm

THE rock’n’roll circus rolls into Malton for a tribute to The Rolling Stones that focuses on the Brian Jones years from 1964 to 1969.  Now in its 27th year, in The Rollin Stoned show the costumes are shamelessly camp, gaudy and fabulous, the instruments vintage, the wit irreverent, the trademark tongue never far from the cheek, but never to the detriment of the music.

As Keith Richards’ late mother, Doris, once remarked of the line-up featuring Mick Jaguar, Byron Jones, Keith Retched, Bill Wymandy, Charlie Waits and pianist Nicky Popkins: “Phenomenal…I can’t wait to tell Keith and  Mick that you could easily stand in for them.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The poster artwork for Aljaž and Janette’s Let’s Face The Music…And Dance show, on tour and on the move at York Barbican

Dance duo of the week: Aljaž and Janette, Let’s Face The Music…And Dance!, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing couple Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara  pay tribute to “the heroes behind the music we love” as they dance their way through the work of Cole Porter, Hans Zimmer, Quincy Jones, George Gershwin, David Foster and more besides, joined on stage by  an ensemble of dancers and Tom Seals’ Big Band. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Diversity: Asking what it means to be human within the digital age in Soul

Futuristic dance show of the week: Diversity presents Soul, York Barbican, April 20 and 21, 7.45pm

BRITAIN’S Got Talent’s 2009 winners, Ashley Banjo’s Southend dance ensemble Diversity, base Soul around the technological advancements of artificial intelligence, asking what the future holds and what it means to be human within the digital age.

“The future is now,” says Banjo. “Humans have become plugged in and completely connected to a world full of artificial intelligence – a world in which it is hard to distinguish reality from fiction. AI has become so advanced it’s considered a life form of its very own. Is this the next stage in our evolution? What exactly have we created? What makes us human?” His answer: “Soul.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Amber Davies as Elle Woods and Sprout as Bruiser in Legally Blonde The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Musical of the week: Made At Curve presents Legally Blonde The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, April 21 to 25, 7.30pm plus Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees, 2.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing 2025 finalist Amber Davies plays Elle Woods in the 2026 tour of Legally Blonde The Musical, joined by York Theatre Royal pantomime villain Jocasta Almgill as Brooke Wyndham, after playing wicked fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty last winter.

Davies had been set to appear as Hollywood hooker Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman The Musical at the Grand Opera House in February 2024, but Sydnie Hocknell understudied that week. Hannah Lowther, otherwise playing Margot, will step in for Davies at the April 23 matinee. North Yorkshireman and Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster directs the uplifting, totally pink tale of Elle’s transformation from ‘It Girl’ fashionista to legal ace at Harvard Law School, all in the name of love. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

York International Shakespeare Festival artist-in-residence Lisa Wolpe in Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, April 21 to May 3

YORK plays host to two weeks of world premieres, unmissable performances, enlightening talks and world-class exhibitions, bringing together artists from Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Poland and United States, along with British creatives and York talent, in celebration of Shakespeare’s impact across the globe.

Highlights include festival artist-in-residence Lisa Wolpe’s show Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender, York St John University Creative Centre, April 22, 7.30pm; Petty Men – ShakeSphere Selection 2026, Theatre@41, Monkgate, April 29, 7.30pm; Common Ground Theatre’s Hamlet, Creative Centre, April 25, 7.30pm, and April 26, 4pm, and Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello, performed in English and Ukrainian, Creative Centre, May 2, 6pm, and May 3, 2pm. Full festival programme and box office: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Ben Reeves Rowley’s King of Navarre in York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost. Picture: John Saunders

York nightlife drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Love’s Labours Lost, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

FOUR Wheel Drive co-founder and artistic director Anna Gallon directs York Shakespeare Project for the first time in Love’s Labour’s Lost as Shakespeare’s comedy of wit, wordplay, vows and romantic mischief meets the 1990s’ club scene in an immersive new take on the Bard’s early comedy, set in the heat and heighted passions of urban nightlife.

Her playful reinvention mixes verse, rhythm, dance and striking visuals to create a fresh and contemporary celebration of love, temptation and folly, wherein the King of Navarre and his three companions are DJs who once ruled York’s club scene but now have renounced the wild world of drink, dance and late nights, committing themselves instead to a retreat of abstinence: no women, no drink and definitely no dance floors. However, when the Princess of France and her entourage arrive, their solemn vows begin to unravel. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jalen Ngonda: Performing in York for the first time since Futuresound’s Live At York Museum Gardens last July. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Soul show of the week: Jalen Ngonda, York Barbican, April 22, doors 7pm

AFTER appearing on Nile Rodgers & CHIC’s bill at Futuresound’s Live At York Museum Gardens last July, willowy soul singer and pianist Jalen Ngonda opens his seven-date spring tour at York Barbican. Originally from Maryland and now based in Liverpool, Ngonda’s voice and music recall the best of the great Sixties and Seventies’ soul artists, delivered with a contemporary edge. Deptford Northern Soul Club support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

News Justin: Justin Fletcher in Justin Live, Justin Time To Rock!, York Barbican, Sunday, 11am and 2.30pm

For those about to rock: Justin Fletcher in Justin Time To Rock!

BAFTA-winning CBeebies legend Justin Fletcher MBE, erstwhile Mr Tumble from Something Special and Justin’s House, Gigglebiz and Gigglequiz star, teams up with his friends for a high-energy new theatre show bursting with music, dancing and giggles.

When DJ Engelbert, the coolest canine in the dog-house, launches a contest to find the best rock song in all the land, Justin and his band – Justin Time to Rock! – are determined to win, but can they deliver their song to DJ Engy before the sneaky Rock Lord and his sidekick Vulture try to steal it? Expect The Hokey Cokey, Music Man and Hands Up plus new songs written by Justin and his team. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

What can families expect in Justin Time To Rock!, Justin?

“Justin Time To Rock! is a brand-new story about how me and my friends formed our own band. You’ll hear lots of well-known songs and some brand-new ones too, written especially for the show. Amongst all the fun and laughter, we will need to keep an eye out for the mischievous Rock Lord and his sidekick Vulture, who are out to steal the band’s favourite tunes!”

What is your favourite aspect of performing live?

“Performing live to an excited family audience is such an uplifting and rewarding experience. The moment we run out on the stage, there is a great atmosphere, and the party begins! Our shows are really interactive, and it is great to see many generations of families and friends come together to watch the show and have fun!

What inspired the “music” theme for Justin Time Rock!?

“I’ve always loved music; it’s a very powerful way to express yourself. We wanted to create a show that features lots of different styles of music. I like rock’n’roll music in particular, because it is great to dance to and has a feel-good factor.”

What can you reveal about the new songs in the show?

“When we were writing the story about the band, we wanted to include some brand-new songs that that have never been heard before. One of my favourites is a song called Share A Little Sunshine, which is all about sharing happiness, kindness and friendship. Sharing these feelings can create a ripple effect through the audience, which in turn creates a great atmosphere.”

Your shows are very interactive. How will audiences be involved this time? Are there any moves or songs they should practise at home?

“There will be lots of well-known action songs to get the party started, so everyone should practise their Hokey Cokey, Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes and an audience favourite, Hands Up. There will also be some new songs to dance to, including the Bubble Pop Bop! Bring on the Bubbles!

What do you enjoy about touring?

“The opportunity to meet so many of our friends all around the UK and to perform our show to them is pure joy!”

