Harry Summers’ Hieronimo: “The Hamlet of the piece” in Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy. All pictures: John Saunders
BACK in the Elizabethan day, Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy outsold Hamlet.
Truth be told, he was pretty much a one-hit wonder, (even “the one and only” Chesney Hawkes had a minor second hit, I’m A Man Not A Boy in 1991), and Kyd has been long dead and buried, like most of his players in what is now viewed as the groundbreaking template for revenge tragedies.
York Shakespeare Project’s decision to expand the focus beyond the Bard in its 25-year second cycle of the First Folio facilitates the revival of rival works of Ben Jonson, the ill-fated Christopher “Kit” Marlowe and, yes, one Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), the tragic trailblazer.
After the Pop Art explosion and drag and cancel culture of director-designer Tom Straszewski’s take on Marlowe’s Edward II in October 2023, Paul Toy returns to the YSP director’s chair after a 14-year hiatus to steer his fourth YSP production.
Toy had first read The Spanish Tragedy as part of his university Renaissance Theatre course, playing the insouciant wrong’un Pedringano to boot. He was struck by how so many of its ideas – “a ghost seeking revenge, feigned or real madness, a play within a play” – would be echoed in Hamlet by Shakespeare, the alchemist of playwrights. Better lines, better characters, better gags.
The Spanish Tragedy, however, turns out to have been well worth digging up out of its neglected grave. Yes, it is no match for Hamlet, but this is a meaty work, full of myriad theatre styles, as Toy notes, from dumb shows to execution as street theatre, tragedy as classical as Greek dramas, and not least a Last Judgement scene redolent of the York Mystery Plays. And, boy, does Kyd enjoy piling up the bodies till the last man standing.
The price of love: Emma Scott’s Bel-imperia and Yousef Ismail’s Horatioin York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy
Working in tandem with set designer and choreographer Viv Wilson and mask maker Tempest Wisdom, plus a rotating team of trainee make-up artists from York College (Grace Gilboy, Beth Shearstone, Keira Hosker, Abigail Horton and Ethan Thorpe), Toy gives The Spanish Tragedy the look of the Day of the Dead, with a nod in Wednesday’s make-up to Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight.
Relocated to York from Seattle, Wilson is a sound engineer at Theatre@41, has contributed YSP sets for The Taming Of The Shrew and Two Gentlemen Of Verona, and once toured the world in a dance group and performed burlesque acts on three continents.
From that portfolio, you see how all life is here in YSP, as it should be in a long-running project, and now Wilson makes her debut in “legitimate theatre” as Revenge, resplendent in red and black, her face skeletal and ghostly white, her voice like a 60-fags-a-day midnight hag. Her mood is intemperate, her mission on a par with the Grim Reaper, but with better putdowns.
Wilson’s Revenge takes her seat to one side of the mezzanine level, reached by a staircase with a platform above for executions and such like. To the other is the “ghost seeking revenge”, YSP debutant David Lee’s Ghost of Andrea, drained of all colour by way of contrast with Wilson’s crimson Revenge. They will watch on, like the Chorus in Greek dramas, but with an impact more akin to Macbeth’s witches.
At the heart of The Spanish Tragedy is Harry Summers’ Hieronimo, Marshal of Spain, the vengeful Hamlet of the piece, with almost as many lines, but older, enervated. Summers already had his winter of discontent as Richard III and more woe as Coriolanus, and his ninth YSP role is best yet, delivering on “the power of rhetoric” that struck Toy above all else.
The theme of the failure of justice resonates with the rotting modern world, as Toy turns his audience into judge and jury, for Summers’ Hieronimo and Emma Scott’s equally impressive Bel-imperia in particular to make their case. Not for the first time in YSP colours, Scott’s diction is a delight; likewise her emotional range.
Plotters and rotters: PJ Gregan’s Balthazar, left, and Thomas Jennings’s Lorenzoin The Spanish Tragedy
Courtly roles go to YSP stalwarts, Tony Froud’s King of Spain, Emily Hansen’s Duchess of Castile and Nick Jones’s Viceroy of Portugal , while Tim Holman’s makes his first YSP appearance since 2004’s Titus Andronicus in a brace of roles.
On the dark side are Yousef Ismail’s Horatio, YSP newcomer P J Gregan’s Balthazar and Thomas Jennings’ malevolent Lorenzo, breaking the fourth wall with scene-pinching elan, on trademark crop-haired hitman duty again.
Isabel Azar, Cassi Roberts, Martina Meyer and Ben Reeves Rowley fit the the plot-thickening brief to good effect and Sally Mitcham is the play’s moral conscience as Hieronimo’s troubled wife.
Toy directs as playfully as his name would suggest, even using exquisite choral music by the wife-and-her-lover-murdering Gesualdo pre-show and in the interval. When a hanging takes place, darkness descends on the moment of Alan Sharp’s deadpan Hangman administers the drop, whereupon a scroll of The Hanged Man falls into place. Intricate sword-dancing adds to the spectacle, as do all manner of masks.
By the live nature of theatre, anything can happen. What were the odds of a letter dropped from above by Scott’s Bel-imperia landing in the curtain, out of Summers’ Hieronimo’s sight, no matter where he looked. To the rescue rode the director, in the back row. “Top of the curtain,” he bellowed, bringing the house down. Just one of many good decisions he made in this fruitful resurrection of Kyd’s play of men – and women – behaving very badly.
York Shakespeare Project in The Spanish Tragedy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The cold touch: PJ Gregan’s Balthazar and Emma Scott’s Bel-imperia in York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy
Six members of Paul Toy’s cast of 17 rehearsing a scene from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy. Picture: John Saunders
THOMAS Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy is “the Elizabethan play that outsold Shakespeare”, but then was lost to the professional stage for 300 years and is now performed only rarely.
One such performance will be at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from Wednesday to Saturday when Paul Toy directs York Shakespeare Project for the fourth time (and first since Troilus And Cressida in 2011).
YSP chair Tony Froud said of his appointment in June: “Paul emerged from a very strong field of applicants with an exciting vision for this remarkable play. The Spanish Tragedy was the most popular play of the Elizabethan era, outselling Shakespeare. Kyd’s play set out the blueprint for a whole dramatic genre, ‘Revenge Tragedy’. Without it, there may have been no Hamlet, no The Duchess Of Malfi.”
The chance to present such a landmark drama in tandem with all of Shakespeare’s plays was exactly why York Shakespeare Project launched its second 25-year cycle of productions in April 2023, with a view to performing the likes of Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson…and Thomas Kyd.
“This is one of the plays that I would have been on the lookout to see had I not been directing it,” says Paul, who had directed The Taming Of The Shrew in 2003 and Titus Andronicus in 2004, as well as Troilus And Cressida, “in the first canter through all Shakespeare’s canto”.
