The artwork for Shakespeare’s Speakeasy at York International Shakespeare Festival
“IT’S Shakespeare, but it’s secret”.Can a group of strangers successfully stage a Shakespearean play in a day?
Shakespeare’s Speakeasy is the place find out as part of York International Shakespeare Festival at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow at 7.30pm (box office, yorkshakes.co.uk).
Directed and produced by Steve Arran, for one night only this production offers an irreverent and entertaining take on one of Bill the Bard’s best-known plays, crammed into only 60 minutes.
“Five actors are given a script with their lines and cues and must learn it over the course of a month without ever meeting each other,” says Steve. “On the day of performance, the actors meet for the first time and rehearse for six hours before staging a 100 per cent ‘not-all-serious play’ from the canon.
“But which play will it be? Well, like all good Speakeasy shows, that’s a secret. The only way to find out is to come inside.”
Like last year’s inaugural York Shakespeare Speakeasy, when he played Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, one of the actors will be Ian Giles, soon to reveal his Bottom in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Grand Opera House, York, from May 6 to 11 (box office, atgtickets.com/york).
Ian Giles’s Bottom in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set on a northern council estate
George Young as the weakling king Henry VI in York Shakespeare Project’s Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, I Am Myself Alone. Offering support are Jack Downey’s Suffolk, left, Frank Brogan’s Clifford and Nick Jones’s Somerset. Picture: John Saunders
IRWIN Appel, Professor of Theater at University of California Santa Barbara, first saw York Shakespeare Project in Maggie Smales’s all-female Henry V on his European research travels in 2015.
He vowed that one day he would direct YSP, and this spring that day has arrived with his condensed version of Henry VI, shrunk from a trilogy to a “thrillogy” of an action-packed 160 minutes (interval included) as part of the 2025 York International Shakespeare Festival.
Professional actor, director, composer and sound designer to boot, he has previous form for serving up Appel slices of Shakespeare’s History plays in the award-winning The Death Of Kings. To borrow a technique from the kitchen, he knows the power of reduction to strengthen the intensity, and in doing so he lets the full flavour flood out.
Henry VI director Irwin Appel, left, with York Shakespeare Project chair Tony Froud, who plays Humphrey of Gloucester
There is a swaggering confidence, brio rather than braggadocio, to his directorial decisions, matched by placing his faith in the power of performance by his community cast of 21. They, in turn, have the most collective impact of any YSP company your reviewer has encountered since the project started in 2002.
This is aided by the physical theatre work of his fellow Americans, choreographer and movement director Christina McCarthy and fight choreographer Jeffrey Mills, to complement the mental muscularity of the dialogue, often wittier than you might have expected too, amid the carnage of the ever-rising body count.
Look out for the use of sticks, black face masks and black costumes in the burning of Pearl Mollison’s Joan La Pucells (Joan of Arc] and later Adam Price’s Richard York, with red gloves to denote his decapitation. Bob Fosse would have loved that choreography, redolent of Chicago.
Eyes on the prize: Adam Price’s Richard York in York Shakespeare Project’s Henry VI. Picture: John Saunders
Appel’s Henry VI starts at the end, with Harry Summers’ glowering Richard Gloucester to the fore, foreshadowing his reign as Richard III (a link further emphasised by Appel concluding his production with Richard delivering his Winter of Discontent opening speech from Richard III, bringing the “Now is” forward to now. Seeing Summers’ incipient, spring version of Richard after the full lumpen winter coat of YSP’s April 2023 production of Richard III is canny casting too.
This is but one of several directorial flourishes by Appel, the best of them being Price’s outstanding Richard York giving a beginner’s guide to the chronology of the warring Houses of York and Lancaster and the followers of Nick Jones’s Somerset and scene-stealing Jodie Mulliah’s mutinous Jack Cade switching indecisively from one side to the other with every new promise that each makes. That scene is worthy of Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian.
The mutual flirting of Jack Downey’s Suffolk with Lily Geering’s hot-blooded Veronese queen Margaret is a delight too, although her later screaming histrionics need more variation in tone.
Pearl Mollison’s feisty Joan La Pucelle, aka Joan of Arc
Theatre@41, Monkgate, is a black box theatre, with the emphasis all the more on the black in Richard Hampton’s end-on set design, where everything is black, from the throne to assorted boxes. This enhances the contrast with every other colour, from the silver crown to the glinting daggers, the white and red roses for York and Lancaster to the myriad shades of bleu for the French (from berets to cloaks in Judith Ireland’s costumes).
Appel uses the “theatre of the absurd” skills of regular YSP music director and pianist Stuart Lindsay to disruptive effect, his score being as jagged as discordant jazz, and percussive too for the sound design as the brutal deaths pile up.
Appel applies sound and fury to signify everything rather than nothing in a world where George Young’s Henry VI is the weakling boy king on crutches that no-one ever hears. Young (they/them) is making their YSP and Shakespeare debut in the title role and is quietly impressive as the essence of being put in the corner.
The Yorks in York: Sonia Di Lorenzo’s George Clarence, left, Katie Flanagan’s Edward IV and Harry Summers’ Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Picture: John Saunders
Philip Massey’s stentorian-voiced Talbot, Maggie Smales’s turncoat Warwick and Yousef Ismail’s vainglorious Charles Dauphin bring eye-catching character to supporting roles in a production in which bellicose ensemble heft has equal weight with blunted individual journeys, where Richard Gloucester is not alone in being “myself alone”.
