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.
Teacher Miss Hedge (Katie Spencer) steps in between school bully Dean Paxton (Cain Branton) and dreamer Jamie New (Frankie Bounds) in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
THIRD time, even luckier. After York Stage’s Teen Version at Theatre@41 in June 2023 and Pick Me Up Theatre’s Joseph Rowntree Theatre run in July 2025, Sheffield musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is being re-made in York for the third time.
This one is the best yet, wholly justifying Nik Briggs’s decision to revisit Tom MacRae and Dan Gillespie Sells’ musical after directing the York premiere in 2023. “When the full version became available I knew I had to bring it to the Grand Opera House,” he said, promising a “truly beautiful, bold and gritty new production, capturing the electricity, humour and heart that has made ‘Jamie’ a modern British classic”.
Electricity. Tick. Humour. Tick. Heart. Tick, tick, ticker. They are all here in abundance in a production driven by Briggs’s thrilling direction, bold and beautiful performances and A J Powell’s choreography, full of punch and panache. What lifts it even higher, to five- star status, is Briggs’s costume and especially set design.
In a story so fast moving, where Jamie’s life is always on the edge of being out of control, where he wants to run before he can strut in heels, Briggs’s revolving stage is the perfect way to encapsulate the commotion. It enables the next scene to be set up out of sight, in transitions from Mayfield School classroom to Jamie’s house; classroom to Victor’s Secret clothes shop; a street bench to Jamie’s house; outside Legs Eleven nightclub to inside.
Nik Briggs: Director-designer of York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
There is no need for stage hands to be in view, save to push the merry-go-round for the next triangular stage to lock into place. It is so quick and efficient that the only things not to be on the move are the hands of the classroom clock. Then again, time waits for no man, or rather teenage boy in this case.
After Ryan Addyman, at the age of 17 in 2023, and Harvey Stephens, at 15 in 2025, now 16-year-old Sheffield council estate schoolboy Jamie New is played by Huby professional actor Frankie Bounds, who is fully ten years older than Harvey at 25, but still boyish of frame, cherubic in his cheekiness and lithe of limb to complement boundless mischievous energy and singing skills honed by his training in both opera and musical theatre.
Inspired by the Firecracker documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16, composer Gillespie Sells (from Horsham pop practitioners The Feeling) and writer/lyricist MacRae draw on an original idea by co-writer Jonathan Butterell for the unapologetic story of the boy who sometimes wants to be a girl, wear a dress to the school prom and be a drag queen in this classic teen rebel story.
Withering wit, northern nous and sassy social awareness all pepper their unflinching account of societal and classroom attitudes towards gender, bigotry, bullying, homophobia, absentee fathers and the right to self-expression. Nine years on from the Sheffield Crucible premiere, post-Covid strictures and the rise of right-wing intolerance, ‘Jamie’ hits home all the harder.
Mum Margaret New (Joanne Theaker), left, and friend Ray (Julie-Ann Smith) organising the 16th birthday party for Jamie (Frankie Bounds) in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Significantly, every Jamie putdown of loathsome, self-loathing school bully Dean Paxton (Cain Branton) is met with cheers, cheers that grew even louder to greet Bounds’ exit from the Stage Door after Saturday’s matinee. Likewise, Jamie’s best friend, assured York Stage debutante Roxanne Hall’s Priti Pasha, the Muslim student destined to study Medicine at Cambridge, puts dunderhead Dean in his place too. This bravura musical not only celebrates difference but what a difference for the better it makes too.
Among the Year 11 pupils of Mayfield School, a typical northern comprehensive classroom of hope-filled, yet cynical and unruly 16-year-olds, Bounds’ Jamie is a restless Yorkshire dreamer in need of escape. He wants to be a performer, not the fork lift driver his career advisor suggests.
Breaking rules and hearts alike, this lippy kid in lip gloss is outwardly confident but he is naive and vulnerable too, wounded by the barbs of his stay-away father (Adam Thompson) and discouraged by his narrow-minded teacher Miss Hedge (Katie Spencer).
The grit promised by Briggs is delivered through the kitchen-sink drama frankness not only of blinkered teacher and bigoted father but also of Jamie’s world-weary, self-sacrificial, ever-supportive mum Margaret (Joanne Theaker, whose rendition of heartfelt ballad He’s My Boy is the Act Two show-stopper).
Class act:Frankie Bounds in his glittering yet shattering performance as teenager Jamie New at the heart of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
High quality is guaranteed by the presence of both Theaker and Julie-Ann Smith’s Ray, who brings a sharp tongue and kind heart to every domestic drama. Together they form a formidably forthright duo taking on both authority and convention.
To go with the grit, here comes the glitz and bravado of dress-shop boss Hugo/veteran drag act Loco Chanelle (Grant McIntyre) and the drag-queen veterans Sandra Bollock (Thompson’s second role), Tray Sophisticay (George Cornell, reprising his Teen Version role) and Laika Virgin (the thoroughly fabulous Stu Hutchinson), in Sheffield’s answer to The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.
Supporting roles and ensemble cast are in fine form too, as is Jessica Viner’s band, where James Lolley’s trumpet is particularly potent. Briggs has hit new heights in his director-designer double whammy, bringing out the best in his cast, boosted by Powell’s fabulous choreography, where even the cans on a schoolroom table dance in rhythm.
