Tag: York Theatre Royal

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After Nolan’s The Odyssey, here comes the women’s side of the story in Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal

Maids and masks: Faye Campbell, left, Nell Baker, Kat Johns-Burke, Pena Liyambo and Olivia Burton-Laws rehearsing for The Penelopiad. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

YORK Theatre Royal’s production of The Penelopiad, The Odyssey: Her Story opens on Saturday with a script by novella writer Margaret Atwood and an all-female production team led by creative director Juliet Forster.

In an exuberantly irreverent and darkly humorous feminist take on an age-old story by the Canadian author of The Handmaid’s Tale, Booker Prize winner Atwood gives voice to those left behind when the silenced Penelope’s husband, Odysseus, took 20 years to return home from the Trojan War. Wandering the underworld, perennial weaver Penelope spins a different kind of thread: her side of the story. Cue a tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge, interwoven with songs, that exposes the truth behind the myth.

“Homer’s The Odyssey is a fantastic piece of storytelling but sadly there is very little in there about the women’s lives,” says Juliet. “What Margaret Atwood does so brilliantly with The Penelopiad is really upend that and give us the female perspective on a story that is so well known.

“In true Atwood style, she presents that story in a way that is both deeply arresting and witty. We go on a journey with her through to the bitter climax of the women’s story but it’s also done in such an engaging and enjoyable way.

Director Juliet Forster in rehearsal for The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

“Audiences can expect a very physical and visual form of storytelling:  we’ll be drawing on everything from acrobatics and dance to aerial, masks and puppetry.”

Juliet first read Atwood’s novella shortly after its publication in October 2005. “I absolutely loved it,” she says. “I personally have a real interest in the Greek classics and whilst I knew a lot about The Iliad and The Odyssey and the history of the Trojan War, I found it genuinely so delightful and invigorating to read Atwood’s feminist take on the story.

“Quite some years later, in 2019, when myself and the Theatre Royal’s former chief executive [Tom Bird] were exploring potential options for our Summer 2020 programme, we looked at The Penelopiad script and once again I was drawn in by the vibrancy of Atwood’s writing. We were all set to stage it in 2020 when, of course, the pandemic hit and our plans were sadly cancelled.”

Cut to 2025 when the Theatre Royal was looking for the right production for the 2026 season: “I felt strongly that this would be a perfect opportunity to bring this project back to life,” says Juliet. “Ultimately the power of the female voice in Margaret Atwood’s version had always stuck with me and sadly in 2026, women in a time of war, violence against women, double standards and inequality are all the more relevant.

Amelia Bullmore rehearsing her role as Penelope. “I’m thrilled I’m going to be working at York Theatre Royal – such a beautiful theatre – on this fantastic play,” she says. “The Penelopiad manages to be funny, dark, moving and provocative by turns. And it’s Margaret Atwood, so the writing is uniquely brilliant. I think audiences will love how playful it is and how directly it connects with them.” Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

“We then also found out about the Christopher Nolan movie adaptation [of The Odyssey], which was set to hit the big screen, and it felt like an interesting time to stage a production which tells the women’s story from a completely fresh perspective.”

Explaining the casting process for the Theatre Royal show, Juliet says: “The play focuses on Penelope as she tells her version of the story and so casting that role was obviously really crucial. Alongside this, we have the story of the maids, who helped her deceive the suitors and who interject with their own version of events.

“The maids really act as a sort of old Greek chorus but in a way that feels fresh and modern. They take on all the other parts and have a significant role in the play so their casting was also equally important.”

She is thrilled to be working with Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey and Riot Women actor Amelia Bullmore in the role of Penelope. “I’d recently watched Riot Women – another fantastic feminist narrative – and Amelia’s performance in that is excellent,” says Juliet.

York Theatre Royal’s cast for The Penelopiad

“She is a very multi-faceted actor that can really immerse herself in a character and I thought she would be perfect for the role. Amelia is super sharp and funny, and her intelligence and dry sense of humour are so well-matched with Atwood’s style of writing.

“For me, what is so important about the character of Penelope is the very closed-off and hidden side to her nature, and I think Amelia has a real inscrutable quality to her performance which feels so right for this role.”

Once Amelia was cast, Juliet turned her attention to the maids. “It was important to me to have a real range of different women cast in these roles,” she says. “Often the maids are almost lumped together as one – in the original only one of them is named! – and the play really unpicks that narrative, so it was important to get that right in our casting.

“The cast we have are super talented: they are all so different and bring such a diverse range of strengths and individuality. What was the most important for me was to find actors who could bring a sense of humour and playfulness to these roles, which are also very physically demanding, with elements of dance, movement, aerial, singing and more.”

The Maids rehearsing a scene for York Theatre Royal’s production of The Penelopiad: Olivia Burton-Laws, left, Charlie Russell, Syakira Moeladi, Nell Baker, Faye Campbell, Pena Liyambo and Danielle Bird. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

Juliet hopes audiences will leave the Theatre Royal feeling they have experienced “a real visual feast”. “It’s going to be witty and funny, powerful and moving – and I think it will give them an insight to the story of The Odyssey from a completely different angle,” she says.

“But it also raises really pertinent questions not just about the past, but also the present. I personally think it’s a great complement to seeing Christopher Nolan’s movie and will give people the chance to dig more into that story and find out more about the characters of Penelope and her maids.

“I hope people will also come away thinking about the power of storytelling – how we balance competing versions of the same events and which narratives end up being the ones that are remembered.”

The Penelopiad, The odyssey: Her Story, York Theatre Royal, October 10 to 31, Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Olivia Burton-Laws, left, Kat Johns-Burke and Pena Liyambo in the rehearsal room for The Penelopiad. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

One more question for Juliet Forster

How did you prepare for directing The Penelopiad ahead of rehearsals starting?

LOTS of reading! Of course the original novella and The Odyssey but also I read awonderful book called Mythica by Emily Hauser. Emily is a renowned and published classicist who is doing some consultancy with us to help us look at what life for Bronze Age women would have been like, drawing from mythology, history and archaeology – which will be useful for the actors as we delve into their characters.

“Margaret Atwood adapted the script herself but had given me permission to add in some of the original text from the book. So I also spent some time working on fleshing that out and adding some more elements to the script.

“We have a fabulous all-female creative team on board and I really enjoyed meeting with them and shaping how the production is coming together.”

The poster for The Penelopiad, The Odyssey: Her Story, opening at York Theatre Royal tomorrow

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REVIEW: Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ***

Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Geri Essendine in her New York City apartment in Present Laughter. Picture: Simon Annand

IN 2019, in North Yorkshire director Matthew Warchus’s take on Noel Coward’s 1939 study of the temptations and pitfalls of theatrical celebrity, Andrew Scott portrayed vainglorious actor Garry Essendine as gay at the Old Vic.

Now, in her second re-invention and re-imagination of a male character, following her portrayal of Shylock in the Black Shirt and Nazi-shadowed The Merchant Of Venice 1936 that played York Theatre Royal in November 2023, Tracy-Ann Oberman transforms Garry into Geri: Geri With A G, as the poster in her New York City apartment declares (presumably in a nod to Liza Minnelli and Bob Fosse’s 1972 musical documentary Liza With A Z).

Living opposite the newly opened Studio 54, whose muffled disco groves can be heard when she opens one of her multiple windows of her white-walled abode, Oberman’s Geri is a “hugely successful actress and singer”, a grand-standing English ex-pat with a coterie of fans, friends and hangers-on, who has clung on to being 39 for the best part of a decade, although she talks of her face needing work.

On the cusp of heading off on tour to Australia (rather than  Africa in Coward’s original), and still craving the chance to play the elusive Hedda Gabler, she is besieged by would-be, definitely much younger lovers (Seb Carrington’s naive, besotted David Stillington and Kit Young’s cynical, deceitful Johannes) and an obsessed young playwright (Eva Feiler’s Rosina Maule, irritating to Geri and audience alike, alas).

Around her too buzz her humorously eccentric spiritualist (Gabriella Foley’s Miss Erikson), house servant-cum-bouncer (Perry Williams’s ultra-cool Fred), friend Morris (Jonathan Tafler) and his wife Henrietta (Charlotte Randle). 

Present Laughter director Lindsay Posner

They are but drones by comparison with the comic elan of James Dreyfus’s Monty, Geri’s eloquent, exasperated secretary, and Adrian Lukis’s Len, her elegant, arch, implacable ex-husband, still ever present as they never got round to completing the divorce papers.