Adding to the international flavour, American actress Katie Flanagan takes to an English stage for the first time in the role of Edward IV, a late arrival in proceedings but well worth the wait for a supremely assured performance.
Defining Henry VI as “a cautionary tale of power and greed that shows how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society”, Appel has made it feel anything but a History play, but a play for the madness, malevolence and mayhem of today.
Crowning moment for Katie Flanagan’s Edward IV in the courtly company of Maggie Smales’s Warwick, left, Harry Summers’ Richard Gloucester and Sonia Di Lorenzo’s George Clarence. Picture: John Saunders
In the raw, high-energy style of his Naked Shakes productions at UC Santa Barbara, he makes imaginative, impactful, intelligent, instinctive theatre out of “a bare space, a crown and a throne”. It is truly international, but resonant in York too, especially with its image of Richard York’s severed head being stuck on “the gates of York”.
York International Shakespeare Festival presents York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI: I Am Myself Alone, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
A Conversation with Irwin Appel, interviewed by Professor Anne-Marie Evans, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 5pm, admission free; tickets at yorkshakes.co.uk.
“I am myself alone”: The loneliness of George Young’s Henry VI in Irwin Appel’s condensed version of Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3. Picture: John Saunders
York Shakespeare Project in rehearsal for Irwin Appel’s production of Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, I Am Myself Alone. Picture: John Saunders
HOW come an American theatre professor is directing York Shakespeare Project’s production of Henry VI for York International Shakespeare Festival next week?
Irwin Appel, Professor of Theater at University of California Santa Barbara and founder and artistic director of Naked Shakes, first encountered YSP in 2015 when he came to York on a tour of Europe researching Shakespeare’s History plays. He saw Maggie Smales’s all-female Henry V, a few days after visiting Agincourt, and loved it so much, he vowed to come back to direct for YSP.
Ten years on, that vow comes into play from April 22 to 26 when Irwin stages Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, I Am Myself Alone, in a version of the trilogy condensed into one play running for two and a half hours for a York community cast of 21.
“In 2014 I had the ridiculous idea to distil the eight Shakespeare History plays into two plays, and I wanted them not to be ‘marathons’ but each to be the length of a typical Shakespeare play: no more than three hours,” recalls Irwin, who has been producing the Bard’s work in the United States and internationally since 2006.
“I entitled it The Death Of Kings, a line from Shakespeare’s Richard II, divided into I Came But For Mine Own, comprising Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V, and The White Rose And The Red, comprising Richard III and the Henry VI trilogy.”
He then went on a year’s sabbatical that brought him to Europe in 2015. “I’m also a professional actor, director, composer and sound designer, who’d never imagined he would be a college professor,” says Irwin, who trained at Princeton University and the Juilliard School in New York City.
“I was pursuing ‘being a star’ as an actor, but then came to the point where I wanted an artistic home, and I’ve been at University of California Santa Barbara for 26 years now, but also continuing to direct and design throughout the United States, Europe and in China.”
He used his research sabbatical to seek out plays, theatres and sites in Britain and France. “I wasn’t looking for historical accuracy per se in plays, because I wanted to feel the ground beneath my feet, to observe how the light came into a room or a castle, for example, and went to some extremely interesting places, like being on the battlefield of Agincourt on October 25 2015, the 600th anniversary of Henry V’s victory there. That was a quite a feeling,” he says.
He decided he would travel from London to York and it was then that he saw a small advert for YSP’s Henry V. “I fell in love with the production, set in a munitions factory in the First World War. I fell in love with York. I love cities that are very contemporary but at the same time present their history, and I reckon York does that with great balance.
Welcome to York: York Shakespeare Project chair and producer Tony Froud, right, greets American university professor Irwin Appel, director of next week’s production of Henry VI
Once Irwin’s Henry VI application was successful, he headed back to York for auditions last November at Southlands Methodist Church. “I was in Europe, playing Shylock at the Estates Theatre in Prague, where Mozart had debuted his opera Don Giovanni in 1787,” he recalls. “After that I came to York and was very excited to cast Maggie [Smales] as Warwick after seeing her Henry V.”
Creating his Henry VI has been a labour of love. “Through The Death Of Kings, I have an affinity for the History plays, which I feel have some of Shakespeare’s greatest material,” says Irwin .
“I’ve condensed the plays to tell the story and the character arcs at a manageable length. I’ve chosen I Am Myself Alone [as the subtitle] as it’s a line that Richard, Duke of Gloucester – later to be Richard III – says about himself at the end but it also applies to Henry VI and many other characters in the play and encapsulates what the play is about.”
Building his production around a bare space, a crown and a throne, he will utilise his ensemble cast to “engender actor-generated theatricality and transformation in a physical theatre piece that tells a cautionary tale of power and greed that shows how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society”.
The theatrical style will be in keeping with Naked Shakes, the company he founded at UC Santa Barbara and is now into its 20th season.
“Our desire is to create raw, energetic and thrilling Shakespeare productions through using the power of the actors and the imagination of the audience,” says Irwin, who has been joined in the rehearsal room by movement coach Christina McCarthy, from UC Santa Barbara, and fight director Jeff Mills, from DePaul University, Chicago.
“When I set out to do The Death Of Kings, I was not looking to do ‘museum Shakespeare’ but Shakespeare as an allegory for our times. When I did it in the States, it was at the time of the primaries when Donald Trump first ran to be the Republican presidential candidate – trying to be king.”