What advice would you give to young fans who dream of being on stage or even becoming a rock star?

“Always follow your dreams and be yourself. You never know, some of our songs in the show might encourage you to learn a musical instrument, or to sing, or dance, or to write a song. Surround yourself with good people who care for you and have a go!”

Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, ends Saturday ****

Chris Pomfrett’s Tony, left, Victoria Delaney’s Maggie, Clare Halliday’s Hazel, Darren Barrott’s Marek, Joy Warner’s Sylvia, Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne, Daniel Wilmot’s Uncle Pete and Neil Vincent’s John in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come. Picture: John Saunders

FOUNDER and director Angie Millard has an eye and an ear for picking a play for York Actors Collective.

Already in place for October 28 to 31 at York Theatre Royal Studio is Stephanie Jacob’s three-hander The Strongbox, winner of the 2018 VAULT Origins Award for outstanding new work  for its story of domestic servitude and abuse of power, wherein authoritarian Kat, her ageing mother, Ma, and their teenaged slave, Maudie, jostle for power and affection in their dilapidated London home.

This week, Millard is staging the York premiere of another contemporary British domestic drama, Beth Steel’s Olivier Award-nominated Till The Stars Come Down, premiered at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre as recently as January 2024.

She did not see that production, choosing it because she “liked the sound of the play”, and subsequently being impressed by its frank, earthy comedy, its pathos and home-and-away truths – and by its central structure of three sisters, matching her own upbringing in South Yorkshire.

Steel had set her play in a former mining village in Nottinghamshire, where the scars of the “scabs” who broke the picket lines when Margaret Thatcher took on the National Union of Mineworkers are still tender to the touch.

Those scars are no less raw in Yorkshire’s former mining communities, and so Millard, whose education began in a Catholic school in a pit village, has re-located Steel’s family conflagration further north.

Till The Stars Come Down is set on a single day, charting the pre-match, the match and the post-match discussions of Sylvia’s nuptials with Polish immigrant Marek, who now runs his own business.

Weddings make for heightened drama, for love’s blossom and blisters, for too much drinking, too much talking, leading to confessions, fall-outs, “inappropriate” behaviour, the exposure of prejudices and the re-opening of old wounds.

It could be the posh world of London society and country houses in Four Weddings And A Funeral or, in Steel’s case, the turbulence of a working-class family where “long-held secrets, passions, tensions and social changes transform the celebration into a chaotic blend of humour and tragedy”.

It opens with the three sisters, Clare Halliday’s bigoted Hazel, Victoria Delaney’s oft-married loose cannon Maggie (in riotous red) and Joy Warner’s phlegmatic Sylvia preparing for the big day – the routine of make-up, hairspray, dresses and endless cups of tea – alongside Lucinda Rennison’s ever-indiscreet, aspirational Aunty Carol and Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne, Hazel’s 16-year-old daughter, whose gaze is solely for scrolling her mobile phone.

The men will make their entries: the sisters’ father Tony (Chris Pomfrett), still grieving for his late wife; his brother Uncle Pete (Daniel Wilmot), Carol’s partner, who has never forgiven him for crossing the picket line, and Neil Vincent’s John, who has lost interest in wife Carol on account of his obsession with the woman in scarlet, Delaney’s Maggie.

The only man who is happy rather than dischuffed with his lot in life is Darren Barrott’s (CORRECT) Marek, but a can of worms marked “zenophobia” will be opened as the wedding day progresses.

Steel writes with observational wit, social commentary and, above all, a telepathic understanding of the relationship of sisters. Warner’s Sylvia is the solid, reliable one who has looked after mother and father alike; Delaney’s Maggie and Halliday’s Hazel are the ones at war, and together they deliver a brilliantly kinetic finale, reaffirming their status as two of the supreme actresses on the York circuit.

Delaney’s performance is all the more remarkable for her taking on the role at less than three weeks’ notice. Haynes-Bury impresses with her deadpan demeanour and Rennison rises to the challenge of drunken acting with aplomb.

Barrott, in his YSP debut after catching the eye with York Settlement Community Players, is outstanding as “outsider” Marek; Pomfrett’s Tony wears that hangdog expression he has made his trademark; Vincent’s John plays the villain’s hand well and Wilmot’s Uncle Pete is all bonhomie on the surface until the gripes of the past boil over anew.

Millard directs with admirably flowing movement and quick scene changes, while ensuring her cast lets the full flavour of Steel’s clashing, dysfunctional family flood out, bringing out the rising stress to the max and emphasising the power of the sisterhood too.

York Actors Collective presents Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 14, from The York Press

Amabile Clarinet Trio: Playing innovative programme at York Late Music concert

HAMLET on a sinking ship, family politics on a calamitous wedding day and artists’ studios opening on two weekends are the headline acts on Charles Hutchinson’s latest bill of arts delights.

Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents Amabile Clarinet Trio, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm

THE Amabile Clarinet Trio – York clarinettist Lesley Schatzberger, cellist Nicola Tait Baxter and pianist Paul Nicholson – presents an innovative programme featuring two premieres plus Thea Musgrave’s Canta Canta!, patron Nicola LeFanu’s Lullaby and Nocturne, American composer Robert Muczynski’s rarely played Fantasy Trio and the first York performance ofAlexander von Zemlinsky’s Trio in D minor.

The UK premiere of David Lancaster’s Canzone Sospesoand a world premiere from composer David Power will be complemented by a set of Morris newly transcribed by York composer Steve Crowther. Lancaster gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, to be enjoyed with a complimentary glass of wine or juice. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

Lesley Jones and Steve Coates: Teaming up for the last time for Swing When You Sing

Farewell concert of the week: Steve Coates Music Productions present Swing When You Sing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 12, 7.30pm

BEV Jones Music Company and The Jubilee Celebration Singers producer Lesley Jones bids farewell to the York stage after 20 years of mounting shows with Swing When You Sing, presented with Steve Coates Music Productions.

Alan Owens’s 16-piece big band will be joined on stage by singers Ruth McNeil, Annabel van Griethuysen, Hayley Bamford, Johanna Hartley, Adele Barlow, Larry Gibson, Terry Ford, Stephen Wilson, David Hartley and Geoff Walker to perform Rat Pack, Minnie The Moocher, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Under The Sea, Cheek To Cheek, Sway (Latin), Fever, Mr Bojangles, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Sing, Sing, Sing (with Bob Fosse-style dancing). “Varied? Yes! Upbeat? Yes! Emotional? Yes!” says Lesley. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for the launch of Bishy Road Community Choir 

Start-up of the week: Bishy Road Community Choir, Stables Yoga Centre, Nunmill Street, York, from April 13

THE Stables Yoga Centre and Rachel Davies are setting up the Bishy Road Community Choir to run on Mondays from 5pm to 5.50pm at £5 a session from April 13. This welcoming, musically accessible group will use song to promote happiness, wellbeing and community. No experience or musical skills are needed; only enthusiasm to try feel-good singing. To book a place, visit stablesyoga.co.uk/timetable.

Wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott’s Marek and Joy Warner’s Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Family politics of the week: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday

PREMIERED at the National Theatre in 2024 and now receiving its York premiere, Beth Steel’s contemporary British family drama is set on the wedding day of Sylvia and Marek in a South Yorkshire mining town.

