Tag: York Theatre Royal Studio

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 24, from Gazette & Herald

Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Picture: Johan Persson

COLD War espionage, artist open studios on moor and coast, Wright & Grainger in short form and Elvis Costello’s early years revisited make their mark on culture guide Charles Hutchinson.

Thriller of the week: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees today, tomorrow and Saturday

FOR the first time, a John le Carré novel is being brought to life on stage by Chichester Festival Theatre in David Eldridge’s adaptation of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, a typically taut tale that journeys through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception and moral compromise.

Death In Paradise star Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer, Alec Leamas, is ready to come in from the cold, until veteran agent George Smiley persuades him to take one final mission against the East German Secret Service. Deep undercover, Leamas finds his convictions tested and his defences breached by Liz Gold, a quietly defiant librarian, whose compassion threatens to thaw his frostbitten heart. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Rich Hall: Delivering comedy’s version of Chin Music at Pocklington Arts Centre

American comedian of the week: Rich Hall: Chin Music, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm

THE expression “chin music” has two meanings. One is idle talk; the other is a ‘brushback’ throw in baseball or cricket to intimidate the batter. Both describe North Carolina-born Rich Hall’s comedy: idle but intimidating, sharp, quick, splenetic and improvisational. Don’t duck out of seeing him in action in Pocklington tonight. Box office: 017589 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Florence Poskitt’s Rita and Jamie McKeller’s Frank in Black Treacle Theatre’s Educating Rita at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Literature lessons of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Educating Rita, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm

YORK actors Florence Poskitt and Jamie McKeller team up for the first time under Jim Paterson’s direction in Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving double-hander about the power of education to change lives. When Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signs up for an Open University literature course, she meets disillusioned academic Frank, whose passion for teaching has long faded. 

Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and Frank reckons with his own choices and the possibility of a second chance. Change comes with difficult choices for both student and tutor, who must reconsider who they are and who they want to be. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Bluffs’ poster for Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Unscripted silliness of the week: Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tomorrow, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm

YORK troupe The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games and infuse them with storytelling flair in an evening of laughter, silliness and plot twists. Each fast-paced show is shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. Expect scenes inspired by classic literature, unexpected character mash-ups and even a fanfiction-inspired musical number.

The Bluffs are drawn from a melange of theatrical, comedy and musical backgrounds, from festival stages to pantomime and competitive Theatresports. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/unwritten-the-literary-improv-show-tickets-1984763723726.

Easingwold creative duo Wright & Grainger: Presenting Say It & Play It at The Old Paint Shop

The Old Paint Shop presents: Wright & Grainger Say It & Play it, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow, 8pm

FRIENDS and working partners since Easingwold schooldays, Wright & Grainger serve a carefully curated evening of stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos. Known for their internationally acclaimed adaptations of Ancient Greek myths, sometimes they do something a tad different.

Hence Say It & Play It will be a set full of Alexander Flanagan Wright & Phil Grainger’s shorter collaborative works, the poems that stand on their own, the beautiful tracks they have been writing. “It’s a gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff, grown and told on home turf,” they say. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Paul Weller: Heading back to the East Coast to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Seaside excursion of the week: Paul Weller, TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Friday, gates 6pm

PAUL Weller follows up April’s release of Weller At The BBC Vol 2 with his return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 7 2024. The Modfather, 68, will be expected to draw on material from his days in The Jam and Style Council, as well as his solo years, from 1992’s self-titled debut to July 2025’s Find El Dorado. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Mark Butler: Taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026

North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026, Moors and Coast, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm

MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in the second weekend of the summer edition of North Yorkshire Open Studios, including 73 representing the Moors and Coast. Among them will be Boo Barwick-Ward; Iona May Stock; Jo Naden; Sarah Sharpe, Alison Spaven; Anna Matyus; Pam Edwards; Deborah Wilkinson; Iona Harrison; Jonathan Pomroy and Stephen Bird.

So too will Rory Menage; Sue Slack; Mike Nowill; Studio Milena; Clare Belbin; Elizabeth Bailey; Lyn Bailey; Pauline Brown; Sally Parkin; Nettle Cottage Prints; Slab and Slip; Rebecca Callis; Kate Brown; Jess Shaw; Martin Gittins; Alice O’Neil and Gillies Jones. Full details can be found at nyos.org.uk.

Elvis Costello: Revisiting his early years in his Radio Soul! show at York Barbican. Picture: Ray Di Pietro

York gig of the week: Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello, York Barbican, June 17, 7.45pm

ELVIS Costello plays York Barbican for the first time since May 2012, joined by The Imposters’ Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher and Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton for a set list drawn from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1896 Blood & Chocolate albums, complemented by “other surprises”.

“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to 50years ago,” says Costello, 71. “You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure.” His special guest will be Emily Moment. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin: Performing Twice Nightly over two nights at Helmsley Arts Centre

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Helmsley Arts Centre, June 26 and 27, 7.30pm

DOMINIC Goodwin, one-time manager of Helmsley Arts Centre, returns to his old stamping ground with his first one-man comedy show, written and performed by Goodwin and directed by York director Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over  variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. “It’s been an honour to perform these stars’ material, and even more so to have the backing of the families,” says Goodwin. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

York printmaker Michelle Hughes holding a copy of her debut book, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut

In Focus

Book event of the week: An Evening with Michelle Hughes, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, Kemps Books, Malton, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK linocut printmaker discusses her debut book, Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, her creative story and upcoming tenth anniversary in business at Kemps Books. “Liz Kemp has been a huge supporter of my printmaking journey, selling my original prints in the early days, greeting cards over the years, and now stocking my book,” says Michelle. “Do come along and support a fabulous indie gift shop and bookshop.”

Published in February 2026, Michelle’s beautifully illustrated book shares how to design, carve and print birds and wildlife using traditional linocut techniques, guiding  readers from simple one-colour prints through to more advanced multi-colour methods, including jigsaw, reduction and multi-block printing.

“Whether you are completely new to linocut or already exploring printmaking, the book offers clear step-by-step guidance, practical tips and creative inspiration for capturing birds and wildlife in this rewarding craft,” says Michelle.

“During the evening you’ll enjoy my short talk about my journey to becoming a professional printmaker; behind-the-scenes insights into how the book was created, with a chance to see original prints and lino blocks featured in the book and a Q&A session about linocut printmaking, followed by a book signing.

Come and celebrate wildlife, printmaking and the joy of carving and printing by hand.” Tickets must be booked in advance in person in store or at kempsgeneralstore.co.uk/pages/events.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 22, from The York Press

Holly Taymar: Playing City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend

A FEAST of folk music and Shed Seven’s anniversary celebration, a le Carré  thriller and a Willy Russell classic send Charles Hutchinson out and about.

Festival of the week: City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend 2026, Black Swan Folk Club, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green York, today and tomorrow

CITY of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend’s three-day programme of 50 acts continues today and tomorrow with bands, soloists and sessions throughout the pub and in the car park from 1pm each day after last night’s Irish-themed bill in the club room.

Among the performers will be King Courgette, in the return of the original line-up, Leather’O, White Sail, Janglebuddies, Graham Hodge, Monkey’s Fist, Chechelele, Caramba, Holly Taymar, Duncan McFarlane Band, Mary Molloy, Susie Coyle, Soundsphere and Jon Palmer Band. Admission is free, with collections for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Stuart O’Hara: York Late Music concert this afternoon

Lunchtime concert of the week: York Late Music, Stuart O’Hara (bass) and Rob Hao piano), Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm

MARRYING words and music, bass Stuart O’Hara and pianist Rob Hao’s performance is based around new settings of Yorkshire poets by local composers: James Else &Alan Gillott, Retratos (world premiere, complete song cycle); Tim Brooks & Lizzi Linklater, New Student In The University Cafe (world premiere); Jenny Jackson & Richard Kitchen, Vessels (world premiere) and Nick Carter & Hugh Bernays: The Water Will Not Remember from Requiem for the Arctic (world premiere)

This afternoon’s recital also includes David Power’s Six Songs, based on the poetry of E.H. Visiak, and two new settings by York St John University student composers Robyn Hughes-Maclean and Matthew Jarvis. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

The Elysian Singers: Musical settings of poetry at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York. Picture: Linda Dawson

Poetry and music in motion: The Elysian Singers, York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

DIRECTED by Sam Laughton, The Elysian Singers’ insightful programme celebrates the musical settings of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Benjamin Britten’s A.M.D.G. will be complemented by works by Samuel Barber (Heaven-Haven), Alan Bullard (The Windhover and Spring Morning), Bob Chilcott (The Bethlehem Star) and Ian Stephens (Pied Beauty).