“You would need to go a little below the headlines, though not be a connoisseur or scholar, to know his work. Jonson still crops up, so does Marlowe, but not Kyd, who’s unlucky in that this is his only play that has survived, apart from a translation of a French play and may be an “Ur-version” [the original or earliest version] of Hamlet from around 1589 that preceded Shakespeare’s play, but really The Spanish Tragedy is the only one of significance”
Kyd would die at the age of 36 in 1594, only two years after The Spanish Tragedy was premiered, “He shared a writing room with Marlowe in London, but because Marlowe was under the eyes of the authorities, on account of his atheism and his homosexuality, Kyd was tortured, simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but was released without charge.
The Spanish Tragedy director Paul Toy
“Marlowe died in a tavern brawl in Deptford in May 1593, not long before Kyd, who didn’t survive as long as Jonson and Shakespeare but was under a cloud through no fault of his own.”
Nevertheless, The Spanish Tragedy was groundbreaking. “If you say you haven’t ever seen it, if I talked to you afterwards, I bet you would recognise all the tropes that it set down for ‘Revenge Tragedy’, like the ghost coming back to demand revenge; a hero deliberating over whether to seek revenge; madness and a play within a play,” says Paul.
Scholarly speculation has it that Will the Quill may even have penned passages of Kyd’s play. “You will see the precursor to Shakespeare’s Hamlet there, but Kyd doesn’t have the depth that late Shakespeare plays had. What you see is what you get in Kyd, and what you get is laid down pretty clearly,” says Paul.
In a nutshell, a play suffused with treachery, deceit and disguise that now carries the warning: “Contains depictions of self-injury, murder and suicide”. All delivered by Toy with masks, music and dance.
“I would say it’s plot driven, rather than character driven, and poor old Kyd, we all now know the tropes, the tricks of the trade, of revenge plays, but no-one did it before him. But the problem with being the pioneer is that it doesn’t have what others then built on,” says Paul.
His production has “a Spanish look rather than being full-on Spain”. “It’s suggestive of things like the Day of the Dead and other processions, the Counter-Reformation, but it’s also rather obsessive in its tone,” says Paul.
“It involves both the human and the supernatural, and if you’ve seen the York Mystery Plays, you’ll see where aspects of his work will have come from. It’s almost the definition of a play on the San Andreas Fault, pitched between the medieval and the early modern. If you know The Last Judgement from the Mystery Plays, there’s quite a lot that’s familiar.
Harry Summers and Emma Scott in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy
“Our production acknowledges it’s not modern, it’s recognisably ‘period’, but culturally it still goes through to modern times.”
Paul describes Kyd’s text as a “very rhetorically minded play, full of people arguing the case for themselves or maybe for someone else, so it’s like a collection of closing statements that barristers give to the judge”.
“With some of the past plays I’ve directed, I’ve enjoyed the visual elements, the modernisation elements or the physical elements, but because the text of this play isn’t familiar, I thought it was important to concentrate on the text, doing it as a ‘language play’.
“But we also have the advantage of it being an old play that we can treat like a new, modern play because it’s not well known, whereas it’s very difficult to do that with Shakespeare because you’re so bombarded by his plays.”
As for The Spanish Tragedy’s violent reputation, come the end, spoiler alert, there are “as many people horizontal as there are in Hamlet”, says Paul. “But partly because of the laundry bill, I’ve gone for only one big ‘bloody’ death. The rest are by other means, hopefully more unexpected, and if it takes you by surprise, all the better!”
York Shakespeare Project in The Spanish Tragedy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 25, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York Shakespeare Project’s cast for The Spanish Tragedy
Ghost of Andrea – David Lee Revenge – Vivian Wilson King of Spain – Tony Froud Cypriana, Duchess of Castile – Emily Hansen Lorenzo – Tom Jennings Bel-imperia – Emma Scott General – Alan Sharp Viceroy of Portugal – Nick Jones Balthazar – P J Gregan Alexandro – Ben Reeves Rowley Villuppo – Tim Holman Ambassador – Cassi Roberts Hieronimo – Harry Summers Isabella – Sally Mitcham Horatio – Yousef Ismail Pedringano – Isabel Azar Serberine – Martina Meyer Christophil – Phil Massey Watchmen 1, 2, 3 – Alan Sharp, Nick Jones, Tim Holman Messenger – Cassi Roberts Deputy – Martina Meyer Hangman – Alan Sharp Maid – Martina Meyer Servant 1 and 2 – Martina Meyer, Ben Reeves Rowley Old Man – Tim Holman Nobles 1 and 2 – Martina Meyer, Ben Reeves Rowley Minos, Aeacus, Rhadamanth – PJ Gregan, Nick Jones, Tim Holman
Alan Sharp, proprietor of White Rose York Tour, comedian and The Chase winner, will be playing a trio of roles in The Spanish Tragedy. Picture: John Saunders
Martha Tilston: Playing The Basement tonight at City Screen Picturehouse
CRIMINAL investigations and a brace of plays with murder at the core, Charles Hutchinson detects a theme to his latest recommendations.
Singer-songwriter of the week: Martha Tilston, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 7.30pm
BORN in Bristol and now living in Cornwall, singer, songwriter and filmmaker Martha Tilston writes songs from the heart as a balm for the modern age.
Tilston, who has worked Zero 7, Damien Rice, Nick Harper, Kae Tempest and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame, combines raw vocals and sparkling melodies with thought-provoking lyrics and filmic movements, inviting her audience to “connect with longed-for parts of ourselves”. Box office: marthatilston.co.uk.
Jennifer Rees: Exploring stories of serial killers in forensic detail at the Grand Opera House, York
Criminal investigations of the week: Strange But True Crimes with Jennifer Rees, Grand Opera House, York, October 21, 7.30pm
FORMER forensics lecturer and Psychology Of Serial Killers presenter Jennifer Rees explores stories such as the serial killer who gained work in law enforcement while on the run – and ended up hunting himself.
Watch out too for the female, balloon-carrying killer clown, serial killers on game shows – how their appearances led to their identification – and many more stories. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Jason Durr’s Jonny ‘The Cyclops’, right, accosting the nervous burglar in Torben Betts’s comedy thriller Murder At Midnight. Picture: Pamela Raith
Deliciously twisted crime caper of the week: Original Theatre in Murder At Midnight, York Theatre Royal, October 21 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
ON New Year’s Eve, in a quiet corner of Kent, a killer is in the house in Torben Betts’s comedy thriller Murder At Midnight, part two of a crime trilogy for Original Theatre that began last year with Murder In The Dark, this time starring Jason Durr, Susie Blake, Max Howden and Katie McGlynn.