Directed by Angie Millard, Till The Stars Come Down explores the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family in a changing world of economic  decline and political shifts as long-held secrets, passions, and tensions surrounding class, immigration, and social change spill over into chaos and tragedy. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, on tour at York Theatre Royal

Titanic anniversary event of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to 18, 7pm plus 1.30pm, April 16 and 2pm, April 18

LET director Rupert Goold introduces the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, starring Ralph Davis, as the tour sets sail for York on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s descent to the depths. “Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” he says.

“Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. This production asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jan Brierton and Henry Normal: Poetic humour at Milton Rooms, Malton 

Poetry at the double: Edge Street Live presents Henry Normal and Jan Brierton, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 16, 7.30pm

WRITER, poet, television & film producer and Manchester Poetry Festival founder Henry Normal is joined by Dubliner Jan Brierton for an evening of poetry and humour. Normal, whose credits include co-writing The Mrs Merton Show and the first series of The Royle Family, will be reading from his new book A Quiet Promise.

Brierton riffs on modern life, love and friendships, wellness and ageing, rage and domestic exasperation in her poetic reflections on being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and retired raver, plus plenty of stuff about tea, lipstick and biscuits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Aggers & Tuffers: The chatter of cricket and the clatter of wickets at York Barbican

Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell in An Audience With Aggers & Tuffers, York Barbican, April 16, 7.30pm

TEST Match Special commentator-and-pundit duo Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell take to the road for more cricket chat from beyond the boundary. Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler and three-decade BBC cricket correspondent Aggers teams up anew with record-breaking former England spin bowler and crowd favourite Tuffers, who gives his spin on his maverick playing days and second wind as a media personality on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and A Question Of Sport. Box office update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Maureen Onwunali: Slam champ spinning words at Say Owt 

Slam champ of the week: Say Owt presents Maureen Onwunali, The Crescent, York, April 17, 7.30pm

YORK spoken-word collective Sat Owt’s guest poet for April’s gathering will be Dublin-born Nigerian poet and two-time national slam champion Maureen Onwunali.

Rich with political observations and carefully crafted verse, her work has been featured by musicians, radio shows and organisations, such as the British Film Institute, Penguin, BBC, Roundhouse, Apples and Snakes, Obsidian Foundation and the Poetry Society. Box office: seetickets.com/event/say-owt-slam-featuring-maureen-onwunali/the-crescent/3588134. 

 Jacqueline James: Demonstrating her hand-woven rug-making in Rosslyn Street, Clifton, at York Open Studios

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm

ARTISTS and makers involved in York Open Studios are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios within York and a ten-mile radius of the city, in readiness to welcome visitors across two weekends.

This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular participant or the 27 newcomers, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.

Book launch event of the week: Michelle Hughes, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, The Harriet Room, York Cemetery, York, April 15, 6.30pm

Michelle Hughes at work on a linocut. Picture: Jackson Portraiture

YORK printmaker Michelle Hughes is holding a special evening to celebrate the launch of her book Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut and her upcoming tenth anniversary in business.

Published in February, Michelle’s beautifully illustrated book shares how to design, carve and print birds and wildlife using traditional linocut techniques, guiding readers from simple one-colour prints through to more advanced multi-colour methods, including jigsaw, reduction and multi-block printing.

“Whether you are completely new to linocut or already exploring printmaking, the book offers clear step-by-step guidance, practical tips and creative inspiration for capturing birds and wildlife in this rewarding craft,” says Michelle.

She started her creative business on June 1 2016 in the wake of her fourth redundancy. After a 25-year career in design, she decided to take a leap by working for herself.

The cover artwork for Michelle Hughes’s book Printings Birds and Wildlife in Linocut

What began with freelance graphic design and a few linocut prints has grown into a thriving creative practice. Today, Michelle creates limited-edition linocut prints, teaches in-person workshops, runs online courses for students around the world and produces commissions for organisations, including the National Trust.

What to expect at the event:

  • A short talk about Michelle’s journey to becoming a professional printmaker
  • Behind-the-scenes insights into how the book was created
  • The chance to see original prints and lino blocks featured in the book
  • A Q&A session about linocut printmaking
  • Book signing
  • Opportunity to buy signed copies

“Come and celebrate wildlife, printmaking and the joy of carving and printing by hand,” says Michelle, who will be participating in York Open Studios 2026 at Venue 37, in St Swithin’s Walk, Holgate, York, on April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 15, from Gazette & Herald

Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

HAMLET on a sinking ship, family politics on a calamitous wedding day and artists’ studios opening on two weekends are the headline acts on Charles Hutchinson’s latest bill of arts delights.

Titanic anniversary event of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7pm plus 1.30pm, April 16 and 2pm, April 18

LET director Rupert Goold introduce the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, starring Ralph Davis, as the tour sets sail for York on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s descent to the depths. “Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” he says.

“Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. This production asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott’s Marek and Joy Warner’s Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Family politics of the week: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm, tonight to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday

PREMIERED at the National Theatre in 2024 and now receiving its York premiere, Beth Steel’s contemporary British family drama is set on the wedding day of Sylvia and Marek in a South Yorkshire mining town.

Directed by Angie Millard, Till The Stars Come Down explores the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family in a changing world of economic  decline and political shifts as long-held secrets, passions, and tensions surrounding class, immigration, and social change spill over into chaos and tragedy. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Aggers & Tuffers: The chatter of cricket and the clatter of wickets at York Barbican

Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell in An Audience With Aggers & Tuffers, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

TEST Match Special commentator-and-pundit duo Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell take to the road for more cricket chat from beyond the boundary. Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler and three-decade BBC cricket correspondent Aggers teams up anew with record-breaking former England spin bowler and crowd favourite Tuffers, who gives his spin on his maverick playing days and second wind as a media personality on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and A Question Of Sport. Box office update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Patricia Veale School of Dance: Showcasing young talent in Show Dance

Dance show of the week: Patricia Veale School of Dance in Show Dance, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm, and Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

IN an exciting celebration of dance, the Patricia Veale School of Dance showcases its talented dancers in their very first Show Dance, drawing inspiration from classic musicals on film  and Broadway, complete with top hats, flair and razzle-dazzle. Expect a vibrant mix of ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap and much more besides. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rainey’s Revue: Evoking A Night In Harlem in….Helmsley

Jazz gig of the week: Rainey’s Revue: A Night In Harlem, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

LED by Richard Exall on tenor saxophone and clarinet and musical director Dom Barnett on piano, Rainey’s Revue presents meticulous arrangements of Ma Rainey’s songs while capturing the essence of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. 

Sam Kelly, on drums, and Marianne Windham, on double bass, set the rhythmic foundation for the enchanting voices of Chrissie Myles and Emily Windham, whose vocals evoke the jazz clubs of yesteryear. Box office: 01439 771700 or  helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club presents David Eagle, Anth Young and Nicola Mantalios, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

HILARITY Bites headliner David Eagle has performed on BBC Radio 2’s topical comedy series The Now Show, supports Boothby Graffoe on tour frequently and is one third of three-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winning band The Young’uns. Being blind, his comedy often explores how his disability means the most ordinary, commonplace events are turned into surreal and convoluted dramas.

Fellow north eastern act Anth Young finished runner-up in the Great Yorkshire Fringe New Comedian of the Year competition in 2017 in York. Completing the bill, Greek-Geordie bisexual comedian Nicola Mantalios won the 2025 Funny Women Stage Awards, hosts weekend shows at Newcastle Stand and runs her own gigs, such as Queers and Beers, in Newcastle. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Rollin Stoned: Covering the hits and deeper cuts from The Rolling Stones’ 1960s’ catalogue at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: The Rollin Stoned, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

THE rock’n’roll circus rolls into Malton for a tribute to The Rolling Stones that focuses on the Brian Jones years from 1964 to 1969.  Now in its 27th year, in The Rollin Stoned show the costumes are shamelessly camp, gaudy and fabulous, the instruments vintage, the wit irreverent, the trademark tongue never far from the cheek, but never to the detriment of the music.

