Tag: York St John University

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TakeOver 2025 celebrates disco as York St John University arts students stage festival at York Theatre Royal for five days

Northern Rascals in Sunny Side at York Theatre Royal on Thursday. Picture: Ellywel Photography

FINAL year students from York St John University are taking over York Theatre Royal for five days of creative activities for the whole family with the theme of disco.

As part of TakeOver 2025, students of musical theatre, drama and acting are creating performances within their theatre company, with each show varying so that every day is a different experience. Professional theatre companies are welcomed to the Theatre Royal too.

The disco theme will revel in vibrant colours and funky beats in a celebration of music, movement and talented performers. Audience members will be encouraged to join in on these dazzling disco events by bringing out the sequins and platform shoes.

This is the third year that York St John University has collaborated with York Theatre Royal on the TakeOver festival.

What’s in store on the disco floor?

TODAY

Goldilocks And The Three Bears Workshop: A drama-filled adventure, De Grey House, 2pm to 3.30pm

IN a session inspired by Goldilocks And The Three Bears, this workshop is suitable for five to 11-year-old children, whether they have done a drama workshop or not, and will explore movement and vocalisation to help develop the skills of a performer. Using storytelling and games as a tool for creativity, the children will gain valuable experience in performance-making.

Opening ceremony, York Theatre Royal foyer and patio, 6pm to 8pm

WELCOME to Takeover 2025 with ribbon cutting and music.

Battle Of The Bands, York Theatre Royal Studio, 8.30pm to 10.30pm

EPIC showdown between bands as they battle for victory and the title of TakeOver’s 2025 champions.

WEDNESDAY

Fulford School Show, York Theatre Royal Studio, 10.30am

OVER  the past few weeks, Fulford School students have been exploring different musicals, learning harmonies and studying the work of famous musical theatre choreographers to create a small showcase for friends and family.

Joesph Rowntree School Show, York Theatre Royal Studio, 12.30pm

LED by York St John University students Darcy and Emily, Joseph Rowntree Theatre students sing and dance their way through a medley of songs from Matilda The Musical,showcasing their hard work and abilities. “See you here, revolting children,” they say.

Cabaret, York Theatre Royal lower foyer, 1pm to 2.30pm

PREPARE to be entertained as you dance and sing your way into the afternoon.

She Speaks presents Systematic Reflections, York Theatre Royal main house, 7.30pm

SET in a mental health institution, Systematic Reflections follows five women as they decide to try to escape, but can they do so without being caught?

The show discusses themes surrounding anxiety, depression, eating disorders and more mental health topics. Age guidance: 14 plus. Content guidance: Eating disorders, anxiety, depression and mental health.

Popodyssey: A journey to find a home, a father and our place in this mad, complex world, at York Theatre Royal on Saturday. Picture: Ellywel Photography

As You Dislike It , York Theatre Royal main house, 7:30pm

INSPIRED by Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, As You Dislike It explores the values of feminism and relationships through the use of humour and absurdity. Age guidance: 16 plus. Content guidance: Mild graphic language and mild sexual language.

Call Of The Ram presents Totally Royally F*****, York Theatre Royal main house, 7.30pm

WHEN a man of a meagre disposition finds himself down on his luck and in need of a break, outside forces push him to reconcile with his siblings in the hope he can somehow put his life back on track. This musical comedy extravaganza will “leave you feeling totally, royally, satisfied”. Age guidance: 18 plus. Content guidance: Strong language and sexual references.

Matt Price presents Raging Bill, York Theatre Royal Studio, 8pm

STAND-UP comedian Matt Price spent 18 months training to win a trophy to honour the memory of his grandad, Raging Bill Price, after he found boxing trophies in his attic.

The show is not about boxing – there is a lot more to it than that – but you will want to know what happens next. Most amateur fighters have their first fight within a few months, whereas it took Matt a year and a half before he was “ready.”

How and why does a painfully shy 21-year-old man go to a boxing gym and spend so long pursuing a sport for which he has zero talent? Why does he hate Humpty Dumpty but love karaoke?

Raging Bill is a humorous show about getting back up when life has hit you hard. Years later, having been through some ups and downs, Price learns something about himself that you will not forget. “But you will love it,” he promises.

THURSDAY

Play In A Day, York Theatre Royal Billiard Room, 10am to 1pm, free entry

ONE-DAY workshop, offering the chance to learn new skills and make a play in a day.

Free Origami Workshop, York Theatre Royal foyer, 2pm to 3.30pm, free entry, age five plus

ARE you interested in origami-style crafts? Whether you are an origami enthusiast or a complete beginner, everyone is welcome. Join this free session where the workshop hosts will run through some basic designs with step-by-step guidance. Bring your friends too to enjoy a stress-free afternoon and learn a new skill at the same time.

Northern Rascals in Sunny Side, York Theatre Royal main house, 7pm

K is struggling, at 18, living in a world where everyone but himself is rushing full steam ahead. Instead, he is trapped in a small English Everytown; a self-proclaimed “rain-soaked paradise” in the bottom of a Yorkshire valley. A town of two sides: old versus new, indigenous versus gentrified. Still nowhere fits K.

In a last attempt to understand and reconnect, he revisits the pivotal moments of his life but is left paralysed at the prospect of a future in which his voice cannot be heard.

“Where do young men stand in a world that seems to have no place for them,” asks Sunny Side, a raw and powerful portrayal of the modern young male experience, touring in partnership with Andy’s Man Club and informed by the voices of more than 750 young people across the UK.

Combining contemporary dance, theatre and spoken word, this socially urgent work from Northern Rascals explores the pain and loneliness that shape the journey from adolescence to adulthood.

Age guidance: 14 plus. Content guidance: Sunny Side explores sensitive and potentially distressing topics related to mental health, loneliness and societal pressures faced by young people. Haze and flashing light are used.

Clownpocalypse: Tragic, horrifying tale of 4½ clowns trying to stay alive in the zombie apocalypse at York Theatre Royal on Thursday

[insert company name here] presents Clownpocalypse, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7:30pm

RUN.  AHHHH!!!! This is not a show. This is the true, tragic, horrifying tale of 4½ clowns trying to stay alive in the zombie apocalypse with their new (suspiciously green and hungry) friend. 

It just so happens that the only safe place left is the York Theatre Royal Studio…oh no, guess you have to buy a ticket now. Age guidance: 14 plus. Content guidance: Clowns, loud noises, balloons.

Club For Hero’s presents The Face, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7.30pm

COME inside club Elysium! Experience things you never have before through fashion, music, dance and personalities of the club staff and regulars. Follow as stars rise from the darkest depths and see the people that make it happen! The beautifully unconventional are celebrated here. Could Elysium be your paradise? Age guidance: 16 plus. Content guidance: Homophobic language, violence, swearing and mild sexual references.

