More Things To Do in York & beyond when doors open and cabaret nights launch. Hutch’s List No. 41, from The Press, York

YORK unlocks for the weekend. Charles Hutchinson unlocks the door to multiple other delights too.

Festival of the week: York Unlocked 2024, today and tomorrow from 10am

IN its third year, York Unlocked welcomes residents and visitors to experience York’s architecture and open spaces with the chance to discover, explore and enjoy around 50 sites.

This year’s new addition is a children’s trail book; families can pick up a free copy from York Explore Library, All Saints’ Church, North Street, or The Guildhall. Full details of the participating locations, from Spark: York to City Screen Picturehouse, Terry’s Factory Clock Tower to Bishopthorpe Palace, Holgate Windmill to York Railway Station, can be found at york-unlocked.org.uk. Entry is free, including those requiring booking.

Rachel Croft: Heading back to York to play The Crescent

Return of the week: Black Deer Live in association with TalentBanq presents Rachel Croft Live, supported by Tom Sheldon Trio, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm

AFTER relocating to London almost three years ago, thunderous alt-rock singer-songwriter Rachel Croft returns to York for an explosive hometown show, backed by a full band.

Caffe Nero Artist of the Month in February 2024, she has performed at The O2 Arena Blue Room, Bush Hall and Camden Assembly in London, the Bitter End in New York and Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and such festivals as Cambridge Folk Festival, Secret Garden Party and Black Deer. Her cinematic songs have featured on Netflix, the BBC and in rotation in Tesco, Waterstones and Centre Parcs stores. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. 

Much more than stripping assets: York’s queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, hosts The Exhibionists in The Old Paint Shop

Cabaret night of the week: Freida Nipples presents…The Exhibitionists, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight, 8pm; Halloween Edition, October 26, 6pm and 9pm

YORK’S award-winning burlesque artiste Freida Nipples launches the Theatre Royal’s new Old Paint Shop cabaret season with some of her favourite fabulous performance artists from across Great Britain.

“From burlesque to drag and beyond, be sure to expect the unexpected,” she says. “Get ready to be dazzled, shocked and in awe. Only a few things are guaranteed: glamour, gags and giggles.” Tickets update: all three shows have sold out. For returns only, call 01904 623568.

Frankenstein (On A Budget): One man, one monster, one glorious dream at Friargate Theatre, York

“Comedy musical Hammer Horror homage you didn’t know you needed”: Frankenstein (On a Budget), Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

ONE man, one monster, one glorious dream to singlehandedly tell the most famous cult horror story of all time on absolutely no budget whatsoever. What could possibly go wrong?  Inspired by Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff, Frankenstein (On a Budget) features one actor, some decidedly dodgy backdrops, new music, weather-based based puns, cardboard props, gore and flashing lights. 

Can the ill-fated doctor build his monstrous creation, play 25 characters, sing songs aplenty, attempt accents from across the world, perform a dance routine, and ultimately save the day in only 60 minutes? Find out tonight. Age guidance: 14 upwards. Box office: ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

The Shires: Playing York on intimate acoustic tour

Country gig of the week: The Shires: The Two Of Us Tour, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

GREAT Britain’s biggest country music export, The Shires, return to York on their intimate acoustic tour, where Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes play songs from 2015 debut, 2016’s My Universe, 2018’s Accidentally On Purpose, 2020’s Good Years and 2022’s 10 Year Plan.

The Shires have achieved three consecutive UK Top Three albums, four UK Country album chart toppers, more than 100 million streams, two gold-certified records and two CMA Awards, headlining the Royal Albert Hall too. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Aein Nasseri (Alland) and the CAPA College Chorus (Vox) in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Sanctuary. Picture: Robling Photography

Play of the week: Red Ladder Theatre Company in Sanctuary, Selby Abbey, October 7, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, October 8, 7.30pm; Wesley Centre, Harrogate, October 12, 7.30pm

DIRECTED by new Red Ladder artistic director Cheryl Martin, this timely premiere by Sarah Woods and musician Boff Whalley tells the vital story of Alland, a young Iranian man who begs to be given sanctuary at St Mary’s Church in a northern town, sparking a community to react in all the ways each member believes to be right.

Featuring a chorus of Wakefield’s CAPA College students, Sanctuary mixes hard-hitting ideas with melodic tunes and harmonies, asking the question: do we want safety and freedom for only ourselves, or for us all? Box office: Selby, 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Carrie Hope Fletcher: Love Letters in song form at York Barbican

Musical theatre revue of the week: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Love Letters, York Barbican, October 8, doors 7pm

WEST End musical theatre actress, author and vlogger Carrie Hope Fletcher explores all forms of love, from romantic to maternal, unrequited to obsessive, all told through a concert of musical theatre favourites, accompanied by specially written letters about each song by Carrie.

She is best known for playing Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Veronica in Heathers, Wednesday in The Addams Family, Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella on the London stage. Her special guest will be Bradley Jaden, her West End co-star in Les Miserables. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ed Gamble: Not discussing hot dogs in Hot Diggity Dog at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett

Comedy gig of the week: Ed Gamble, Hot Diggity Dog, Grand Opera House, York, October 9, 7.30pm

ED Gamble is promising “all your classicGamble ranting, raving and spluttering, but he’s doing fine mentally. Promise”. After all, he co-hosts the award-winning podcast Off Menuwith James Acaster, is a judge on Great British Menu and Taskmaster champion, hosts Taskmaster The Podcast and The Traitors: Uncloaked and has his own special, Blood Sugar, available on Amazon Prime. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Not Gonna Lie: Fool(ish) Improv use audience true stories to improvise “unbelievable comedy”

Improv gig of the week: Fool(ish) Improv present Not Gonna Lie, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, October 10, 8pm

PAUL Birch and co will take the truth to task by using real stories from the audience to improvise “unbelievable comedy”. Not so much Who’s Line Is It Anyway but more Who’s Lie Is It Anyway, Fool(ish) welcome you to a playful night of joy, nonsense and completely making things up.