As Keith Richards’ late mother, Doris, once remarked of the line-up featuring Mick Jaguar, Byron Jones, Keith Retched, Bill Wymandy, Charlie Waits and pianist Nicky Popkins: “Phenomenal…I can’t wait to tell Keith and  Mick that you could easily stand in for them.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Prachi Bhatnagar: Making York Open Studios debut at her Ouse Lea studio in York

Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm

ARTISTS and makers involved in York Open Studios are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios within York and a ten-mile radius of the city, in readiness to welcome visitors across two weekends.

This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular participant or the 27 newcomers, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.

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The Bard heads to the bar as Love’s Labours Lost hits Nineties’ club scene in Anna Gallon’s slice of nightlife for YSP

Cassi Roberts, left, Grace Scott and Vicky Hatt rehearsing for York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost. Picture: John Saunders

ANNA Gallon is directing York Shakespeare Project for the first time in Love’s Labour’s Lost as Shakespeare meets the 1990s’ club scene in an exciting new take on the Bard’s early comedy.

Her immersive production, set in the heat and heighted passions of urban nightlife, will run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from next Wednesday to Saturday as part of the 2026 York International Shakespeare Festival.

 “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Anna as our director,” says YSP chair Tony Froud. “She emerged from an outstanding group of applicants, since when she has brought energy and excitement into the rehearsal room. This promises to translate into a totally memorable and entertaining show.

“York is very fortunate to have so many outstanding young directors. This production will show Anna as a key member of that group.”

Anna is co-founder and artistic director of York theatre company Four Wheel Drive, perhaps best known for its 2023 production of The Trial Of Margaret Clitheroe in the Guildhall. She also appeared as Lucetta in YSP’s The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, directed by Tempest Wisdom in 2024.

Love’s Labours Lost director Anna Gallon: “I want this comedy of discipline versus desire to play out not in a palace, but in a bar, where vows are as fragile as your morals after one too many tequila shots,” she says

 “I’m thrilled to be directing Love’s Labour’s Lost for YSP,” she says. “It’s a dazzling, witty play about language, love and self-discovery – and I can’t wait to bring it to life in a way that feels vibrant and connected to the world we live in today.”

Set firmly in the here and now, Anna’s Love’s Labour’s Lost will re-imagine Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy of wit, wordplay, vows and romantic mischief on the nocturnal tiles. Her playful reinvention promises to mix verse, rhythm, dance and striking visuals to create a fresh and contemporary celebration of love, temptation and folly.

The King of Navarre and his three companions are re-imagined by Anna as the DJs who once ruled York’s club scene but have now renounced the wild world of drink, dance and late nights, committing themselves instead to a retreat of abstinence: no women, no drink and definitely no dance floors.

However, when the Princess of France and her entourage arrive, their solemn vows begin to unravel, as Anna explores with mischievous glee. “I want this comedy of discipline versus desire to play out not in a palace, but in a bar, where vows are as fragile as your morals after one too many tequila shots,” she says.

Ben Reeves Rowley: Progressing from Summer Sonnets to principal role in York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost. Picture: John Saunders

“My interpretation uses Shakespeare’s original language but finds playful, recognisable parallels for modern audiences: ageing players try to resist temptation, while nightlife culture collides with wellness culture and the irresistible force of love.”

As a key element of Anna’s production, the audience will find Theatre@41’s John Cooper Studio transformed from black box into a nightclub. “The bar setting will place Shakespeare into a familiar social space,” she says. “Instead of watching from a distance, theatregoers will find themselves inside the comedy: vows made across tables, love confessions unfolding on dance floors. It will be a shared night out for all.”

Anna’s cast features many faces familiar to York audiences, such as Ian Giles as Don Adriano de Armado, Tempest Wisdom as his page Moth, Harry Summers as Longaville and Nick Patrick Jones as Berowne, complemented by six actors new to YSP, Nason Crone’s Dumaine, Vicky Hatt’s Katherine, Helen Clarke’s Boyet, Elizabeth Duggan’s Costard, Stephen Huws’ Holofernes and Sarah McKeagney’s Sir Nathaniel.

Tony enthuses: “We are very excited that Anna’s production has attracted so many actors who are working with us for the first time. Only three of this cast appeared in our last show, Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, at Theatre@41 last October. It’s a very healthy and invigorating mix.

Ian Giles rehearsing the role of Don Adriano de Armado

“In a very strong cast, it’s particularly pleasing to YSP to see Grace Scott and Ben Reeves Rowley in the central parts of Rosaline and the King of Navarre. Both first appeared in our annual Summer Sonnets show and it’s great to see them progressing to major parts in a full production.”

Love’s Labours Lost is the latest staging post in York Shakespeare Project’s 25-year programme to perform all 37 plays, plus plays by his contemporaries, in innovative and engaging ways from 2023 to 2048. Coming next will be the autumn production of The Comedy Of Errors, Shakespeare’s shortest play, the chaotic one with two sets of identical twins separated at birth that accidentally end up in the same city.

More immediately, why should you see YSP’s Love’s Labours Lost? Let veteran cast member Ian Giles entice you: “Off the scale for daring entertainment, one of Shakespeare’s most verbal comedies is set in King’s Night Spot in 2005 with a soundtrack of Nineties and Noughties’ belters – what could possibly go wrong (or should that be right)? Come and find out.”

York Shakespeare Project presents Love’s Labour’s Lost, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Tempest Wisdom’s Moth in rehearsal for Love’s Labours Lost

Who’s in the cast for York Shakespeare Project’s Love’s Labours Lost

BEN Reeves Rowley, Ferdinand, King of Navarre; Nick Patrick Jones, Berowne; Harry Summers, Longaville; Nason Crone*, Dumaine; Charlie Barrs, The Princess of France; Grace Scott, Rosaline; Cassi Roberts, Maria; Vicky Hatt*, Katherine; Helen Clarke*, Boyet; Ian Giles, Don Adriano de Armado; Tempest Wisdom, Moth; Elizabeth Duggan*, Costard; Stephen Huws*, Holofernes; Sarah McKeagney*, Sir Nathaniel; James Tyler, Dull/Marcade; Pearl Mollison, Jaquenetta, and David Lee, Forrester

* New to York Shakespeare Project

York Shakespeare Project’s mirror-ball poster for Love’s Labours Lost

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York Actors Collective stages York premiere of Beth Steel’s mining family drama Till The Stars Come Down at Theatre@41

Newly wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott as Marek and Joy Warner as Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

YORK Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard moved quickly to acquire the amateur performing rights for Beth Steel’s Till The Stars Come Down.

“The West End run only closed at the end of last September, after transferring from the National Theatre,” she says as she prepares to present this contemporary British family drama at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from April 14 to 18.

“I applied very early, because I liked the sound of the play, but didn’t think I’d get the rights, but no touring company jumped on it, so my application was successful.”

Premiered at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre from January 2024, the Olivier Award-nominated Till The Stars Come Down is set at the wedding of Sylvia and Marek in a former mining town in Steel’s exploration of the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family.

