Laura Broughton-Janes’ Antipholus of Ephesus, second from right, and her servant, Liz Duggan’s Dromio, in York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
KATIE Leckey and Emily Carhart buckle up to steer Shakespeasre’s “shortest and possibly funniest play” into piratical waters, replete with lusty sea shanties and the sound of crashing waves.
“The morally questionable, yet still comedic, nature of many (if not all) of the characters put us in mind of some of our favourite piratical antiheroes,” they said in their mission statement.
“We felt like the framing device of piracy gave us the chance to include slapstick violence between ‘masters and servants’ in a way that wouldn’t seem too brutal or alien to a modern audience.”
Two masts from a shipwreck hang over the stage to evoke seafaring in the black box theatre, where the staging is otherwise minimalist, largely left bare for physical comedy and fast-fizzing farce.
Ben Reeves-Rowley’s Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus, in York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
A plinth is moved into place to denote the higher status of Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus (played by Ben Reeves-Rowley with the clipped vowels and tightened jaw of King Charles III). Later, two sets of doors – the time-honoured harbingers of imminent farce – make appearances, one as the entrance to the abbey, the other with skeleton door knockers in keeping with the piratical reboot.
Andrew Wrenn’s vexed Egeon has to wade his way through a chunk of exposition before the play settles into its rhythm of mistaken identities, spun around two sets of identical twins. Helen Clarke’s flamboyant Antipholus of Syracuse and her servant, Kat Lazarus’s flirtatious Dromio arrive on the corrupt pirate isle of Ephesus , where Laura Broughton-Janes’ Antipholus of Ephesus and her servant, Liz Duggan’s Dromio, are already caught up in the debauched shenanigans.
Add a tavern and booty, and let the misunderstandings and misbehaviour multiply, involving the likes of Ro Trimble’s haughty Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, Leckey’s Luciano, always quick with a jest, and Harry Summers’ oft-baffled Angelo .
You will note that Antipholus times two are now female, all part of the gender fluidity brought to The Comedy Of Errors by Leckey and Carhart, prompted by being “intrigued by the lack of traditional gender and romantic dynamics in the play”.
“In Elizabethan culture, there was a more flexible understanding of physical and romantic intimacy between same sex partners, as well as a fluid approach to the representation of gender on stage,” they say. “We feel our production is a celebration of relationships of many kinds, platonic, familial and romantic.”
Kat Lazarus’s Dromio of Syracuse, front,and Helen Clarke’s Antipholus of Syracuse in York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
Laura Broughton-Janes’ Antipholus of Ephesus and her servant, Liz Duggan’s Dromio, in York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
Luciana becomes Luciano, played by Leckey with a droll air and a cigarette in hand, in a late change of casting that affirms their relish for comic friction and interplay.
The slapstick even features slaps to the face; the likes of Trimble and Reeves-Rowley make the words sing; Andrea Mitchell’s Emilia, the Abbess, gives the peachiest cameo; the musicians on the mezzanine level (Rebecca Jackson, Izzie Burger de Fremol, Vicky Hatt and Emily Rowan) convey matters of the heart and sea, and the sets of twins are so identical that the audience may well have to keep looking twice.
The gender transitions add to the physical comedy, but this is not a play of memorable verbal wit or intellectual insight.
Carhart even called it “silly”, as light as a bubble, and certainly she and Leckey have fun with it, giving it fresh zest, although their claim of its status as “possibly Shakespeare’s funniest play” is debatable.
York Shakespeare Project presents The Comedy Of Errors, Theatre@41, Monkgate, 7.30pm nightly until Saturday, plus2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Teacher Miss Hedge (Katie Spencer) steps in between school bully Dean Paxton (Cain Branton), left, and dreamer Jamie New (Frankie Bounds) in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
FROM a couple all at sea at the SJT to Yorktoberfest in a circus big top, a piratical twist on The Comedy Of Errors to Bison Hip’s blues, Charles Hutchinson recommends ways to stay cheerful.
Bold and unapologetic musical of the week: York Stage in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday; 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
TOM MacRae and Dan Gillespie’s Sheffield musical plays the Grand Opera House for the first time in Nik Briggs’s production for York Stage that restores the grit to both complement and counter the glitz in the uplifting underdog story of Jamie New (Frankie Bounds), a 16-year-old schoolboy from a Steel City council estate with big dreams and the courage to stand out when it would be easier to stay quiet.
Equipped with the strength to face the world head on, Jamie fights prejudice, finds his voice and discovers the freedom of stepping into the spotlight on his own terms. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Over-reaching strategy: Phil Corbitt’s Colin puts yet another plan to Sarah Belcher’s exhausted Deborahin Alison Carr’s All At Sea
Premiere of the week: Stephen Joseph Theatre and Live Theatre, Newcastle, present All At Sea, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 31
MARIA Crocker directs Phil Corbitt and Sarah Belcher in All At Sea, Alison Carr’s new play inspired by the real-life escapades of John and Anne Darwin in the early 2000s.
Colin and Deborah are a couple with spiralling debt, a sky-high mortgage and seemingly nowhere to turn. Then Colin comes up with the idea of faking his own death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea for an insurance payout. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Amelia Bullmore’s Penelope comes face to face with Charlie Russell’s Odysseus in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Greek tragedy twist of the week: Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Odyssey: Her Story, York Theatre Royal, until October 31
BOOKER Prize winner Margaret Atwood revisits Homer’s The Odyssey in an exuberantly irreverent and darkly humorous retelling where she gives voice to Odysseus’s silenced wife, Penelope – still awaiting his return 20 years after the Trojan War – and her chorus of maids in a tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge that exposes the truth behind the myth. Creative director Juliet Forster’s cast is led by Happy Valley and Riot Women star Amelia Bullmore. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Ben Reeves-Rowley and Harry Summers in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Company’s piratical The Comedy Of Errors
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Comedy Of Errors, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATIE Leckey and Emily Carhart co-direct York Shakespeare Project in “ an exciting take on Shakespeare’s shortest and possibly funniest play”, giving a piratical, gender-swapping twist to The Comedy Of Errors in a convergence of the original text with slapstick, farce and physical comedy and a “celebration of relationships of many kinds, platonic, familial and romantic”.
“The morally questionable, yet still comedic, nature of many (if not all) of the characters put us in mind of some of our favourite piratical anti-heroes,” they say. “We felt like the framing device of piracy gave us the chance to include slapstick violence between ‘masters and servants’ in a way that wouldn’t seem too brutal or alien to a modern audience.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for The Amy Winehouse Band’s Back To Black 20th Anniversary Tour
Going back to Back To Black: The Amy Winehouse Band, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm
AMY Winehouse’s original band, who played with her from the very start, are marking the 20th anniversary of her iconic second album, Back To Black, the one that brought her five awards at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Performing with Amy that evening, as these musicians had done since her earliest gigs in London pubs, was her band.
Led by Amy’s long-time musical director and bass player, The Amy Winehouse Band features members who both toured and recorded with her throughout her career. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Hudson & Hudson: Combining the magical and the marital at Helmsley Arts Centre
Magic show of the week: Hudson & Hudson Magicians: Married At First Sleight, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
ORIGINALLY from Hull, husband-and-wife magicians Alan and Kat Hudson appeared separately on Britain’s Got Talent before eventually forming a double act. Ant & Dec had suggested they should work together while they were on the show, but they both said no at the time. Between them, they have appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, ITV’s The Next Great Magician and in the West End production Wonderville.
Married At First Sleight mixes magic, mind-reading, comedy and audience participation with the realities of being married to the person with whom you also rehearse, tour and perform. Cue marital banter alongside the tricks. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
York drag diva Velma Celli leading the Yorktoberfest celebrations in the Big Top with The Bavarian Strollers at York Racecourse
Festival of the week: Jamboree Entertainment presents Yorktoberfest, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, Friday, 7pm to 1pm; Saturday, 1pm to 5pm & 7pm to 11pm
FOR the first time, James Cundall’s Jamboree Entertainment is staging Yorktoberfest, York’s traditional Bavarian beer festival, inside a Big Top, launched last weekend by aerial artist Zoe Kulyk twisting and tumbling from the rooftop.