Looking forward to next week’s run, Irwin says: “I feel that this is a truly special company. I’m honoured that they invited me and I would like to make the people of York proud that they allowed an American to direct a play about the House of York in York.”
York International Shakespeare Festival presents York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI: I Am Myself Alone, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
In Focus: A Conversation with Irwin Appel, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, April 26, 5pm
Irwin Appel
IN this special session, Professor Anne-Marie Evans interviews Irwin Appel to discuss his varied and distinguished career, Henry VI,the importance of the York International Shakespeare Festival and York Shakespeare Project, and all things Shakespeare.
Evans is Professor of American Literature and Pedagogy and Head of School for Humanities at York St John University; Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a long-time Shakespeare fan.
As a professional director, actor, and composer/sound designer, Irwin Appel has worked with the New York, Oregon, Orlando, Utah, New Jersey and other prominent Shakespeare and regional theare companies throughout the United States.
In Europe, he has played the title role in King Lear for Lit Moon World, as well as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 for the Prague Shakespeare Company.
In November 2024, he played Shylock at the Estates Theatre in Prague, where Mozart premiered the opera Don Giovanni in 1787. He is the founder and artistic director of Naked Shakes, producing Shakespeare’s plays in the USA and internationally since 2006.
In 2023, Naked Shakes was selected to bring his original adaptation of eight Shakespeare’s history plays entitled The Death Of Kings as the closing performance in the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival in Italy.
He has led workshops and presentations about Naked Shakes throughout the US and in China, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
He is Professor of Theater at University of California Santa Barbara and is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.
Gary Oldman in rehearsal for his return to York Theatre Royal in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, now heading into a week of press shows. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
YORK International Shakespeare Festival’s tenth anniversary programme is among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations as April blossoms.
York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17
OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1987.
“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns and additional seats on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Counterfeit Sixties: Swinging into Sixties’ recollections at the Joseph Rowntree Theatretonight
Tribute show of the week: The Counterfeit Sixties Show, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
THE Counterfeit Sixties pay tribute to 25 acts of the Swinging Sixties in a show encompassing everything from that golden pop age, from the clothes to flashbacks of television programmes, adverts and clips from the original bands.
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks and The Monkees all feature in a hit parade performed by musicians who have worked with The Searchers, The Ivy League, The Fortunes and The Tremeloes. Tickets update: Limited availability on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Some Enchanted Evening: Celebrating Rodgers and Hammerstein with the English Musical Theatre Orchestra at the Grand Opera House, York
Show tunes of the week: English Musical Theatre Orchestra presents Some Enchanted Evening, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
EXPERIENCE the grandeur of Broadway as the English Musical Theatre Orchestra serenades you with show tunes from I Could Have Danced All Night ,People Will Say We’re In Love and You’ll Never Walk Alone to Getting To Know You and My Favourite Things.
Two star vocalists join the orchestra of 26 musicians, placing the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein centre-stage in renditions of songs from Oklahoma, The Sound Of Music, South Pacific and The King And I. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Full steam ahead: next stop Grand Opera House, York, for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe on 2025 tour
Touring show of the week: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Grand Opera House, York, April 22 to 26, 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
STEP through the wardrobe into the kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to Mr Tumnus, the talking Faun (Alfie Richards), Aslan, the Lion (Stanton Wright), and the coldest, cruellest White Witch (Katy Stephens).
Directed by Michael Fentiman, this breathtaking stage adaptation brings magical storytelling, bewitching stagecraft and stellar puppets to CS Lewis’s allegorical novel. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Philipp Sommer: Performing Re-Lording Richard 3.0 at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24 at 7.30pm as part of York International Shakespeare Festival
Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, April 22 to May 4
YORK International Shakespeare Festival is marking its tenth anniversary with a programme incorporating artists from the Netherlands for the first time; Croatia for Marin Drzic Day; Ukrainian artists from Ivano Frankisk and Bulgaria.
Among the highlights will be Berlin actor Philipp Sommer’s riposte to Shakespeare’s hatchet job on York’s own Richard III, Re-Lording Richard 3.0 (April 24); Olga Annenko’s Codename Othello (April 25); York company Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief with Team Titania and Team Oberon (April 26); Stillington writer/actor/director Alexander Wright’s immersive, existential Hamlet Show (April 28 to 30); Ridiculusmus’s Alas! Poor Yorick (April 29) and the Shakespeare’s Speakeasy play in a day (May 2). For the full programme and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.
York Shakespeare Project in rehearsal for Irwin Appel’s production of Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3for York International Shakespeare Festival.Picture: John Saunders
Condensed play of the week: York Shakespeare Project in Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, “I Am Myself Alone”, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
UNIVERSITY of California Santa Barbara theatre professor Irwin Appel, artistic director of Naked Shakes, directs York Shakespeare Project in his condensed, physical theatre version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy.
A bare space, a crown and a throne meet an ensemble cast in a powerful show of “actor-generated theatricality and transformation”, wherein they tell a cautionary tale of power and greed that charts how a tyrant can rise in a torn and broken society. Box office: yorkshakes.co.uk or tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Matt Goss: Tipping his hat to The Hits & More at York Barbican next Friday. Picture: Paul Harris
Pop concert of the week: Matt Goss, The Hits & More, York Barbican, April 25, 8pm
MATT Goss, the Bros pop pin-up-turned- Las Vegas showman, says: “Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year.”