Long-held secrets, passions, tensions and social changes transform the celebration into a chaotic blend of humour and tragedy in a play with “themes of racism and xenophobia, reference to suicide, scenes of a sexual nature and depictions of mild violence”.

“When I started reading the play, it resonated with me, because not only am I one of three sisters – like in the play – but also there’s very little I haven’t come across at weddings or funerals, such as deciding who should sit at the top table,” says Angie. “So, in one rehearsal, I did a game of ‘Status’, asking each of the cast to say what they thought their character’s status was.

“The other thing that resonated the most was the emotional problems that happen in the family – and I’ve encountered all of them in the emotional conflicts of sisters.”

Clare Halliday in the role of eldest sister Hazel – the bigoted one- painting her toe nails in Till The Stars Come Down

Angie continues: “There are a lot of things to think about in this play, and as everything in set out in the first half, the audience will have plenty to reflect on in the interval.

“There is stress throughout, which is covered by the humour that the cast are finding ever more ways to express, but because Sylvia is marrying a Polish man, it brings out racial issues.

“They are a dysfunctional family, though they think they’re not, but the sisters come together at the end, turning their back on their relationships to put the sisters first, which makes it even more dysfunctional. It’s a little bit like Alan Ayckbourn in style because it embraces farce as well as the clever use of language.”

Angie did not see the London production – “I purposely never do that,” she says – but was aware that it was staged in the round with a revolving stage. “I thought, ‘put that to one side, look at the text’. That was my first job.

“I wanted to do it with a rake stage, with everyone looking in the same direction, as frankly I’ve been to too many productions where I haven’t been able to see all the actors’ faces, seeing them with their back to you or in profile. I wanted to do it ‘old style’ and make it work that way.

“I thought, why should how it was done in the West End stop me from doing such a well-written play?’. I was determined to see the play staged my way, starting with getting ready in the house for the wedding, with one door for that, then the pub for the wedding breakfast, in the middle, and then Hazel’s house at the end, with two doors because you can get to the kitchen via the sitting room.”

Three sisters: Clare Halliday’s Hazel, left, Joy Warner’s Sylvia and Victoria Delaney’s Maggie lining up for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Angie adds: “I also had to re-think some of the characterisation as Beth [who grew up in the colliery town of Shirebrook, near Mansfield] set the play in Nottinghamshire but we’ve moved it to Yorkshire, because I’m from Sheffield originally and went to a Catholic primary school in a mining village, Spinkhill, and found myself speaking two languages, one at school, one at home. So I’ve set it in South Yorkshire, 30 years on from Thatcher’s dispute with the miners.”

Angie’s cast includes three actors new to the company: Laura Haynes-Bury as Leanne, Leeds actor Darren Barrott as Marek and Daniel Wilmot as Uncle Pete. “Laura has just finished her drama degree in York and she’s so dynamic,” says the director.

“This is the first time she’s worked with non-student adults and she brings so much to this play. I’ve never worked with someone so young and so talented. She has this wonderfully expressive non-expressive face, if you know what I mean.

“Darren caught the eye in Settlement Players’ Party Piece last October. We’re seeing an actor who’s just open to trying anything and his own personality doesn’t come into it at all. He’s fitted in very well with us.

“Daniel is a York actor and writer who has his own company, Baron Productions,  and he’s joining us to play the small role of Uncle Pete, a miner who didn’t cross the picket line.”

Together they add to expanding roster of York Actors Collective in Angie Millard’s fifth production, one that she will mine to its deepest seam.

York Actors Collective presents Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Lucinda Rennison’s Aunty Carol and company debutante Laura Haynes-Bury’s Leanne in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down

Who is in York Actors Collective’s cast for Till The Stars Come Down?

DARREN Barrott, as Marek; Victoria Delaney, Maggie; Clare Halliday, Hazel; Laura Haynes-Bury, Leanne; Chris Pomfrett, Tony; Lucinda Rennison, Aunty Carol; Neil Vincent, John; Joy Warner, Sylvia, and Daniel Wilmot, Uncle Pete.

Victoria, last seen in York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills at York Theatre Royal Studio in February, has taken over the role of Maggie in a late change of cast. “As always, Vic has proved to be a wonderful replacement,” says director Angie Millard.

York Actors Collective founder and director Angie Millard, left, with stage manager Em Peattie

Angie Millard: Back story

INVOLVED with theatre since her teens, this continued as a drama student at Warwick University and at Jim Haine’s Arts Lab in Drury Lane, London.

Worked in Theatre in Education groups at Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, and Greenwich Theatre,  London.

After moving north 20 years ago, she joined the casts of many York Theatre Royal community productions and the York Mystery Plays. Then, via York Settlement Community Players, she returned to directing, launching York Actors Collective in 2023.

This independent group has come together to perform plays and to offer thought- provoking and entertaining theatre, staging Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 2023, Alexander Zeldin’s Beyond Caring in 2024 and Nina Raine’s Tiger Country last year at Theatre@41, Monkgate, as well as J. M. Barrie’s Mary Rose at York Theatre Royal Studio in Autumn 2024.

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Teacher James B Partridge holds York Barbican assembly for Primary School Bangers. Put it on Saturday’s timetable

James B Partridge: From viral videos on TikTok to concert halls with his Primary School Bangers. Picture: Rebecca Johnson

VIRAL sensation and “Britain’s favourite primary school teacher” James B Partridge turns York Barbican into a school hall assembly on Saturday in the only Yorkshire date of his Primary School Bangers spring term.

After notching more than 71 million views of his videos online  on YouTube and TikTok, James is bringing even more of the iconic songs that defined our childhoods to theatres and concert halls throughout April 2026.

Expect classic school-day singalongs of hymns and songs “we were forced to do in assembly” in a night of heart-on-sleeve nostalgia, delivered with James’s trademark infectious joy as he follows up his sold-out Big Christmas Assembly tour.

What started as a few playful videos of James performing songs for his pupils in the classroom has grown into a nationwide phenomenon, spreading from social-media fame to a field-closing Glastonbury set, featured on the BBC’s festival highlights, all while he continues to teach primary school children during the week.

“I’ve brought the show to York before,” James recalls. “I came to Theatre@41, Monkgate, twice in 2023, when I first started doing the early version of Primary School Bangers [or Primary School Assembly Bangers as it was first known], beginning in February that year.

Alan Park: Chair of the board at Theatre @41, Monkgate, where James B Partridge played twice in the first year of Primary School Bangers and Big Christmas Assembly in 2023

“I spent quite a while emailing arts centres and venues, including Alan Park at Theatre@41, when I presented what looked like this nerdy spread sheet! The initial pitch was: ‘Are you are up for a night of school assembly singalongs?’ – and lot of venues just pressed ‘Delete’.”

Not Alan Park, however. “If I can put in a shameless plug for Theatre@41, James’s pitch chimed with our policy of bringing new artists to York,” says chair of the board Alan. “We pride ourselves on looking at everything we’re sent, and we thought it was a great idea as he’d had such success online.

“I was bowled over when it sold out, and then the second show – his Christmas Assembly show – sold out as well, and I’m so pleased he’s now going to play York Barbican. I like how performers can start here, because we’re open to taking a gamble on them, and then they grow and go on to bigger things.”

 As James recalls: “At that first show I did in York in June 2023, there was a combination of  people who’d seen what I’d done online, plus some curious locals, with a general demographic of people in their late-30s to their 50s. A lot of them were in their 40s – and a lot of them were teachers.