Meet Jonny ‘The Cyclops’, his glamorous wife, his trigger-happy sidekick, his mum – who sees things – and her very jittery carer, plus a vicar, apparently hiding something, and a nervous burglar dressed as a clown. Throw in a suitcase full of cash, a stash of deadly weapons and one infamous unsolved murder…what could possibly go wrong? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon: Showcasing new album Rainy Sunday Afternoon at York Barbican. Picture: Kevin Westerberg
Recommended but sold out already: The Divine Comedy, York Barbican, October 21, doors 7pm
IN the wake of composing all the original songs for the 2023 global blockbuster Wonka, North Irishman Neil Hannon has returned to his Divine Comedy guise for September 19’s Rainy Sunday Afternoon: album number 13 and his first studio set since 2019’s Office Politics.
Recorded at Abbey Road, London, the album was written, arranged and produced by Hannon, who covers his usual range of emotions: sad, funny, angry and everything in between. Hear Hannon songs new and old next Tuesday, when Studio Electrophonique will be the special guest. Box office, for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Katie Melia’s Show White in Steve Coates Music Productions’ Disenchanted, turning fairy tales on their head at the JoRo
Cheeky twist on fairy tales of the week: Steve Coates Music Productions in Disenchanted, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 22 to 25, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATIE Melia directs and leads the cast as Snow White in Steve Coates Music Productions’ production of Disenchanted, the musical with the feminist twist that turns fairy tales upside down, from the Little Mermaid hitting the bottle to Belle ending up in a straitjacket for chatting with the cutlery.
Forget the damsels in distress, Snow White, Cinderella and their royal crew want to set the record straight. Equipped with sass, wit, and powerhouse vocals, these not-so-princessy princesses flip the script, spill the tea and reclaim their stories as they challenge outdated happily-ever-afters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Making an impression: Dead Ringers on 25th anniversary tour
Comedy nights of the week: Dead Ringers, October 22, 3pm and 7.30pm, and Nick Mohammed Is Mr Swallow: Show Pony, October 26, 8pm, both at Grand Opera, House, York
TO mark its 25th anniversary, BBC Radio 4’s topical satire show Dead Ringers takes to the road with a full UK tour for the first time as long-standing cast members Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod and Duncan Wisbey take a trip through classic sketches and unrivalled impressions, peppered with topical humour.
Celebrity Traitors competitor, Taskmaster contestant and Ted Lasso actor Nick Mohammed returns to York as his alter-ego Mr Swallow. Expect magic, music and new mistakes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Harry Summers, left, and Emma Scott in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s The Spanish Tragedy. Picture: John Saunders
Revenge drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Spanish Tragedy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 22 to 25, 7.30pm
PAUL Toy directs York Shakespeare Project for the fourth time – and the first since Troilus And Cressida in 2011– in “the most popular play of the Elizabethan era, outselling Shakespeare”: Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, the circa 1592 blueprint for the Revenge Tragedy genre.
No Kyd, maybe no Hamlet or The Duchess Of Malfi, as treachery, deceit and disguise are wrapped inside a torrid tale of vengeance-seeking ghosts, madness, a play-within-a-play and a Machiavellian villain, delivered by Toy with masks, music and dance. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera. Picture: John Saunders
Opera of the week: York Opera in The Beggar’s Opera, The Citadel, York City Church, Gillygate, York, October 23 to 25, 7.30pm
YORK Opera stage John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch’s 1728 satirical ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera in an immersive production under the musical direction of John Atkin and stage direction of Chris Charlton-Matthews, with choreography by Jane Woolgar.
Watch out! You may find yourself next to a cast member, whether Mark Simmonds’ Macheath, Adrian Cook’s Peachum, Anthony Gardner’s Lockit, Alexandra Mather’s Polly Peachum, Sophie Horrocks’ Lucy Lockit, Cathy Atkin’s Mrs Peachum, Ian Thomson-Smith’s Beggar or Jake Mansfield’s Player. Box office: tickets.yorkopera.co.uk/events/yorkopera/1793200.
Heidi Talbot: Introducing November 21 album Grace Untold at NCEM on October 23
Folk gig of the week: Heidi Talbot, Grace Untold UK Tour, National Centre for Early Music, York, October 23, 7.30pm
IRISH folk singer Heidi Talbot returns to the NCEM stage to preview her November 21 album Grace Untold, a collection of songs based around Irish goddesses and inspirational women.
This is an album rooted in personal experience and collective lore as Heidi pays tribute to female strength, focusing on legendary figures and the unsung heroines within her own family. Box office: 01904 658338 or necem.co.uk.
Riverdance: The New Generation performs the Irish dancers’ 30th anniversary show at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Riverdance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, October 24 to 26, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees
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.
Harry Summers’ Reverend Planter and Stuart Lindsay’s Doug O’Graves in York Shakespeare Project’s Sonnets In Bloom at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York. All pictures: John Saunders
SONNETS In Bloom 2025 is the ninth iteration of York Shakespeare Project’s summer sonnet celebration. Make that Sonnets In Full Bloom at the flower fete in the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where the emphasis is on the new.
New director, Josie Connor; new scenario writer Natalie Roe; nine debutants among the 12 sonneteers; seven Shakespeare sonnets making their YSP bow among the 13 featured here.
Welcomed with a complimentary drink, the audience takes its place on benches and seats arranged in circular fashion around the churchyard, to the muffled accompaniment of evening street sounds from Goodramgate’s restaurants and bars.
Oliver Taylor’s broken-hearted forager Arti Choke
YSP’s Sonnets have taken myriad forms: sonnet walks around the city centre and Dean’s Park; sit-down sonnets under Covid social distancing; sonnets in the Bar Convent gardens. Holy Trinity, favourite York church of the loved-up Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister, has been a regular host, and this time war, more than love, is in the air.
More specifically, an alternative version of the war of the roses breaks out among the competitors in a fractious regional leg of Summer In Bloom. Given the profusion of puns among Roe’s humorous character names, perhaps it could be renamed Punfight At The OK Floral. Hoe hoe.
First of those horticultural names is the cactus-loving Reverend Planter (Sonnets’ debutant Harry Summers in genial mood), who will oversee the “arrival of participants with their prized entries, some more competitive than others. But where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?” All in good time, all in good time, although all will be revealed within a fast-moving hour.
Difference of opinion: Tom Langley’s Ally Lottment, left, and Benjamin Rowley’s Pete Shoveller clash in Sonnets In Bloom
Under YSP’s format, each colourful character will move seamlessly from amusing introductory scene/mood/motive-setting chatter – either with a fellow character or breaking down theatre’s fourth wall in direct address to Rev Planter’s flock – to performing an apt sonnet from Shakespeare’s repertoire of 154. In the vicar’s case, “When I Consider Everything That Grows”.
The sonnets, the characters, the names, keep a’coming. Next, James Tyler’s Tom Martow, proud Yorkshire marrow connoisseur (“to marrow, and to marrow, and to marrow”). Then Stuart Lindsay’s gravely serious Scottish sexton Doug O’Grafves, dour digger of depths and confirmed misanthropist.