“Come confess and unburden yourselves of some silly secrets, tales of the office and childhood memories and we will shape them into surreal sketches and sensational scenes,” say the Yorkshire improvisers trained by the best in Chicago Long-Form improv. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Sharleen Spiteri: Leading Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer

Gig announcement of the week: Texas, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26 2025

SCOTTISH band Texas, fronted as ever by Sharleen Spiteri, will return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 2018 to showcase five decades of songs, from I Don’t Want A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Son to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking next summer. Irish rock band The Script are confirmed already for July 5. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.

Next Door But One takes next steps to help creative talent with The Producing Hub

Next Door But One’s leadership team: creative engagement manager El Stannage, left, producer Joshua Goodman, artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, associate director Kate Veysey and communications coordinator Anna Johnston

HOT off winning two York Enterprise Awards, Next Door But One is launching The Producing Hub to expand its provision of professional development for creative talents in the city.

Over the past year, the York community arts collective has supported 68 performing arts professionals to nurture their skills and achieve career goals through a series of workshops, one-to-one mentoring and by providing micro-commissions for new work, such as the Yorkshire Trios showcase at York Theatre Royal Studio in late-March.

“Seventy-five per cent have started a new project or developed an existing one; 68 per cent have applied for and secured new jobs or commissions; 50 per cent have applied for funding for their work, and have showcased that work too,” says Next Door But One (NDB1) chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle.

“As one participant described their involvement: ‘The biggest impact from engaging in NDB1’s professional development is how much confidence I’ve gained. I’ve since secured further professional work, I have less imposter syndrome and feel like I belong in this industry.

“The experience of working with NDB1 made me feel validated that I have the skill to pursue acting professionally, and what my USP [unique selling point] is in the industry. I’m able to effectively communicate what I can offer the industry and NDB1 has been instrumental in helping me understand this’.”

James Lewis-Knight, artistic director of Clown Space, recipients of Next Door But One support for professional development

Matt reflects: “We’ve always said that NDB1 is a place where creatives can hang their hat. Being a freelance artist can often feel very lonely, isolating and a bit discombobulating,” he says. “We saw this acutely during Covid. As the world started to open up again following the pandemic, we had an influx of local creatives getting in touch for advice.

“Sixty-seven per cent had had a large proportion of their work cancelled; 50 per cent had struggled to secure the same amount of work since; 42 per cent had considered leaving the industry and their chosen career altogether, and 58 per cent have felt a significant disconnection from the industry as a whole. Local freelancers are the lifeblood of NDB1’s work, so we knew we had to do something about it.”

Since those shockwaves of 2021, NDB1 has provided 28 micro-commissions to writers, directors and actors, run three programmes of professional development workshops, a full year’s coaching for emerging companies and countless one-to-ones with York artists to provide bespoke advice and signposting.

“Now we are launching our most ambitious and robust programme of support for creatives through The Producing Hub Next Door But One,” says Matt. “‘It’s a way to pull together and formalise all the responsive support we’ve been providing into something we can really shout about and invite more people into.”

Firstly, backed by funding from City of York Council (through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund) and Arts Council England, over the next year NDB1 will provide producing support for Thunk-It Theatre’s next tour of New Girl and for the company development of Clown Space, the York company run by professional clown James Lewis-Knight and Emily Chattle that specialises in teaching clowning, full mask and physical theatre.

“Clown Space are at a point where they need support with their creative business plans, vision values and funding mechanisms,” says Matt.

Creative 1:1s. Seed Funding.Seminars. Next Door But One has help and advice on hand for York arts talents

Thunk-It Theatre artistic director Becky Lennon says: “We are thrilled to be joining The Producing Hub. We’ve been lucky to be supported by NDB1 since we first began in 2020 and are excited to be co-producing our now Arts Council England-funded production, New Girl, this autumn with the wonderful support from the NDB1 Team.

“The Producing Hub is a great way for us to learn how to produce our own work in a supported professional set-up. We cannot wait to see how we develop with the amazing backing from the team.”

Secondly, in partnership with York Theatre Royal, NDB1’s Opening Doors will return from November 2024 to provide a series of free professional development workshops built from the needs expressed by York creatives.

“We’re also really excited to take our informal one-to-one surgeries and the ‘cuppa catch-ups’ we regularly have with creatives to provide regular opportunities for creatives to sit with members of the NDB1 team and get the advice they need,” says Matt.

NDB1 associate director Kate Veysey adds: “I think it’s down to our approachability, but we regularly have creatives getting in touch to ask our advice on new projects, to look over applications and even just to be a friendly face to artists who are new to the city.

Thunk-It Theatre in New Girl: Receiving Next Door But One support for next tour

“We really see the value in these quick, responsive interventions and happily go offering space, support and coffee, but as a small team ourselves we were reaching capacity.

“From September, however, NDB1 will be offering bookable slots around the city, for York creatives to set the agenda and receive the headspace of our leadership team on whatever is needed.”

This 1:1 service has been made possible with a grant from YOR4Good, partnering with the University of York’s School of Arts and Creative Technologies, and with the support of Explore York library service and Theatre@41, Monkgate.

Kate continues: “We’re excited by this as we can offer seed funding to support creatives to overcome particular barriers to their desired career progression. This could be affording fees for training courses, hiring space to have a table-read of a new script or even covering access costs to take up new opportunities.”

In addition, a casting call is open until September for NDB1’s May 2025 production of How To Be A Kid. “We’ll be casting from new graduates from the past two years, who’ll do a three-week rehearsal process, incorporating professional training as part of a touring production, with advice on, for example, acquiring professional headshots and talking to casting agents,” says Matt.

To stay up to date with these opportunities and to learn how to engage NDB1’s services, creatives are advised to sign up to the mailing list and fill out Expression of Interest forms, available via the website: nextdoorbutone.co.uk.

Double winners: Kate Veysey, second left, El Stannage, Matt Harper-Hardcastle amd Anna Johnston, of Next Door But One, with Warrick Dent, left, from LNER, after receiving the Community Changemaker and Inclusive Business awards at the 2024 York Enterprise Awards. Picture: Alex Holland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TakeOver festival: the back story

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

Tales of Barrie and the Bard to be told in Shakespeare’s Royals at York Theatre Royal

Barrie Rutter: Going face to face with Shakespeare’s Royals at York Theatre Royal Studio

IN his X profile, veteran Yorkshire actor Barrie Rutter OBE introduces himself as: “Lover of language. Awobopaloobopalopbamboom – everything else is Shakespeare”.