Look out on Friday and Saturday for outrageous York drag diva Velma Celli’s powerhouse singing and quick-fire critique of the costumes on display and oompah band The Bavarian Strollers’ traditional drinking songs and disco classics. The Bavarian Bar and the Dog Haus serve up drinks and German-inspired food. Tickets: www.ticketsource.co.uk/yorktoberfest and at the entrance, subject to availability.
Bison Hip: A dose of the Glasgow blues at Ryedale Blues Club
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Bison Hip, Milton Rooms, Malton, October 29, 8pm
BISON Hip were formed by long-time friends Paul Sloway, Malcolm Button, Steven Radziwonik, John Gilmour Smith and Graeme Carswell during a lockdown Zoom call in 2020. “Maybe it was the mid-life crisis at play,” says vocalist Sloway.
“We wanted to take our love of blues and rock and mix it up with our experiences of life. Between us, we’ve been through so many things in life, ups and downs, some successes and plenty of failures, we wanted all that in the music. We needed to wrap it up in the DNA of our hometown, Glasgow, and hopefully that’s what we’ve achieved.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Cassi Roberts’s Messenger and Andrew Wrenn’s Egeon in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s piratical The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
IN Katie Leckey and Emily Carhart’s piratical twist on The Comedy Of Errors for York Shakespeare Project, the original text of Shakespeare’s “shortest and possibly funniest” play will be merged with slapstick, farce and physical comedy.
Opening tomorrow (21/10/2026) at Theatre@41, Monkgate, the production combines the directorial talents of Leckey, director of York company Griffonage Theatre, and Carhart, who worked with Katie on York Settlement Community Players’ staging of Joe Orton’s Loot and Griffonage’s showcase of Lady Augusta Gregory works, Fourtold.
In their opening statement, explaining the pirate overhaul, they say: “The morally questionable, yet still comedic, nature of many, if not all, of the characters put us in mind of some of our favourite piratical antiheroes.
“We felt like the framing device of piracy gave us the chance to include slapstick violence between ‘masters and servants’ in a way that wouldn’t seem too brutal or alien to a modern audience.”
Emily says: “We realised that we both wanted to pitch to direct this production, having become friends through working together, and so we chatted about it…
…“Two heads are better than one,” says Katie. “We wanted to use our individual strengths to look at different aspects to make a coherent whole, a well-rounded piece.”
The Comedy Of Errors co-director Emily Carhart
“Katie is more experienced in physical theatre and clowning, whereas I focus on the voice, text, relationships between character,” says Emily.
“It’s all in there anyway, where it begs for the comedy to be made physical,” says Katie. “Sometimes the physical just has to happen because otherwise a joke won’t land.”
Both co-directors were devotees already of Shakespeare’s “most farcical play”, the 1592 one with the two sets of identical twins. Why? “It’s just a really silly play,” says Emily. “In fairness, I think he intended it to be silly! It’s fast and zippy and a lot shorter than most of his plays, and when you unpick the language, it’s loaded with punchlines.
“It gives you a plot to play with because the characters are in a ridiculous situation and so you don’t have to take it seriously, but it’s written in a sophisticated way that uses metaphorical language. That said, it may be a controversial thing to say but it’s quite a surface-level play.”
Katie adds: “The reason I like it is because it’s a farce, and obviously I’m no stranger to farces [such as Orton’s Loot]. What drew me to it is that it’s such a succinct farce, whereas Twelfth Night and As You Like It are much longer and get muddled by having too many plotlines.
Ben Reeves-Rowley’s Solinus and Harry Summers’s Angelo in the rehearsal room for York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
“This play is cohesive, cut and dry, and that makes it easier to play with. There’s none of the weirdness of the ending of Love’s Labour’s Lost; nothing that doesn’t gel or make sense – and so I can just put slapstick in it!”
The pirate twist emerged in response to the “insinuation of domestic violence and adultery in the play”. “Characters are immoral or amoral – devoid of morals – which tonally didn’t meld with the play, so we thought, ‘how can we keep it as a light comedy?’, which led to pirates,” says Emily.
“Everyone has an idea of pirates, from Treasure Island, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Muppet Treasure Island, with all that swashbuckling flamboyancy of piracy,” says Katie, who will play Luciano, by the way. “It lightens the whole thing, with everyone knowing that pirates are into pirating and plundering, but everyone still likes them!”
“That’s why you buy into the convention that it’s fun and silly,” says Emily. “I think it also makes it more accessible to modern audiences because of the dynamics of ‘masters and servants’, so we’ve set it in the golden age of piracy,” adds Katie.
When? The end of the Stuart era/beginning of the Georgian era… “but we’ve added Victorian costumes too because of how people think of pirates in that time,” says Katie. “It’s very much a vibe, rather than historical accuracy,” says Emily, who will bring her puppetry skills to the show.
The Comedy Of Errors co-director Katie Leckey
The co-directors were keen to apply gender swapping to “make some things less unpalatable while still drawing attention to how sexist the text is”.
“We were intrigued by the lack of traditional gender and romantic dynamics in the play,” they say. “In Elizabethan culture, as depicted in many of Shakespeare’s plays, there was a more flexible understanding of physical and romantic intimacy between same sex partners, as well as a fluid approach to the representation of gender on stage. We feel our production is a celebration of relationships of many kinds, platonic, familial and romantic.”
Katie says: “We’ve made it a matriarchy, rather than a patriarchy. We also have a same sex couple now, which I was keen to do as it feels the perfect time to do it, without shoehorning it into the plot.”
Emily adds: “It’s interesting to see a woman play such an unpleasant character [Antipholus], when we’re used to seeing men playing the role, which makes it all the more jarring.”
Katie concludes: “People will hopefully accept what we’ve done with the play. It feels right, rather than forced, so I can’t see it being done any other way now!”
York Shakespeare Project in The Comedy Of Errors, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 21 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
High laughs on the high seas: York Shakespeare Project’s piratical poster for this week’s production of The Comedy Of Errors
Plot summary for York Shakespeare Project’s The Comedy Of Errors
“AVAST ye landlubbers! Set sail for York Shakespeare Project’s piratical production of The Comedy of Errors!,” reads the invitation from directors Katie Leckey and Emily Carhart.
“The flamboyant captain Antipholus and flirtatious first mate Dromio arrive at the corrupt pirate isle of Ephesus to find that it has everything a salty sea dog requires: a tavern, a shipwreck, sea shanties, talking parrots, general debauchery and (of course) a whole lot of booty!
“However, things start to get very confusing very quickly, when both the captain and first mate don’t seem to be acting like themselves.
“In a plot laden with mistaken identity, colourful characters, swashbuckling action and a fair bit of slapstick, this be Shakespeare but not as ye know it.”
Who is in the cast for The Comedy Of Errors?
Antipholus of Syracuse: Helen Clarke Dromio of Syracuse: Kat Lazarus Antipholus of Ephesus: Laura Broughton-Janes Dromio of Ephesus: Liz Duggan Adriana: Ro Trimble Luciano: Katie Leckey Solinus, The Duke of Ephesus: Ben Reeves-Rowley Egeon: Andrew Wrenn Emilia, The Abbess: Andrea Mitchell Angelo: Harry Summers Balthazar: Grace Scott Officer/Messenger: Cassi Roberts Courtesan: Jacob Bassford Dr Pinch/Nell: Jess Netherway First Merchant/Nell: Stuart Green Second Merchant: Thomas Jennings
In the spotlight: Frankie Bounds’ Jamie New, front, in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
FROM added grit in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie to a piratical twist on The Comedy Of Errors, Brandon Flowers in full bloom at York Barbican to drag diva Velma Celli rocking out, Charles Hutchinson spots pearls aplenty.