Next comes the interplay of returnee Grace Scott’s May Blooms, fantastic flower arranger and generational rose grower; Lily Geering’s Lily White, unfailing friend to May; Benjamin Rowley’s Pete Shoveller, poet and patient but tongue-tied pursuer of Lily, and Sonnets returnee Emilie Knight’s Rose Thorn, May’s ruthless rival. Annie Dunbar’s Blossom Springs, conscience-stricken apprentice to Rose, becomes entangled in the floral furore too.
Tipsy-topsy-turvy encounter with wine: Xandra Logan’s Inny Briation
Bubbling away is the intrigue of the appearance/non-appearance of Stuart Green’s Freddie Firm-Carrot, celebratory gardening superstar. In a running joke, Tom Langley’s Ally Lottment, disdainful PA to Firm-Carrot, keeps being mistaken for his absent boss, before Firm-Carrot turns up at last, his lack of interest in his brief for the day indicated by calling Goodramgate “Goodramsgate”.
Debutant Oliver Taylor catches the eye with his lovelorn Arti Choke, kitchen warlock and broken-hearted forager, while returnee Xandra Logan makes the most of the boozed-up indiscretions of Inny Briation, home winemaker and anywhere, anytime wine-drinker.
Connor directs with momentum and a sense of mischief, matching the fun in Roe’s script, and fittingly the whole cast assembles for the final sonnet, delivering one line each of “That Time Of Year Thou May’st In Me Behold”, book-ended by a joint first and last line in a communal floral finale.
Celebrity selfie: Grace Scott’s May Blooms with Stuart Green’s gardening superstar Freddie Firm-Carrot
Coming next from YSP after this summer’s display of flower power will be Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, “the play that outsold Shakespeare”, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 22 to 25 (box office, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk
York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, tonight, 6pm and 7.30pm; tomorrow, 4.30pm, 6pm and 7.30pm.
Sonnets In Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holly Trinity, Goodramgate, York, where the 50-minute performances will be staged
YORK Shakespeare Project’s summer celebration of Shakespeare’s sonnets returns to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, from August 15 to August 23.
In the ninth iteration of these annual YSP shows, Sonnets In Bloom brings together the Bard, director Josie Connor, scenario scriptwriter Natalie Roe and a cast of 12 sonneteers.
“The last two shows have attracted record audiences so we’re delighted again to be offering a summer taste of Shakespeare that is both entertaining and accessible,” says producer Maurice Crichton.
The year’s show has been scripted by Natalie Roe in her first involvement with YSP’s Sonnets project. “Natalie has incorporated a record 13 sonnets into her script, including seven that have not featured in previous YSP productions,” says Maurice.
“Shakespeare wrote at least 154 sonnets. We have plenty more to go at but the new ones in this show mean we will have featured more than a third of the total across the nine sonnets productions we have so far put on.”
In Natalie’s script, “Reverend Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are all warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants are arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others. But where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?”
“The churchyard and Goodramgate were very inspiring,” says Natalie. “There are lots of little references that I’ve put in because, if you know a space well, why not?! So there are references to the trees and the shops and restaurants on the street.
“I’ve been inspired by the nature in Shakespeare’s sonnets. It was being outside in the gardens at Bar Convent for the Sonnets there that gave me the idea of using sonnets full of nature and growth.”
Natalie has a copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets that she bought on a National Express coach trip to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage at Stratford-upon-Avon in her school days. “It’s full of stars and love hearts next to the parts that I particularly liked as a moody teenager,” she says.
“For Sonnets In Bloom, I went through it and picked ones that fitted with performing outdoor theatre in a beautiful churchyard setting in the summer, and that’s why we have the setting of a church flower show, which is ripe for having lots of comedic characters, and then thinking about which sonnet would suit them.” Step forward Reverend Planter, the grave digger and assorted members of the congregation.
“It’s lovely to be able to create characters around a concentrated theme and the concentrated emotions in the sonnets, where I enjoy the richness of the imagery and there’s a frequently a metaphor that is then beautifully elaborated on.
“When writing the monologue that leads into each sonnet, what I’m looking for is for the character to have a dilemma, and in some ways Shakespeare’s sonnets come with the dilemmas ready made.”
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Sonnets In Bloom 2025
Josie Connor is directing YSP for the first time, having worked with Natalie previously when she directed her script, Leaves, for York Settlement Community Players’ pub theatre initiative, The Direct Approach, in 2023.
“When Nat contacted me about Sonnets In Bloom, there was no doubt in my mind about saying yes,” says Josie. “I had heard Nat speak about the Sonnets shows in previous conversations and why they’re such a hit each year, I was very excited to be asked to be a part of this collaborative project this year – and her script compliments the churchyard setting brilliantly.
“Working with Nat is always a pleasure. Her work has great realness with comedic timing, even in dramas, and I think we’re both fans of creative collaboration. Nat and I met on a film set in 2017, where I saw her understanding for production as a whole, so reconnecting again to collaborate creatively while I’m building as a director was a no-brainer.”
In turn, Natalie says: “I was already a friend of Josie when she directed Leaves for The Direct Approach. Scripts are sent in anonymously, and she picked mine before knowing it was by me, so the play found her.”
Now they are in tandem again, working on Sonnets In Bloom’s wide variety of colourful characters, who each find an opportunity to give voice to one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
This year, the cast of 12 is mostly new to the Sonnet shows and younger too. “Only three performers have been involved previously, and with a new writer and a first-time Sonnets director, this production will take a fresh look at a trusted format,” says Maurice.
The cast in full comprises new sonneteers Harry Summers, James Tyler,Stuart Lindsay, Benjamin Rowley, Oliver Taylor, Tom Langley, Annie Dunbar, Lily Geering and Stuart Green, alongside returnees Grace Scott, Emilie Knight and Xandra Logan.
“When we were casting, we were looking out for the usual understanding of what they’re reading, energy and wanted to see not only what they could offer, but mainly see how and if each actor takes direction,” says Josie.
“That’s a very important part in the casting process; it reassures me that they will work well with any other actor, location and situation they’re put in.”
One last question for Josie: What can Shakespeare say in a sonnet that he cannot in a three-hour play?! “Let me call him and get back to you on that…do you think he’d be in the Yellow Pages?” she says.
York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23. Box office: 01904 623568; yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/sonnets-in-bloom-2025/; in person from York Theatre Royal box office. Running time: 50 minutes.
Sonnets In Bloom 2025 cast members Emile Knight, left, Annie Dunbar, Oliver Taylor, Benjamin Rowley, Lily Geering, Harry Summers, James Tyler, Grace Scott, Tom Langley, Stuart Green, Stuart Lindsay and Xandra Logan at Holy Trinity churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
What’s coming up next for Josie Connor?