Barrie and the Bard have had a long, long relationship, one that is the subject of his new show, Shakespeare’s Royals, whose 11-date tour sends him to the York Theatre Royal Studio tomorrow (26/4/2024) as part of the York International Shakespeare Festival.

Barrie, founder and former artistic director of Northern Broadsides, celebrates the Bard’s kings and queens – their achievements, conquests and foibles – with tales, anecdotes and memories from a career of playing and directing Shakespeare’s Royals.

Told he could never play a king on account of his Yorkshire accent, Hull-born Rutter, now 77, took the revolutionary step of creating his own theatre company in 1992 at Dean Clough in Halifax to use the northern voice for Shakespeare’s kings, queens and emperors, not only the usual drunken porters, jesters or fools.

It has been said that the Yorkshire dialect most readily matches the Elizabethan language of Shakespeare’s time. “I can’t say that would be the case,” says Barrie. “I never claimed that, but all those short vowels and granite-heavy consonants are great lanes for language to travel down, and the northern voices of our country suit that language, that sound – as we know from all the work I did for Tony Harrison, echoing Ancient Greek dramas [The Mysteries, The Oresteia and The Trackers Of Oxyrhynchus].”

Shakespeare’s Royals was first staged as a one-off in Halifax last April. “The evening was such a success that I’m now touring it,” says Barrie. “The first one was at The Viaduct, the cellar theatre space I created at Dean Clough, which I have a real fondness for, and it worked really well.

“Sarah and Jamie Horsley, who run the True North restaurant at Dean Clough and now The Viaduct, suggested putting things on there and taking things out on tour as Sarah sits on the touring board of Arts Council North, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Barrie stepped down from the artistic director’s post at Northern Broadsides in April 2018 in frustration at what he saw as inadequate Arts Council funding for the company. Since then he has worked as a freelance actor, such as performing with Clive Anderson in the world premiere of Daniel Taub’s Winner’s Curse at the Park Theatre, London, in February last year, as well as coming through treatment for throat cancer in 2020.

A show such as Shakespeare’s Royals gives him a chance to keep squeezing his artistic juices. “You need your ego, the one that doesn’t get in the way, but keeps you going, keeps you being imaginative, keeps the brain working,” says Barrie. “This is a way to say I still have something to offer, something entertaining, something informative…and always pleasurable. This show is a bit of all that…and it’s political too.

Barrie Rutter as Lear in Shakespeare’s King Lear in 2015. Picture: Nobby Clark

“I make no secret of choosing Titania’s climate change speech from A Midsummer Night’s Dream [Act II, Scene 1] and the ‘basic anti-Brexit edit’ of John of Gaunt’s This England monologue [from Richard II, Act II, Scene 1].

His favourite speech from Henry VI, Part Three, others from Henry V and King Lear, feature too, bookended by Macbeth, his first show as a “winsome 18-year-old at school” in 1964.

Shakespeare’s Royals combines Rutter’s guide to Shakespeare’s royalty, from Richard III to Henry IV, V and VI and the fairy king and queen of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with humorous anecdotes from his life in the theatre, whether founding Northern Broadsides, directing Lenny Henry in his Shakespeare debut as Othello, portraying assorted royals or encountering Dizzy Gillespie and Rudolf Nureyev.

As he reflects on a career that has taken him from Hamburg to Helsinki, Brazil to Beijing, Shakespeare’s Globe to the amphitheatre of Epidaurus in Greece, he says: “Some stories are very personal, some are instructive of what makes me tick, what I enjoy; hopefully they will be relatable and fun.

“In the case of the Calypso that accompanies Richard II, I was just going along my shelves, seeing what was there, and I remembered this Calypso that I sang in 1966 and didn’t sing again until last year – and yet I could recall every line.”

Barrie will be joined by Emily Butterfield from Northern Broadsides. “I didn’t want there to be no female voice in the show,” he says. “So I have Emily for Titania, Cleopatra and Elizabeth from Richard III, and there’ll be more music: a dirty limerick with Henry V and 12-bar blues with Cleopatra. Emily also plays the flute, and she’ll close the show with the last song from Twelfth Night.”

At school, an English teacher had frogmarched Rutter into the school play because he had “the gob for it”, and feeling at home on stage, he chose his future direction and has never looked back. Now he returns to York Theatre Royal, where he last appeared in November 2017 in his farewell Broadsides tour, For Love Or Money, a typically anarchic theatrical double act with Blake Morrison.

Time for Barrie Rutter to shake up Shakespeare once more.

Barrie Rutter: Shakespeare’s Royals, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow (26/4/2024), 7.45pm;. Also Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Cathedral, July 4, 7.30pm. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.ukRipon, ripontheatrefestival.org.

More Things To Do in Ryedale, York and beyond the Bard festival celebrations. Hutch’s List No. 12, from Gazette & Herald

Footsbarn Theatre in Twelfth Night: First British performances in 15 years in world premiere at York International Shakespeare Festival

A FEAST of Shakespeare, a musical’s 60th anniversary, Motown magic, smalltown teenage troubles and a Yorkshire rock band’s birthday bash hit the mark for Charles Hutchinson.  

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival, until Sunday 

SHAKESPEAREAN Identity is the theme of the sixth York International Shakespeare Festival, now an annual event, run by director Philip Parr. Sponsored by York St John University, it features shows, lectures by internationally recognised academics, exhibitions and workshops presented by Shakespeare enthusiasts from all over the world.

Among the highlights will be Footsbarn Theatre’s first British visit in 15 years with Twelfth Night on Saturday and Sunday and York Explore’s exhibition of 300 years of representations of Othello. Tickets and full programme details are available at yorkshakes.co.uk/programme-2024.

Fiddler in the woods: Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Perri Ann Barley’s Golde and Steve Tearle’s Tevye set the scene for NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, running until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

STEVE Tearle directs NE Theatre York in Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein’s musical, taking the role of Tevye, the humble village milkman, for the third time too in this 60th anniversary production.

