Tag: Wharfemede Productions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Wharfemede Productions cast for Musicals Across The Multiverse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Feb 18-22 ****

Rachel Higgs’s Beth, left, Connie Howcroft’s Jo, Tess Ellis’s Amy and Catherine Foster’s Meg March in Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women – The Broadway Musical

WHARFEMEDE Productions emerged in butterfly form for the first time with Little Women after their chrysalis co-production of Browne’s The Last Five Years in tandem with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions last October.

Formed by chief artistic director Helen “Bells” Spencer and chief operating officer Nick Sephton, cornerstones of the York musical theatre scene, the company brought together similarly experienced leading players for a production bursting with impressive singing power.

Louisa May Alcott’s Alcott’s coming-of-age tale of the March sisters growing up in well-to-do New England during the American Civil War had never been staged in York on your reviewer’s four-decade theatre watch, until Juliet Forster’s free-flowing staging of screenwriter, novelist and playwright Anne-Marie Casey’s adaptation for the Theatre Royal last October.

You know the saying: like buses, you wait for ages for one, and then along come two in quick succession. On this occasion, the same story burst forth from Louisa May Alcott’s 1868–1869 two-volume novel, but now wrapped in all the Broadway trimmings the title proclaimed.

Helen Spencer’s Marmee reads a letter to the March daughters, Meg (Catherine Foster, left), Jo (Connie Howcroft), Beth (Rachel Higgs) and Amy (Tess Ellis)

Allan Knee, Mindi Dickstein and Jason Howland’s show shares Casey’s central focus on headstrong emerging writer Jo (Connie Howcroft) while not putting her fellow sisters, traditional Meg (Catherine Foster), timid, piano-playing Beth (Rachel Higgs) and romantic, impatient Amy (Tess Ellis), in the corner.

Spencer took on the role of the family drama’s emotional ballast as their beloved mother Marmee, holding everything together at home in Concord, Massachusetts, amid the discord of the American Civil War that has taken away their father to serve as a Union Army chaplain. Spencer has a way of making the world stop when she sings, and she did so twice here in songs that expressed feelings she could not reveal to her family.

The daughters, in turn, need to shed their fledgling feathers, travelling hither and thither in different directions, save for Beth, who is blighted by health problems. Songs served as a means to crystalising their feelings, their thoughts, their hopes, in heartfelt solos: always a strong suit in a character-driven musical.

Howcroft’s Jo had the pick of those songs, Astonishing, albeit that the majority were impactful in the moment under Matthew Clare’s musical direction, rather than memorable beyond the final curtain.  

Connie Howcroft’s Jo and Rachel Higgs’s Beth in Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women – The Broadway Musical

Around those songs, the show took the form of a series of vignettes, chapters if you like, intercut with short stories from the wild imaginings of Jo in her attic studio, performed in humorously melodramatic fashion on the John Cooper Studio’s mezzanine level in a directorial flourish from Spencer that paid off to the max.

Howcroft’s fiery and fervent Jo encapsulated the show’s ability to both tug at the heart strings and locate the funny bone; Foster’s Meg was suitably unflappable; Higgs’s quiet Beth had a stillness to her, contrasting with the restless energy of Ellis’s Amy, so desperate to grow up too soon.

Rosy Rowley revelled in the disapproving air of starchy Aunt March, with a nod to those thespian dames, Maggie Smith and Edith Evans, while Spencer’s many hours devoted to character development with her cast paid off in the contrasting men in the Little Women’s lives: Nick Sephton’s slow-blossoming Professor Bhaer;  Andrew Roberts’s good egg Mr Brooke, Chris Gibson’s sturdy Mr Lawrence and Steven Jobson, the pick of a very good bunch as eager Laurie.

The set design of house interiors had one particularly striking motif, whereby the individual clothing palette of each March daughter was matched by a drape from the balcony. When Beth died, spoiler alert, her drape fell to the floor. On such attention to detail did Spencer’s production make its mark.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when Viking beards roam the streets. Hutch’s List No. 7, from The York Press

Stag burning at the Jorvik Viking Festival. More fun and games next week. Picture: Charlotte Graham

THE boat-burning Vikings are back as Charles Hutchinson looks forward to an action-packed February half-term.

Festival of the week: 40th anniversary Jorvik Viking Festival, York, February 17 to 23

A NEW Viking longship, a sword that never misses its target and recreations of the world’s largest fossilised poo take centre stage at Europe’s largest Viking Festival over half-term. Five days of Norse fun, living history, hands-on combat and lectures culminate in a parade of more than 200 Vikings through the historic streets on February 22 and two dramatic evening son-et-lumière shows. 

A free living history encampment takes over Parliament Street with an array of tents featuring craftsmen and traders, with the opportunity to handle replica armour and weapons. For the full programme and to book tickets, go to jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk.

Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods, seated, with Bruiser, the Chihuahua (played by Lily), in York Light Opera Company’s Legally Blonde The Musical. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

The power of pink musical of the week: York Light Opera Company in Legally Blonde The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until February 22, 7.30pm nightly (except February 16) plus 2.30pm matinees today, February 20 and 22

JOIN Elle Woods, a seemingly ditzy sorority girl with a heart of gold, as she tackles Harvard Law School to win back her man. Along the way, Elle discovers her own strength and intelligence, “proving that you can be both blonde and brilliant”.

Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods leads Martyn Knight’s 35-strong cast in this feel-good, sassy and stylish show with its powerful message of staying true to yourself, booted with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

David O’Doherty: Irish humour and song at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy show of the week: David O’Doherty, Tiny Piano Man, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 8pm

THE dishevelled prince of €10 eBay keyboards tries to make you feel alive with a pageant of Irish humour, song and occasionally getting up from a chair. “It’s gonna be a big one,” says Dublin comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright David O’Doherty, star of The Great Celebrity Bake Off 2024 and Along For The Ride With David O’Doherty. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Chloe Petts: Getting personal in How You See Me, How You Don’t at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Alternative comedy gig of the week: Chloe Petts, How You See Me, How You Don’t, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

CHLOE Petts returns with a new show and this time she’s getting personal. Between her newly found trolls, ‘oldly’ found school bullies and an excellent relationship with her food tech teacher, she brings her trademark ‘laddishness’ to tell you who she really is, all while her Head Girl badge glistens on her chest. Box office for returns only: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Gareth Gates: Turning romantic crooner in a Valentine mood at York Barbican

Romantic concert of the week: Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies – A Valentine Special, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

EXTENDING the St Valentine’s Day vibes to the weekend, Bradford singer Gareth Gates combines beloved ballads from classic films with the electrifying energy of up-tempo hits, from Unchained Melody to Dirty Dancing, in a celebration of love stories that have graced the silver screen.

Joining the 2002 Pop Idol alumnus and musical star will be Wicked actress Maggie Lynne, Dutch singer Britt Lenting, Performers College graduate Dan Herrington and a four-piece band. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Abbie Budden’s Annette Hargrove in Bill Kenwright Ltd’s production of Cruel Intentions: The’90s Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday. Picture: Pamela Raith

Dangerous liaison of the week: Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 18 to 22, Tuesday to Thursday, 7.30pm; Wednesday, 2.30pm; Friday, 5pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

CREATED by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble from Kumble’s 1999 film spin on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, this American musical is powered by the 1990s’ pop gold dust of Britney Spears, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, TLC, R.E.M., Ace Of Base, Natalie Imbruglia and The Verve.

