Tag: York Settlement Community Players

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REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Joe Orton’s Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 27 ****

Who’s conning who? Emily Carhart’s Fay, Jack Mackay’s Hal, centre, and Stuart Green’s Truscott in a scene from York Settlement Community Players’ Loot. Picture: John Saunders

THE monochrome cover to York Settlement Community Players’ programme for Joe Orton’s dark farce Loot takes the form of a death notice. Rest in Peace Mary McLeavy. Born 1916, called home 1966. Remembrance services will be held: 18th – 27th February 2025.

For “Remembrance Services”, read performances that raise Orton’s scandalous, scabrous first farce from the grave, directed by the “young (and probably) angsty” Katie Leckey with brio and brains, fresh from completing her MA in Theatre-making at the University of York.

Already she and lead actor Jack Mackay have made their mark on the York theatre scene with their company Griffonage Theatre, latterly swapping the roles of hitmen Ben and Gus for each performance of Harold Pinter’s menacing  1957 two-hander The Dumb Waiter at Theatre@41, Monkgate, last July.

Jack Mackay’s Hal, trying not to look alarmed in Loot. Picture: John Saunders

Now Mackay forms part of another “double act” on the wrong side of the law:  bungling thieves Hal (Mackay) and Dennis (Miles John), in essence representing Orton’s lover Kenneth Halliwell and Orton, in Loot.

Sixty years on from its Cambridge Arts Theatre premiere, when Orton deemed the play to be “a disaster” and the Cambridge News review called it “very bad”, it remains a shocking play. Not shockingly bad, but a shock to the system, still carrying a content warning.

It reads: “The show contains adult themes and offensive language (including sexism and xenophobia). There are also sexual references and references to sexual assault (including rape and necrophilia) and references to smoking on stage.” Sure enough, Stuart Green’s inspector, Truscott, hiding behind his smokescreen of being “from the Water Board”, smokes without fire, never lighting his pipe.

Emily Carhart’s nurse, Fay, and Miles John’s arch thief, Dennis, in Loot. Picture: John Saunders

Loot remains an iconoclastic play, even angrier than those Angry Young Men that preceded him, John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Kingsley Amis, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, John Wain, et al. You might call it ‘odd’, or ‘strange’, but its audacious humour tugs persuasively at your arm, its attacks on convention beneath its conventional farce format landing blows on those cornerstones of the state, the (Catholic) church and the police force, as well as undermining the nuclear family. 

It makes you ask what has changed since the 1965 premiere, as Leckey highlights in her programme note, drawing attention to the continuing prevalence of violence, racism, homophobia and misogyny.

She quotes Orton, who wrote “I’m too amused by the way people carry on to give in to despair”. There, in a nutshell, is the role of comedy, to home in on the warts and all and laugh at our failings and foibles. The bigger shock here is that we have not moved on, but on second thoughts, in the week when every new Trump utterance trumps the last one, maybe not. 

Loot director Katie Leckey

Orton was once castigated for his play’s immoral tone, but it is the behaviour that is immoral, not Orton. Don’t shoot the messenger. Laugh, instead, at our failure to clean up our act, especially those in authority.

Leckey has not edited Orton’s text, letting it stand or fall in all its bold affronts, not least on life’s ultimate taboo: death. Preceded by Ortonian fun and games by a six-pack of support players, from a drunken priest (James Wood) to an excitable nun (Xandra Logan), Loot begins with an open coffin. Inside rests the aforementioned Mary McLeavy (a dead body played by a live actor [Caroline Greenwood] with Orton irreverence). Today is her funeral.

In the room, designed with kitsch Sixties’ detail by Wilf Tomlinson and Richard Hampton, matched by Leckey’s soundtrack, are widower Mr McLeavy (played with suitable befuddlement by Paul French) and Mrs McLeavy’s nurse, Fay, (Emily Carhart in her impressive Settlement debut). She may wear a cross, but Fay has an unfortunate of seeing off her husbands, seven in seven years, and now she has her eye on Mr McLeavy.

Eyeball to eyeball: Stuart Green’s Truscott carries out a close inspection in Loot. Picture: John Saunders

Enter Mackay’s Hal, who protests he is too upset to attend the funeral, and John’s Dennis, whose heart is lost to Fay. Rarely for a farce, there is only one door into the sitting room, but a second door is all important: the cupboard door, behind which they have hidden their stash from a bank job.

A glass eye, a set of teeth and the constant movement of Mrs McLeavy’s body will follow, involving the cupboard, the coffin and the stash, in classic farce tradition, with rising irreverence and desperation as the investigations of Green’s Truscott mirror the impact of  Inspector Goole in JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, written 20 years earlier, but this time with humorous results.

Green, in his Settlement debut after returning to the stage in 2023 from an hiatus, has spot-on comic timing, a twinkle in his eye and the over-confidence of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Paul French’s Mr McLeavy, left, Stuart Green’s Truscott, Jack Mackay’s Hal, Emily Carhart’s Fay (seated) and Emily Hansen’s Meadows in Loot. Picture: John Saunders

Mackay and John evoke the Sixties in looks, acting style and attire, playing to the Orton manner born as the hapless thieves, somehow negotiating their way through a farce with a farce with aplomb and insouciance.

York Settlement Community Players in Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 27, 7.45pm nightly except February 23, plus 2pm matinee, February 22. Age guidance: 16 plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Post-show discussion tomorrow (21/2/2025).

TAKING part in pre-show and interval Orton-style vignettes, devised by James Lee, are: Xandra Logan (Sister Barbara); Chris Meadley (Sergeant Timothy Carruthers); Victoria Delaney (Mrs Edna Welthorpe); Helen Clarke (Edith, the church organist); James Wood (Priest) and Serafina Coupe (Keith Kevin O’Keefe).

Xandra Logan’s Sister Barbara and James Wood’s inebriated Priest in an interval vignette in York Settlement Community Players’ Loot at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: John Saunders

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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.

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Why Joe Orton’s Sixties’ farce still carries a content warning as Katie Leckey directs Settlement’s Loot at Theatre Royal Studio

York Settlement Community Players’ Stuart Green’s inspector, Truscott, left, and Miles John’s thief, Dennis, rehearsing a scene from Joe Orton’s Loot

LOOT, Joe Orton’s scandalous first farce, opened at the Cambridge Arts Theatre on February 1 1965 with Kenneth Williams and Geraldine McEwan in the cast.

“The play is a disaster,” the iconoclastic Leicester playwright wrote in a letter to his lover, Kenneth Halliwell. “A very bad play,” sniffed the Cambridge News review. Ouch!

Loot would close after 56 performances and three re-writes, the cast declining the chance to transfer to London, but…Orton’s provocatively controversial, free-wheeling and ferocious dark farce about life’s ultimate taboo – death – is very much alive and kicking up a storm 2025, still suited and booted to shock, amuse and entertain in Orton’s signature scabrous style.

…And still carrying a Content Warning, to be found when booking tickets for Katie Leckey’s production for York Settlement Community Players, running at York Theatre Royal Studio from February 18 to 27.

It reads: “The show contains adult themes and offensive language (including sexism and xenophobia). There are also sexual references and references to sexual assault (including rape and necrophilia) and references to smoking on stage.”