Such experienced hands, Dreyfus and Lukis are operating in a superior acting stratosphere to the touring company’s younger charges, comfortable with Coward’s waspish wit, with better timing than the rest, and bringing out the best too in Oberman, whose Geri is all Seventies’ blonde glamour, at once tiring of the fame game yet fearful of loneliness and still craving being desired. Whenever soul-searching threatens to consume her, throwaway sex beckons again: as much coward as Coward.

In Oberman’s transformations, the secretary’s change from Monica to Monty and the ex-wife’s switch from Liz to Len are by far the most effective, in part because of Dreyfus and Lukis’s comic prowess, but certainly Carrington, Young and Feiler fare less well, to the detriment of the play’s impact. The first half drags its feet, the second still lacks fire for too long until the sting is drawn at the finale.

Remembered in York for his Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre productions of Romeo And Juliet and Richard III in 2018 at the Eye of York, director Lindsay Posner elicits more style than substance overall, exemplified  by Peter McKintosh’s set and costume designs, featuring two faux portraits by Geri’s Studio 54 friend Andy Warhol.

Like in those Pop Art portraits, there should be more going on beneath the surface, although it is striking that while we never see Essendine’s Geri on stage, she is always acting.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions & Augusta Productions present Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond unlocked secret spaces & hidden places. Hutch’s List No. 40, from The York Press

Angela Hall’s artwork from York Created at Pyramid Gallery

FROM classic Coward in Present Laughter to Frayn’s finest farce, Noises Off, York’s unlocked buildings to Joe Jackson’s hope and fury, Charles Hutchinson piles up the good stuff for the week ahead.

Exhibition opening of the week: York Created: Paint-Clay-Print-Collage From The Heart Of The City, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, until November 14

YORK Created: Paint-Clay-Print-Collage From The Heart Of The City features a “collection of talented artists from across our fair city”. “Some have exhibited with us before, others are new to us,” says Pyramid Gallery manager Fiona Macfarlane. “All the works are for sale.”

Taking part are potters Danny Aitkin, Chiu-i Wu, Loretta Braganza, Ben Arnup, Emily Stubbs, Jessica Jenyns  and Ruth King, painters Rory Barke, Carolyn Coles, Jill Tattersall, Ric Liptrot, Lesley Birch, Mick Leach, Lesley Shaw and Angela Hall and stained glass artist Helen Bower. Opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Dennis Rollins: Delivering Funky-Funk! to YorkJazzFest’s Bishopthorpe Road Car park Finale tomorrow

Festival of the week: YorkJazzFest, today and tomorrow

TODAY, Beppe Lombardo’s inaugural YorkJazzFest features: 6pm, Flowerden, The Winning Post; 6pm, Mutant DJ Jazz, Angel On The Green; 6.30pm, Emma Foulds Quintet, York Arts Barge; 7pm, SwanNek, Young Thugs Studios; 8.30pm, Al Morrison Quartet, The Winning Post;  8.30pm, Olivia Cuttill, York Arts Barge;  9pm, Borgia, Angel On The Green, and 9pm, Lovedancin’ DJ, Young Thugs Studios. For tickets, go to: yorkjazzfestival.com.

Tomorrow,  the Bishopthorpe Road Car Park Finale runs from midday with free entry and no ticket required. On the bill are: 12 noon, YorkJazzFest Orchestra; 1pm, Vipertime; 2.15pm, Big Bamboo; 4.15pm, Fergus Quill Sextet, and 6pm, Dennis Rollins’ Funky-Funk! Ian Chalk concludes the event at The Phoenix Inn at 8pm; free entry.

Federico Pendenza: Two world premieres at this afternoon’s York Late Music concert

Season finale of the week: York Late Music presents Federico Pendenza, Folk Roots To Classical Form, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviouragte, York, today, 1pm

UNIVERSITY of York guitarist Federico Pendenza concludes York Late Music’s concert season with Folk Roots To Classical Form, featuring William Walton’s only piece written for guitar (following a persuasive word from Julian Bream!), two intimate pieces by the “Chopin of the guitar”, Agustín Barrios, and two world premieres, Macey Collins’s Impressions Of Tension and Noor Hingorani’s Pomegranates On My Altar, which draws on the Persian Sofreh wedding ceremony, where pomegranates represent joy, passion and strength. Box office: latemusic.org/federico-pendoza-guitar or on the door.

York Unlocked: Unlocking York’s significant, hidden and secret buildings

Free discoveries of the week: York Unlocked, today and tomorrow

YORK Unlocked opens York’s most interesting, significant, even hidden and secret buildings to the public completely for free, although some buildings require free pre-booked tickets.  This weekend’s festival enables residents and visitors alike to see York in a new way and aims to educate and inspire a love of architecture this weekend. To download the full programme, go to: https://www.york-unlocked.org.uk/_files/ugd/972e50_ba8593730b26433e8b060829ff5bd5ac.pdf.

Michael Shafar: Headlining Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at The Basement

​Comedy gigs of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, 4pm and 8pm

LAUGH Out Loud promoter Damion Larkin has added an extra show at 4pm in response to ticket demand for tonight’s 8pm bill of Michael Shafar, Ant Dewson, Mike Carter and Gary Jennison.

Former lawyer Shafar left Australia to ply his comedy trade over here. Dewson is a comedian, mediocre piano player and singer of silly songs, many of them rude. Carter covers everything from living with your nan in your 30s to the realities of engaging in “kinky stuff” when you have a coordination disorder. Jennison promises dance-offs, game shows, magic and unbridled chaos. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk.

Brian Bilston: Poetic words at Milton Rooms, Malton

Poet of the week: Brian Bilston, How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm

BRIAN Bilston, a poet with more than 500,000 followers on social media, returns to the stage this autumn with his latest book, How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside, as he takes a journey through the hows, whys and whats of reading, writing and enjoying poetry every day.

Bilston has published such collections as You Took The Last Bus Home, Alexa, What Is There To Know About Love? and Days Like These, along with debut novel Diary Of A Somebody, poetry for younger readers and his 2025 album of poetry set to music, Sounds Made By Humans, recorded with The Catenary Wires. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Geri Essendine and Seb Carrington’s David Stillington in Present Laughter. Picture: Simon Annand

Coward classic of the week: Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Augusta Productions present Present Laughter, Grand Opera House, York, October 6 to 10, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

TRACY-ANN Oberman stars as hugely successful actress Geri Essendine – who has been 39 for the best part of a decade – in Lindsay Posner’s new touring production of Noel Coward’s celebrated portrayal of the temptations and pitfalls of theatrical celebrity. 

On the cusp of departing for a tour of Africa, Geri finds herself besieged by a bevy of would-be lovers, her long-suffering secretary, estranged husband and an obsessed young playwright. Will she ever disentangle herself from their tightening clutches and incessant demands? Then again, deep down, does she really want to? Box office: atgtickets.com/york. 

Pick Me Up Theatre cast members Pearl Mollison, left, Craig Kirby, Alexandra Mather, Andrew Isherwood, Helen Spencer, Adrian Cook and Mark Simmonds, under the withering eye of Rory Mulvihill, right, director of the play-within-the-play in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off

Slamming doors, falling trousers and flying sardines of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Noises Off, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 6 to 10, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MICHAEL Frayn’s backstage farce Noises Off takes a wicked look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss and passionate affairs turns every performance into a high-risk adventure.

This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run. Robert Readman directs a stellar York cast of Helen Spencer, Andrew Isherwood, Alexandra Mather, Rory Mulvihill, Pearl Mollison, Mark Simmonds, Craig Kirby, Jessica Hardcastle and Adrian Cook. Box office:  01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Joe Jackson: Returning to York Barbican

Gig of the week: Joe Jackson + Band, Hope And Fury Tour 2026, York Barbican, October 7, doors 7pm

JOE Jackson played York for only the second time at York Barbican on July 29 2022 as part of his Sing, You Sinners! Tour, having first shared a bill with Todd Rundgren and improvisational string quartet Ethel at the Grand Opera House in June 2005.

Now, the Portsmouth-raised singer, musician, songwriter, bandleader, producer, author and campaigner, 72, returns with his regular band to perform work from throughout his career and to showcase his 23rd studio album Hope And Fury, released in April. Conner Youngblood supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Acosta Danza in Andonis Foniadakis’s new work Pearls. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

In Focus: Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque, York Theatre Royal, October 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

IN this new double bill from Acosta Danza, the lush artistry of the Baroque period intersects with the energy, creativity and vibrancy of Cuban dance.  Emerging from the 17th and 18th centuries, the creative movement was characterised by deep colour, elaborate detail and intricate decoration.