Daisy Chain presents Under My Skin, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7.30pm

THIS evocative theatre show intertwines Daisy Chain’s original artwork with powerful spoken word and poetry to explore the multifaceted themes of beauty, womanhood and friendship.

Delving deep into what lies beneath the surface, Under My Skin examines the experiences that shape our identities and emotions.

“Together with the audience, we will gaze at the beauty that surrounds us, questioning the routines we adopt to enhance our appearances and the societal influences that drive these choices,” say Daisy Chain cast members Amy Sparke, Sophie Budd, Catherine Dale and Gemma Gudgeon.

This immersive experience invites you to reflect on your own perceptions of beauty and the intricate tapestry of thoughts and feelings that connect us all.

Age guidance: 14 plus. Content guidance: Discussions of womanhood, touching on themes related to body dysmorphia, self-image and anxiety that may be triggering for some audience members.

FRIDAY

 A Tale of Us, York Theatre Royal Studio, from 10am, 12 noon and 3pm

A CELEBRATION of the wonders, joys and challenges of becoming a new parent, blending drama and multi-sensory playtime in a relaxed environment. The experience includes a guided stay-and-play session.

Seven presents Void, York Theatre Royal main house, 7.30pm 

WHAT remains when memory fades?  Where does the part of ourselves that has been lost go? What is to become of the body we once lived in? Seven answers these questions in Void. Age guidance: 11 plus. Content guidance: Contains the theme of memory loss, which may be upsetting.

Symfoney presents Off Script, York Theatre Royal main house, 7.30pm

MUSICAL theatre comedy Off Script focuses on the students of Ivison Performing Arts Academy, their teacher, Miss Kelly, and their final show, exploring  their complex relationships with one another, as well as exploiting the flaws of the performing arts industry as a whole. Age guidance: 14 plus. Content guidance: Strong language and adult topics.

The poster for TakeOver 2025 at York Theatre Royal

Ariel Hebditch in Skeleton Out Of The Closet, York Theatre Royal Studio, 8pm

AFTER winning the Women in Comedy Festival’s Best Newcomer Award 2024, Ariel Hebditch is back, reeling from her disappointing job interview with Death. This time, your resident asexual goth takes you through her own personal haunted house.

From werewolves to vampires to the devil herself, Ariel brings you a night of queer joy and the decidedly more-hard-to-come-by gothic joy as your ‘humerus’ entertainer promises you the time of your death.

Stage Fright, York Theatre Royal lower foyer, 9pm, free entry

STEP into the shadows for a chilling, interactive ghost hunt where nothing is what it seems. Guided by paranormal investigators, you will explore a haunted theatre filled with secrets ready to be exposed and scare actors waiting to blur the lines between reality and nightmare. Are you brave enough to face what is lurking backstage?

SATURDAY

Mud Pie Arts presents Beetles and Bees Tales, York Theatre Royal Studio, 11am

WHOSE side will you take when Cora, the crafty cuckoo bumblebee, sneaks her way into Queen Red-tail’s nest? Will you dare to stand up to the Brutus, the invading bark beetle, as he devours every forest in his way? Find out with Mud Pie Arts.

“Together, we will act out these bold tales of bombastic beasties!” says spinner of yarns Jenna Drury. “May half-term is the perfect time to go bug hunting, so come along to learn more. Expect all-join-in storytelling, riddles, games and post-show doodling on an epic scale.”

Jazz Dance Workshop, Billiard Room, York Theatre Royal, 3pm to 4.30pm

THIS beginner’s jazz dance class, Feeling Good, is for anyone aged 30 years and above. The class will entail a warm-up to boost the energy, followed by some basic Jazz technique in smaller groups, travelling from the corner, ending with a short jazz dance to Nina Simone’s Feeling Good.

SEND Disco Youth Session 11-17, York Theatre Royal Studio, 5.30pm to 6.30pm

GROOVE out your best moves at this electrifying disco: a dazzling evening filled with funky beats, vibrant lights and non-stop dancing. Whether you are a disco diva or boogie master, this is the place to let loose and shine.

Put on your best disco attire and prepare for unforgettable fun with friends. Focused on inclusivity and fun, this will be a memorable experience for everyone.

SEND Disco Adult Session 17+, York Theatre Royal Studio, 7pm to 8.30pm

See details above.

Popodyssey, York Theatre Royal main house, 7:30pm

LOVE Island, an inflatable Trojan horse and a thirst trap bot dressed up like a nymph: welcome to this epic storytelling show where ancient Greece collides with modern pop culture in a high-energy reworking of Homer’s Odyssey, told through text and movement.

Popodyssey is a journey to find a home, a father and our place in this mad, complex world of fake lips, telling fake news in deep fake utopias. Age guidance: 14 plus. Content warning: Infrequent swearing; discussion of war and violence; mild/subtle reference to sex, alcohol and drug use.

For more information on the 2025 TakeOver festival, visit: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/be-part-of-it/children-and-young-people/takeover/. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

What remains when memory fades? Find out in Seven’s show Void at TakeOver 2025 on Friday

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What Shakespeare did to Richard III, now Richard III does to Shakespeare in Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0 riposte

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 writer-performer Philipp Sommer

YORK’S own King Richard III looks back at his history with Alexa at his side – a modern voice in 1485 – in Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0 at York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24 at 7.30pm.

The Berlin writer-performer is bringing his reimagining of Richard’s origin story to York as part of the 2025 York International Shakespeare Festival.

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 brings Richard III to the stage so that he may share his fears, his doubts, his joy and loyalty in this 50-minute retort to Shakespeare’s hatchet job, performed  in English.

“Shakespeare’s play underpins his person as the embodiment of evil, but is that all he was?” asks Sommer.  “Then, it was theatre; now, it’s social media that provides a platform for propaganda.”

The poster for Philipp Sommer’s Re-Lording Richard 3.0, playing York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium on April 24

Sommer describes his play as a “drama-dy”, combining drama and comedy. “‘Everyone has seen Richard III by Shakespeare, but have you seen Shakespeare by Richard III? This is the story from Richard’s point of view.”

Richard settles his accounts with Shakespeare, as Richard and Alexa ask the question: “Has the world really changed?”

Re-Lording Richard 3.0 supports the festival’s mission of bringing international voices to York to celebrate and elaborate upon Shakespeare’s work.

Founded in 2015, the festival is marking its tenth anniversary with this season’s April 22 to May 4 programme. For full details and tickets, go to yorkshakes.co.uk.

Produced by the community arts charity Parrabbola, the festival is now an annual event, returning to live performance in 2023 after a Covid-enforced break, with support from York St John University.