Jack Mackay’s Hal, left, Emily Carhart’s Fay and Miles John’s Dennis in the rehearsal room for York Settlement Community Players’ production of Loot

All this, 60 years since Orton premiered his two-act satire on the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death and the integrity of the police force, wrapped in the story of the fortunes of two thieves, Hal and Dennis, as they navigate the ridiculous farce they find themselves in. Cue such props as rolling eyeballs, flying false teeth and a live actor playing a dead body. 

“We made the choice to set the production in the time it was produced, so that audiences can see what has changed about ideas of ‘Britishness’, religion and institutional tyranny since then (if anything) and what still shocks and outrages us today,” says Katie, a Northern Irish actor and director, who completed her Masters degree last year at the University of York, where she set up Griffonage Theatre with co-artistic director Jack Mackay, now cast as Hal in Loot.

“Are we still homophobic, are we less Catholic? The fact that we have to warn people that it’s still a shocking and scandalous play speaks volumes. The thing is this: we do need to give some sort of warning because some of the content is so abhorrent, mostly what Hal says.

“It’s about setting expectations fairly, but I still think the play should be shocking and done as written, so there are insidious lines that I have kept in that I don’t like, but it shows how people were thinking at that time – and still do today, especially men.

Loot director Katie Leckey

“Interestingly, we had 45-50 people auditioning, mostly men wanting to play the inspector, Truscott, although there’s pretty much an equal split of male-female characters in our production.”

 The strongest voice of all in Loot belongs to Orton, suggests Katie. “That’s what fascinates me: the more I do the play, the stronger his voice becomes. He’s the most authorial writer. There’s something vicious in everything that is said, but it punches up,” she says.

“Orton was so angry about so many things and that’s why the viciousness is so poignant. Like how he was treated by the police, especially as a gay man who had to adapt. So the play is performative to an extent, but it is situated in lived experience.

“I can’t not speak to my actors about him, I can’t not contextualise, Hal is essentially Halliwell and Dennis is Joe. The more you read about his life, the more you can’t separate it from what he’s written.

“I try to get some distance as a director, but I don’t think you can with this, because of how Orton’s life ended [he was murdered, aged 34, by Halliwell in 1967] and how he wrote.

Paul French’s Mr McLeavy, left, and Stuart Green’s Truscott in rehearsal for Loot

“If you had interviewed Orton in 1965, he would have said Loot is a serious play, why is everyone finding it funny? But it absolutely is a farce, rigid in its form as a farce, going through the motions of a farce, which is funny in itself.”

Katie continues: “But what makes it one of the funniest plays is the language. If he had written it as a ‘normal farce’, it would instead have been a tragedy, but he has this flamboyant way of writing, partly upper class, partly colloquial. Using obtuse language deliberately too, where the rhythms sound so ridiculous.”

Translating Orton’s assertion of Loot’s seriousness to her actors, “everything has to be done with conviction in my direction,” she says. “It has to be done that way, with believability. I’m not into breaking ‘the fourth wall’. The characters have to come across as desperate.

“The only difference between tragedy and farce, Orton, said was the treatment of themes. If you made a play about police brutality and homophobia, you could do that as a tragedy, but what makes it funny here is how Orton has singed those subjects with his fire.”

Katie is delighted to be directing a Settlement show for the first time, having first performed with the company in Government Inspector in October 2023. “I went to the group audition and I was shocked and excited by how talented everyone was! I wheedled my way in and I’ve stayed because there’s something rewarding about working with a long-established company,” says Katie. “I felt I wanted to work with these guys as much as possible.”

On finishing her Masters degree, Katie “needed to do something or I will go bananas”. “I saw that Settlement had put out a call for directors and I thought, ‘it’s my time to do something similarly wacky and wild as Griffonage do, and luckily they said ‘yes’.”

 York Settlement Community Players in Loot, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7.45pm nightly, February 18 to 27, except February 23; 2pm matinee, February 22. Age guidance: 16 plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Who’s in York Settlement Community Players’ cast for Loot?

JACK Mackay, as Hal; Miles John, Dennis; Paul French, Mr McLeavy; Caroline Greenwood, Mrs McLeavy; Stuart Green, Truscott; Emily Hansen, Meadows, and Emily Carhart, Fay.

Helen Clarke, Xandra Logan, James Wood, Chris Meadley, Victoria Delaney and Serefina Coupe will feature too in Orton-inspired vignettes before the show and in the interval, penned by James Lee.

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What would happen if Picasso met Einstein in a Paris bar and Elvis turned up too? Ask Steve Martin and the Settlement Players

Mark Simmonds rehearsing for the role of Albert Einstein in York Settlement Community Players’ production of Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Picture: John Saunders

PARIS. 1904. Wine o’clock, on a not-so ordinary evening at the Lapin Agile. So begins the absurdist play by American comedian, actor, writer, playwright, producer and musician Steve Martin, to be staged by York Settlement Community Players next week.

In Montmartre’s iconic cabaret bar favoured by struggling artists, anarchists and intellectuals alike, two soon-to-be legends find themselves sitting next to each other. Spanish-born Cubist painter, sculptor and theatre designer Pablo Picasso and German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, pumped up with egos as big as their intellects, have plenty to discuss.

As the streets outside grow darker, the cafe is lit up with dizzying debate about the promise of the 20th century, but events take a surreal turn when a certain blue suede shoe-wearing singer from the future shows up. Yes, Elvis is not leaving but, rather, entering the building.

The challenge of directing Martin’s work as he plays fast and loose with history over 80 unbroken minutes falls to Natalie Roe in her first production since taking over from Livy Potter – now to pursue her acting career full time – as Settlement Players’ chair last month.

“This is his most famous play, an off-Broadway hit from 1993 that I’ve been looking to be performed in the UK,” says Natalie. “I saw it at Keene Stage College [the liberal arts college] in New Hampshire, when I was on an international exchange from York St John University (which had really attracted me to the university).

“I had a friend in the cast, another exchange student, from Ghana – us international students really stuck together! – who was playing the role of Freddy, and I loved it.”

Why? “It’s very funny. It has jokes that you don’t immediately get, which is unnerving, but equally if something is funny, it still makes you laugh 20 years later,” says Natalie.

“What I liked is that it was a mix of very silly humour and very intellectual humour and it has a lot to say about both art and science.

“The question is: how will these two great personalities, Picasso and Einstein – both young at this time before they become famous – get on when they meet in a bar in Paris. Steve Martin plays with this idea, where Picasso is as much a mathematician as Einstein is an artist.”

To add to the spice, in the triangular structure the renascent Martin favours once more as co-writer of the mystery comedy-drama series Only Murders In The Building, throws “arguably the greatest musician of the 20th century” into the mix. “That’s possibly Steve Martin’s way of dealing with genius and innovation, by having a time-travelling Elvis turn up!” says Natalie.

James Lee in the rehearsal room as he prepares to play Pablo Picasso on the cusp of creating Cubism. Picture: John Saunders

“We also have the bar staff, Freddie, the owner, Germaine, Sagot, the art dealer. Many of them are real historical characters, like Freddie, who did own the bar that Picasso used to frequent in Montmartre.

“Picasso was hanging out at this bar in Paris; Einstein was working in the Patent Office in Berne, so it is conceivable that they met!”

What Steve Martin delivers is a meeting of minds on October 8 1904, when both men are on the cusp of changing the world through ideas. Einstein will publish his theory of relativity in 1905; Picasso will paint his revolutionary work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907.

