Tag: York Settlement Community Players

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Roll up, roll up, here come York Mystery Plays on waggons on June 28 and July 5

York Mystery Plays: Reconnecting modern York with medieval drama

THE four-yearly staging of the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city on Sunday and July 5 from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

Produced by York Festival Trust, the 2026 production once again will bring medieval drama into the streets and historic spaces of the city, reconnecting modern York with a cycle of plays first performed by its medieval guilds.

Free viewing can be enjoyed at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, from 10.30am, King’s Square, from 11.10am, and St Sampson’s Square, from 11.50am. Ticketed seats are available for Dean’s Park from 12.30pm.

Each Sunday, ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.

Special midsummer performances of five of this summer’s plays will be presented in Sunset In The Shambles Market on June 30 and July 1, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the End of Days in the interactive show Doomsday. These shows begin at 7.45pm and end as the dusk is deepening before 10pm. For tickets, go to: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

Alan brings considerable experience to his role. “I staged my first Mystery Plays in 1989 and my first in this [pageant waggon] festival in 2006 with the Potters’ Pageant,” he says.

“After that, I adapted all 48 into a two-hour production, then was asked by the Merchant Adventurers in 2010 to bring forth their play Doomsday. This summer will be the fifth time I’ve ‘ended the world’ for them, each time building the play afresh. It takes nine months to develop each one.” 

Alan’s vision as Pageant Master has been two-fold. “First, to help groups deliver exciting street theatre through the choice of plays and through having support materials available,” he says.

“Second, to lift the event, making it bigger and more inclusive; returning to the keyword ‘festival’ by extending the period of engagement from two days to two weeks and in some cases two months,  and by expanding the social media presence.

“In addition, there is a legacy programme of audio recordings and podcasts, plus much closer links with the York Mystery Plays Supporters’ Trust and their ongoing events. Overall I want to increase the range of opportunities for local people and visitors to engage with the plays.”

The cornerstone of presenting the York Mystery Plays in 2026 on the streets is the people, says Alan. “This is a massive community event, which exists because of the passion and commitment of the groups, directors, designers, musicians and the wonderful volunteers,” he reasons. “From the very start of the process nearly two years ago, I have been deeply touched by the warmth and support received for the new-look event.” 

Dr Alan Heaven: Pageant Master for 2026 York Mystery Plays

Explaining how this summer’s plays were chosen from the 48 that make up the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, Alan says: “The plays selected fall into three groups. First, the ones that are connected to specially designed waggons. These are The Creation – which has the fantastic pop-up Victorian-style waggon by the Guild of Building – and the Butchers’ iconic Crucifixion waggon.

“Second are the plays that are integral to the Christian story arc. These are the Fall of Adam and Eve, Resurrection and the end play, Doomsday, and the multi-faith spectacle of The Deluge.

“That makes six plays. Last time there were eight. The final group contains The Creation of Adam and Eve, The Journey to Calvary, The Shepherds, The Massacre of the Innocents and the remaining section of The Coronation of Mary, which makes 11 plays, all selected because of the opportunity for visual emphasis that they bring.”

Among the new participants will be Pip Cook, directing The Shepherds, Lions and Dragons Theatre Co, staging The Resurrection, and DSpace Ukrainian Theatre, founded in York by director and actress Dara Klymenko, who will perform The Massacre of the Innocents. 

Asked how he chose a theme for the sunset midweek performances, Alan says: “The only theme there need ever be is the York Mystery Plays. There’s also the practical reality of which groups are willing to do it.”

The Mystery Plays will be complemented by the York Mystery Plays Fringe. “Everything in the Fringe is a highlight,” says Alan. “Everyone connected has worked very hard and very creatively to enable more people to find their best way of connecting with the plays.

“Key events running now are The Deluge art exhibition of finalists from the national competition, curated by Megan kathryn Heywood, with many works for sale, at Bedern Hall, in Bartle Garth, St Andrewgate, until July 3, and Women of the Mystery Plays, an exhibition at the Bar Convent Living Heritage  Centre, highlighting the contributions of women past and present, curated by Diane Heaven. 

“The York Mystery Plays Sound and Memory exhibition, using images from the Mystery Plays archive, is on show at Holy Trinity, Micklegate, until August 29, curated by Molly Jervis, while the York Mystery Plays shop is running in High Petergate.”

Finally, Alan, why should someone see the Mystery Plays if they have never done so before? “You should attend because this is a world-famous celebration of local heritage in one of the world’s leading tourist destinations: the most beautiful city in England.

“It is unique and only appears every four years; its connections with the city give it roots and authenticity. It might be a medieval Christian story but it is played by and watched by people of all faiths and none.” 

The York Mystery Plays, streets of York, June 28 and July 5, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset In The Shambles Market, June 30 and July 1, 7.45pm.  

The Plays on June 28 and July 5

The Fall of Adam and Eve: The Lords of Misrule’s play

The War In Heaven: Brought forth by Laura-Elizabeth Rice and HIDden Theatre with the cast of volunteers, all working with and on behalf of Gild of Freemen. To find out more about the play, the guild and the stagecraft, visit: https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/introducing-war-heaven/.

The Creation: Brought forth by York Guild of Building, directed by Janice Barnes-Newton.

The Fall of Adam and Eve: Brought forth by The Lords of Misrule for the Company of Merchant Taylors, directed by Thomasina Cass.

Noah and the Flood: Brought forth by St. Luke’s Church, directed by Mike Tyler and Lynn Comer.

Doomsday: Performed by Ravens Morris and Haigha

The Shepherds: Directed by Pip Cook with cast of Waifs and Strays for the Company of Cordwainers.

The Massacre of the Innocents: Brought forth by DSpace Ukrainian Theatre Company for the Guild of Scriveners.

The Crucifixion: Brought forth by York Settlement Community Players on behalf of the Company of Butchers, directed by Maurice Crichton.

The Journey to Calvary: Brought forth by York Mystery Plays Supporters’ Trust, directed by Paul Toy.

The Resurrection: The Quem Quaeritis: Brought forth by Lions & Dragons Theatre Co.

The Coronation of Mary: A fragment

Doomsday: Brought forth by Ravens Morris and Haigha for the Company of Merchant Adventurers, directed by Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven. 

In focus: York Settlement Community Players in The Crucifixion, for the Company of Butchers, on return after 12 years

Thom Feeney in rehearsal for his role as Jesus of Nazareth with three of the Workmen in York Settlement Community Players’ play The Crucifixion. Picture: John Saunders

“YORK has the only cycle of Mystery Plays to make a separate episode of the stretching, nailing and raising of Jesus,” says Settlement director Maurice Crichton. “The four crucifiers are an all-banging, shouting and bantering gang of workmen. But you, the audience, hold the knowledge that this is no ordinary job. What impact will Jesus have?”

Settlement Players’ pageant waggon was designed and built by Tony Wright in 2006 to make sense of the physical action implied in the script. “Waggon master Richard Hampton has worked wonders to bring this now 20-year-old warhorse of a vehicle back into repair (based at Murton Park),” says Maurice, as Settlement Players return to the festival for the first time since 2014.

“The action of the play is a real physical challenge, requiring considerable nerve all round. None of the cast was familiar with the play or the waggon and only one has been part of this event before. I give my thanks to them for their courage and effort.”

York Settlement Community Players is one of the oldest amateur drama groups in the city. “The seed event for our group was an evening of Nativity Mystery Plays at The York Settlement in 1917,” says Maurice. “We’ve missed out on this event in 2018 and 2022, so we’re excited to be back.”

Looking ahead to Settlement Players’ upcoming activities, Maurice says: “In September, we’ll have our New Writing for New Directors initiative coming up at the Black Swan Inn, in Peasholme Green, and from October 13 to 17 we’ll be staging Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, by Sarah Gordon, starring Lara Stafford as Charlotte Bronte, at Theatre@41, Monkgate.

“Each month our improv group, Unsettled, meets at Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, and we host a play-reading at the Royal Oak, Goodramgate. If interested, contact: yorksettlementcommunityplayers@gmail.com.”

Settlement Players’ cast for The Crucifixion: Workman 1, the Foreman, James Wood; Workman 2,  Andrew Wrenn; Workman 3, Liam Godfrey; Workman 4, Michael Maybridge; Jesus of Nazareth, Thom Feeney.