Step siblings Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) and Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) engage in a cruel bet, where Kathryn goads Sebastian into attempting to seduce Annette Hargrove (Abbie Budden), the headmaster’s virtuous daughter. Weaving a web of secrets and temptation, their crusade wreaks havoc on the students at their exclusive Manhattan high school. Soon the dastardly plotters become entangled in their own web of deception and unexpected romance, with explosive results. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Stuart Green’s police inspector, Truscott, left, and Miles John’s thief, Dennis, in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ production of Loot

Scandalous play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 27, 7.45pm except February 23; 2pm, February 22

KATIE Leckey directs the Settlement Players in agent provocateur Joe Orton’s scabrous 1965 farce, the one with two thieves, dodgy police officers, adult themes, offensive language, sexism and xenophobia, references to sexual assault, including rape and necrophilia, a live actor playing a dead body in a coffin and digs at the Roman Catholic Church.

Don’t let that put you off! Yes, it still carries a content warning and age recommendation of 16 upwards, but it remains outrageously funny. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Wharfemede Productions director Helen Spencer, centre, rehearsing her role as Marmee in Little Women with Connie Howcroft’s Jo, left, Catherine Foster’s Meg, Rachel Higgs’s Beth and Tess Ellis’s Amy. Picture: Matthew Warry

Marching on together: Wharfemede Productions: Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

HELEN Spencer directs York company Wharfemede Productions in their first solo show, playing Marmee too in Allan Knee, Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein’s musical account of Louisa May Alcott’s story of the March sister – traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy – growing up in Concord, Massachusetts, while their chaplain father is away serving during the American Civil War. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ugg’n’Ogg tell the story of The World’s First Dogg at Milton Rooms, Malton

Children’s play of the week: Rural Arts presents Fideri Fidera in Ugg’n’Ogg & The World’s First Dogg, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 20, 2pm

IN the fresh sparkling world just after the last Ice Age, there were no dogs. How, then, did we attain our best friend and the world’s number one pet? Luckily for us, along came young hunter gatherers Ugg‘n’Ogg to pal up with the wolves, Tooth’n’Claw, to defy flying meat bones, raging forest infernos and even a time-travelling stick to invent the dog.

This original play for pooch lovers aged three upwards highlights the evolutionary transition from lupine to canine in a show full of physical comedy, puppets, music and song. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

In Focus: Exhibition refresh: Secrets Of Dress, Yorkshire Castle Museum, Fashion Gallery, Eye of York, York, from February 15

Fashion exhibits in the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

YORK Castle Museum’s Fashion Gallery has been refreshed, remodelled and enhanced for 2025 with new items and fresh interpretations to show Secrets Of Dress from the Middle Ages to the opening decades of the 21st century.

Not merely a fashion exhibition,  this re-boot is an opportunity to look at dress and textiles from the perspective of social history, exploring what clothes and accessories can reveal about our lives and experiences.

Every object has a secret to tell, hence Secrets Of Dress provides insights into ways of life that are very different to today and yet relatable. From 400-year-old sequins to Second World War utility shoes, from the cottage industry of old Yorkshire to the factory-produced fashions of the industrial age, this is social history brought alive by the story of dress.

Dr Faye M Prior, Curator of Social History, with a 1970s’ outfit designed by Angela Holmes for her York-based fashion brand Droopy & Browns. The outfit was kindly donated by Angela’s sister, Leone Cockburn, and her niece, Clare Cockburn. Picture:  Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

This bespoke exhibition has been updated for the 21st century with a new section focusing on the City of York: York Makers. Thanks to the diligent research of York Castle Museum volunteers, York Makers presents York-made clothing, textiles and textile-working tools from the Middle Ages to the present day, alongside the stories of the people who made and used them.

York Makers celebrates creative people who lived and worked in York, some of whom contributed nationally as well as regionally to fashion.

On display are outfits by York-based designers Angela Holmes, founder of Droopy & Browns, and Vivien Smith, founder of Vivien Smith Simply Clothes. These two entrepreneurs created iconic fashion brands that offered distinctive styles on the high street from the 1960s to the early 2000s.

Gloves made of straw from the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

Other York Makers include Victorian shirtmaker Herbert Morris Crouch, who ran his own shop on Coney Street, and Mrs Maria Cook, the dressmaker whose ‘Made In York’ label sparked the volunteer research project.

Secrets Of Dress showcases 500 years of clothing, accessories and textiles, including items never displayed until now. Every object has something to tell, and many show repairs and adaptations, revealing how practices thought to be modern, such as ‘upcycling’ and ‘remaking’, have a long tradition.

Displayed in an accessible and fun way, iconic items and textiles from the 1960s and 1970s will be recognisable immediately. Visitors can touch, feel and try on costumes re-created by costume designer Naomi Pugh – aka ‘Nomes’ – of Textiles by Gnomes, and enjoy family trails with Little Spotters Trails, including a colouring page for creative little ones.

York Castle Museum is open Monday, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets: adult £17; child £10.20; concessions available. Tickets are valid for 12 months. Children of York residents enter for free.

Visitors taking a close look at clothing and shoes in the Secrets Of Dress exhibition at York Castle Museum. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

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Wharfemede Productions go Marching on together in Little Women – The Broadway Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Connie Howcroft rehearsing her role as Jo March in Little Women – The Broadway Musical. Picture: Matthew Warry

BURGEONING York company Wharfemede Productions will stage their first solo production, Little Women – The Broadway Musical, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from February 18 to 22.

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868-1869 semi-autobiographical novel, the American musical focuses on the four March sisters – traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy – and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts, while their father is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the American Civil War.

Vignettes wherein their lives unfold are intercut with several re-creations of the melodramatic short stories that Jo writes in her attic studio in a musical featuring a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Jason Howland.

“Rarely produced in the UK since its Broadway debut in 2005, this is a unique opportunity for musical and literary lovers to see this fabulous adaptation,” says director Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ chief artistic director and co-founder.

“Little Women is a character-driven musical with family and friendship at the heart of this beloved story. I fell in love with the musical the first time I listened to it and having never seen it on stage. The score is beautiful, rousing and reflects the traditional setting of the piece, with spectacular group numbers and heartfelt solos.”

Helen continues: “As Wharfemede’s first independent production, it was the perfect size company and we are incredibly lucky to have some of the best performers in York in our ten-strong cast.

Wharfemede Productions director Helen “Bells” Spencer, centre, rehearsing her role as Marmee in Little Women with Connie Howcroft’s Jo, left, Catherine Foster’s Meg, Rachel Higgs’s Beth and Tess Ellis’s Amy. Picture: Matthew Warry

“Leading our cast as the passionate and fiery Jo March will be the incredible Connie Howcroft. I knew that Connie had sung Astonishing, the most famous song from the show, in her graduation ceremony several years ago so, ‘some things are meant to be’.

“Having performed with Connie several times, there was no doubt in my mind that she was perfect for this challenging role, with her incredible vocals and strength as an actor.”

Connie was familiar with the musical from her student days. “I knew quite a lot about it because I explored it when I was studying for my musical theatre degree at Hull College of Arts [from 2014 to 2017],” she says.