Now living in central London after many years of blue skies in America, Goss, 56, will be celebrating all he has achieved in his music career and beyond in a rock’n’roll show, but still with a horn section (featured previously in the Matt Goss Experience show with the MG Big Band and the Royal Philharmonic at York Barbican in April 2023). Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
In Focus: Badapple Theatre Company in The Thankful Village, York Theatre Royal Studio, April 24 to 26, 7pm and 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
Pip Cook, left, Josie Morley and Keeley Lane in Badapple Theatre Company’s revival of Kate Bramley’s The Thankful Village, playing York Theatre Royal Studio next week
IN a new departure for Green Hammerton touring company Badapple Theatre, writer and artistic director Kate Bramley will be playing a live score for the first time to accompany her poignant First World War comedy-drama The Thankful Village.
Bramley is an international touring musician, who started her professional music career aged 17, with tours of the USA and UK, but this will be the first time that she has made a musical contribution to a show by her Green Hammerton company, specialists for 27 years in touring “theatre on your doorstep”.
Kate Bramley: Playing a live score in a Badapple Theatre Company production for the first time at York Theatre Royal Studio
“It has been our ambition since the play was created back in 2014 to have a live score accompanying the story,” says Kate. “Thanks to our collaboration with York Theatre Royal, I will appear with the stellar 2025 cast of Pip Cook, Keeley Lane and Josie Morley.
“I’m delighted to be performing at York Theatre Royal this spring. One performance is already sold out, so we’re looking forward to an exciting time at my favourite local theatre.”
Boasting original songs and music by Sony Radio Academy Award winner Jez Lowe, Bramley’s story of hope, humour and humanity is seen through the eyes of three Yorkshire women from the same rural household, below and above stairs.
Badapple Theatre Company in the rehearsal room for The Thankful Village
Left behind to cope after their men-folk march off to Flanders, Pip Cook’s Edie, Keeley Lane’s Victoria and Josie Morley’s Nellie each face up to the challenges in their own way as they wait anxiously for news of their loved ones far away. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Did you know?
“THE Thankful Villages” were those rare places that lost no men in the Great War because all those who left to serve came home again.
Badapple Theatre Company’s poster for The Thankful Village at York Theatre Royal Studio
Stephen Smith in his quadruple bill of Edgar Allan Poe horror stories. Picture: Cat Humphries
THREEDUMB Theatre’s One Man Poe will return to York on June 1, switching to Theatre@41, Monkgate, after a sold-out 2024 show at the York Medical Society.
“Last June we presented our quadruple bill of Edgar Allan Poe stories at the Stonegate venue, selling out our one-night-only performance weeks in advance,” says director and performer Stephen Smith.
“The show went on to sell out its entire 21-show run at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, also winning the Spookies Award for Best Horror Solo Show.
Stephen Smith in One Man Poe. Picture: Alya Sayer
“We’re bringing the show back to York for another spooky summer show, but this time we’re ‘upscaling’ to the wonderful team at Theatre@41 for a 2025 Edinburgh Fringe preview at 6pm.”
To commemorate the 175th anniversary year of Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death in 1849, Smith performs four of the American author’s most spine-chilling classics, back to back and unabridged: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit And The Pendulum,The Black Cat and The Raven.
Poe’s archaic language, paired with Smith’s award-winning tour-de-force performance offers gothic horror fans and classical literature lovers an atmospheric evening rich with imaginative storytelling in a “marathon of the macabre”.
Stephen Smith: Returning to York for an Edinburgh Fringe preview of One Man Poe. Picture: Alya Sayer
“I was a huge fan of the late Roger Corman/Vincent Price’s Poe-cyclewhen a child, reigniting my love of classical horror stories during the pandemic by creating online renditions of Poe’s work via Facebook Live,” says Stephen, who formed Threedumb Theatre in Liverpool and is now based in London. “When the theatres reopened, I combined four of Poe’s most popular pieces in a solo show and named the extravaganza One Man Poe.”
First performed in 2021 at Watford Palace Theatre, One Man Poe has had multiple runs in London, on tour in the UK and internationally in Dubai and Off-Broadway in New York. Since its American premiere in 2022 at the Poe Fest International in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, One Man Poe has been booked for those events on an annual basis.
The140-minute show features music by Joseph Furey and sound design by Furey and Django Holder and is supported by Watford Palace Theatreand theLiverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mark Simmonds’s Prospero, staff in hand, in The Tempest at Theatre@41, Monkgate
AFTER focusing on musical theatre, adventurous York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions stretched its wings by staging Shakespeare’s everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink last play with original music by founder, director and musical director Matthew Peter Clare and Gregory Parker.
Several of Ariel’s speeches were turned into song for Gemma-Louise Keane, on her return to the stage after a long break where you may have seen her fronting the band Kisskisskill or on York’s ghost tour circuit as Deathly Dark Tours’ Daria Deathly. Inspired casting by Clare, finding a performer with bags of stage presence and personality, coupled with an individual look and voice, typified by her rendition of Full Fathom Five.
Mark Simmonds, who has made his mark as much in Jorvik Gilbert and Sullivan Society, York Opera and York Light Opera Company as in York Settlement Community Players, has a natural musicality and resonant timbre to his voice.