Produced by Valid Productions in collaboration with York Theatre Royal, Cuban Baroque opens with the world premiere of Andonis Foniadakis’s new work Pearls, a journey to the rhythmic heart of Baroque, followed by choreographer and set designer Goyo Montero’s 2011 work Chacona.

Artistic director Carlos Acosta says: “I am very excited about this programme which will encapsulate the essence of Acosta Danza, fusing as it will, classical, Cuban and contemporary vocabularies and styles.

“I am, of course, a big fan of both choreographers and am delighted that Andonis will create a brand-new piece on my dancers. I look forward to seeing how that develops over the coming months.

“The flavour of the evening is summarised neatly by the title Cuban Baroque, but essentially this is a programme that anyone interested in any kind of dance can enjoy. I look forward, as always, to seeing how audiences react to the atmosphere this programme will create at its premiere in our first-ever visit to the wonderful York Theatre Royal.”

Acosta Danza in Goyo Montero’s 2011 work Chacona at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewes says: “It is truly wonderful that York audiences will be the first to experience this phenomenally exciting dance programme on our stage and we are really looking forward to working in collaboration with Carlos Acosta and his company on the show.”

Set to Esteban Sallas’s Salve Regina, the work explores the classic chaconne-looping structure that circles through phases of acceleration, fracture and rebound. As the score shifts from Baroque lyricism toward Cuban drive, Foniadakis showcases the fusion between memory and contemporary.

Andonis Foniadakis says: “The piece is being built as a chaconne in the broadest sense: a looping architecture that keeps circling back to the same theme like a mantra, each return opening a new variation in colour, density and impulse.

Cuban rhythmic principles will seep into the texture (clave, layered pulses, dance-derived momentum) and begin to tilt the baroque theme from within — bringing Sallas’s music fully into the present.

“In this dialogue, contrast becomes fusion: baroque memory meets Cuban propulsion; choral breath meets percussive drive; live sound meets a discreet electronic halo — shaping a single energetic trajectory that stays clear, intense, and emotionally resonant.”

Acosta Danza in Goyo Montero’s Chacona. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Closing the 1hr 20 min programme is Goyo Montero’s powerful Chacona, a piece that originally was created for the Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett during Montero’s 17-year tenure as director. Chacona is the final movement of Bach’s masterwork Partita No.2 in D Minor for violin, accompanied in this performance by guitar and piano. Physically and musically demanding, classical in sound and contemporary in heart, it requires total cohesion from the ensemble of 16 dancers.

Goyo Montero says: “This is going to be my fourth collaboration with Acosta Danza since 2015. To bring this work to them and adapt it to their fearless and exceptional dancers is something I am looking forward to very much. To restage this early work and revisit it for them will develop the work further and keep it alive, relevant and ever changing, a choreographer’s dream!”

In addition, Acosta Danza will hold an Open Class today (3/10/2026) at 10am on the Theatre Royal stage in an exclusive opportunity to watch how the dancers warm up and prepare ahead of a performance. This non-participatory event is open to all ages.  

The York Theatre Royal premiere of Cuban Baroque will be followed by performances at Sadler’s Wells in London and Norwich Theatre Royal with further 2027 dates to be added. Box office for shows and Open Class: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Did you know?

ACOSTA Danza performed Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana at the Grand Opera House, York, in January 2026.

Acosta Danza in Pearls at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 40, from Gazette & Herald

Bread & Circuses, by Sarah Hall Baqai, from her exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York

FROM the terrors of Paranormal Activity to circus art, York’s four-day jazz festival to Brian Bilston’s egg-laying poetry, Charles Hutchinson looks ahead to October cultural opportunities.

Exhibition opening of the week: Sarah Hall Baqai, Bread & Circuses, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until November 19

YORK artist Sarah Hall Baqai’s new collection of artworks has the theme of Bread & Circuses, a phrase taken from Roman poet Juvenal’s work Satire X, written in 100AD. In a nutshell, “give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt”, on account of being distracted.

Distraction does not come brighter and more entertaining visually than Sarah’s paintings inspired by life behind the scenes at the circus (from her work with Gifford’s Circus and Fools Delight Circus at Ham Court, Bampton), complemented by lettering and graphic work celebrating York Minster and willow lanterns in the shape of jugglers’ sticks.

James Bye’s James arms himself with a baseball bat in Paranormal Activity. Picture: Credit: Johan Persson

Psychological thriller of the week: Paranormal Activity, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

IN a new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett and written by Levi Holloway, the playwright behind Broadway hit Grey House.

When James (James Bye) and Lou (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon they discover that places are not haunted, but people are. Can you hold your nerve in the face of this chilling production on its first British and Irish tour? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Roham Bayat’s poster for the inaugural YorkJazzFest

Festival of the week: YorkJazzFest, tomorrow to Sunday

BEPPE Lombardo, soprano saxophone player in his Italian teenage days and supremo of Trinicria Sicilian Ristorante in Bishopthorpe Road for 15 years, is running the inaugural YorkJazzFest with funding from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor David Skaith.

Angel On The Green, York Arts Barge, Young Thugs Studio, the Phoenix Inn and The Winning Post play host to concerts on the first three days, culminating in the Bishopthorpe Road Car Park Finale on Sunday, topped off by sets by Dennis Rollins’ Funky-Funk and Ian Chalk. For full listings and tickets, go to: yorkjazzfestival.com.

Masked up: Pop Yer Clogs Theatre in Doctor Faustus. Picture supplied

Devil in the detail of the week: Pop Yer Clogs Theatre in Doctor Faustus, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York , tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

YORK company Pop Yer Clogs Theatre delivers a devilishly clever new twist on Doctor Faustus, placing a woman, Doctor Joan Faustus, at the epicentre of Christopher Marlowe’s late-16th century cautionary tale of ambition, temptation and damnation.

Director Lydia McCudden plays Faustus, who strikes a terrible deal by selling her soul to Lucifer in exchange for knowledge, power and worldly pleasures, only to encounter the Seven Deadly Sins.  Cue masks, commedia dell’arte, dark comedy and gothic tragedy as Hell awaits. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ben Portsmouth: Performing Presley’s pearls with his Taking Care Of Elvis Band at York Barbican

King of The King tribute shows: Ben Portsmouth: This Is Elvis, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

REGARDED as the “closest living performer to the legendary Elvis Presley”, Ben Portsmouth has enjoyed success in more than 20 countries and became the first European to be crowned by Elvis Presley Enterprises as the Worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist in Memphis in 2012.

This Is Elvis takes an immersive journey through Presley’s greatest hits from his rockabilly roots to the dazzling Las Vegas years in the company of Portsmouth and the Taking Care Of Elvis Band.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican: Satirical comedy lyrics on folk instruments from Barnsley

“Sexy knitwear” gig of the week: The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 7.30pm

FOUNDED in Barnsley Rock City in 2006 by their outspoken and energetic ringleader Scott Doonican, The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican are on a mission.

Anything but a typical folk ensemble, this collective of like-minded knitwear enthusiasts – Scott, Mo-Jo Doonican, Dave Doonican and the Reight Reverend Jeremiah Rickenbacker III – are determined to follow in their spiritual father’s immortal footsteps, keeping his legacy alive while Bar-Stewardising other famous people’s songs with satirical comedy lyrics on folk instruments, from Jump Ararnd to Goat Yoga. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Mark Harrison Band: Songs and stories at Helmsley Arts Centre

Where folk meets the blues: Mark Harrison Band, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

MARK Harrison writes original songs for today in the spirit of the great troubadours, coupled with stories to make you smile, move and think in a world where blues, roots and folk collide.

Finger-picking and slide guitarist Harrison is joined by Charles Benfield on double bass and Ben Welburn on drums and percussion to create a rhythm section that defies convention, as heard on eight albums to date. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Alchemy Live: Performing the songs of Dire Straits at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

In Dire Straits: Alchemy Live, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

ALCHEMY Live were formed in 2020 by life-long Mark Knopfler fans and full-time musicians Martin Ledger and Neil Scott, who used the Covid pandemic and resultant lockdowns to put their Dire Straits tribute project in motion. Rehearsals started in 2021 after the worst of the pandemic was over, their first show being scheduled in York for Friday the 13th of May 2022 (what could possibly go wrong)?

They have never looked back, progressing to playing theatres since 2023. “It’s always been our ethos to concentrate on getting the music and sound right, rather than just putting on headbands and shiny jackets,” says frontman Ledger. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

Brian Bilston: Showcasing his latest poetry collection at Milton Rooms, Malton

Poet of the week: Brian Bilston, How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm

BRIAN Bilston, a poet with more than 500,000 followers on social media, returns to the stage this autumn with his latest book, How To Lay An Egg With A Horse Inside, as he takes a journey through the hows, whys and whats of reading, writing and enjoying poetry every day.