“A friend used one of the songs in her singing assessment, and I thought, ‘ooh, that sounds really nice”! I already knew the book, researched the show and then sang Astonishing, in my degree final ceremony performance – which ‘Bells’ saw on YouTube!”

When “Bells” asked Connie if she would be interested in performing in Little Women, “I said ‘yeah, sure, it’s a great musical’, and so me and Jo March were brought together,” she says.

Did she always have her eyes on that particular role? “Absolutely, 100 per cent, because she’s just a great character! I have many similarities with her, which is helpful in playing a character,” she says.

“She’s so self-aware until she’s not; she knows what she wants until she doesn’t. When something in her life throws her off balance, she always strives to do more. She loves her family, but she wants more than that from her life, so she’s always pulled between her family and what she believes her dreams should lead to. Her passions are always being challenged.”

Rachel Higgs’s Beth March, left, and Connie Howcroft’s Jo March rehearsing a scene for Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women. Picture: Matthew Warry

Connie has to accommodate her acting passions while working full-time as an events lead for an education company, teaching leadership skills to teachers in Westminster and Central Hall, London. “I do the preparatory work from York, sometimes working with people remotely on Zoom, then travel to London to do the events,” she says. “For this show, I did have to miss one rehearsal in late-January for a two-day event.”

She needs the balance of work and play. “Without having some form of performance outlet in my life, I don’t feel happy,” says Connie. “I grew up singing in the Q church in York from the age of 16, putting on Christmas productions too.

“I feel I always need to have singing in my life, but I’m careful about how I spread my time, as I’m a mum as well, to Riley, who’s 13 – and he does lead the life of Riley!

“But when I commit to a performance, I’m 1,000 per cent into it to do everyone proud and to make sure the production is the best it can be.”

Like Connie, “Bells” Spencer has found the balance between her love of performance – once her professional career, running a theatre company – and her work as a doctor in York. “I’m very passionate about the work I do for the NHS but I also get to do the thing I love as a hobby, putting in 100 per cent to make a performance of a standard I would want and expect to see,” she says.

Formed by “Bells” and chief operating officer Nick Sephton, Wharefemede Productions made their debut last October, staging Jason Browne’s The Last Five Years in tandem with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions.

“The aim of Wharfemede Productions is to have a good time with a good work ethic, where it’s all about being supportive of each other and being a team,” she says.

Joining Connie in Little Women will be Catherine Foster as Meg; Rachel Higgs as Beth; Tess Ellis as Amy; Spencer herself as Marmee; Rosy Rowley as Aunt March; Steven Jobson as Laurie; Nick Sephton as Professor Bhaer;  Andrew Roberts as Mr Brooke and Chris Gibson as Mr Lawrence.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on the rich characters and building a bond in the cast that shines through on stage. I’m so excited for our audiences to see this moving and funny show,” says “Bells”.

Wharfemede Productions present Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Copyright of The York Press

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Wharfemede Productions to stage Little Women – The Broadway Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Who’s in the cast?

Rachel Higgs, left, Connie Howcroft, Tess Ellis and Catherine Foster in rehearsal for Wharfemede Productions’ Little Women – The Broadway Musical. Picture: Helen Spencer

WHARFEMEDE Productions will stage their first solo production, Little Women – The Broadway Musical, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, from February 18 to 22.

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868–1869 semi-autobiographical two-volume novel, Allan Knee, Mindi Dickstein and Jason Howland’s show focuses on the four March sisters – traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy – and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts, while their father is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the American Civil War.

Vignettes wherein their lives unfold are intercut with several recreations of the melodramatic short stories that Jo writes in her attic studio in a musical featuring a book by Knee, lyrics by Dickstein and music by Howland.

“Rarely produced in the UK since its Broadway debut in 2005, this is a unique opportunity for musical and literary lovers to see this fabulous adaptation,” says director Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ chief artistic director and co-founder.

Connie Howcroft (Jo March) and Steve Jobson (Laurie) in the rehearsal room. Picture: Matthew Warry

“Little Women is a character-driven musical with family and friendship at the heart of this beloved story. I fell in love with this musical the first time I listened to it and having never seen it on stage. The score is beautiful, rousing and reflects the traditional setting of the piece, with spectacular group numbers and heartfelt solos.”

Helen continues: “As Wharfemede’s first independent production, it was the perfect size company and we are incredibly lucky to have some of the best performers in York in our ten-strong cast.

“Leading our cast as the passionate and fiery Jo March will be the incredible Connie Howcroft. I knew that Connie had sung Astonishing, the most famous song from the show, in her graduation ceremony several years ago so, ‘some things are meant to be’.

“Having performed with Connie several times, there was no doubt in my mind that she was perfect for this challenging role, with her incredible vocals and strength as an actor.”

Andrew Roberts (Mr Brooke) rehearsing a scene from Little Women. Picture:Matthew Warry

 The rest of the cast was “honestly, just as easy to fall into place”, reveals Helen. “I was extremely lucky that they all said Yes!”

Joining Connie in the company will be Catherine Foster as Meg; Rachel Higgs as Beth; Tess Ellis as Amy; Spencer herself as Marmee; Rosy Rowley as Aunt March; Steven Jobson as Laurie; Nick Sephton as Professor Bhaer;  Andrew Roberts as Mr Brooke and Chris Gibson as Mr Lawrence.

“We have spent a lot of time working on the rich characters and building a bond in the cast that shines through on stage. I am so excited for our audiences to see this moving and funny show,” says Helen, who is working alongside musical director Matthew Clare, assistant directors Rosy Rowley and Henrietta Linnemann and choreographer Rachel Higgs in the production team.

Formed by Helen and chief operating officer Nick Sephton, Wharefemede Productions made their debut last October, staging Jason Browne’s The Last Five Years in tandem with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions at the National Centre for Early Music, York.

Wharfemede Productions present Little Women – The Broadway Musical, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Who are Wharfemede Productions?

Wharfemede Productions chief operating officer Nick Sephton and chief artistic director Helen Spencer at last September’s company launch in the Wharfemede garden

CO-FOUNDED by chief artistic director, musical actress and psychiatrist Helen “Bells” Spencer and chief operating officer, musical actor and former Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company chair Nick Sephton last September, the innovative company takes its name from their home in Thorp Arch and is dedicated to bringing high-quality musical productions and events to Yorkshire, with respect and openness at the heart of its work.

Having gained a drama degree from Manchester University and then co-founded and company managed Envision Theatre Company, this new company marks a return to her roots for Helen.

Calling on decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, Nick is excited to be founding a company that uses these skills, combined with his love for music and theatre.

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REVIEW: Black Sheep Theatre Productions in Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, York ****

Lauren Charlton-Mathews: Solo renditions of Stars And The Moon and The Flagmaker, 1775 in Songs For A New World. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen

WHEN Songs For A New World opened at the WPA Theatre in New York, Jason Robert Brown and his director, Daisy Prince, described it as “neither musical play nor revue, but a very theatrical song cycle”.

It becomes even more so in the hands of Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ musical director and producer Matthew Peter Clare and his co-director and co-stage designer, Mikhail Lim, as the York company follows up last week’s collaboration with Wharfemede Productions in another Brown work, The Last Five Years.

The traverse setting for that fractious two-hander makes way for an end-on design that makes full use of the St Margaret’s Church bare side wall, framed with netting and white sheets and a screen for Kelly Ann Bolland’s all-important scenic design.