York Stage presents Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Year 11 pupils, led by Frankie Bounds’ Jamie New in red nail varnish, turn the classroom into a dancefloor of defiance in York Stage’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
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/.
Weaving a different spin on The Odyssey: Amelia Bullmore’s Penelope in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
FROM The Penelopiad’s feminist twist on The Odyssey to Miller’s Death Of A Salesman, the Brontë sisters’ other story to Jamie’s blossoming, Charles Hutchinson watches autumn find its fifth gear.
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.
Jess Murray’s Emily, left, Lara Stafford’s Charlotte and Millie Rhodes’s Anne Brontë in York Settlement Community Players’ Underdog: The Other Other Brontë. Picture: John Saunders
York premiere of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
CHARLOTTE Brontë (played by Lara Stafford) has a confession about how one sister (Emily, Jess Murray) 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 (Millie Rhodes).
Claire Morley directs Settlement Players in Sarah Gordon’s irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters as you have never seen the Yorkshire scribbling sisters before. Premiered at the National Theatre in 2024, this is not a story of well-behaved women but of the power of words, sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds – Live! The Concert Experience! at York Barbican
Iconic score of the week: Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds – Live! The Concert Experience!, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm
FOR the first time, audiences can experience a concert rendition of Jeff Wayne’s score for The War Of The Worlds, presented by Kilimanjaro, who bring the double album to life with West End performers, live band, orchestra and animation.
“For this concert tour, I’ll be stepping back from the podium,” says Wayne. “But the production will showcase exceptional artists from the West End and other major performing mediums, supported by a band, orchestra, animation and other concert elements. It will stand as a true companion to my arena tours.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Andy Studdart, as Willie Loman, and Linda Tester, as The Woman, Willy’s mistress, in 1812 Theatre Company’s Death Of A Salesman. Picture: Joe Coughlan
Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Death Of A Salesman, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
DIRECTED by Julie Lomas, Helmsley’s 1812 Theatre Company presents Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman, charting the last 24 hours of struggling salesman Willie Loman (played by Andy Studdart), who cannot understand how he failed to win success and happiness.
Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations of the life he has lived with his wife, sons and business associates, we discover how his quest for the “American Dream” kept him blind to the people who truly loved him. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Jonathan Agnew: Cricket chat in An Evening With Aggers at Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tomorrow
Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew, An Evening With Aggers, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tomorrow, 7.30pm
TEST Match Special broadcaster and former BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew presents an evening of candid insights and anecdotes packed with humour and cricketing gold, iconic archive clips and previously unseen footage.
From covering the Olympic Games in Rio to commentating on the unforgettable Super Over finale of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, he reflects on the defining moments of his career and his days in the commentary box with Brian Johnston and Sir Geoffrey Boycott, with surprises aplenty too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk
York Stage’s cast for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, led by Frankie Bounds as Jamie New, the Sheffield schoolboy with dreams
Bold and unapologetic musical of the week: York Stage in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to 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 love of his mum, the support of his friends and 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.
Tom Stade: Dismantling rules and redefining them his way at York Barbican
Come and see for yourself why…Tom Stade Rules, YO1 Radio Live Lounge, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
CANADIAN free spirit Tom Stade takes aim at the absurdities of modern times with his incisive, gloriously unfiltered wit as he grapples with rebellion, responsibility and the tension between the old and the new. From unspoken social codes to cultural divisions, identity to marriage, Stade dismantles all the rules and redefines them his way. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ben Bowman in Michael Starring Ben
Recommended but sold out already: Michael Starring Ben, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
TAKE a journey back in time to recall Michael Jackson’s music and magic in Michael Starring Ben, featuring “the UK’s ultimate Michael Jackson tribute star”, Ben Bowman.
Neither associated with nor endorsed by the Michael Jackson Estate, this tribute to the King of Pop features a live band, dazzling costumes and Jackson’s iconic dance routines in its showcase of Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5’s greatest hits.
Samuel Moore: Flamenco guitarist in concert at Milton Rooms, Malton
Flamenco guitarist of the week: Samuel Moore, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7.30pm
MESMERISING West Yorkshire flamenco guitarist, tutor and author Samuel Moore transports you to the heart of Spain in Saturday’s concert. Winner of the Manhattan International Music Competition in 2023 and Vienna International Music Competition in 2025, he has performed across the UK, Europe and North America, playing solo at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.
Bringing to life the rich colours, rhythms, and sounds of Andalucía, his repertoire encompasses original compositions, traditional flamenco forms and masterworks by Ramón Montoya, Niño Ricardo and Sabicas. His 2019 debut album with classical guitarist Michael Christian Durrant, Guitar, The Heart Of Spain, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London; his solo debut, Camino Flamenco, will be released on November 20. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Alex Voysey: Leading Faux Bonamassa blues concert at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Blues gig of the week The Alex Voysey Blues Band presents Faux Bonamassa, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
ALEX Voysey was nominated for Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2025 UK Blues Federation Awards. Now his band re-imagines the musicianship of blues titan Joe Bonamassa, blending Bonamassa’s greatest songs of the past two decades with Voysey’s virtuosity, improvisation and contemporary blues mastery. Expect to hear Sloe Gin, The Ballad Of John Henry, Athens To Athens, Woke Up Dreaming, Dustbowl, A Conversation With Alice and Stop. Box office: kirktheatre.co.uk/events/alex-voysey.