“There’s a lot of referencing to what they think will happen in the 20th century, so you do get the idea that Steve Martin is at the same time looking back over what happened over the next 90 years,” says Natalie.

“In talking about what might happen, the value of art is discussed in terms of what is the meaning behind a painting, and is a piece of art worth more than it costs to buy it. Is one person’s opinion worth more than someone else’s, and in turn that thought chimes with Einstein’s theory of relativity.”

Martin’s Pablo Picasso is “quite critical of Einstein and his theories at the beginning of the play,” says Natalie. “Picasso’s issue is that he knows he’s on the cusp of something but he doesn’t know what it is. Part of his journey is his discovery of what turns out to be Cubism, and in Martin’s play it could be argued that his meeting with Picasso and of course Elvis from the future ignites his mind.”

Billed only as The Visitor rather than by name in the cast list, the Elvis in Picasso At The Lapin Agile has to be “iconic, almost like a Fairy Godfather”, says Natalie. “Young Elvis too. As part of the audition process, I made every actor do an Elvis impression.” She chose York actor Ray Raper, a regular player in Settlement Players’ Direct Approach performances when aspiring directors directs new works in a pub setting.

Settlement stalwart Mark Simmonds plays Einstein. “He’s very energetic,” says Natalie. “He studied Mathematics, which I didn’t know beforehand, but he seemed to ‘exude Maths’! You have to believe he could do all those equations – and you do!”

For Pablo, she picked James Lee, one of the York scene’s fast-rising talents. “He has a lot of stage presence. Pablo is a tricky part because it’s comedic, it’s poetic, but it’s also moody – and I knew straightaway that James had what I was looking for.”

York Settlement Community Players in Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 29 to November 2, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Age recommendation: 14 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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REVIEW: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Safeena Ladha, left, Eugene McCoy, Tom Byrne and Maddie Rice in a scene from The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior

FIERY Angel’s spiffing touring production of The 39 Steps is back on the road after eight years, although Patrick Barlow’s rollercoaster ride through John Buchan’s tale of murder, suspense and intrigue and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller is never far from a Yorkshire stage.

In that touring hiatus, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre has staged it twice (in 2018 and 2023) and Harri Marshall directed York Settlement Community Players at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in November 2021.

Yet not everyone has strapped in previously for Barlow’s delirious, dextrous delight of a comic misadventure. “Brilliant theatre,” kept coming a voice from the dress-circle row behind, experiencing its ingenuity for the first time at Wednesday’s matinee.

Eugene McCoy, left, Safeena Ladha and Tom Byrne in Fiery Angel’s touring production of The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior

Mischief Theatre have a had a field day since the 2012 premiere of The Play That Goes Wrong, with clever, chaotic comedy rooted in mishaps, clowning pratfalls and exquisite comic timing. Yet Barlow’s play – and indeed North Yorkshire company North Country Theatre’s original 1996 concept by Simon Corble & Nobby Dimon that inspired it – pre-dates the Go Wrong brand, debuting at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, in June 2005.

It has gone right ever since, especially under the direction of Maria Aitken in Fiery Angel’s tours, and now in the hands of 2024 tour director Nicola Samer, still true to the Aitken template but not exactly. The same, but Samer, as it were.

Tom Byrne, familiar to The Crown devotees from playing Prince Andrew aged 22 to 32 in the Netflix series, now turns his hand to another posh chap, the unflappable Richard Hannay in a helter-skelter play that hitches the storytelling of Buchan to the thrills, spills and daring set-pieces of Hitchcock’s thriller and then entrusts 139 roles to a cast of only four, most of them shared between Eugene McCoy’s Clown 1 and Maddie Rice’s Clown 2.

Tom Byrne: From Prince Andrew in The Crown to Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps

In the ennui of August 1935, Byrne’s lanky Hannay is in an emotional stew in his lonely, rented Portland Place pad, slumped in his leather armchair, pencil-slim moustache downturned, contemplating ending it all, in desperate need of… well, love, as it turns out later.

More immediately, this dashing, clipped and proper fellow must “find something to do…something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless. Something – I know! A West End show! That should do the trick!”

Barlow instantly establishes the “meta-theatre” of a play that revels in the possibilities and limitations of theatre, even in self-deprecation at what naysayers consider its ridiculousness, its bloated self-importance, as well as its wonder.

On the run: Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay seeeks to escape the constabulary in The 39 Steps. Picture: Mark Senior

Hannay heads to the London Palladium for some excitement, but not the kind of excitement that ensues. The gun-firing, mysterious German fräulein in the box opposite him, Annabella Schmidt (Safeena Ladha), demands he must take her home, only to drop dead in his lap, knifed in the back.

Hanney takes flight – or rather a train ride – to Scotland, now murder suspect number one, in urgent need of crucial information to extricate himself from such accusations.

Policemen, secret agents, a farmer, a mysterious professor and assorted women stand in his way, delicered with breathless speed, breathtaking brilliance and comedic brio by the loose-limbed McCoy and the nimble Rice, the first woman to play Clown 2 in a Fiery Angel tour.

Tom Byrne’s Richard Hannay: In need of “something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless” in the opening scene to The 39 Steps. A night at the theatre awaits. Picture: Mark Senior

What’s more, as well as evoking Charlie Chaplin and even Samuel Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting For Godot, both are in cross-dressing mode, equally as likely to play a woman or a man, whatever a scene demands, Rice even performing two roles at once, turning back and forth in a half-and-half costume.  

Ladha multi-tasks too, reappearing as an alluring, feisty femme fatale and a shy but obligingly helpful farmer’s wife.

Byrne’s handsome hero lets the darker side of Hannay poke through the surface, but the theatrical sleight of hand prevails, not least in the bargain-basement re-enactment of Hitchcock’s familiar scenes, topped off by a North By North West shadow-play spoof.

The Fiery Angel tour poster for The 39 Steps

The second act slows a tad, but Barlow’s witty, period-pastiche dialogue keeps you on the edge, either suspenseful or in fear of another pardonably terrible pun. All the while, Samer’s cast must battle against the odds, improvising props and scenery, whether with stepladders for a bridge, or chairs for a car, moving the furniture on and off, and defiantly keeping their head above water, even when a ringing phone or dry-ice Scottish mist is miscued.

As the thrilling twists and turns of this Hitchcock homage somehow go off without a hitch, Byrne, Ladha, McCoy and Rice make a fabulous four, never missing a step in the cause of  comedy.

Fiery Angel presents The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, cutting a dash until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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The last dinner party? Not the in vogue band but York company Griffonage Theatre staging Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope

Carly Bednar in rehearsal for her role as Leila Arden in Griffonage Theatre’s Rope. Picture: Ella Tomlin

HALFWAY through her MA in theatre studies, Katie Leckey is directing York company Griffonage Theatre in their Theatre@41 debut in Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope from Wednesday to Saturday.

Built around an invitation to a dinner party like no other, against the backdrop of Britain’s flirtation with fascism, this 1929 whodunit states exactly who did it, but the mystery is: will they be caught? Cue a soiree full of eccentric characters, ticking clocks and hushed arguments.

Leckey’s cast comprises predominantly actors aged 21 or 22: Nick Clark as Wyndham Branson; Will Obson as Charles Granillo; Jack Mackay as Rupert Cadell; Carly Bednar as Leila Arden; Peter Hopwood as Kenneth Raglan and Molly Raine as Sabot.