Charlie Clarke’s Trincula in The Tempest. Josh Woodgate’s Caliban adopts a prone position beneath his bags of wood
Allied with being tall, this gave him righteous if sinister command as the dispossessed Milanese duke, Prospero, a command exacerbated by conducting his magical, storm-stirring powers from the John Cooper Studio’s mezzanine level, as well as in his treatment of his island slaves, Ariel and Caliban (more of whom, later).
Clare built his production on a brace of interlinking triangles, bringing magic, music and mayhem to the play’s three plot lines of comedy, tragedy and romance, fuelled by familiar Shakespeare tropes of mistaken identity, a family at war, murderous plotting and plot-thickening intrigues. The magic emanated from Prospero, and so too did the mayhem that ensued in the torrid tale of a shipwreck and its high-society survivors, spilling out onto Prospero’s island.
The music emanated from percussionist Clare’s band of eight: Helen Warry and Elle Weaver’s violins; Clare Pearson’s viola and Lindsay Illingworth’s violoncello; Fergus Vickers’ guitar, Rosie Morris’s contrabass and, best of all, Sarah Paterson’s harp.
Chloe Pearson’s Fernanda, left, and Freya McIntosh’s Miranda in The Tempest
The underscoring was particularly effective, often beautiful too, and most ambitious of all was the transformation of the play within the play into a song, Blessings, with vocal interplay and solos for Maddie Jones’s Iris, Molly Whitehouse’s Ceres and Rocks Nairn-Smith’s Juno.
The Tempest is a restless, breathless play of constant struggle and ultimate resolution, a maelstrom of tortured emotions, terror, a need to find a home, love, a safe place in the world, a reason to shake off boredom or cast off grief. Or as Clare put it: a play of “family and love, subjugation and bloody plots, reconciliation and forgiveness, euphoria and despair”.
Hence its helter-skelter tumble of tragedy and comedy that Clare addressed successful by applying “more Brechtian style” for the more absurd characters, such as Charlie Clarke’s Trincula, Dan Poppitt’s Alonso, and especially the outstanding John Woodgate’s cruelly abused Caliban, while favouring naturalism for the plot-driven likes of Prospero, Meg Conway’s viperous Antonia and the Sapphic love of Freya McIntosh’s Miranda and Chloe Pearson’s Fernanda.
Josh Woodgate’s Caliban and Gemma-Louise Keane’s Ariel in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ The Tempest
Mikhail Lim’s Gonzalo, Rosie Stirling’s Sebastyne and Jack Fry’s Master of Ships all contributed to the pleasures of this Tempest kicking up a storm anew, aided by Molly Whitehouse’s playful costumes, Charlie Clarke & Josh Woodgate’s striking, circus and cabaret-inspired make-up and Will Nicholson’s sound and lighting design, fast making himself the go-to-guy of York technicians in 2025.
After Woodgate’s turn as Caliban, eye-catching from the moment he emerged bleary eyed from beneath the shelter of the raised stage, CharlesHutchPress looks forward to his future performances, led off by his ensemble role in Inspired By Theatre’s Rent from Thursday to Saturday this week at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Black Sheep Theatre Productions “stretching out its wings” in The Tempest in a radiant scene for Gemma-Louise Keane’s Ariel
Coming next from Black Sheep Theatre will be a return to Theatre@41 for an original play, The Inner Selves, from May 13 to 17. This four-hander charts the decline of two people’s mental health, and their marriage, as shown through Henry and Nora and the cacophonic assault of their inner thoughts. The play revolves are one bad day of mediocrity and boredom being the final straw for the pair as emotions come to a boil. Will this marriage survive? Even until morning?
Not for young children, its content warning takes in: alcohol, smoking, swearing, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, discussion of self-harm, marriage, divorce, loss of child, suicidal thoughts, mental health.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Meg Conway, returning to the York stage after a nine-year hiatus, as Antonia and assistant director Mikhail Lim as Gonzalo in Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ The Tempest
Sinead Corkery: Making her York Open Studios debut in Monkton Road, York
PERFECT weather greets the opening of studio doors as artists parade their skills while politics comes under the spotlight in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations.
Art event of the month: York Open Studios, today and tomorrow; also April 12 and 13, 10am to 5pm
YORK Open Studios showcases 160 artists and makers at 117 locations in its largest configuration yet in its 24 years. Artists and makers, including 38 new participants, span ceramics, collage, digital art, illustration, jewellery, mixed media, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood, Full details and an interactive map can be found at yorkopenstudios.co.uk; brochures in shops, galleries, cafes and tourist hubs. Admission is free.
Rob Rouse: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s bill at The Basement tonight
Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, Rob Rouse, David Eagle, Ben Silver and Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm
ROB Rouse, from The Friday Night Project, Spoons, BBC3’s Comedy Shuffle, Mad Mad World, Upstart Crow and Rob And Helen’s Date Night self-help podcast, headlines tonight’s bill, hosted by Laugh Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin.
Support act David Eagle, a member of north eastern folk band The Young’uns, mines comedy from exploring how his blindness turns the most ordinary, commonplace events into surreal, convoluted dramas. Box office: 01904 612940 or lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.
Ged Graham: Leading the Seven Drunken Nights celebration of The Dubliners, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Prestige Productions
Irish craic of the week: Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
SEVEN Drunken Nights takes a trip down memory lane in celebration of The Dubliners’ 50-year performing career on a 2025 global tour of 300 shows across 42 weeks. The Irish Rover, The Town I Love So Well and Dirty Old Town will be joined by new additions Paddy On The Railway and The Lark In The Morning in a new production for this year’s travels.