Amelia Bullmore in rehearsal for her lead role as Penelope in The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
FROM The Penelopiad’s feminist twist on The Odyssey to Alan Carr testing new material, the Brontë sisters’ other story to Jamie’s blossoming, Charles Hutchinson Hutchinson watches autumn find its fifth gear.
Greek tragedy twist of the week: Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Odyssey: Her Story, York Theatre Royal, today 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.
Nancy Cadogan: Exhibiting At The Bend In The River at Beningbrough Hall from today
Exhibition opening of the week: At The Bend In The River: Paintings by Nancy Cadogan, Beningbrough Hall, Beningbrough, near York, today 11am to 4pm
LONDON figurative artist Nancy Cadogan explores how a place is shaped by memory, artistry and human connection in At The Bend In The River, an exhibition spread across four rooms of Beningbrough’s Reddihough Galleries that brings together newly commissioned large-scale paintings, drawings and immersive creative spaces that respond to the National Trust estate’s Ouse riverside setting, historic house and changing landscape.
Through art, film, drawing and creative writing, Cadogan invites visitors to “pause and reflect on the journeys we take and the places and memories that sustain us”. Look out too for intimate works that reflect on women, time and storytelling. Tickets (as part of National Trust admission): nationaltrust.org.uk/beningbrough.
Alan Carr: Two gigs in one day at Pocklington Arts Centre
Comedy gigs of the week: Alan Carr, Work In Progress, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 3pm and 7.30pm
THE Celebrity Traitors 2026 winner, comedian, television presenter and quiz host Alan Carr is heading to Pocklington for a brace of “very special work-in-progress shows” ahead of his Have I Said Too Much? tour, when he will play York Barbican on March 13 2027. Box office: Pocklington, pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; York, yorkbarbican.co.uk.
James Fountain: Trumpet soloist for York Guildhall Orchestra’s concert at York Barbican
Classical concert of the week: York Guildhall Orchestra, York Barbican, tomorrow, 3pm
YORK Guildhall Orchestra launches its new season with a Sunday afternoon programme of works by Malcolm Arnold, William Walton and Spanish composer and pianist Manuel de Falla.
Arnold’s ebullient Trumpet Concerto, composed in 1981, will be played by soloist James Fountain after the opening orchestral fanfare of Walton’s Crown Imperial. De Falla adapted his 1919 ballet Three Cornered Hat, featuring Spanish folk and dance music, into two orchestra suites; the second will be performed tomorrow. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Jess Murray’s Emily, left, Lara Stafford’s Charlotte and Millie Rhodes’s Anne Brontë in York Settlement Community Players’ Underdog: The Other Other Brontë
York premiere of the week: York Settlement Community Players in Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, October 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
CHARLOTTE Brontë (played by Lara Stafford) has a confession about how one sister (Emily, Jess Murray) 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 (Millie Rhodes).
Claire Morley directs Settlement Players in Sarah Gordon’s irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters as you have never seen the Yorkshire scribbling sisters before. Premiered at the National Theatre in 2024, this not a story of well-behaved women but of the power of words, sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Henry Raby: Wrestling with the twin emotions of hope and anger at The Old Paint Shop
Poetry gig of the week: The Old Paint Shop presents Henry Raby, Hope and Anger, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 14, 8pm
YORK punk poet and Say Owt artistic director Henry Raby wrestles through the twin emotions of hope and anger with a spoken-word cocktail of poetry and comedy as he seeks to understand the righteous and the rotten. “Come and share in fist-clenched frustration and celebrate examples of the world, and the heartfelt people in it, at their shiniest and brightest,” says Henry. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
“Reaching 25 years in music is incredibly emotional,” says York Barbican-bound Katherine Jenkins
“Reunion with old friends” of the week: Katherine Jenkins, 25 Year Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, October 15, 7.30pm
WELSH mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, 46, the biggest-selling classical artist of the 21st century, plays York Barbican as the only Yorkshire venue on her 25 Year Anniversary Tour, her first in five years. “Reaching 25 years in music is incredibly emotional, but this tour is truly a celebration of the fans who have been there from the very beginning,” she says.
“To be heading out across the UK and Ireland for 18 special shows feels less like a celebration of a career and more like a reunion with old friends, and I can’t wait to stand on stage, look out into those familiar faces and share it all over again.” Jodok Cello supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
York Stage’s cast for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, starring Frankie Bounds as Jamie New
Bold and unapologetic musical of the week: York Stage in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grand Opera House, York, October 16 to 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 love of his mum, the support of his friends and 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.
Tom Stade: Playing by his rules at York Barbican
Come and see for yourself why…Tom Stade Rules, YO1 Radio Live Lounge, York Barbican, October 16, 7.30pm
CANADIAN free spirit Tom Stade takes aim at the absurdities of modern times with his incisive, gloriously unfiltered wit as he grapples with rebellion, responsibility and the tension between the old and the new. From unspoken social codes to cultural divisions, identity to marriage, Stade dismantles all the rules and redefines them his way. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
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.