They will be joined by two older actors, Liam Godrey as Sir Johnstone Kentley and Frankie Hayes as Mrs Debenham. Alicia Oldsbury is the set designer; Grace Trapps, the costumier; Margaux Campbell, the fight choreographer.

“We are so excited to have audiences begin to see this show!” says Katie. “It’s been something of a passion project for me and the entire process has been so rewarding already.”

Katie Leckey directing the University of York Gilbert and Sullivan’s Society’s Patience, aloongside production manager Sam Armstrong. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Here, CharlesHutchPress puts questions to director Katie Leckey on staging Rope, the rise of Griffonage Theatre and her plans for the year ahead.

When and where did you form Griffonage Theatre?

“We were formed about a year ago after a University of York Shakespeare Society production of Julius Caesar that I directed and in which my fellow co-artistic director, Jack Mackay, played Caesar.

“We realised that we had very similar creative styles and overlapping interests during that rehearsal process and this sparked a discussion about how we could branch out of university and into the York theatre scene.

Griffonage Theatre co-artistic director Jack Mackay rehearsing his role as Rupert Cadell. Picture: Ella Tomlin

“We were keen to put on plays that are underperformed (like Rope) or a little bit strange, silly or macabre! York is the perfect place to do this as there’s such a wealth of storytelling potential and inspiration everywhere!

“Jack and I like to (half) joke that we would get nothing done without our amazing executive producer, Anna Njoroge, who is basically a wizard at organisation and the main reason our ideas aren’t sitting dormant in our heads!”

How is the University of York involved?

“Like I say, Griffonage wouldn’t have been born had it not been for the university’s performance societies and the experience that we got from being involved in those. Jack is now chair of the Shakespeare Society, and I learnt a lot from directing and performing with and eventually being the chair of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, especially about adapting older texts for audiences today in an accessible way – something that is a real goal of our company.

“Jack is studying English Literature at the uni, and I just finished the same degree for my undergraduate studies, so we’re also very keen to explore new writing and ways of facilitating that being put on in the city, alongside putting on adaptations of more well-established playwrights.”

Molly Raine’s Sabot, left, and Frankie Hayes’ Mrs Debenham. Picture: Ella Tomlin

What is your specialist focus in your MA in theatre studies?

“I’m halfway through my MA in theatre-making and it’s just amazing! I’m very interested in physical theatre and clowning in my individual practice as a performer. As a director, though, I find the juiciest plays are the ones that have darker themes that I can present through the guise of light-heartedness.

“I think the best plays are ones that aren’t easily labelled as one thing or another, which is why I’m drawn to surrealist and absurdist themes and imagery as well. The MA has equipped me so far with lots of practical skills in running rehearsals, workshops and (perhaps most importantly) working with others in an ensemble to create interesting and often experimental art.”

What first brought you to York?

“I’m originally from Northern Ireland – from the rural town of Ballyclare about 20 minutes away from Belfast – and came over here to study for my undergrad degree – I liked it so much that I’ve decided to stay! It’s just the most gorgeous, historic place and I love the fact that everyone knows everyone somehow or other! Also being able to access so much theatre and arts on my doorstep here was definitely a draw as well.

Katie Leckey exercising her comedic chops as Samuel Beckett in University of York Drama Society’s 2023 Edinburgh Fringe show, Dan Sinclair’s The Courteous Enemy. Picture:Tegan Steward 

Where did you take your first steps in theatre?

“I was so privileged to have a great drama teacher at my secondary school, who put on a musical in our assembly hall every year! My first production was Annie when I was around 13 or so, and I just remember growing in confidence after each rehearsal and the feeling of becoming an entirely different person for a few hours!

“As time went on, I had singing lessons and just kept acting in anything I could on the side of everything else. Obviously, I enjoy the bigger picture of storytelling, because I decided to do an English Lit degree, but it was only when I was given the chance to direct Patience as part of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in my second year of Uni (after a bit of a hiatus from all things theatre during Covid) that all the stars aligned for me.

“I realised that directing was a way of combining all my passions and interests into one activity! And I’ve been absolutely determined tm make, and be in, as much theatre as I can ever since!”

Katie Leckey as the Duchess in University of York Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s 2023 production of The Gondoliers. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick 

Hence the rise of Griffonage Theatre. Why choose that name?

“If you ask the dictionary, Griffonage means ‘careless handwriting: a crude or illegible scrawl’. Jack and I felt like the word really summed up our creative process – something that’s a little careless, crude (mostly from my end) or even illegible is usually the spark for our ideas, and we are so passionate about how we turn these scrawls into something palpable for audiences to enjoy!

“We also liked how it has connotations with the mythical beast the Griffin, as we’re constantly in awe of things that are inexplicable, fantastical and ancient.”

What is Griffonage Theatre’s mission statement?

“We are a team of York-based storytellers who leap at the opportunity to shock and delight. We revel in the grotesque, in the weaving of new worlds, and in sharing the beauty and terror of humanity’s strangest stories.

“Our ambition is to reveal the dark hearts of stories across a wide range of genres: to galvanise narratives that have been lost and to foster the creation of exciting, original work.”

Griffonage Theatre’s cast for Poe In The Pitch Black at the Perky Peacock cafe. Picture: Lotty Farmer

What has the company done so far?

“We had a sold-out site-specific show, Poe In The Pitch Black, at the Perky Peacock café [in the mediaeval, wood-beamed Barker Tower on North Street]. We adapted three of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and told them in the dark, using age-old practical theatrical techniques to spook our audiences!

“We crammed them in! We were able to get 20 spectators in, along with five actors. It was definitely a squeeze in the lower room!

“A particular highlight of the show was the creation of a puppet for the character of the old man in the Tell Tale Heart (performed by Will Osbon, who is returning to play Charles Granillo in Rope), which we were told sufficiently creeped out a lot of our audience!”

How did the chance to perform at Theatre@41 emerge?

“I had the joy of performing in York Settlement Community Players’ Government Inspector last October and got to know the brilliant Alan Park [Theatre@41’s chair], as he was directing the show!

Katie Leckey’s Dobchinsky in York Settlement Community Players’ Government Inpector. Picture: Sarah Ford

“I approached him with the idea of putting a play on at the theatre and was completely shocked that he didn’t shrug me off right away; in fact he was keen that we got everything sorted as soon as possible!

“It’s truly a privilege to be able to put our show on at all, never mind in a space at the heart of the community in York! It’s just so special!”

What attracted you to Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play Rope?

“It’s just genius. Its readability was the first thing that struck me – the stage directions are a hoot! I really recommend for people to read the play, as well as watching it, as it really is fantastic. Hamilton’s grasp of character is phenomenal.

“The play is at once funny and dark, light but intense, deeply philosophical yet entirely playful. I was also fascinated by the fact that it was so heavily concerned with the rise of British fascism pre-World War Two. It’s such a poignant meditation on war, justice, self-awareness and the value of all human life.

Liam Godfrey as Sir Johnstone Kentley, left, Nick Clark as Wyndham Brandon and Peter Hopwood as Kenneth Raglan in the Rope rehearsal room. Picture: Ella Tomlin

“It’s also genuinely hilarious and includes a lot of delightful witticisms and snarky comments. The fact that it is based on a real murder case also intrigued me greatly. With the growing popularity of ‘true crime’ as a genre, it’s utterly fascinating to see a play that attempts to directly confront its viewers with their own desire to witness violence and its consequences.