When three of Tevye’s five daughters rebel against the traditions of arranged marriages by taking matters into their own hands, mayhem unfolds as he strives to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural creeds, against the backdrop of the Tsar’s pogrom edict to evict all Jews from his Russian village in 1905. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for 1812 Theatre Company’s double bill at Helmsley Arts Centre

Double bill of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Baby Dolls and Contractions, Helmsley Arts Centre, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm

HELMSLEY Arts Centre’s Young Arts Leaders Charlotte Mintoft and Amelia Featherstone direct the 1812 Theatre Company in Tamara von Werthern’s Baby Dolls and Mike Bartlett’s Contractions respectively. The first is a futuristic comedy about conception, state control and rebellion, wherein three women meet at a baby shower but darker things than cupcakes and babygrows are on their mind. 

The second, an ink-black comedy, focuses on the boundaries between work and play. Whereas Emma thinks she’s in love with Darren, her boss thinks she’s in breach of contract. The situation needs to be resolved. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Barrie Rutter: Reflecting on shaking up Shakespeare at Northern Broadsides and beyond

Breaking down the Bard barrier in the north: Barrie Rutter: Shakespeare’s Royals, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 7.45pmRipon Theatre Festival, Ripon Cathedral, July 4, 7.30pm

BARRIE Rutter, founder and former director of Northern Broadsides, celebrates the Bard’s kings and queens – their achievements, conquests and foibles – with tales, anecdotes and memories from a career of playing and directing Shakespeare’s Royals.

Told he could never play a king on account of his Yorkshire accent, Hull-born Rutter, now 77, created his own theatre company in 1992 in Halifax to use the northern voice for Shakespeare’s kings, queens and emperors, not only the usual drunken porters, jesters or fools. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.

Soul Satisfaction: Four Tops and Motown hits here they come at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale tribute show of the week: Soul Satisfaction, The American Four Tops Motown Show, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

DIRECT from the United States, Soul Satisfaction combine powerful vocals, sweet harmonies and high-stepping dance routines in the American Four Tops Motown Show.

This celebration of Motown’s golden era revels in Reach Out (I’ll Be There), Walk Away Renee, It’s The Same Old Song, Loco In Acapulco, I Can’t Help Myself and Bernadette, complemented by The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Marvin Gaye and Ben E King hits. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The trials of growing up in a small country town: Henry Madd’s Henry and Marc Benga’s Jake in Land Of The Lost Content at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Ali Wright

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

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

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

Joe Martin: Troubadour tales at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Troubadour of the week: Joe Martin, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 8pm

INDEPENDENT singer-songwriter and modern-day troubadour Joe Martin captures stories of people and encounters picked up on the road in his tales of friends, strangers and his own experiences.

Before his solo venture, Lancashire-born Martin fronted a country band while studying at university in Leeds, opening for The Shires and appearing at the Country to Country festival. Now he performs in Europe and the United States, such as at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Cult: 40th anniversary tour heads to York Barbican in October. Picture: Jackie Middleton

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

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

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

More Things To Do in York and beyond from March 23 onwards. What springs up in Hutch’s List No 13, from The Press?

Adam Kay: If laughter is the best medicine, head to the Grand Opera House

SHORT plays, doctor’s tales, pop memories, life 11,000 years ago, women in word and song, egg hunts and a Sondheim celebration put the spring into Charles Hutchinson’s step as a new season arrives.

Doctor in the House: Adam Kay: Undoctored, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm

BILLING himself as “the nation’s twelfth-favourite doctor”, This Is Going To Hurt author Adam Kay follows a record-breaking Edinburgh Fringe run and West End season with a tour of tales from his life on and off the wards.

Expect Kay’s ‘degloving’ story to feature “because people ask for refunds if they don’t hear it”. Post-show, he will be signing books. Last few tickets: atgtickets.com/york.

Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women at The Basement

Navigators Art & Performance presents: GUNA: Live!, Views and Voices of Women, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, March 23, 7pm

TO complement Navigators Art & Performance’s City Screen exhibition for International Women’s Week, the York arts collective hosts an inspiring evening of music, spoken word and comedy that explores, celebrates and promotes the creativity of women and non-binary artists. 

The line-up of mostly York-based performers features poets Danae, Olivia Mulligan and Rose Drew; performance artist Carrieanne Vivianette; global songs and percussion from Soundsphere; original music from Suzy Bradley; comedy from Aimee Moon and a rousing appearance by multi-faceted York musician and artist Heather Findlay. Box office: bit.ly/nav-guna.

Lush stories: Miki Berenyi’s book, Fingers Crossed, under discussion at York Literature Festival

Book of the week: Miki Berenyi In Conversation: Fingers Crossed, York Literature Festival, The Crescent, York, March 24, 3pm

MIKI Berenyi, former lead singer, rhythm guitarist and founder member of London shoegaze/dream pop band Lush discusses her memoir, Fingers Crossed, and her career, recounting her experiences as a trailblazing woman fronting a seminal late-1980s group. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Livy Potter: Performing in Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill in Yorkshire Trios at York Theatre Royal

York theatre event of the week: Yorkshire Trios, York Theatre Royal Studio, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.45pm, both sold out

YORK company Next Door But One brings together York actors, writers and directors to produce original, short pieces of theatre, five to 15 minutes in length, on the theme of Top Of The Hill. Cue tales of motherhood, grief, love, war and even Kate Bush.

Badapple Theatre’s Kate Bramley and Connie Peel direct Nicola Holliday in Sarah Rumfitt’s Toast; Livy Potter performs Paul Birch’s Running Up That Hill under Harri Marshall’s direction; Jacob Ward directs Claire Morley in Yixia Jiang’s Outliving and Bailey Dowler appears in Jules Risingham’s Anorak, directed by Tempest Wisdom. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Curators Andrew Woods, left, Adam Parker and Emily North with Mesolithic remains of a wooden platform and materials used for fire-making in the Yorkshire Museum’s Star Carr exhibition. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

Exhibition opening of the week: Star Carr: Life After The Ice, Yorkshire Museum, York; open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

EXCAVATED in the Vale of Pickering, the Star Carr archaeological site provides the first evidence in Great Britain of the beginnings of home, a place where people settled and built places to live.