“I HAVE some exciting projects in the near future/next year, which will continue my directing path,” she says. “However, for now I’m keen to collaborate with more actors and try out new pieces!”
Sonnets In Bloom scriptwriter Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s summer production is being staged
FROM War Horse to Leeds Festival, the Wedding Present musical to Bombay Bicycle Club, August puts the highs into Charles Hutchinson’s summer.
Churchyard drama of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and August 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the weekend: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Tom Sturgess (Albert Narracott), Diany Samba-Bandza, Jordan Paris and Eloise Beaumont-Wood (Baby Joey) in War Horse, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Yorkshire theatre event of the week: National Theatre in War Horse, Leeds Grand Theatre, August 19 to September 6
WAR Horse, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel by Nick Stafford and originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, has become the most successful play in the National Theatre’s history, collecting more than 25 awards and playing to 8.3 million people worldwide.
Now comes an all-new tour, co-produced with Michael Harrison, Fiery Angel and Playing Field, that takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. Life-sized horses by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company bring breathing, galloping, charging equines to thrilling life on stage. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Chappell Roan: Performing her biggest British show yet at Leeds Festival on August 23. Picture: from Leeds Festival website
Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 21 to 24
ALWAYS the festival to mark the end of the summer season of outdoor joys, Leeds Festival welcomes Travis Scott as the Friday headliner in his only European festival appearance. Sammy Virji, D-Block Europe, Trippie Redd and Amyl And The Sniffers are in action on that day too.
The Saturday bill features Hozier, Chappell Roan, in the Midwest Princess’s biggest UK show yet, AJ Tracey, The Kooks, Bloc Party and Rudim3ntal, while the Sunday finale presents Bring Me The Horizon, Limp Bizkit, Becky Hill, Enter Shakiri and Wunderhorse. For the full line-up and ticket details, head to: leedsfestival.com.
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes: Playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery. Picture: Richard Reid
Australian double bill of the week: Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes and Melody Pool , Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb York, August 21, doors open at 7.30pm
LACHLAN Bryan & The Wildes are appearing in “full band mode” in the UK for the first time this summer, stopping off at Rise. Until now, at Maverick Festival in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and shows around these isles as headliners or supporting good friends Hannah Aldridge and Alan Fletcher, the band has travelled the Northern Hemisphere mostly as a three-piece.
That all changes as the usual suspects, Melbourne storyteller Lachlan, guitarist Riley Catherall and bass player Shaun Ryan, are joined by Ben Middleton on drums and Yorkshire’s own Emily Lawler on the fiddle and viola. Australian songwriter Melody Pool supports. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
The cast for Reception with writer-director Matt Aston, back row, far left, and The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, back row, far right, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds. Picture: Northedge Photography
Musical world premiere of the week: Perfect Blue Productions and Engine House Theatre present Reception, The Wedding Present Musical, at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, August 22 to September 6
SET in 1980s’ Leeds, Reception: The Wedding Present Musical follows a group of university friends whose lives remain entangled over five turbulent years. Through weddings, funerals, graduations – and, of course, the receptions that follow – York writer-director Matt Aston’s new drama explores how we grow together and apart, all scored to David Gedge’s 40 years of searingly personal, sharply observed song-writing for The Wedding Present and Cinerama.
Like the Leeds band that inspired it, the musical thrums with raw emotion, biting wit and restless energy, performed by a dynamic ensemble of actor-musicians, weaving a story of love, regret and reconnection through the melodic force of Gedge’s music. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Bombay Bicycle Club: Riding into York Barbican on August 22. Picture: from Bombay Bicycle Club website
York gig of the week: Bombay Bicycle Club, supported by Divorce, York Barbican, August 22, doors 7pm
LED as ever by vocalist, pianist and guitarist Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club’s set list will draw on songs from the Crouch End band’s six albums that span folk, electronica and world music, as well as indie guitar rock. The latest addition, 2023’s My Big Day, parades a revelatory set of vibrant, joyous compositions that bask in the sunshine. Feel the heat next Friday. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Luke Haines & Peter Buck: Teaming up at Pocklington Arts Centre
Gig of the week outside York: Luke Haines & Peter Buck, Pocklington Arts Centre, August 22, 8pm
LUKE Haines, Walton-on-Thames musician, songwriter and author of Freaks Out! and Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall, is best known for his bands The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Now his collaborator is Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M for 31 years.
On July 28, Haines & Buck released the third in their “psychiatric trilogy” of albums, Going Down To The River…To Blow My Mind,following Beat Poetry for Survivalists in 2020 and All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out in 2022. Their tour takes in further Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on August 27 and Leeds Brudenell Social Club on August 28. The Minus 5 support. Box office: Pocklington, for returns only, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Hebden Bridge, thetradesclub.com/events/hainesbuck; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
Sonnets In Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor in the Holy Trinity churchyard in Goodramgate, York
SHAKESPEARE in poetic full bloom, arguably the best ever British farce and moorland classical music lead off Charles Hutchinson’s case for not going on holiday in August.
Poetic return of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Alex Phelps and Valerie Antwi in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Farce of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a-play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage, and the catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, until August 23
IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Smashing Pumpkins: Heading for Scarborough on Aghori Tour
Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, gates 6pm
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Brightside: Scarborough band making their NCEM debut in York
From coast to York: Piano Goes Brightside, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
SCARBOROUGH band Brightside are undergoing a name change to The Waisons but not before playing this Piano Goes Brightside gig in York. In the line-up are Josh Lappao, lead guitar and vocals, Vince Lappao, drums and keyboards, Mason Marshall, guitar and vocals, and Olly Kershaw, bass guitar.
Formed to compete in a Battle of the Bands school competition, where they were placed runners-up, their two years of gigging has taken in school events, a Nativity entertainment, Christmas parties and a wedding. “We mostly do covers, but plan on making originals soon,” they say. As for the piano, progressive Scarborough pianist Jamie Kershaw will play 45 minutes of Schubert, Debussy, Ludovicio Einaudi, jazz and more. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Scarborough and District Railway Modellers’ poster for this weekend’s Pickering Model Railway Exhibition
Keeping on track: Pickering Model Railway Exhibition 2025, Memorial Hall, Potter Hill, Pickering, August 16, 10am to 5pm, and August 17, 10am to 3.30pm
ORGANISED by Scarborough and District Railway Modellers, Pickering Model Railway Exhibition features working layouts by Badger’s Bottom, Box File, Dalmunach, Farnby, Gallows Close,High Stamley,Low Key, Napier Road, Snicketway and Thomas For Kids.
Look out for model-making demonstrations by Simon Howard and Tim Penrose and trade support by DPP Model Railways, Model Market, GM Transport Books and Phoenix Games Studio. Free parking and free entry for accompanied children are further attractions; refreshments are available. Tickets: sdrmweb.co.uk.