The première of David Lancaster’s new work, Henry Purcell, featuring Hopkins’ tribute to his own favourite composer, provides an opportunity to revisit Purcell’s Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences and O Lord God Of Hosts. David Power’s quirky and imaginative settings of four E.H. Visiak poems completes the line-up, preceded by Lancaster and Power’s 6.45pm pre-concert talk. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

Shed Seven: Marking 30th anniversary of A Maximum High with one-off concert at The Piece Hall, Halifax, tonight

Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven, A Maximum High 30th Anniversary Show, The Piece Hall, Halifax, today, 6.30pm

YORK band Shed Seven are marking the 30th anniversary of their hit-laden second album, April 1996’s A Maximum High, with a one-off concert at The Piece Hall, featuring the magnum opus in full plus further Sheds’ hits and fan favourites. Expect a few surprises too. The Guest List (6.30pm) and Seb Lowe (7.20pm) support.

Utter Madness: The Nutty Boys stride out at Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time tonight

Seaside trip of the week: Madness, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, doors 6pm

IN their 50th year since forming in Camden, Nutty Boys Madness make their fourth appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre after previous seaside visits in 2017, 2019 and 2024.

Drawing on 31 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Ten albums, their timeless blend of ska, pop, punk and music hall will be on show as ever in Our House, It Must be Love, Baggy Trousers, House Of Fun et al. The Beat featuring Ranking Jnr and reggae vocalist Hollie Cook support. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson

Thriller of the week: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Grand Opera House, York, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees 

FOR the first time, a John le Carré novel is being brought to life on stage by Chichester Festival Theatre in David Eldridge’s adaptation of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, a tale that journeys through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception and moral compromise.

Death In Paradise star Ralf Little’s disillusioned British intelligence officer, Alec Leamas, is ready to come in from the cold, until veteran agent George Smiley persuades him to take one final mission against the East German Secret Service. Deep undercover, Leamas finds his convictions tested and his defences breached by Liz Gold, a quietly defiant librarian, whose compassion threatens to thaw his frostbitten heart. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

An open book or something more complex than that? Florence Poskitt’s Rita and Jamie McKeller’s Frank in Black Treacle Theatre’s Educating Rita

Literature lessons of the week: Black Treacle Theatre in Educating Rita, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm

YORK actors Florence Poskitt and Jamie McKeller team up for the first time under Jim Paterson’s direction in Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving double-hander about the power of education to change lives. When Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signs up for an Open University literature course, she meets disillusioned academic Frank, whose passion for teaching has long faded. 

Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and Frank reckons with his own choices and the possibility of a second chance. Change comes with difficult choices for both student and tutor, who must reconsider who they are and who they want to be. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Director Courtney Brown in Pickering Musical Society’s Let’s Do It!, The Cole Porter Songbook

Musical kicks of the week: Pickering Musical Society in Let’s Do It!r, The Cole Porter Songbook, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, June 9 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN a sparkling showcase of wit, romance, sophisticated melodies and clever lyrics, Pickering Musical Society celebrates the joyous Cole Porter Songbook, performing beloved songs from Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate and High Society and such hits as You’re The Top and I Get A Kick Out Of You under the direction of Courtney Brown.

The Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance’s vibrant tap, jazz and contemporary routines combine stylish choreography, glamorous costumes and a tribute to the Great American Songbook. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

The Bluffs: Short-form improv games infused with storytelling flair at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

Unscripted silliness of the week: Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, June 11, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm

YORK troupe The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games and infuse them with storytelling flair in an evening of laughter, silliness and plot twists. Each fast-paced show is shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. Expect scenes inspired by classic literature, unexpected character mash-ups and even a fanfiction-inspired musical number.

The Bluffs are drawn from a melange of theatrical, comedy and musical backgrounds, from festival stages to pantomime and competitive Theatresports. Box office: eventbrite.com/e/unwritten-the-literary-improv-show-tickets-1984763723726.

Wright & Grainger: Say It & Play: “Gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff” at The Old Paint Shop on Thursday. Picture: Afternoon Film

The Old Paint Shop presents: Wright & Grainger Say It & Play it, York Theatre Royal Studio, June 11, 8pm

FRIENDS and working partners since Easingwold schooldays, Wright & Grainger serve a carefully curated evening of stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos. Known for their internationally acclaimed adaptations of Ancient Greek myths, sometimes they do something a tad different.

Say It & Play It will be a set full of Alexander Flanagan Wright & Phil Grainger’s shorter collaborative works, the poems that stand on their own, the beautiful tracks they have been writing. “It’s a gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff, grown and told on home turf,” they say. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Lincoln Lightfoot: Participating in North Yorkshire Open Studios

In Focus: North Yorkshire Open Studios, Summer edition, June 6 & 7 and June 13 & 14, 10am to 5pm

MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in the summer edition of North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026.

Covering three areas of God’s Own Country, from the remote Upper Dales to the Central locations of Harrogate and York and the Moors & Coast, this annual event enables creative talents to open their studios to promote and sell their work directly to the public.

Taking part in and around York will be jewellery designer Helen Drye  (Fountains Close, Riccall); oil painter Pennie Lordan (Moor Lane, Copmanthorpe); artist Emma James (Copmanthorpe Lane, Bishopthorpe); oil painter Lucie Wake (Slingsby Grove); abstract seascape painter Alex Ash (Heslington Lane, Fulford); B-movie poster art pastiche surrealist Lincoln Lighfoot (Brunswick Street) and northern landscape linocut printmaker Jon Haste (South Bank Social Club, Ovington Terrace).

So too are eco jewellery designer Rebecca Mihill (Nunthorpe Grove); mixed-media artist Ali Hunter (Alma Terrace); environment and plant-inspired printmaker Rachel Jones (Richardson Street); stained glass artist, ceramicist and printmaker Veronica Ongaro (Richardson Street); oil painter Di Gomery (Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road) and experimental artist Jill Tattersall (Mount Parade).

Further York artists will be geometric jewellery designer Evie Leach (PICA Studios, Unit 4, Enterprise Complex, Walmgate); animal artist Katrina Mansfield (PICA Studios); figurative artist Lesley Shaw (PICA Studios); Irish landscape artist Lisa Power (PICA Studios); rag rug maker Lu Mason (PICA Studios) and cityscape and architecture artist Ric Liptrot (PICA Studios).

In the line-up too will be abstract rust and gold metal-leaf artist Jo Walton (Rogues Atelier, Franklin’s Yard, Fossgate); illustrator and screen-print gig poster artist Kai West (Rogues Atelier); mixed-media figurative artist Mo Nisbet (Acomb Road); nature and animal acrylic artist Nicola Glover (Beech Grove); stoneware potter Hannah Arnup (Arnup Studios, Panman Lane, Holtby); natural world artist Kate Pettitt (Arnup Studios); fine art photographer Lesley Peatfield and enigmatic, ethereal artist Michelle Galloway (Arnup Studios).

Look out too for pattern-led tropical botanical artist Emily Littler (Sugar Hill Farm Stockton Lane); stone and wood sculptor Janie Stevens (Greenthwaite, Chantry Green, Upper Poppleton); Japanese-inspired British plant, flower and animal artist Toby Staunton (The Cottage, Main Street, Shipton by Benuingbrough); landscape artist Gonzalo Blanco (Rose Dene, Moor Lane, Strensall) and multi-media figurative and abstract artist Andrew Bloodworth (Stonelands Close, Sheriff Hutton).

The names keep coming: mixed-media landscape artist Justine Warner (Laburnum Cottage, West End, Sheriff Hutton); “happy accidents” land, sky and water artist Graham Jones (Harland House, Main Street, Huby); nature artist Nora Gaston (Moat House, Boroughbridge Road, Green Hammerton); experimental landscape artist Freya Horsley (Corner Cottage, The Green, Tollerton) and Bee-spoke Quilts’ hand-made quilt, jackets and waistcoats (Apple Croft, Gale Road, Alne),

Completing the list for York & beyond will be milliner Jane de Carteret’s woodland-type creatures (Apple Croft, Alne); Gina Bean’s semi-abstract North Yorkshire landscapes (The Bentleys, Lower Dunsforth); beach, dale and vale artist Richard Gray (Burnside, Spring Street, Easingwold); landscape artist Jeff Parker (Roedeer House, Raskelf Road, Raskelf) and Anya Manfield’s abstract textile wall hangings, mixed media artworks and layered collage pieces (Amber Cottage, Kilburn).

The full list of artists and makers can be found at nyos.org.uk. The Winter North Yorkshire Open Studios 2026, featuring the same names, is in the diary for November 7 and 8, 11am to 4pm.

Posted on

Who’s on the bill as The Old Paint Shop cabaret club returns to York Theatre Royal Studio from tomorrow for 12 shows?

Wright & Grainger: Stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos in Say It & Play It at The Old Paint Shop on June 11. Picture: Afternoon Film

YORK Theatre Royal Studio is being transformed once again into The Old Paint Shop cabaret club for a month-long season of shows.