Cross to bear: Thom Feeney’s Jesus of Nazareth. Picture; John Saunders

York Mystery Plays 2026 Festival

Voices of the Plays: A Celebration of York Mystery Plays in Poetry and Prose. Merchant Taylors’ Hall, June 25, 6.30pm for 7pm start

WRITERS of all ages have responded to the themes, stories and characters of the York Mystery Plays, submitting nearly 50 original poems and prose pieces for inclusion in a new anthology. This event brings together those voices for an evening of readings, reflection and celebration in the Merchant Taylors’ Hall.

Young writers will open the evening, sharing their work with the audience after an optional pre-event performance workshop. Shortlisted adult writers will then present their selected pieces, showcasing a rich variety of responses to one of York’s most treasured cultural traditions.

The evening will celebrate the forthcoming publication of the anthology, featuring all shortlisted and winning entries, to be released later this summer. Whether you are a lover of literature, a supporter of the York Mystery Plays, or curious to hear new writing inspired by ancient stories, this promises to be an uplifting event.  Bookings: https://www.ticketsource.com/booking/select/gmxmmrejjann.

Paul Toy: Giving a talk on Music of The Mysteries on Friday

Expert Talks

JOIN leading historians, artists and practitioners as they explore the York Mystery Plays from new angles. These engaging talks offer insight, context and lively discussion. Delivered for York Festival Trust by Paul Toy, Dr Alan Heaven & Roger Lee and Maurice Crichton.

 Friday, June 26, 2.30pm, Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, Music of The Mysteries: How music has always been central to the plays, from original performance traditions to modern interpretation. Talk by Paul Toy, Pageant Master 2010, musician, dramatist and theatre director.

Monday, June 29, 2pm, Holy Trinity Micklegate, Bring the Plays to Life: How do you bring one of York’s oldest and most cherished traditions to life for a modern audience? Join Pageant Master 2026 Dr Alan Heaven and York Festival Trust chair and producer Roger Lee for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at York Mystery Plays 2026.

Friday, July 3, 2pm, Holy Trinity Micklegate, Being Noah. Actor and director Maurice Crichton givers an illustrated talk on the Noah Plays and their presentation. Bookings: https://www.ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

Podcasts:  Voices of the York Mystery Plays, streaming online

LISTEN in as stories unfold beyond the stage. A series of podcasts brings together voices from the production, the city and beyond, offering reflection, insight and behind-the-scenes perspectives. You can listen online on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/2Aiin7sBQ6JPjErSoC9ezD and Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/yorkmysteryplays.

Audio Plays

EXPERIENCE the drama through sound alone. These specially created audio plays retell the plays in full, inviting you to engage your imagination wherever you are. York Festival Trust has begun the task of recording all 48 original plays over the next three years.  If you would like to take part, get in touch.  You can listen via Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/2Aiin7sBQ6JPjErSoC9ezD and Souncloud at https://soundcloud.com/yorkmysteryplays.

Film

UNIVERSITY of York students have created a short film responding to the Noah plays. Watch for our launch on YouTube and in person. Look out for the launch on YouTube.

Sound and Memory in the York Mystery Plays: Free archive exhibition, Holy Trinity Church, Micklegate, until August 29

USING archive materials from the National Centre for Early Music, curator Molly Jervis invites you to respond to an immersive exhibition exploring how sound and music evoke memory within the York Mystery Plays, past and present.  Come along to share your memories.  Holy Trinity is also  the starting point for the Original Stations Trail and only a short walk from the Women in the Mysteries exhibition at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre.

Cathy Sara and Thomas Frere in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Mistero Buffo at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: John Shepherdson

Fringe play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Mistero Buffo, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, June 27 and 28, July 1 to 4 at 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees on July 3 and 4

TWO wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 York Mystery Plays Fringe to tell tales destined to turn the city upside down. Combining ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, Paul Birch’s two-hander production for York’s Riding Lights Theatre Company tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, humorous modern theatre with a clear spiritual heart.

Written by Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo, translated by Ed Emery and performed by Yorkshire actors Thomas Frere and Cathy Sara, this 1969 take on the Mystery Plays will appeal to Fringe theatregoers with a taste for sharp, subversive and unapologetic comedy with bite. A post-show discussion with the creative team will follow the July 2 performance. Box office: www.ridinglights.org.

Guided Walks of the Original Performance Locations, departing at 10am and 2pm on various dates

JOIN York historian David Farrar and York Guides for a 90-minute tour of York with fascinating stories and histories. See https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/tickets-merch/  for dates and to book.

The Watchers of York Sculpture Trail, June 29 to August 31

INSPIRED by an idea by York Festival Trust, Make It York has created this trail in collaboration with York Minster. Stone carvings have been silently watching over York Minster for centuries. These guardians are full of character, humour and mystery. Now, one of them is stepping off the stonework and making mischief across York.  This new city-wide sculpture trail launches alongside the York Mystery Plays. Don’t miss the Doomsday version in the Mystery Plays.

The Original Stations Trail, until July 7

STEP back into the medieval city and trace the route of the original pageant waggons. This trail reveals where the plays once unfolded, bringing history vividly into the streets of today. Created by David Farrar for York Festival Trust, this trail includes a souvenir map created by York artist Jo Rodwell. 

Dates and times: June 25, 7pm; June 26, 10.30am & 7pm; June 27, 10.30am; June 29, 10.30am; July 2, 10.30am & 7pm; July 3, 10.30am & 7pm; July 4, 10.30am; July  6, 10.30am, and July 7, 2pm. Bookings: https://www.ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

York artist Jo Rodwell: Designed souvenir map for the Original Stations Trail

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Katie Leckey & Emily Carhart to co-direct York Shakespeare Project in Comedy Of Errors in October at Theatre@41

Katie Leckey

KATIE Leckey and Emily Carhart will co-direct York Shakespeare Project’s autumn production of The Comedy Of Errors from October 21 to 24 at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

Katie and Emily worked together previously on York Settlement Community Players’ February 2025 production of Joe Orton’s Loot and Griffonage Theatre’s showcase of Lady Augusta Gregory plays, FourTold,  last October.

“We promise an exciting take on Shakespeare’s shortest and possibly funniest play, re-imagining his  early farce with a piratical twist, setting sail to the corrupt island of Ephesus, a land rife with crime, debauchery, swashbuckling action and a fair bit of slapstick,” they say.

Now all they need is a cast. Auditions will take place at Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York, from 2pm to 5pm on May 16 and 17, then 6.30pm to 9.30pm on May 18 and 19.

If you are interested in auditioning, please email info@yorkshakespeareproject.org for more information.

Emily Carhart

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REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until Saturday ****

Child’s play: Mark Simmonds’ Willie impersonating a bomber plane in Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade in Scarborough, is making her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

She brings together actors very familiar to York audiences (Mark Simmonds, Victoria Delaney, Jess Murray), three from York Theatre Royal’s 2025 community play, His Last Report (Andrew Wrenn, Jon Cook and Thom Feeney) and one who moved to York only four months ago (Rich Wareham).

Each is playing a seven-year-old child on a hot summer’s day in the Forest of Dean in wartime 1943, where their child’s play in the woods mimics and mirrors the adult world at war, whether Simmonds’ Willie dive-bombing like a war plane or impersonating the bogeyman figure of an escaped Italian prisoner of war from a nearby camp.

Jess Murray’s Audrey, left, and Victoria Delaney’s Angela in Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

Each is pictured in their programme profile aged seven – the director included – whether with big glasses, bigger teeth, white hair band, a giant Rupert Bear, an apple-cheeked cheeky grin or reading a comic.

No pictorial aid, however, is needed to see their transformation into Potter’s West Country boys and girls, one achieved through movement, mannerism, voice and Judith Ireland’s typically exemplary wardrobe, from the boys’ 1940s’ tank tops and baggy shorts to Murray’s Audrey in dungarees and Delaney’s Angela, forever pushing a pram and carrying a dolly, in cornfield yellow party dress and matching bows in her hair.

Simmonds and Wareham retain full beards but the boy inside emerges through the bristle thicket. Richard Hampton’s set design could be a child’s primitive drawing: to one side, barn doors with a milk churn, pail and straw bale inside; to the other, a painterly tree; in the centre, an expanse of grass, all seen as if through the children’s perspective.

All eyes are on Andrew Wrenn’s John, left, as Jon Cook’s Raymond, Victoria Delaney’s Angela, Mark Simmonds’ Willie, Rich Wareham’s Peter and Jess Murray’s Audrey look on. Picture: John Saunders

As sage ancient Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle proclaimed: “Give a me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.” In turn, Potter will show you both the man and the woman, and the inner child within both, as he “takes you back to your own childhoods, the laughter, the fun,  the freedom, but also the heartache and pain”.