Bilston has published such collections as You Took The Last Bus Home, Alexa, What Is There To Know About Love? and Days Like These, along with debut novel Diary Of A Somebody, poetry for younger readers and his 2025 album of poetry set to music, Sounds Made By Humans, recorded in collaboration with The Catenary Wires. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Olly Murs: Enjoying a Knees Up at Live At York Museum Gardens next July

Gig announcement of the week: Futuresound presents Olly Murs, Live At York Museum Gardens, July 9 2027

ESSEX singer-songwriter and The Voice UK coach Olly Murs is the first headline act to be confirmed for next summer’s Live At York Museum Gardens 2027 season, when the event will be expanded to two weekends for the first time. Special guests for that day’s bill are still to be announced.

Murs, 42, returns to the York outdoors after his hat trick of appearances at York Racecourse in 2010, 2017 and 2024. He rose to fame on The X Factor in 2009, since when he has released eight studio albums of pop, indie, ska and disco, the latest being last November’s Knees Up. Box office: York postcode pre-sale from today at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/olly-murs/york-museum-gardens/3730256?pre=postcode; general sale from Friday, 10am, at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/olly-murs/york-museum-gardens/3730256.

In Focus: Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque, York Theatre Royal, October 1, 7.30pm, October 2, 2pm, and October 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque. Picture: Johan Persson

IN this new double bill from Acosta Danza, the lush artistry of the Baroque period intersects with the energy, creativity and vibrancy of Cuban dance.  Emerging from the 17th and 18th centuries, the creative movement was characterised by deep colour, elaborate detail and intricate decoration.

Produced by Valid Productions in collaboration with York Theatre Royal, Cuban Baroque opens with the world premiere of Andonis Foniadakis’s new work Pearls, a journey to the rhythmic heart of Baroque, followed by choreographer and set designer Goyo Montero’s 2011 work Chacona.

Artistic director Carlos Acosta says: “I am very excited about this programme which will encapsulate the essence of Acosta Danza, fusing as it will, classical, Cuban and contemporary vocabularies and styles.

“I am, of course, a big fan of both choreographers and am delighted that Andonis will create a brand-new piece on my dancers. I look forward to seeing how that develops over the coming months.

“The flavour of the evening is summarised neatly by the title Cuban Baroque, but essentially this is a programme that anyone interested in any kind of dance can enjoy. I look forward, as always, to seeing how audiences react to the atmosphere this programme will create at its premiere in our first-ever visit to the wonderful York Theatre Royal.”

Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewes says: “It is truly wonderful that York audiences will be the first to experience this phenomenally exciting dance programme on our stage and we are really looking forward to working in collaboration with Carlos Acosta and his company on the show.”

Set to Esteban Sallas’s Salve Regina, the work explores the classic chaconne-looping structure that circles through phases of acceleration, fracture and rebound. As the score shifts from Baroque lyricism toward Cuban drive, Foniadakis showcases the fusion between memory and contemporary.

Andonis Foniadakis says: “The piece is being built as a chaconne in the broadest sense: a looping architecture that keeps circling back to the same theme like a mantra, each return opening a new variation in colour, density and impulse.

Cuban rhythmic principles will seep into the texture (clave, layered pulses, dance-derived momentum) and begin to tilt the baroque theme from within — bringing Sallas’s music fully into the present.

“In this dialogue, contrast becomes fusion: baroque memory meets Cuban propulsion; choral breath meets percussive drive; live sound meets a discreet electronic halo — shaping a single energetic trajectory that stays clear, intense, and emotionally resonant.”

Closing the 1hr 20 min programme is Goyo Montero’s powerful Chacona, a piece that originally was created for the Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett during Montero’s 17-year tenure as director. Chacona is the final movement of Bach’s masterwork Partita No.2 in D Minor for violin, accompanied in this performance by guitar and piano. Physically and musically demanding, classical in sound and contemporary in heart, it requires total cohesion from the ensemble of 16 dancers.

Goyo Montero says: “This is going to be my fourth collaboration with Acosta Danza since 2015. To bring this work to them and adapt it to their fearless and exceptional dancers is something I am looking forward to very much. To restage this early work and revisit it for them will develop the work further and keep it alive, relevant and ever changing, a choreographer’s dream!”

A Q&A with the company will follow tomorrow’s performance. In addition, Acosta Danza will hold an Open Class on Saturday at 10am on the Theatre Royal stage in an exclusive opportunity to watch how the dancers warm up and prepare ahead of a performance. This non-participatory event is open to all ages.  

The York Theatre Royal premiere of Cuban Baroque will be followed by performances at Sadler’s Wells in London and Norwich Theatre Royal with further 2027 dates to be added. Box office for shows and Open Class: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Closing the 1hr 20 min programme is Goyo Montero’s powerful Chacona, a piece that originally was created for the Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett during Montero’s 17-year tenure as director. Chacona is the final movement of Bach’s masterwork Partita No.2 in D Minor for violin, accompanied in this performance by guitar and piano. Physically and musically demanding, classical in sound and contemporary in heart, it requires total cohesion from the ensemble of 16 dancers.

Goyo Montero says: “This is going to be my fourth collaboration with Acosta Danza since 2015. To bring this work to them and adapt it to their fearless and exceptional dancers is something I am looking forward to very much. To restage this early work and revisit it for them will develop the work further and keep it alive, relevant and ever changing, a choreographer’s dream!”

A post-show discussion with the company will follow Thursday’s 7.30pm show. In addition, Acosta Danza will hold an Open Class on Saturday (3/10/2026) at 10am on the Theatre Royal stage in an exclusive opportunity to watch how the dancers warm up and prepare ahead of a performance. This non-participatory event is open to all ages.  

The York Theatre Royal premiere of Cuban Baroque will be followed by performances at Sadler’s Wells in London and Norwich Theatre Royal with further 2027 dates to be added. Box office for shows and Open Class: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when circuses at the double pitch up. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 39 from The York Press

Bread & Circuses, by Sarah Hall Baqai, from her exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

FROM the terrors of Paranormal Activity to circus art and entertainment, Tony Blackburn’s Sixties’ celebration to the debut York Jazz Fest, Charles Hutchinson heads into a fruitful autumn.

Exhibition opening of the week: Sarah Hall Baqai, Bread & Circuses, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until November 19

YORK artist Sarah Hall Baqai’s new collection of artworks has the theme of Bread & Circuses, a phrase taken from Roman poet Juvenal’s work Satire X, written in 100AD. In a nutshell, “give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt”, on account of being distracted.

Distraction does not come brighter and more entertaining visually than Sarah’s paintings inspired by life behind the scenes at the circus (from her work with Gifford’s Circus and Fools Delight Circus at Ham Court, Bampton), complemented by lettering and graphic work celebrating York Minster and willow lanterns in the shape of jugglers’ sticks.

Russells International Circus: Intent on delivering in-tent entertainment on Knavesmire this weekend

While on the subject of circuses: Russells International Circus, Knavesmire, York, today, 3pm and 6pm, and tomorrow, 12 noon

ROLL up, roll up, as Russells International Circus, voted Britain’s best circus six years running, brings its new show for 2026 to York. Each two-hour performance is jam-packed with mesmerising aerial displays, jaw-dropping stunts, comedy and more besides. Box office: russellscircus.co.uk.

The Jake Leg Jug Band: Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption at Kirk Theatre, Pickering 

Ragtime gig of the week: The Jake Leg Jug Band, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight, 7.30pm 

THE Jake Leg Jug Band delivers the authentic sounds of 1920s and 1930s’ America – jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel – in songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption.

Since self-releasing debut album Cotton Mouth, Duncan Wilcox, vocals and double bass, and Warren James,  vocals, guitar and banjo, have released a further eight albums in 12 years, among them Next Stop!, Everythin’s Jake, Break A Leg, Fifth Avenue, Goodbye Booze, Hello Central and 2024’s spirituals collection Some Glad Morning. Box office: kirktheatre.co.uk.

Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey: Heading to York Barbican tonight

Eighties’ double bill of the week: Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey and Blancmange, York Barbican, tonight, doors 6.30pm

REMEMBER the Thompson Twins, makers of such 1980s’ hits as Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, In the Name Of Love, Love On Your Side, If You Were Here, Lies, Lay Your Hands On Me and King For A Day? Tom Bailey, the Sheffield-founded group’s lead vocalist and instrumentalist, now performs under the name Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, revisiting his past and showcasing debut solo album Science Fiction.