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Kieran White RIP 1961-2025: a tribute

Kieran White at the keyboard, his sublime skills to be heard at events, restaurants, weddings, clubs, pubs, street corners, theatres, cinemas, care homes, wherever, whenever

YORK composer, pianist, busker, teacher, university tutor and Buster Keaton aficionado Kieran White has died suddenly.

His wife Kate posted on Facebook last Thursday “I am writing  with the sad news  that my beautiful husband Kieran died last night [19/2/2025] after a sudden heart attack on Monday and a few days in the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] at York Hospital.

“He was the love of my life and he will be greatly missed. He was a sweet, loving, funny, clever and talented man. Please leave your thoughts and wishes here.”

In response, so far, more than 200 tributes have poured into Facebook from fellow musicians, former piano pupils and friends, one recalling how Kieran would wheel his piano to his favourite busking spot, outside St Michael le Belfrey, even in the snow, that spot being on York’s windiest corner to boot.

York singer, event promoter and public speaker Big Ian Donaghy has posted two videos, one taken at a care home for dementia patients, where a curve-ball request for Kieran to play Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody had Kieran mopping his brow, exhaling , then saying “Go on then, let’s have a go…what could possibly go wrong?!”. He duly tamed that wild rock opera behemoth off the cuff.

“Kieran had a gentle way and a rare empathy with folks living with dementia,” wrote Big Ian, whose second video showed Kieran and a man who had played piano all his life until the onset of dementia seated side by side, responding to each other’s handiwork.

Kieran had featured too in Donaghy’s story A Fish Out Of Water in his book A Pocketful Of Kindness, charting the day Kieran coaxed  a former GP and school concert pianist, now 80 and  sitting frostily at a distance in a care home, into joining him on the stool. You will find the full chapter on a Donaghy Facebook post.

“He is Quirky with a capital Q but with a heart of gold,” wrote Donaghy on Page 185. “In a world of horses for courses, many don’t fit him. Social situations…he can just get up and wander off. He is more gas or liquid than a solid. He sees life differently…

Kieran White, in 2020, holding a copy of Ian Donaghy’s book A Pocketful Of Kindness, open at the chapter entitled A Fish Out Of Water that charted Kieran’s nursing-home encounter with a former school concert pianist

“But behind all the quirks and eccentricities is a phenomenal musician with a kind heart,” Donaghy continued. “Kieran started calling for people to call out their favourite songs as he took on the role of dexterous jukebox. There was nothing he couldn’t play. Even if he had never heard something before.

“He would ask, ‘Sing it to me’, and within a few seconds he could play it. If he can hear it, he can play it. A mixture of a natural gift and hours of toil with the lid up.”

Fellow York composer Steve Crowther, administrator of York Late Music, has posted: “I have known Kieran for 30+ years. He was a genuinely remarkable musician and composer. And he possessed very little ego, a rare quality these days.

“I remember bumping into him in the city centre. We chatted about stuff. He was working on some silent movie project. Related to that, I think, was the idea of a fugue, which he then went on to improvise. Who the hell improvises a fugue? ‘Something like this…’ off he went, ‘no that’s not right…like this.”

Steve continued: “It was a bl**dy remarkable experience. The result was like Bach via Blues on speed. He was a constant: busking, singing & performing in pubs, always good for a catch-up and chat. But not any more. I will miss him.”

Originally from Colchester, Essex, where Kieran attended Colchester Royal Grammar School, he studied at the University of York. He would go on to busk prodigiously in the city, run White Rose Opera, play solo in pubs, restaurants and care homes, at weddings and with function bands too, as well as accompanying theatrical productions and being a piano teacher and tutor at York St John University.

Ultra-bright, knowledgeable, unconventional and witty, he was a dab hand at chess too, as well as displaying his trademark ability to play anything on the keys by ear.

On February 11, he had posted on Facebook of his health “deteriorating rapidly in the last year”, leading to Kieran “giving up playing piano as a result of ‘Trigger thumb’ and uncontrollable hand shaking”. Tests had revealed those tests were “purely down to stress. Thank God,” he wrote, but he revealed he had not been able to play, compose or even teach for almost a year and a half.

Kieran’s post went on to quote in full his interview with CharlesHutchPress, published on January 23 2020 under the headline “Pianist Kieran White to ‘break the silents’ at Helmsley Arts Centre screening of Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr”.

Kieran White, pencil illustration by Ian Donaghy, from A Pocketful Of Kindness, 2020

Here it is again, to add CharlesHutchPress’s voice to myriad recollections of Kieran’s talent for conjuring magic from the ivories.

ACCOMPANIED  by Kieran White’s expressive, playful, gag-driven piano score, the Stoneface silent classic Steamboat Bill, Jr, will be shown “as it was originally intended to be seen in an authentic re-creation of the early cinema experience in the picture houses of the 1920s”.

Let Kieran make his case for why someone would want to see a black-and white, silent 1928 Buster Keaton film in 2020, the age of endless reheated Disney classics and myriad Marvel movies.

“We live in an instant world. A world governed by consumerism and technology. What we want, we can get just by clicking a mouse. We have forgotten how to slow down. How to breathe,” he says.

“But Buster takes us back to a time when time itself was a different thing entirely. A time when moments were savoured, rather than squandered.”

From past experience of his Breaking The Silents shows, White anticipates a largely middle-aged and older audience, but he believes Keaton’s comedic elan should appeal to “anyone with a love of history, a nostalgia for days of yore and an unfettered imagination”.

“Breaking The Silents offers a wonderful evening for all the family,” he says. “A lot of belly laughs. An appreciation of Buster’s incredible athleticism and craftmanship but, most of all, a reawakening of that state of wonderment that children have but never know they have.”

The relentless pace of Keaton’s comedy on screen leaves no gap, no rest, no breath, in White’s score, but still he finds room for quickfire references to the Steptoe And Son theme music, Porridge and The Barber Of Seville.

“The joy of Steamboat Bill, Jr is the raw energy,” says Kieran. “You know that if the stunts went wrong there would be no take two.”

White’s piano has accompanied screenings of Keaton’s 1927 film The General at locations as diverse as Helmsley Arts Centre, the Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton Park and City Screen, Fairfax House and the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in York.

Last September [2019], he presented a Breaking The Silents double bill of The General in the afternoon and Steamboat Bill, Jr in the evening at the JoRo. White’s labours of love had necessitated 11 days of writing for The General, a little longer for Steamboat Bill, Jr, drawing on his love of both Keaton’s comic craft and the piano.

“I was very inspired by my grandfather,” he says, explaining why piano was his instrument of choice. “He was a superb pianist and made the most complex music sound effortless.

“Ever since a very early age, I’ve been fascinated by puzzles too, particularly chess. Watching Pop play was like sitting inside a gigantic engine, seeing gears mesh, listening to the sound of tiny hammers. Music chose me!”