The June 4 to 26 programme opens with Queer Spaces, a joyful celebration of Pride in Thursday’s 7pm showcase of work by queer artists in the aftermath of May 30’s York Pride fiesta on Knavesmire.

This sparkling one-off night of new LGBTQ+ performances by actors, poets and writers includes award-winning artists trying out new material for the first time. Produced by Yorkshire queer touring theatre company Roots (Fringe First winners with Happy Meal), the  show’s proceeds will support new local artists.

The season continues with a mix of Old Paint Shop favourites and exciting new acts, performing a mix of comedy, live music, burlesque and more.

Seating will be cabaret club-style and unreserved, offering an intimate theatrical experience, where audience members are encouraged to grab a drink at the bar, sit back, relax and enjoy the show. 

June 5, 5 The Penny Magpie Theatre Company presents 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche, 8pm, SOLD OUT.

WELCOME to 1956 whenthe Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein is holding its annual quiche breakfast. As the assembled ‘widows’ await the announcement of the society’s prize-winning quiche, the atomic bomb sirens sound. Has the Communist threat come to pass? How will the ‘widows’ respond as their idyllic town and lifestyle faces attacks?

Winner of a national Best Amateur Production award after a sell-out run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in 2024, 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche is a tasty recipe of humour, sexual innuendos, unsuccessful repressions and delicious discoveries, written by Evan Linder and Andrew Hopgood.

June 6, Story Time with Mama G, 1pm and 3pm

MAMA G will be sharing original stories, songs and some of the best picture books on the market in an uplifting story time for the whole family. Expect dancing and giggles galore as pantomime dame Mama G shares the power of being who you want and loving who you are!

She has been telling stories since 2018. In that time, she has been a semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent, performed her show off-Broadway, performed at libraries, festivals, prides, museums and theatres all over the UK and penned the book Oh Yes I Am!, published in 2024.Suitable for age three upwards.

June 6, Haus of Games: Pride Month Party, 8pm

FASTEN your seatbelts and prepare for turbulence, darling, aboard Spread Eagle Airlines. The Isolation Creations are back, ready to take you sky-high with their old-school drag spectacular, Haus of Games.

This time, these Trolley Dollies take you on a first-class flight full of bingo, party games, music, and mayhem, all served with their signature blend of Carry On-style comedy, retro glamour and outrageous charm.

Celebrating Pride Month with laughter, glitter and a generous serving of nonsense at 30,000 feet, this camp fest of fun promises fabulous prizes and more double-entendres than an in-flight safety demo. Think Lily Savage meets Dame Edna, with more than a splash of Les Dawson. Dress code: Seaside Summer Holiday or Mile High Club chic; prizes for the best-dressed passengers!

June 10, Amber Topaz in Red, 8pm

INTERNATIONAL cabaret siren Amber Topaz presents a new, classy, sassy, fabulous musical revue, celebrating redheaded musical theatre stars of stage and screen.

This delicious cocktail of Old Hollywood glamour and West End and Broadway classics is brimful of iconic show-stopping numbers, honouring the formidable flame-haired trailblazers that have shaped musical theatre herstory.

From the golden era of Hollywood to the bright lights of Las Vegas, Red embodies legendary artists such as Rita Hayworth, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Shirley MacLaine, Gwen Verdon and many more. The show is choreographed and directed by Nikki Woollaston, resident director of the Les Misérables worldwide tour.

June 11, Wright & Grainger Say It & Play it, 8pm

FRIENDS and working partners since Easingwold schooldays, Wright & Grainger serve a carefully curated evening of stories, poems, songs and gentle chaos.

Known for their internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning adaptations of Ancient Greek myths, sometimes Alexander Flanagan Wright & Phil Grainger do something a tad different.

Say It And Play It will be a set full of their shorter stuff, the collaborative stuff, the poems that stand on their own, the beautiful tracks they have been writing.”It’s a gorgeous weave of our home-grown stuff, grown and told on home turf,” they say.

June 12, Tracey Collins, An Evening With Elvis Lesley, 8pm

COMEDIAN Tracey Collins (Shell Suit Cher, Audrey Heartburn) brings her one-woman musical comedy show to the York stage in the guise of Elvis Lesley, who is preparing to leave their day job in the UK and gyrate their way back to the bright lights of Las Vegas!

Brilliantly reworked songs, surreal stories, heart-stopping hip gyrations and a whole lotta chaos are in store but will Elvis Lesley nail the famous lip curl, sensuous croon and jiggly legs? Find out when witnessing Elvis as you have never seen them before!

June 13, The Jazzville Quartet with Kirsty Hughes, 8pm

YORK jazz combo The Jazzville Quartet present an evening led by London-based fabulous Kirsty Hughes, who sings in a variety of styles and settings, including West End shows and cabaret.

Royal Academy of Music graduate Kirsty will be showcasing her love of Judy Garland and the great jazz singers in an intimate cabaret-style performance, joined by piano maestro, arranger and composer Alec Robinson,  saxophonist Alex Fisher, double bassist Tim Murgatroyd and drummer Steve Hanley.

The Jazzville Quartet will explore the Great American Songbook in a joyful celebration of swing and Latin classics and haunting jazz ballads. A few surprises are in the pipeline too.

June 17, Neil Haigh’s Comedy Masterclass Ruined by Stewart Wright, 8pm

NEIL Haigh’s Comedy Masterclass Ruined By Stewart Wright combines clowning, improvisation and theatrical storytelling as a beleaguered acting lecturer channels 20 years of disappointment into a one-off masterclass amid a backdrop of professional pressure and personal crisis. Will a surprise guest be his ruin or saviour?

Haigh’s experience with groundbreaking theatre company Cartoon de Salvo and Wright’s 30 years as a comic character actor (Smack The Pony, Bridget Jones’s Diary) combine exquisitely in their stage duo, shaped with BAFTA-nominated Justin Sbresni as their comedy consultant.

York audiences may recall Wright from his role as Welsh welfare officer Sergeant Dave in the Theatre Royal premiere of Debbie Isitt’s Military Wives – The Musical last September.

June 18, Rock Paper Goose, 8pm

YORK indie pop band Rock Paper Goose comprises multi-instrumentalists Nathan Greaves (vocals, guitar, synth) and Olly Whitehouse (vocals, synth, bass). They write catchy melodies over the top of infectious, colourful music that takes equal inspiration from rock, pop and EDM to create life-affirming shows full of playful energy and joy. Songs from September 2025’s debut album, Okay!, will be complemented by new, unreleased material.

June 19, Velvet Jazz Night with Luka Watabe, 8pm

LUKA Watabe brings rich, smooth vocal styling and Old Hollywood glamour to her sophisticated repertoire of classic jazz standards and modern songs, delivered with a sleek jazz twist by her professional musicians.

June 20,  Freida Nipples presents…The Exhibitionists, 8pm, sold out

YORK’S  international burlesque artist Freida Nipples returns to the Old Paint Shop with some of her favourite and most fabulous performance artists from across the UK and further afield.

From burlesque to drag and beyond, the unexpected will be in store. “Get ready to be dazzled, shocked and in awe by these performers,” says Freida. “Only a few things are guaranteed, glamour, gags and giggles. Get ready to explore the world of The Exhibitionists.”

Freida’s past Theatre Royal shows have paraded drag queens, acrobats, whipcrackers, circus artists, sideshow performers and stripteasers of many different flavours, from comedy caricatures to sensual fan dancers.

June 26, Karl Mullen, 8pm

YORK pianist Karl Mullen, upright-piano busker, The Phoenix fixture  and Leeds Piano Competition Pub Piano Champion, closes the season by serving up his high-energy mix of everything from Chopin to Oasis, via Led Zeppelin and Les Dawson, packed with outrageous and heartfelt stories from decades of gigging and street playing.

Tickets can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Posted on

REVIEW: Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio ****

Sugar and spite and all things not so nice: Ellen Carnazza’s TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait in Badapple Theatre Company’s Crumbs. Picture: Karl Andre

IN the week when jettisoned American TV institution The Late Show turned into the late show, as Stephen Colbert signed off, British TV’s favourite baking queen, Petronella Parfait, was cancelled too.

Mystery surrounds her disgraced exit, but ruthless, rather than rueful, Petronella is determined to bounce back, and tonight we are her audience – her “Crummies” – as she launches her online cookery channel, Dough My Gosh, as hot on gossip as tray bakes, as she looks to ride the social media influencer wave.

Will the cook crumble or rise anew like the dough for her signature Athenian Caraway Loaf? Will it be Crumbs of comfort or discomfort for the axed Bake-Up judge?