The show’s 2017 founder, frontman and narrator, Dublin-born writer and director Ged Graham, says: “The connection we’ve built with the audience over the years is incredible; they know we’re keeping the iconic music of The Dubliners alive with the same passion that they have for it.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Telling the whole story: Writer-performer Andrew Margerison in Dyad Productions’ That Knave, Raleigh
Historical play of the week: Dyad Productions in That Knave, Raleigh, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 9, 7.30pm
DYAD Productions follow up I, Elizabeth with a return to the Elizabethan era in That Knave, Raleigh, writer-performer Andrew Margerison’s story of Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy and warrior Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.
The Huguenots, America, the Armada and execution: is that the whole story? “There is so much you don’t know,” says Margerison of Raleigh, father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary and victim.
“The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking. See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record; marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity.”Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The Manfreds: Playing Joseph Rowntree Theatre for the first time this weekend
Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Manfreds, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
TICKETS are down to the last few for the chance to see The Manfreds in their Joseph Rowntree Theatre debut, featuring original Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, both 83.
The set list takes in such Sixties R&B hits as 5-4-3-2-1, Pretty Flamingo, The Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, intermixed with jazz and blues covers from their solo albums. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Al Murray: Rolling out his barrel of laughs at York Barbican as the Guvnor puts you right on Sunday night
Political insights of the week: Al Murray, Guv Island, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
THE people have spoken. The Pub Landlord is back for another round of Guv Island with “New Extra Brew Material”in 2025, having pulled pints and punters at the Grand Opera House in March 2024.
Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, the Guvnor will “make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to”. “Country, the UK, lost its way, seeks life partner/mentor/inspiration. Good sense of humour essential. No timewasters, tedious show-offs or offend-o-trons need apply. HR free zone,” says Murray. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Inspired By Theatre’s principal cast for Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter
Musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Rent, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
YORK company Inspired By Theatre – the new name for Bright Light Musical Productions – follow up Green Day’s American Idiot with another groundbreaking rock musical, Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning story of love, resilience and artistic defiance.
Set in New York City’s East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Rent follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold on to hope in the face of uncertainty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jan Noble in his verse drama Body 115. Picture: jannoble.co.uk/body115
Odyssey of the week: Jan Noble in Body 115, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm
EVER wished you were somewhere else? Ever wished you were someone else? Escaping the rain, a journey on the London Underground becomes a descent into the underworld in Body 115, 2023 winner of the London Pub Theatre Award for Best Innovative Play.
Written and performed by Jan Noble, directed by Justin Butcher, this tale of broken hearts, old flames and open roads follows Noble’s down-and-out poet-hero through the sewers and tubes of King’s Cross Station to the heart of Italy. Part invocation, part rain dance, this poetic odyssey is delivered with a contemporary kick. From the terraces at Millwall to fashionable Milan, expect shadowy encounters, dodgy connections and chance meetings with a host of poet ghosts.
“Body 115 is an epic poem, a tale of inner and outer journeys in explicit homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy,” says Noble. “From the rain-washed, subterranean underworld of King’s Cross, ‘Body 115’ – the long-unidentified victim of the 1987 fire – becomes Virgil to my Dante in a rhapsodic paean to the trammelling ecstasy of loss: a trans-European odyssey turned safari of the soul.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola: Strictly Come Dancing professionals team up for Red Hot And Ready
Show announcement of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2023 victor Vito Coppola, will star in the new show from the Burn The Floor stable, created by Strictly creative director Jason Gilkison.
Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band. Expect “jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming”. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
John Simpson: BBC News world affairs editor puts leaders and lunatics in the dock at the Grand Opera House, York, on Monday
In Focus: More political insights of the week: John Simpson: The Leaders & Lunatics Tour, Grand Opera House, York, April 7, 7.30pm
IN his bold, unflinching look at leadership, veteran BBC journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE ponders why some inspire while others descend into tyranny. “And…are all tyrants ‘lunatics’,” he asks.
After six decades of unparalleled access to world leaders – and lunatics – Simpson explores the personalities that have shaped history. From notorious figures such as Assad, Saddam, Mugabe and Gaddafi to admired leaders Gorbachev, Mandela, Havel and Zelensky, he reveals their common threads, unique quirks and lasting impact.
Drawing on his first-hand encounters and personal dealings, Simpson will unravel the enigmatic personas of Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher, while pondering what links Mandela and Princess Diana or Zelensky and Mugabe.
In an increasingly volatile world, BBC News world affairs editor Simpson will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of the most pressing global challenges of our time – conflicts, war, famine, economic crises and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
Simpson, now 80, has spent all his working life with the BBC, reporting from more than 120 countries, including 30 war zones, and interviewing myriad world leaders on his foreign correspondent beat.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960s to present day in his fearless journalism, he will turn from interviewer to interviewee to take questions from the audience in the second-half Q&A.
What on earth is going on, John? Hear his answers at this talk “truly for our troubled times”, when Simpson promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire as he provides “insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
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world affairs editor of BBC News. He has spent all his working life with the BBC, and has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and interviewed many world leaders.
In an increasingly volatile world, John will also examine the most pressing challenges of our time – war, famine, economic crises, and climate change – to reveal how the actions and decisions of leaders, from despots to visionaries, have shaped these crises and continue to influence our world today.