That heartache and pain is expressed in the absence of fathers, away on war duty, both in tears and the boastful my-dad’s better/bigger/smarter/more important-than-yours fisticuffs of Wareham’s Peter and Wrenn’s John, and in the teasing of Feeney’s loner Donald “Duck”, hiding away, playing on his own in the barn.

There is machismo menace beneath the surface, much like in William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies, as adult traits are forged in the children’s pecking order that finds Cook’s kindly, gentle Raymond always playing second or, rather, fourth fiddle to ringleader  Peter, John  and Willie. 

Victoria Delaney’s Angela and Thom Feeney’s Donald “Duck”

Or fifth fiddle, if you were to include the never-seen but respected leader Wallace Wilson. The girls, meanwhile, don’t compete for such roles, Murray’s Audrey fitting in as a tomboy and Delaney’s Angela as an aspirational mother in the making.   

Hebditch asked her actors not only to connect with their inner child (Delaney incidentally first trod the Theatre Royal boards aged eight), but also to “focus on instinct rather than intellectual consequences”.  Good advice that bears fruit in performances that capture how “emotions flit in the blink of an eye” and “relish in the pure emotions of children”.

Performances are suitably individual too yet collectively excellent, full of the freedom to play like children in Rowntree Park, yet darkened by the claustrophobic shadow of war, even amid the bucolic beauty of the woods.

Blue Remembered Hills director Fleur Hebditch

Like Donald, Hebditch lights a match under Potter’s play, then watches it catch fire and burn with increasingly fierce heat.

As the children blame each other, then exonerate themselves of any guilt – it was ever thus in the slithering grown-up world too – an adult voice reads from A E Housman’s poem that gave Potter’s play its title with its account of the happy highways making way for the land of lost content.

The play makes that very same journey, from fun to fear, from afternoon tease to sucker punch, from innocence to experience, all too quickly to need an interval. Short, and sharp as Willie’s cooking apple, Blue Remembered Hills still shocks.

York Settlement Community Players, Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 28, 7.45pm nightly, resuming Tuesday to Saturday, plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Fisticuffs: Andrew Wrenn’s John, left, clashes Rich Wareham’s bully Peter as Victoria Delaney’s Angela and Jess Murray’s Audrey egg them on. Picture: John Saunders

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More Things To Do in York & beyond as greatest showman shows up & abbey lights up. Hutch’s List No. 7, from The York Press

Child’s play: Andrew Renn, Jon Cook and Jess Murray, back row, with Mark Simmonds and Victoria Delaney in York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FROM Dennis Potter to Stephen Sondheim, showman  P.T. Barnum to Selby Abbey’s light installation, Charles Hutchinson is spoilt for cultural choice.

Play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, until February 28, 7.45pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them, but their innocence is short lived as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Cole Stacey’s social media posting for his Rise@Bluebird Bakery gig

Folk gig of the week: Cole Stacey, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York tonight, doors 7.30pm

VISCERAL singer-songwriter Cole Stacey weaves together British folk, 1980s’ pop, spoken word and ambient electronics, as heard on last February’s debut album with its symbiosis of “lost” places and forgotten words, stretching back to the 13th century, paired with his lyrical songwriting and field recordings.

“I’d like to invite you to come along with me on the next chapter as I head out to share Postcards From Lost Places in some unique and inspiring settings, beginning in York tonight,” says Stacey. “I loved my time and bread last year playing at Bluebird Bakery, so I’m very delighted to be invited back for an intimate gig in their fully working bakery. It’s a special setting and one I’m thoroughly looking forward to!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk.

Dnipro Opera in Carmen, on tour at York Barbican

Opera of the week: Dnipro Opera (Ukrainian National Opera) in Carmen, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Dnipro Opera, from Ukraine, performs Georges Bizet’s Carmen in French with English surtitles, accompanied by an orchestra numbering more than 30 musicians. 

Feel the thrill of fiery passion, jealousy, and violence of 19th century Seville in Carmen’s story of the downfall of naive soldier Don José,  who falls head over heels in love with seductive, free-spirited femme fatale Carmen. Whereupon he abandons his childhood sweetheart and neglects his military duties, only to lose the fickle Carmen to the glamorous toreador Escamillo. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Showman extraordinaire: Lee Mead’s P. T. Barnum in Barnum: The Circus Musical at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Touring musical of the week: Bill Kenwright Ltd in Barnum: The Circus Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

MUSICALS leading man Lee Mead plays the most challenging role of his career, stepping into P. T. Barnum’s shoes and on to the tightrope as the legendary circus showman, businessman and politician in Jonathan O’Boyle’s touring production of the Broadway musical.

Mead leads the cast of more than 20 actor-musicians (playing 150 instruments), acrobats and international circus acts as, hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum finds his life and career twisting and turning the more he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman and Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman in rehearsal for Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

Sondheim show of the week: Wharfemede Productions in A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

SET in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire, and regret through Stephen Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, not least the timeless Send In The Clowns.

Directed by Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ show combines the North Yorkshire company’s hallmark attention to emotional depth, musical high quality and character-driven ensemble storytelling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic, celebrating music from Walt Disney’s animated films at York Barbican

Movie music of the week: Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic, York Barbican, February 25, 7.30pm

THE Novello Orchestra’s Disney In Concert: The Sound Of Magic performance is a symphonic celebration of Disney music, animation and memories, a century in the making, under the direction of creative director Amy Tinkham, music director Giles Martin and arranger and orchestrator Ben Foster. 

Favourite characters and music from across the Walt Disney Animation Studios catalogue come to life on the concert hall stage and screen in new medleys and suites on a magic carpet ride through Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Moana, Alice In Wonderland, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Frozen, The Lion King, Fantasia, Encanto, Beauty And The Beast and more. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Homeward bound for Selby Abbey: Imitating The Dog’s large-scale installation

Installation of the week: Selby Light 2026, Selby Abbey, February 26 to 28, 6pm to 9pm

SELBY Abbey will be the setting for Homeward, Leeds company Imitating The Dog’s  large-scale installation celebrating our different stories and the unified feeling of finding home, framed by the question How Did You Get Here?

Inside, the installation continues as a walk-through experience, complemented by Jazmin Morris’s Through The Liquid Crystal Display, a series of visual code illustrations inspired by Selby Abbey. The trail then extends into the town centre with works by Selby College students. Admission is free.

Phoenix Dance Theatre in Interplay: World premiere opens at York Theatre Royal next Friday and Saturday. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre, Interplay, York Theatre Royal, February 27, 7.30pm; February 28, 2pm, 7.30pm

LEEDS company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s world premiere tour of Interplay opens at York Theatre Royal next Friday and Saturday, featuring dynamic works by Travis Knight and James Pett (Small Talk), Ed Myhill (Why Are People Clapping?!), Yusha-Marie Sorzano & Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis (Suite Release) and Willis’s Next Of Kin. 

Across duet and ensemble works, Interplay explores themes of duality and shared authorship, revealing how distinct artistic voices can intersect to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Each piece offers a unique perspective, united by a bold physicality and a deep curiosity about human relationships, rhythm and collective experience. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Levellers: Levelling The Land anew at York Barbican this autumn

Gig announcement of the week: Levellers, York Barbican, October 29

BRIGHTON folk-rockers Levellers have been among Britain’s most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly 40 years, their success in part built on the anthems that comprised their platinum-selling second album Levelling The Land, whose 35th anniversary falls on October 7.

To mark the occasion, Levellers will head out on a UK and European tour from October 16 to November 21, playing many songs from that album, alongside fan favourites from their extensive catalogue. Hotly tipped Essex punk duo The Meffs will support. Box office: https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/levellers-2026/.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 7, from Gazette & Herald

Victoria Delaney in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

FROM Dennis Potter to Stephen Sondheim, showman  P.T. Barnum to a Phil Collins tribute, Charles Hutchinson is spoilt for cultural choice amid the incessant rainfall.

Play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight to February 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; February 21 and 28, 2pm matinees

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them. Their innocence is short lived, however, as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Blue Remembered Hills director Fleur Hebditch

Spooky adventure of the week: Flying Ducks Youth Theatre in The Addams Family Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow  to Saturday, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Flying Ducks Youth Theatre undertake a whimsical, spooky musical adventure into the delightfully dark world of the hauntingly eccentric Addams Family on a night of unexpected revelations.