Bold and unapologetic musical of the week: York Stage in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, until October 24; 7.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 4pm Sunday
TOM MacRae and Dan Gillespie’s Sheffield musical plays the Grand Opera House for the first time in Nik Briggs’s production for York Stage that restores the grit to both complement and counter the glitz in the uplifting underdog story of Jamie New (Frankie Bounds), a 16-year-old schoolboy from a Steel City council estate with big dreams and the courage to stand out when it would be easier to stay quiet.
Equipped with the strength to face the world head on, Jamie fights prejudice, finds his voice and discovers the freedom of stepping into the spotlight on his own terms. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Amelia Bullmore’s Penelope comes face to face with Charlie Russell’s Odysseus in The Penelopiad. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Greek tragedy twist of the week: Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Odyssey: Her Story, York Theatre Royal, until October 31
BOOKER Prize winner Margaret Atwood revisits Homer’s The Odyssey in an exuberantly irreverent and darkly humorous retelling where she gives voice to Odysseus’s silenced wife, Penelope – still awaiting his return 20 years after the Trojan War – and her chorus of maids in a tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge that exposes the truth behind the myth. Creative director Juliet Forster’s cast is led by Happy Valley and Riot Women star Amelia Bullmore. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Kristin Hersh: Queen of the alternative scene
Recommended but sold out already: An Evening With Kristin Hersh, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight,7.30pm
OVER three decades, Atlanta, Georgia singer, songwriter and guitarist Kristin Hersh, 60, has been heralded queen of the alternative scene with Throwing Muses, 50Foot Wave and on her own, releasing her latest 12th solo album, Sugar On Blackstone, on Fire Records on September 18. Recorded at Stable Sound Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, with Steve Rizzo, it features Rob Ahlers on drums and Pete Harvey on cello.
Since signing to Fire Records in 2018, the prolific Hersh has released tenth studio album Possible Dust Clouds, Throwing Muses’ Sun Racket in 2020, 50Foot Wave’s Black Pearl in 2022, her book Seeing Sideways in 2022 and self-produced 11th solo album, the cinematic road trip and personal vignettes of Clear Pond Road, in September 2023.
Velma Celli: Drag diva delights…including a tribute to Dolly Parton RIP
Drag delights of the week: The Velma Celli Show, with special guest Jessica Steel and guitarists Stuart Allan and Olly Chilton, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 6pm
YORK vocal drag act deluxe and international cabaret superstar Velma Cell moves to a new location for her camp, spectacular song and comedy home-city performances. “My last two shows at York Theatre Royal – Snow Queen and Rock Queen – had been among my favourites, so this one will be a mixture of Snow Queen and Rock Queen and musical theatre material,” says Velma’s creator, actor and West End star Ian Stroughair.
“The first set will be musical theatre favourites, songs from my career in West End musicals – Cats, Fame, Chicago and Rent – and an homage to Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. In the second set we’ll rock out with York. There’ll be songs by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Bryan Adams, Bonnie Tyler, Guns N’ Roses, Roxette, Alanis Morissette, Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game – and I’ll do a Dolly Parton section too. There has to be!” Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Imperial Classical Ballet in Swan Lake
Ballet of the week: Imperial Classical Ballet presents Swan Lake, York Barbican, October 19, 7.30pm
IMPERIAL Classical Ballet performs Swan Lake, the powerful tale of Princess Odette, cursed to live as a swan by day and a woman by night. When Prince Siegfried discovers her under the moonlight, he vows to break the spell, yet the evil sorcerer Rothbart and his daughter Odile plot a deception that threatens them both.
From the haunting beauty of the lakeside scenes to the electrifying Black Swan pas de deux, Swan Lake is a visual delight, performed to Tchaikovsky’s soaring score, played live by an orchestra. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Brandon Flowers: In full bloom at York Barbican. Picture: Chris Phelps
Gig of the week: Brandon Flowers, York Barbican, October 21, 7.30pm
THE Killers’ frontman, Brandon Flowers, plays York Barbican as the only Yorkshire venue on his nine-date UK and Ireland tour, promoting Thrasher, his third solo album and first since 2015, which peaked at number three on release in August.
Fans can look forward to hearing songs from Thrasher, played live for the first time, alongside highlights from his British chart-topping solo albums, 2010’s Flamingo and 2015’s The Desired Effect, as well as beloved tracks from The Killers’ catalogue. No support. Ticket update: Sold out; for returns only, go to https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/brandon-flowers.
Pirate reboot ahoy: York Shakespeare Project in The Comedy Of Errors. Picture: John Stead
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: York Shakespeare Project in The Comedy Of Errors, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 21 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATIE Leckey and Emily Carhart co-direct York Shakespeare Project in “ an exciting take on Shakespeare’s shortest and possibly funniest play”, giving a piratical, gender-swapping twist to The Comedy Of Errors in a convergence of the original text with slapstick, farce and physical comedy and a “celebration of relationships of many kinds, platonic, familial and romantic”.
“The morally questionable, yet still comedic, nature of many (if not all) of the characters put us in mind of some of our favourite piratical anti-heroes,” they say. “We felt like the framing device of piracy gave us the chance to include slapstick violence between ‘masters and servants’ in a way that wouldn’t seem too brutal or alien to a modern audience.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for the Amy Winehouse Band’s Back To Black 20th Anniversary Tour, visiting York Barbican
Going back to Back To Black: The Amy Winehouse Band, York Barbican, October 22, 7.30pm
AMY Winehouse’s original band, who played with her from the very start, are marking the 20th anniversary of her iconic second album, Back To Black, the one that brought her five awards at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Performing with Amy that evening, as these musicians had done since her earliest gigs in London pubs, was her band.
Led by Amy’s long-time musical director and bass player, The Amy Winehouse Band features members who both toured and recorded with her throughout her career. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
A Fate Worse Than Death: Premiering at Everyman Harrogate on Thursday
In Focus: Film premiere of the week: A Fate Worse Than Death, Everyman Harrogate, Harrogate, October 22, 7.30pm
AFTER three years of production, Abraham Fieldsend will premiere his feature film A Fate Worse Than Death at Everyman Harrogate on Thursday.
Made in North and West Yorkshire for £12,000, this 70-minute psychological horror-drama was produced independently by Wayside Trinity, using primarily local cast, crew and locations.
Written by co-producers Zachary Fieldsend, Steve Jones-Robertson and Abraham Fieldsend, the story explores the effects of grief through a couple struggling to cope with the loss of their child. As the mother’s debilitating headaches intensify, they are forced to confront the possibility that the darkness consuming their home is more than grief alone.
A Fate Worse Than Death’s production team
“A bold title, a tragic story, a horrifying series of events, A Fate Worse Than Death promises to be a horror film of different forms, assaulting your comfort, scarring your emotions, and engaging your mind when the credits roll,” says Fieldsend. “Our first foray into the world of feature film-making will be sure to shock even the most hardened horror fans.”
The cast comprises Susan Fieldsend as Elizabeth; Lyndsey Craine, Doctor Kent; Jake Fireman, Group Therapy Speaker; Kay Gartland, Doctor Armstrong; Martin Turner, Keith; Evan “T-Rex” Singleton, Paramedic 1; Zachary Fieldsend, Paramedic 2; Natalie Fieldsend, Pyschologists’ Receptionist (voice); Neil Fieldsend, Unnamed Doctor; Mike Blackburn, The Figure and Burn Victim, and Matthew Chan, James’s Work Colleague.
Thursday’s running order will be: 7:30pm, complimentary drink on arrival; 8pm, short introduction in Screen 2; 8:15pm, film screening; 9.3pm, screening ends, followed by drinks and a chance to mingle in the bar area.
For more details, go to: https://www.everymancinema.com/venues-list/x0x9k-everyman-harrogate/.
