York Settlement Community Players’ cast members for Direct Approach performances of The Painting Has Gone and Chalkface
YORK Settlement Community Players has settled on the casts for the next Direct Approach performances at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, on August 31 to September 3.
Irem Saticioglu will direct Andrea Mitchell’s The Painting Has Gone, featuring Frank Brogan’s Steve, Catherine Parker Brown’s Lucy, Emily Hansen’s Sharon, Bryan Bounds’ Sky, Emma Scott’s Geri and Matt Goddard’s Museum Guide/multi-roles.
Lily Geering will be at the helm for P J Thornber’s Chalkface, to be perfoemed by Pamela Gourlay’s Anna, Nick Patrick Jones’s Grant, Em Sinclair’s Louise, Gregor Sweet’s Seb and Darren Barrott’s Mason.
York Settlement Community Players’ poster for The Painting Has Gone
Settlement Players’ Direct Approach project is a regular opportunity for aspiring directors to direct new plays by local writers, all performed by community actors in the relaxed environment of an upstairs room at the Black Swann Inn.
These 30 to 40-minute plays for between four and five actors are designed to equip new directors with the necessary skills to direct a successful production. Directors are supported throughout by the YSCP committee with planning and publicity and are a paired with an experienced York director to act as a mentor.
York Settlement Community Players’ poster for Chalkface, part of the next Direct Approach double bill
Paul Birch: Leading scripted comedy workshop for York Settlement Community Players on Sunday
FRIARGATE Theatre artistic director, comedy writer and improv supremo Paul Birch is to hold a workshop for York Settlement Community Players on scripted comedy on Sunday (6/7/2025) at Room 1, Southlands Methodist Church, York.
“This Funny Business workshop is a great way to find your funny and explore ways in which to play comedic texts without worrying about getting laughs,” says Paul. “Using a range of scripts and some helpful games and exercises, this session will equip actors and directors to love, rather than fear, the comedic text.”
The charge for Sunday’s 2pm to 4.30pm session is £10 or “a bit more if you can manage it”. “Paul is doing the workshop at no charge to YSCP to help us out of our current financial difficulties because he is a thoroughly decent bloke,” says organiser Maurice Crichton.
Going One Step Beyond: left to right, Liz Quinlan, Chris Meadley, Stuart Green, director Jon Mills, Jess Murray and Pamela Gourlay
THE Direct Approach is York Settlement Community Players’ scheme to support first-time or emerging directors, but in this case it is giving a boost to the writer too.
Jon Mills steps into the director’s chair after making his mark already as a filmmaker, script writer, theatrical prop and set designer and producer of promo videos for YSCP shows.
Likewise, fellow polymath Miles Salter adds play writing to his skills as a poet, songwriter, band frontman, journalist, podcaster and festival director.
One Step Beyond has its roots in Salter’s application for a York Theatre Royal commission for its Love Bites showcase of York creative talent when lockdown was lifted. His monologue, It Must Be Love, was rejected but central character Steve re-emerges in a 45-minute play – it just had to be 45 or 33 – that again takes its title from a Madness hit.
Steve (Stuart Green) goes nuts for the Nutty Boys, still the nuttiest sound around, collecting rarities obsessively, but this could be the vinyl countdown for his marriage to Kerry (Pamela Gourlay), who is doing her nut. Welcome to the house of no fun. The Madness and the maddening.
Married in 1999, the couple is in a rut of routine, now that the children have flown the nest. Steve does pretty much what he likes: she doesn’t like what he does. He feels the same, because each day she packs him off to work with the same sandwiches; every night, she lines up two crackers, little chunks of cheese and a dab of pickle for his final nibble before bed. Steve sees this metronomic behaviour as being controlling. Kerry carries on regardless.
Steve likes to go to record fairs and meet up at the pub with his steady Eddie of a friend, Boring Ryan (Chris Meadley), so named because he is, well, boring.
Taking his next step:One Step Beyondwriter Miles Salter
Except that maybe he isn’t because he is full of facts that he is wont to drop into the conversation in the quiet moments. Such as? Did you know that the elephant is the mammal that requires the least sleep? You’ll sleep better for knowing that one.
Salter’s play has a stock of such minutiae, coupled with an observant eye that he brings to his poetry too with a humorous flourish that had him worrying that maybe One Step Beyond is too much of a nod to John Godber’s combative northern plays and Nick Hornby’s culturally savvy southern books. Yes, he shares their ear for fractious dialogue and eye for telling detail, but Salter’s humour is his own.
Boring Ryan, for example, is a collector of trouser presses, forever advocating their value and recommending their purchase to all and sundry. Cue a Baggy Trousers gag that is beautifully timed.