The Yorkshire Museum’s interactive exhibition brings together artefacts from “the Mesolithic equivalent of Stonehenge” to give an insight into human life 11,000 years ago, a few hundred years after the last Ice Age, such as how they made fires. On display are objects from the Yorkshire Museum Collection, from antler headdresses and a decorated stone pendant to the world’s oldest complete hunting bow and the earliest evidence of carpentry from Europe. To book tickets, go to: yorkshiremuseum.org.uk.

Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre

Musical revue of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Sondheim We Remember, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 27 to 30, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember’s selection of music from Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway shows, film scores and television specials.

Taking part too in this celebration of the New York composer and lyricist will be show director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Nick Sephton, Catherine Foster and Matthew Warry. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The National Trust’s guide to Easter activties, egg hunts et al, at Nunnington Hall

Easter Egg Hunt of the fortnight: Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near Helmsley, today until April 7, 10.30am to 5pm; last entry, 4.15pm.

FAMILIES can enjoy a fun-packed visit to the National Trust property of Nunnington Hall throughout the Easter school holiday, when children can take part in an Easter egg hunt trail around the freshly mown garden, with activities to be completed such as an egg and spoon race, archery and boules, before receiving their egg.

Children can enjoy drawing and painting in the creative hub; take part in seed planting in the cutting garden; explore the Lion’s Den play area, with its obstacle course, rope bridge and climbing frame; learn about composting and spend time in the bird-watching area. On March 31 and April 1, additional garden activities include races on the main lawn and bird-feeder making. Tickets: nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall.

Wet Wet Wet and special guest Heather Small: Teaming up at York Barbican in 2025

York gig announcement of the week: Wet Wet Wet & Heather Small, York Barbican, October 13 2025

WHEN Wet Wet Wet headlined a festival in Dubai, who should they bump into but Heather Small, the big voice of M People. She duly accepted their invitation to be the special guest at all dates on their 2025 tour.

Wet Wet Wet will be returning to York Barbican after their January 31 2024 double bill with Go West on the Best Of Both Worlds Tour. In the line-up will be founding member and bassist Graeme Clark, long-standing guitarist Graeme Duffin and singer Kevin Simm, The Voice UK winner and former Liberty X member, who joined the Scottish group in 2018. Tickets: axs.com.york.

In Focus: Children’s show, Millennium Entertainment International in There’s A Monster In Your Show, York Theatre Royal, March 26 to 28, 1.30pm and 4pm

There’s A Monster In Your Show composer Tom Fletcher with his children, Buzz, Buddy and Max, and a monster puppet

THE Easter holiday festivities at York Theatre Royal kick off with Tom Fletcher’s new family musical There’s A Monster In Your Show.

Based on Fletcher and Greg Abbot’s Who’s In Your Book? picture-book series for Puffin, the 50-minute performance for three-year-olds and upwards is billed as an “interactive, high-energy adventure for big imaginations” that leaps from page to stage with the aid of lively original music

Adapted for the stage by Zoe Bourn and directed by Miranda Larson, the show features new music by McFly band member Fletcher and Barry Bignold. Expect playful fun aplenty for your littlest ones as their favourite characters come to life in a performance packed with interactive moments to enjoy together.

In the story, performers are preparing to start their show but quickly discover they are not alone on stage. Little Monster wants to be part of the fun too, promptly extending an invitation to his friends Dragon, Alien and Unicorn to join him. Cue comedy and chaos as they help to create a magical show, learning about the joy of books and friendship along the way.

Fletcher says: “I’m so excited to see There’s A Monster In Your Book come to life on stage. The whole journey is incredibly exciting. Theatre is such an important way to introduce children to the arts and There’s A Monster In Your Show is the perfect first theatre trip for pre-schoolers and their families. I’m so looking forward to seeing their reactions first hand.”

The 1.30pm show on March 28 will be a Relaxed Performance that aims to reduce anxiety around theatre visits to help everyone have an enjoyable time. All are welcome, but especially people with sensory or communication difficulties or a learning disability. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ben Murrell and Gil Sidaway in There’s A Monster In Your Show. Picture: Pamela Raith

More Things To Do in York and beyond from March 9 onwards. Hutch plays his cards for List No. 11 for 2024, from The Press

2023 Strictly champ Ellie Leach’s Miss Scarlett, front right, with her fellow colourful characters in the new whodunit comedy Cluedo 2, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Alastair Muir

A WHODUNIT comedy, mischievous theatre as a team game, a wicked return, cocktail-bar tales, political satire and one-liners and a very muddy pig are Charles Hutchinson’s clues to the best upcoming shows.

Whodunit, with what and where, of the week: Cluedo 2, York Theatre Royal, March 12 to 16, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

STRICTLY Come Dancing 2023 champion and Coronation Street star Ellie Leach is making her stage acting debut as Miss Scarlett in the world premiere British tour of Cluedo 2, marking the 75th anniversary of the Hasbro boardgame. Next stop, York.

This follow-up to the original play (based on Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 film Clue) is an original comedy whodunit, set in the Swinging Sixties, with a script by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (Birds Of A Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart and Dreamboats And Petticoats) and direction by Mark Bell (Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Ash Hunter’s Macbeth and Jessica Baglow’s Lady Macbeth in Amy Leach’s revival of Macbeth at Leeds Playhouse. Picture: Kirsten McTernan

Something wicked this way comes…again: Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse, until March 23

AMY Leach reactivates her 2022 Leeds Playhouse production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with a wickedly good cast, now led by Ash Hunter, who returns to Yorkshire after his terrific Heathcliff in Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights at York Theatre Royal.

“Macbeth investigates the nature of belief, love, ambition and desire, asking us to root for two humans who drive each other to do utterly terrible things,” says Leach. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.   