Where next might Breaking The Silents venture? “I think what I do is unique. Ultimately, I’d love to perform all over the world,” says Kieran.

In the meantime, here is a recommendation from York filmmaker Mark Herman, director of Brassed Off and Little Voice, to head to Helmsley Arts Centre on February 1 for the Keaton and White double act.

“Kieran White’s score and his live accompaniment raises an already almost perfect film to fresh heights,” he said after seeing The General. “It’s a shame that Buster Keaton never knew that his flawless performance could actually be enhanced.”

Rest in peace, Kieran Michael White, December 10 1961 – February 19 2025.

The arrangements for Kieran White’s funeral are yet to be announced.

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300 Yorkshire schoolchildren take part in Make Music Day in York today, courtesy of the Richard Shephard Music Foundation

Schoolchildren taking part in the 2023 Make Music Day in the Chapter House at York Minster. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions

THREE hundred primary schoolchildren from Yorkshire and the North East are taking part in Make Music Day in York today.

This special celebration of all things musical is run by the Richard Shephard Music Foundation, the charity set up as a memorial to the late York composer and Minster School headmaster Dr Richard Shephard.

Since its creation, 5,000 children have been receiving weekly music lesson within their schools, subsidised by the foundation, and today’s event will give some of them even more opportunities to express themselves musically by spending the day singing, playing instruments and composing music in the Chapter House of York Minster and the Creative Centre at York St John University.

Make Music Day 2023 in the Creative Centre at York St John University. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions

Cathy Grant, from the foundation, says: “The day is all about celebrating children’s natural musical talent, supporting their wellbeing, and raising children’s musical aspirations.

“What drives us forward is the ambition that every child should have music in their lives. It shouldn’t be for the privileged few. I’ve been lucky over the past two years to witness the transformational experience of music for young people.

“Working alongside our partners, we’re seeking to remove the geographical and financial barriers to a high-quality music education so that every child can experience the great many educational, health and well-being benefits it can bring.”

Schoolchildren enjoying the 2023 Make Music Day in York. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions

Cathy continues: “I can get absolutely lost in the swathes of research that seek to prove the benefits of music education, particularly from an early age. Researchers are even working on proving the ‘psychoneuroimmunological’ benefits – essentially evidencing how music is not only good for our minds, but also the long-term health of our bodies. And what’s not to like about schools being full of music and singing?”

As well as an inspiring day for young people, the event will give supporters a glimpse of what the foundation has done since 2021. “We’ve got ambitious plans,” says Cathy. “We aim, over the next three years, to allow over 10,000 young people to receive a high-quality music lesson each week and to have the opportunity to join a choir, to come along to a music holiday club or take up an instrument.

“The day’s activities will include plenty of singing, a folk workshop, an introduction to the Gamelan – a set of huge traditional percussion instruments – and the chance to play the ‘Bamboo Tamboo’, an instrument that can be used to play vibrant Caribbean grooves. We hope it will not only inspire the children but also the teachers accompanying them.”

A session at the 2023 Make Music Day in York. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions

The schools taking part today are: Easterside Academy, Middlesbrough; St George’s RC Primary School, Scarborough; St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Pickering; Abingdon Primary School, Middlesbrough; Badger Hill Primary Academy, York; Clifton Green Primary School, York; St Francis of Assisi Primary School, Stockton; Ainderby Steeple CofE Primary School and Middleham CofE Aided School.

Make Music Day: the back story

MAKE Music Day is the largest single-day music festival in Great Britain, encouraging musicians, producers, promoters and music lovers to collaborate and organise in-person and online performances in and for their communities.

Since beginning as Fête de la Musique in France in 1982, Make Music Day has grown into a global phenomenon that takes place annually in 125 countries, always on June 21. Solo performers, groups and music creators of all types are invited to take part, regardless of age, ability or musical genre.

To more information, go to: makemusicday.co.uk.

Giving instruction at the 2023 Make Music Day in York. Picture: Duncan Lomax, Ravage Productions
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More Things To Do in York and beyond when Monet…that’s what you want. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 20, from The Press, York

Florally attired York Art Gallery senior curator Dr Beatrice Bertram stands by Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond, on loan from the National Gallery. Picture: Charlotte Graham

NATURE in full bloom, hothoused Shakespeare, blossoming student creativity and teenage blues put the colour in Charles Hutchinson’s cheeks for warmer days ahead.

Exhibition of the summer: National Treasures: Monet In York: The Water-Lily Pond, York Art Gallery, in bloom until September 8

FRENCH Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s 1899 work, The Water-Lily Pond, forms the York centrepiece and trigger point for the National Gallery’s bicentenary celebrations in tandem with York Art Gallery. 

On show are key loans from regional and national institutions alongside York Art Gallery collection works and a large-scale commission by contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Una Sinfonia. Monet’s canvas is explored in the context of 19th-century French open-air painting, pictures by his early mentors and the Japanese prints that transformed his practice and beloved gardens in Giverny. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

Stewart Dylan-Campbell’s Rob, left, and Aiden Kane’s Marc in Qweerdog Theatre’s Jump, playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery tomorrow

Relationship drama of the week: Qweerdog Theatre in Jump, at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, tomorrow (12/5/2024), 8.30pm; doors 7.30pm

DEVELOPED through Manchester company Qweerdog’s LGBTQ+ writing project, Nick Maynard’s dark comedy takes an unusual look at contemporary gay life, exploring the possibility of relationships and how they are not always the way we imagine.

Directed by West End director Scott Le Crass, Jump depicts the lives, love lives and past lives of two lost souls drawn to a canal one night. As the weary, embittered Rob (Stewart Dylan-Campbell) contemplates the lure of the water, a handsome young man, the “chopsy” Marc (Aiden Kane), engages him in conversation. So begins a strange and fractious relationship that might just prove beneficial to them both. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Paloma Faith: “Celebrating taking responsibility for your own happiness” at York Barbican tomorrow

Recommended but sold out already: Paloma Faith, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm; Katherine Priddy, The Crescent, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm

STOKE Newington soul tour de force Paloma Faith showcases her sixth studio album, February’s deeply personal The Glorification Of Sadness, her “celebration of finding your way back after leaving a long-term relationship, being empowered even in your failures and taking responsibility for your own happiness”.

Birmingham folk singer and guitarist Katherine Priddy will be promoting second album The Pendulum Swing, released on Cooking Vinyl in February.  For the first time, her 14-date May tour finds her performing in a trio, joined by Harry Fausing Smith (strings) and support act George Boomsma (electric guitar).

Hollie McNish: Performing at the TakeOver festival at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Kat Gollock

Festival of the week: TakeOver – In The Limelight, York Theatre Royal, May 13 to 18

IN this annual collaboration between York Theatre Royal and York St John University, third-year drama students are put in charge of the theatre and programming its events for a week, with support and mentoring from professionals. 