Steve is essentially contented; Kerry, discontented, because he is contented. She is sharper of mind, unfulfilled, bored, and, truth be told, Steve would annoy any partner.
This can go only one way: off to the marriage guidance counsellor they trudge, Steve more reluctantly, but at least he turns up. Counsellor Marcia (Liz Quinlan) emerges as the one-woman Greek chorus of the piece, stepping out of scenes to break down the fourth wall in candid direct address. She’s a realist, but one drawn to the bright side of the road like Van Morrison.
Some of Salter’s best writing comes from this ostensibly dispassionate observer, whose role is to steer discussion, to keep order, to ensure equal say, but not to judge (but passes her thoughts on to the audience instead). He wrote the part initially for a Marcus, not a Marcia, but it wholly suits being played by Quinlan – a boon for smart casting by Mills.
Faced by such negativity, like batteries connected the wrong way, Marcia seeks to find a way for Steve and Kerry to re-energise the lost spark, only for them to explode. Comedy on a tightrope, always better that way, when something is at stake.
The poster artwork for York Settlement Community Players’ One Step Beyond
Time for a time out, a re-set. Kerry takes up pottery, the cue for a lovely, calming cameo in stripes, polka dots and headband by Jess Murray’s ceramics tutor Jen, “exuding warmth – like a Zen hot water bottle,” as Salter put it in his character profile. Steve, meanwhile, writes a poem: the cue for another dip into Madness.
Salter manages that trick of making the dislikeable and unreasonable – selfish nerd Steve, overbearing Kerry – very watchable in Green and Quinlan’s performances, and as can be the case with writers, there is something of him in each of the characters, even the Zen Jen.
Ultimately, the Marcia/Marcus and Zen Jen in him win out, encouraging us to do exactly what the title says: go that One Step Beyond, as he applies the writer’s principles of “Make’em laugh (plentifully); make’em cry (not so much here); make’em wait (for that closing pay-off line).
Mills’s direction is suitably playful, not least in his use of cartoon imagery on a screen that depicts a row of houses for domestic scenes and the football scores on rotation on the pub telly.
I could say it would be madness to miss One Step Beyond, but given that all three performances have sold out, let’s say you will be mad at yourself for not booking earlier if you have missed out on a ticket.
York Settlement Community Players present One Step Beyond, The Wolfe Room, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, tonight, 7.30pm, SOLD OUT.
The next Direct Approach plays will be in September at the Black Swan Inn. More details to follow.
Ready to go One Step Beyond: left to right, Liz Quinlan, Chris Meadley, Stuart Green, director Jon Mills, Jess Murray and Pamela Gourlay
YORK poet, songwriter, journalist, podcaster and festival director Miles Salter is adding playwriting to his cultural tool bag.
His debut short play, One Step Beyond, will be staged by York Settlement Community Players in a sold-out run at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, from tonight (26/05/2025) to Wednesday.
“It started life as a short monologue several years ago. It’s a bit Nick Hornby meets John Godber. I like the humour in it. All men are a bit nerdy about something. I enjoyed writing it. I think it’s good fun,” says Miles in a aptly short summation.
One Step Beyond is being directed by Harrogate filmmaker, scriptwriter, prop and set designer and promo video producer Jon Mills in his directorial debut under YSCP’s nurturing project The Direct Approach.
Meet Steve and Kerry: married for a long time, but Steve’s vinyl collection, Madness to the max, may tear them apart. Luckily they have a counsellor…and Steve’s friend Boring Ryan on hand to help them out. It must be love, love, love.
Steve (played by Stuart Green) is “a man in his 40s or 50s, depending on how many pints he’s had. Content and uncomplicated,” says Miles. “Kerry (Pamela Gourlay) is a woman in her 40s or 50s, depending on how much sleep she’s had. Pin-sharp and unfulfilled.
“Boring Ryan (Chris Meadley), Steve’s friend, is that mate we all have but we’re not sure why. Counsellor Marcia(Liz Quinlan) is a professional listener who can still – just – see the bright side.
“Our fifth character, Jen (Jess Murray), runs a ceramics class. She exudes warmth and calm, like a Zen hot-water bottle.”
Seeds were seen for One Step Beyond in 2021 when invited Miles was among more than 200 York artists who applied for £1,000 love letter commissions to be staged at York Theatre Royal in Love Bites on May 17 – the first day theatres could reopen after lockdown restrictions were first lifted – and May 18 in a celebration of the creative talent across the city.