When Wednesday Addams falls in love with a “normal” boy, chaos ensues. As the two families converge over dinner, secrets are revealed and the true meaning of family is put to the test. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Kathryn Williams: Opening Mystery Park Tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

Time’s shifting tides of the week: Kathryn Williams, Mystery Park Tour 2026, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

KATHRYN Williams, the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based folk singer-songwriter, novelist, podcaster, tutor and artist long celebrated for her quiet emotional depth and lyrical precision, promotes her 15th studio album, last September’s Mystery Park, with support and special guest guitarist Matt Deighton in tow.

Opening her 12-date tour in Pocklington, 2000 Mercury Music Prize nominee Williams marks 27 years of diverse, multi-faceted music projects with a reflective, textured work, made in the quiet margins of motherhood and memory, shaped by time’s shifting tides. “This is the most personal record I’ve made,” she says. “The artwork is my own painting, based on the willow pattern from my grandmother’s tea sets. Each part of it ties into the songs: a map of memories.” Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Megson’s Debs Hanna and Stu Hanna: Performing at Helmsley Arts Centre on Friday

Folk gig of the week: Megson, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

FOUR-TIME BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards nominees and double Spiral Earth Awards winners Megson combine heavenly vocals, lush harmonies and driving rhythmic guitars, topped off with northern humour. 

Hailing from Teesside and now based in Cambridgeshire, husband-and-wife folk roots duo Debs Hanna (vocals, whistle, piano accordion) and Stu Hanna (guitar, mandola, banjo) followed up 2023 studio album What Are We Trying To Say with Megson – Live In Teesside, recorded at Stockton-on-Tees Arc in 2025. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Ryedale film event of the week: Summit Stories, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

THIS evening of adventure films to raise funds for the Scarborough & Ryedale branch of Mountain Rescue England & Wales features a variety of exciting off-piste adventures, such as ski mountaineering, mountain climbing and mountain biking.

Created by elite athletes from around the world, the Faction Collective’s 150 Hours From Home, Blair Aitken of British Backcountry’s 10 In A Weekend, Commencal’s Dolomites and Jessie Leong’s The Last Forgotten Art contain scenes to take the breath away. The mountain rescue team, by the way, supports adventurers when things go wrong and conducts  day-to-day searches and rescues off the beaten track. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Seriously Collins: Taking Phil Collins at Face Value in tribute to solo and Genesis years at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Seriously Collins – A Tribute To Phil Collins & Genesis, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

RETURNING by popular demand, Seriously Collins relive the hits of Phil Collins and Genesis, taking a musical journey through the songs that defined an era, echoing Collins’s soulful solo sound and re-creating the energy, intricacy and intensity of his more expansive original band. Expect “no gimmicks, just a genuine tribute to one of the greatest artists of our time”. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Lee Mead, centre, as showman P. T. Barnum, surrounded by actor musicians and circus acts in Barnum: The Circus Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Touring musical of the week: Bill Kenwright Ltd in Barnum: The Circus Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

MUSICALS leading man Lee Mead plays the most challenging role of his career, stepping into P. T. Barnum’s shoes and on to the tightrope as the legendary circus showman, businessman and politician in Jonathan O’Boyle’s touring production of the Broadway musical.

Mead leads the cast of more than 20 actor-musicians (playing 150 instruments), acrobats and international circus acts as, hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum finds his life and career twisting and turning the more he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Maggie Smales’s Madame Armfeldt and Libby Greenhill’s Fredrika rehearsing for Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

Sondheim show of the week: Wharfemede Productions in A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

SET in turn-of-the-century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire, and regret through Stephen Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, not least the timeless Send In The Clowns.

Directed by Helen “Bells” Spencer, Wharfemede Productions’ show combines the York company’s hallmark attention to emotional depth, musical high quality and character-driven ensemble storytelling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Levellers: Revisiting Levelling The Land at York Barbican this autumn. Picture: Steve Gullick

Gig announcement of the week: Levellers, Levelling The Land 35th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, October  29

BRIGHTON folk-rockers Levellers have been among Britain’s most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly 40 years, their success built in part on the anthems that comprised their platinum-selling second album Levelling The Land, whose 35th anniversary falls on October 7.

To mark the occasion, Levellers will head out on a UK and European tour from October 16 to November 21, playing many songs from that album, alongside fan favourites from their extensive catalogue. Hotly tipped Essex punk duo The Meffs will support. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am from https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/levellers-2026/.

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Fleur blooms in Settlement Players directorial debut with Blue Remembered Hills at York Theatre Royal Studio

York Settlement Community Players director Fleur Hebditch stands outside York Theatre Royal, where her production of Blue Remembered Hills opens on Wednesday

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade in Scarborough, is making her York Settlement Community Players directorial debut with Blue Remembered Hills.

From Wednesday to February 28, her production of Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama will run at York Theatre Royal Studio.

This is the Potter one where seven children – five boys, two girls – are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them, but their innocence is short lived as reality hits hard.

“I first saw the play at the National Theatre in the 1990s with Steve Coogan in the role of Willie,” says Fleur. “Without giving the plot away, it just affected me so much that I can still remember images to this day – and I’ve never seen it since.”

On moving to York, her own involvement in theatre took a back seat while looking after her eldest daughter Ariel’s career as a stand-up comedian, who has performed at the Brighton Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe (with Spruce Moose).

“But then last year I spoke with Juliet [York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster] to see if she needed any help with the community production of His Last Report, and I worked as assistant director on that show,” says Fleur.

York Settlement Community Players cast members in rehearsal for Blue Remembered Hills. Picture: John Saunders

“That’s where I met Helen Wilson and Maurice Crichton, who were in the cast, and they said they were always looking for directors for Settlement Players. ‘Oh, that’s my favourite job,’ I said.”

Fleur duly put forward Blue Remembered Hills for Settlement’s February’s choice of classic play for timely revival. “It’s Potter’s writing that attracted me, the stories he tells, and how he’s at the forefront of being able to be on the edge [as a playwright], which is the same with seven-year-old children in this play and how they’re playing in the fields and the barn,” she says. “I’m also attracted to dark tales, and this is one of them.”

Potter’s play calls on adults to play children who in turn are mirroring adult behaviour. “They’re all so different, and that goes back to the audition process,” says Fleur. “They were so impressive when we started with a workshop where I needed the actors to improvise and have a freedom to get into character, not as children but as human beings. At that point we then read the text.”

As stage manager Helen Wilson notes: “It’s a very, very physical play.” “That’s another reason I like it, as I was a dancer when I was young,” says Fleur, who has had her cast playing games of Tig in the rehearsal room. “There’s a lot of playing around and fighting in the play, and that’s why I’ve stripped away the props so that it’s just about the actors interacting.

“The play is just straight through, no interval, and it’s all over in an hour. That makes it very immediate, and so the audience is in the moment, just as the characters are. It’s very intense as well as really physical, and that helps the actors as they don’t  have a break and their journey through the play is very focused.”

Potter’s dialogue matches that intensity. “He is quite fantastical in a lot of his plays, but this one is more naturalistic, because the language is colloquial, and that helps the actors find their characters. They speak as children without making it a parody,” says Fleur.

Victoria Delaney in the Blue Remembered Hills rehearsal room

“The beauty of his writing is that the words are very simplistic, but as we’ve gone through rehearsals, we’ve realised the depth of what we’ve been given to explore.”

Helen joins in: “Even the bully, Peter [played by Settlement newcomer Rich Wareham, after only four months in York] , you actually see the other side of him through Potter’s writing, so there’s a poignancy to him, even it’s only for a few seconds – and there is empathy with all of the characters.”

Fleur rejoins: “Being children, they have this innocence about them, where they don’t yet know what ‘wrong’ is. I decided to create each of their worlds by working individually with each actor, like working with Rich on bringing out  the reasons for why he’s a bully; making him a more human character, rather than merely two-dimensional where you just think, ‘well, he’s a bully’. Bringing out the individuality has fed into the rehearsals really well.”

Although Aristotle once said, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man”, Fleur notes how a seven-year-old child’s behaviour differs from adulthood. “That’s a specific time when  they go from one emotion to another in the blink of an eye, and you just have to put your adult self to one side because that’s how children are. It’s about having that freedom, where they go from being best friends one minute to falling out or pulling their hair. They can be feral.”

Fleur, by day a registrar at York Register Office, has enjoyed her Settlement directorial debut “immensely”. “I’ve been trusted to use my artistry and to be creative in the way I wanted, and having that freedom has been fantatstic,” she says.