Among those events will be writer Hollie McNish, reading from her latest book, Lobster And Other Things I’m Learning To Love (Thursday, 7.30pm), dance troupe Verve: Triple Bill (next Saturday, 7.30pm) and multiple shows by York St John students. For the full programme, head to: yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/be-part-of-it/children-and-young-people/takeover/. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Gray O’Brien’s Juror 10, left, and Michael Greco’s Juror 7 in the 70th anniversary production of Twelve Angry Men. Picture: Jack Merriman

Jury service: Twelve Angry Men, Grand Opera House, York, May 13 to 18, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

IN its 70th anniversary touring production, Reginald Rose’s knife-edge courtroom thriller Twelve Angry Men resonates with today’s audiences with its intricately crafted study of human nature. Within the confines of the jury deliberating room, 12 men hold the fate of a young delinquent, accused of killing his father, in their hands. 

What looks an open-and-shut case soon becomes a dilemma, wherein Rose examines the art of persuasion as the jurors are forced to examine their own self-image, personalities, experiences and prejudices. Tristan Gemmill, Michael Greco, Jason Merrells, Gray O’Brien and Gary Webster feature in Christopher Haydon’s cast. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Steven Arran: Directing Shakespeare’s Speakeasy’s debut play in a day in York at Theatre@41, Monkgate

York debut of the week: Shakespeare’s Speakeasy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

SHAKESPEARE’S Speakeasy is heading from Newcastle to York for the first time, making its Theatre@41 debut under the directorship of Steven Arran. “It’s Shakespeare, but it’s secret,” he says. “Can a group of strangers successfully stage a Shakespearean play in a day? Shakespeare’s Speakeasy is the place for you to find out.”

After learning lines over the past four weeks, the cast featuring the likes of Claire Morley, Esther Irving and Ian Giles meets for the first time on Thursday morning to rehearse an irreverent, entertaining take on one of Bill’s best-known plays, culminating in a public performance. Which one? “Like all good Speakeasys, that’s a secret,” says Arran. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Toby Lee: Blues prodigy heads to the Fulford Arms next Saturday

Blues gig of the week: Toby Lee, Fulford Arms, York, May 18, 7.30pm

BLUES rock prodigy Toby Lee, the 19-year-old Oxfordshire guitarist and singer, will be playing 100 showshome and abroad this year, 40 of them his own headline gigs, 60 as a special guest of boogie-woogie pianist Jools Holand and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

The 2023 Young Blues Musician of the Year learned his trade playing Zack Mooneyham in the first West End production of School Of Rock and has since shared stages with his hero Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, Peter Frampton and Slash. First up, Fulford Arms next Saturday, then come Jools engagements at York Barbican on December 1 and Leeds First Direct Arena on December 20. Box office: ticketweb.uk/event/toby-lee-the-fulford-arms-tickets/13366163.

Her name is Del Rio: And she lives for stand-up comedy as drag queen Bianca feels Dead Inside on York-bound world tour

Gig announcement of the week: Bianca Del Rio, Dead Inside, York Barbican, September 18

COMEDY drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio heads to York on her 11-date stand-up tour. Up for irreverent discussion will be politics, pop culture, political correctness, current events, cancel culture and everyday life, as observed through the eyes of a “clown in the gown”, who will be “coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I’m still dead inside”. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Who’s performing in York St John University’s TakeOver – In The Limelight festival at York Theatre Royal, May 13 to 18?

Verve: Presenting a dance triple bill at TakeOver – In The Limelight

THE 12th TakeOver festival at York Theatre Royal is in the hands of York St John University for the fourth year, taking the theme of In The Limelight from May 13 to 18.

In this annual town-and-gown collaboration, third-year drama students are put in charge of the theatre and programming its events for a week, with support and mentoring from professionals. 

“TakeOver is a fantastic opportunity for students to experience running and taking part in a theatre festival that is entirely unique,” says Ruby, a student on the producing team. “We’re able to learn so many new skills and create something that we can really be proud of.” said Ruby, a student on the producing team. 

Among the highlights will be the May 16 performance of Scottish author and poet Hollie McNish, reading from her latest book Lobster And Other Things I’m Learning To Love, wherein she addresses questions of friendships, flags and newborns as she shines her poetic lens on “all those things we have been taught to hate, and which we might learn to love again”. Joining her on the 7.30pm bill will be fellow poet Micheal Pedersen, reading from his books The Cat Prince and Boy Friends.  

To “see where dance is right now, and where it might go next”, the Verve: Triple Billat 7.30pm on May 18 presents a bold programme featuring new commissions by artistic directorMatteo Marfoglia and choreographer Joy Alpuerto Ritter,alongside a reworking of People Used To Die by the international collective(LA)HORDE. 

Verve is the postgraduate company of Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. Each year, the company commissions choreographers from all over the world to create an artistically distinct, physically daring and engaging programme of dance work. 

Hollie McNish: Reading from her book Lobster And Other Things I’m Learning To Love on May 16

Festival Programme

May 13

Opening ceremony; free snacks and drinks available for all guests.

7.30pm, Upper Foyer, This is York Pecha Kucha, Volume 30: Bearing Fruit, in collaboration with York Creatives. Rapid-fire talks from more than seven speakers on a range of topics created to leave you feeling entertained, educated and inspired. 

May 14

Full day of shows and activities, starting with two York St John companies.

11am, Studio: Bounce Back: Interactive children’s theatre experience introducing the audience to the world of fairytale.

12 noon, Studio: Final Girls: Multi-media performance set in a forest where a group of unlikely people try to survive, the best they can, against an unknown entity.

Followed by dance trail that will take the audience around the city of York before returning to the theatre.  

6pm, Studio: Peachy & Me:  Performer Beverly Bishop invites family audiences into a world of storytelling, music, magic and comedy, as she appears as both herself and her clown alter-ego to overcome the complexities of the modern world.

7.30pm, main house: Out Of Character Theatre Company in Afterlife.In this York-made piece, strangers find themselves in a waiting room between life and death where they must go through their past lives to choose their forever.  

The TakeOver – In The Limelight logo for the 2024 festival

May 15

11am, main house: Misery Loves will be sharing their production of The Women Of Whitechapel, a newly devised musical that re-tells the stories of Jack the Ripper’s victims with the focus on finding out who these women really were.

12 noon, main house: Blushed’s show Our Fault, Never Their Fault follows two characters as they experience the journey of becoming a woman, highlighting the good, bad and little embarrassing parts that go alongside growing up.  

7.30pm, main house: Pinch Punch Improvisation use audience suggestions to help their four characters unmask the murderer before they are all killed in the improv whodunit Locomotive For Murder. 