York Pride: Day of Pride, protest, visibility, music, cabaret and family entertainment at Knavesmire tomorrow. Picture: Milner Creative
YORK Pride 2026 celebrates love, equality and community as thousands head to Knavesmire for a day suffused with with music, colour and unity as the LGBT+ rainbow flies proudly across York tomorrow from 11am to 7.30pm.
Free to attend, the festival promises a full day of Pride, protest, visibility, music, cabaret and family entertainment, opening with the 90-minute Pride parade from Parliament Street at 12 noon. Bring rainbow attire, water, comfortable shoes and sun cream or umbrellas (depending on the Yorkshire weekend weather).
The Main Stage line-up features Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle, musical star and pop singer Joe McElderry, Urban Cookie Collective, Nicki French, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Michael Marouli, Roxanne Cooper, Sweet Like Sabrina, Heavenly Bodies, Jordan Smart, DJ Rory Hoy and York Stage’s cast for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, performing the show’s biggest numbers ahead of the Grand Opera House run from October 16 to 24.
The Main Stage will be hosted by Ash Palmisciano, Mamma Bear and St Sordid Secret, bringing Pride energy, Yorkshire warmth, crowd moments and celebration throughout the day.
The Cabaret Stage returns with a packed line-up of drag, cabaret and queer performance, hosted by Miss Kitty Lee and Crudi Dench. On the bill will be RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Victoria Scone, JTG featuring Janice D, Tanya Hyde and Gloria Hole, Luna Hex, Queen Queef, Polly Glamourous, Elle Vosque, Sasha Glam, King Butch, Marigold Addams as Jane McDonald, Pembo, Robynne Ryske, Reese Wetherspoon, Ferne Ando and Mark Anthony.
Crudi Dench: Hosting Cabaret Stage at York Pride tomorrow and presenting Someone Help Her! in The Basement tonight
Crudi Dench, by the way, also will be presenting her “almost finished” debut solo show, Someone Help Her!, in her “ancestral homeland” of York in The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse tonight (29/5/2026) at 8pm.
Ring, ring, who is it? Drag comedian, West End writer, delusional icon and “all-round cheeky Northern piglet” Crudi Dench, of course, who will be taping the pilot episode for her new TV show, Someone Help Her! and needs the assistance of surprise celebrity guests in the audience (you) to help those phoning in.
Chaos ensues in this long-awaited, chaotic debut hour from the star and writer of award-winning, sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows Drag Queens vs Zombies and Drag Queens vs Vampires. Expect stand-up comedy, audience interaction and a fabulous telephone that Crudi will pick up bravely without receiving a text beforehand. Box office: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/34931/crudi-dench-someone-help-her-york.
Across the festival site, York Pride 2026 will featurethree stages, a dedicated dance tent, two bars, 100 stalls and food & drink traders, charities, community groups, sponsor spaces, an expandedFamily Area and the UK’s largest one-day funfair, plus the proud hosting of York Trans Pride.
Who’s who and what’s what at York Pride2026
The Family Area will bring family-friendly entertainment, activities, performances and creative spaces for children, young people and families, making York Pride a celebration for all ages.
York Pride is free to attend, a policy only made possible by donations, sponsorship, fundraising, traders, volunteers and community support. Every donation and every purchase from the festival’s official shop helps keep Pride free and protects the future of the event.
Explore the website at https://www.yorkpride.org.uk/to find out more about the Pride Parade, accessibility, volunteering, trading, sponsorship, donating, shopping, travel information, performers and everything planned for York Pride 2026.
Follow @yorkpride for the latest announcements and updates.
Jacqueline Bell’s Captain Beverley Bass in York Stage’s Come From Away. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg
“WELCOME To Gander,” reads the sign, pictured in the York Stage programme. “Crossroads To The World”.
As an accompanying note explains, Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada, was once a major refuelling stop for transatlantic flights, its airport built to handle large aircraft, giving it the capacity to receive multiple unexpected landings.
In its heyday, Gander International Airport hosted The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Queen Elizabeth II, Frank Sinatra, Neil Armstrong and Muhammad Ali. In later years, on a normal day, six planes would pass through, but September 11 2001 was anything but normal.
Suddenly, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, under Operation Yellow Ribbon, it received 38 unexpected but now essential landings in only two and a half hours.
On board and now grounded on the runways were 7,000 international passengers, their fear, confusion and suspicion exacerbated by the information blackout. Gander’s population would almost double in that instant, and how that community responded is the stuff of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Tony Award-winning 2015 musical, now receiving its York premiere.
Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah, awaiting news of her New York firefighter son, in York Stage’s Come From Away
“Come from away” is the term Newfoundlanders use for someone who is visiting there or lives on the island but was born elsewhere. For five days, Gander welcomed those “come from away” strangers to this temporary new-found land. Here are the facts: 10,000 meals were prepared daily; clothing donations were sorted and distributed, counselling services provided and entertainment arranged to lift spirits (such as the Kiss The Cod drinking game).
The political world was in turmoil, but at such times the best of humanity comes through too, times where we find common ground – in acts of kindness – amid the threat of heightened global division.