Adam Price and Natalie Walker

The video footage, full of politicians promising peace, countered by war and destruction, racist hatred and financial meltdowns up to the present-day conflicts, serves as a modern update on the Pathé News reels so evocative of World War times, setting the tone for each song within the show’s themes of hope, faith, love and loss.

Almost two decades have passed since the Off Broadway premiere, and could anyone argue that the world has not worsened in that time? More war. More division in society and wealth. More mendacity in power. More moves to the right wing. More rules, CCTV and form-filling. Too much heat, and not only in the alarming change in climate.

The need for a “new world” – one of hope and love, faith in each other as much as in the One above, and loss of hubris and hunger alike – has never been greater.

Mikhail Lim: Co-director, co-stage designer, co-costume designer and vocalist

As Clare and Lim put it in their programme note: “Our reimagining of Songs For A New World addresses the ever-growing uncertainty and tension found within today’s political climate. The aim is to create a production that resonates deeply with an audience who are prepared to journey through the complexities of today’s societal landscape.”

Job done, courtesy of their emotionally charged direction; Freya McIntosh’s minimalist but moving choreography; the aforementioned designs; the impact of being in a church building, a place, a cradle, of grace, contemplation and the power of silence…

…Then add the palate of colours in Lim and McIntosh’s modern yet timeless costumes, each in two tones, for contrasts, connection and continuity, with an eye for composition reminiscent of a painting.

Katie Brier: Soloist for Just One Step and Surabaya-Santa

Each costume change, conducted en masse, adds to the visual pleasure, while the movement of wooden boxes throughout the performance is conducted with the significance of a chess move.

Crucially too, Clare and Lim have doubled the cast size to eight, making for more singing partnerships in a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted company, where both individual and ensemble can shine, framed so poetically by McIntosh’s measured choreography.  

Responding to Clare’s keyboard-led nine piece band, Ayana Beatrice Poblete, Katie Brier, Reggie Challenger, Lauren Charlton-Mathews, Rachel Higgs, Mikhail Lim, Adam Price and Natalie Walker sing righteously, romantically, roundly well.

Ayana Beatrice Poblete and Reggie Challenger

What of Brown’s songs? More melodic, less Sondheim than The Last Five Years, they hit both heart and soul, with The River Won’t Flow, Charlton-Mathews’ Stars And The Moon, Act I finale The Steam Train, Lim’s King Of The World, Challenger and Price’s Flying Home and the Higgs-fronted Final Transition: The New World all sung particularly passionately and persuasively.

Roll on this new world, and yes, let’s make a song and dance about it, like Jason Robert Brown and Black Sheep Theatre Productions have.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions’ artwork for Songs For A New World

Creative team:
Co-director, musical director & producer: Matthew Peter Clare

Co-director: Mikhail Lim
Assistant director & choreographer: Freya McIntosh

Cast:
Ayana Beatrice Poblete; Katie Brier; Lauren Charlton-Mathews; Reggie Challenger;
Rachel Higgs; Mikhail Lim; Adam Price and Natalie Walker.

Band:

Matthew Peter Clare, musical director and keys; Ben Huntley, guitar; Zander Lee, bass; Helen Warry and Elle Weaver, violin; Gregory Bush, viola; Mari MacGregor, violincello; Jude Austin, drums, and Jez Smith, auxiliary percussion.

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REVIEW: Black Sheep Theatre Productions & Wharefemede Productions, The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, York

The bliss before the blister: Chris Mooney’s Jamie and Helen Spencer’s Cathy in their wedding-day clench

THIS is the first of a brace of shows by Tony Award-winning Jason Robert Brown, maker of musical theatre reflecting modern-day America, presented by Matthew Peter Clare’s Black Sheep Theatre Productions.

The first, Brown’s emotionally charged, to-and-fro 2001 two hander The Last Five Years, is being staged this week in collaboration with Wharfemede Productions, the new York company set up by Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton.

The second, Brown’s “very theatrical song cycle” from 1995, Songs For A New World, follows next Thursday to Saturday.

In one of those remarkably busy theatre and concert weeks that York loves to serve up, CharlesHutchPress caught the dress rehearsal, from a front-row table in St Margaret’s Church, home to the NCEM, with its desirably clear acoustics and hyper-sensitive sound system.

Bare walls and a stone floor are not a naturally theatrical setting, the venue being set up for concerts as its name would suggest, but singing feels very much at home, from the moment Helen Spencer and Chris Mooney stretch their cords with their vocal warm-ups.

Given its belated York premiere in November 2022 by White Rose Theatre’s cast of director Claire Pulpher and Simon Radford, Brown’s intense, fractious, intricately structured He Said/She Said love story suits a traverse setting, adding to the friction, the electric crackle, of two accounts of a five-year relationship, told on raised platforms –  each sparsely equipped with one white seat and a black box – from opposite ends of the stage and time frame.

The background to The Last Few Years is that Brown drew on the trials and tribulations of his own failed marriage to Theresa O’Neill. So much so that she sued him on the grounds of the musical’s story violating non-disparagement and non-disclosure agreements within their divorce decree by representing her relationship with Brown too closely.

For Brown, read successful young novelist Jamie Wellerstein, Random House’s rising poster boy. For, well, let’s not say O’Neill, but any struggling actress, read Cathy Hiatt, from Ohio.

Brown’s sung-through musical has the novel structure of Spencer’s Cathy telling her side of the story from the end of the relationship backwards, while Mooney’s Jamie does so from the start forwards, as he lands a publishing deal at 23.

The songs take the form of internal monologues, alongside the occasional phone call, delivered mostly with the other partner having left the stage (for one of multiple costume changes), except for the burst of heart-pumping fireworks of a duet where they meet centre stage, touch for the first time, exchange marriage vows and rings and swap ends to continue on the same trajectory.

This alienating structure, so challenging to actors in how to evoke the bond, tactility and heat of love – the changes in the chemistry, physics and biology of a relationship – emphasises there will be no middle ground in this relationship, no alternative paths. In a storyline travelling in two directions, nothing can stop the crash.

In rehearsal with guest director Susannah Tresilian, Mooney and Spencer worked on breaching that chasm, the black hole, that had to be filled through vocal and facial expression, and sometimes by the other being present on stage, but doing their own thing silently.

The singing is demanding in that way so much of Stephen Sondheim’s repertoire can be, where melody takes a back seat to recitative, (the form of accompanied solo song that mirrors the rhythms and accents of spoken language), whether upbeat in Jamie and Cathy’s courtship songs or in broken-hearted ballads.

Under those tremors and volcanic outpourings, Clare leads his seven-piece from the keyboards, the waves of beautiful and mellifluous arrangements breaking against the rocks of the relationship in song.

The intensity of a two-hander magnifies how the relationship can be interpreted in  different ways. In Simon Radford’s hands at Theatre@41, his peacock Jamie was more unreasonable, making you wonder whether these two would ever have lasted five years or whether they were polar opposites never meant to travel in the same direction.

More often, Jamie is portrayed as the one trying everything to save the relationship, to spark up Cathy, in a gentler interpretation of the role. This is where Mooney pitches his Jamie, aware of his foibles, unable to resist temptation as the fame blossoms, deceitful, yes, but regretful too. You can see why this is the well-worn path through this character, not so harsh.