May 16

11am, Studio: York St John company Glass Broom perform their post-apocalyptic show End,where five people are trapped in a house together. Tensions runs high as the characters are forced to find a way to survive with each other.

12 noon, main house: Fellow York St John company Tradesman present Life Of The Party,where agroup of collaborators explores essential themes through the lens of absurdist theatre, aiming to question the themes of the human condition. 

6pm, Studio: York company Pop Yer Clogs Theatre perform Alice In Wonderland Abridged, Lewis Carroll’s timeless tale ofAlice encountering many weird and wonderful characters in subterranean land where every time is tea time and nothing is ever as it seems.

7.30pm, main house: Hollie McNish reads from her book Lobster And Other Things I’m Learning To Love. 

May 17

11am and 1pm, main house: Two dance routines created by York St John student Izzy Cryer. The first, Unholy,tells a story of cheating and betrayal, performed ina commercial style; the second, the lyrical Survivor, focuses on survival and standing together as one.

12 noon, Studio: York St John company M.A.D. say “fate, you can’t escape it”, asking how will it leave us? Alone or somehow forced together? Let’s find out what fate will throw at us this time in The Red Thread (a show suitable for age 18 plus. 

Alexander Flanagan Wright, left, and Phil Grainger: Performing Helios in the closing show on May 18

7.30pm, main house: A talk by Colin Sutton, a police officer for 30 years, who served as the head of a Metropolitan Police murder squad for the last nine of them. His show, The Real Manhunter, gives a guide to his career, how policing has changed, what it feels like to chase a serial killer and how he made the step from policing to storytelling. 

May 18Alexander

At 7.30pm, on the main house stage, Verve: Triple Bill of modern dance routines.

At 7.45pm, in the Studio, Alexander Flangan Wright and Phil Grainger present the third in their trilogy of Greek dramas in words and music, Helios.

Opportunities to be involved throughout the week:  

May 13, 2pm: Heels workshop, focusing on a style of dance that inspires confidence and is aimed at any level of experience. 5pm: Year 10 students from Joseph Rowntree School present a show based on social media and lockdown.

Throughout the week, tours include an afternoon tea experience. An open mic event takes place on May 14 at 4pm; a fashion show will be held on May 16 at 1pm; adult cocktail classes on May 17 at 2pm; a dance workshop for five to ten-year-olds, based on The Lion King, on May 18 at 2pm.

For the full programme, head to: yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/be-part-of-it/children-and-young-people/takeover/. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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Pop Yer Clogs Theatre, York’s new repertory theatre company, go Wilde in debut show The Importance Of Being Earnest

Introducing Pop Yer Clogs Theatre company co-founders, lined up for debut production The Importance Of Being Earnest. Poster art by: Ian Cotterill

POP Yer Clogs Theatre, a new repertory company of York professional actors, will stage Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest from tomorrow to Saturday at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

Oscar Wilde’s comedy of mistaken identity, high society and a mislaid handbag forms their inaugural production after forming in March 2023.

“The name  ‘Pop Yer Clogs’ was chosen as we wanted something ‘Yorkshire’ and humorous that hinted at our origins as a company,” says company co-founder Andrea Mitchell. “We all met in an immersive scare attraction [York Dungeon].” 

Staging a faithful adaptation of Wilde’s waspish comedy of manners, Pop Yer Clogs will adorn the production with specially recorded music by Matt Robair and Nick Trott, handmade 1890s’ costumes by cast member Lydia McCudden and lighting and sound by Niamh Cooper and Ethan Canet-Baldwin.

Andrea Mitchell, as Lady Augusta Bracknell, left, Harry Murdoch, as Jack Worthing, and Lydia McCudden, as Gwendolen Fairfax, in rehearsal for The Importance Of Being Earnest

The company was founded last year to bring productions of classic dramas to the York stage for an accessible price of £10 per ticket. First up is The Importance Of Being Earnest, Wilde’s 1895 satire that pokes fun at the absurdity of Victorian upper-class society, armed with an arsenal of his most famous one-liners…and that immortal exclamation, “A handbag?”

Jack Worthing (played by Harry Murdoch) and Algernon Moncrieff (Rob Cotterill) are two friends from very different worlds: country and town. Jack is a carefree young man who invents a fictitious brother named Ernest, adopting this persona to escape his country home and live a double life in London.

Jack falls in love with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (Lydia McCudden). When he discovers that Gwendolen could only marry a man named Ernest, Jack plans to kill off his fictional brother and assume the name for himself.

Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s cast for The Imprtance Of Being Earnest

Meanwhile, Algernon learns of Jack’s excessively pretty niece, Cecily Cardew (Erin Keogh), who has fallen for Jack’s imaginary brother. He hatches a scheme of his own to pretend to be the fictitious Ernest in order to win Cecily’s heart.

As the two men become entangled in each other’s elaborate lies, their deceptions unravel in a whirlwind of rushed proposals, disapproving relatives and mistaken identity, but soon they learn the vital importance of being earnest.

Further roles go to Andrea Mitchell as Lady Augusta Bracknell, Lucy Crawford as Miss Prism, Jack Higgott as the Reverend Canon Chasuble and director Christopher Leslie as the two butlers, Lane and Merriman.

Company co-founder Leslie studied performance practice at Leeds University Centre and has taken part in many productions throughout Yorkshire. Cotterill, Keogh and Mitchell are among those who work in the character acting team at York Dungeon.

Rob Cotterill’s Algernon Moncrieff, left, and Harry Murdoch’s Jack Worthing rehearsing a scene for Pop Yer Clogs Theatre’s The Importance Of Being Earnest

Leslie says: “Earnest is a play everyone has heard of but has not necessarily seen. It is such a delightfully witty and farcical play, and it will be a treat to put it on this week. We have a superb and stellar cast on our hands and everyone has been working extremely hard.”

Harry Murdoch, who plays Jack Worthing, adds: “Not a single rehearsal goes by where we don’t find ourselves in fits of giggles. Every character has their own moment to show off all their absurd eccentricities, and the part of Jack offers so much for me to play with.

“Throughout the play he goes from experiencing the highest intensity and anxiety to moments of the deepest despair and vulnerability. The perfect range of emotions for a comedic lead!”

Theatre@41 trustee Jim Paterson says: “As Wilde himself said, ‘the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it’. We heartily encourage the people of York to take that advice and yield to the temptation to see The Importance Of Being Earnest. We love welcoming new companies to our studio and can’t wait to see Pop Yer Clogs take on this brilliant comedy.”

Pop Yer Clogs Theatre director Christopher Leslie, second from right, working with his cast in rehearsals for The Importance Of Being Earnest

In addition to staging Earnest, Pop Yer Clogs are rehearsing for an abridged performance of Alice In Wonderland at York Theatre Royal Studio on May 16 at 6pm as part of the Theatre Royal’s TakeOver festival, run in tandem with York St John University. The company will return to Theatre@41 with a full-length production of Alice In Wonderland in November.