Pickering Country Fair: Vintage tractors are among the attractions this weekend
Country pursuits of the week: Pickering Country Fair, Galtres Pickering Showground, August 16 and 17
COUNTRY sports, from mounted games and falconry, to gun dog scurries and heavy horses (Sunday only), will be complemented by ‘have-a-go’ opportunities in a chance to discover and learn about country pursuits under expert guidance. Among the highlights will be the Yorkshire Vet, Peter Wright; owl adventures; axe throwing; falconry; birds of prey; terrier racing; lurcher racing and coursing; archery; tractor pulling and a reptile display.
A vintage vehicle area features cars, commercials, fire engines and military vehicles, including tanks, along with displays of traction engines, tractors and working displays. Visitors can browse a variety of trade stands, autojumble, a craft and fine food marquee, old-time fun fair, non-stop arena entertainment, catering and a licensed bar. Tickets: outdoorshows.co.uk/pickering-country-fair. Pre-booked camping is available from midday on Friday to 10am on Monday.
Sonnets in Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor on a churchyard bench at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, where York Shakespeare Project’s performances will be staged
SHAKESPEARE in poetic full bloom, arguably the best ever British farce and moorland classical music lead off Charles Hutchinson’s case for not going on holiday in August.
Poetic return of the week: York Shakespeare Project presents Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23
REVEREND Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings-on. Participants will be arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others, but where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?
Welcome back Sonnets In Bloom as YSP’s 50-minute summer show returns to Holy Trinity’s churchyard with a new director, Josie Connor, new scenario script writer, Natalie Roe, and nine new sonneteers among the dozen presenting a new collection of characters, each finding a way to share one of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age recommendation: 14 plus.
Lucy Hook Designs’ poster for York River Art Market’s tenth anniversary
Art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, August 16 and 17, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its tenth anniversary season by the Ouse riverside railings, where 30 artists and designers will be setting up stalls each day.
Organised by York artist and tutor Charlotte Dawson, the market offers the chance to buy directly from the makers of ceramics, jewellery, paintings, prints, photographs, clothing, candles, soaps, cards and more besides. Admission is free.
Mad Alice: History talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York at 4pm tomorrow
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival 2025, until August 11
ORGANISED by York Mansion House, in tandem with York businesses, the York Georgian Festival is a whirl of dashing dandy fashions, extravagant feasting and romantic country dancing in a celebration of a golden social scene hidden within the brickwork of York’s abundant 18th century architecture.
Among the highlights will be a Promenade through the city; Georgian ice-cream cooking demonstrations; Regency Rejigged dance performances; Georgian Execution Tour with Bloody Tours of York; Mad Alice and York Gin’s history talk and Georgian gin tasting at Impossible York bar; York Georgian Ball at Grand Assembly Rooms; Portraits in Jane Austen; A Byron Letter and A Georgian Kerfuffle at York Mansion House and An Intimate History: The Life and Loves of Anne Lister at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. For the full programme and tickets, go to: mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgian-festival.
Seven Wonders: Paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Tribute show of the week: Seven Wonders, The Spirit Of Fleetwood Mac, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
SEVEN Wonders, a seven-piece, 100 per cent live band, cover all eras of Fleetwood Mac, from the Peter Green blues years, through Rumours, to Tango In The Night. Be prepared to dance the night away to Go Your Own Way, Don’t Stop, The Chain, Rhiannon, Dreams, Little Lies, Oh Well, Edge Of Seventeen and many more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Alex Phelps, left, Christopher Godwin, Olivia Woolhouse, Valerie Antwi, Susan Twist, Charlie Ryan and Andy Cryer in rehearsal for Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Play of the week: Noises Off, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, today until September 6, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson directs the first ever in-the-round production of Michael Frayn’s legendary 1982 farce with its play-within-a- play structure. “Good luck!” said the playwright on hearing the Scarborough theatre was taking on what has always been considered an impossible task.
Noises Off follows the on and off-stage antics of a touring theatre company stumbling its way through the fictional farce Nothing On. Across three acts, Frayn charts the shambolic final rehearsals, a disastrous matinee, seen entirely from backstage and the brilliantly catastrophic final performance. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Jamie Walton: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director and cellist. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Moorlandfestival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 10 to 23
IN its 17th year, cellist Jamie Walton’s festival presents 14 concerts designed to mirror the 14-line structure of a sonnet, guiding audiences through a pagan year with its unfolding seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
The four elements – Fire, Air, Water and Earth – will be explored through the lens of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and staged in four historic moorland churches: St Hilda’s, Danby; St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge; St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham. Ten concerts will be held in an acoustically treated venue in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside. For the full programme, go to northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990 or email bookings@northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Mark Radcliffe and Arlo: Dog tales at The Crescent
Shaggy dog stories of the week: Mark Radcliffe (& Arlo): In Conversation, The Crescent, August 11, 7.30pm
MARK Radcliffe, radio broadcaster, musician and writer, is one half of BBC Radio 1′s semi-legendary Mark and Lard and one half of BBC 6Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie. Now he introduces his new double-act partner, his beloved pampered Cavapoo, Arlo, as featured in the book Et Tu, Cavapoo?, published by Corsair on August 14.
In March 2024, Radcliffe and Arlo set off from Cheshire in their VW Beetle convertible for a three-month sojourn in Rome. Join them in conversation for an account of their time amid the sights (and sniffs) of the Italian capital in a show for lovers of travel and history, food and drink, art and architecture, and those seeking an insight into the eccentricities of the canine mind. This event combines a book signing, an interview with a special guest host and a chance to put questions to Mark (and Arlo). Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Smashing Pumpkins: Heading to Scarborough on Aghori Tour
Coastal gig of the week: Smashing Pumpkins and White Lies, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13, gates 6pm
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Scarborough band Brightside: Making NCEM debut on August 14
From coast to York: Piano Goes Brightside, National Centre for Early Music, York, August 14, 7.30pm
SCARBOROUGH band Brightside are undergoing a name change to The Waisons but not before playing this Piano Goes Brightside gig in York. In the line-up are Josh Lappao, lead guitar and vocals, Vince Lappao, drums and keyboards, Mason Marshall, guitar and vocals, and Olly Kershaw, bass guitar.
Formed to compete in a Battle of the Bands school competition, where they were placed runners-up, their two years of gigging has taken in school events, a Nativity entertainment, Christmas parties and a wedding. “We mostly do covers, but plan on making originals soon,” they say. As for the piano, progressive Scarborough pianist Jamie Kershaw will play 45 minutes of Schubert, Debussy, Ludovicio Einaudi, jazz and more. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Sonnets In Bloom script writer Natalie Roe, left, and director Josie Connor in the Holy Trinity churchyard, in Goodramgate, York, where the York Shakespeare Project performance will take place
YORK Shakespeare Project’s summer celebration of Shakespeare’s sonnets returns to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, from August 15 to 23.