Blessed with bags of stage presence and an ear for the importance of stillness, Spencer maker her Cathy a woman of stronger mettle, even if she has to open the show with her confidence shot, consumed by loneliness and insularity.

What gradually emerges from those broken wings is the butterfly, one who revels in flights of happiness, shows more than a flash of humour and handles the actor’s familiar lot of failed auditions stoically, until the searing pain of rejection delivered in Jamie’s parting letter.

A stark, frank reading of love’s vicissitudes, its sometimes all too brief candle, The Last Five Years makes for a more mature, adult relationship drama than Romeo And Juliet, although sharing its sense of the forlorn, as Brown’s songs and Money and Spencer’s performances draw you in without you taking sides.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, today at 7.45pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.

Black Sheep Theatre Productions presents: Songs For A New World, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/blacksheeptheatreproductions/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond when seeking that lovely jubbly feeling. Hutch’s List No. 38, from Gazette & Herald

Lethal tea maker: The Black Widow at York Dungeon

DEL Boy in a musical, a Dungeon murderess, a Greek teen tragedy and gruesome Tower tales promise entertainment and enlightenment, advises Charles Hutchinson.   

New attraction of the week: The Black Widow, York Dungeon, Clifford Street, York, daily from 10am

HERE comes this Hallowe’en season’s new show at York Dungeon. Be prepared to encounter the grim tale of Britain’s first female serial killer: Mary Ann Cotton.

A north easterner with a propensity for lacing tea with a drop of arsenic, the Black Widow was convicted of only one murder but is believed to have killed many others, including 11 of her 13 children, and three of her four husbands. Box office: thedungeons.com/york/tickets-passes/. Pre-booking is essential.

Sam Lupton’s Del Boy on a date with Georgina Hagen’s Raquel in Only Fools And Horses The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York

“Plonker” musical of the week: Only Fools And Horses The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today and Saturday

BASED on John Sullivan’s long-running BBC One series, his son Jim Sullivan and comedy treasure Paul Whitehouse’s West End hit, Only Fools And Horses The Musical, combines 20 songs with an ingenious script.

“Join us as we take a trip back in time to 1989, where it’s all kicking off in Peckham,” reads the 2024-25 tour invitation. “While the yuppie invasion of London is in full swing, love is in the air as Del Boy sets out on the rocky road to find his soul mate, Rodney and Cassandra prepare to say ‘I do’, and even Trigger is gearing up for a date (with a person!).” Box office for the last few tickets: atgtickets.com/york.

Chris Mooney and Helen “Bells” Spencer in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, the debut collaboration between Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions

Debut of the week: Wharfemede Productions & Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.45pm

HELEN Spencer and Nick Sephton launch their new York company, Wharfemede Productions, in tandem with Black Sheep Theatre Productions, by staging The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown’s emotive musical story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.

Combining only two cast members, York theatre scene luminaries Chris Mooney and Spencer, with a seven-piece band, expect an intimate and emotive evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.

Alexander Flanagan-Wright in Helios, his modern take on the Fall of Phaeton, performed under the Great Hall dome at Castle Howard

Theatrical event of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, The Great Hall, Castle Howard, near York, today, 5pm and 7.30pm

A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. In a play about the son of the god of the sun, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound round the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.

“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” says writer-performer Alexander Flanagan-Wright, who presents his delicate tale with a tape-player beneath the Great Hall dome’s mural, painted by 18th century Venetian painter Antonio Pelligrini, whose depiction of the Fall of Phaeton was the thematic inspiration behind Helios. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

Alison Weir: Gruesome tales of executions, beheadings and Royal intrigue from 900 years at the Tower Of London

Literary event of the week: Kemps Bookshop Presents Alison Weir – Ghosts & Gruesome Tales Of The Tower, Milton Rooms, Malton, tonight, 7.30pm

IF any place could lay claim to a host of tortured souls and ghosts, it would be the Tower of London. Historian Alison Weir regales her Malton audience with chilling ghostly tales of grim events, bloody deeds, intrigues and violent deaths the Tower has witnessed over 900 years and the ghosts that reputedly haunt it. After her talk, she will take questions and sign copies of her books. Box office: 01653 696240 themiltonrooms.com.

Mary Bourne, left, and Jessa Liversidge: Uplifting journey of song in Songbirds at Helmsley Arts Centre

Songbirds: A Celebration of Female Musical Icons, with Jessa Liversidge and Mary Bourne, Helmsley Arts Centre, October 25, 7.30pm

DEVISED and performed by vocalists Jessa Liversidge, from Easingwold, and Mary Bourne, from Kingston upon Thames, Songbirds is an uplifting journey of song, celebrating “some of the most iconic female singers and songwriters ever known”, from Carole King and Annie Lennox to Kate Bush and Adele. Special guests include HAC Singers and Easingwold Community Singers. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Nadia Reid: Making her Band Room debut on the North York Moors

Moorland gig of the season: Nadia Reid, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, October 26, 7.30pm

THE Band Room promoter Nigel Burnham first tried to book New Zealand singer-songwriter sensation Nadia Reid on her first British tour in 2017. “Persistence has paid off,” he says, welcoming her to “the greatest small venue on Earth” as part of a series of intimate, magical solo shows.

Noted for her evocative lyrics and introspective, folk-infused soundscapes, Reid has been described as “an understated, wise guide through uncertain territory”, drawing comparison with Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Gillian Welch and Sandy Denny. Latest album Out of My Province took her to Matthew E White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where producer Trey Pollard surrounded her songs in luminous washes of southern country soul. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.

Elbow: Headlining first day of second season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts

Show announcement of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, July 3 2025

GUY Garvey’s Mercury Prize-winning Bury band Elbow are confirmed as the first headliner for Futuresound’s second Live At York Museum Gardens concert weekend, after the sold-out success of Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary shows and Jack Savoretti this summer.

Elbow will be supported by Ripon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution. The York exclusive postcode presale (for YO1, YO24, YO30, YO31 and YO32) goes on sale today at 10am at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333?pre=postcode. General sales open at 10am on Friday at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/elbow/york-museum-gardens/3195333.

In Focus: Nunnington Hall Autumn Festival, October 19 and 20

Nunnington Hall: Autumn garden tours next weekend

VISITORS to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall, near Helmsley, can enjoy the manor house being decorated for autumn next weekend.

The garden team will be running garden tours and apple-juicing demonstrations, and there will be an opportunity to do autumn-themed crafts.

Programming and  partnerships officer Elena Leyshon says: “We’re delighted that our annual Autumn Festival will be returning to Nunnington Hall this year. Visitors can explore the hall decorated for autumn and join our garden team on orchard and wildlife tours, and live apple-juicing demonstrations.

“We’ll have a range of local makers and creators demonstrating and selling their work, from willow weaving to felting.

“There will also be some delicious autumnal treats in the tearoom to enjoy, so come along and enjoy a sweet treat in our tearoom and celebrate the best of the autumnal season with us.”

Robert Dutton and Andrew Moodie’s exhibition, A Yorkshire Year, continues at Nunnington Hall and will be be open to visitors over the festival weekend.

Nunnington Hall  Autumn Festival, October 19 and 20, 10.30am to 5pm each day, with last entry at 4.15pm. Visiting stalls will be on site until 4pm. No booking is required. Normal property admission applies, with free admission for National Trust members and under fives.