Find out in writer-director Kate Bramley’s latest comedy for Green Hammerton’s  “theatre on your doorstep” rural-travelling troupe Badapple Theatre Company, newly installed as York Theatre Royal’s associate company for the next year.

To mark that partnership’s launch, Badapple are concluding their spring tour with four days of performances in the Theatre Royal Studio, where virtuoso Harrogate actress Ellen Carnazza is cooking on gas mark five as Petronella, the bad apple or good apple of the piece.

Bramley affectionately calls Carnazza “the hardest-working woman in theatre”, because although Petronella has an ego too big to accommodate anyone else in her kitchen, chameleon Carnazza will play multiple characters, foes, friends and family alike, glowing under the lights from so much physical exertion in this one-woman show of two 45-minute halves.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as the old chestnut says, but Carnazza’s Petronella can very much stand the (self-inflicted) heat and stay in Petronella’s Perfect Kitchen to bake the bread that audiences will devour at the finale.

Will they, however, swallow everything else she says as the layers surrounding the mystery of her swift exit are peeled back with each new interruption of her live broadcast that takes the form of a series of phone calls and interviews, where Carnazza is framed by an oversized mobile phone case. Already her West Country assistant Demelza Meek has walked out, tired of being her Cornish patsy and vowing to bring her down.

One by one, we meet Petronella’s mother, Lady Payne, a still glamorous former Bond Girl; barrister Gloria Gluten, who shared her schooldays, and Mrs Crumble, the Welsh cook from her childhood whose recipes she may well have purloined for her own gain.

As she fights to prove she does not put the fake into bake, secrets are exposed and everything collapses around her on AJ Lowe’s amusingly Mischief Theatre-echoing misbehaving kitchenette set, with its malfunctioning tap, tumbling shelf of cookbooks and non-stick apron hook, topped off by the lights going out.

Now her last friend and sponsor, Penny Puttanesca, proprietor of the neighbouring Pizza Inferno chain, with her Gina/Sophia Italian allure and Mafia hauteur, has finally had enough of her freeloading.

After so much back-and-forth patter and constant changes of voice and character, with the aid of scarves, hats and glasses, Carnazza  and Bramley surpass it all with the Puttanesca family’s henchman,  Big Tony, who says nothing yet everything behind dark glasses with shrugs, grimaces and the folding of arms, before Carnazza plays both Petronella and Big Tony on the chase with all the madcap joy of  a cartoon, all the funnier for being conducted in a small space, maximum gesture, minimal movement.

Bramley’s Petronella Parfait is an absurdist caricature, even more so for her script revelling in more puns than buns, yet for all the comic exaggeration in Carnazza’s performance, Crumbs is bang-on in its exposé of the cult of celebrity.

Petronella is sweet on the TV surface, yet sour when the heat is on; more back off than Bake-Off. She is a baker as needy as kneady; constantly plugging products, pushing her “brand” and placing endorsements. Ultimately, her cherry on top cannot hide the soggy bottom beneath.   

Your reward is a feast of laughs in a comedy with bite, followed by a chunk of bread at the close, whose “secret recipe “ can be unlocked  by scanning the QR code on the back of the programme.

Purely by coincidence, what should be playing on the main stage next door but another story of a TV celebrity fighting for her career (after being exposed as a charlatan in losing a court case with £500,000 costs): namely psychic medium Sheila Gold in Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman’s twisted thriller The Psychic, now in the last week of its world premiere.

Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, baking at 2pm and 7.45pm today. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Posted on

More Things To Do in and around York when wizards wander and Romans rise. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 20, from The York Press

The Wizard of York (Dan Wood): Presenting the second WizardFest in York city centre. Picture: The Story Of You

FROM WizardFest to the Wizard of Prog, Roman festivities to musical & poetic nature lovers, Charles Hutchinson picks his hot spots for the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond.

Magical event of the week: WizardFest, York, today until Monday

WIZARDFEST, York’s official Festival of Wizardry, waves its magic wand over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend as The Wizard of York conjures up spellbinding events, tours, trails, workshops, shows and fantastical food and drink.

Wizardry fans can book for the Wizard Walk of York, Brick Magic LEGO workshop, Wizard Family Rave, Giant Bubble Show or Wicked at City Screen Picturehouse.  Expect owl appearances, dragons and the new Wizard Activity Zone on Parliament Street with wand making, face painting and more. Dress to impress for the free fancy dress parade from St Helen’s Square on Monday at 3p.m A digital map and full list of events with booking links can be found at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.

The Roman Camp in York Museum Gardens, part of the Eboracum Roman Festival in York. Picture: Gareth Buddo

Festival highlight of the week: Living History, Crafts and Combat, Eboracum Roman Festival, York, today and tomorrow

THIS weekend showcases the best of Eboracum with live performances, creative storytelling and historical demonstrations alongside fun family activities, insightful talks and opportunities to dive into archaeology in York.

At the Living History Camp in York Museum Gardens, discover how the Romans lived by talking to the legions in their camp and watch demonstrations of weaving, carpentry, pottery and blacksmithing. Check out military demonstrations and formations with Ermine Street Guard or join York Museum Trust’s Garden Team for a guided tour of the Edible Garden today. Look out too for artillery demonstrations and the Kids Barbaric Battle. For full festival details, visit: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/eboracum-roman-festival-2026.

Live baking on stage: Ellen Carnazza’s TV cook in crisis Petronella Parfait in Badapple Theatre Company’s Crumbs. Picture: Karl Andre

Bake-off of the week: Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 2pm and 7.45pm

DISGRACED TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait is out of a job and out of her depth, trying to reinvent herself in the cut-throat world of social influencers. Can she keep the lights on – and the oven – as her live comeback show descends into devilishly delicious disaster? 

Expect big laughs, bold flavours, live bread making and a tasty treat for the audience at the end of Kate Bramley’s play as Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre returns to the Theatre Royal Studio, where solo performer Ellen Carnazza plays multiple roles. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The Upbeat Beatles: Celebrating the Fab Four from the Cavern to Abbey Road at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Tribute gig of the week: Joseph Wilson Productions presents The Upbeat Beatles, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THE Upbeat Beatles travel the Fab Four’s long and winding road from the early Cavern days through Beatlemania and Shea Stadium, New York City, to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and  Abbey Road, with narrative and full multi-media presentation. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Nobody puts Baby’s poster in the corner: Dirty Dancing In Concert at York Barbican

Film event of the week: Dirty Dancing In Concert, York Barbican, May 28, 7.30pm

RELIVE the film that stole the hearts of generations with this live-to-screen concert event featuring Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama projected in full, accompanied by a live band and singers performing every song from the soundtrack. 

Feel the romance, rhythm and emotion as the love story of Baby and Johnny (Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze) comes to life on a full-size cinema screen. A dance-along encore party follows the final scene. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk

John McCusker: Leading his trio at the NCEM on Friday

Recommended but sold out already: John McCusker Trio, York Festival of Ideas, National Centre for Early Music, York, May 29, 7.30pm

SCOTTISH violinist John McCusker is joined by virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and singer Sam Kelly and flute, whistle and guitar player Toby Shaer in his trio to perform a thrilling combination of instrumental dexterity, heartfelt songs and live energy. Their fusion of original compositions, traditional melodies and contemporary folk bursts with innovation, joy and soul. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

The Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox poster for the The Future Is Vintage tour, visiting York Barbican on Friday

Retro gig of the week: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Future Is Vintage Tour 2026, York Barbican, May 29, doors 7pm

SCOTT Bradlee’s troupe of singers, dancers and instrumentalists perform a new show in signature time-twisting style, putting a retro spin on everything from Seventies’ rock classics and Britpop hits to the latest chart toppers and movie and video game soundtracks. 

“We’re humbly presenting our own unique vision of a spectacular future; one that is built upon the timeless musical genres of the past and the authentically human spirit of creativity that inspired them,” says founder and arranger Bradlee, who invites you to dress in your vintage best for the full time-travel experience. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ben Moor on his ‘Three Thing Day’. Picture: Andy Lane, Barbican, London, January 11 2025

Oddball storytelling of the week: Ben Moor, A Three Thing Day, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, January 29, 7.30pm

A STORYTELLER for 30 years and counting, Ben Moor has a show opening later, but first he has a family meeting, and before that there’s a funeral. A single day can encompass the past, present and future; friends, family and strangers; the ridiculous, the moving and the inspirational. Like life.

Surreal and ‘melancomic’, Moor’s2025 Edinburgh Fringe hit is crammed with one-liners and observations, alongside beautiful and poetic digressions. Under discussion will be good gullibility, dolphin infestations, snacks and unreliable phones. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Mike Amber: Performing Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock songs with Lola-Mae at The Basement next Saturday

Nature lovers of the week: Navigators Art presents Back To The Garden, York Festival of Ideas, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, May 30, 7.30pm, doors 7pm

NAVIGATORS Art has invited York performers to celebrate and explore the York Festival of Ideas theme of Place and Space with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens.