Sonnets In Bloom brings together the Bard, director Josie Connor, scriptwriter Natalie Roe and a cast of 12 sonneteers.
“The last two shows have attracted record audiences so we are delighted again to be offering a summer taste of Shakespeare that is both entertaining and accessible,” says producer Maurice Crichton.
“This year we return to Holy Trinity Goodramgate, where site co-ordinator Gemma Murray and her team of volunteers made us so welcome last year.”
The year’s show has been scripted by Natalie Roe in her first involvement with YSP’s Sonnets project. “Natalie has incorporated a record 13 sonnets into her script, including seven that have not featured in previous YSP productions,” says Maurice.
Harry Summers: One of nine new sonneteers taking part in Sonnets In Bloom 2025
“Shakespeare wrote at least 154 sonnets. We have plenty more to go at but the new ones in this show mean we will have featured more than a third of the total across the nine sonnets productions we have so far put on.”
In Natalie’s script, “Reverend Planter is very excited that his church is hosting the regional leg of Summer in Bloom. You are all warmly invited to enjoy a complimentary drink and to see the goings on. Participants are arriving with their prized entries, some more competitive than others. But where is the special guest? And who will win the People’s Vote?”
Josie Connor is directing YSP for the first time, having worked with Natalie previously when she directed her script, Leaves, for York Settlement Community Players’ pub theatre initiative, The Direct Approach, in 2023.
As ever, Sonnets In Bloom features a wide variety of colourful characters, who each find an opportunity to give voice to one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
“It’s a lovely experience,” says YSP chair Tony Froud. “You can sip your complimentary drink on a summer’s evening in a delightful setting. Very often, the characters slip into a sonnet and the audience hardly notice that the language has become Shakespearean. And you can look forward to the odd surprise or two.”
Sonnets In Bloom 2025 producer Maurice Crichton
This will be the ninth time that YSP has put on a show based on Shakespeare’s sonnets, having first staged Sonnet Walks in 2014 , when audiences divided into groups met colourful characters as they walked around the streets of York, in the run-up to Le Grand Depart of that summer’s Tour de France.
In 2020, in the depths of the pandemic, the format was adapted to become Sit-Down Sonnets, when guiding a socially distanced group around the streets was impracticable. Sit-down shows have prevailed ever since.
This year, the cast of 12 is mostly new to the Sonnet shows and younger too. “Only three performers have been involved previously, and with a new writer and a first-time Sonnets director, this production will take a fresh look at a trusted format,” says Maurice.
The cast in full is: Harry Summers*; James Tyler*; Stuart Lindsay*; Grace Scott; Benjamin Rowley*; Emilie Knight; Oliver Taylor*; Tom Langley*; Xandra Logan; Annie Dunbar*; Lily Geering* and Stuart Green*. (*New to the sonnets.)
York Shakespeare Project in Sonnets In Bloom, Holy Trinity churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15 to 23, 6pm and 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm, August 16 and 23. Box office: 01904 623568; https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/sonnets-in-bloom-2025/; in person from York Theatre Royal box office. Price, including a drink: £10 or £5 for age 14 to 17. Running time: 50 minutes.
York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Sonnets In Bloom 2025
Richard Hawley: Revisiting Coles Corner with strings attached at Live At York Museum Gardens today. Picture: Dean Chalkley
WHAT happens when York Museum Gardens turns into Coles Corner and the same play opens in two places at once? Find out in Charles Hutchinson’s leisure list.
Open-air concert of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Richard Hawley, today; gates open at 5pm
SHEFFIELD guitarist, songwriter and crooner Richard Hawley revisits his 1995 album Coles Corner with a string section on its 20th anniversary this evening, complemented by Hawley highlights from his 2001 to 2024 albums (9pm to 10.30pm).
He will be preceded by Mercury Prize-winning Leeds band English Teacher (7.45pm to 8.30pm); Manchester-based American songwriter BC Camplight, introducing his new album, A Sober Conversation (6.30pm to 7.15pm), and Scottish musician Hamish Hawk, whose latest album, A Firmer Hand, emerged last August (5.40pm to 6.10pm). Box office: seetickets.com.
The Tallis Scholars: Performing Glorious Creatures, directed by Peter Philips, at York Minster at 7.30pm tonight at York Early Music Festival. Picture: Hugo Glendinning
Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival, Heaven & Hell, until July 11
EIGHT days of classical music are under way featuring international artists such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, Helen Charlston & Toby Carr and the York debut of Le Consort, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “but not quite as you know it” on Sunday.
Directed by Delma Tomlin, the festival weaves together three main strands: the 400th anniversary of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, the Baroque music of Vivaldi and Bach and reflections on Man’s fall from grace, from Heaven to Hell. Full programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.
Bridget Christie: Late replacement for Maisie Adam at Futuresound Group’s inaugural York Comedy Festival. Picture: Natasha Pszenicki
Comedy event of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, York Comedy Festival, Sunday, 2.30pm to 7.30pm
HARROGATE comedian Maisie Adam will not be playing the inaugural York Comedy Festival this weekend after all. The reason: “Unforeseen circumstances”. Into her slot steps trailblazing Bridget Christie, Gloucester-born subversive stand-up, Taskmaster participant and writer and star of Channel 4 comedy-drama The Change.
The Sunday fun-day bill will be topped by Dara Ó Briain and Katherine Ryan. Angelos Epithemiou, Joel Dommett, Vittorio Angelone, Clinton Baptiste and Scott Bennett perform too, hosted by “the fabulous” Stephen Bailey. Tickets update: last few still available at york-comedy-festival.com.
Justin Panks: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse
The other comedy bill in York this weekend: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club presents Justin, Panks, Tony Vino, Liam Bolton and MC Damion Larkin, The Basement, City Screen, York, tonight, 8pm
COMEDIAN and podcaster Justin Panks tops tonight’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club with his skewed observational eye and ability to approach seemingly ordinary subjects from extraordinary angles in his raw, honest tales of relationships, parenthood and life in general.
Tony Vino bills himself as “the only half-Spanish, half-Scottish hybrid working comic in the world”; experimental Liam Bolton favours a bewildering, train-of-thought approach to unpredictable stand-up comedy; Damion Larkin hosts in improvisational style. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or on the door.