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Wharfemede Productions team up with Black Sheep Theatre Productions for debut show The Last Five Years at NCEM

Helen “Bells” Spencer’s Cathy Hiatt and Chris Mooney’s Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years, opening at the NCEM on Thursday. Picture: Simon Trow

CO-FOUNDERS Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton are launching Wharfemede Productions by staging Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years in association with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions.

The American musical two-hander will be staged at the National Centre for Early Music, York, from Thursday to Saturday this week.

Formed by chief artistic director, musical actress and psychiatrist Helen and chief operating officer, musical actor and former Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company chair Nick, the innovative new company takes its name from their home in Thorp Arch.

After their fruitful involvement in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, not least in fund-raising for the JoRo, their new venture Wharfemede Productions will focus mainly on character-driven musical theatre pieces and use Helen’s expertise to establish a culture of learning and development as part of the rehearsal process.

Wharfemede Productions chief operating officer Nick Sephton and chief artistic director Helen Spencer at the September company launch in the Wharfemede garden

“Having gained a Drama degree from Manchester University and then co-founded and company managed Envision Theatre Company, this is a return to my roots,” says Helen, who has bags of experience as a professional and amateur performer, vocal coach and company manager.

Supporting and organising the company will be Nick’s role. “With decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, I’m excited to be founding a company that uses these skills, combined with my love for music and theatre,” he says.

For The Last Five Years, Wharfemede and Black Sheep have brought together a formidable core creative team of Helen, as director, and Black Sheep founder and good friend Matthew Clare, as musical director, complemented throughout the rehearsal process by Susannah Tresilian, a professional director and journalist from London, as guest director, and Tom Guest, from Manchester, as vocal coach.

Premiered at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001 and then produced Off-Broadway in March 2002, The Last Five Years tells the emotive story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.

Helen Spencer and Chris Mooney working with guest director Susannah Tresilian, right, in the rehearsal room. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Using an unconventional structure, American pop-rock musical theatre composer, lyricist and playwright Jason Robert Brown presents the story in reverse from Cathy’s point of view, first revealing the end of their tumultuous relationship.

Meanwhile, Jamie tells the story chronologically from when the couple first met. The pair only cross paths once, in the middle of the show, where they are seen together before they continue on their respective timelines.

Clare’s seven-piece band combines with Helen Spencer’s Cathy and Harrogate teacher Chris Mooney’s Jamie in a to-and-fro evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music.

 “I have loved this play for many years and in fact was cast as Cathy some years ago but unfortunately the show never went ahead,” says Helen. “I’m absolutely delighted to be finally getting the chance to sing all of these fantastic songs. Even better, I get to watch and listen to Chris, who is so unbelievably talented, playing Jamie.

The poster for Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions’ collaborative production of The Last Five Years

“Chris and I worked together on Falsettos[Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, August 2023] and found we had great chemistry and connection on stage.

“Having talked with Matthew about producing The Last Five Years for a while, all the pieces finally aligned. I’m genuinely giddy with excitement! It’s such a cleverly written show, with wonderful music that will be brought to life by Matthew and his band.”

Helen continues: “With it just being a two hander, it’s intense, intimate and a wonderful challenge. There’s nowhere to hide for us as performers but also for the audience as well. I think I’m better known on the York circuit for portraying brash comedy characters, so it will be nice to tackle something very different. I can’t wait to share this phenomenal show with an audience.”

Calling himself “truly a sucker for a sung-through musical”, Chris says: “The Last Five Years has been on the bucket list for a while now, so accepting the opportunity was a no-brainer. The piece itself challenges audiences with songs centred around difficult concepts that we don’t often see in musicals, with no real protagonist to root for.

Guest director Susannah Tresilian, vocal coach Tom Guest, centre, and musical director Matthew Clare in the rehearsal room for The Last Five Years. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“They simply get to experience the beauty and the challenges that can happen as two people in love grow together. The songs are a real joy to perform, and it’s been an enjoyable challenge to try to best convey Jamie’s perspective in the show. What’s been a real highlight is getting to bear witness to the professional that is Bells Spencer tackling Cathy and truly making the part her own. I can’t wait to open it all up to the audience now!”

Musical director Matthew Clare describes The Last Five Years as a “beautiful show that
highlights just how much can be achieved by a cast of two phenomenal individuals”. “In this
way, it is the ultimate challenge for a performer – to be perfect, with no room to hide or any
escape from the audience’s sight, for the entirety of a show,” he says.

“I’ve loved working with Bells before as both a member of my previous casts (Jekyll & Hyde (2022), Elegies For Angels, Punks, And Raging Queens (2023), Falsettos (2023) and For The Love Of Animation (2023)) and on production teams or as the director, such as for Musicals In The Multiverse (2023).

“Chris is a phenomenal performer that I have worked with on multiple rounds of Jesus Christ Superstar (2019, 2022) and Falsettos (2023).”

Helen “Bells” Spencer and Chris Mooney rehearsing for The Last Five Years. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Assessing their performing skills, Matthew says: “Bells brings a robust and exciting vision to her projects with the most delightful working attitude. She’s amazing at leading any project; in particular, one like this, which requires an ability that is second to none and a dedication to match.

“Bells and Chris both have that. Their grasp of the characters and the nuances that they’re
able to bring to this show will set it apart from almost anything else this year in York. It’s
set to be incredible, with some of the best performers York has to offer, as well as seven of the best musicians! A labour of love, bursting with talent and emotion that one no-one should miss out on!”

Guest director Susannah Tresilian adds: “Interesting love stories never follow an obvious path, but the way the stories of Cathy and Jamie intertwine is so unusual that it really does stand out. It’s been huge fun to work with Bells and Chris on their timelines as they navigate who said what when and who is saying what when now!

“Plus, Bells, Tom and I first met when studying Drama at university, and spent many happy years making theatre all across Europe together, and it is pure joy to be able to collaborate again here on this!”

The logo for Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton’s new company, Wharfemede Productions

Vocal coach Tom Guest enthuses: “I’ve always loved the beautiful score by Jason Robert Brown. It’s great to sing, with brilliant, emotionally intelligent lyrics. The ingenious structure makes this story of Cathy and Jamie’s marriage even more engaging, and even more heart-breaking.

“The solo songs are nuanced and energetic and are a fantastic showcase for the actors. Then when their two timelines join for the central duet, it’s just delicious! Ah, those harmonies…

“I’m so excited to be able to work with these two talented musical theatre performers, and especially to be doing it alongside my faves from uni days, Bells and Susannah, is
going to be perfect!”

The poster for Wharfemede Productions’ production of Little Women, The Broadway Musical next February

Coming next from Wharfemede Productions will be Little Women, The Broadway Musical, based on Louisa May Alcott’s American coming-of-age novel, with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. Tickets for the February 18 to 22 2025 run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

In the cast will be Catherine Foster as Meg March; Connie Howcroft as Jo; Rachel Higgs, Beth; Tess Ellis, Amy; Helen “Bells” Spencer, Marmee; Rosy Rowley, Aunt March; Steven Jobson, Lawrie; Nick Sephton, Professor Bhaer; Andrew Roberts, Mr Brooke, and Chris Gibson, Mr Lawrence.