Doubles troubles: Husband-and-wife strife for Helen Clarke’s Margo and Jamie McKeller’s ageing club champ, Lionel, in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Magpies’ folk festival, Sue Slack’s landscape paintings and The Basement’s new comedy club should outshine this evening’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until Saturday, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday show
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax on the Scarborough coast
Coastal gig of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, Friday, gates 6pm
FLAMBOYANT, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill on Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Grim reading: Pandora Clifford’s Mags (a younger Margaret Thatcher) flicking through the headlines in Handbagged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2013 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their annual folk festival at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, Friday and Saturday. SOLD OUT
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, Saturday & Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on Saturday
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, Saturday, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Nice touch: Chloe Petts feeling lippy about playing Basement Comedy Club’s debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch gig, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Sunday, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
More Things To Do in York and beyond. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 33, from The York Press, from August 15 onwards
Squash on the tennis court: Effie Warboys’ insufferably spoilt Chessie, front left, pushing around her doubles partner, Alexa Williams’s Belle, in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? In the background are Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony. Picture: John Saunders
MINISTRY of Sound turning classical, The Basement’s comedy launch night and Johnny Depp’s Scarborough return spark Charles Hutchinson’s curiosity.
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 15, 4.30pm, 6pm & 7.30pm
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part are James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
York River Art Market organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Open-air art event of the week: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 15 and 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market has returned for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day on the third of three weekends, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Cut Capers: Headlining Main Stage at The Magpies Festival on August 15
Folk festival fully booked: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, August 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents today’s line-up on the Main Stage of Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm).
The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office for returns only: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Ministry of Sound Classical: Taking over the Castle Howard grounds on August 15
Club classics/House/Orchestral party gathering of the week: Ministry of Sound Classical, Grounds of Castle Howard, near Malton, August 15, 2pm to 10.30pm
ENJOY sweeping views of the Castle Howard Estate while listening to a live orchestra reimagining the greatest dance anthems from the iconic Ministry of Sound catalogue as timeless tracks are brought to life, blending classical musicianship with contemporary dance music for an unforgettable open-air experience.
As well as headline act Ministry Of Sound Classical, artists performing at this festival will be Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Ellie Sax, Smudged Soul and Alex Malam. Box office for last few tickets: skiddle.com/festivals/ministry-of-sound-classical-at-castle-howard/#tickets.
Hollywood Vampires: Joe Perry, left, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen
Coastal gig of the week: Hollywood Vampires, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 15, gates 6pm
NAMED after Alice Cooper’s 1970s’ drinking club, American rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires return to Scarborough after their sold-out 2023 gig with the regular line-up of Cooper, film star and guitarist Johnny Depp, Aerosmith co-founder Joe Perry and Crossbone Skully and Warlock musician Tommy Henriksen. Punk icons The Damned support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.
Sara Barron: Compere for Basement Comedy Club debut gig
Comedy gig of the week: Basement Comedy Club launch show, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, August 16, 6pm
CITY Screen Picturehouse launches its new monthly comedy event in the redecorated Basement this weekend. Compered by Sara Barron, the debut Basement Comedy Club bill comprises headline act Chloe Petts, addressing lad culture and identity politics, Manchester comic Shah, shedding light on growing up in an immigrant household and mental health challenges, and Lovdev Barpaga, who specialises in crafting one liners and puns. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Hiker and landscape artist Sue Slack painting above Rosedale
Exhibition of the week: Sue Slack, Finding The Dramatic, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-e-Hole, until August 31
NORTH York Moors landscape painter Sue Slack’s work is inspired by a deep connection with the surrounding landscape. A keen runner and hiker, she draws creative energy from exploring the area close to home.
Working outdoors, Sue embraces the immediacy of being in the landscape and its direct influence on her painting and drawing. In Finding The Dramatic, she presents mixed-media works inspired by the hills, dales and coastline of the North York Moors. Open Saturdays to Thursdays, closed on Fridays; free to visit.
Linda Smith: Bedroom pop at The Crescent
American pop underground act of the week: Please Please You presents Linda Smith, The Crescent, York, August 16, 6.30pm
HOME recording pioneer Linda Smith has self-released her music since 1987, originally on cassette. In the early 1990s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with two seven-inch EPs.
Brooklyn, New York label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and Smith has begun to tour in the United States and internationally for the first time, now visiting York with her bedroom pop. Support act Troutflies play loose, woozy punk and experimental lo-fi pop, occasionally with duelling melodicas. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Silent Disco falls even more silent
CANCELLED:Glasswerk presents Day Fever Silent Disco, York Museum Gardens, August 21, 6.30pm
YORK Museum Gardens will no longer be transformed into “the ultimate outdoor dance floor” for Day Fever’s first ever Silent Disco under the stars that would have followed the organisers’ series of York Barbican indoor events.
“It’s really simple,” said Day Fever’s co-organiser, actress Vicky McClure, before the late cancellation. “Everyone gets a pair of headphones. You’ll be connected to a Day Fever DJ, who will be playing non-stop Day Fever anthems from 6.30pm until 10m. Sing as loud as you like – no-one can hear.” Ticket refunds: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/York/Museum-Gardens/Day-Fever-Silent-Disco/42485814/.
Michelle Yim in The Ballad Of Mulan, on tour at York Theatre Royal.
Show announcement of the week: Red Dragonfly Productions & Grist To The Mill Productions present The Ballad Of Mulan, York Theatre Royal Studio, September 11, 7.45pm; September 12, 2pm & 7.45pm
COMMISSIONED and performed by West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress Michelle Yim, The Ballad Of Mulan tells the story of the real woman behind the legendary Chinese female warrior who disguised as a man to join the Empire’s army – and inspired Disney’s animation and live-feature Mulan.
Woman, warrior, legend, for ten years Mulan has fought for the Chinese Empire. Now, after one last battle, she will be going home, but can she return to her old life, becoming a woman again. Yim’s hour-long The Ballad Of Mulan presents a search for identity in a violent world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
On the stretch: Jamie McKeller’s Lionel and Stuart Lindsay’s Charles limbering up for a doubles match in Summer Sonnets’ What The Deuce? at Holy Trinity Churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
ROSY Rowley and Stuart Green, partners off court, are the new doubles partnership for York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-themed 2026 Summer Sonnets.
Familiar figures on the York stage, they have switched to directing and writing YSP’s regular summer enterprise, wherein ten of the Bard’s sonnets are performed within a framework that changes each year.
Courtly love takes on a new meaning in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, set in the summertime, when the weather is fine at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club as four doubles teams compete for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament.
Ace partnership: What The Deuce? director Rosy Rowley and script writer Stuart Greenputting top spin on York Shakespeare Project’sSummer Sonnets with novel tennis theme
Sporting endeavour clashes with unsporting behaviour when partnerships and rivalries on court undermine partnerships off court, taking rivalries to break point in a surfeit of subterfuge and sabotage. “Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?” ask Green and Rowley, who duly reach for a volley of tennis puns, put away with the flourish of a Federer.
Free drink in hand – alas not Robinsons Lemon Barley Water, but then again Robinsons’ partnership with Wimbledon ended after 86 years in 2022 – the audience settled into seating repositioned by 90 degrees in the Holy Trinity Churchyard.
The cast now performs with the sound of the Chinese restaurant kitchen fans on Goodramgate now behind or to the side of them: an excellent decision that ensures vocal clarity. In addition, Rowley has her actors delivering from closer to the audience, again ensuring no line is lost.
Alan Sharp’s groundsman (in a change of rock band T-shirt from the one referenced in this review) receiving the first of multiple instructions from the tennis club chair, Christine Bramwell’s Elizabeth, in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
York tour guide Alan Sharp is no stranger to speaking on the move, above street noise, and here he does so as the phlegmatic, weather-beaten, worldly-wise groundsman Graham, whose every line is either delivered in iambic pentameter in Stuart Green’s script or is one of the Bard’s smattering of tennis references (or real tennis as it would have been at that time), from Henry V to Hamlet.