Tonight he closes his autumn tour at York Barbican, the only Yorkshire location on his 14-date itinerary, when fellow 1980s’ chart act Blancmange support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hannah Sinclair Robinson’s Lou and James Bye’s James on terror alert on the stairs in Paranormal Activity, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson Credit: Johan Persson

Psychological thriller of the week: Paranormal Activity, Grand Opera House, York, September 29 to October 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

IN a new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett and written by Levi Holloway, the playwright behind Broadway hit Grey House.

When James (James Bye) and Lou (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon they discover that places are not haunted, but people are. Can you hold your nerve in the face of this chilling production on its first British and Irish tour? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sounds Of The 60’s Live: Sensational Sixties show at York Barbican

Sixties’ celebration of the week: Sounds Of The 60’s Live, hosted by Tony Blackburn, York Barbican, September 29, 7.30pm

BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn hosts an evening of stories and songs from “perhaps the most iconic ten years in music, fashion and popular culture” on the Sounds Of The 60’s tour, 62 years since his first broadcast on pirate radio station Radio Caroline South in 1964.

The Sounds Of The 60’s All Star Band and Singers perform hits by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, a Rolling Stones medley, The Walker Brothers, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and more besides. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Roham Bayat’s poster design for the four-day York Jazz Fest

Festival of the week: York Jazz Fest, October 1 to 4

BEPPE Lombardo, soprano saxophone player in his Italian teenage days and supremo of Trinicria Sicilian Ristorante in Bishopthorpe Road for 15 years, is running the inaugural York Jazz Fest with funding from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor David Skaith.

Angel On The Green, York Arts Barge, Young Thugs Studio, the Phoenix Inn and The Winning Post play host to concerts on the first three days, culminating in the Bishopthorpe Road Car Park Finale next Sunday, topped off by sets by Dennis Rollins’ Funky-Funk and Ian Chalk. For full listings and tickets, go to: yorkjazzfestival.com.

Katy Cawkwell in the poster for Lilith at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

“Shocking, seductive and entertaining” show of the week: Katy Cawkwell in Lilith, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, October 1, 8.30pm

BEFORE Eve, there was Lilith, as revealed in Katy Cawkwell’s uplifting one-woman storytelling showin an exploration and celebration of female power through the mythological figure of Adam’s first wife.

Lilith was not prepared to lie down and accept what was given to her. Thrown out of Eden, she slithered back in to take her revenge and wake up Eve to what her body could do.

“Viewed as a demon, worshipped as a goddess, adored as the Queen of Sheba, Lilith slips out of the Bible, reclaims the narrative and is dancing with us still, forever free,” says Cawkwell, who mixes myth from Arabia, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia and Jewish tradition with a dash of feminist flavouring and a large dollop of her own wild dreaming. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Ben Portsmouth: Presenting This Is Elvis with the Taking Care Of Elvis Band at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Ben Portsmouth: This Is Elvis, York Barbican,  October 2, 7.30pm

REGARDED as the “closest living performer to the legendary Elvis Presley”, Ben Portsmouth has enjoyed success in more than 20 countries and became the first European to be crowned by Elvis Presley Enterprises as the Worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist in Memphis in 2012.

This Is Elvis takes an immersive journey through Presley’s greatest hits from his rockabilly roots to the dazzling Las Vegas years in the company of Portsmouth and the Taking Care Of Elvis Band.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

In Focus: Say Owt Slam, featuring Kirsty Taylor and KG, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm to 10pm

Bradford writer and educator Kirsty Taylor. Picture: Carolyn Mendelsohn

SAY Owt, York’s loveable gang of loveable gang of performance poets, brings the best working-class poets and rappers from Bradford tonight to complement the Say Owt Slam clash of the verbals.

“Since 2014, we’ve hosted high-energy nights of words and verse, bringing together poets, musicians, spoken-word artists, rappers and anyone with a story to tell,” says artistic director Henry Raby.

“We’re always proud of our line-ups, but this could be our most exciting parade of poets yet. It wouldn’t be possible without buzzy audiences showing up and being loud and demanding more and more shows! And it wouldn’t be a Say Owt season without a poetry slam!”

Henry continues: “Say Owt Slam is an energetic battle of words where judges in the audience score the poets and the top-scoring poet is crowned Say Owt Slam champion at the end of the night. Tonight, as well as a top crop of York poets, we have slammers from Glasgow, Manchester and Halifax hoping to win the competition.”

Kemmi Gill: Rapper, poet and youth worker

Tonight’s bill also features  two guests from guests from  Bradford, Kirsty Taylor and KG (Kemmi Gill). “Kirsty is a writer and educator inspired by her beloved home city of Bradford,” says Henry. “She is passionate about storytelling through poetry and has performed all over the country telling tales about people, class and the realities of Broken Britain.”

Taylor was a BBC Verb New Voice in 2017 and was awarded the Apples and Snakes & Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance award in 2020. She is the creator of Front Room Poetry, which takes nanna-style living rooms and world-class poets to unusual settings such as car parks and housing estates.

Kirsty opened Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture 2025 in January last year when she performed her words to 20,000 people over the first weekend.

KG (Kemmi Gill) is a Bradford-born rapper, poet and youth worker, hailed by Wordplay Magazine as “one of the sharpest lyricists” in the UK rap scene. “Kemmi combines lyrical storytelling and wordplay to explore themes of struggle and hope and has contributed writing and performance work to major civic projects, such as  the open-air spectacular Rise and Common/Wealth’s sell-out show Public Interest,” says Henry.

To book tickets, go to: sayowt.co.uk

In Focus Too: Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque, York Theatre Royal, October 1, 7.30pm, October 2, 2pm, and October 3, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque. Picture: Johan Persson

IN this new double bill from Acosta Danza, the lush artistry of the Baroque period intersects with the energy, creativity and vibrancy of Cuban dance.  Emerging from the 17th and 18th centuries, the creative movement was characterised by deep colour, elaborate detail and intricate decoration.

Produced by Valid Productions in collaboration with York Theatre Royal, Cuban Baroque opens with the world premiere of Andonis Foniadakis’s new work Pearls, a journey to the rhythmic heart of Baroque, followed by choreographer and set designer Goyo Montero’s 2011 work Chacona.

Artistic director Carlos Acosta says: “I am very excited about this programme which will encapsulate the essence of Acosta Danza, fusing as it will, classical, Cuban and contemporary vocabularies and styles.

“I am, of course, a big fan of both choreographers and am delighted that Andonis will create a brand-new piece on my dancers. I look forward to seeing how that develops over the coming months.

“The flavour of the evening is summarised neatly by the title Cuban Baroque, but essentially this is a programme that anyone interested in any kind of dance can enjoy. I look forward, as always, to seeing how audiences react to the atmosphere this programme will create at its premiere in our first ever visit to the wonderful York Theatre Royal.”

Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewes says: “It is truly wonderful that York audiences will be the first to experience this phenomenally exciting dance programme on our stage and we are really looking forward to working in collaboration with Carlos Acosta and his company on the show.”

Set to Esteban Sallas’s Salve Regina, the work explores the classic chaconne-looping structure that circles through phases of acceleration, fracture and rebound. As the score shifts from Baroque lyricism toward Cuban drive, Foniadakis showcases the fusion between memory and contemporary.

Andonis Foniadakis says: “The piece is being built as a chaconne in the broadest sense: a looping architecture that keeps circling back to the same theme like a mantra, each return opening a new variation in colour, density and impulse.

Cuban rhythmic principles will seep into the texture (clave, layered pulses, dance-derived momentum) and begin to tilt the baroque theme from within — bringing Sallas’s music fully into the present.

“In this dialogue, contrast becomes fusion: baroque memory meets Cuban propulsion; choral breath meets percussive drive; live sound meets a discreet electronic halo — shaping a single energetic trajectory that stays clear, intense, and emotionally resonant.”

Closing the 1hr 20 min programme is Goyo Montero’s powerful Chacona, a piece that originally was created for the Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett during Montero’s 17-year tenure as director. Chacona is the final movement of Bach’s masterwork Partita No.2 in D Minor for violin, accompanied in this performance by guitar and piano. Physically and musically demanding, classical in sound and contemporary in heart, it requires total cohesion from the ensemble of 16 dancers.

Goyo Montero says: “This is going to be my fourth collaboration with Acosta Danza since 2015. To bring this work to them and adapt it to their fearless and exceptional dancers is something I am looking forward to very much. To restage this early work and revisit it for them will develop the work further and keep it alive, relevant and ever changing, a choreographer’s dream!”