Pop Yer Clogs Theatre in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 1 to 4, 7.30pm. Running time: Two hours, including interval. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk or at https://tinyurl.com/3c4rvbbe. Tickets for Alice In Wonderland: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

TakeOver festival: the back story

ANNUAL collaboration between York Theatre Royal and York St John University, wherein students control the theatre’s event programme and commission performances from professional companies such as Pop Yer Clogs Theatre. The 2024 festival will run from May 13 to 18.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the paranormal before 2:22 in the morning. Hutch’s List No. 18, from The Press

Vera Chok and Jay McGuiness in a scene from 2:22 – A Ghost Story, haunting the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday

JUST a normal week? No, paranormal, more like, as a ghost story pumps up the spooks. Fear not, a Led Zeppelin legend, country-town teen days, a hope-filled musical and dances of love, loss and legacy are Charles Hutchinson’s picks too.  

New ghost to haunt “Europe’s most haunted city”: 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm fright-nightly; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday; 3.30pm, Friday

JENNY believes her new London home is haunted, hearing a disturbance every night at the same time, but husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben.

Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is drawing closer, so they decide to stay up… until 2:22 in the morning… and then they’ll know in The Battersea Poltergeist podcaster Danny Robins’s paranormal thriller, wherein secrets emerge and ghosts may, or may not, appear. Fiona Wade, George Rainsford and Vera Chok join The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness in Matthew Dunster & Isabel Marr’s cast. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Robert Plant’s Saving Grace: Playing Harrogate Royal Hall on Tuesday

Gig of the week outside York: Robert Plant’s Saving Grace, Harrogate Royal Hall, Tuesday, 8pm

ERSTWHILE Led Zeppelin singer and lyricist Robert Plant, now 75, leads the folk, Americana and blues co-operative Saving Grace, featuring Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar, and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic/baritone guitars, cuatro), on their 15-date Never Ending Spring itinerary. South Carolina singer-songwriter Taylor McCall supports. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Country matters: Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of Lost Content at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Touring play of the week: Henry Madd’s Land Of Lost Content, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NIC Connaughton, the Pleasance’s head of theatre, directs Land Of Lost Content, Henry Madd’s autobiographical insight into friendship, adolescence, forgiveness and life not going to plan in an empowering coming-of-age story about the trials of growing up in a small country town and its ongoing effects on two estranged mates.

Henry (Madd) and Jake (Marc Benga) were bored friends who grew up in Ludlow, where friendships were forged in failed adventures, bad habits and damp raves as they stumbled through teenage days looking for something to do. Then Henry moved away. Now he is back, needing to face up to the memories and the people he left behind. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Come From Away: Award-winning musical of hope, humanity and unity on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre

Musical of the week: Come From Away, Leeds Grand Theatre, Tuesday to May 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

IRENE Sankoff and David Hein’s four-time Olivier Award-winning musical tells the remarkable true story of 6,579 air passengers from around the world being grounded in Canada in the wake of 9/11. Whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts.

As spirited locals and global passengers come together to forge friendships, we meet first female American Airlines captain, the quick-thinking town mayor, the mother of a New York firefighter and the eager local news reporter in a celebration of hope, humanity and unity. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Claire Morley: Directing York Shakespeare Project in Sunday’s rehearsed reading of John Fletcher’s The Tamer Tamed. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

Battle of the sexes, round two: York Shakespeare Project in The Tamer Tamed, Creative Arts Centre Auditorium, York St John University, tomorrow (28/4/2024), 5pm

YORK Shakespeare Project complements this week’s run of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew at Theatre@41, Monkgate, with a rehearsed reading of John Fletcher’s Jacobean riposte to the Bard’s most controversial comedy, directed by Claire Morley.

In Fletcher’s sequel, the widowed Petruchio has a new wife and a new challenge as he discovers that he is not the only one who can do the taming. Fletcher borrows characters from Shakespeare and Ben Jonson and a key plot device from Ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes’s Lysistrata for his exploration of marriage and relationships. Box office: parrabbola.co.uk or yorkshakes.co.uk.

The poster for Alexander O’Neal’s farewell tour, Time To Say Goodbye, bound for York Barbican on May 3

Farewell tour of the Week: Alexander O’Neal, Time To Say Goodbye, York Barbican, May 3, 7.30pm

AFTER nearly five decades, Mississippi soul singer Alexander O’Neal is hitting the road one final time at 70 on his Time to Say Goodbye: Farewell World Tour, accompanied by his nine-piece band.

O’Neal will be undertaking a journey through his career with the aid of never-before-seen-photos, testimonies and tributes, all set to the tune of such hits as Criticize, Fake and If You Were Here Tonight. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk

Phoenix Dance Theatre in Dane Hurst’s Requiem, part of the Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love programme at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Dance show of the week: Phoenix Dance Theatre in Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love, York Theatre Royal, May 3, 7.30pm; May 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

YORK Theatre Royal is the final venue on Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre’s first British tour since 2022 with a visceral triple bill of works by international dance makers Dane Hurst, Miguel Altunaga and Phoenix artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis.

Belonging: Loss. Legacy. Love opens with South African choreographer and former Phoenix artistic director Hurst’s reimagining of Mozart’s Requiem in response to pandemic-induced grief. Two world premieres follow: Afro-Cuban choreographer Altunaga’s first Phoenix commission, the daring Cloudburst, and Texas-born Jarrell Willis’s Terms Of Agreement. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Cult: Marking 40th anniversary with the 8424 tour this autumn. Picture: Jackie Middleton

Gig announcement of the week: The Cult, The 8424 Tour, York Barbican, October 29

SINGER Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy mark the 40th anniversary of The Cult, the Bradford band noted for their pioneering mix of post-punk, hard rock and melodramatic experimentalism, by heading out on The 8424 Tour.

Once dubbed “shamanic Goths”, Astbury and Duffy will perform songs from The Cult’s 11-album discography, from 1984’s Dreamtime to 2022’s Under The Midnight Sun, in a set sure to feature She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Love Removal Machine, Wild Flower and Lil’ Devil. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Let the battle of the sexes resume as York Shakespeare Project gives rehearsed reading of Fletcher’s The Tamer Tamed

York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Sunday’s rehearsed reading of John Fletcher’s The Tamer Tamed

YORK Shakespeare Project is complementing this week’s run of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew with a one-off performance of John Fletcher’s sequel, The Tamer Tamed, at the Creative Arts Centre Auditorium, York St John University, on Sunday at 5pm.

Fletcher’s rarely staged Jacobean riposte to William Shakespeare’s most controversial “problem play” will be presented in a rehearsed reading on the closing day of the 2024 York International Shakespeare Festival.