In his System Of A Down Mine Is Bigger Than Yours T-shirt and shorts, Sharp’s Graham will open and close the show and make regular interjections to carry out handyman tasks, reappearing with a plunger, rubber gloves, replacement barley water bottle and finally an old-school groundsman’s line marker (with the obligatory squeak). It is a standard-fit line marker, by the way, rather than bigger than yours.
The churchyard grass is not converted into a tennis court (games are conducted as ‘noises off’), but serves as the club grounds where all the shenanigans take place.
Drinks break: Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony sip the barley water in a joke that will run and run in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? as Stuart Lindsay’s Charles looks on. Picture: John Saunders
Each time the drama heightens, invariably in a heated discussion, rather than bursting into song in opera or musical theatre, a protagonist moves seamlessly into sonnet mode, and come the 50-minute mark, all ten will have unburdened themselves in Shakespeare’s silver tongue.
We meet Christine Bramwell’s ever-enthusiastic club chair Elizabeth; her doubles partner, Helen Clarke’s Margo, wife to Jamie McKeller’s ageing club champ, whose doubles partner, Stuart Lindsay’s Charles, is wont to hiding behind trees, desperate to win Margo rather more than his matches.
Of the young things, Oscar Langford’s Harry is a loyal partner to James Robert Ball’s Tony, in more ways than tennis as it becomes increasingly apparent, but Lionel and Margo’s spoilt-brat, posh and pushy daughter Chessie (Effie Warboys, whose birthday falls tomorrow) wants Harry to hurry up in his affections for her. “I’m practically club royalty,” she scoffs, making a racket at every toss and turn.
Squash on the tennis court: Effie Warboys’ insufferably spoilt Chessie, front left, pushing around her doubles partner, Alexa Williams’s Belle. In the background are Oscar Langford’s Harry, left, and James Robert Ball’s Tony. Effie will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow. Picture: John Saunders
Her long-suffering best friend Belle (Alexa Williams) has the hots for Harry too. Meanwhile, club newcomer Vic (Sarah McKeagney), in jeans and Gorillaz T-shirt, is on the lookout for a partner, as we watch everything play out game, set and match, fair game, re-set and mis-match, with delightful mischief in Green’s plot and Rowley’s direction alike.
“Only in tennis does ‘love’ mean you are losing,” laments Lindsay’s Charles in Green’s best line, although Charles’s “I had Brazilian last night,” prompting a misunderstanding Lionel to enquire “Chafing?” is a peach too. Easy mis-steak to make!
All the familiar Shakespeare comedy tropes are present and freshly spun from mistaken identity to a potion in the barley water, cross-dressing to mistaken identity; revenge to lust and unrequited love. You will be rushing home to check whether Mexican Donkey Laxative actually exists.
Sarah McKeagney: One of eight York Shakespeare Project debutants in Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, playing tennis club newcomer Vic at Holy Trinity Churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
What The Deuce is YSP’s ninth season of summertime sonnets and third at Holy Trinity, where Rowley and Green have certainly supplied new balls, please, with their rallying call enticing eight of the cast to make both their Sonnets and YSP debut.
Whether Sonnet Walks or Sit-Down Sonnets, Sonnets at the Bar [Convent], Sonnets in Bloom in 2025 or tennis fun and games in 2026, this event remains one of the joys of the York outdoor theatre year for performers, audience and venues alike. You cannot be serious? Very much so.
York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, play resumes tomorrow until Saturday, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm Saturday show. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Doubles troubles ahead: Helen Clarke’s Margo and her husband, Jamie McKeller’s Lionel, the ageing club champ in Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
Donna Maria Taylor in her South Bank Studios studio
GEORGIAN celebrations, a brace of art fairs, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court and The Magpies’ folk festival should outshine Wednesday’s solar eclipse, reckons Charles Hutchinson.
Artists in situ: South Bank Studios’ Summer Artists Open Doors, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York, today, 10am to 4pm
MEET the South Bank artists and makers who work in a broad range of disciplines, from textile art, painting, drawing and photography, to mixed media, letterpress and linocut printmaking.
Visit their studios to see their creative processes in a day of art to buy, art demonstrations and activities, including the loft studios, not usually on view to the public. The cafe will be open for refreshments. Entry is free; all welcome.
Masquerade Ball at the 2026 York Georgian Festival tonight
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, until August 10
HIGHLIGHTING the sights and sounds of 18th century life, York Mansion House and beyond plays host to the fourth York Georgian Festival in a festival programme that ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the York Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms tonight. Talk, tours, performances and workshops feature too. For full listings and booking details, go to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.
Carlton Main Colliery Band: Brass At The Proms at Selby Abbey
Rousing concert of the week: Brass At The Proms, Carlton Main Colliery Band, Selby Abbey, tonight, 7pm
JOIN Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band on its return to the former coalfield town of Selby for a Last Night of the Proms brass concert featuring a vibrant mix of rousing favourites. Seating in the Main Nave will be allocated, with seat and row numbers; Rear Nave seating will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.
Futureproof’s logo for a night of poetry, drag, monologues and comedy
Art and science bonding exercise of the week: Futureproof presents Opposites Attract Scratch Night, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.30pm
EIGHT acts perform a mixture of poetry, drag, monologues and comedy. Expect biochemistry, molecular biology, sewing, chalk stream-inspired dance and more tonight.
The theme, Opposites Attract, derives from the idea that many things will give people joy, purpose, belonging and entertainment — such as maths and science — that seem to be mutually exclusive to theatre. Futureproof invites creatives to consider these ostensible contrasts, alongside the concept that theatre is meant to reflect our world and/or be a tool to create new ones. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Comedy event of the week: Kevin Bridges: Warm Up, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 8pm
CLYDEBANK comedian Kevin Bridges performs two warm-up shows in York ahead of his UK stand-up tour Here If You Need Me. Tonight’s gig has sold out but tickets are still available for tomorrow, as well as for his Leeds First Direct Bank Arena tour show on November 19. Box office: York, atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, axs.com/uk/events/1240964/kevin-bridges-tickets?skin=leeds.
On the stretch: Jamie McKeller’s Lionel, left, and Stuart Lindsay’s Charles limbering up for the doubles in York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What the Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, until August 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster fort York River Art Market 2026. Illustration by Elliot Harrison (@York360)
Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, today and tomorrow, then August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
York River Art Market 2026 organiser Caroline Turner with artist Lincoln Lightfoot on the Dame Judi Dench Walk pathway
Tribute gig of the week: SWT presents Pulp’d vs Blur 2, Milton Rooms, Malton, today, 8pm
PULP’D and Blur2 team up for a double-header of Britpop royalty tonight. Born and raised in Sheffield, passionate Pulp fans Pulp’d came together to re-create the hits, passion and Jarvis Cocker moves.
Blur2 bring the very best of Blur to every show: the energy, the fun, the sound, the looks and the musicianship of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and co. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Scissor Sisters: Heading to the Scarborough coast tonight
Coastal gigs of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents Scissor Sisters, today; Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, August 14, gates 6pm
AFTER their 2025 UK arena reunion tour and that summer’s Saturday night Glastonbury set, Scissor Sisters bring their trademark blend of glam, grit and glorious to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend. Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and co will be rolling out such favourites as Take Your Mama, Laura, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin, Let’s Have A Kiki, Only The Horses and Filthy/Gorgeous.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax in Scarborough
Flamboyant, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill next Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival at Sutton Park
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 14 and 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents next Friday’s Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
Next Saturday’s line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Composer Thomas Adès: Presenting new composition at Creation-themed North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: Marco Borggreve
In Focus: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, August 8 to 22
THE North York Moors Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 18th consecutive year with the premieres of six works by contemporary British composers.
Aptly named Creation, the 2026 festival will run from August 8 to 22, featuring new compositions by Thomas Adès, Huw Watkins (both of whom will perform at the festival), Charlotte Bray, Tom Coult, Isabella Gellis and Helen Grime.