A post-show discussion with the company will follow Thursday’s 7.30pm show. In addition, Acosta Danza will hold an Open Class next Saturday (3/10/2026) at 10am on the Theatre Royal stage in an exclusive opportunity to watch how the dancers warm up and prepare ahead of a performance. This non-participatory event is open to all ages.  

The York Theatre Royal premiere of Cuban Baroque will be followed by performances at Sadler’s Wells in London and Norwich Theatre Royal with further 2027 dates to be added. Box office for shows and Open Class: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Acosta Danza in Cuban Baroque: the intersection of Baroque lush artistry with the energy, creativity and vibrancy of Cuban dance. Picture: Johan Persson
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York Theatre Royal launches first ever staging of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs with Tommy at the treble

Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly and Tommy Carmichael’s Muddles at York Theatre Royal’s pantomime launch for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

YORK Theatre Royal’s cast for this winter’s pantomime, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, has assembled for the first time.

Present at the launch day were CBBC and CBeebies’ star Richard David-Caine, who will play Herman Von Badapple; regular dame Robin Simpson (Dame Dolly this time) and his fellow returnees Tommy Carmichael and Christian Mortimer, who will take the roles of Muddles and Prince Charming respectively.

In attendance too were the cast’s latest addition, Marcavia McCarthy, who will play Snow White, Jenny Gayner, cast as the Wicked Queen, and Dean Whatton, who will lead the Seven Dwarfs as Sarge. Lucy Blenkiron, Richard Blenkiron, Willie Coppen, StijnKeuleers, Maria Popska and Harrison Taylor will complete the line-up.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is the apt choice for the seventh collaboration between pantomime partners York Theatre Royal and the award-wining Evolution Productions, whose director-producer, Paul Hendy, pens the script.

As ever, Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster will direct the show. “We are so delighted to have such a brilliant cast lined up for the show. It’s the first time Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs has been performed on our stage and audiences can expect something really special. I can’t wait to get started on rehearsals and see this fabulous show come to life with this amazing team.”

Doncaster-born Tommy Carmichael has signed up for a third winter of daft-lad tomfoolery in Snow White after starring as ever-cheerful Charlie in Aladdin in 2024 and Jangles in Sleeping Beauty last Christmas.

“It was confirmed in March. I got two emails in one day, one from the Theatre Royal, one from Evolution!” says Tommy. “I’m so grateful to be asked back, and it’s a lovely team to work with. When you work with Robin [Simpson], it feels so easy and it’s fun – as opposed to hard work – and I love working with Juliet [Forster] as well. It’s always nice to see faces you know.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, and off to work they go: York Theatre Royal’s cast for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs assembles for the first time. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“Muddles is not far from Buttons as a role. When people think of a comic role in panto, they usually say, ‘oh you’re playing Buttons’ and Muddles is the second one they mention. I’ve never done Snow White before, so it’s going to be fun working with a bigger cast than usual.”

Two years ago, Tommy moved to Livingston, Scotland, where he teaches young actors aged six to 18 at the Proscenium Stage School. “Wonderfully, they gave me the job when I moved north,” he says. “I’d taught at the Pauline Quirke Academy in Doncaster, and Taunton, after I’d trained at Bath School of Music and Performing Arts, at Bath Spa University, where I  was surrounded by cows and fields. Very different to training at a city university!”

Rehearsals for Snow White will begin on November 16. Before then, Tommy will return to Yorkshire on October 1 for a one-off performance of Big Strong Man at the Montgomery Theatre for the Open Works Festival in Sheffield.

Last year he toured in this interactive cabaret show about masculinity with the Doncaster company The Growth House. “It’s like a game show, where four different types of masculinity all fight for who should be ‘the ruler of all men from now until the end of time’. Four Northern men are given the impossible task of fixing the men’s mental health crisis in one night. We took it to spaces where men in various works of life feel more relaxed,” says Tommy.

“I think it’s really important to talk about these things as getting men to talk about their feelings can be a challenge, especially as last year we went into working men’s clubs, where the challenge was to get them to feel comfortable to talk about the subject – which was more likely to be the case than in a theatre.”

Tommy also headed back to Yorkshire a few weeks ago  – “I love the commute,” he says – to film his role in Miles Watts and Maria Gray’s second feature film for North Yorkshire company Outward Films: Drop Dead, a no-budget horror mystery shot on iPhone.

“I play Hugo, this really kind actor who’s in the film within the film, where all the actors had trained at the same theatre school” he says. “He sees below people’s surfaces, so he’s very perceptive. It’s my first feature film, so it was lovely to do, coming about for me through knowing Maria and her husband, Ed, the Theatre Royal pantomime musical director. We filmed my scenes in a wood by a leisure centre in Harrogate.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs will run at York Theatre Royal from December 4 to January 3 20927. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The York Press

Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey,  by J.M.W. Turner, 1829, on loan from National Gallery, London, for Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman at York Art Gallery. Copyright: National Gallery, London

GHOSTLY sculptures in gardens, the best in class in brass bands, Mikron Theatre’s mobile library tribute and 60 years of Gilbert O’Sullivan are among Charles Hutchinson’s cultural highlights.

Exhibition opening of the week: Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman, York Art Gallery, on show until running until January 17 2027

J.M.W. Turner’s masterpiece Ulysses deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey, generously lent by the National Gallery, is making an epic journey north to go on display at York Art Gallery in the wake of the Odyssey’s comeback into popular culture in Christopher Nolan’s film.

Turner, Wedgwood  Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman features an ‘Odyssey wall’ in an exhibition that reflects on the life and legacy of York-born sculptor, illustrator and designer John Flaxman (1755 –1826). Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

 One of 70 ghosts in the Ghosts In The Gardens trail through York this autumn. Picture: Amy D’Agorne 

Trail of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, York, September 19 to November 1

GHOSTS In The Gardens is back for its sixth haunting season and this time the ghosts are bringing even more friends as 70 ghostly sculptures appear in gardens, on balconies, along the city walls and in unexpected corners of York city centre.

Ten new ghosts join familiar faces from York’s past, each sculpture offering a snapshot of history, bringing fascinating York people, creatures or stories back to life. Some ghosts will return to old haunts, others will be found somewhere new. Admission is free.

John Bramwell: Heading for Selby Town Hall

Humble agenda of the week: John Bramwell, Selby Town Hall, September 19, 7.30pm

AS the singer in I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014, John Bramwell achieved a Mercury Prize nomination for 2010’s The Sky At Night, a top ten chart position for 2013’s Let It All In, numerous UK and European tours and a triumphant orchestral farewell at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Now, as a solo artist, Bramwell travels a very different path, a path that criss-crosses the length and breadth of the UK with a humble agenda of taking his heartwarming songs to the stage for his devoted fans. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.

York Railway Institute Band: Taking part in National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at York Barbican. Picture: Keith Meadley Photography

Brass clashes of the week: National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2026, York Barbican, September 19 and 20 from 9am and 3pm each day

THE National Brass Band Championships bring more than 70 of the country’s finest brass bands to York for the Sections 1 to 4 national finals. Among the Yorkshire bands competing will be York Railway Institute Band, Wetherby Silver Band and Swinton & District Excelsior Band, all having qualified to compete for National honours. Tickets: Only available to buy in-person on the day. No advance tickets.

Piff the Magic Dragon and Penn Jillette in Piff & Pop’s Magic Shoppe at Grand Opera House, York

Magical show of the week: Piff & Pop’s Magic Shoppe, Grand Opera House, York, September 19, 7.30pm

LEGENDARY magician Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller fame, is touring the UK for the first time without his 50-year companion Teller, teaming up instead with London-born, Las Vegas-based comedy-magician phenomenon Piff the Magic Dragon (alias John van der Put), from America’s Got Talent.

Act One feature a solo act from both Pop (Penn) and Piff along with Mr Piffles,  the world’s only magic-performing Chihuahua.. In Act Two, they blend into a one-of-a-kind double act. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Georgina Liley, left, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and James McLean in Mikron Theatre’s Top Of The World, on tour at Clements Hall, York. Picture: Robling Photography

Touring theatre show of the week: Mikron Theatre in Top Of The World, Clements Hall, York, September 20, 2pm

MARSDEN’S travelling troupe Mikron Theatre makes its second visit of 2026 to York, this time with Maeve Larkin’s celebration of the importance of mobile libraries as sanctuaries, beacons of hope, public services that connect people and communities in a digital age where human connection is more important than ever.