Let the games begin: Gemma Curry, left, Claire Morley and Becky Lennon in Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at York Theatre Royal Studio

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, March 9, 10.30am

EVERYTHING is kicking off as the fairies in the forest start a fight, but which side will you be on? Team Titania or Team Oberon? York company Hoglets Theatre presents an interactive, fun, larger-than-life production for young children, based on Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs, puppets, stunts and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing from director/writer Gemma Curry and fellow cast members Claire Morley and Becky Lennon. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Comedian Matt Green: “Trying to make sense of the world”. Picture: Karla Gowlett

Political satire of the week: Matt Green: That Guy, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 10, 8pm

THE debut national tour by That Guy (@mattgreencomedy) is a stand-up show full of jokes both political and non-political after he achieved millions of views for his online satirical videos launched in lockdown.

Green is touring his first show “since the madness of Covid/Johnson/Truss/Lord-knows-what-else began”, trying to make sense of the world in another year of elections and culture wars. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jake Bugg: Playing our city on his Your Town Tour

Singer-songwriter of the week: Jake Bugg, Your Town Tour 2024, York Barbican, Tuesday, doors 7pm

ON his 15-date tour, Nottingham singer-songwriter Jake Bugg is performing two sets per night, first acoustic, then electric, as he rattles through his biggest hits, plus songs from 2021’s top three-charting Saturday Night Sunday Morning.

Two nights earlier, founder member Graham Gouldman leads art pop and soft rock innovators 10cc on their Ultimate Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour 2024 at 7.30pm. Ticket availability is limited. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out: Songs, muddy puddles and snorts at the Grand Opera House

Children’s show of the week: Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 1pm and 4pm, and Thursday, 10am and 1pm

PEPPA Pig is joined by her family and friends as they head to the zoo and the beach for a special party, with the promise of a fun-packed day. Prepare to sing with colourful scarecrows, feed the penguins, build big sandcastles and even swim in the sea in a show packed with songs, dancing, muddy puddles, giggles and snorts. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Facing the shift from hell in the worst bar in town: Sophie Bullivant, Abi Carter, Holly Smith and Laura Castle in Rowntree Players’ Shakers

Comedy play of the week: Rowntree Players in Shakers, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 14 to 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

WELCOME to Shakers, the worst bar in town where everyone wants to be seen. Carol, Adele, Niki and Mel face the shift from hell. The lights are neon, the music is loud, and shoes must be smart. No trainers.

Jane Thornton and John Godber’s 1984 comedy exposes the sticky-floored world behind the bar on a busy Saturday night. Here come the girls, the lads, the yuppies and the luvvies, all played by Sophie Bullivant, Laura Castle, Abi Carter and Holly Smith under the direction of Jamie McKeller, who worked previously with Bullivant and Castle on Godber’s Teechers in 2023. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rebecca Vaughan in Dyad Productions’ Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, scheming at Theatre@41 for two days

Solo show of the week: Dyad Productions in Austen’s Women: Lady Susan, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 15, 7.30pm and March 16, 2.30pm

FROM the creators of I, Elizabeth, Female Gothic, Christmas Gothic and A Room Of One’s Own comes a new Austen’s Women show, based on Jane Austen’s first full-length work from 1794, performed by Rebecca Vaughan.

Created entirely from letters, this one features the devil-may-care Lady Susan, the coquettish, scheming black widow, hunting down not one, but two, fortunes. Then add oppressed, rebellious daughter Frederica; long-suffering sister-in-law Catherine; family matriarch Mrs De Courcy and insouciant best friend Alicia in this darkly comic tale of Georgian society and the women trapped within it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Shock in shirts: Comedian Milton Jones will be displaying his sartorial eloquence in his Ha!Milton tour show

Gig announcement of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, September 7; Sheffield, City Hall, December 4; King’s Hall, Ilkley, December 8

MILTON Jones, the shock-haired master of the one-liner, will take his 2024 tour, Ha!Milton, on the road from September 3 to December 15. “This is not a musical,” says Jones, in a nod to the title.

“I am tone deaf and have no sense of rhythm, but at least I don’t make a song and dance about it. This is a whole new show of daftness. You know it makes sense.” Topics will include giraffes…“and there’s a bit about tomatoes”. Box office: miltonjones.com; York, atgtickets.com/york; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk; Ilkley, bradford-theatres.co.uk.

In Focus: Navigators Art & Performance, GUNA: Views and Voices of Women, City Screen Picturehouse, York


Collaborative banner by Navigators Art workshop group, including first-time artist
s, for York International Women’s Week 2024

YORK collective Navigators Art & Performance presents GUNA: Views and Voices of Women, at City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street, York, from March 10 to April 5.

Run in association with York International Women’s Week 2024, this exhibition explores and celebrates the creativity of women and non-binary artists.

On show in the cafe and the upstairs gallery is an array of paintings, textiles, collages, photographs and more by 20 emerging and established York makers, curated by York artist Katie Lewis.

Navigators Art & Performance’s poster for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women


“Women have used textiles as an art form to tell their stories and express views for centuries,” says Katie. “Many of the artists are using recycled fabrics that give further meaning to their work.”

The official launch night event on March 11 offers the chance to meet the artists over a complimentary drink from 6pm.  All are welcome, with no need to book; more details at  https://www.facebook.com/events/6804352783003925

The exhibition is free to enter every day during cinema hours. City Screen is fully accessible.

Suffragette City, by Katie Lewis

NAVIGATORS Art & Performance will co-host GUNA: An Evening of Music, Spoken Word, Performance Art and Comedy to complement the exhibition and further celebrate the creativity of women and non-binary artists in The Basement at City Screen on March 23 from 7pm to 10.45pm.

GUNA is a version of the ancient Greek word for ‘woman’, leading to a line-up of
poets Danae, Olivia Mulligan and Rose Drew; performance artist Carrieanne Vivianette; global songs and percussion from Soundsphere; original music from Suzy Bradley; comedy from Aimee Moon; and a rousing appearance by the multi-faceted singer, author and artist Heather Findlay.

“The venue is small and our shows often sell out, so book soon,” advises Navigators’ organiser, Richard Kitchen. Full details and TicketSource booking are available at https://bit.ly/nav-guna

Hoglets Theatre in the mood for mischief in Shakespeare’s Dream of a children’s show

Hoglets Theatre’s Gemma Curry, left, Claire Morley and Becky Lennon in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

EVERYTHING is kicking off in the forest as the fairies start a fight, but which side will you be on in the York Theatre Royal Studio on Friday and Saturday? Team Titania or Team Oberon?