Come From Away is billed as a “life-affirming, uplifting celebration of hope, humanity and unity”: characteristics ripe for the musical format, but no less vital is the storytelling, rooted in Sankoff and Hein’s research visit to Gander and interviews with residents and passengers.
That gives the musical its narrative drive, one that encapsulates connection and communication between town and world, grounded as much in humour as the desperate uncertainty of what may have befallen loved ones in New York or Washington DC that morning.
Directed, produced and designed by Nik Briggs and choreographed by Danielle Mullan-Hill, Come From Away is first and foremost an ensemble piece, its 19-strong cast omnipresent, all pulling together to mirror the big-hearted story with its balance of comforting comic relief and sadness, rousing spirit and silent shock, good deeds and grief.
Gander’s residents singing Welcome To The Rock in York Stage’s Come From Away
Within that collective structure, Sankoff and Hein weave the individual tales of the resolute, stout, stentorian town mayor Claude (superb York Stage debutant Richard Billings); the first female American Airlines captain (Jacqueline Bell’s pilot Captain Beverley Bass, full of leadership steel); the mother of a New York firefighter (Jess Gardham’s heartbreaking Hannah); the young local news reporter thrown in at the deep end (Megan Day’s resourceful Janice) and an animal welfare devotee (Claire Morley’s Bonnie, as bonny as her name).
Love plays its part too: blossoming in the case of York Stage regular Stu Hutchinson’s typically stiff Englishman Nick and Lana Davies’s Diane; fracturing, however, for Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T and Faisal Khodabukus’s Kevin J. Both relationships, one burgeoning, the other dissolving, are played with just the right chemistry, the dialogue being typical of why it could be argued that Sankoff and Hein’s book is stronger than their songs.
The opening ensemble number Welcome To The Rock sets the musical and choreographic tone, with its high-energy, righteous fusion of Irish and folk vibrancy under Stephen Hackshaw’s muscular musical direction, with band members in view in the wings and later bursting into the well-deserved limelight for a party hoedown.
Against the backdrop of a map of Newfoundland and a red You Are Here neon sign, Briggs moves his cast around on chairs and tables on wheels that are reassembled and reconfigured constantly, even combining to form the cockpit and cabin of a plane.
This further enhances the relentless pace of Briggs’s well-drilled direction and Mullan-Hill’s thrilling choreography, putting the motion into commotion, albeit with the welcome breathing space of ballads for reflection for Bell’s Beverley (Me And The Sky) and trauma for Gardham’s Hannah (I Am Here). Everything initially is a rush, a scramble of emotions, a need for instant practical measures, but then countered by the agony of awaiting dreaded news.
Grant McIntyre’s Kevin T trying on a Newfoundland lumberjack’s shirt for size in York Stage’s Come From Away
That sense of unnatural haste in unnatural circumstances is heighted still more by a running time of only 100 minutes with no interval, compounded further by the regular drum beat of the bodhran.
The songs tend to rush by, full of zest and zing in the moment without having an X Factor hit among them, but the combination of Hackshaw’s band (keys, accordion, whistle, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, percussion, drums and even a Newfoundland ‘ugly stick’) and Briggs’s unerring ability to find outstanding singers give them greater impact than in the touring version that landed at Leeds Grand Theatre in May 2024.
Emily Hardy’s teacher Beulah, multi-rolling Traitors’ alumnus Theo Mayne, especially his Captain Bristol, and Chris Wilson’s quartet of roles, in particular Oz, all add strong characterisation, ably supported by Emily Davis, Adam Gill, Sarah Jackson, Adam Thompson, Rebecca Stevenson, Eleanor Grady and Kelly Kiernan.
Come From Away does Gander proud, York Stage does Come From Away proud, as “kindness, resilience and human connection in times of crisis” remind us of our humanity. How important that is, amid each new dawn’s screeching vitriol on Truth Social.
York Stage presents Come From Away,Grand Opera House, York, until April 18, 7.30pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 4pm Sunday matinee.Box office: atgtickets.com/york..Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The ‘ugly stick’, far left, makes its bouncy, percussive appearance in the party scene in York Stage’s Come From Away
York Stage’s full cast takes a seat for the York premiere of Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
THE York premiere of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s global hit musical Come From Away will land at the Grand Opera House tomorrow (10/4/2026).
“It’s one of the most powerful true stories ever told on stage,” says Nik Briggs, who is directing a cast of 19 in the Olivier and Tony Award winner. “If you’ve heard the buzz around this show worldwide, now is your chance to experience it right here in York.
“With just one day to go until opening night, excitement is building fast for what’s already becoming one of York Stage’s fastest-selling shows to date.”
Come From Away charts the real-life story of 7,000 air passengers being grounded in Canada in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when 38 planes are diverted to the remote Newfoundland town of Gander, population 9,400, almost doubling that total in two hours.
The community responds by inviting these “come from aways” into their lives with open hearts as unexpected friendships form, changing thousands of lives forever.
From Bake Off to take-off: York Stage director Nik Briggs, at the controls of Come From Away after starring in The Great British Bake-Off Musical last November
“Come From Away is more than just a musical,” says Nik. “It’s a celebration of humanity, resilience and the power of community. Step into a world where kindness conquers all, brought to life with invigorating, electrifying music and stories that will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the goodness of people.”