YSP chair Tony Froud explains: “We are very happy to borrow an idea from Gregory Doran, who staged both plays in tandem, using the same cast, in his productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2003. Fletcher’s play is a deliberate and very entertaining response to Shakespeare’s original.”

Director Claire Morley in rehearsals. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

Written in 1611, 20 years after Shakespeare’s battle of the sexes, The Tamer Tamed (or The Woman’s Prize) gives an insight into changing attitudes to women and marriage in the Jacobean period.

YSP’s rehearsed reading is being directed by Claire Morley, assistant director to Maggie Smales on The Taming Of The Shrew, whose run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, ends tomorrow night. Many of the same cast will undertake Sunday’s reading, joined by familiar YSP faces Andrew Isherwood, Effie Warboys and Sally Mitcham.

“We’re enormously grateful to members of our very talented cast for committing to perform a second play, but the actors couldn’t resist the challenge of exploring Fletcher’s fascinating take on Shakespeare,” says Claire. “Luckily they don’t have to learn any more lines, as this will be a script-in-hand reading.”

Claire Morley, front row, second from right , in the role of Henry V in York Shakespeare Project’s Heny V in 2015

Claire is no stranger to York Shakespeare Project, having appeared in several of its productions, most notably playing the title role in Maggie Smales’s all-female Henry V in 2015. “It’s a joy to be working with Maggie again and we’re very lucky to have such a fabulous cast,” she adds.

In Fletcher’s sequel, the widowed Petruchio has a new wife and a new challenge as he discovers that he is not the only one who can do the taming. Fletcher borrows characters from Shakespeare and Ben Jonson and a key plot device from Ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes’s Lysistrata. “The result is a richly entertaining exploration of marriage and relationships in another battle of the sexes,” says Tony.

The cast comprises: Rosy Rowley as Maria; Effie Warboys, Livia; Kirsty Farrow, Bianca; Andrew Isherwood, Petruchio; Mark Simmonds, Petronius; Mark Payton, Gremio and Peter; Sam Jackson, Rowland; Nick Patrick Jones, Hortensio; Sally Mitcham, Tranio, and Stuart Green, Grumio.

Tickets are on sale at parrabbola.co.uk or yorkshakes.co.uk.

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York International Shakespeare Festival is under way for 11 days of shows, talks, workshops, exhibition and scratch night

Footsbarn Theatre in Twelfth Night: Making their first British apperance in 15 years at the 2024 York International Shakespeare Festival

FOOTSBARN Theatre will premiere their new production of Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy Twelfth Night in a triumphant return to British soil after 15 years at the York International Shakespeare Festival.

April 27’s evening performance and April 28’s matinee will be followed by a UK and European tour throughout the summer, taking in the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival in Romania next month and Verona International Shakespeare Festival, Italy, in August.

Directed by Sadie Jammett, this will be the first full-scale Shakespeare show to be performed by the iconic travelling theatre company in Great Britain since A Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 15 years ago.

Footsbarn began life in Cornwall in 1971 when a group of young performers started rehearsing in the barn of Trewen, a farmhouse near the village of Trewidland. Born out of a dream to create a form of theatre that would be “popular, generous and accessible to all”, the company is noted for performing in its circus big top across the globe. 

In more than 50 years – the last 25 based in Maillet, France – Footsbarn have put their name to most of Shakespeare plays, but this will be their first staging of Twelfth Night. Now, perhaps more than any other time, this play comes into its own by exploring the themes of gender identity that younger generations are bravely bringing to the world’s attention.

Artistic director Sadie Jemmett says: “It was important to choose a production that would continue the great legacy and style of the company while also appealing to a new generation of theatregoers, and I believe that Twelfth Night does just that.”

Established in 2014 to “showcase York adaptations of Shakespeare’s works alongside international  interpretations and to make global Shakespeare accessible to UK audiences from York and beyond”, this month’s event will be the festival’s sixth staging and the first since it became an annual event.

Residents and visitors to York from today until April 28 will find the city filled with powerful, moving shows, lectures by internationally recognised academics, exhibitions and workshops presented by Shakespeare enthusiasts from all over the world.

The festival is in the first year of a three-year sponsorship by York St John University, resulting in the theatre in the new Creative Centre becoming the principal location.

Other partners include York Theatre Royal, York Explore Library, York Shakespeare Project, the Grand Opera House, York, Theatre @41, Monkgate, Riding Lights Theatre Company, Rise @ Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, and many volunteers.

Two world premieres will bookend the festival. Opening the event today will be the European Shakespeare Festivals Network’s ShakeSphere Award Winner 2024, Hamlet: Double Bill from Italy, featuring Hamlet & The Grave Diggers and Hamlet & The Players, selected from 76 proposals. Footsbarn’s visit will be the closing act.

Another recommendation is American actress Debra Ann Byrd’s powerhouse solo show Becoming Othello, chiming with the festival theme of Shakespearean identity, in a Wednesday evening performance and Thursday matinee for schools.

“If we’re talking about an international festival of Shakespeare, we’re talking about Shakespeare morphing with other cultures and then taking shape in their own work,” says festival director Philip Parr.

“Becoming Othello is about a black woman’s journey into theatre – and Debra Ann has had as rough a journey as you could imagine, in New York, where she was told ‘you can’t go to drama school; black women don’t go, and certainly not from Harlem. If you do go, you play maids and servants and certainly not Shakespeare leads’.

“Yet 20 years ago she founded the Harlem Shakespeare Festival. So Becoming Othello is her story, and it’s a brilliant piece of theatre that she worked on at the Shakespeare Institute, with Shakespeare specialists both here and in the United States. The show is really grounded in the nature of Shakespeare.”

In her week-long stay in York, Byrd will be mentor of honour at a Shakespeare Scratch Night at the Grand Opera House and will host workshops in schools too.

Further highlights will include first readings of English translations of Shakespeare inspired plays from Bulgaria and Turkey, and a first-time visit by two Ukrainian actors and a director to work for a week with Philip Parr, leading to two performances tomorrow (20/4/2024).

Literature fans can look forward to a variety of talks and lectures delivered throughout the festival by Shakespearean academics from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, while York Explore will play host to an exhibition of 300 years of representations of Othello.

York youngsters and families will have free or low-cost opportunities to become involved with the festival “to enjoy a bit of Shakespeare”.

Philip says: “This will be the only time this year you will be able to see international theatre in our city. In our fast-changing world, the plays of Shakespeare provide a shared body of work, which explores essential values, and which is capable of infinite reinvention.

“They create a space in which we can exchange ideas, explore our differences, and find our common ground. We’re excited to be creating such a space in York.”

Tickets and full programme details are available at yorkshakes.co.uk/programme-2024.