York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2pm, February 21 and 28. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond in half-term week and in the nocturnal skies. Hutch’s List No. 6, from The York Press

The March To Coppergate, when 500 Vikings parade through York city centre on February 21 in a highlight of the 2026 JORVIK Viking Festival

THE Vikings are invading York once more while the Dark Skies Festival is full of stars in Charles Hutchinson’s tips for adventure and artistic discovery.

Festival of the week: JORVIK Viking Festival, York, February 16 to 22

YORK is gearing up for another action‑packed February half‑term as the JORVIK Viking Festival  brings a week of hands‑on history, craft activities and Norse‑themed entertainment to the city’s streets and historic venues.

Organised by York Archaeology, Europe’s largest Viking festival  promises an accessible programme for families, featuring a mix of free drop‑in events and low‑cost bookable sessions designed to spark curiosity in young Vikings and their grown‑ups. The full programme and tickets are available at jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk. 

Milky Way over Ravenscar at the North York Moors National Park Dark Skies Festival. Picture: Steve Bell, North York Moors National Park

Celebrating jewels of the night sky: North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks Dark Skies Festival, nightly until March 1

NORTH York Moors and Yorkshire Moors National Parks celebrate their 11th Dark Skies Festival this month. Discover activities at night to heighten the senses, such as night runs, canoeing and night navigation, astrophotography workshops, stargazing safaris, children’s daytime trails, art workshops and mindful experiences.

Full details of nocturnal activities at the two International Dark Sky Reserves, at the peak of the stargazing season, can be found at https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events and https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/yorkshire-dales-events.

Day Fever: Turning York Barbican into a dance floor this afternoon

Dance moves on St Valentine’s Day: Day Fever, York Barbican, today, 3pm

FULL of revellers ready to party to the best feelgood music, personally curated by Jon McClure of Sheffield band Reverend And The Makers, the gang behind Day Fever guarantee an afternoon of no-holds-barred fun times and dancing. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Fladam Theatre duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre

Children’s show of half-term week: Fladam Theatre in Astro-Norma And The Cosmic Piano, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2.30pm

FLADAM Theatre, the York actor-musician duo of Adam Sowter and Florence Poskitt, return with an intergalactic musical adventure ideal for ages four to ten. Meet out-of-this-world pianist Norma, who dreams of going into space, like her heroes Mae Jemison and Neil Armstrong, but children can’t go into space, can they? Especially children who have a very important piano recital coming up.

When a bizarre-looking contraption crash-lands in the garden, is it a bird? Or perhaps  a plane? No and twice no, it’s a piano, but no ordinary piano. This is a cosmic piano! Maybe Norma’s dreams can come true in a 45-minute show packed with awesome aliens, rib-tickling robots, and interplanetary puns that will have children shooting for the stars. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

For whom the Bells toll: The Best Of Tubular Bells I, II & III, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Best of Tubular Bells I, II & III celebrates Mike Oldfield’s iconic and seminal musical pieces on a 26-date 26 date UK tour featuring an expansive live group, led and arranged by Oldfield’s long-term collaborator Robin Smith.

1973’s Tubular Bells will be performed in full, complemented by extended sections of 1992’s Tubular Bells ll and 1998’s Tubular Bells lll, as well as worldwide hit single Moonlight Shadow. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hottest ticket of 2026 in York: Jodie Comer as defence lawyer Tessa Ensler in Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Rankin

Recommended but sold out already: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie, Grand Opera House, York, February 17 to 21, 7.30pm plus 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

JODIE Comer returns to her Olivier and Tony Award-winning role as lawyer Tessa Ensler in the “Something Has To Change” tour of Suzie Miller’s Prime Facie in her first appearance on a North Yorkshire stage since her professional debut in Scarborough as Ruby in the Stephen Joseph Theatre world premiere of Fiona Evans’s The Price Of Everything in April 2010.

Comer’s Tessa is a thoroughbred young barrister who loves to win, working her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game: prosecuting, cross examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. An unexpected event, however, forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Box office for returns only: atgtickets.com/york.

Thom Feeney in rehearsal for York Settlement Community Players’ Blue Remembered Hills

Child’s play of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Blue Remembered Hills, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 18 to 28, 7.45pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2pm, February 21 and 28

FLEUR Hebditch, former Stephen Joseph Theatre dramaturg for a decade, makes her Settlement Players directorial debut with Dennis Potter’s stage adaptation of his 1979 BBC Play For Today drama.

Seven children are playing in the Forest of Dean countryside on a hot summer’s day in 1943. Each aged seven, they mimic and reflect the adult world at war around them. Their innocence is short lived, however, as reality hits. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Spooky adventure of the week: Flying Ducks Youth Theatre in The Addams Family Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 19 to 21, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Flying Ducks Youth Theatre undertakes a whimsical, spooky musical adventure into the delightfully dark world of the hauntingly eccentric Addams Family on a night of unexpected revelations.

When Wednesday Addams falls in love with a “normal” boy, chaos ensues. As the two families converge over dinner, secrets are revealed and the true meaning of family is put to the test. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Kathyrn Williams: Opening Mystery Park Tour at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Kathryn Williams, Mystery Park Tour 2026, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 20, 8pm

KATHRYN Williams, the Liverpool-born, Newcastle-based folk singer-songwriter, novelist, podcaster, tutor and artist long celebrated for her quiet emotional depth and lyrical precision, promotes her 15th studio album, last September’s Mystery Park, with support and special guest guitarist Matt Deighton in tow.

Opening her 12-date tour in Pocklington, 2000 Mercury Music Prize nominee Williams marks 27 years of diverse, multi-faceted music projects with a reflective, textured work, made in the quiet margins of motherhood and memory, shaped by time’s shifting tides. “This is the most personal record I’ve made,” she says. “The artwork is my own painting, based on the willow pattern from my grandmother’s tea sets. Each part of it ties into the songs: a map of memories.” Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Katherine Jenkins: Playing York Barbican on 25th anniversary tour

Concert announcement of the week: Katherine Jenkins, York Barbican, October 15

WELSH mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, 45, the biggest-selling classical artist of the 21st century, will play York Barbican as the only Yorkshire venue of her 25 Year Anniversary Tour. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on February 20 at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/katherine-jenkins-2026/.

“Reaching 25 years in music is incredibly emotional, but this tour is truly a celebration of the fans who have been there from the very beginning,” she says. “To be heading out across the UK and Ireland for 18 special shows feels less like a celebration of a career and more like a reunion with old friends, and I can’t wait to stand on stage, look out into those familiar faces and share it all over again.”

Russell Hicks: In action at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, and The Wardrobe, Leeds on his This Time It’s Personal tour

In Focus: Comedy gig of the week, Russell Hicks, This Time It’s Personal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

LAST year, Russell Hicks was just Happy To Be Here on his tour travels, discussing his life in the UK after moving from the USA.

Now the improvisational Californian comedian is looking inwards on his latest tour that visits Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight and The Wardrobe, Leeds, on February 22 (7.30pm). “This year it’s about…me. I’m back. And This Time It’s Personal,” he says, explaining the show title.

Deciding to leave the Trump-era politics to the likes of Jon Stewart, “I thought I would talk about more personal things, which is a challenge because I’m reactive to the climate, having done this thing of being a fish out of water [in Happy To Be Here].

“I’ve done that thing of discussing British culture through an American perspective on Instagram and Facebook, and I write Dear Diary entries about moving to Britain. I’ve done stuff on Marmite and Wetherspoons, as an American who knows nothing about this culture and is very honest about it, but they’re mostly just jokes.

“Like in America, I’m seen as a drinker; in England, I’m a legend (when it comes to drinking). That gave me an outline to talk about the UK versus the USA, and having done that, now I’m looking at myself in my new show, trying to sharpen my perspective, where I’m 42 now and so you get to the point where you’re more reflective.”

Russell continues: “That’s kind of the hallmark of being this age. At 35/40, people are starting to look at where they are and what got them there, good or bad. As in any culture, there is so much attention paid to early choices and early paths through life, but then there’s no guide to what to do in a capitalist society after 40. Then it’s just about maintenance.”

Do not mistake This Time It’s Personal for a navel-gazing exercise. “I’m very sensitive that that might be boring, where people do this show that can best summed up as ‘why I’m not successful’. But in my show, I’m celebrating being a comic and the experiences that I have,” says Russell.

“An audience member once came up to me and said, ‘comedians are like university drop-outs: they’re smart but they make the worst choices’. In a comedy club, I’m always in the moment, but then once I’m outside, I’ll look at what makes me uncomfortable. It’s that thing of thinking that you’re talking about yourself but actually you’re talking about all of us.”