“I wrote a ten-minute piece, originally called It Must Be Love, about a bloke talking about his midlife crisis, his wife and his love of Madness, ” he recalls. “Juliet [Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster] said ‘close, but no cigar’.”
Hey you! Don’t watch that, watch this! It’s the heavy-heavy-monster sound of a brand new play, Miles Salter’s One Step Beyond
Rejection did not deter him. “Last year I went to one of Settlement’s summer sessions, where I saw a play about two people watching their child in the park and it turns out one is a ghost. Anyway, after that, I started writing It Must Be Love about Steve and Kerry.
“He’s obsessed with Madness; she’s a control freak. Their marriage has lost its spark and energy, and so they go to see a therapist, Marcia, who’s rational and almost like a Greek chorus, connecting the action and saying ‘when are you two going to wake up?’.
“It’s fun, not particularly profound, and it’s very influenced by John Godber’s plays and Nick Hornby’s writing.
“At first I wondered if I was being a bit unoriginal, but I decided I wasn’t! Everything is influenced by something else, isn’t it. The play has as many laughs as possible in there, and it abides to that thing of not taking yourself too seriously.”
Miles quoutes a “very good piece of advice” he received. In a nutshell, “Make’em laugh. Make’em cry. Make’em wait.” “Every good writer understands that. When I write, I don’t want it to be too dark or too light. That’s what life is: funny and ridiculous, but also sad and melancholy and beautiful – and that’s what you’ll find in my poetry too.
“Life is a crazy, strange mixture. One moment you’re sad, and then you’ll hear a funny story and you’re laughing your head off. My play reflects that.”
One Step Beyond takes its title from Madness’s 1979 debut album and second hit single, but it also nods to another meaning of that phrase. “One of the things about therapy is that it’s quite a brace thing to do. A lot of people avoid it. Only a relatively small number of men will go to counselling or therapy.
“It occurred to me, that thing of going one step beyond what you think you’re capable of. Be brave, go for it, whereas if we don’t try things, we can get terribly stuck in our little worlds, which is kind of sad. As the therapist says. ‘it’s sad people when people give up, it’s too easy to do that’.”
You could say that writing One Step Beyond was a case of doing exactly that by taking the step beyond after Miles missed out on selection for Love Bites. Once bitten, but not twice shy.
York Settlement Community Players in Miles Salter’s One Step Beyond, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, May 26 to 28, 7.30pm. Tickets update: SOLD OUT.
Writer Miles Salter
Miles Salter: the back story
WRITER of poetry, journalism, fiction and songs since 1990, when he first came to York as a student of English Literature and Drama.
His CV includes stints as presenter of The Arts Show on Jorvik Radio and director of York Literature Festival and York Alive festival. Host of York Calling podcast.
Fronts York rock and Americana band Miles And The Chain Gang.
Jon Mills: the back story
ORIGINALLYfrom Birmingham. Studied English at University of Leeds before settling in Harrogate.
Background in film-making and scriptwriting. Now rekindled his interest in theatre, creating props and sets for York Settlement Community Players’ productions of Separate Tables and Picasso At The Lapin Agile, along with York Mystery Plays’ A Creation for York and A Nativity for York.
Produced promo videos for YSCP productions. One Step Beyond marks his directorial debut under YSCP’s Direct Approach scheme.
The Wizard of York, Dan Wood, sets his spellbinding WizardFest in motion for three magical days. Picture: The Story Of You
NOT only a new festival of wizardry, but Charles Hutchinson has plenty more wizard ideas too for the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond the wand.
Enchanting festival of the week: WizardFest, waving a wand over York, today to Monday
ORGANISED by The Wizard of York, Dan Wood, York’s first ever festival of wizardry promises 25 activities, events, workshops and fantastical food and drink, featuring the city’s most magical businesses.
Highlights include Wizard Walk of York walks; a Brick Magic LEGO workshop; screenings of the first three Harry Potter films at City Screen Picturehouse; Professor Kettlestring’s Puzzling World needing help to defeat dark wizard Mortius Darktrix; The Cat Gallery’s Black Cat Trail and Make It York’s Owl Trail; Monday’s Magical Night Market at Shambles Market and a fancy dress parade between St Helen’s Square and York Minster at 3pm on Monday. Plan your magical itinerary and make bookings at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.
York Printmakers’ poster for the 2025 Festival of Print
“More than an exhibition” of the week: York Printmakers, Festival of Print, 22 High Petergate, York, until July 20, open every Friday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sundays, 10am to 4pm
YORK Printmakers celebrate creativity, craft and community in a curated exhibition of original prints, from linocut and etching to screenprint and collagraph, complemented by demonstrations, talks and workshops. Visitors can explore the stories and processes behind each piece and meet the makers behind the art.