“Luckily Theatre@41 invited me back in November 2023 for The Big Christmas Assembly, although that was a slightly misleading title as most of the venues had a capacity under 100 – but the only way is up!

“I just through they’d be fun videos for my family and friends to reminisce about, but they translated to all sorts of people that I’d never met,” says James

“I was playing a combination of studio theatres, cabaret venues and venues above pubs, but thankfully the concept has grown, when at first it was very much a case of seeing how it goes by posting videos online.”

Those videos had caught the eye and ear because James had chosen to go “left-field”. “I put my top five Easter hymns on there and then my Top Ten Primary School Bangers. I just through they’d be fun videos for my family and friends to reminisce about, but they translated to all sorts of people that I’d never met.

“Then, when we made it out of lockdown, I also resumed my function band, Truly Medley Deeply, playing songs from the Sixties to the present day – I still play with them occasionally – but I was raring to go with Primary School Bangers, and came up with idea of a immersive theatre show after the videos.”

James’s combination of harmony, humour and heart has gone on to strike a chord with audiences of every generation, as they recall childhood days of standing in school assemblies in the lunch hall/sports hall/exam hall, half-heartedly singing a bunch of songs, but now singing those same songs at the top of their voice along with everyone else in the room.

Alongside his live shows, James has performed with Gareth Malone’s Voices at the Royal Variety Show, provided vocals for Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and Electric Light Orchestra and appeared on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio Breakfast Show, BBC Breakfast, CBBC Newsround, ITV’s This Morning, BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show, BBC One’s The One Show and Songs of Praise: The Big School Assembly Singalong.

“I feel the perfect way to start the school day is through a bit of communal singing,” says James. Picture: Rebecca Johnson

James grew up in Poole, Dorset, where he could walk down the street where he lived to attend Stanley Green First School, and now teaches seven to 11-year-olds at Kensington Prep School, in South London, as a freelance.

“I used to teach at St Paul’s Junior School [in London], and I’ll be going back there to lead some singing workshops because even at a school like that, where they have I Vow To Thee My Country as their school hymn, they don’t do much singing,” he says.

“I feel the perfect way to start the school day is through a bit of communal singing. It could be a folk song; it could be a pop song; we could sing Bob Dylan or Peter Seeger’s song If I Had A Hammer; songs that are child-friendly to sing; songs about racial equality.”

Singing can benefit us all, believes James. “I do feel that when people come to Primary School Bangers, they feel uplifted,” he says. “That’s not exclusive to my show but it’s a product of being part of a group singing together and feeling the power of doing that.

“Looking at our phone usage, especially with the slightly ironically called ‘social media’, when it’s not social at all and can fuel anti-social thought, you can get siloed into a thought bubble where you can’t be friendly with someone with different political views, but singing together, you sing in harmony.

James B Partridge’s poster for Primary School Bangers: Put it on the weekend timetable

“Though that sounds idealistic, in reality, whether for physical or mental benefit, singing is the best thing to do – and it always has been, from sea-shanty singing onwards. It’s always been part of community, and it’s only now that it’s dwindled, but my dream would be to create a radio or TV programme on the BBC, like Gareth Malone did 20 years, to make that kind of impact.”

How would James define a “Primary School Banger”? Not The Wheels On The Bus, apparently! “I would argue that’s probably a pre-school banger, so that could be a whole new show,” he says.

“A  ‘Primary School Banger’ is a tune that lots of people enjoyed singing at school and loved singing along to, which includes hymns like All Things Bright And Beautiful and Morning Is Broken, but also new worship songs that were sung across the UK as part of school assembly.”

Whether you are a teacher, a parent, or just someone who remembers every word to He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands, Primary School Bangers will be a class act this weekend. 

James B Partridge, Primary School Bangers, York Barbican, Saturday (4/4/2026), doors 7pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also playing two Yorkshire autumn dates: Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, September 21, and CAST, Doncaster, September 22. Box office: jamesbpartridge.com.

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REVIEW: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until April 4 ***

Andrew Isherwood’s cast in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal: back row, from left, Ryan Richardson’s Dr Madden/DrFine, Matthew Warry’s Gabe, Dale Vaughan’s Dan, Niamh Rose’s Natalie and Fergus Green’s Henry; front, Monica Frost’s Diana. Picture: Emil Marczuk

BRIAN Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s 2009 triple Tony Award-winning American musical carries a content warning on the Theatre@41 website and noticeboards.

“Please note, that Next To Normalincludes depictions of various mental health conditions and disorders, including bipolar disorder, anxiety, and grief,” it reads. “The production also includes depictions and discussion of drug use, self-harm, death, and medical trauma.”

At the heart of this intimate exploration of family and illness, loss and grief is electroconvulsive therapy, but audiences are in for shock treatment too. Pick Me Up Theatre’s show is loud, very loud, sometimes too loud, and while loathe to call it an aural assault, the combination of a score operatic in dramatic scale, propelled by rock guitars as much as keyboards, and vexatious singing, where voices rise and rise and overlap, can become too much, too big.

Your senses take one heck of a bashing, nothing by comparison with grief-riven suburban American wife and mother Diana’s 16 years of manic depression, granted, but you might want to let out a scream, if it were not so indelicate to do so.

Imagine a union of Alanis Morissette’s Thank U and Greek tragedy, as intense as clenched teeth, as restless as waiting for test results, in a musical stronger on malady than melody, as too many modern American shows are.

Director Andrew Isherwood, on an award-winning hot streak, seeks to find a chink of light in the shroud of darkness, drawing on the sporadic shards of humour, particularly in Act One, but they tend to sit awkwardly, as jagged as broken glass, under the weight of Kitt’s oppressive, largely depressive music.

Leading a merry dance: Ryan Richardson’s Dr Madden in a clasp with Monica Frost’s Diana. Picture: Joanna Hird

We meet the family in Robert Readman’s dark design of the kitchen, with a stairway to the bedrooms on the mezzanine level above. Between pillars can be seen musical director James Robert Ball’s band, Ball pretty much out of view but playing as beautifully as ever on the keyboard, complemented by Helen Warry’s violin and synths, Georgia Johnson’s bass, Joel Fergusson’s drums, Catherine Strachan’s cello and  Neil Morgan’s itchy guitar.

Pent-up dad Dan (Dale Vaughan) is an architect trying to hold the increasingly flimsy domestic structure in place. Mum  Diana is always in a rush but going nowhere fast, talking in front of the children of nipping upstairs for sex, making sandwiches for packed lunches, but she is cutting them on the floor.  

“Happy Easter,” she says, when teenage daughter Natalie points out that the wall calendar remains on April from the year before. Nothing she says makes sense, says Dan, confiding in the audience as he breaks down theatre’s fourth wall.

Natalie (a suitably prickly Niamh Rose) is bright, but agitated, her behaviour gradually mirroring her mother, distant, even sour, when fellow student Henry (Fergus Green) will not be put off by her cold shoulder. Eyes are said to be the window to the soul, but both Rose and Green have a curtain of hair, in the manner of Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke’s Kevin & Perry.

Brother Gabe (Matthew Warry) flits in and out, always in his mum’s corner and ear but often at odds with his dad. His story is central to her decline, but it would be wrong to give away the full details here, as the revelation needs to be gradual.

Frost looks younger than she is playing, Rose older, which is initially disorientating, but the characterisation and mannerisms soon emphasise the age difference.