In the second half, the floor is yours. Ask your questions as John offers sharp insights into past and present events, with no doubt some focus on Trump and the shifting global order.
John Simpson: Leaders and Lunatics Tour
After a sell-out tour in 2024, legendary journalist and broadcaster John Simpson CBE is returning to the stage for an exclusive evening packed with unparalleled insights from one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents of our time.
With decades of first-hand encounters and personal dealings, John will explore the enigmatic personas of global figures such as Putin, Xi Jinping, bin-Laden and Thatcher.
John will navigate the intricate web of international relations, delving into the complexities of our global issues – from conflicts, war and famines, to world economies and climate change.
What links Mandela and Princess Diana? Or Zelenskiy and Mugabe? John will reveal the common threads linking these figures, and offer a unique perspective on the impact they’ve had on world affairs.
As a household name who has covered almost every major event in the world from the 1960’s to present day, you will have an opportunity to ask John your questions – what were these leaders and lunatics really like, and what on earth is going on? Don’t miss John for an evening that promises to entertain, enlighten, and inspire with his fearless journalism and captivating storytelling.
What on earth is going on? An event truly for our troubled times – don’t miss this enlightening and compelling evening.
Ian Weichardt, Christie Peto, centre, and Evie Jones rehearse Hospital Doors under the watchful eye of writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle. Picture: James Drury
NEXT Door But One’s new production, Hospital Doors, shines light on the lived experience of disabled, LGBTQ+ and unpaid carer communities in York in next week’s premiere at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.
On joining Arts Council England’s Investment Programme in 2023, the York community arts collective set an ambition of creating a new play that intertwined the real-life stories of three of their long-standing community collaborators.
Since then, chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle has been running workshops with disabled, LGBTQ+ and unpaid carer groups to produce a script that explores the uniqueness and commonalities from across these identities.
After 18 months of development, Hospital Doors will meet an audience for the first time from March 12 to 15 in a limited series of public performances at Theatre@41.
“I cannot wait to share Hospital Doors,” says Matt. “It really feels like a flagship production for Next Door But One.
“It epitomises our whole ethos and approach to creating theatre; putting the community first, involving them from day one and staging exciting and compelling stories which amplify often overlooked or unheard voices.”
As well as Hospital Doors being an artistic ambition for Next Door But One, the show is a personal investment for Matt. “My own identity has an affinity to all three community groups, so to be able to bring my full self into this process and align my own lived experience with that of all the participants involved has been a really special one. And I think it has made the script even more compelling and relatable,” he says.
Evie Jones, left, and Christie Peto will make their Next Door But One debut in Hospital Doors at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: James Drury
Matt’s play follows three estranged siblings who are thrown together for the first time in years when their dad falls ill. Peppered with the humour of family life, Hospital Doors offers a window into intersecting conversations about disability, sexuality, illness and care, all held within the same, chaotic family frame.
This intimate show, set in fleeting, transient places – in corridors, over garden walls, on phone calls – is stacked with questions and reflections of modern family dynamics, and the joy that can be found in the mundane efforts we all make to understand those we love.
Hospital Doors promises to be visually striking, with set and costume design by Stella Backman and Hull-based team Jessie Addinall and Amelia Hawkes contributing an ambitious lighting, video and creative caption design.
Producer Joshua Goodman says: “The team we have formed to create Hospital Doors are bringing so much skill and passion to the production that we are certain we can bring a memorable experience to our audiences, but the final performance isn’t where this all ends.”
The one-act play will be followed by a Playback Theatre performance on several dates, when the audience will be encouraged to stay on to share their own stories inspired by the play. These will then be improvised by a team of specialised performers and musicians.
“We know that a lot of our audiences appreciate time and opportunity to reflect on what they have just watched, and this will facilitate that,” says Joshua. “It will also help us to better understand our work and what resonates with people, which will only benefit the future of our work and ensure any developments remain informed by our community.”
Hospital Doors writer-director and Next Door But One chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle
Here, writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle discusses Hospital Doors with CharlesHutchPress.
What did the research and development (R&D) for this play involve over 18 months, Matt?
“We started by asking three of our community groups – disabled adults, LGBTQ+ young adults and unpaid carers – what a play that was representative of them would look like.
“From there we ran workshops on characterisation, creative writing and improvisation to shape the narrative, with every workshop focused on what they wanted Hospital Doors to say.”
How did you turn that research into a play?
“It was a purposefully gradual process, which started with an exchange of stories from across the different communities to find common ground, leading to an anthology of stories, poems, mood boards, Venn diagrams, pictures and transcriptions that I then formed into some initial scenes.
“These scenes went back to the groups who ‘red penned’ them or improvised around them to create more detail. This back-and-forth process went all the way through 2023 until we produced a rehearsed reading for all our community members to come to, provide feedback on and ‘sign off’, as it were.”
How have your own experiences influenced your writing of this play?
“They have really shaped the writing. As a gay, disabled man who shared caring responsibilities for my mum before she died, everything that was shared with me in the research & development I felt an affinity and empathy towards.
“It’s very rare that as a writer you get to bring so many facets of your identity into one script, so I’ve not only relished in the process, but also felt a great sense of responsibility.”
At the heart of NDB1’s mission is working with the community, with this production being the epitome of that work. Is that why you call it your “flagship show”?