Original words and music features alongside well-loved works by familiar names in the company of storyteller Lara McClure; Mike Amber & Lola-Mae, taking on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock; poet and novelist Janet Dean; performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette and alt folk band Sofa Sofa, whose songs are rooted in nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love. Box office: ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Rick Wakeman: Performing with English Rock Ensemble in The Wizard of Prog show at York Barbican next March

Gig announcement of the week: Rick Wakeman, The Wizard of Prog, Ultimate Highlights Concert Tour with English Rock Ensemble, York Barbican, March 11 2027

KEYBOARD player extraordinaire Rick Wakeman, who turned 77 on May 18, will be reuniting with the English Rock Ensemble to focus on a broad sweep across Wakeman’s classic back catalogue, including extracts from epic concept albums Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table, Yes material and surprises.

The band line-up reunites from 2025’s Return Of The Caped Crusader Part 2 tour: Wakeman, Jesse Smith (lead vocals), Adam Wakeman (keyboard, guitars and vocals), Dave Colquhoun (guitars and vocals), Lee Pomeroy (bass and vocals), Adam Falkner (drums) and backing vocalists Sara Davey, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson and Jo Marshall. Tickets go on sale on May 29 at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/rick-27.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 20, from Gazette & Herald

The full cast in John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers The Play, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Hugo Glendinning

FROM the hotel shenanigans of Fawlty Towers to the uplifting Yorkshire tale of Calendar Girls, Pixies’ 40th anniversary tour to Daniel Sloss’s bitter comic bite, Charles Hutchinson locates cultural hotspots aplenty.  

Don’t mention the war: John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers: The Play, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm today, tomorrow and Saturday matinees

FIFTY years since John Cleese and Connie Booth’s chaotic hotel sitcom graced British television screens,  Monty Python alumnus Cleese has adapted three vintage Fawlty Towers episodes for a stage play.

Following a sold-out West End season, Caroline Jay Ranger directs the 18-strong tour cast featuring  Danny Byrne’s calamitous Basil Fawlty, Mia Austen’s exasperated wife Sybil, Joanne Clifton’s stoical chamber maid Polly and Paul Nicholas’s bumbling Major. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Pixies: Making their York debut after 40 years tonight

Recommended but sold out already: Pixies: Pixies 40, Celebrating 40 Years, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

PIXIES are playing York for the first time in their 40-year career, opening the 13-date British and European leg of the Pixies 40 tour at the Barbican, the only Yorkshire show. Celebrating four decades since their formation in Boston, Massachusetts, the American alt.rock band’s founding members, Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, are joined by bassist Emma Richardson. Gans support.

Jerron Paxton: Singing the blues at NCEM tonight

The Crescent and Brudenell Presents present Jerron Paxton, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 8pm

SOUTH Central Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jerron Paxton’s lived-in voice and California drawl underpin a stripped-down concoction of blues, ragtime, folk and old-time Black music styles that originated nearly a century ago, as heard on his latest album, Things Done Changed, released on Smithsonian Folkways in 2024.

“I write and sing about the culture I come from. It seems a bit neglected,” says New York-based Paxton, who plays guitar, banjo, piano and violin. As journalist Lynell George expresses in the liner notes: “It’s all there…you’ll discover context and background: the history of people and place and the come-what-may gamble of life-altering journeys.” Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Sandy Nicholson, front, left, Katie Melia and Alexa Chaplin in rehearsal for York Musical Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls The Musical

Yorkshire musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Calendar Girls The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Cheshire childhood friends Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical account of the true story of a Yorkshire group of ordinary Women’s Institute members doing something extraordinary after the death of a much-loved husband.

When they decide to make an artistic nude calendar for a cancer charity, upturning preconceptions is a dangerous business, leading to emotional and personal ramifications that no-one  could anticipate but bringing each woman unexpectedly into flower. Katie Melia’s Chris and Alexa Chaplin’s Annie lead the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Dan Crawfurd-Porter in the role of Melchior in Inspired By Theatre’s Spring Awakening. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

American musical of the week: Inspired By Theatre in Spring Awakening, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Inspired By Theatre marks the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening’s  off-Broadway debut in New York City by staging Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s raw, explosive coming-of-age musical in the matching week.

Cutting straight to the heart of youth, desire, repression and rebellion in 1890s’ Germany, Mikhail Lim’s actor-musician production follows a group of young people navigating sex, love and identity in a society that refuses to educate or protect them, drawing on German Expressionism and folkloric imagery to boot. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

1812 Theatre Company’s poster for Goodnight Mister Tom at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Goodnight Mister Tom, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

JULIE Wilson directs Helmsley Arts Centre’s resident troupe, 1812 Theatre Company, in Goodnight Mister Tom. Adapted by David Wood from Michelle Magorian’s novel, the play is set during the Second World War, when  sad, young William Beech is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and builds a remarkable and moving friendship with the elderly recluse Tom Oakley. All seems perfect until William is devastatingly summoned by his mother back to London. Box office: 01439 771700 or  helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Crumb of discomfort: Can castigated TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait (Ellen Carnazza) mount a comeback in Badapple Theatre’s Crumbs? Picture: Karl Andre Photography

Bake-off of the week:  Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, today until Saturday, 7,45pm, plus 2.30pm Thursday & Friday and 2pm Saturday matinees

FORMER TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait is out of a job and out of her depth, trying to reinvent herself in the cut-throat world of social influencers. Can she keep the lights – and the oven – on as her live comeback show descends into delicious disaster? Expect big laughs, bold flavours, live bread making and a tasty treat for the audience at the end of Kate Bramley’s play as Green Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company returns to the Theatre Royal Studio. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Daniel Sloss: Acidic comedy at York Barbican tomorrow

Snappiest show title of the week gig of the week: Daniel Sloss, Bitter, York Barbican, tomorrow, 8pm

ACERBIC Scottish wit Daniel Sloss likes to keep his titles brief. After Jigsaw, Dark, X, Socio, Hubris, Now and Can’t, Sloss is Bitter in his 13th  tour show, visiting York this weekend after playing 55 countries so far.

He has performed stand-up for more than half of his lifetime, sold out nine New York theatre seasons off-Broadway, appeared on the Conan show ten times on American television, broken Edinburgh Fringe box-office records and published his book Everyone You Hate Is Going To Die (Knopf/Penguin Random House) in 2021. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Wizard of York welcoming one and all to the magical WizardFest in York. Picture: The Story Of You

Magical event of the week: WizardFest, York, May 23 to 25

WIZARDFEST, York’s official Festival of Wizardry, waves its magic wand over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend as The Wizard of York conjures up spellbinding events, tours, trails, workshops, shows and fantastical food and drink.

Wizardry fans can book for the Wizard Walk of York, Brick Magic LEGO workshop, Wizard Family Rave, Giant Bubble Show or Wicked at City Screen Picturehouse.  Expect owl appearances, dragons and the new Wizard Activity Zone on Parliament Street with wand making, face painting and more. Dress to impress for the free fancy dress parade from St Helen’s Square on Monday at 3pm. A digital map and full list of events with booking links can be found at wizardwalkofyork.com/wizardfest.

The Lightning Threads: Playing Ryedale Blues Club at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents The Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 28, 8pm

FORMED in 2019, The Lightning Threads are an energetic electronic blues-rock power trio from Sheffield, influenced by The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors. They feature face-melting guitars, groove-ridden basslines and a multi-instrumentalist drummer simultaneously playing keys. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Posted on

Badapple Theatre Company launches year as York Theatre Royal associate company with Crumbs – and live baking on stage

Ellen Carnazza as disgraced TV bakery queen Petronella Parfait in Crumbs, the Badapple Theatre Company play with live bread baking. Picture: Karl Andre

BADAPPLE Theatre Company is celebrating the start of its year as associate company at York Theatre Royal by staging cookery comedy-drama Crumbs in the Studio from tomorrow to Saturday.

Under artistic director and writer Kate Bramley’s leadership, Badapple has been bringing original theatre to unusual locations in Yorkshire and far beyond since 1998, but straitened financial times have seen the Green Hammerton company take the decision to stage a solo show.

Starring the chameleon Ellen Carnazza, Bramley’s study of the cult of celebrity and social media influencers first toured last autumn and is now back on the road this spring with its turbulent tale of the ruthless exploits of disgraced TV baking celebrity Petronella Parfait.

“Let go” from her high-profile TV show under dubious circumstances, Petronella is determined to re-style herself within the fast-paced and cut-throat world of social media influencers, but can she keep the lights on – as well as the oven – in the face of almost certain doom?