Be prepared for York company Hoglets Theatre’s interactive, fun, larger-than-life production for young children – ideally aged two to nine, but everyone is welcome – spun around Shakespeare’s daftest romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs with lyrics by Andy Curry and Lara Pattison, puppets, stunts and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing from director/writer Gemma Curry and fellow cast members Claire Morley and Becky Lennon.

Costumes by Julia Smith, set design by Andy Curry and choreography by Charlotte Wood – who appeared in earlier performances – all add to the magic of Hoglets Theatre’s tenth show, one that requires no previous experience of Shakespeare.

“It’s the most accessible of his plays – with fairies in it – and definitely the easiest to get into,” says Gemma. “We first did it five years ago with Lara Stafford, Rachel Wilkinson and me – all of us with two-year-old children at the time! – and children would hear the name ‘Bottom’ and laugh, and we thought, ‘oh yes, we’ve got it with this one’!

“We always have so much fun when we do it: for a morning or an afternoon, I can pretend to be a fairy, not a grown-up!”

Each performance starts with the cast – in this instance Curry, Morley and Lennon – covering their fairy wings in the cloaked guise of Macbeth’s three Witches, arguing over which play they should do.

“One says ‘Macbeth’, one says ‘Hamlet’, one says ‘A Winter’s Tale’,” Gemma says. “They have this huge argument and then decide that Shakespeare should decide via a version of [The Human League’s] Don’t You Want Me Baby?, changing the lyrics to take in all of Shakespeare’s plays as they perform in coats, wigs, moustaches and bald caps.

Claire Morley, left, choreographer Charlotte Wood and Gemma Curry in an earlier Hoglets Theatre performance of A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

“The last words to the song are Midsummer Night’s Dream, so we decide to do that one. Then we ask, ‘do you want to be involved?’, and that’s gone really well, apart from in Skipton, where this older chap ended up having to do all the roles!”

Curry, Morley and Lennon take on the role of three of Shakespeare’s four fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mustardseed, Moth and Peaseblossom, who will spilt the audience down the middle to take sides as Team Titania (Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s play) and Team Oberon (King of the Fairies).

“In the years we’ve done the show, Peaseblossom was done originally by Lara Pattison, then by Charlotte Wood, and now in comes Becky, and it’s lovely how everyone brings their own personality to it,” says Gemma.

“We change characters with the change of a hat, so whoever wears Titania’s hat is Titania; the same for Puck. We skim over the young lovers, but we do have a little song about who loves whom that gets quicker and quicker, sillier and sillier, and becomes more and more exhausting for us.”

Hoglets Theatre’s show revels in Puck’s final speech in Shakespeare’s play – “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended” – in the lead-up to a variation on Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. “We do it as Shake A Spear with a disco ball and flashing lights, and the children love it,” says Gemma.

Children have plenty of opportunities to be involved, inviting them to play the four lovers, four fairies and four ‘mechanicals’ towards the end. “So many schools don’t do music or drama now or don’t have a creative outlet, so it’s lovely to involve them,” she says.

Away from her Hoglets productions, Gemma is working on a project in tandem with York Theatre Royal on the theme of children’s mental health, developing a piece called The Girl Who Stole Smiles.

“I wrote the original story seven years ago, when I had post-natal depression after the birth of Berowne. To explain how I felt to Berowne, I wrote a story about a girl who was unhappy, who stole smiles by building a machine that sucked smiles off people’s faces,” she says.

Hoglets Theatre’s poster for A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

“I had this story for ages and arranged to meet Juliet [creative director Juliet Forster]  at the Theatre Royal, knowing she was heavily involved with a mental health charity. Last year Becky, Charlotte and I spent three months working with Knavesmire, Dunnington and Westfield primary schools with funding from city council ward funding.

“We did three 90-minute workshops for children aged four to nine, asking them what they understood about their mental health and the mental health of people around them. Then we looked at the commonalities and recurring themes between the three schools, working with the NHS Wellbeing In Mind team that goes into a number of York primary and secondary schools.

“We now have a 50-page report on children’s mental health in primary schools, highlighting what affects them most. I thought that after the pandemic the answer would be ‘depression’, but no, it’s ‘anxiety’.”

A week of research and development followed at York Theatre Royal. “We adapted the script so that the girl now had a worry that no-one took seriously until finally her smile broke, and so shew builds the machine to steal smiles,” says Gemma.

“We’re now going back into the Theatre Royal for more research and development with Juliet co-directing it. She’s been so supportive, but the Arts Council has turned us down three times for funding, so we’re looking at different avenues.”

Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 4.30pm and Saturday, 10.30am. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Did you know?

HOGLETS Theatre’s last show was a spectacular Christmas performance of The Nutcracker at York Minster, accompanied by the cathedral organ no less.

Did you know too?

HOGLETS Theatre performed A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at Bradford Literature Festival to 1,000 children. “That was the most terrifying day of my life,” says Gemma. “I had to give an opening speech about Shakespeare to all these children, and loads of academics were there too.”

Team Titania or Team Oberon? Which side will you be on in Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief?

Hoglets Theatre’s poster for A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, playing York Theatre Royal Studio on March 8 and 9

THE fairies in the forest are starting a fight, but which side are you on? Team Titania or Team Oberon? Come on down! It’s all kicking off in the forest in Hoglets Theatre’s Shakespeare-loving children’s play A Midsummer Night’s Mischief at York Theatre Royal on March 8 and 9.

Based on Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the York company’s interactive, larger-than-life, fun production is designed especially for five to 11-year-old children, but everyone is welcome.

Expect wild characters, raucous singalong songs, puppets, stunts, and some frankly ridiculous disco dancing,” says Hoglets Theatre founder, writer and performer Gemma Curry. “While we love the bard, no previous experience of Shakespeare is required!”

A Midsummer Night’s Mischief is the tenth Hoglets production, following on from their sell-out Yorkshire tours of Wood Owl And The Box Of Wonders and The Sleep Pirates and December 9’s two spectacular Christmas performances of The Nutcracker at York Minster, accompanied by the cathedral organ no less.