“It’s very interesting from a queer perspective as well. Without spoiling too much, I would recommend contemplating what the overt and implied relationships between the characters say about the implications of the story itself.

What does Rope say to a modern audience?

“Aside from a few 1920s slang terms, Rope is inherently modern in its sensibilities, despite the fact it has nearly been 100 years since its first performance. (Indeed, this isn’t surprising considering Hamilton coined the thoroughly modern word ‘gaslight’).

“This is why we’ve chosen to make the set look like it hasn’t been moved for 100 years – as something of a time capsule, but also a direct reflection of today. The play acts as a warning for what can happen if you let insidious beliefs and attitudes fester, but beyond this it asks the audience to evaluate themselves what justice looks like, and if it is attainable or desirable at all.

“Furthermore, it delights in the small things: dancing, eating, drinking and socialising – reminding audiences that while they should be alert to little cruelties and genuine evils alike, there is still some good in most people, and this can be seen in the most unlikely of circumstances, including an outré dinner party.”

Mollie Raine’s Sabot and Nick Clark’s Wyndham Brandon in a light moment mid-rehearsal. Picture: Ella Tomlin

Have you seen Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking single-take 1948 film version, shot with the camera kept in continuous motion?

“I love this question! Yes! I actually watched it as soon as I finished reading theplay for the first time! I remember turning to Jack in utter amazement at somemoments (mostly when Jimmy Stewart did anything as Rupert – his performance is phenomenal!) and in complete horror at the extraordinarycensorship that the film was subject to!

“The deviation from Hamilton’s originalis masterful in a way only Hitchcock is, and the choice to set it in post-WW2America is also a stroke of total genius, but it does, at least in my opinionremove some of the most unique and interesting qualities of the original.”

When did you last attend a dinner party?

“For my friend Grace’s birthday a few months ago. It was so much fun, we dressed up in formal clothes and had a little boogie afterwards as well!”

Who would be your ideal guests at a dinner party and why?

“This is so tough! I would have to say Oscar Wilde as he was the subject of my dissertation at undergrad and I would honestly love to be the butt of some of his quips. My fiancé Peter Hopwood (who plays Raglan in the show!) because I feel like I always need a wingman to back me up in dinner party-discussion and he certainly knows me best!

Peter Hopwood: Ideal dinner party guest, fiancé and Rope cast member. Picture: Ella Tomlin

I would also love Mary Wollstonecraft [18th century British writer, philosopher and advocate of women’s rights] to be there just because I feel like she would be so interesting to chat with about philosophy and womanhood.

“I would invite Dolly Parton because she’s just the greatest and my complete idol. I would bring Jack [co-artistic director Jack Mackay] as a scribe, so I could remember what we chatted about. Finally, I think I would invite Samuel Beckett, just to ask him what on earth was he thinking when he wrote his televised play Quad.”

What makes a good dinner party?

“A good host. Unfortunately for the characters in Rope…

“Also some gentle jazz music in the background is a must; it just feels too awkward otherwise!”

Katie Leckey as Jennet Marlin in York Theatre Royal’s 2023 community play, Sovereign, at King’s Manor, Exhibition Square, York. Picture: James Drury

You participated in York Theatre Royal’s community play, Sovereign, at King’s Manor last summer. In a cast of thousands (!), who did you play?

“I played Jennet Marlin (spoiler alert: she was a baddie!) – and what a great time I had. Playing her was a little bit out of my comfort zone but I grew to love her and her very sour face! The people I met as part of it was definitely the highlight. I also LOVED the costume; it made me feel like a real princess – and as a person who usually plays fools this was a unique occasion!”

What comes next for you and Griffonage Theatre?

“Oh, now that would be telling… but since you’ve pulled my leg – personally I’m going to finish my masters in September and start looking for jobs in the industry and I’m also hoping to get married in the winter!

“Griffonage are making our return to Theatre@41 in July this year, and we can’t WAIT to reveal what we’re up to!”

Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio; first play ***, second play ****

Disagreement: Molly Kay’s Mrs Shankland and Chris Meadley’s Mr John Malcolm in Separate Tables. All pictures: John Saunders

THE rise of John Osborne and the angry young men in the Royal Court revolution knocked Terence Rattigan into the hedgerow: a theatrical changing of the guard to rival punk rock shunting aside prog rock.

However, Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten, contrary to his I Hate Pink Floyd T-shirt, later admitted he loved Dark Side Of The Moon, although he did object to the Floydian pretentiousness.

For Rattigan, his elegant plays, full of typically English, uptight, concealed emotions and ambivalent eloquence, were suddenly deemed old-fashioned, all polish, no spit.

Agreement: Young loves Jean Tanner (Nicola Holliday) and Charles Stratton (James Lee)

Rattigan’s resurrection has been gradual, accompanied by a renewed acknowledgement of his understanding of “our national psyche”. Ronald Harwood scripted Mike Figgis’s 1994 film adaptation of Rattigan’s 1948 play The Browning Version, with Albert Finney as a morose classics teacher, while Maxine Peake’s Hester Collyer in the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of Deep Blue Sea in 2011 made the headlines, but that was a rare Rattigan sighting for this reviewer.

Nevertheless, the Rattigan revival has been growing. Symbolically too, stonemasons completed the renovation of the rundown Rattigan family memorial at Kensal Green cemetery, west London, last year after the Terence Rattigan Memorial Fundraising Project raised £10, 507.

Good timing, then, for York Settlement Community Players stalwart Helen Wilson to pick Separate Tables as her first Settlement production since she completed her decade-long project to direct four Chekhov plays in 2020.

Unpalatable: Molly Kay’s Mrs Shankland surveys the menu forlornly as Jodie Fletcher’s waitress Mabel awaits her order. Matt Simpson’s Mr Fowler tucks in tentatively

Wilson’s first decision was to eschew Rattigan’s original format of having the same male and female actors in the differing lead roles for both plays under the Separate Tables umbrella, the winter-set Table By The Window and the summertime Table Number Seven. Separate plays, separate lead actors, for Wilson.

Both halves are set in the mid-1950s in the shabby, genteel Beauregard Private Hotel in Bournemouth, where guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables. Such stiff formality, so characteristic of Rattigan’s writing, emphasises their loneliness, all the more so for the diners sitting head on to Thursday’s full house in the compact Studio, adding a layer of breathless claustrophobia.

In her interview, Wilson made an astute comparison with the series regulars in Fawlty Towers, both staff and guests. Here we particularly enjoy the “light relief” and comic friction of Jodie Fletcher’s blunt waitress, Mabel, Marie-Louise Feeley’s brusque, horseracing form-studying Miss Meacham and Linda Fletcher’s fellow perma-guest, the ever-disapproving Lady Matheson.

Bad news? Hotel manager Miss Cooper (Catherine Edge) in discussion with Major Pollock (Paul French)

Catherine Edge, meanwhile, looks and sounds every period inch the essence of a south coast hotel manager throughout: her Miss Cooper is calm, composed, attentive, decisive, thoroughly decent, serene, always putting others first. Rattigan elegance, in a nutshell.

James Lee’s medical student Charles Stratton and Nicola Holliday’s Jean Tanner are Rattigan’s unguarded young couple, initially finding amusement in the old sticks and minor irritation in each other, before taking divergent positions in the second half.   