As ever, Russell will be weaving improvisation into his shows in York and Leeds. “Improvisation, for me, is just something that’s inevitable. It’s the only way that I know how to perform, bringing in more as I talk about myself, and I’m always happy to find something in the room and then go off track,” he says.

“It’s just exciting. There’s a purity of connection. Being on stage, it’s the closest you get to hanging out with someone, making them laugh.”

As for the jokes, “I always know a joke’s really worked when they’re laughing uncontrollably at something and then have a hard time trying to re-tell it!” he says.

One final question: do you have any memories of past York visits, Russell? “One night in York, I went on a ghost walk before the show, then died on stage. I was like my own ghost that night!”

Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/; Leeds, https://ticket247.co.uk/Event/russell-hicks-at-the-wardrobe-leeds-486754.

Russell Hicks: Comedian, actor, writer

Russell Hicks: back story

Born: San Diego, California.

 Based: London.

Occupation: Exuberant, provocative stand-up comedian noted for weaving improvisation into material, and writer of weekly journals of life as an ex-pat.

Appeared on: Channel 4, BBC and ITV.  Starred as loveable Texan Coach Hughes in Prime Video series Lovestruck High, narrated by Lindsay Lohan. Written for and starred in ITV’s Stand Up Sketch Show. Won Channel 4 competition series Captive Audience with his fully improvised stand-up.

Track record: Won Prague Fringe Festival 2024. Headlined at every major UK club, including The Stand, Glee Club and Up The Creek. Residency at Top Secret Comedy Club in London. Comperes at Leeds and Reading Festival. Curates indie venues, historic theatres such as Hammersmith Apollo, and private members clubs. Endorsed as Global Talent by Arts Council England in 2022.

What else? Regularly entertains studio audiences at Have I Got News For You, The Last Leg and As Yet Untitled. Works Stateside with legendary Hollywood clubs The Comedy Store, The Improv and The Laugh Factory. As voice actor, he has lent his voice to Sky Comedy and Great Big Story and works for international brands in global campaigns.

Still more? Presenter on Yahoo Entertainment. Opens shows regularly for friends Axel Blake (2022 winner of Britain’s Got Talent), Simon Brodkin and Al Murray. Multiple film roles include appearing Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (2025) and Amazon MGM Studios romantic comedy Maintenance Required (2025) on Amazon Prime. Posts Dear Diary series on Instagram, gaining millions of views.

Previous tours: The Age Of Hicks, 2022; Next Level, 2023; first national UK itinerary, Happy To Be Here, 2024-2025, discussing his life in the UK.

Latest tour: This Time It’s Personal, January 23 to June 5.

Reflection of the day: “I still can’t believe I get to make people laugh for a living, travel the world and, most importantly, not wake up early on Monday mornings.”

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REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday ***

Party six pack: David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, left, Adam Marsdin’s David Hinson, Heather Patterson’s Jennifer Hinson, Catherine Edge’s on-edge party hostess Rosa Smethurst, Xandra Logan’s Sandy Lloyd-Meredeth and Helen Wilson’s party pooper Mrs Hinson in Settlement Players’ Party Piece. All pictures: John Saunders

RICHARD Harris’s fractious farces have been the staple of amateur productions country-wide, from stalwart city companies to village hall societies.

The chances are you may well have encountered Outside Edge or Stepping Out, but maybe not Party Piece, the choice of American director, writer, producer, historian, author and stuntman Martin T Brooks for his York Settlement Community Players debut.

This is the 1992 one where control-freak doctor Michael Smethurst (James Wood) and his eager-to-please wife Roma (Catherine Edge) are preparing for their fancy-dress housewarming party, an event of military precision.

On the open-plan, somewhat rudimentary set design of two houses, their back doors and gardens, dischuffed, ornery Mrs Hinson (Helen Wilson) is looking through the peep hole in the (imaginary) wall, less than enthusiastic about her posh neighbours and their gentrification of her working-class street.

Old-fashioned washing on the line, Zimmer frame always at hand, and her late husband’s shed out of bounds, she is  resolutely determined to stay put  and hasn’t a good word for anyone – except her son David’s ex-wife, Rosemary.

David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, dressed in the guise of Alec Guinness in The Man In The White Suit, plus a fez for no particular reason, introduces his party outfit to fancy-dress party hosts Michael Smethurst (James Wood) and his wife Rosa (Catherine Edge), attired in role reversal as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire

Mrs Hinson is the bane of North Yorkshire fruit- and-veg  mini-empire boss David’s life, and even more so of sourpuss second wife Jennifer (Heather Patterson), who will never be good enough to replace Rosemary.

The party to end all parties turns out to be anything but as a series of disasters befalls the increasingly vexed Michael and Rosa, when the phonecall excuses for non-attendance pile up; the barbecue misbehaves in comedy tradition, and the Zimmer frame is lobbed over the wall.

The two guests who do turn up only add to the headache: step forward David Barrott’s Toby Hancock, an anaesthetist so dull he could send himself to sleep, and Xandra Logan’s coquettish Sandy Lloyd-Meredeth,  who does something in property and has just split earlier that day from Gareth (who may or may not arrive). She is in need of a drink and company, any company, even dullard Toby.

One by one, David (Adam Marsdin), Mrs Hinson and Jennifer all pop round to the party, while Michael and Rosa make their exasperated way to the end of their tether.

 All the ingredients are in place for the kind of English farce that Mischief’s mischief-makers have sent up so gloriously in The Comedy That Goes Wrong. What cannot be predicted is that Settlement’s play starts mirroring that show, misbehaving door panel et al (putting it out of use late on). 

Mother and son vie for family top dog in Party Piece: Helen Wilson’s wily widow, Mrs Hinson and Adam Marsdin’s “big-in-fruit-and-veg” David Hinson

The normally reliable Helen Wilson has moments of struggling with Mrs Hinson’s lines, prompting Marsdin to whisper her cues loudly to her on a couple of occasions.

This has the effect of destabilising Settlement’s comedic rhythm, so important to farce, where confidence and timing are all. What a great shame as Helen’s grouchy dragon characterisation is spot on.

In keeping with David’s character,  Marsdin takes charge, while also having fun with the practical joker in David, who tells his mother that the neighbours are called Jerry and Margo Leadbetter (Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith’s snobbish, conventional couple  In The Good Life). He puts the cat further among the pigeons by informing Michael about the buried treasure in his garden.

Marsdin’s partnership with Patterson carries rather more conviction than the somewhat awkward physicality of Wood and Edge, but Harris’s wit and way with a funny line still break through the unease that took over Wednesday’s performance. Barrott and Logan gamely plough their own furrows, Logan in particular continuing her scene-stealing streak on the York stage.

York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until November 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Martin T Brooks: Directing York Settlement Community Players for the first time

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 47, from Gazette & Herald

Luxmuralis’s Echoes Of Yorkshire: Art, light and sound in harmony in York Museum Gardens. Picture: Duncan Savage, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

GARDEN art & light installations, wartime memories and Dracula and Cinderella retellings spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest.

Installation of the week: Echoes Of Yorkshire, York Museum Gardens, until Sunday, 6pm to 8.20pm

LET light, colour and music surround you at Luxmuralis’s light and sound installation as artist Peter Walker, composer David Harper and lighting designer Steve Rainsford bring the story alive of the Yorkshire Museum and York Museum Gardens from 1,000 images. 

Immerse yourself in the story of the historic site with contemporary light and music showcasing York Museum Trust’s age-defining artefacts and extraordinary exhibits. Tickets: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.

David Barrott, Catherine Edge and Adam Marsdin in rehearsal for Settlement Players’ production of Party Piece

Calamitous comedy misadventure of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AMERICAN director, writer, producer, historian and stuntman Martin T Brooks directs Settlement Players for the first time in Richard Harris’s calamitous 1992 comedy Party Piece.

Michael and Roma Smethurst are preparing meticulously for their fancy-dress housewarming party as Mrs Hinson, not the biggest fan of her upper-class new neighbours, keeps a criticising eye on the attendees. Then disasters strike: an embarrassing lack of guests, a burning barbeque, a marauding Zimmer frame and a corpse showing up at the front door. Cue chaos. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cassie Vallance, left, and Jane Bruce in Story Craft Theatre’s Bat, Cackle And Pop! at York Theatre Royal

Children’s Halloween show of the week: Story Craft Theatre in Bat, Cackle And Pop!, York Theatre Royal Studio, today until Friday, 10.30am and 1pm

WINIFRED the Witch thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday. Not so. There will be a big surprise party, but first, a special birthday cake must be made.