“Our 2026 festival celebrates the wonder of beginnings and features six newly commissioned premieres that evoke the six days of the universe’s creation, woven through the festival theme, by six of our country’s very finest composers,” says festival director and cellist Jamie Walton.
Charlotte Bray: Premiering That Which You Wove Of Lightest Thread, I Wear To Honour Stone at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival. Picture: David Beecroft
“As part of this narrative, the Sabbath (Sunday) remains a day of rest – and each concert includes works that were themselves groundbreaking or innovative in their time, reflecting music’s timeless power to create, to renew, and to tell a universal story through sound.”
Jamie continues: “Thomas Adès is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest living composers, so it’s a real coup to have him both write for us and come to premiere the piece, Flower Variations [in the Landspeak concert on August 14 at 7pm at Welburn Manor].
“We’re really proud of the fact that, alongside these six outstanding composers, we have such a stellar line-up of international artists.
Helen Grime: Premiering Time Be Brief. Picture: Benjamin Ealovega
“We’re also continuing to champion visual artists from the moors in the brochure, pairing their work with concert titles. We’ve done this for the past two years and it’s a wonderful way to cross-pollinate and collaborate with more artists.”
Charlotte Bray’s piece for horn and string quartet, That Which You Wove Of Lightest Thread, I Wear To Honour Stone, will be accompanied by a collaborative artwork by Caroline Burraway, exhibited on stage at St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge during The Dividing Line performance on August 13 at 2pm.
Isabella Gellis’s Creation will be premiered in August 11’s Dialogue concert at St Hilda’s, Danby, at 2pm; Helen Grime’s Time Be Brief, at Metamorphoses concert, Welburn Abbey, August 15, 7pm; Huw Watkins’s Oboe Quartet, The Architect’s Hand concert, St Mary’s, Lastingham, August 18, 2pm, and Tom Coult’s Two Nocturnes and A Maze, in its UK premiere, Nightfall concert, Welburn Abbey, August 20, 7pm.
Huw Watkins: Premiering his Oboe Quartet in festival appearance. Picture: Benjamin Ealovega
The festival will take place in four historic moorland churches – St Hilda’s, Danby, St Hedda’s, Egton Bridge, St Michael’s, Coxwold, and St Mary’s, Lastingham – along with the majority of concerts being staged in the grounds of Welburn Manor, near Kirkbymoorside, where the acoustically-treated venue has been enlarged this year to reflect the festival’s increasing popularity.
The festival was named a Best of British Fund Winner 2026 by Airbnb, representing Yorkshire as part of the North York Moors Beacon for the Arts.
Jamie says: “Our festival celebrates the art of collaboration in an awe-inspiring setting, taking our audience on a musical quest each year through interwoven themes within a central storyline.
Isabella Gellis: Premiering Creation in August 11’s Dialogue concert at St Hilda’s, Danby. Picture: Ella Pavlides
“Over 18 years, we have built a reputation for breaking down barriers to make exceptional music accessible to all, fostering community and cultural connection through friendship and trust. Uncompromising even amid pandemic challenges, our festival was one of the few to present full, live performances in 2020 and 2021.
“August, when the heather is in full bloom, brings the North York Moors to life. Artists are immersed in the National Park, rehearsing and living in a deeply holistic environment, while audiences are welcome to enjoy picnics on the grounds of Welburn Manor, attend concerts, and explore the region’s historic churches and priories.”
The event continues to attract international artists, 28 this year, many of them committing to the entire fortnight by taking up residencies in a festival of 13 concerts featuring 58 chamber works from 32 composers spanning 300 years to the present day.
Tom Coult: Premiering Two Nocturnes and A Maze on August 20. Picture: Matthew Johnson
This year, these include Alena Baeva, Benjamin Baker, Oliver Cave, Oliver Heath, Alessandro Ruisi and Charlotte Scott (violin); Sascha Bota, Meghan Cassidy, Emma Wernig and Simone van der Giessen (viola); Rebecca Gilliver, Tim Posner and Jamie Walton (cello) and Will Duerden (double bass).
Taking part too are: Thomas Adès, Katya Apekisheva, Joseph Havlat, Roman Kosyakov, Daniel Lebhardt and Huw Watkins (piano); Ben Goldscheider (French horn); Nicholas Daniel (oboe); Matthew Hunt (clarinet); Jonathan Davies (bassoon) and James Gilchrist (tenor). Completing the line-up will be the festival’s award-winning Young Artists ensemble, The Davidoff Trio.
“Our 2026 festival celebrates the wonder of beginnings and features six newly commissioned premieres that evoke the six days of the universe’s creation,” says North York Moors Chamber Music Festival director Jamie Walton. Picture: Matthew Johnson
Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green, on the bench at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, rehearsing with Summer Sonnets cast members and producer Maurice Crichton (arms folded, at the back). Picture: John Saunders
DIRECTOR Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green are the new doubles partnership for York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-themed 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?
New balls, please, will be served on the grass of Holy Trinity Churchyard, in Goodramgate, York, from Friday to August 15, with a rest day on August 11.
Should you be wondering “Why tennis?”, the game features in no fewer than seven Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Act II, Scene 1; Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 2; Henry VIII, Act I, Scene 3; Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene 2; Pericles, Act II, Scene 1; The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act V, Scene 2, and most notoriously in Henry V, Act I, Scene 2.
In that scene, the French Dauphin mocks King Henry by sending him a gift of tennis balls to besmirch his youthful reputation as a frivolous playboy. Henry responds by threatening to turn the balls into cannonballs to play a set as explosive as McEnroe against the French crown.
Ready to serve: Tennis fan William Shakespeare in York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Summers Sonnets: What The Deuce?
Now comes What The Deuce?, where summertime at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Cue further tennis puns aplenty as Rowley directs Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation, where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet.
Pulling on the traditional and not-so-traditional Wimbeldon tennis whites for York Shakespeare Project (YSP) will be Alan Sharp’s Graham; Christine Bramwell’s Elizabeth; Helen Clarke’s Margo; Jamie McKeller’s Lionel; Stuart Lindsay’s Charles; Oscar Langford’s Harry; James Robert Ball’s Tony; Alexa Williams’s Belle; Sarah McKeagney’s Vic and Effie Warboys’ Chessie.
“Stuart has been wanting to write and I’ve been wanting to direct,” says Rosy. “I’d directed a Direct Approach play for Settlement Players – Night Secrets – so I just wanted to get back into it, and I suppose YSP have taken a bit of a punt on us.”
James Robert Ball, left, and Oscar Langford in rehearsal for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
It should be pointed out that Rosy and Stuart tread the boards regularly in York, first meeting when performing in the York Theatre Royal community play Sovereign in 2023. “We’ve done a few plays together, such as A Kingdom Jack’d in April, and theatre is the thing that brought together as a couple,” says Rosy.
“We’ve now got one of those bricks on the wall at Theatre@41, Monkgate, where we both volunteer, that says ‘Theatre together’.”
Stuart and Rosy settled on 80 per cent of the sonnets before Stuart set to work on the script that weaves ten sonnets into the tennis plotline. “We’ve had great fun putting the story together with classic Shakespeare tropes and then putting them in a tennis setting,” says Rosy.
“We’ve crammed a lot into our 50-minute play,” says Stuart. “We have cross-dressing; mistaken identity; poisoning, revenge; lust; unrequited love…
Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green in the Holy Trinity Churchyard, the setting for courtly love with a difference in their tennis-themed Summer Sonnets. Picture: Maurice Crichton
… “and of course lots of tennis,” says Rosy. “What’s been really important to us is not making the sonnet just something they recite but part of a conversation, which is the case in all but two of them that will be done as monologues.”
Stuart adds: “We wanted to incorporate the sonnets into conversations in the play, thinking how could a sonnet fit with a particular character? The aim is that the audience doesn’t notice they’ve gone into a sonnet because it makes the sonnets really accessible by putting them in a narrative, where suddenly they make more sense.”