Table By The Window is the less successful piece, never losing a sense of awkwardness in its lead performances or their behaviour. Chris Meadley, Tadcaster Theatre Company’s panto dame for the past three years, makes his Settlement debut as disgraced former Labour Junior Minister John Ramsden.

Embittered: Chris Meadley’s politician-turned-journalist Mr John Malcolm

Now writing under the name Cato for the Socialist publication New Outlook, and staying at the Beauregard as John Malcolm, he looks at the world darkly through a haze of booze, surly and sarky, disputatious and dyspeptic.

Who should turn up – by chance, she protests – but ex-wife Mrs Shankland (Molly Kay), the woman he assaulted in his ministerial days. What ensues is an attritional psychological game, with shocks to come and sparks to fly, but everything feels uncomfortable, more collision than connection, with audience, subject and former partner alike.

By comparison, Table Number Seven is intriguing, compelling, surprising, radical even. Enter Paul French’s bogus Major Pollock, whose faux pas amusingly arouse the suspicions of Matt Simpson’s old academic stodge Mr Fowler.

Devastated: Jess Murray’s Miss Railton Bell in the second play, Table Number Seven

Edge, Lee, Holliday, Feeley and Fletcher times two  keep doing their stuff, and Caroline Greenwood’s stultifying, insufferable, bigoted Mrs Railton-Bell keeps holding back her daughter, Jess Murray’s over-protected fledgling Sybil (or “Miss R-B”, as the Major calls her on their walks).

French and Murray’s scenes are terrific, capturing the repression and fear that grips the Major and Sybil alike. The local paper has been covering his court case for importuning, and here is where Rattigan confounds the naysayers, revealing himself to be liberal and progressive.

Performances: 7.45pm, February 13 to 17; 2pm, Saturday. Post-show discussion: February 16, 7.45pm performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond, when skies are dark or lights are bright. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 6 for 2024, from The Press

Neil Vincent, left, Clare Halliday, Chris Pomfrett, Victoria Delaney and Mick Liversidge in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s Beyond Caring

A GLUT of York theatre companies, a nocturnal sky festival, a Yorkshire musical and a colourful installation light up the dark nights of February for culture guide Charles Hutchinson.

Social drama of the week: York Actors Collective in Beyond Caring, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Tuesday to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 5.30pm

DEVISED by Alexander Zeldin and the original Yard Theatre cast in London, this 90-minute play highlighting the social damage inflicted by zero-hours contracts forms York Actors Collective’s second production, directed by founder Angie Millard.

Performed by Victoria Delaney, Clare Halliday, Mick Liversidge, Chris Pomfrett and Neil Vincent, Beyond Caring follows meat-packing factory cleaners Becky, Grace and Sam on the night shift as they confront the reality of low wage employment, never sure whether their ‘job’ will continue. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Robert Rice: Recital at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate tonight


Late Music at the double: Steve Bingham, violin and electronics, 1pm today; Robert Rice, baritone, and William Vann, piano, 7.30pm tonight, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York

PET Shop Boys’ It’s A Sin chills with Bach’s Allemande in D minor, while a tango from Piazzolla is thrown in for good measure, as Steve Bingham explores four centuries of solo violin music this afternoon. World premieres of David Power’s Miniatures, Wayne Siegel’s Salamander (violin and electronics) and Rowan Alfred’s Cuckoo Phase will be performed too.

York composer David Power has curated Robert Rice and William Vann’s evening recital, featuring the first complete performance of Power’s Three Char Songs (1985 and 2016). Works by Gerald Finzi, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Herbert Howells, Robert Walker, William Rhys Meek, Charlotte Marlow, Liz Dilnot Johnson, David Lancaster, Hannah Garton, Ruth Lee, Hayley Jenkins and Phillip Cooke. Power gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm with a complimentary glass of wine or juice. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

Jonny Holbek as Sebastian in York Light Opera Company’s production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Nautical adventure of the week: York Light Opera Company in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, York Theatre Royal, February 7 to 17, except February 12

BASED on the classic 1989 Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid tells the enchanting story of Ariel, a mermaid who dreams of trading her tail for legs and exploring the human world. Aided by her mischievous sidekick, Flounder, and the cunning Ursula, Ariel strikes a bargain that will change her life forever.

Martyn Knight’s production for York Light features stunning projection, dazzling costumes, unforgettable musical numbers, such as Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl, and choreography by Rachael Whitehead. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for Colour & Light, soon to illuminate the facade of York Art Gallery

Installation launch of the week: Colour & Light, York Art Gallery, February 7 to 25

YORK BID is linking up with York Museums Trust for the return of Colour & Light: an innovative project that will transform the facade of York Art Gallery to counter the cold winter with a vibrant light installation.

This “high impact and large-scale visual arts project” uses 3D projection mapping to bring York’s iconic buildings to life, first York Minster last year, now York Art Gallery, where the projection will play every ten minutes from 6pm to 9pm daily in a non-ticketed free event.

Watching the detective: Steven Jobson’s Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Curtains. Picture: Jennifer Jones

It’s Curtains for…Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

WHEN the leading lady of a new musical mysteriously dies on stage, a plucky local detective must solve this 1959 case at Boston’s Colonial Theatre, where the entire cast and crew are suspects in Kander & Ebb’s musical with a book by Rupert Holmes.

Cue delightful characters, a witty and charming script and glorious tunes in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s staging of Curtains. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Sunflower power: The Calendar Girls cast on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday to Saturday

Touring musical of the week: Calendar Girls The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

YOU know the story, the one where a husband’s death to leukaemia prompts a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire Women’s Institute to do an extraordinary thing, whereupon they set about creating a nude calendar to raise money for charity.

Premiered at Leeds Grand Theatre in 2015, Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical is now touring with a cast of music, stage and television stars. Baring all will be Laurie Brett as Annie; Liz Carney as Marie; Helen Pearson as Celia; Samantha Seager as Chris; Maureen Nolan as Ruth; Lyn Paul as Jessie and Honeysuckle Weeks as Cora. Once more the tour supports Blood Cancer UK. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

 Nicola Holliday (as Jean Tanner) and James Lee (as Charles Stratton) in rehearsal for Settlement Players’ Separate Tables. Picture: John Saunders

English manners of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 8 to 17, 7.45pm except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees

AFTER directing four Russian plays by Chekhov, Helen Wilson turns her attention to Separate Tables, two very English Terence Rattigan tales of love and loss, set in a shabby Bournemouth hotel in the 1950s.

Guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables, a formality that underlines the loneliness of these characters in a play about class, secrets and repressed emotions. Chris Meadley, Paul French, Molly Kay, Jess Murray, Marie-Louise Feeley, Caroline Greenwood and Linda Fletcher are among the Settlement cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Festival of the month: North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales Dark Skies Festival, February 9 to 25

TEAMING up for the ninth time since 2016, the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Park authorities celebrate the jewels of God’s Own Country’s night sky this month.

Discover nocturnal activities to heighten the senses such as the Dark Skies Experience (February 9 to 25) night navigation (February 16); trail run and yoga (February 17, sold out); canoeing; planet trail and constellation trail at Aysgarth Falls (February 9 to 25); astrophotography workshops at Castle Howard (February 22), stargazing safaris, children’s daytime trails, art workshops and mindful experiences. More details: darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk; yorkshiredales.org.uk/things-to-do/whats-on/shows/dark-skies-festival/.