The creative team comprises: Helen “Bells” Spencer, director; Rosy Rowley and Henrietta Linnemann, assistant directors; Matthew Clare, musical director, and Rachel Higgs, choreographer.

Wharfemede Productions in collaboration with Black Sheep Theatre Productions present The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 17 to 19, 7.45pm. Box office: www.ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.

Wharfemede Productions: the top team

Helen “Bells” Spencer

Helen “Bells” Spencer, chief artistic director

HELEN studied Drama at Manchester University and was then company manager of Envision Theatre Company from 2002-2010. She has performed and vocal coached all around the UK and in Europe over the past 20 years.

Highlights include: 2002 & 2004 UK/Italy tours of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! (Woman 2), Little Voice (Little Voice), Manchester Dance House, Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors, Barley Corn Jack (Beatrice) Manchester and Edinburgh Fringe (Best Actress Award 2002 MIFTAs).

Helen then had a period away from the stage, having qualified as a doctor and also started a family.

Since returning to musical theatre in 2019, her York credits include: We Remember Sondheim (director/performer), Young Frankenstein (Frau Blucher), Falsettos (Dr Charlotte), Musicals In the Multiverse (director/co-creator), Elegies For Angels, Punks And Raging Queens (various), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly Levi), The Sound Of Music (Mother Abbess), Wicked Origins (Ursula & Gelinda), Kipps: Half A Sixpence (Mrs Walsingham), For The Love Of Animation (various), Jekyll & Hyde (Lady Beaconsfield), Hooray For Hollywood (various) and Made In Dagenham (Beryl).

Nick Sephton

Nick Sephton, chief operating officer

NICK holds an Engineering Doctorate in Large Scale Complex Systems from the University of York, having won multiple Best Paper awards for his published works. Subsequently
worked as software architect at University of York Digital Creativity Lab.

Nick has extensive experience in leadership and event logistics roles, having worked as both a senior technical architect and lead developer. He also has experience in roles such as UK Community Leader for WPN Judge Program, Magic Tournament Floor Rules
Manager for WPN Judge Program and chair of Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company.

Having been a keen singer for some time, Nick’s first named role was as the Sergeant of
Police in Pirates Of Penzance. Since become a regular in the York theatre scene.

Credits include: Fester Addams (The Addams Family), Lord Chancellor (Iolanthe), Rudolph Reisenweber (Hello Dolly!), Sir Danvers Carew (Jekyll & Hyde), Mr Shalford (Kipps: Half A Sixpence), Captain Corcoran (HMS Pinafore), Eddie O’Grady (Made in Dagenham), Sir Marmaduke (The Sorcerer), Colonel Calverly (Patience), Strephon (Iolanthe) and Escamilio (Cover – Carmen).

When not on stage, Nick is a keen double bass player and enjoys playing board games.

Guests and hosts at the September 14 launch party for Wharfemede Productions
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More Things To Do in York and beyond when seeking that lovely jubbly feeling. Hutch’s List No. 42, from The Press, York

Lethal tea maker: The Black Widow at York Dungeon

DEL Boy in a musical, a Dungeon murderess, a Greek teen tragedy and a top-Rankin Scottish detective are well worth investigating, advises Charles Hutchinson.   

New attraction of the week: The Black Widow, York Dungeon, Clifford Street, York, from today, from 10am

THIS Hallowe’en season’s new show at York Dungeon opens today. Be prepared to encounter the grim tale of Britain’s first female serial killer: Mary Ann Cotton.

A north easterner with a propensity for lacing tea with a drop of arsenic, the Black Widow was convicted of only one murder but is believed to have killed many others, including 11 of her 13 children, and three of her four husbands. Box office: thedungeons.com/york/tickets-passes/. Pre-booking is essential.

Jude Kelly: Striving for a gender-equal world in The WOW Show

The WOW factor: The WOW Show with Jude Kelly, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm

WOMEN of the World founder, chief executive officer and theatre director Jude Kelly CBE was director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, from 1990 to 2002 and London’s Southbank Centre from 2006 to 2018 and set up the WOW Foundation charity in 2010 to achieve a gender-equal world.

In an evening of optimism, determination and laughter, she explores “our often exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity, covering everything from money, sex, race, food, and ageing”. Expect personal anecdotes, guests and big ideas. “The message is: If you are a woman or you know a woman, please show up!” says Jude. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Sam Lupton: Playing Del Boy in Only Fools And Horses The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York

“Plonker” musical of the week: Only Fools And Horses The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, October 14 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BASED on John Sullivan’s long-running BBC One series, his son Jim Sullivan and comedy treasure Paul Whitehouse’s West End hit, Only Fools And Horses The Musical, combines 20 songs with an ingenious script.

“Join us as we take a trip back in time to 1989, where it’s all kicking off in Peckham,” reads the 2024-25 tour invitation. “While the yuppie invasion of London is in full swing, love is in the air as Del Boy sets out on the rocky road to find his soul mate, Rodney and Cassandra prepare to say ‘I do’, and even Trigger is gearing up for a date (with a person!). Meanwhile, Boycie and Marlene give parenthood one final shot and Grandad takes stock of his life and decides the time has finally arrived to get his piles sorted.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gray O’Brien in the role of Inspector John Rebus in Rebus: A Game Called Malice at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Nobby Clark

Thriller of the week: Rebus: A Game Called Malice, York Theatre Royal, October 15 to 19, 7.30pm; 2pm, Wednesday, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday

SCOTTISH crime writer Ian Rankin’s much-loved detective, John Rebus, takes to the stage in a new storyco-written with Simon Reade. Gray O’Brien, from Coronation Street, Casualty and Peak Practice, plays Rebus in a cast also featuring Abigail Thaw and Billy Hartman.

When a splendid Edinburgh mansion dinner party concludes with a murder mystery game, suddenly a murder needs to be solved. However, guests have secrets of their own. Among them is Inspector John Rebus, but is he Is playing an alternative game, one to which only he knows the rules? Rankin will attend the October 18 post-show discussion with the cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Chris Mooney and Helen Spencer: Playing lovers with opposite takes on their relationship in The Last Five Years at the NCEM, York. Picture: Simon Trow

Debut of the week: Wharfemede Productions & Black Sheep Theatre Productions in The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 17 to 19, 7.45pm

HELEN Spencer and Nick Sephton launch their new York company, Wharfemede Productions, in tandem with Black Sheep Theatre Productions, by staging The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown’s musical story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.

Combining only two cast members, York Theatre scene luminaries Chris Mooney and Spencer, with a small band, expect an intimate and emotive evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.

Alexander Flanagan-Wright in Helios, a modern take on an Ancient Greek myth, performed under the Great Hall dome at Castle Howard

Theatrical event of the week: Wright & Grainger in Helios, The Great Hall, Castle Howard, near York, October 17, 5pm and 7.30pm

A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. In a play about the son of the god of the sun, Helios transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound round the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.

“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build to it, and the little things that leave big marks,” says writer-performer Alexander Flanagan-Wright, who presents his delicate tale with a tape-player beneath the Great Hall dome’s mural, painted by 18th century Venetian painter Antonio Pelligrini, whose depiction of the Fall of Phaeton was the thematic inspiration behind Helios. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

Squeeze: 50th anniversary celebrations at York Barbican

Recommended but sold out already: Squeeze, York Barbican, October 18, doors 7pm

DEPTFORD’S answer to The Beatles mark their 50th anniversary as Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook manage to Squeeze in hit after hit, like pulling musses from a shell. Don’t miss the support act, one Badly Drawn Boy.  