Monica Frost’s Diana, Matthew Warry’s Gabe and Dale Vaughan’s Dan in the kitchen in Next To Normal. Picture: Joanna Hird

Your reviewer may not be alone in not connecting with any of the family members, in part because of so much self-pitying song content, while Green’s stoner Henry is something of a saint for persisting in caring for Natalie.

If laughter is the best medicine, then Ryan Richardson has his moments as a brace of doctors, Dr Madden and Dr Fine. Note the names: Madden and Fine, specialists in dealing with mental illness and trying to make you feel fine. Richardson has a disarming manner, something of the night about him, but more Dr Frank-N-Furter than Dr Frankenstein, putting the scare into care, yet always seeking to be reassuring despite all the shortfalls and pitfalls  in Diana’s ECT treatment.

Next To Normal is pretty much a sung-through musical, with only the briefest bursts of dialogue leading to the next outburst in song. More to-and-fro talk, fewer stand-and-deliver songs, would have been a better balance, rounding out the characterisation more fully too, a deficiency that undermined the show publicity’s promise of “presenting the family’s story with love, sympathy and heart”. Alas, your reviewer did not feel any of those emotions being stirred.

“Next to normal” is not only how the dysfunctional family eventually settles on living but sums up this musical too: it is indeed next to normal – if the likes of Six, Legally Blonde, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Buddy and Calendar Girls pass as normal – in being so discomforting, disquieting, musically unnerving, mentally exhausting, as unflinching as Spring Awakening.

The performances are better than the show, Ball’s band pulling out all the strings, and Isherwood’s cast equally committed to going hell for leather when in collective song, especially in the high-stakes sparring of Vaughan and Warry. Tenderness has its place too, and those songs are more rewarding, especially when Frost’s Diana is at her most emotionally damaged.

“There will be light, there will be light, there will be light, there will be light,” concludes the closing song Light, an assertion that feels wholly unconvincing, like the restoration of order at the end of Macbeth.

Pick Me Up Theatre, Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until April 4; 7.30pm nightly except Sunday; 2.30pm matinees, tomorrow, Sunday and next Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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Black Sheep Theatre puts justice on trial in Parade at Joseph Rowntree Theatre amid religious intolerance and racial tension

Dan Poppitt, Charlie Clarke and Georgina Burt in rehearsal for Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ Parade

MURDER in myriad forms is making its way on to North Yorkshire’s stages this spring, whether Tigerslane Studios’ real-true-crime courtroom drama Murder Trial Tonight IV: Death Of A Landlord at York Barbican last Sunday or Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair’s madcap musical whodunit Murder For Two, “putting the laughter into manslaughter” at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from Saturday.

Next comes York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ staging of Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s stirring Tony Award-winning musical Parade, first performed in 1998 and now more topical than ever in its exploration of love and hope against the odds, set against a backdrop of religious intolerance, political injustice and rising racial tension.

The tragic true story of the trial and lynching of  a man wrongly accused of murder will be brought to life anew at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from April 1 to 4.

The setting is 1913, when Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, is put on trial for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, his only defenders are a governor with a conscience and his assimilated Jewish wife, who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion when the world seems against you and receiving a fair trial might prove impossible.

Director/musical director  Matthew Peter Clare welcomes the chance to put Parade on parade. “It was due to be done in Leeds but that production got pulled because of Covid,” he says. “It’s not been done in York for at least a decade, and it’s fantastic for us to get hold of the rights, but it is an upsetting piece.

“It’s set in Marietta, near Atlanta, Georgia, post the race riots there, but pre the Great Depression and it’s based on a real-life trial of Leo Frank, who worked in middle management as a superintendent in a pencil factory.

“When one of the employees, Mary Phagan, is murdered, instead of doing a proper investigation, they arrest the nearest Jewish guy – whereas the the nearest black guy is let off because of the race riots, when politically it now wasn’t seen to be right to prosecute a black man.

“So they go with prosecuting Leo Frank, with all the prejudices  of the public heavily influencing the trial with the attitude of ‘he’s Jewish, so get rid.’”

Parade chimes with Black Sheep’s policy of presenting “theatre with a point  that encourages audience reflection”. “This is a show that, like our productions of Elegies For Angels, Punks And Raging Queens and Falsettos, is pushing the concept of ‘other’ to the front and shows the impact of moving against the ‘other’ at a time of racial prejudice,” says Matthew.

Playing the role of Leo Frank will be Black Sheep regular Dan Poppitt. “With regard to Leo, we said from very early on in rehearsals that he was not raised in Atlanta, unlike his wife Lucille, but from Brooklyn, and only moved there when offered a job by Lucille’s uncle, so Leo is seen as a Jewish man first, whereas Lucille is seen as Georgian first, Jewish second,” he says

“These are the nuances that we wanted to promote: the significance of his Jewish heritage and how that leads to prejudice.”

Dan has been particularly keen to be authentic in his portrayal. “Like having to learn Hebrew,” he says. “I’ve studied it phonetically to make sure that the dialogue is pronounced accurately.

Eloise Schneck rehearsing her role as Mary Phagan in Parade

“It’s a case of speaking it properly and with clear intention and how it should be delivered in society at that time.”

Molly Whitehouse is playing Leo’s wife Lucille, an assimilated Jewish woman, which means she “adopts the language, dress and secular cultural habits of the majority population”.

“I’m a northerner first and had a very secular upbringing,” she says. “That regional identity that you draw so much pride from, especially as a queer, working-class woman, can put you on the edge of the community.

“In Lucille’s case, she is already so close to the border of what’s acceptable in Georgia.”

Charlie Clarke has four roles in Parade, two on stage, as Mrs Phagan and Sally Slaton, and two off, as assistant director and choreographer. “I don’t do things by halves!” she says. “Luckily with Matthew directing and being the musical director too, I can spread what I do.

“As choreographer and assistant director, we’ve spoken about how each actor has to give each character their own identity, like Reggie Challenor playing two characters [Jim Conley and Newt Lee] who are the complete antithesis of each other.

“We’ve also discussed how, first of all, they’re all representing real people on stage and how they must make sure that’s pushed through in their performances – and the cast have been really receptive to that.

“We have to ensure we tell the story with truth because, before it’s a musical, it’s a true story.”

Dan rejoins: “I think, especially with a stage show, it’s very easy to forget they’re real characters, but every single person in the show was a real person with a life from before the show’s story began.”

The design will be “incredibly minimalist,” says Matthew. “The blocks we used in Falsettos will be used again, but in a different way, not to evoke houses but the red hills of Georgia. They’re being utilised either as part of the choreography or they’re serving as the landscape.”

Should you be wondering, Parade is so named because the story opens and closes on the day of the Marietta parade for the Confederates’ Memorial Day. “So that’s the framing device, celebrating Georgian identity, but unfortunately there’s a dark underside to that identity, where it prevails, being regardless of the truth in this trial,” says Matthew.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk

Who’s in the cast for Parade?

Dan Poppitt as Leo Frank; Molly Whitehouse, Lucille Frank; Reggie Challenor, Jim Conley/Newt Lee; Eloise Schneck, Mary Phagan; Oskar Nuttall, Frankie Epps/Young Soldier; Mark Simmonds, Governor Slaton/Old Slaton; Charlie Clarke, Mrs Phagan/Sally Slaton; Pauline Tomlin, Minnie McKnight; Jack Hooper, Hugh Dorsey; Richard Bayton, Britt Craig; Georgina Burt, Iola Stover;  David Copley Martin, Judge Roan; Jack James Fry, Luther Rosser/Officer Ivey; Sophia Razak, Essie, and Sarah Rudd, Monteen.