Richard Ashcroft: Heading to the woods for Forest Live at Dalby Forest in June. Picture: Dean Chalkley

Outdoor gig announcement of the week: Richard Ashcroft, Forest Live, Dalby Forest, near Pickering, June 23

FORESTRY England completes its Forest Live return to Dalby Forest for the first time since 2019 with Richard Ashcroft, the two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning Wigan singer, songwriter and frontman of The Verve.

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams and disco icons Nile Rodgers & CHIC were confirmed already for June 21 and 22 respectively. New addition Ashcroft’s set list will draw on his five solo albums, along with The Verve’s anthems Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man and Sonnet. Leeds band Apollo Junction will be supporting. Box office: forestlive.com.

In Focus: York Ice Trail, City of Dreams, York city centre, today and tomorrow, from 10am

York Ice Trail: City of Dreams this weekend

THE theme for York Ice Trail 2024 transforms York into the City of Dreams, inviting visitors to dream big.

The last York Ice Trail, in February 2023, drew 40,000 visitors to York to view 36 sculptures. Organised by Make It York, the 2024 event again sees the “coolest” sculptures line the streets of York, each conceived and sponsored by businesses and designed and created by ice specialist Icebox.

Sarah Loftus, Make It York managing director, says: “York Ice Trail is one of the most-loved events in the city for residents and visitors alike, and we’re excited to be bringing it back for another year in 2024. 

“It’s a huge celebration of our city and businesses, and the concept will inspire everyone’s inner child, encouraging people to let their imagination run wild.” 

Icebox managing director Greg Pittard says: “Returning to York for the 2024 Ice Trail is a true honour for us. The York Ice Trail holds a special place in our hearts, and we are thrilled to bring this year’s theme to life.

“Our talented team of ice carvers pour their passion into crafting magnificent ice sculptures that will transport visitors to a world of wonder and delight.”

The 2024 ice sculptures:

Our City Of Dreams, provided by Make It York, Parliament Street.

A Field Of Dreams, Murton Park, Parliament Street.

A Journey In ice, Grand Central, Parliament Street.

City Of Trees, Dalby Forest, Parliament Street.

Chasing Rainbows, in celebration of York band Shed Seven topping the UK official album chart in January, York Mix Radio, Parliament Street.

I’m Late, I’m Late! For A Very Important Date!, Ate O’Clock, High Ousegate.

Sewing Like A Dream, Gillies Fabrics, Peter Lane.

Mythical Beasts: The Yeti, York BID, Walmgate.

Hop On Your Bike, Spark:York, Piccadilly (Spark:York will be open from 12 noon).

Belle Of The Ball, York Castle Museum, Eye of York.

Brolly Walks, The Coppergate Centre.

Supporting Our Armed Forces, Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors, Clifford Street.

Mythical Beasts: The Kraken, York BID, Micklegate (moved from King’s Staith on account of high river levels).

The Slithering Serpent, The Potions Cauldron, Middletons, Skeldergate.

Oompa Loompas, York’s Chocolate Story, Middletons, Skeldergate.

Wonkavision, City Cruises, Middletons, Skeldergate.

The Golden Ticket, filled with Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, Middletons, at Middletons, Skeldergate.

Mythical Beasts: The Phoenix, York BID, Micklegate.

Throne Of Dreams, Storage King, Station Road.

York Principal, The Principal York, Principal Gardens.

A Hat Full Of Dreams, The Grand, York, Station Rise.

Judges And Dragons, The Judge’s Lodging, Lendal.

Your Key To The National Park, North York Moors National Park, Exhibition Square.

Mythical Beasts: The Unicorn, York BID, Gillygate.

Mythical Beasts, The Hydra, York BID, Goodramgate.

The Big Bad Wolf, York Minster, Minster Piazza.

Train Of Dreams, National Railway Museum, High Petergate.

Bradley’s Jewellers’ Christmas Robin Egg, Bradley’s Jewellers, Low Petergate.

Floating Dreams, Lucia Bar, Grape Lane.

Fly Into York With P&R, York Park & Ride, St Helen’s Square.

RMS Queen Mary, Betts, Davygate.

Dreaming Of Cut And Craft, Cut And Craft, St Sampson’s Square.

Live Carving, Make It York, St Sampson’s Square.

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Now’s the right time to reassess Terence Rattigan in Settlement Players’ Separate Tables at York Theatre Royal Studio

The cast for York Settlement Community Players’ production of Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables

AFTER being at the helm of four Chekhov plays, York Settlement Community Players stalwart Helen Wilson had considered checking out of directing altogether.

“I must say, I never thought I’d direct again,” says the York actress, stage director and York College tutor. “I felt like it was the end of the chapter, and I did think, ‘where would I go from here?’.”

Briefly she pondered the possibility of doing an Arthur Miller play, but after all those Russian plays – Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull – her thoughts turned to the quintessentially English work of Terence Rattigan and in particular Separate Tables.

“This play was something that I’d been considering directing years and years ago for Settlement because it has three really good parts for older women; it’s fairly easy to do set wise, and it’s a damn good play.”

Catching the directing bug once more, Helen is deep into rehearsals for Settlement’s staging of Separate Tables at York Theatre Royal Studio from February 8 to 17.

Technically Separate Tables comprises two interconnected one-act plays, two tales of love and loss, ageing and desperation, both set in the shabby Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, where events unfold 18 months apart in 1954 and the late-summer of 1955 respectively.

Only the two lead characters change from the first tale to the second, the supporting cast of hotel manager, staff and guests staying the same, as guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables: a formality that underlines the loneliness of these characters in Rattigan’s depiction of class, secrets and repressed emotions.

“Terence Rattigan very much fell out of fashion with the rise of the ‘Angry Young Men’ in the 1950s,” recalls Helen of the new age of playwrights and novelists, John Osborne, Kingsley Amis, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe and John Wain.

“Famously, Kennth Tynan [the leading theatre critic of his day] turned against Rattigan, saying his plays were rendered irrelevant in the new ‘kitchen sink’ era. But, actually, Separate Tables is a play that was very daring for its time, and there will be a gasp when certain phrases are uttered, where you realise that nothing changes in the world of politics. On top of that, the character John Malcolm is like a forerunner of Jimmy Porter in Osborne’s Look Back In Anger, written only a year later.”

The first tale,Table By The Window, spotlights the troubled relationship of disgraced former Labour Cabinet Minister John Malcolm and his ex-wife, Mrs Shankland. Arriving as a seemingly random guest, she is dining with him, but earlier Malcolm had served time for assaulting her.

The second, Table Number Seven, focuses on the friendship of a repressed spinster and Major Pollock, outwardly generous but bogus behind his façade as an upper-class retired army officer. “It reminds me of Fawlty Towers, with those permanent characters of the two old ladies that always talk at the same time and the Major. It’s a play with lots of drama and a little bit of Victoria Wood thrown in at the beginning!”

Significantly too, Settlement will be using the variation on Rattigan’s drama favoured in American productions from an earlier draft, where Major Pollock is found guilty of approaching young men on the sea front for cigarettes and “other services”.