Top Of The Wold invites audiences to hop aboard the charmingly quirky mobile library for a heart-warming journey via Bempton, Bridlington, Hornsea and Howden in an exploration of a region barely noticed by the nation it feeds, celebrating the forgotten, the resilient and the wonderfully eccentric. Tickets:  available from Pextons, Bishopthorpe Road, York; Clements Hall,  01904 466086; by email to [email protected] or 07974 867301.

Tim Key: Serving up Loganberry comical whimsy at York Theatre Royal

Unpredictable comedy gig of the week: Tim Key, Loganberry, York Theatre Royal, September 20, 8pm

TIM Key, from The Ballad Of Wallis Island and Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme, pops his suit on again to plod about in new show Loganberry. In Key’s own words, “Bit gutted he’s old. Guzzling continental lager. Magnetic LOL. Decent reviews for previous shows. Played a pigeon in Bong Joon Ho’s latest movie. Been on Richard Herring’s podcast. Book out: “L.A. Baby!”. Met Steffi Graf in 1998/9. This show has poems in, and he’ll stamp and howl.” Who knows what else may lie in wait on Sunday! Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Mark Thomas: “Taster menu of government and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast”

Comedy landmark of the week: Mark Thomas, 40 In Stand-Up Years, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, September 20, 8pm

WHAT?! Mark Thomas has been “standing up” for 40 years? Impossible! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true: one of our oldest-surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic as he takes his new show on the road this autumn.

Expect a taster menu of government and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast as Thomas tries to turn ‘what the **** is going on?’ into a cogent night of stand-up.Box office: leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/mark-thomas-2026/.

Gilbert O’Sullivan: Songs old and new at the Grand Opera House, York

Seventies’ chart topper of the week: Gilbert O’Sullivan, Celebrating 60 Years Of Music, Grand Opera House, York, September 22, 7.30pm

GILBERT O’Sullivan will celebrate 60 years of making music, revisiting his UK chart toppers, 1972’s Clair and 1973’s Get Down, as well as such O’Sullivan favourites as No Matter How I Try, We Will, Matrimony, Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day, Why, Oh Why, Oh Why  and What’s In A Kiss?, his last of 16 Top 40 entries from  August 1980. Then add further selections from his 21 studio albums, the latest, On The Record, being previewed ahead of its November 6 release. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nish Kumar’s tour poster for Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy

Political disquiet of the week: Nish Kumar, Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy, Grand Opera House, York, September 23, Leeds Playhouse, October 3, Hull Truck Theatre, October 9 and Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 14

“THE world is in chaos,” laments political comedian Nish Kumar. “Inequality is widening, autocracy is rising and political parties are collapsing. In these divided times, what this country desperately needs is Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy. (In many ways it’s actually the last thing this country needs, but it’s what it’s getting, so tough luck).”

Pod Save The UK podcast co-host and former host of axed BBC Two show The Mash Report and Late Night Mash, Kumar has entered his 40s. His mind is breaking, his body is worse, “but audiences can still expect existential angst and political disquiet from comedy’s cheekiest boy”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Ceramics by Emily Stubbs and paintings by Di Gomery at Tinker Gallery

Last chance to view: Di Gomery & Emily Stubbs, Fracture and Flow: Conversations in Paint and Clay, Tinker Gallery, Church Street, Ilkley, until September 26

THIS exhibition by York artists Di Gomery (paintings) and Emily Stubbs (ceramics) is into its final week. Gallery owner and artist Joanne Tinker has refreshed the show since much of the work sold. Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm; other times by appointment.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 37, from Gazette & Herald

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Nick Haeffner

WILKO Johnson’s miraculous renaissance, Alan Ayckbourn’s first courtroom drama, Phil Wang’s wise moustache and The Dunwells’ indie-folk rock spark Charles Hutchinson’s attention in the week ahead.

Punk godfather of the week: Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee   

WHEN Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012, he was given only one year left to live. Declining medical intervention, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life…only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll examines the life of this punk-movement godfather, tracing a career that spanned Dr Feelgood, the Solid Senders, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and a late-career turn to acting in Game Of Thrones. Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, this show serves as a practical masterclass in living life to the fullest. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Richard Stacey’s war hero RSDO 83 and York actress Frances Marshall’s defence counsel Allistra Clay in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 4

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?

In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Movies In The Moonlight at Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema’s season in York Museum Gardens

Cinema event of the week: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, Friday to Sunday, 6.30pm

CITY Screen Picturehouse moves outdoors for three evenings of open-air screenings, comprising Grease (PG) on Friday, The Shining (15) and Evolution Of Horror podcast introduction on Saturday and Jurassic Park (12A) on Sunday. Screenings start at dusk or as soon as darkness falls.

Blankets, cushions and small picnic chairs are allowed. A limited number of deck chairs will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis; rain ponchos can be bought at the event, should the need arise. Guests are encouraged to take away waste for recycling where possible. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Uh Oh! Here comes Phil Wang and his moustache that will “bristle with wisdom” at York Barbican

New moustache of the week: Phil Wang: Uh Oh, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

PHILIP Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a Malaysian-British stand-up comedian, comedy writer and member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, who co-created the BBC Radio 4 series Daphne Sounds Expensive.

Now comes his new stand-up show, Uh Oh. In the words of Phil, “he’s older than ever before. He’s got a moustache now. It bristles with wisdom. His eyes shine with good humour. His shoulders groan under the weight of being the only cool millennial left. Everyone’s an idiot but him. Nice is out. Right is in. The vibe shift is real. Old Wang’s riding it.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The boys Dunwell: Brothers Joseph and David, heading to Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale gig of the week: The Dunwells, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

LEEDS indie-folk pop band The Dunwells have combined strong vocals, powerful melodies and heartfelt lyrics across four studio albums, a live album and a number of standout EPs and singles.

Prolific songwriting  brothers Joseph and David Dunwell, along with friends Adam Taylor and Rob Clayton, have toured extensively in the USA, Europe and the UK, as well as undertaking support slots with  Mumford & Sons, Elbow, Tom Jones, Scouting For Girls and Bryan Adams on British tours. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Sax to the max: Snake Davis heads to Helmsley on his Everlasting Love Tour

Saxophonist of the week: Snake Davis Band, Everlasting Love Tour, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis is “so happy to be back at Helmsley Arts Centre yet again”, this time showcasing new tunes and a new album on the Everlasting Love Tour with his four-piece band featuring guitar, bass guitar and drums. 

The set spans “floaty to danceable, soul & Northern Soul to pop, jazz to world”, embracing original material and classic sax pieces such as Baker Street and Night Train as Snake swaps performing arena and stadium gigs with stellar acts for playing intimate venues with his favourite musicians.  Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

James Felice & William Lawrence: Dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling at Pocklington Arts Centre

Americana gig of the week: James Felice & William Lawrence, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

JAMES Felice and  drummer William Lawrence, two members of New York State’s  Felice Brothers, are taking to the road to perform songs from their respective solo works in a dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling. James and William last appeared at Pocklington Arts Centre alongside Ian Felice and Jesske Hume in the Felice Brothers gig in June 2021. Box office: 01759 301547or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Alfie Moore: Offering the antidote to the breakdown of law and order, fake news and the price of baked beans in Acopalypse Now

Comedy gig of the week: Alfie Moore, Acopalypse Now, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Four Horsemen of Rising Crime, Global Warming, AI and Culture Wars are galloping towards us. Are we on the road to hell? Can we avoid the potholes? In this new tour show, ‘Fair Cop’ Alfie has the antidote to the breakdown of law and order, fake news and the price of baked beans.

Moore has encountered more than his fair share of egotistical dictators in his policing career and learnt when pragmatism, and more than a dash of humour, can defuse even the most menacing showdown. Join him as he saddles up to see off those bullies on their pesky ponies. Doomsday is no laughing matter, but this show will be. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Chance to perform of the week: HAC Studio Bar Open Mic – Under 18s, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 2pm to 4pm

IN a special edition of Helmsley Arts Centre’s regular social event in the studio bar, young musicians and artists have the opportunity to perform. There is no need to book to take part or listen; just turn up. All under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. 

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How Jonathan Maitland turned Wilko Johnson’s renaissance into a play, Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. UPDATED 10/9/2026

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner

JONATHAN Maitland’s biographical play with live music, Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll,  celebrates the extraordinary life of Dr Feelgood co-founder and punk-movement godfather Wilko Johnson, on tour at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow to Saturday.

Iconic yet iconoclastic guitarist Wilko – born John Andrew Wilkinson on Canvey Island, Essex on July 12 1947 – faced a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis in January 2013 with the expectation of only nine or ten months left to live.