Not all of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets focus on romantic love. Death, political vexation, artistic rivalries, human flaws and the passage of time are significant themes too, alongside desire and love.
“We thought how could we interpret sonnets in ways that fit with our play, and the beautiful thing is that there are so many ways to interpret them, not just romantic love,” says. “For example, Christine Bramwell’s sonnet reflects her love for the tennis club and the game.
Belle of the ball:Alexa Williams playing the role of Belle in York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-punned Summer Sonnets: What’s The Deuce. Picture: John Saunders
“Right at the start of rehearsals, I had one-to-one table sessions with each actor to see how we could make their sonnet work with the character.”
Stuart adds: “I think it helps that both Rosy and I are actors because we know what each actor can bring to the part.”
Stuart and Rosy have been delighted by the response to this summer’s sonnet project. “We had 30 people applying to take part, which was a record number,” says Stuart. “Then 24-25 auditioned, and we cast ten, where only two of them – Stuart Lindsay and Effie Warboys – had done Summer Sonnets before.
“A lot of them are new to YSP. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was just that they were the best to put themselves forward.”
Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford, Stuart Lindsay and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing with Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? script writer Stuart Green. Picture: John Saunders
One other new element will be the positioning of the actors in the Holy Trinity churchyard. “We’ve shifted it 90 degrees so that the Chinese restaurant, on Goodramgate, with its fan noise and smells, will now be behind the actors, rather than the audience,” says Rosy. Good decision.
Green by name, green keeper by profession, Stuart first wrote screenplays in his teens and 20s. “I wanted to get into films, but the chances were non-existent, so I became a green keeper, initially at Bushey Hall Golf Club in Watford, then went to college and ended up at Gleneagles for four years,” he says.
“Now I teach green-keeping: I’m a grass nerd! I used to be based at Askham Bryan, where I taught apprentices at the agricultural college. Now I work for Train Together, teaching green keepers and cricket, football and rugby groundsmen.
“There’ll be a groundman as one of the characters in our Summer Sonnets, Alan Sharp’s Graham. I couldn’t resist it! I’ve called on one of my old York Cricket Club contacts to lend us an old line marker – and one of my stipulations was that it had to be squeaky as they generally are!”
Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing a scene from Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
Tennis gear will carry significance in Rosy and Stuart’s production. “What they’re wearing denotes their status at the club, whether it’s all white or not,” says Rosy. “There has to be a bit of a social statement in that.”
No tennis pun has been resisted. “We realised we didn’t have enough tennis innuendo at first, so I’ve had fun writing some absolute ‘tennis filth’,” says Rosy. “Now it’s unashamedly Carry On Tennis,” says Stuart.
“And of course we had to crow-bar ‘You cannot be serious’ in there too,” says Rosy.
Lara Stafford in her Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses in readiness for August 12’s solar eclipse during the 6pm performance of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Pairs are available for free for Sonnets audience members
Not to be eclipsed…
ON Wednesday, August 12, the UK will experience its deepest solar eclipse since 1999, with up to 96 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon.
Across North Yorkshire, the partial eclipse will begin at 6.12pm, peak at 7.08pm and finish at 8.02pm. That day’s 6pm and 7.30pm performances of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? will go ahead as planned, but do come prepared for the eclipse experience.
Quick question: Do sunglasses protect eyes in a solar eclipse? NO!The official advice is: Never look directly at the Sun.
Why? The Sun can burn the retinas in the eyes, leading to permanent damage or even blindness. This can occur even if your eyes are exposed to direct sunlight for only a few seconds.
Proper eye protection is the only safe option, not sunglasses. The only way to view the Sun safely – eclipsed or not – is to either project or filter the Sun’s rays.
Suggestion: Make your own box projector or acquire safe solar eclipse glasses. NASA also recommends welder’s glasses rated 14 or higher, to be found at welding supply stores.
Lara Stafford demonstrating the benefit of wearing Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses for August 12’s partial eclipse of the Sun
YORK actress, Physics teacher and Theatre of Science communicator Lara Stafford is teaming up with York Shakespeare Project for a special offer for Summer Sonnet audience members. “August 12’s 6pm show coincides with the solar eclipse: the best one to happen to the UK until 2090, with over 90 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon,” she says.
“It’ll begin just after 6pm and peak an hour later, just after the performance. A £10 Summer Sonnets ticket has always come with a free drink, but to celebrate this cosmic coming together, we’re going to give out a free pair of eclipse glasses with every ticket sold for performances up to the 6pm show on August 12.”
Lara continues: “I buy them in for work anyway, so I’m just ordering a few more! It’s quite difficult to get eclipse glasses cheaply and guarantee they’re not fakes, and you can ‘only’ watch the eclipse with your eyes if you’re wearing eclipse glasses. So it’s an easy way for us to spread the eclipse excitement around York and spread awareness of the sonnets.”
Should you be wondering, a reference to an eclipse can be found in Sonnet No. 35, one that does not feature in Rosy and Stuart Green’s choices for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? So here is the quote:
“No more be grieved at that which thou hast done. Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud; Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.”
UPDATE: 11/08/2026
THOSE four lines from Sonnet No. 35 WILL now feature in Wednesday’s 6pm and 7.30pm performances of Summer Sonnets, adding to Alan Sharp’s Shakespeare quotes in his guise as groundman Graham. Every line uttered by the phlegmatic Graham in Stuart Green’s script is either in the rhythm of iambic pentameter or one of the Bard’s references to tennis.
Still shielding their eyes! The Brontë Sisters in York Settlement Community Players’ poster for Underdog: The Other Brontë at Theatre@41, Monkgate
ECLIPSE glasses removed, Lara Stafford will be shining next on the York stage as Charlotte Brontë in Claire Morley’s production of Sarah Gordon’s 2024 play Underdog: The Other Brontë for York Settlement Community Players at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 13 to 17.
The plot? Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one…Anne.
Underdog presents an “irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters like you’ve never seen them before”. This is not a story of well-behaved women but of the power of words, sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/.
York Georgian Festival, promenading through the streets and taking over York Mansion House
YORK River Art Market’s return, Georgian festivities, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court and Britpop tribute acts R catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye as August arrives.
York festival of the week: York Georgian Festival, tomorrow to August 10
HIGHLIGHTING the sights and sounds of 18th century life, York Mansion House plays host to the fourth York Georgian Festival in a five-day festival programme that ranges from free displays of dancing and military drills in St Helen’s Square to the York Georgian Masquerade Ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms on Saturday. Talk, tours, performances and workshops feature too. For full listings and booking details, go to: yorkgeorgianfestival.co.uk.
Oscar Langford, left, and James Robert Ball in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York. Picture: John Saunders
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, Friday to August 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/
New York Brass Band line up with Hyde Family Jam members Tom Gill (accordion), back row, third from left, and Will Dreyfus (vocals and guitar), front row, left, ahead of Friday’s York Barbican gig
Mash-up of the week: The Crescent presents New York Brass Band & Hyde Family Jam, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
TWO of York’s biggest, bounciest musical party troupes collide at York Barbican for a co-headline show with a difference. Promoter Joe Coates has decided the four-piece Hyde Family Jam will be on stage first, followed by an eight-piece line up of New York Brass Band, each playing a 40-minute set before rampant folk-rock meets New Orleans brass head on in a collaborative finale of these high-energy street urchins’ biggest hits. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
York Stage’s poster for Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revue at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Musical theatre celebration of the week: York Stage presents brings Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revue, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York,Friday, 7.30pm, and Saturday,2pm and 4pm
THIS uplifting showcase by the next generation of performers features iconic songs from Broadway Junior favourites, showcased by a talented young York Stage cast ready to sing out and shine as they take centre stage with confidence, courage and nascent star quality. Cue big numbers, heartfelt moments and personality aplenty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for this summer’s York River Art Market. Illustration by Elliot Harrison (@York 360)
Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 8 & 9 and August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines to the Ouse riverside each day, this year presenting art and design market stalls on both sides of the pathway.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is being run for the first time this summer by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York. Admission is free.