Strictly between us: Husband-and-wife dancers Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara look forward to A Night To Remember at York Barbican next June

Show announcement of the week: Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara: A Night To Remember, York Barbican, June 1 2025

STRICTLY Come Dancing favourites Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara – married since 2017 – will be touring next year with A Night To Remember, featuring an ensemble of “some of the UK’s very best dancers and singers”.

 Aljaž, partnering Tasha Ghouri in the 2024 series, and It takes Two presenter Janette will “perform stunning routines to an eclectic array of music”, spanning the Great American songbook through to modern-day classics, backed by their own big band, fronted by boogie- woogie star Tom Seal. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/aljaz-and-janette-a-night-to-remember.

In Focus: Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Oct 15 to 19

Superintendent Curry (Chris Pomfrett) and DI Daisy (Adam Sowter) are pushed to
the edge by The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood), when they are surprised in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. Picture: John Saunders

BENT police and politics come under fire in York company Black Treacle Theatre’s provocative production of Dario Fo’s uproarious farce Accidental Death Of An Anarchist next week.

In a new adaptation by Tom Basden, creator of Plebs and Here We Go, the setting is updated to the rotten state of present-day Britain.

The satirical play is set in a police station where a suspect has “accidentally” fallen to his death, but did he jump or was he pushed? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter (the Maniac) is arrested and brought in for questioning.

Seizing the chance to put on a show, he leads the officers in an ever-more ridiculous reconstruction of their official account, exposing their cover-ups, corruption and (in)competence.

The original 1970 Italian farce by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo and Franca Rame was based on the real-life case of an anarchist suspected of a bombing, who plunged to his death from a Milan police station in suspicious circumstances and was later exonerated. Now comes the British re-boot.

The Maniac (Andrew Isherwood) peruses the Anarchist’s case file as Inspector
Burton (Paul Osborne) interrupts him

Director Jim Paterson says: “I’m really excited to bring this new adaptation of one of my favourite plays to York. Dario Fo was a master of using comedy to talk about the social and political issues of the day – particularly state corruption and hypocrisy.

“What Tom Basden’s version does brilliantly is bring the plot bang up to date in both setting and references, taking in police scandals and political issues of recent years – as well as packing it full of hilariousjokes! It’s fast, furious and funny, and I can’t wait for opening night.”

Lead actor Andrew Isherwood says: “Playing the Maniac, I get the opportunity to play multiple roles, with a variety of voices, which is always fun for me as I really enjoy getting the chance to play around, have some fun and indulge a little bit, which I don’t normally get to express in the same show.

“I think audiences will get a real kick out of the bizarre nature of this show, with all its twists and turns and bitingly satirical elements woven in, all performed by a brilliantly talented cast!”

PC Joseph (Guy Wilson) attempts to keep a record of the increasingly complex story being spun in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. Picture: John Saunders

Black Treacle Theatre in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist,Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 15 to 19, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee.Box office:  https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. Running time: Two hours 15 minutes, including interval.  

In the cast will be: The Maniac – Andrew Isherwood; Inspector Burton – Paul Osborne; DI Daisy – Adam Sowter; PC Joseph – Guy Wilson; Superintendent – Chris Pomfrett; Fi Phelan/PC Jackson – Jess Murray.

Production team: Director, Jim Paterson; lighting designer, Adam Kirkwood; set designer, Richard Hampton; costume/props, Maggie Smales.

Did you know?

Black Treacle Theatre’s past productions were: Constellations (March 2022), Iphigenia In Splott (March 2023) and White Rabbit, Red Rabbit (November 2023), all at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

Last Chance To See: Jack Ashton starring in Little Women at York Theatre Royal, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Jack Ashton as Professor Bhaer in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlotte Graham

STARRING in a much-loved television series can be a boon or a bother for an actor who becomes identified with a particular character. Directors may be reluctant to offer different sorts of role.

Happily, Jack Ashton, best known as the Reverend Tom Hereward in BBC One’s Sunday night staple Call The Midwife, has escaped being typecast. So much so that in York Theatre Royal’s production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age classic Little Women, he is playing not one but two very contrasting characters.

The link is that both are suitors of the titular Little Women – John Brooke and Professor Bhaer, the love interests for Meg and Jo March. Not that Jack downplays the problems of leaving Call The Midwife after five years as the vicar of Poplar in the series set in an East End Anglican convent in the late 1950s and 1960s.

“It was difficult, more difficult than I thought,” he admits. “It was hard for a few years for my agent to get me seen for something. If you’re known as a particular character, it can be hard to do something that’s opposite to that and challenge yourself, which is what you want to be as an actor.”

In the past Jack has said that Call The Midwife changed his life, a reference to becoming a father – of Wren, six, and Lark, two – through his relationship with co-star Helen George. “It was a lovely time in my life,” he says. So much so that the last time he acted in York, in Strangers On the Train at the Grand Opera House in March 2018, newly-born Wren came on tour with them.

Jack Ashton’s John Brooke and Ainy Medina’s Meg March in Little Women, adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Juliet Forster’s production of Little Women at York Theatre Royal, where he has performed since his early days as an actor, certainly offers the chance to do something different: two different characters in one show.

One of them, Professor Bhaer, requires a German accent, necessitating Jack to work with a voice coach.

He has not read Little Women, although he has seen Great Gerwig’s 2019 film version, and coincidentally has just finished working with Saoirse Ronan, who played burgeoning writer Jo March in the American movie.

While he has not worked previously with any of the Little Women cast members, he has done so with director Juliet Forster, York Theatre Royal’s creative director.

She directed him in productions that have punctuate his life, going from a young man fresh out of drama school in 2006 to present-day leading man, appearing in Twelfth Night and the Studio double bill of Escaping Alice and End Of Desire, as well as The Guinea Pig Club and The Homecoming under former artistic director Damain Cruden’s direction.

Jack Ashton rehearsing the role of Professor Bhaer in Little Women. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

York remains one of his favourite places. “It’s such a great city. I love coming back, it’s a no-brainer when that kind of offer, like Little Women, comes along,” says Jack.

“I have really good friends in York and I’ve befriended Rita and Paul, the original people on the digs list. I got so lucky because I stayed with them the first time and have continued to stay with them every time since.”

He is realistic about the pitfalls of being an actor. “Sometimes people think an actor’s life is quite glamorous. We just audition and audition, and sometimes people say ‘yes, we want you’. Most of the time they say, ‘no thank you very much’.”

He has several projects waiting to be seen, including Jonatan Etzler’s satirical comedy Bad Apples – the one with Saoirse Ronan – and a small role in Lockerbie, a Sky drama series about one man’s battle to learn the truth about the Pan Am Flight 103 bomb explosion over the Scottish town on December 21 1988. He continues to play Harry Chilcott in BBC Radio 4’s long-running series The Archers too.

Returning to the topic of Little Women, does he have any sisters? “Two older sisters,” he replies. “I can definitely relate to not being able to get a word in edgeways.”

Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

“We just audition and audition, and sometimes people say ‘yes, we want you’. Most of the time they say, ‘no thank you very much’,” says actor Jack Ashton