“We just need the last three rather spooky ingredients,” say York company Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance and Jane Bruce. “Our show is bubbling with all sorts of ghosts and ghouls – more silly than scary – and there’s plenty of opportunities to dabble in some spell making, as well as flying with luxury BAT Airways.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jimmy Regal & The Royals: Playing Ryedale Blues Club at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Jimmy Regal & The Royals, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

JIMMY Regal & The Royals are a tough and howlin’ harmonica-led three piece from South London, brandishing a sound from Mississippi to New Orleans, Mali to Canvey Island. Signed to Lunaria Records, they are touring to promote latest album Well Boss, a live set recorded at the Temperance in Leamington Spa. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Stage Hammer: Revamping Bram Stoker’s Dracula

High stakes of the week: Stage Hammer in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow and Friday, 7.30pm; Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

WOLVES howl in the forests of Transylvania. Waves crash violently against the cliffs below Whitby Abbey. The infection is spreading. Count Dracula (Stuart Sellens) walks among us. Yorkshire solicitor Jonathan Harker (Callum Mathers) travels to a castle in the Carpathian Mountains to finalise the sale of property for a reclusive nobleman.

When he seemingly vanishes, fiancée Mina (Jennifer Jones) and her closest friend Lucy (Kathryn Lay) fall into the grip of a sinister force. Their only hope for survival is the mysterious vampire slayer Professor Van Helsing (Christopher C Corbett) in East Yorkshire troupe Stage Hammer’s new account of Bram Stoker’s vampire story, adapted by Corbett and directed by Lydia Baldwin. Box office: York, 01904 658338 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; Pickering, 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk. 

Fizzy with the singers in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone: Theo Rae, Isla Lightfoot, Olivia Swales and Beau Lettin

Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, October 31 to November 8, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, both Saturdays and Sunday

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of 40 young performers in  Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s musical, replete with the film songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand SlamandBugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Little Seeds Music: Refreshing the fairytale world in Cinderella Ice Cream Seller

Fairytale retelling of the week: Little Seeds Music in Cinderella Ice Cream Seller, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 2.30pm

OVER the past four decades, Cinderella’s has become the kingdom’s most beloved ice cream company, with a parlour on every street corner, but how did this humble maker become a multimillionaire business woman with her own empire?

Prepare your dessert spoons for a tale of perseverance, princes, palace balls, glass slippers and, yes, ice cream in writer-composer David Gibb’s hour-long family musical, wherein loyal Cinderella’s employees Talvi and Caldwell share her rags-to-riches tale and confront their own desires, hopes and the magic that lies within each scoop. Suitable for age five upwards. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Bomb Happy: Film and live performance double bill for VE Day at Milton Rooms, Malton

Theatre memorial of the week: Everwitch Theatre in Bomb Happy VE Day double bill, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 3pm

PRESENTED in the lead-up to Remembrance Sunday, whose focus this year falls on 80th anniversary of VE Day, Bomb Happy has been created by writer-performer Helena Fox and actor-vocalist Natasha Jones, of Everwitch Theatre.

From D-Day to VE Day, this powerful one-hour double bill of live performance (30 minutes) and short film (30 minutes) brings to life the verbatim accounts of two working-class Yorkshire Normandy veterans, highlighting the lifelong impact of post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep trauma, not only on war veterans but on their families too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Chris Smither: Playing All Saints Church, Pocklington tonight

In Focus: Chris Smither, All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight, 7.30pm

CHRIS Smither, truly an American original, returns to the UK to perform songs from his vast catalogue on his 2025 UK and Irish tour as he approaches his 81st birthday on November 11.

Honing his synthesis of folk and blues for more than 50 years, this profound songwriter and captivating performer, from Miamai, Florida, melds the styles of his two major influences, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt, into his own signature guitar sound.

His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and humanist philosophers. His songs have featured in films and TV shows and been covered by John Mayall, Emmylou Harris,  Bonnie Raitt and Diana Krall, among others.

Smither continues to tour festivals, music clubs and concerts halls all over the world. Now he showcases his 20th studio album, 2024’s All About The Bones, produced by long-time friend and producer David Goodrich, which complements eight new compositions with Smither’s renditions of Eliza Gilkyson’s Calm Before The Storm and Tom Petty’s Time To Move On.

The recording sessions took place at Sonelab Studios in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where Smither was joined by Goodrich, Zak Trojano, BettySoo and Chris Cheek.

The New York Times said of All About The Bones: “With a weary, well-travelled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.”

Singer-songwriter BettySoo is Smither’s guest on the tour. Tickets for tonight cost £21.50 at www.smither.com.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when walls come alive with art and light. Hutch’s List No. 47, from The York Press

Principal dancers, dance captains and siblings Anna Mai Fitzpatrick and Fergus Fitzpatrick in Riverdance’s 30th anniversary show, The New Generation

LEFT-FIELD Halloween entertainment, garden art and light installations, Normal comedy and a splurge gun musical spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest.

Dance show of the week: Riverdance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, today and tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

VISITING 30 UK venues – one for each year of its history – from August to December 2025, the Irish dance extravaganza Riverdance rejuvenates the much-loved original show with new innovative choreography and costumes, plus state-of-the-art lighting, projection and motion graphics, in this 30th anniversary celebration.

For the first time, John McColgan directs “the New Generation” of Riverdance performers, none of them born when the show began. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Blair Bitch Project: Playing on Navigators Art’s bill at YO Underworld 6 at The Basement

Live, left-field, local new music, comedy and words for Halloween: Navigators Art presents YO Underworld 6, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm

IN this special Halloween edition, York arts collective Navigators Art plays host to riot grrrl punk and grunge-inspired York quartet Blair Bitch Project and improvising cellist and sound artist Gaia Blandina, performing collaborative, open-form pieces with Ish, featuring Iris Casling, double bass, Des Clarke, oboe, and Nika Ticciati, voice.

Joshua Arnold & Therine: Welcoming the coming of Samhain at YO Underworld 6

Taking part too are dark hurdy-gurdy and vocal-led trad and experimental drone folk combo Joshua Arnold & Therine, welcoming the coming of Samhain; Kane Bruce,  delivering his outrageously dark yet cheeky take on “taboo” topics, and Hull poet Melissa Shode, who explores identity in the socio-political climate and writes for release, justice and the voiceless. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Steve Gunn: Showcasing his two 2025 albums at The Band Room, Low Mill, tonight. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Moorland gig of the week: Steve Gunn, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, North York Moors, tonight, 7.30pm

STEVE Gunn, the ambient psychedelic American singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York, made his name as a guitarist in Kurt Vile’s backing band, The Violators. His myriad magical influences include Michael Chapman, Michael Hurley and John Fahey.

This weekend he will be showcasing his second album of 2025, Daylight Daylight, out on November 7 on No Quarter, as well as his first fully instrumental album, August’s Music For Writers. Box office: 01751 432900 or thebandroom.co.uk.

Hands and Voices: York choir singing at Laughs, Lyrics & You! at the Gateway Centre on Sunday

Inclusive open mic event of the week: Accessible Arts & Media presents Laughs, Lyrics & You!, Gateway Centre, York, Sunday, 2.30pm to 5pm

WHAT is Laughs, Lyrics & You!? “The idea is to have an open mic-type event, in a relaxed and friendly environment that’s accessible and fun, with tea and cake too,” says Accessible Arts & Media (AAM) chief executive officer Chris Farrell. “Our projects, IMPs, Movers and Shakers and Hands and Voices, will start the show with their wonderful music, dances and stories.

“Then it’s over to whoever would like to perform. Any talent is welcome, a duet, a solo instrument, a poetry reading, a recording of some original music, jokes…whatever you can think of would be great!” To take part, performers must contact projects@aamedia.org.uk or ring Hannah on 07762 428818. Admission is free; donations welcome.

Artist Ric Liptrot: Taking part in That Acomb Arty Thing

Art event of the week: That Acomb Arty Thing, Art Trail, until November 2; Open Studios, November 1 and 2

DISCOVER York artists’ work in venues around Acomb on the autumn Art Trail featuring Carla Ballantine, Linda Braham, Ric Liptrot, Jelena Lunge, Rae Merriman, Isaac Savage, Ginette Speed, Donna Taylor and Dianne Turner.