Who’s in the production team?

Director and musical director: Matthew Peter Clare; assistant director & choreographer: Charlie Clarke; assistant choreographer& welfare officer: Jack James Fry; costumier: Molly Whitehouse; sound designer: Ollie Nash; lighting designer: Adam Kirkwood; stage managers: Megan Bostock & Steve Hibbs.

Coming next from Black Sheep Theatre Productions

They did the monster match: Dan Poppitt’s Alan and Molly Whitehouse’s Minnie in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ poster for Love At First Bite

JOSH Woodgate will direct Dan Poppitt and Molly Whitehouse’s seductive new work Love At First Bite at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from June 4 to 6.

“Dating can be hell, but what if one of them was a creature of the night?” ponder the co-writers.

What happens? Alan and Minnie meet at a speed-dating night. A spark flickers. Dates follow. Laughter lingers.

“Yet beneath the rhythms of a familiar rom-com, something waits in the dark,” say Poppitt and Whitehouse, who will play the lovers. “One of them is a vampire — but the secret shifts. Each night, the actors trade fangs, and the audience is left to wonder who is hunter, who is prey.”

Blending sharp-fanged wit with a brush of gothic shadow, Love At First Bite toys with romance, rewrites folklore and invites audiences to consider what it means to love…and to hunger!

Woodgate’s production will mark Black Sheep’s return to Theatre@41, Monkgate, after last year’s staging of The Tempest and The Inner Selves. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 12, from Gazette & Herald

Dale Vaughan, front, with Monica Frost and Matthew Warry, in a scene from Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal. Picture: Joanna Hird

A DYSFUNCTIONAL American family musical, a spirited band of newsboys, a madcap murder mystery and a bakery burlesque night confirm variety is the spice of Charles Hutchinson’s arts life.

American musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to April 4, 7.30pm except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm matinees, Saturday, Sunday and April 4

ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning musical exploration of family and illness, loss and grief as a suburban American household copes with crisis and mental illness.

Dad is an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens but their lives are anything but normal, because Mom has been battling manic depression for 16 years.Next To Normal presents their story with love, sympathy and heart. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns on board a baguette at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Cabaret of the week: Freida Nipples presents Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Friday, 8pm, doors 7pm

YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, swaps teas for tease as she turns the bakery cafe into a cabaret joint for a night of fun, frolics and freedom of expression in all shapes and sizes.

On the fabulously zesty menu will be Donna Divine, Ezme Pump, Callum Robshaw and Freida herself, hosted by Harvey Rose. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Tribute show of the week: The Supermodels, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

BACK by popular demand, The Supermodels return to Pickering with hits aplenty from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, from The Who to Led Zeppelin, Abba to A-ha Abba, ELO to Queen, Erasure to Oasis. The show is “guaranteed to put a smile on your face”, but book promptly because a sell-out is predicted. Box office:  01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

The Snake Davis Trio: Jazz, soul, tales and banter at Helmsley Arts Centre

Jazz gig of the week: The Snake Davis Trio, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST to the stars Snake Davis teams up with his best buddies, trumpet player Johnny Thirkell and guitarist Mark Creswell, for a night of gorgeously mellow musicianship infused with jazz, soul and pop. Expect beautiful tunes, fascinating tales and bags of banter. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Lucy Keirl in rehearsal for Murder For Two at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Whodunit of the week: Murder For Two, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Saturday to April 18

JOE Kinosian and Kellen Blair’s fast-paced musical whodunit is a madcap murder mystery with a twist, performed by two actors, Tom Babbage and Lucy Keirl , who play 13 characters between them, plus the piano, as they put the laughter into manslaughter.

When famous novelist Arthur Whitney is found dead at his birthday party, it is time to call in the detectives, but they are out of town. Enter Officer Marcus Moscowicz, a neighbourhood cop who dreams of climbing the ranks. Here is his chance to prove his super sleuthing skills and solve the crime before the real detective arrives. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The clock is ticking: James Bye, left, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn in 2:22 A Ghost Story, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Supernatural thriller of the week: 2:22 A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, March 30 to April 4, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

“THERE’S something in our house. I hear it every night. At the same time,” says Jenny, who believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam is having none of it. Whereupon they argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben. Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening and is moving closer. Only by staying up until 2:22 will they know the answer.

James Bye, Shvorne Marks, Natalie Casey and Grant Kilburn perform Uncanny and The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s supernatural thriller, the Best New Play winner at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, on its return to York. As secrets emerge and ghosts may or may not appear, dare you discover the truth? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions on Parade in the rehearsal room for next week’s musical at the JoRo

The other American musical of the week: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Parade, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

PRESENTED by York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions under the direction of Matthew Peter Clare, Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s stirring Tony Award-winning musical explores love and hope against the odds, set against a backdrop of political injustice and rising racial tension. 

Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew, is put on trial for murder, but when the world seems against you, receiving a fair trial might prove impossible. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Beth Steel’s Sandy and Jonathan Stockill’s Danny in Ryedale Youth Theatre’s production of Grease The Musical

You’re the one that they want: Ryedale Youth Theatre in Grease The Musical, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 1 to 4, 7.15pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

EACH Easter, Ryedale Youth Theatre welcomes up to 70 young people to participate in a theatre production. This time the show will be Grease, featuring book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and songs from the 1978 film by arrangement with Robert Stigwood.

Ryedale Youth Theatre heads back to the summer of 1959 at Rydell High to follow the epic love story of Danny and Sandy.  Here come the T-Birds and Pink Ladies, hot rods and timeless songs, such as Summer Nights, We Go Together and Greased Lightning. Box office: yourboxoffice.co.uk.

In Focus: Be Amazing Arts in Disney’s Newsies Jr, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

Be Amazing Arts’ cast for Disney’s Newsies Jr, this week’s production at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

YORK audiences are invited to seize the day this week as Malton company Be Amazing Arts brings the high-energy, crowd-pleasing musical Disney’s Newsies Jr to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

This spectacular youth production features a cast of 60 young performers from the Ryedale and York area, aged seven to 18, who will share the unforgettable music, dynamic choreography and inspiring story after months of dedicated rehearsals.

Written by  Harvey Fierstein (book), Alan Menken (book) and Jack Feldman (lyrics), Disney’s Newsies The Musical was adapted from the 1992 film, premiering at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Milburn, New Jersey, before hitting Broadway in 2012.

Packed with moving numbers, bold dance routines and a powerful message of courage and unity, Newsies Jr follows a spirited band of newsboys as they fight for what is right against New York City’s powerful newspaper publishers.

In the news: Be Amazing Arts cast members rehearsing for Disney’s Newsies Jr

Promising to be an uplifting theatrical experience for audiences of all ages, the production will showcases not only the performers’ talent but also their commitment, teamwork and passion for live theatre.

Be Amazing Arts specialises in providing young people with the opportunity to work in a professional theatre environment while developing industry skills both on and off the stage. From performance and technical theatre to teamwork and discipline, participants gain invaluable experience that builds confidence and creativity in a supportive yet professional setting.

Creative director Roxanna Klimaszewska says: “Our cast has worked incredibly hard to bring this show to life. Their energy, dedication and enthusiasm have been inspiring. We cannot wait for the people of York to see what these amazing young performers have achieved.

“Be Amazing Arts strives to inspire the next generation, keeping at the heart of everything they do, making work with, for or by young creatives.”

Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.