He recalls his introduction to the show. “One day, on a drive from York to Sunderland, setting off at 6am, I put the soundtrack on – one hour 40 minutes – and as I pulled up in the car park, I had to compose myself as I was sitting there sobbing,” says Nik. “For me, structurally, and the way the piece is brought together, it’s just perfection.”
He has a philosophy on tears being shed in the theatre. “I’m a big believer that, to make an audience cry, you don’t want to see crying on stage,” he says.
“I love working with emotional texts and I like to think York Stage has had success with them over the years, but there’s something about how, in real life, when you see someone at their worst, as a human being, you want to embrace them and be there for them, whereas if you see someone being brave, or just carrying on or holding back the tears, that’s when you’ll cry more. That’s always been the approach I’ve had with shows where there’s real emotion.”
Nik continues: “Albeit that Come From Away’s story is associated with the events of 9/11, it’s not about that tragedy, but the ripple effect it had: how a Canadian community came together with compassion. That’s what’s celebrated in this show; that humanity.
Just landed: York Stage’s cast for Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
“Twenty-five years on from those terrorist attacks, the compassion and humanity shown in Gander is what’s needed in the world now, and some would argue even more so. There’s no baddie in Come From Away. We all know what’s going on in New York that day, where there is a baddie, but though we see fear, we see uneasiness, and at first we see prejudices in Gander, we don’t see a villain. This is a show about something totally different from that.”
Come From Away stands apart in its instrumentation and musical arrangements too. “It’s not typical musical theatre instrumentation,” says Nik, who is working in tandem with musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Instead it features musical instruments associated with Newfoundland, such as the bodhran [drum] and the ‘ugly stick’, a welly boot fitted with a mop head, bottle tops and tin cans.”
Thanks to cast member Jacqueline Bell, who will play Captain Beverley Bass, York Stage’s show will feature the aforementioned ‘ugly stick’, and thereby hangs a tale. “After getting the part in our production and doing some research, she had some time off booked to go on holiday but hadn’t booked anywhere,” says Nik.
“She said she just felt compelled to go to Gander – I said I felt the same! – and so off she went! What you hear about Operation Yellow Ribbon [Canada’s handling of the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the 9/11 attacks] may sound too good to be true, or you wonder if it has been slightly ‘musical theatre-ised’ in Come From Away, but no, that community spirit was very much present.
“Before going there in February, Jacqui emailed a few places, saying, ‘I know you’re not running tours at this time of year, but I’m in the cast for the show in York, can you help?’. The Gander community put out a plea to put together a personal tour for her.”
Jacqueline Bell, who will play Captain Beverley Bass and Annette in Come From Away, flew out to Gander and returned with an ‘ugly stick’. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
What happened next? “Rodgers TV reporter Brian Mosher, on whom one of the Come From Away characters is partly based, turned up and surprised Jacqui! He took her round all the places that featured in the story – and she stayed in the hotel where Captain Beverley Bass had stayed,” says Nik, who recommends looking up Jacqui’s video blogs from Gander on York Stage’s Facebook site.
“On her return to rehearsals, she said that everything that was ‘too good to be true’ about the people of Gander was true. Apparently, there was even one thing that had happened that the musical producers decided ‘we can’t have that in the show as no-one would believe it’ – when a rainbow formed as the last of the 38 planes took off again.”
Jacqueline brought back the all-important ‘ugly stick’, bought for the equivalent of £100. “We’ve affectionately called it ‘Brian Mosher’ in rehearsals,” says Nik.
As for his travel plans, they extend rather further than York to Sunderland as dawn breaks. “Gander is somewhere I’m determined to visit now,” he vows.
York Stage presents Come From Away,Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow (10/4/2026) to April 18, 7.30pm nightly, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, Saturday matinees; 4pm, Sunday matinee.Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Oliver Davis, Amber Wadey, Connor Keetley and Abigail Bailey in The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show. Picture: Pamela Raith
FROM a very hungry caterpillar to a life-changing musical, a Ritchie Blackmore tribute to Normal poetry, Charles Hutchinson looks on the bright side for spring joy.
Children’s show of the week: ROYO presents The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 2pm and 4pm; Friday and Saturday, 11am and 2pm
CREATED by Jonathan Rockefeller, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show features 75 lovable puppets in a faithful 50-minute adaptation of four stories by author/illustrator Eric Carle:Brown Bear, Brown Bear, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, The Very Busy Spider and the titular star of the show. In the cast will be Abigail Bailey, Oliver Davis, Connor Keetley and Amber Wadey. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Nic Cage Against The Machine: A tribute act like no other at The Crescent, York
York tribute act of the week: Nic Cage Against The Machine, The Crescent, York, Friday, 7.30pm
MOVE over Elvana, the covers- band conflation of Elvis and Nirvana. Here comes the even wilder Nic Cage Against The Machine, a tribute to Californian rock band Rage Against The Machine, fronted by an homage to Hollywood’s Nouveau Shamanic method actor supreme Nicolas Cage, with props. Leeds fun punks Moose Knuckle support. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Blackmore’s Blood: Celebrating the hard rock of Deep Purple and Rainbow
Ryedale tribute show of the week: Blackmore’s Blood, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
BLACKMORE’S Blood exploded on to the scene in 2016 with its tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s rock years with Deep Purple and Rainbow, combining an authentic sound with a flamboyant stage presence and thrilling theatrics.