“You’ll find it as kind of an add-on at the back of the script, and officially that version was never done in Britain, but we’re using it, rather than the script from the premiere where Major Pollock was found to be sexually harassing women at a cinema,” says Helen. “Burt Lancaster and David Niven starred in the 1958 film, with Niven as Major Pollock, and it was very risqué for the time as it went with the homosexual storyline.”

For all Tynan’s judgement, rooted in how Rattigan contrasted with the new breed of working and middle-class writers, Rattigan was anything but a conformist. “He could never experience a safe, cosy relationship in his life; he always veered towards the dangerous,” says Helen.

“He was the son of a diplomat and went to Harrow and Oxford but never voted Tory. He didn’t sit his finals at Oxford, deciding he wanted to be a playwright instead. It was an open secret that he was gay, but it was never spoken of, and while he had lovers, they would never be seen together. He lived on the ground floor of a block of flats, with the lovers staying on the top floor.  

“It’s interesting to see how taboos have changed, but there’s still shock value in the play, and we’ve had some really good discussions during rehearsals, with our two younger cast members, where they might not have realised how homosexuality was viewed at that time. I felt rather Victorian trying to explain those things to them.”

The lead roles in each tale were written to be played by the same performers, but Helen has gone with separate actors, casting Chris Meadley, from Tadcaster, as John Malcolm; Molly Kay, from Flamborough, as Mrs Ann Shankland; Settlement and York Shakespeare Project regular Paul French as Major Pollock, and another York stage familiar face, Jess Murray as Miss Sybil Railton Bell.

The roles of the aforementioned three older women go to Marie-Louise Feeley as bohemian racegoer Miss Meacham, Caroline Greenwood, from last summer’s community cast for York Theatre Royal’s Sovereign, as Mrs Railton Bell and Linda Fletcher as Lady Matheson.

Catherine Edge plays Miss Cooper; James Lee follows up his preening Piers Gaveston in York Shakespeare Project’s Edward II with Charles Stratton here; Nicola Strataridaki, soon to appear in one of Next Door But One’s Yorkshire Trios, is Jean Tanner and Matt Simpson takes the role of old school master Mr Fowler. Jodie Fletcher completes the cast as Mabel.

Helen concludes: “People might think it’s cosy to go to a Rattigan play, but a lot of Separate Tables will make audiences feel uncomfortable – and that subject of a disgraced MP is very apt for our times. There’s definitely more in common between Separate Tables and Look Back In Anger than you might first think.”

York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 8 to 17, 7.45pm except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond, whether inside and outdoors. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 2 for 2024, from The Press, York

Black’n’White the Zebra and Hiran Abeysekera (Pi) in Life Of Pi, bound for Leeds Grand Theatre from Wednesday. Picture: Johan Persson

DRAMAS, circus, musical theatre, rock’n’roll, sorrowful folk, one more pantomime and the return of forest concerts attract Charles Hutchinson’s attention.

Theatre event of the week: Life Of Pi, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 10 to 13; 2pm and 7pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; 7.30pm, Friday

WINNER of five Olivier Awards, not least Best Play, the West End spectacle Life Of Pi is heading north on its debut British tour with its combination of jaw-dropping visuals, magic and puppetry.

Adapted from Yann Martel’s 15 million-selling, 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning fantasy novel, Life Of Pi finds Pi stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive on this epic journey of endurance and hope. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for Meat Loaf By Candlelight at Grand Opera House, York

Tribute show of the week: Meat Loaf By Candlelight, Grand Opera House, York, January 12, 7.30pm

STARS of the original West End and international productions of Bat Out Of Hell will be accompanied by a rock band in a tribute to Texan rock-operatic singer and actor Meat Loaf “as you have never heard before”.

On the Meat Loaf menu will be I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Bat Out Of Hell, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, Dead Ringer For Love, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Cirque: Combining musical theatre bangers and circus skills at York Barbican

Move over PT Barnum and Hugh Jackman: Cirque: The Greatest Show, York Barbican, January 13, 2pm and 6pm

CIRQUE: The Greatest Show combines West End and Broadway musical theatre showstoppers with spectacular circus skills, ranging from aerialists and contortionists to thrilling feats of agility and flair.

West End performers join with mesmerising circus acts in the all-star cast for an enchanting variety show that vows to “charm and astonish in equal measure”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Peter Panto: The PQA York pantomime at the JoRo Theatre

Still time to squeeze in another pantomime: PQA York in Peter Panto, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 14, 7.30pm

PETER Panto, the high-flying PQA Pantomime, features the talented young performers of the Pauline Quirke Academy York’s Friday Academy.

Join Peter Pan as he flies off on a new adventure for one night only in a show featuring “stunning visuals, gorgeous music and barrel-loads of laughter on a swashbuckling journey to Neverland unlike any before”. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Showaddywaddy’s 50th anniversary tour, taking in Grand Opera House, York

Hey, rock and roll nostalgia: Showaddywaddy 50th Anniversary Tour, Grand Opera House, York, January 19, 7.30pm

FORMED in Leicester in 1973, Showaddywaddy like to call themselves “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”. Their 50th anniversary travels rock’n’roll on into 2024 with a line-up featuring only one original member, drummer Romeo Challenger, aged 73.

Dave Bartram, the singer on such hits as Hey Rock And Roll, Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon and Pretty Little Angel Eyes, now manages the band, having performed his last gig in Ilkley in 2011. Andy Pelos takes  lead vocals. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Angeline Morrison: Performing songs of sorrow at the NCEM, York

Leaping ahead: Angeline Morrison, National Centre for Early Music, York, February 29, 7.30pm

SEEKING to make the most of the extra day in this Leap Year? Why not discover why the Guardian picked Angeline Morrison’s The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs Of Black British Experience (Topic Records) as the number one folk album of 2022.

Birmingham-born, Cornwall-based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Morrison explores traditional song with reverence, love and curiosity, a handmade sonic aesthetic and a feeling for the stories of ordinary human lives. York singer-songwriter Holly Taymar supports. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Paul French: Soon to play Major role in Separate Tables at York Theatre Royal Studio

Classic play of the season: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 8 to 17, 7.45pm except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees

AFTER directing four Russian plays by Chekhov, Helen Wilson turns her attention to Separate Tables, two very English Terence Rattigan tales of love and loss, set in a shabby Bournemouth hotel in the 1950s.

Guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables, a formality that underlines the loneliness of these characters in a play about class, secrets and repressed emotions. Chris Meadley, Paul French, Marie-Louise Feeley, Caroline Greenwood and Linda Fletcher lead the Settlement cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Bryan Adams: Canadian rocker will play Dalby Forest on June 21

Going down to the woods again at last: Forest Live concerts, Dalby Forest, near Pickering, June 21 and 22; gates open at 4pm

FOREST Live concerts are to return to Dalby Forest for the first time since Paul Weller and Jess Glynne’s shows in June 2019. Covid put paid to 2020, since when three more silent summers have passed in the woods, but the hiatus will come to an end after Forestry England’s announcement of two outdoor gigs for 2024.

Bryan Adams, forever associated with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You’s 16-week chart-topping run from the 1991 film soundtrack to the forest tale of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, will play on June 21. Nile Rodgers & CHIC will be supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Deco on June 22. Ellis-Bextor previously guested at Erasure’s Dalby date in 2011. Box office: forestlive.com.

Nile Rodgers: Good times ahead at Dalby Forest on June 22 in the company of CHIC
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