“Absolutely. When we joined Arts Council England’s Investment Programme, one of our artistic ambitions was to look at how we could tighter braid the participation and performance strands of our work together; how we could work with our communities to create performances that then shared their experiences with wider audiences.
“It all connects – and Hospital Doors is a really thorough and public display of our commitment to this.”
Aside from filmmakers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, it is hard to think of British writer-directors who would address these subjects so directly: disability, sexuality, illness & care and death. How come you discuss all four in one play?
“It can sometimes feel quite blinkered to make a show that is only about one subject or one identity, because in truth we don’t exist as a silo. A show about disability would naturally bring in conversations of relationships, as it would care, and so rather than ignoring that we looked at it intentionally.
Ian Weichardt and Evie Jones in rehearsal for Next Door But One’s Hospital Doors. Picture: James Drury
“And in doing so, by placing these seemingly very different identities side by side, actually what it does is amplify them all and support a richer discourse in the very complex commonalities between them.
“Put it simply, our work exists to bring people together and that’s what we are hoping to do via this approach with Hospital Doors.”
Are all the cast – Christie Peto, Ian Weichardt and Evie Jones – new to Next Door But One?
“Yes – which is great, as we love working with new artists! We put a lot of effort into casting for this show, not only because we needed to form a trio of siblings, but also we really wanted to be as authentic as possible to our communities and therefore we sought actors who had a shared lived experience with our communities and therefore the characters.
“All three actors care very much about the play and what we are trying to achieve, but also have a wicked sense of humour which is making rehearsals very fun indeed. Ian is originally from York, Christie is from Leeds and Evie is a University of York alumnus.”
What strikes you as the best benefit of performing in the black box space of the John Cooper Studio at Theatre@41, Monkgate?
“We held our rehearsed reading there in 2023, so it feels like we are coming full circle, but also it’s the intimacy of the space, which we really wanted for Hospital Doors. We want the stories, the characters, the words and the emotions to be almost tangible to our audiences.”
What part will the set and video design, lighting, creative captions and sound design play in the show?
“We are condensing huge topics and hundreds of stories into a one act three-hander, so the design helps to bring in the epic scale of that mission! All of the design helps to paint the wider world of the play, show us the characters’ pasts, bring life to their memories and help us understand how much they are revealing or concealing.
“The creative captioning not only increases access to the performance, but also puts the important stuff front and centre – the words and stories handed to us by our community.”
What happens next to Hospital Doors? Maybe a full tour?
“This is definitely not the end of Hospital Doors. We could R&D it forever, but we needed to decide when to put down the pen and share it with an audience. That is now. What we learn from this, what we find resonates with or speaks to our audiences, will shape another future iteration that will then tour.”
What do Playback Theatre performances involve? When will they take place in the York premiere run?
“Playback Theatre will be our Act 2. Audiences who have watched Hospital Doors will be invited to stay and share their own stories, inspired by the play, and then watch them spontaneously performed by a team of actors.
“Our actors care very much about the play and what we are trying to achieve, but also have a wicked sense of humour which is making rehearsals very fun indeed,” says writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle of Evie Jones, left, Christie Peto, right, and Ian Weichardt. Picture: James Drury
“This aims to give our audiences more time to reflect on what they have watched, connect with the play more and also understand what others have in common with it too.
“Also hearing the stores that Hospital Doors evokes in our audiences will help us understand the real moments of resonance and therefore how we should develop the play in the future. Playback Theatre will accompany all performances except the Thursday matinee and Saturday evening.”
How has NDB1 progressed in the company’s nine years? What fills you with the most pride?
“A lot has changed since we started; we’ve grown in size, in reach, in skill, in profile, in impact, but what has stayed the same is our values of what we do and why we do it. Even in the toughest of times these haven’t faltered and have always been our driving force. So I’m really proud of that.
“There are too many moments to think of that I’m most proud of, but I always have an anecdote from a recent project in my back pocket that I like to share that I think epitomises our work.
“The one I’m currently sharing a lot is from a carer who attended our Arts and Loss workshops. She recently lost her partner and was heavily in the throes of grief. At her first workshop, she cried a lot but wanted to stay, safe in the space we had created.
“Slowly she started to share her story. She then started using her experience to offer advice to others. She enjoyed being creative with new friends. At the end of the project, she gave me a hug and whispered ‘this is the happiest I’ve been all year’.
“It’s those moments – and there are many more like it – which are priceless, get me up in the morning and make me immensely proud of what NDB1 does.”
Next Door But One presents Hospital Doors at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 12 to 15. Performances:7.30pm, except March 13, 7pm; 2pm matinees, March 13 and 15. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Hospital Doors cast and creative team:
Actors: Christie Peto, Ian Weichardt, Evie Jones
Writer and director: Matthew Harper-Hardcastle
Designer: Stella Backman
Video, lighting and creative captions designers: Amelia Hawkes and Jessie Addinall
Sound designer and composer: Lara Jones
Company and stage manager: Jane Williamson
Next Door But One: the back story
OVER the past nine years, York community arts collective Next Door But One has been creating touring productions inspired by the lived experience of the communities from across their arts participation programme.
This has included Operation Hummingbird’s exploration of themes of bereavement and care; The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, created in partnership with neurodivergent young people and their families, and their most recent tour, She Was Walking Home, shaped from the real-life testimonies of 33 women living, working and studying in York.
Next Door But One’s poster for Hospital Doors, next week’s production at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