“This year’s festival is more than an exhibition,” say the organisers. “It’s an invitation to discover, to ask questions and to support York artists keeping traditional and contemporary printmaking alive.” Entry is free.
Festival Of The Force: The Star Wars convention from another galaxy, here in York
Film convention of the week: Festival Of The Force, York Railway Institute, Queen Street, York, Sunday, 10am to 5pm
MAY the Force be with you for this Star Wars convention, Festival Of The Force, whose mission is to deliver an immersive experience in celebration of the Star Wars universe while building a strong sense of community among collectors, fans, and cosplayers of all ages. Look out for a galaxy of merchandise, celebrity appearances and fan-led events. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk/e/festival-of-the-force-tickets.
Wanted in York: Julian Clary swaps guns for puns and putdowns in A Fistful Of Claryon Sunday
Camp sight of the week: Julian Clary in A Fistful Of Clary, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
JULIAN Clary goes Western as he saddles up for entendres at the double, sure that the men in the audience won’t be able to keep their hands off his Rawhide.
The lucky few will play with him on stage in the Hang‘em Low saloon, but life in the Old West was tough. Not all of Julian’s wild bunch will be around to witness the final shoot-out when he gives himself selflessly at high noon to the last man standing. Tickets update for Clary’s pun fight: still available at atgtickets.com/york.
Sophie Ellis Bextor: Disco nights at York Barbican and York Racecourse
Dancefloor diva at the double: Sophie Ellis Bextor, York Barbican, May 26, Spring Bank Holiday Monday, 7.30pm; York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend 2025, July 25, after 8.23pm last race
“IT will be wonderful to bring the disco fun to everyone,” says Sophie Ellis Bextor, lockdown queen of the Kitchen Disco online sessions, as she heads to York twice. Buoyed by Murder On The Dancefloor’s appearance in the final scene of Emerald Fennell’s film Saltburn returning her 2001 smash to number two in the UK charts, she takes to the road with a career-spanning set also featuring Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love), Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me) and Freedom Of The Night.
The former lead singer of theaudience will be joined by special guest Natasha Bedingfield for the post-racing concert on Knavesmire in July. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk (last few tickets); yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Jon Mills’s cast for Miles Salter’s short play One Step Beyond, premiering at the Black Swan Inn next week
Premiere of the week: Yortk Settlement Community Players presents Miles Salter’s One Step Beyond, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, May 26 to 28, 7.30pm
STEVE and Kerry have been married a long time. Steve’s vinyl collection may tear them apart. Luckily they have a counsellor…and Steve’s friend Boring Ryan on hand to help them out. It must be love, love, love. Jon Mills directs Stuart Green, Pamela Gourlay, Liz Quinlan, Chris Meadley and Jess Murray in York writer Miles Salter’s short play for YSCP’s Direct Approach project. Tickets to enter this House of Fun: £5, pay on the door, cash or card.
Victoria Delaney, left, and Clare Halliday in rehearsal for York Actors Collective’s production of Tiger Country at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Hospital drama of the week: York Actors Collective in Tiger Country, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 27 to 31, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2.30pm and 6pm, Saturday
NINA Raine’s doctors-and-nurses drama, last performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2014, is revived by Angie Millard’s company York Actors Collective.
This fast-paced play considers doctors’ dilemmas as a range of clinical and ethical issues come under the spotlight in a busy hospital. Professionalism and prejudice, turbulent staff romances, ambition and failure collide as Raine depicts an overburdened health service and the dedicated individuals that keep it going. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Nick Mohammed’s alter-ego, Mr Swallow, in Show Pony, cantering into the Grand Opera House next week and in the autumn. Picture: Matt Crockett
Comedy gig of the week: Nick Mohammed Is Mr Swallow in Show Pony, Grand Opera House, York, May 28 and October 23, 7.30pm
COMEDIAN, writer, Ted Lasso regular and Taskmaster loser Nick Mohammed transforms into his alter-ego, Mr Swallow in Show Pony, a new show that will “cover everything from not having his own sitcom to not having his own sitcom… and everything in between (critical race theory). As per – expect magic, music and a whole load of brand-new mistakes”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Sir Tim Rice: Mulling over a life in musicals at the Grand Opera House, York
Musical knight of the week: Sir Tim Rice, My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well, Grand Opera House, York, May 29,7.30pm
LYRICIST supreme Sir Tim Rice reflects on his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre, sharing anecdotes behind the songs, both the hits and the misses, complemented by stories of his life and live performances by leading West End singers and musicians, led by musical director Duncan Waugh. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