Scissor Sisters: Heading for Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Scissor Sisters, Saturday; Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17, August 14, gates 6pm
AFTER their 2025 UK arena reunion tour and that summer’s Saturday night Glastonbury set, Scissor Sisters bring their trademark blend of glam, grit and glorious to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this weekend. Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and co will be rolling out such favourites as Take Your Mama, Laura, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin, Let’s Have A Kiki, Only The Horses and Filthy/Gorgeous.
Flamboyant, unapologetically bold Frankie Goes To Hollywood lead vocalist and lyricist Holly Johnson tops the 1980s’ triple bill next Friday, when he performs the chart-topping trio of Relax, Two Tribes and The Power Of Love, further Frankie smashes Welcome To The Pleasure Dome and Rage Hard and solo hits Love Train, Americanos and Atomic City. Sheffield bands ABC and Heaven 17 support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Holly Johnson: Frankie says Relax in Scarborough next Friday
Tribute gig of the week: SWT presents Pulp’d vs Blur 2, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm
PULP’D and Blur2 team up for a double-header of Britpop royalty tonight. Born and raised in Sheffield, passionate Pulp fans Pulp’d came together to re-create the hits, passion and Jarvis Cocker moves.
Blur2 bring the very best of Blur to every show: the energy, the fun, the sound, the looks and the musicianship of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and co. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival weekend at Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest
Folk festival of the month: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, near York, August 14 and 15
RUN by the folk trio of Bella Gaffney, Holly Brandon and Ellie Gowers, The Magpies Festival presents a Friday Main Stage bill of Daraa Tribes (6pm), The Magpies (8pm) and headliners Manran (10pm) and Brass Castle Stage bill of True Foxes (5pm), Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe & Daniel Quayle (7pm), SupaLung (9pm) and New York Brass Band (11pm).
The Saturday line-up on the Main Stage comprises Steady Habits (12 noon), Alex Hart (2pm), Blair Dunlop (4pm), Katherine Priddy (6pm), Gnoss (8pm) and headliners Cut Capers (10pm). The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Songs In The Round, with Katherine Priddy, Blair Dunlop and Chloe Foy (1pm), Tarren (3pm), Ophelia’s Beard (5pm), Around About Dusk (7pm) and Suntou Susso & The Gambian Superstars (9pm). Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk/tickets.
Katherine Priddy: Saturday set at The Magpies Festival
The poster for York River Art Market’s 11th summer season. Illustration: Elliot Harrison (@York360)
YORK River Art Market’s return, Shakespeare sonnets on the tennis court, party bands at the double and a very happy comedian catch Charles Hutchinson’s eye as August arrives.
Open-air art event of the month: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, York, August 1 & 2, August 8 & 9 and August 15 & 16, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its 11th year from today, bringing more than 30 artists from multiple disciplines each day to the Ouse riverside over three August weekends of free art and design market stalls.
Described as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris, the event is now run by Caroline Turner, a professional potter and ceramics teacher at Clay Space York, in Walmgate, after founder and director Charlotte Dawson stepped down to focus on her teaching role as award leader for York College’s BA (Hons) 3D creative practice course.
Liz Garland, left, and Meriel Scholfield in rehearsal for the Stephen Joseph Theatre production of Handbagged. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2014 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Mike Skinner of The Streets: Performing A Grand Don’t Come For Free in full at Scarborough Open Air Theatre tonight
Coastal gigs of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre presents The Streets, A Grand Don’t Come For Free, today; Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, Sunday, gates 6pm
FOR the first time, The Streets’ Mike Skinner is performing his landmark 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free in full on tour. One of the most influential British records of the 21st century, the multi-platinum-selling chart topper delivered era-defining singles Dry Your Eyes, Fit But You Know It and Blinded By The Lights while taking a cinematic journey through the love, loss, chaos, heartbreak, hope and raw emotion of everyday life with poetic wit and honesty.
Original Sex Pistols members Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock are joined by vocalist Frank Turner on Sunday to mark “50 years of chaos and celebration” since the punk iconoclasts’ brace of Summer 1976 gigs at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall. The Stranglers and The Undertones are special guests. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Maggie Wakeling: Singing ABBA hits aplenty at York Minster tonight
Candlelit concert of the week: Ignite Concerts presents The Music of ABBA, York Minster, tonight, 7.30pm
VOCALIST Maggie Wakeling, from Channel 4’s Your Song and last summer’s Greatest Shows at York Minster, unites with a band and The Ebor Quartet string ensemble to perform the Seventies and Eighties’ hits of ABBA.
Host Alistair Griffin will be inviting the audience to sing along to Dancing Queen, Waterloo, Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All et al at this concert by candlelight. Box office: 07966 959427 or https://igniteconcertsyork.com/events/the-music-of-abba-at-york-minster/.
Paul Smith: Radiating comic warmth twice in a week at York Barbican
York comedy gigs of the week: Hot Water Comedy Club presents Paul Smith, Happy, York Barbican, today and August 5, 7.30pm
PAUL Smith, resident MC and compere of Liverpool’s Hot Water Comedy Club, is heading to York for two nights in his biggest, boldest tour show, Happy: fearless stand-up at full throttle, brimful of observations, true stories and audience interaction. Pulling tales from real life, Smith finds joy in the chaos, laughter in the everyday and comedy in absolutely everything. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Oscar Langford, left, and James Robert Ball in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? at Holy Trinity Churchyard. Picture: John Saunders
New balls please: York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 7 to 15, except August 11, 6pm & 7.30pm, plus 4.30pm Saturday shows
SUMMER at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Expect further tennis puns aplenty as Rosy Rowley directs Stuart Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet. Taking part will be James Robert Ball, Oscar Langford, Helen Clarke, Sarah McKeagney, Stuart Lindsay, Alexa Williams, Jamie McKeller, Alan Sharp, Christine Bramwell and Effie Warboys. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/
New York Brass Band’s James Lancaster: Knees-up with Hyde Family Jam at York Barbican
Mash-up of the week: The Crescent presents New York Brass Band & Hyde Family Jam, York Barbican, August 7, 8pm
TWO of York’s biggest, bounciest musical party troupes collide at York Barbican for a co-headline show with a difference. Promoter Joe Coates has decided the four-piece Hyde Family Jam will be on stage first, followed by an eight-piece line up of New York Brass Band, each playing a 40-minute set before rampant folk-rock meets New Orleans brass head on in a collaborative finale of these street urchins’ biggest hits. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
A wedding dress on display at St Helen’s Church
Wonderful wedding dress exhibition of the week: St Helen’s Church, Sheriff Hutton, near York, August 8 and 9, 11am to 3pm
STEP back in time for a spectacular display of wedding dresses from every decade since the 1920s at St Helen’s Church. Stroll through a century of wedding style with elegant “going away” outfits,mother-of-the-bride ensembles and men’s morning suits, as well as shoes, hats, bouquets and treasured keepsakes.
“Last year’s exhibition was atremendous success,” says Jill Donaldson Hodges. “Visitors were captivated by the changing styles, the intricate design and the delicate fabrics that have shaped wedding fashion for over a century. So why not come along and take a trip down memory lane, or get some ideas for an upcoming event?” Admission is free. The Bluebell Cafe will be open on both days, serving homemade cakes and refreshments.
York Stage’s poster for Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revueat the JoRo
Musical theatre celebration of the week: York Stage presents brings Raise Your Voice: MTI Broadway Junior Revue, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York,August 7, 7.30pm, and August 8,2pm and 4pm
THIS uplifting showcase by the next generation of performers features iconic songs from Broadway Junior favourites, showcased by a talented young York Stage cast ready to sing out and shine as they take centre stage with confidence, courage and nascent star quality. Cue big numbers, heartfelt moments and personality aplenty. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