Playing not only the classics, every performance is a time machine, transporting audiences back to the glory days of hard rock with electrifying riffs, soaring melodies and Blackmore swagger. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
York Stage cast members in Nik Briggs’s production of Come From Away. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
Musical of the week: York Stage in Come From Away, Grand Opera House, York, Friday to April 18, 7.30pm, except Sunday and Monday; 2.30pm, Saturday matinees; 4pm, Sunday matinee
NIK Briggs directs the York premiere of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning musical account of the real-life story of 7,000 air passengers being grounded in Canada in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, whereupon the small Newfoundland community of Gander invites these “come from aways” into their lives with open hearts.
Performed by a cast of 19, Come From Away is “more than just a musical,” says Briggs. “It’s a celebration of humanity, resilience and the power of community. Step into a world where kindness conquers all, brought to life with invigorating, electrifying music and stories that will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the goodness of people.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Cyril Raymond and Janet Morrison in the poster for Meaningful Films’ documentary Briefest Encounters at City Screen Picturehouse
Film event of the week: Brief Encounter, Briefest Encounters and Q&A, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Friday, 7pm
FRIDAY’S screening of the 80th anniversary restoration of David Lean’s Brief Encounter (PG) will be followed by North Rigton-raised journalist, researcher and filmmaker Joanna Crosse’s new documentary, uncovering the untold love story behind the 1945 film, revealing the hidden past of her grandfather, actor Cyril Raymond, who played Laura’s cuckolded husband Fred.
In an uncanny twist of fate, Raymond had a ‘brief encounter’ with actress Janet Morrison during a transatlantic stage production in 1929 that resulted in a child being born out of wedlock. Cinema myth meets lived experience in Briefest Encounters as interviews, letters, Raymond’s rediscovered diaries and archive material show how interrupted love, inherited silence and duty shaped family lives for generations. Crosse and fellow Meaningful Films filmmaker Luke Taylor will take part in a Q&A afterwards. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Classical pianist Julian Trevelyan: Performing at Helmsley Arts Centre
Classical concert of the week; Julian Trevelyan, Farewell Letters, Helmsley Arts Centre, April 11, 7.30pm
CONCERT pianist Julian Trevelyan performs regularly throughout Europe and in the UK. He moved to France after winning the 2015 Long-Thibaud-Crespin international competition at the age of 16, becoming the youngest prize-winner in the competition’s history. He has since won prizes at international piano competitions such as Leeds, Géza Anda & Horowitz. He will be performing works by Bach, Byrd, Oginski, Beethoven, Schönberg, Strauss/Trevelyan and Mozart. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Jan Brierton and Henry Norma:l: Teaming up for poetry and humour at Helmsley Arts Centre
Poetry at the double: Edge Street Live presents Henry Normal and Jan Brierton, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 16, 7.30pm
WRITER, poet, television & film producer and Manchester Poetry Festival founder Henry Normal is joined by Dubliner Jan Brierton for an evening of poetry and humour. Normal, whose credits include co-writing The Mrs Merton Show and the first series of The Royle Family, will be reading from his new book A Quiet Promise.
Brierton riffs on modern life, love and friendships, wellness and ageing, rage and domestic exasperation in her poetic reflections on being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and retired raver, plus plenty of stuff about tea, lipstick and biscuits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Maureen Onwunali: Slam champion in action at Say Owt’s night of poetry at The Crescent in York
Slam champ of the week: Say Owt presents Maureen Onwunali, The Crescent, York, April 17, 7.30pm
YORK spoken-word collective Sat Owt’s guest poet for April’s gathering will be Dublin-born Nigerian poet and two-time national slam champion Maureen Onwunali.
Rich with political observations and carefully crafted verse, her work has been featured by musicians, radio shows and organisations, such as the British Film Institute, Penguin, BBC, Roundhouse, Apples and Snakes, Obsidian Foundation and the Poetry Society. Box office: seetickets.com/event/say-owt-slam-featuring-maureen-onwunali/the-crescent/3588134.
More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 14, from The York Press
Amabile Clarinet Trio: Playing innovative programme at York Late Music concert
HAMLET on a sinking ship, family politics on a calamitous wedding day and artists’ studios opening on two weekends are the headline acts on Charles Hutchinson’s latest bill of arts delights.
Classical concert of the week: York Late Music presents Amabile Clarinet Trio, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, April 11, 7.30pm
THE Amabile Clarinet Trio – York clarinettist Lesley Schatzberger, cellist Nicola Tait Baxter and pianist Paul Nicholson – presents an innovative programme featuring two premieres plus Thea Musgrave’s Canta Canta!, patron Nicola LeFanu’s Lullaby and Nocturne, American composer Robert Muczynski’s rarely played Fantasy Trio and the first York performance ofAlexander von Zemlinsky’s Trio in D minor.
The UK premiere of David Lancaster’s Canzone Sospesoand a world premiere from composer David Power will be complemented by a set of Morris newly transcribed by York composer Steve Crowther. Lancaster gives a pre-concert talk at 6.45pm, to be enjoyed with a complimentary glass of wine or juice. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.