The Script: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend
Coastal gig of the week: The Script and Tom Walker, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today; gates open at 6pm
THE Script head to the Yorkshire coast this weekend as part of the Irish rock-pop act’s Satellites UK tour, completing their hat-trick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre visits after appearances in 2018 and 2022. Special guest Tom Walker, the Scottish singer-songwriter, performs songs from 2019 chart topper What A Time To Be Alive and 2024’s I Am. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Dianne Buswell and Vito Coppola: Red Hot and Ready to dance at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne & Vito, Red Hot & Ready!, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola are Red Hot and Ready to perform a dance show with a difference, choreographed by BAFTA award winner Jason Gilkison. The dream team will be joined by a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Florence Poskitt’s Margaret Watson, left, Jennifer Jones’s Elizabeth Watson and Livy Potter’s Emma Watson in Black Treacle Theatre’s The Watsons at the JoRo
Play of the week times two: The Watsons, Black Treacle Theatre, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm and .30pm Saturday matinee; The Watsons, 1812 Theatre Company, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm
TWO productions of Laura Wade’s The Watsons open on the same night in York and Helmsley. What happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She has been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.
One problem: Jane Austen did not finish this story. Who will write Emma’s happy ending now? Step forward Wade, who takes her incomplete novel to fashion a sparklingly witty play that looks under Austen’s bonnet to ask: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Bridgerton meets Austentatious, Regency flair meets modern twists, as Jim Paterson directs in York; Pauline Noakes in Helmsley. Box office: York, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
York debut of the week: Kemah Bob in Miss Fortunate, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 9, 8pm
“LIFE is gunna life and brains are gunna brain,” says Kemah Bob as the American host of the Foc It Up Comedy Club and podcast brings their debut stand-up tour to York in a show directed by Desiree Burch and Sarah Chew.
Born in Houston, Texas, and now living in London, Bob has been seen on QI, Richard Osman’s House Of Games, Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club, Don’t Hate The Playaz and Guessable and heard on the Off Menu podcast, The Guilty Feminist, James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds, Springleaf and Brett Goldstein’s Films To Be Buried With. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
An old story told in a new way: Russell Lucas’s Titanic tale of Edward Dorking in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
Titanic struggle of the week: Russell Lucas in Third Class at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 12, 3pm
EDWARD Dorking was openly gay. On Wednesday, April 10 1912, he set sail for New York on a ticket bought for him by his mother in the hope his American family could put him “right”.
Writer-performer Russell Lucas’s Third Class charts Dorking’s journey from boarding the Titanic to swimming for 30 minutes towards an already full collapsible lifeboat, and how, on arrival in New York, he toured the vaudeville circuit as an angry campaigner against the injustices of the shipping disaster. Using music, movement, projection and text, Lucas gives a “thrilling new perspective on what feels a familiar tale”, topped off with a Q&A. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
In Focus:Contentment Productionsin Second Summer Of Love, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 10, 7.30pm
Second Summer Of Love: Emmy Happisburgh’s coming-of-age and midlife-recovery tale at Theatre@41, Monkgate
ORIGINAL raver Louise wonders how she went from Ecstasy-taking idealist to respectable, disillusioned, suburban Surrey mum. Triggered by her daughter’s anti-drugs homework and at peak mid-life crisis, Louise flashes back to the week’s emotional happenings and the early Nineties’ rave scene.
Writer-performer Emmy Happisburgh’s play addresses the universal themes of coming of age and fulfilling potential while offering a new perspective for conversations on recreational drug use, raising palms to the skies in fields, recovery from addiction and embracing mid-life.
Originally Second Summer Of Love was developed with producers Pants On Fire as a 15-minute and showcased by Emmy at the SHORTS Festival 2020.
“The play premiered as a one-woman performance at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe,” she says. “Then it was refreshed in 2023; some scenes were re-written, taking into consideration reviewers’ practical criticisms and audience responses.
“We enlisted two more actors and Scott Le Crass to direct and tested out this new version for Contentment Productions on a three-night run in Worthing and Guildford where it sold out.”
In this 60-minute performance, Emmy’s Louise is joined by Molly, played by Emmy’s daughter, Rosa Strudwick, and Christopher Freestone’s Brian, prompted by Louise’s flashbacks,
“Now our cast of three is playing 15 dates this summer and autumn, from York to Penzance, to connect with our target audiences, build partnerships, give us feedback and raise awareness of of our play to help us develop and upscale it into a fully cast production for larger auditoriums.”
Memories around Sterns nightclub in Worthing – a venue that Carl Cox once called “100 per cent equivalent to the Hacienda in Manchester” – wove themselves into Emmy’s play. “Second Summer Of Love isn’t a ‘true story’ but it’s inspired by real-life events and real people from when I was luckily, and very accidentally, right in the middle of the rave zeitgeist,” she says.
“It’s not a tale I’ve seen authentically told in theatres; especially not by a mid-life woman. I’m grateful to bring the ‘one love’ message of the original rave movement to the stage. I’m excited to play several different characters, using the physical skills of Le Coq again and genuinely overjoyed to be in scenes opposite Rosa and Christopher.”
Director Scott Le Crass adds: “I’m excited to direct Second Summer Of Love as it’s a fresh voice. It’s a perspective which I’ve never seen on stage. Older female voices are something we need to champion more and in a way which is strong, dynamic and playful. This play embodies that.”
Happisburgh trained at the Poor School and Guildford School of Acting; Le Crass trained as an actor at Arts Ed and was a director on Birmingham Rep’s first Foundry Programme; Freestone trained with Actor in Session, and Strudwick was trained through the LAMDA examination syllabus by Happisburgh.
For tickets, go to:tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
In Focus too: York Shakespeare Project’s auditions for The Spanish Tragedy
Paul Toy: Directing Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy for York Shakespeare Project
YORK Shakespeare Project welcomes back Paul Toy as its next director, at the helm of Thomas Kyd’s landmark play, The Spanish Tragedy, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 22 to 25.
Paul’s relationship with YSP dates back to his 2003 production of The Taming Of The Shrew. The Spanish Tragedy will be his fourth YSP show but his first since Troilus And Cressida in 2011.
YSP chair Tony Froud says: “Paul emerged from a very strong field of applicants with an exciting vision for this remarkable play. The Spanish Tragedy was the most popular play of the Elizabethan era, outselling Shakespeare.
“Kyd’s play set out the blueprint for a whole dramatic genre, Revenge Tragedy. Without it, there may have been no Hamlet, no The Duchess Of Malfi.
“It has a brilliant plot based on treachery, deceitand disguise and wonderful ingredients, including vengeance-seeking ghosts, madness, a play-within-a-play and a Machiavellian villain. Paul has great plans to bring to life the richly drawn characters with masks, music and dance.”
The Spanish Tragedy will be YSP’s second non-Shakespeare play in its 25-year mission to bring to the York stage all of Shakespeare’s plays and the best of his contemporaries, following Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II in October 2023.
YSP would be delighted to hear from anyone keen to join the cast. Auditions will be held on July 8 and 10 at 6.30pm, then July 12 at 2pm, all at Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road. Those interested are asked to email info@yorkshakespeareproject.org to book an audition slot and find out more.