The four-day Theatre Royal run follows Badapple’s Theatre On Your Doorstep national tour of 22 rural venues, when North Yorkshire Council provided funding for five performances in “the most remote extremities of North Yorkshire: Clapham-cum Newby, “practically in Lancashire”; Appletreewick; Glusburn, near Keighley; Darley and West Burton, “at the top of the Yorkshire Dales”.

“It’s what we do, taking shows to villages like that, and not only did North Yorkshire Council put in a small amount of money, but also a massive amount of enthusiasm,” says Kate.

In signature Badapple style, Crumbs pushes the limits of live theatre performance with a joyous blend of comedy, clowning and bread baked live on stage.

“We’ve had so much fun touring this outrageous show,” says Kate. “It amazes me every time to see Ellen captivate audiences with the ruthless Petronella, and play five other supporting characters too, some at the same time, while baking bread in front of our very eyes.”

Kate is now spending two days a week at the Theatre Royal. “We’re so delighted to be invited to become associate company at York Theatre Royal this year,” she says. “It’s a real honour and comes as an amazing boost at a crucial time for Badapple, with the hope of some brighter days ahead.

“It’s why I’ve never cancelled a Badapple tour as I believe the sea will trickle over you and someone will step in.”

The proof is the new partnership, where, at the epicentre of Badapple’s year as associate company, Kate will be developing a new play in partnership with the Theatre Royal’s creative team.  

“I’ll be working on a script with the support of creative director Juliet Forster over the coming year, to be given a research and development showcase open to the public next March,” she says. “It’s so exciting as I’ve not done work exclusively for a theatre since 2003.

Flour power: Ellen Carnazza’s Petronella Parfait in Crumbs. Picture: Karl Andre

“The association with the Theatre Royal will be built around Badapple pushing into a couple of directions: one is partnerships with theatres; the other is continuing to do what we do in non-theatre spaces.”

Kate continues: “When the Theatre Royal announced it was looking for a new associate company, I went in with my pitch, knowing that we’re not the kind of company the Theatre Royal would usually support, as it’s normally about the building and growth of a company when its first starting out, as a lever to open up opportunities.

“I was hugely aware Badapple was not that company, as we’re long established, but the more I spoke to Juliet and her colleagues, I realised they felt they could help us make a step-change, one of many we’ve made in going back into theatres, but also in helping us on the administration side.

“That means we can access any aspect of the Theatre Royal’s expertise, while we can provide our expertise in rural touring and small-scale touring.”

Kate gives an example. “I’ve been talking with the Futureproof team [the Theatre Royal’s talent development and consultation programme for 18 to 26 year olds], which looks at the future strategy  of the Theatre Royal, discussing how the next generation of York theatre practitioners views the way ahead here,” she says.

“It’s exciting that I can offer my expertise and the Theatre Royal can do likewise for Badapple in a symbiotic relationship.”

There will be a practical benefit for Badapple too. “The Theatre Royal will provide rehearsal space for our tours coming up  in the autumn, at Christmas and next spring, as well as space for auditions and play development,” says Kate.

In the meantime, let’s see how the cook crumbles – or not! – in Crumbs. “I love Crumbs,” says Kate. “I heard myself saying to someone that it’s Badapple’s ‘fightback show’, and I have to say that Ellen is the hardest-working woman in theatre in that kitchen.

“I don’t know what more we could have done to create this show, so maybe it has an air of defiance after what Badapple’s been through [with a loss of funding].

“The hope is that we can move forward, not to be stuck in becoming known for one-person shows, though we’re very fortunate that there are some massive one-person shows doing so well, even transferring to Broadway.”

Step forward Jodie Comer (Prima Facie), Minnie Driver (Every Brilliant Thing), Rosamund Pike (Inter Alia), Cynthia Erivo (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and Daniel Radcliffe (Every Brilliant Thing). “It’s exciting that small-form theatre shows, one teller with a big story, are being more widely accepted by audiences,” says Kate.

“I’m not saying that theatre should depend on this, but in a positive way, there’s an environment where audiences are enjoying these shows and are thrilled by what can be achieved.

“But there’s a natural growth in the shows I’m planning for Badapple. Our autumn tour will be a reprise of Back To The Land Girls, touring as a two-hander, returning after 15 years. Our Christmas show will be a panto mash-up, Cinderella In Boots:  a mash-up that absolutely requires three actors and will be very silly.

Kate Bramley: Badapple Theatre Company artistic director and writer

“I’m really looking forward to it after Richard Kay’s Sleeping Beauty & The Beast mash-up sold out in 2024, and it’s going to be me writing it this time.”

Contemplating the shows ahead, Kate says: “Back To The Land Girls was very popular but it hasn’t been out on tour for a long time, so a lot of people haven’t seen it, and I’ll be doing a bit of re-writing to make it more contemporary for the new tour.

“Then we’ll have our crazy Christmas explosion of panto fun, which hopefully will bring us back to where we were two years ago.”

Next spring’s tour will be A Lady About Town. “It’s a play about suffrage and women aged over 21 getting the vote, as we have the 100th anniversary coming up in 2028,” says Kate. “One of the characters is a newspaper columnist and the other is a suffragette activist. They have different ideas about how to achieve the end game, maybe leading to direct action or not.

“It strikes me that now the same thing is happening with climate change and  fuel protests in Ireland. There is that dilemma whether violence, in some way or other, becomes the only route to perceived change.”

Looking ahead to the joint project with York Theatre Royal, Kate says: “I’m working on a play called Mama da Vinci, about the relationship between Leonardo and his mother just before he left for Florence to be an apprentice at the age of 15.

“I’ve been doing a lot of reading around this subject, about the theory of who his mother was, as he lived between his mother’s house and his grandfather’s house as he was an illegitimate child.

“I’m really fascinated by the time before he was 15, building up a portfolio as a young boy growing up in rural Italy, with all these neuro-divergent talents that made him a polymath. He was hundreds of years ahead of what he could materialise. He was already a genius as a teenager, reaching across so many disciplines – and I have a teenage son who constantly surprises me!”

Kate continues: “His mother fears she may never see him again after releasing him to the world to be a genius, so it will be a play as much about being a parent as her son being a genius. That’s where I hope the play will have modern relevance.

“My gut instinct is she was very important to Leonardo from the start…but this is all from my imagination, which means I can explore the humanity, the characters behind the story, not just the factual events.”

Badapple’s link-up with York Theatre Royal is a “total game-changer” for Kate. “To be honest, I can’t quite believe it. I now pinch myself that I’m working here two days a week, whether hot-desking or sitting in the cafe,” she says.

“This is the first time in 25 years that I’m working on a play that doesn’t have a commercial deadline. Normally I have a deadline to write to order, though I could never have done that without partnerships with audiences, but it’s nice to be different with this project, to be able to work on something a little more esoteric.”

Badapple Theatre Company in Crumbs, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow (20/5/2026) to Saturday, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Friday and 2pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Also: North Stainley Village Hall, near Ripon, June 25, 7.30pm. Box office: 01765 635236.

Badapple Theatre’s poster for Kate Bramley’s baking play Crumbs

Posted on

REVIEW: John Godber Company presents Martha Godber’s Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, ends May 14 ****

Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her solo play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson

“I COULDN’T write like that at 25,” said John Godber, writer of more than 70 plays since the age of 21, after watching daughter Martha Godber on the first night of the York Theatre Royal Studio premiere of her solo show, Jesse North Is Broken.

In the back row of the Studio full house too were her mother, Jane Thornton, writer and director; sister Elizabeth, burgeoning playwright with credits at East Riding Theatre and Pocklington Arts Centre, and Nick Lane, Doncaster playwright and director, who has a long creative association with John Godber.

On the evidence of her hour-long play, Martha already has found her own forthright voice and theatrical rhythm to go with her formidable acting skills, last seen on the Theatre Royal stage in Godber senior’s hymn to Northern Soul, Do I Love You? in June 2025.

Directed with economy by Millie Gaston to match Martha’s intensity, Jesse North Is Broken is a spoken-word drama, performed against the backdrop of a white canvas, daubed with a skyline, and two neon lights of changing colours to either side. Martha utilises only one stool and no props or costume changes – even sparser than Godber senior’s Bouncers – as everything is conveyed through voice, physicality, facial expression and movement, drawing on the dance-floor shapes she paraded in Do I Love You?

Addressing the theme of working-class survival in Britain, Martha’s play takes place over one torrid day’s journey into the long, long Friday night and back to work at dawn without sleep. She is playing Hull care worker Jesse, 25, who is introduced to the audience in direct address on her latest £13.50-an-hour shift as she looks after her 94-year-old patient.

Martha’s Jesse will remain in her carer’s uniform throughout, in a constant reminder of her chaotic working conditions, but she will describe her dance-floor dress and later undress on her night out on gay best friend Jimmy’s birthday that ends in a one-night stand with a 6ft 2 stud, told in full detail from greasy kebab and bus journey, to the state of his bedroom and bathroom, and how he no longer looks so hunky afterwards.