Writer Gemma will be joined in the cast at York Theatre Royal by Claire Morley and Becky Lennon, who replaces Charlotte Wood from earlier performances. Song lyrics are by Andy Curry and Lara Pattison; costumes by Julia Smith; set design by Andy Curry and choreography by Charlotte Wood.

Hoglets Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Mischief, York Theatre Royal Studio, March 8, 4.30pm; March 9, 10.30am. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/midsummer-mischief/

Claire Morley, left, Charlotte Wood and Gemma Curry in an earlier performance of Hoglets Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Mischief

Hoglets Theatre CIC: the back story

Not-for-profit children’s theatre company and associate children’s theatre company of York Theatre Royal.

Stages original theatrical productions across the country, aimed at primary and preschool-aged children.

Runs interactive workshops for schools, libraries and groups.

Provides child-centric consultation and content creation for museums, organisations, apps and publications.

Mission statement: “Everything we do is centred around storytelling and the amazing impact that stories, imagination and creativity can have on young minds.”

Find out more at hoglets.org.uk.

REVIEW: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio; first play ***, second play ****

Disagreement: Molly Kay’s Mrs Shankland and Chris Meadley’s Mr John Malcolm in Separate Tables. All pictures: John Saunders

THE rise of John Osborne and the angry young men in the Royal Court revolution knocked Terence Rattigan into the hedgerow: a theatrical changing of the guard to rival punk rock shunting aside prog rock.

However, Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten, contrary to his I Hate Pink Floyd T-shirt, later admitted he loved Dark Side Of The Moon, although he did object to the Floydian pretentiousness.

For Rattigan, his elegant plays, full of typically English, uptight, concealed emotions and ambivalent eloquence, were suddenly deemed old-fashioned, all polish, no spit.

Agreement: Young loves Jean Tanner (Nicola Holliday) and Charles Stratton (James Lee)

Rattigan’s resurrection has been gradual, accompanied by a renewed acknowledgement of his understanding of “our national psyche”. Ronald Harwood scripted Mike Figgis’s 1994 film adaptation of Rattigan’s 1948 play The Browning Version, with Albert Finney as a morose classics teacher, while Maxine Peake’s Hester Collyer in the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of Deep Blue Sea in 2011 made the headlines, but that was a rare Rattigan sighting for this reviewer.

Nevertheless, the Rattigan revival has been growing. Symbolically too, stonemasons completed the renovation of the rundown Rattigan family memorial at Kensal Green cemetery, west London, last year after the Terence Rattigan Memorial Fundraising Project raised £10, 507.

Good timing, then, for York Settlement Community Players stalwart Helen Wilson to pick Separate Tables as her first Settlement production since she completed her decade-long project to direct four Chekhov plays in 2020.

Unpalatable: Molly Kay’s Mrs Shankland surveys the menu forlornly as Jodie Fletcher’s waitress Mabel awaits her order. Matt Simpson’s Mr Fowler tucks in tentatively

Wilson’s first decision was to eschew Rattigan’s original format of having the same male and female actors in the differing lead roles for both plays under the Separate Tables umbrella, the winter-set Table By The Window and the summertime Table Number Seven. Separate plays, separate lead actors, for Wilson.

Both halves are set in the mid-1950s in the shabby, genteel Beauregard Private Hotel in Bournemouth, where guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables. Such stiff formality, so characteristic of Rattigan’s writing, emphasises their loneliness, all the more so for the diners sitting head on to Thursday’s full house in the compact Studio, adding a layer of breathless claustrophobia.

In her interview, Wilson made an astute comparison with the series regulars in Fawlty Towers, both staff and guests. Here we particularly enjoy the “light relief” and comic friction of Jodie Fletcher’s blunt waitress, Mabel, Marie-Louise Feeley’s brusque, horseracing form-studying Miss Meacham and Linda Fletcher’s fellow perma-guest, the ever-disapproving Lady Matheson.

Bad news? Hotel manager Miss Cooper (Catherine Edge) in discussion with Major Pollock (Paul French)

Catherine Edge, meanwhile, looks and sounds every period inch the essence of a south coast hotel manager throughout: her Miss Cooper is calm, composed, attentive, decisive, thoroughly decent, serene, always putting others first. Rattigan elegance, in a nutshell.

James Lee’s medical student Charles Stratton and Nicola Holliday’s Jean Tanner are Rattigan’s unguarded young couple, initially finding amusement in the old sticks and minor irritation in each other, before taking divergent positions in the second half.   

Table By The Window is the less successful piece, never losing a sense of awkwardness in its lead performances or their behaviour. Chris Meadley, Tadcaster Theatre Company’s panto dame for the past three years, makes his Settlement debut as disgraced former Labour Junior Minister John Ramsden.

Embittered: Chris Meadley’s politician-turned-journalist Mr John Malcolm

Now writing under the name Cato for the Socialist publication New Outlook, and staying at the Beauregard as John Malcolm, he looks at the world darkly through a haze of booze, surly and sarky, disputatious and dyspeptic.

Who should turn up – by chance, she protests – but ex-wife Mrs Shankland (Molly Kay), the woman he assaulted in his ministerial days. What ensues is an attritional psychological game, with shocks to come and sparks to fly, but everything feels uncomfortable, more collision than connection, with audience, subject and former partner alike.

By comparison, Table Number Seven is intriguing, compelling, surprising, radical even. Enter Paul French’s bogus Major Pollock, whose faux pas amusingly arouse the suspicions of Matt Simpson’s old academic stodge Mr Fowler.

Devastated: Jess Murray’s Miss Railton Bell in the second play, Table Number Seven

Edge, Lee, Holliday, Feeley and Fletcher times two  keep doing their stuff, and Caroline Greenwood’s stultifying, insufferable, bigoted Mrs Railton-Bell keeps holding back her daughter, Jess Murray’s over-protected fledgling Sybil (or “Miss R-B”, as the Major calls her on their walks).

French and Murray’s scenes are terrific, capturing the repression and fear that grips the Major and Sybil alike. The local paper has been covering his court case for importuning, and here is where Rattigan confounds the naysayers, revealing himself to be liberal and progressive.

Performances: 7.45pm, February 13 to 17; 2pm, Saturday. Post-show discussion: February 16, 7.45pm performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.