Lesley Jones and Steve Coates: Teaming up for the last time for Swing When You Sing
Farewell concert of the week: Steve Coates Music Productions present Swing When You Sing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 12, 7.30pm
BEV Jones Music Company and The Jubilee Celebration Singers producer Lesley Jones bids farewell to the York stage after 20 years of mounting shows with Swing When You Sing, presented with Steve Coates Music Productions.
Alan Owens’s 16-piece big band will be joined on stage by singers Ruth McNeil, Annabel van Griethuysen, Hayley Bamford, Johanna Hartley, Adele Barlow, Larry Gibson, Terry Ford, Stephen Wilson, David Hartley and Geoff Walker to perform Rat Pack, Minnie The Moocher, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Under The Sea, Cheek To Cheek, Sway (Latin), Fever, Mr Bojangles, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Sing, Sing, Sing (with Bob Fosse-style dancing). “Varied? Yes! Upbeat? Yes! Emotional? Yes!” says Lesley. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
The poster for the launch of Bishy Road Community Choir
Start-up of the week: Bishy Road Community Choir, Stables Yoga Centre, Nunmill Street, York, from April 13
THE Stables Yoga Centre and Rachel Davies are setting up the Bishy Road Community Choir to run on Mondays from 5pm to 5.50pm at £5 a session from April 13. This welcoming, musically accessible group will use song to promote happiness, wellbeing and community. No experience or musical skills are needed; only enthusiasm to try feel-good singing. To book a place, visit stablesyoga.co.uk/timetable.
Wedded bliss amid wedding-day blisters: Darren Barrott’s Marek and Joy Warner’s Sylvia in York Actors Collective’s Till The Stars Come Down
Family politics of the week: York Actors Collective in Till The Stars Come Down, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, April14 to 18, 7.30pm, Tuesday to Friday; 2pm and 6pm, Saturday
PREMIERED at the National Theatre in 2024 and now receiving its York premiere, Beth Steel’s contemporary British family drama is set on the wedding day of Sylvia and Marek in a South Yorkshire mining town.
Directed by Angie Millard, Till The Stars Come Down explores the tumultuous dynamics of a working-class family in a changing world of economic decline and political shifts as long-held secrets, passions, and tensions surrounding class, immigration, and social change spill over into chaos and tragedy. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ralph Davis’s Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, set on a sinking ship, on tour at York Theatre Royal
Titanic anniversary event of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to 18,7pm plus 1.30pm, April 16 and 2pm, April 18
LET director Rupert Goold introduces the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, starring Ralph Davis, as the tour sets sail for York on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s descent to the depths. “Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands,” he says.
“Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours, our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. This production asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Jan Brierton and Henry Normal: Poetic humour at Milton Rooms, Malton
Poetry at the double: Edge Street Live presents Henry Normal and Jan Brierton, Milton Rooms, Malton, April 16, 7.30pm
WRITER, poet, television & film producer and Manchester Poetry Festival founder Henry Normal is joined by Dubliner Jan Brierton for an evening of poetry and humour. Normal, whose credits include co-writing The Mrs Merton Show and the first series of The Royle Family, will be reading from his new book A Quiet Promise.
Brierton riffs on modern life, love and friendships, wellness and ageing, rage and domestic exasperation in her poetic reflections on being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and retired raver, plus plenty of stuff about tea, lipstick and biscuits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Aggers & Tuffers: The chatter of cricket and the clatter of wickets at York Barbican
Not just cricket: Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell in An Audience With Aggers & Tuffers, York Barbican, April 16, 7.30pm
TEST Match Special commentator-and-pundit duo Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell take to the road for more cricket chat from beyond the boundary. Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler and three-decade BBC cricket correspondent Aggers teams up anew with record-breaking former England spin bowler and crowd favourite Tuffers, who gives his spin on his maverick playing days and second wind as a media personality on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Strictly Come Dancing and A Question Of Sport. Box office update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Maureen Onwunali: Slam champ spinning words at Say Owt
Slam champ of the week: Say Owt presents Maureen Onwunali, The Crescent, York, April 17, 7.30pm
YORK spoken-word collective Sat Owt’s guest poet for April’s gathering will be Dublin-born Nigerian poet and two-time national slam champion Maureen Onwunali.
Rich with political observations and carefully crafted verse, her work has been featured by musicians, radio shows and organisations, such as the British Film Institute, Penguin, BBC, Roundhouse, Apples and Snakes, Obsidian Foundation and the Poetry Society. Box office: seetickets.com/event/say-owt-slam-featuring-maureen-onwunali/the-crescent/3588134.
Jacqueline James: Demonstrating her hand-woven rug-making in Rosslyn Street, Clifton, at York Open Studios
Art event of the month: York Open Studios, York and beyond, April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26, 10am to 5pm
ARTISTS and makers involved in York Open Studios are putting the final touches to their workplaces and studios within York and a ten-mile radius of the city, in readiness to welcome visitors across two weekends.
This annual event offers the chance to gain a sneak peek into where the artists work, their methods and inspirations, whether a regular participant or the 27 newcomers, spanning traditional and contemporary painting and print, illustration, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, glass, sculpture, jewellery, textiles and photography. For more information, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk; access the interactive map at yorkopenstudios.co.uk/map.