The surging lust is interrupted both by Jimmy’s messages, wondering where she is, and by a carer colleague’s early-morning call, asking her to cover a shift for her. All is conducted with frank humour and confessional candour in Martha’s script, full of social observation and frustration at “the system”, while wryly capturing the ups and downs of a night out in Hull and the way the city moulds how she lives.  

Like the kebab, the cheap thrills don’t last, the problems of being underpaid won’t go away, Jesse’s ADHD makes her all the more anxious, and yet she loves those in her care and wishes that carers and patients alike had a better deal. 

As the title suggests, Jesse is broken on the wheel of an uncaring state that uses and exploits her, and more young women like her, but you sense she will be on the pull again next weekend.

“Is that all there is?”, Godber senior’s volcanic character Lucky Eric asked in his existential monologues in Bouncers. Almost 50 years later, Martha’s Jesse is asking that question again, and alas the answer is still  the same, come Hull or high water.

John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.45pm, with post show-discussion; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.45pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Posted on

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 19, from Gazette & Herald

Cone, by Alison Jagger, on show at WET Bar & Plates, York

FROM street photography to Jack The Ripper investigations, German comedy about the English weather to Canadian naughtiness, Charles Hutchinson highlights all manner of cultural delights ahead.

Photographic show of the week: Alison Jagger, After The Crowds, WET Bar & Plates, Micklegate, York, until June 3

AS a lone traveller and self-confessed free spirit, York street photographer Alison Jagger draws inspiration from the urban landscape, whose vitality she loves to capture with her mobile phone camera.

“There is nothing better than waking up in an unfamiliar city and recording its character, colour and vibrancy through my curious lens,” says Jagger. After The Crowds is the second in RARE Collective’s programme of solo exhibition at James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.

Pink Moors, oil on canvas, by Louise Davies

Exhibition of the week: Louise Davies and Glassmakers, Journey In Colour, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until July 4

PAINTINGS and etchings by South East London artist and printmaker Louise Davies are complemented by glass by Allister Malcolm, Madeleine Hughes, Margaret Burke, Charlie Burke and Amelia Burke.

Davies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, combines fluid lines and rich colour in vibrant landscape prints and oil paintings. Gallery owner Terry Brett drove to Stourbridge to pick up glass works by Malcolm and his workshop assistant, Hughes. Margaret Burke, son Charlie and his wife, hot glass specialist Amelia, run the hand-blown glass studio E&M Glass at The Old Bakery, Sarn Bridge, Malpas, Cheshire.

Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her new play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson

Solo show of the week: John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 7.45pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm & 7.45pm

JESSE North, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, writer-performer Martha Godber’s play follows Jesse from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.

“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha, whose solo play is directed by Millie Gaston. A post-show discussion follows tonight’s performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for James Morrison’s 20 Years Of Undiscovered Tour, bound for York Barbican

Anniversary of the week: James Morrison, 20 Years Of Undiscovered, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

UNDISCOVERED was the number one debut album that changed everything for Rugby soul singer-songwriter and guitarist James Morrison (or James Morrison Catchpole to give him his full name). Back then, he was fitting carpets by day, playing open mics by night and driving up and down to London at any spare moment, taking meeting after meeting with multiple record companies.

On his 18-date May and June tour, 2007 British Male Solo Artist BRIT award winner Morrison is playing Undiscovered in its entirety in a set taking in big hits such as You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, fan favourites The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and This Boy, rarely performed gems One Last Chance and How Come and highlights from his six-album songbook, topped off by 2025’s Top Five success Fight Another Day. Cordelia supports. Tickets update: limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Wehn and where: Henning squeezing every German joke out of the British weather at Grand Opera House, York

York comedy gig of the week: Henning Wehn, Acid Wehn, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

GERMAN Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn takes an unbiased look at climate change. “It’s a topic sure to delight audiences and no surprise,” he says. “After all, everyone loves talking about the weather. Rain or shine, all will be fine. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows?! Come along. Or else.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The poster for Stephen Morgan’s show An Evening With Jack The Ripper

Reopening the greatest unsolved case in criminal history: Steve Morgan in An Evening With Jack The Ripper, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm

PRODUCER and broadcaster Steve Morgan conducts Ripper walks through London’s East End, where he retraces the steps of the notorious killer through the Whitechapel streets he stalked in 1888, when a series of women were murdered brutally between August and November.

The identity of the killer remains a mystery. Was he a doctor, a sailor, a soldier or some kind of religious zealot intent on ridding the streets of vice? Now Morgan has adapted his walk talk for the stage to explore the Ripper’s motives and investigate how he escaped detection. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

York Chamber Music Festival director and cellist Tim Lowe

Festival launch of the week: Tim Lowe (cello) & Stephen Gutman (piano), Gems Of The Romantic Cello, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm

DIRECTOR and cellist Tim Lowe previews the 2026 York Chamber Music Festival (September 11 to 13) in concert with pianist Stephen Gutman in a passionate exploration of expressive and beautiful works from the cello and piano repertoire.

Their programme will be the same as they played at St Mary le Strand, London, last Wednesday: Beethoven’s 12 Variations on See The Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus; Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No 1 in C Minor; Richard Strauss’s Cello Sonata in F Major and Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: Hand in hand for folk night at Helmsley Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Kathryn Roberts and Seth Lakeman, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

KATHRYN Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s creative bond spans 30 years, from being young trailblazers in 1990s’ folk supergroup Equation to twice being named Best Duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their live shows are brimful of charm, wit and musical mastery of songs of emotional depth, as captured on 2025’s Another Day At The Circus, their first live concert album. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Tom Stade: Naughty By Nature mischief-making

Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Tom Stade, Naughty By Nature, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

CANADIAN stand-up Tom Stade is back on the road with his 2025 Edinburgh Fringe hit, wherein he playfully dishes out more of his insightful observations in a night of mischievous and uncompromising comedy. His credits include the Have A Word Pod podcast, Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, The John Bishop Show and Live At The Apollo. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster for Scarborough Theatre Company’s first visit to Kirk Theatre, Pickering, with Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat

Musical of the week: Scarborough Theatre Company in Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, May 22, 7.30pm; May 23, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; May 24, 2.30pm

DIRECTED by Alex Weatherhill, Scarborough Theatre Company will be performing in Pickering for the first time, presenting Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s debut  musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with a combination of unforgettable songs, dazzling costumes and electrifying energy.

Having staged The Addams Family, Kinky Boots, White Christmas and The Wizard Of Oz on the East Coast, now Weatherhill oversees a tale of betrayal, hope and triumph in a story that continues to inspire audiences of all ages, driven by pastiches of many musical styles. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond the paranormal while eschewing the normal. Hutch’s List No. 18, from The York Press

Cone, by Alison Jagger, on show at WET Bar & Plates

FROM street photography to an introduction to ballet, sparring spiritualists to acidic German comedy about the English weather, Charles Hutchinson highlights all manner of cultural delights ahead.

Photographic show of the week: Alison Jagger, After The Crowds, WET Bar & Plates, Micklegate, York, until June 3

AS a lone traveller and self-confessed free spirit, York street photographer Alison Jagger draws inspiration from the urban landscape, whose vitality she loves to capture with her mobile phone camera.

“There is nothing better than waking up in an unfamiliar city and recording its character, colour and vibrancy through my curious lens,” says Jagger. After The Crowds is the second in RARE Collective’s programme of solo exhibition at James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.

English National Ballet School students in My First Ballet: Cinderella, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Children’s show of the week: English National Ballet & English National Ballet School, My First Ballet: Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, today, 10.30am and 2pm; tomorrow, 1pm and 3pm

MEET the nature-loving Cinderella, who lives on the edge of an enchanted forest where she once gardened and sang with her mother. After loss and silence settle over her home, she is left with a sharp-tongued stepmother, two noisy stepsisters and a house full of chores and shadows.

However, when a letter arrives, inviting all to a garden ball, Cinderella’s journey to find her true self begins, guided by the spirit of her mother and the magic of the forest. Using a narrator to help the young audience follow the story, and a shortened, recorded version of Prokofiev’s score, this introduction to ballet is choreographed byGeorge Williamson and performed by English National Ballet School Graduate Artists Programme students. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sparring spiritualists Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) and prickly mum Rosa (Frances Barber) in Rosa’s mobile home in York Theatre Royal’s world premiere of The Psychic. Picture: Manuel Harlan

World premiere of the month: The Psychic, York Theatre Royal, until May 23

“IS any of it real,” ask Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman in The Psychic, the latest spook-fest from the writer-director duo behind Ghost Stories. In their twisted new thriller, popular TV psychic Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) loses a high-profile court case that brands her a charlatan, costing her not only her reputation but also a fortune in legal fees.