North Yorkshire Open Studios participants are hosting open studios next Saturday and Sunday: Paul Mathieson & Peter Mathieson, 49 Jute Road, 10am to 4pm; Peijun Cao, 60 Jute Road, 10.30am to 5pm; Fran Brammer, 81 Jute Road, 10am to 4pm; Charlotte Lister & Charley Hellier, 7 Chestnut Grove, 10am to 2pm; Robin Grover-Jacques, 35 Chestnut Grove, 11am to 4pm, and Mo Nisbet, 116 Acomb Road, 11am to 4pm.

Blue sigh thinking? Henry Normal reflects on himself, his mistakes, his Z celebrity status, in The Slideshow

Normal service resumed: Henry Normal, The Slideshow, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 8pm

THE Slideshow, as poet, film and TV producer/writer Henry Normal explains, is a multi-MEdia spectacular with the emphasis on the “me” in his celebration of his “meteoric rise to Z celebrity status”, followed by his joyous and inevitable slide into physical and mental decline.

Expect poetry, photos, jokes, music, dance, song, circus skills, costume changes, props and stories, exploring where Normal  went wrong in life, plus lessons you can learn from his mistakes, in this memoir with cautionary verse. Box office: helmsleyarts.co.uk.

David Barrott, left, Catherine Edge and Adam Marsdin in rehearsal for Settlement Players’ production of Party Piece

Calamitous comedy misadventure of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Party Piece, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 28 to November 1, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AMERICAN director, writer, producer, historian and stuntman Martin T Brooks directs Settlement Players for the first time in Richard Harris’s calamitous 1992 comedy Party Piece.

Michael and Roma Smethurst are preparing meticulously for their fancy-dress housewarming party. Mrs Hinson, not the biggest fan of her upper-class new neighbours, is keeping a criticising eye on the attendees. Then disasters strike: an embarrassing lack of guests, a burning barbeque, a marauding Zimmer frame and a corpse showing up at the front door. Cue chaos. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cassie Vallance, left, and Jane Bruce in Story Craft Theatre’s Bat, Cackle And Pop! at York Theatre Royal

Children’s Halloween show of the week: Story Craft Theatre in Bat, Cackle And Pop!, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 29 to 31, 10.30am and 1pm

WINIFRED the Witch thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday. Not so. There will be a big surprise party, but first, a special birthday cake must be made.

“We just need the last three rather spooky ingredients,” say York company Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance and Jane Bruce. “Our show is bubbling with all sorts of ghosts and ghouls – more silly than scary – and there’s plenty of opportunities to dabble in some spell making, as well as flying with luxury BAT Airways.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Rory Stewart: Discussing his new book, Middleland, at York Barbican

Book event of the week: Toppings presents Rory Stewart, Middleland, York Barbican, October 30, 7pm

NOW Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and Alastair Campbell’s co-podcaster on The Rest Is Politics, Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as Conservative MP of Britain’s most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border.

Living in the Eden Valley, he found inspiration in the beauty of Cumbrian landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and the spirit of its people, prompting him to write Middleland: Dispatches From The Borders, a portrait of rural Britain today: a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics. Over to you, Rory.  Tickets: toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/rory-stewart-middleland/.

Fizzy with the singers in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Bugsy Malone: Theo Rae, Isla Lightfoot, Olivia Swales and Beau Lettin

Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Bugsy Malone, Grand Opera House, York, October 31 to November 8, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday ; 2.30pm, both Saturdays and Sunday

LESLEY Hill directs and choreographs York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast of 40 young performers in  Alan Parker and Paul Williams’s musical, replete with the movie songs You Give A Little Love,  My Name Is Tallulah, So You Wanna Be A Boxer?, Fat Sam’s Grand SlamandBugsy Malone.

In Prohibition-era New York, rival gangsters Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. As custard pies fly and Dan’s splurge guns wreak havoc, penniless ex-boxer and all-round nice guy Bugsy Malone falls for aspiring singer Blousey Brown. Can Bugsy resist seductive songstress Tallulah, Fat Sam’s moll and Bugsy’s old flame, and stay out of trouble while helping Fat Sam to defend his business? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

In Focus: Tom Grennan, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25 2026

BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is the first act to be confirmed for the Music Showcase Weekend at the 2026 York Racecourse flat racing season.

Grennan, 30, has achieved three UK number one albums, 2021’s Evering Road, 2023’s What Ifs & Maybes and 2025’s Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be, preceded by his top five-charting 2018 debut Lighting Matches. 

He has chalked up hit singles too with Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together (with Ella Henderson), Remind Me, Lionheart (Fearless, with Joel Corry), Here, How Does It Feel, It Can’t Be Christmas, By Your Side (Calvin Harris, featuring Tom Grennan) and Not Over Yet (KSI, featuring Tom Grennan).

Next summer’s Knavesmire gig will form part of a busy touring schedule for Grennan, who also co-hosts the You About? podcast with TV and radio presenter Roman Kemp.

Racing and music fans can take advantage of a price freeze on adult general admission on the track’s website, meaning entrance to the main Grandstand and Paddock enclosure, starts at just £40 per person for a group of six. As well as free car parking, no booking fees apply on this route to purchase. To book, visit www.yorkracecourse.co.uk.

On the racecourse, the racing action will see seven thoroughbred contests with combined prize money of £380,000. The Group Two feature race will be the Sky Bet York Stakes.

The Summer Music Saturday meeting will be held on June 27; the Friday evening Music Showcase Weekend meeting on July 24. Music acts for both those days are yet to be confirmed; keep checking www.yorkracecourse.co.uk for further announcements, expected soon.

James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship says: “It is great news that Tom Grennan is joining the artists to have performed on the Knavesmire; a performer who has gone from strength to strength. It will herald a month for music and racing fans to remember.”

In Focus too: Luxmuralis presents Echoes Of Yorkshire, York Museum Gardens, until November 2, 6pm to 8.20pm

Luxmuralis’s Echoes Of Yorkshire transforming the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in York Museum Gardens. Picture: Duncan Savage, Ravage Productions, for York Museums Trust

LET light, colour and music surround you at the Echoes Of Yorkshire light and sound installation conjured by the internationally acclaimed Luxmuralis, who bring alive the culturally rich story of the Yorkshire Museum and York Museum Gardens.

Visitors are invited to “immerse yourself in the story of the historic site with contemporary light and music showcasing its age-defining artefacts and extraordinary exhibits. Join us to celebrate all that the museum and its gardens bring to our city and the wider north of England.”

In the 30-year collaboration of sculptor and artist Peter Walker and composer David Harper, Luxmuralis travels the world to create stories in light and sound for audiences at locations ranging from the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral, London, to city-wide open-air projections in places such as Oxford and Limburg in the Netherlands.

Through combining fine art, light and sound, Luxmuralis reflects closely on the history and heritage of places by weaves together the contemporary and the ancient.

Now, for the first time, Luxmuralis is transforming the walls of York in Echoes Of Yorkshire in York Museum Gardens for ten evenings filled with six looping art installations and landscape lighting by Steve Rainsford.

Ticketed entry time slots are given every 20 minutes, but once in the gardens visitors can journey through the experience at their own pace with a recommended walking time of one hour. Refreshments will be available to buy on the night, including from Thor’s tipi.

Echoes Of Yorkshire is suitable for all ages. Audiences will experience the gardens’ history from the Roman period to its time as an abbey (St Mary’s Abbey) in tandem with Luxmuralis’s showcase of the Yorkshire Museum’s collections that span 60 million years from the Jurassic and the Mesolithic, through to the Romans, Viking, Anglo Saxon and Medieval.

Welcoming Luxmuralis to York Museum Gardens, Siona Mackelworth, head of audience and programme for York Museums Trust, says: “We are delighted that Luxmuralis agreed to produce a very special and bespoke show for us here in York.

“This is a celebration of all that the Yorkshire Museum brings to the city, its history and the location as the repository of great discoveries and stories. With this amount of content, the Luxmuralis light and sound show looks amazing.”

Luxmuralis artistic director Peter Walker says: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the team at Yorkshire Museum to deliver a truly distinctive experience set within the stunning and historically rich Museum Gardens.

“By drawing inspiration from the museum’s collections, this light installation re-imagines the architecture and landscape in an entirely new and transformative way.”

Tickets cost £13.50 per adult; £9.50 for children aged five to 16; free admission for under-fives. Box office: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk. Echoes Of Yorkshire is on a constant loop from 6pm to 8.20pm each night. Please note, only assistance dogs will be allowed into the gardens during the event.