When a wealthy couple ask Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child, she senses an opportunity to bleed them for money. What follows makes her question everything she has ever believed, leading her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Tenor Christopher O’Gorman

Lunchtime concert of the week: York Late Music presents Christopher Gorman (tenor) & Mark Hutchinson (piano), Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm

THE first complete performance of York composer Steve Crowther’s song settings of poems by late York writer Helen Cadbury will be given by tenor Christopher O’Gorman and pianist Mark Hutchinson this afternoon. The concert also features Richard Allain’s Three Shakespeare Sonnetsplus music by Emily Hall and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs Of Travel. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.

Louise Davies in her Woolwich studio

Exhibition opening of the week: Louise Davies and Glassmakers, Journey In Colour, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today, 11am to 2.30pm, until July 4

PAINTINGS and etchings by South East London artist and printmaker Louise Davies will be complemented by glass by Allister Malcolm, Madeleine Hughes, Margaret Burke, Charlie Burke and Amelia Burke.

Pink Moors, oil on canvas, by Louise Davies

Davies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, combines fluid lines and rich colour in vibrant landscape prints and oil paintings. Gallery owner Terry Brett drove to Stourbridge to pick up glass works by Malcolm and his workshop assistant, Hughes. Margaret Burke, son Charlie and his wife, hot glass specialist Amelia, run the hand-blown glass studio E&M Glass at The Old Bakery, Sarn Bridge, Malpas, Cheshire.

Bradley Creswick: Violin soloist at York Guildhall Orchestra’s concert tomorrow

Classical concert of the week: York Guildhall Orchestra Spring Concert, York Barbican, Sunday, 3pm

YORK Guildhall Orchestra continues its celebration of the works of German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist and critic Carl Maria von Weber, this time recognising his considerable input into the world of opera with the overture to Der Freischütz.

Tomorrow afternoon’s soloist will be Bradley Creswick, leader emeritus of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No 1. The second half features Verdi’s overture to his opera The Force Of Destiny, Britten’s Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes and Ravel’s orchestral showpiece La Valse. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Martha Godber’s Jesse North in her play Jesse North Is Broken. Picture: Ian Hodgson

Solo show of the week: John Godber Company presents Martha Godber in Jesse North Is Broken, York Theatre Royal Studio, May 11 to 14, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm Thursday matinee

JESSE North, 25, from Hull, is a carer on minimum wage, keeping the elderly alive while trying to live her own messy, chaotic life. Told over one night, writer-performer Martha Godber’s play follows Jesse from care shift to the dance floor, from the late-night kebab to an early-morning call-out as she battles the system that undervalues her and the city that shapes her, all while her ADHD-fuelled thoughts and anxious mind crave order in the chaos.

“Both political and personal, the show shines a light on working-class survival in Britain today – where carers are underpaid, the care system is crumbling and young women are left to piece themselves together in a society that keeps breaking them,” says Martha, whose solo play is directed by Millie Gaston. A post-show discussion follows Wednesday’s performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for James Morrison’s 20 Years Of Undiscovered tour

Anniversary of the week: James Morrison, 20 Years Of Undiscovered, York Barbican, May 13, doors 7pm; Sheffield City Hall, May 23, doors 6.30pm

UNDISCOVERED was the number one debut album that changed everything for Rugby soul singer-songwriter and guitarist James Morrison (or James Morrison Catchpole to give him his full name). Back then, he was fitting carpets by day, playing open mics by night and driving up and down to London at any spare moment, taking meeting after meeting with multiple record companies.

On his 18-date May and June tour, 2007 British Male Solo Artist BRIT award winner Morrison is playing Undiscovered in its entirety in a set taking in big hits such as You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, fan favourites The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and This Boy, rarely performed gems One Last Chance and How Come and highlights from his six-album songbook, topped off by 2025’s Top Five success Fight Another Day. Cordelia supports. Tickets update: York, limited availability at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Sheffield, https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/james-morrison-sheffield-23-05-2026/event/35006367D9B1B6C6.

Wehn and where? Henning squeezing every German joke out of the British weather at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gig of the week: Henning Wehn, Acid Wehn, Grand Opera House, York, May 14, 7.30pm

GERMAN Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn takes an unbiased look at climate change. “It’s a topic sure to delight audiences and no surprise,” he says. “After all, everyone loves talking about the weather. Rain or shine, all will be fine. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows?! Come along. Or else.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Tim Lowe: Launching 2026 York Chamber Music Festival with NCEM recital with Stephen Gutman

Festival launch of the week: Tim Lowe (cello) & Stephen Gutman (piano), Gems Of The Romantic Cello, National Centre for Early Music, York, May 15, 7.30pm

DIRECTOR and cellist Tim Lowe previews the 2026 York Chamber Music Festival (September 11 to 13) in concert with pianist Stephen Gutman in a passionate exploration of expressive and beautiful works from the cello and piano repertoire.

Their programme will be the same as they played at St Mary le Strand, London, on Wednesday: Beethoven’s 12 Variations on See The Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus; Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No 1 in C Minor; Richard Strauss’s Cello Sonata in F Major and Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro. Box office: eventbrite.co.uk.

Cowboy Junkies: 40 years and counting

In Focus: Cowboy Junkies, Celebrating 40 Years And Beyond Tour, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, tonight; doors 7pm for 7.45pm start

Cowboy Junkies: 40 years and counting

TORONTO’S Cowboy Junkies are playing British venues for the first time since 2022 on April and May’s Celebrating 40 Years and Beyond tour, promoted by Hurricane Promotions. Next stop, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, tonight.

Coinciding with the 11-date itinerary, the Canadians have released a triple LP/ double CD/digital collection of songs from their 21st century releases, Open To Beauty.

Released on May 1 on Cooking Vinyl, this ‘Best Of’ set revisits selected tracks from the albums Open, One Soul Now, Early 21st Century Blues, At The End Of Paths Taken, Renmin Park, Demons, Sing In My Meadow, The Wilderness, All That Reckoning, Songs Of The Recollection and 2023’s Such Ferocious Beauty.

Speaking of the new compilation, Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins says: “We are now 25 years into this century, the beginning of which saw us leave the world of major labels and return to making music as an independent band.

“We figured this was as good a time as any to look back, reassess and reflect on the music that we have recorded over these past two and a half decades and, hence, Open To Beauty – The Best of the 21st Century.”

Tour tickets are on sale at: https://cowboyjunkies.com/tour/. Tonight’s show has sold out: for returns only, https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/cowboy-junkies/.

Did you know?

COWBOY Junkies’ signature performance of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground composition Sweet Jane was featured in the final episode of Netflix TV series Stranger Things.

Cowboy Junkies’ Peter Timmins, Margo Timmins, Michael Timmins and Alan Anton

Cowboy Junkies: back story

SOMETIMES revolutions begin quietly. In 1988, Canadian alt. country band Cowboy Junkies proved there was an audience waiting for something quiet, beautiful and reflective. The Trinity Session was like a whisper that cut through the noise – and it was compelling, standing out amid the flash and bombast that defined the late 1980s. 

The now classic recording – made live at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto in November 1987 – combined folk, blues and rock in a way that had never been heard before and went on to sell more than a million copies. 

Cowboy Junkies’ ability to communicate volumes before the lyrics kick in defines an enduring career. Where most bands chase trends, the Junkies have stayed their course, maintaining a low-impact excavation of melody and evocative language delivered sotto voce in singer Margo Timmins’s feathery alto.

Forming in Toronto in 1985, Margo was joined by siblings Michael Timmins on guitar and Peter Timmins on drums, plus Michael’s life-long friend Alan Anton on bass, to begin a journey that has evolved over 29 albums.

“I’ve known Alan longer than I’ve known Pete,” says Michael. “We were friends before Pete was born.”

 Unlike most long-lasting groups, Cowboy Junkies have never had a break-up or taken a sanity-saving hiatus. There’s an appreciation of each other that keeps them constantly working. “It’s that intimacy and understanding of what each one of us brings to the table,” says Michael.

The oldest, Michael is the chief architect; songwriter, and guitarist, who works with Margo on sculpting the emotional planes and vocal performances before bringing in Peter and Alan to create the soundscapes that have made Cowboy Junkies a band that defies categories.

“The expectations and responsibilities of our roles are a big part of the band’s ethos,” says Michael. “We’re still amazed that we’re doing things our way and continuing to grow the band, but the longer we are at it, the more fun it’s become. We don’t take it for granted.”

Margo adds: “We do what we do and it feels right for all of us. After 30-plus years of playing together, the band and its music are more important to us than ever. The music we make brings each of us a great sense of contentment, a knowledge of place, and a sense of doing what we were meant to do.”