Initially declining chemotherapy, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life, only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Here are the facts. In 2014, doctors decided the tumour was a less aggressive neuroendocrine type, whereupon Wilko underwent radical, life-saving surgery to remove a large tumour, together with his pancreas and spleen. Later he was declared cancer-free and went on to live until November 21 2022, dying at his home at Westcliff-on-Sea at the age of 75.

Playwright and former BBC journalist Jonathan Maitland already had written such plays as Dead Sheep (2015), An Audience With Jimmy Saville (2015), Deny, Deny, Deny (2016) and The Last Temptation Of Boris Johnson ( 2019)  when John’s remarkable renaissance story inspired  Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll.

“Wilko’s is one of the greatest rock‘n’roll stories ever told and his songs are some of the greatest rock‘n’roll ever recorded,” says Jonathan. “Even so, when I first read the play to him at his home in Southend five years ago, none of us could have imagined how much his story would go on to connect with audiences. My only regret is that he’s not around to see this tour happen but I know, for sure, that he would have been absolutely thrilled.”

Maitland’s play traces Wilko’s career as a guitarist with a trademark robotic, machine-gun playing style that spanned co-founding Dr Feelgood on Canvey Island in 1971, leaving the band in 1977, serving in Ian Dury and The Blockheads from 1980 to 1982, forming the Solid Senders with Blockheads’ bassist Norman Watt-Roy and recording Going Back Home with The Who lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, entering the charts at number three in March 2014.

All this was complemented by occasional acting gigs, most notably playing mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne in four episodes of Game Of Thrones in 2011 and 2012.

Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll’s “masterclass in living life to the fullest” was sent to Coventry to begin its 12-week tour on Monday. York Theatre Royal will be destination number two.

“The show is in its fourth iteration,” says Jonathan. “It broke box-office records at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, who wanted to put it on because it’s an Essex story about an Essex band; then the Southwark Playhouse in spring last year and a five-week West End run at Leicester Square Theatre – and now the tour.

The cast of Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll performing one of nine Dr Feelgood songs in Jonathan Maitland’s play, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Nick Haeffner

Jon House’s Lee Brilleaux, Dr Feelgood’s frontman, in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner

“Wilko’s story is just incredible because he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer when his music career had hit a low point. He was playing what he called ‘s**t holes’ and had told his band he was thinking of giving up. He’d appeared in Game Of Thrones by then so the New York Times wrote ‘Game Of Thrones actor has cancer’.”

Jonathan continues: “They say the best thing you can do in rock’n’roll is die, and his transformation [post-diagnosis] became a real-life A Christmas Carol story, but in rock’n’roll where Wilko became a nicer person, like Scrooge.

“How it turned out there’d been a mix-up in his diagnosis seems incredible to me, but that’s why it’s such an amazing story with amazing music, making it a play that could have written itself.”

Wilko was given a 15 per cent chance of survival when he went through his 11-hour operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on April 30 2014. “His surgeon said to him, ‘we’re going to need a lunch break’!” says Jonathan.

“The doctor who saved his life is just fantastic. He’s called Charlie Chan, a cancer doctor who was a big fan of Wilko. He’d taken a photo of Wilko at his last ever Farewell Tour gig at Camden, and when he looked at the photo, he said, ‘for someone who’s supposed to be dying, you don’t look too bad’.”

As he will discuss in tomorrow’s post-show Q&A alongside Jonathan Maitland, Charlie’s subsequent second opinion on Wilko’s terminal diagnosis led to surgeon Emmanuel Huguet  and his specialist medical team carrying out the operation.

“I’d been wanting to write a play about a guy in rock’n’roll who fakes his own death, and then Wilko did his own version of a ‘death’ story and so I thought I had to do a play about him,” says Jonathan. “When I asked him about it, he said, ‘it’s a play, plays tell stories, you can make it up. He changed only one thing , saying he was on speed, not coke!”

Jonathan recalls first hearing Wilko Johnson’s guitar on Dr Feelgood’s 1975 version of Leiber & Stoller’s Riot In Cell Block 9 off their Malpractice album. “I remember thinking, ‘oh my god, it’s very primal’. It felt like 10,000 volts going through you. What’s incredible is that 50 years later, I’m still listening to it,” he says.

“They changed the course of popular music. Their live album Stupidity going to number one making them the most popular band in Britain for about ten minutes in 1976. What gets you with Dr Feelgood was this incredible music but also this amazing double act of Lee Brilleaux as leader with Wilko as his accomplice, who would just gun you down with his guitar.

“It was like the Sex Pistols a year later, where it was exciting, intense but quite funny – it looked like Wilko was going to kill you – and it burnt through us all those years ago.”

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner

Wilko Johnson was punk pioneer, poet, philosopher and astronomer rolled into one. “He was a man of letters and a poet who did English Literature at Newcastle University. He could recite reams of Milton’s Paradise Lost and could have been a professor of English – and he was a massive enthusiast of astrology,” says Jonathan.

“He was funny, but he could be difficult and he was depressive and depressing, so he was the perfect subject for a play.”

Wilko said “OK” to the idea of a play in 2021, during Covid. “Then I went to read the script to him, doing all the voices myself, including his, and he said, ‘so the man from Del Monte, he he says ‘yes’,” recalls Jonathan.

Wilko went on to record a message: “If I’m not there on the opening night, it’s probably because I’m ‘brown bread’ [Cockney slang for ‘dead’], so there’s not a lot I can do about it.”

“We played it on the first night [February 1 2024] and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” says Jonathan. “By the time it got to London, it just took off, selling out every night, with people like Paul Weller and Richard Curtis coming to see it, and people coming up afterwards, crying and saying how it reminded them of their own experiences.

“You don’t need to be a fan of Dr Feelgood or Wilko to see it because it’s a about a man facing death with all his foibles and faults. Green, from Scritti Politti, said afterwards that it reminded him of why he got into music in the first place because it’s just so joyful.”

Summing up Wilko’s character, Jonathan says: “He was appalling in some ways but wonderful in others. He had this self-knowledge about him. Whereas someone who’s highly irredeemable doesn’t acknowledge his own faults, Wilko did. There was nobody like him.”

Wilko will forever be associated with his machine-gun guitar antics and bulging eyes when wielding his black Fender Telecaster. “I made up its origin for the play as he couldn’t remember how is started. He just did it because he was quite theatrical. In the play, he has an argument with Lee and guns him down with his guitar. Lee says ‘why don’t you do that on stage?’.”

As the poster states, Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll is a “play with music”, not a jukebox musical, as Johnson Willis’s Wilko tells Lee Brilleaux in the play. “I can’t write a musical as I don’t understand the lexicon of people singing at each other,” says Jonathan.

Jetty Productions in association with Canvey Rock and Cahoots Theatre Company present Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ‘N’ Roll, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm with post-show Q&A discussion with writer Jonathan Maitland and Charlie Chan, the doctor who saved Wilko’s life; Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm & 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: 11 plus.

The poster for Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll

Jonathan Maitland: back story

PLAYWRIGHT and former journalist, who worked for the BBC across Radio 4, BBC News and presenting and producing shows for BBC One.

Debut stage play Dead Sheep (2015), produced at Park Theatre, became the most successful production in the theatre’s history. This record was broken by his second play, also staged at Park Theatre, An Audience With Jimmy Saville (2015), which transferred to Edinburgh Fringe.

Further works at Park Theatre include Deny Deny Deny (2016) and the box office record- breaking The Last Temptation Of Boris Johnson (2019), which then completed an eight-week national tour in 2020.

Maitland presented the premiere of The Interview at Park Theatre and his BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Wasps In A Jam Jar in 2023.

Johnson Willis: back story

MUSICIAN and actor who has spent many years in the music industry playing and recording with bands. His credits include Return To The Forbidden Planet in 1999, the West End premiere of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (Gillian Lynne Theatre, 2022), Amelie The Musical (National Tour, The Other Palace and W.E Criterion), as well as productions with Theatre Clwyd Cymru, Royal Shakespeare Company, Newbury Watermill Theatre and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich.

Johnson Willis: Playing Wilko Johnson in Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ‘N’ Roll

Wilko Johnson’s guitar technique

WILKO played with a high-energy, percussive style that created the illusion of a rhythm and lead guitar being played at the exact same time, producing his choppy, staccato sound by using his left hand to mute or dampen the strings immediately after striking them, lifting his fingers on and off the fretboard. He did not use a guitar plectrum, instead playing entirely fingerstyle with his bare fingers and thumb.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No 36, from The York Press

Towering performances: Matthew Rutherford’s giant, Smog, and Jared More’s giant, Miff, in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s The Selfish Giant

A GIANT in a garden, Wendy turning piratical in a re-imagined Peter Pan, Alan Ayckbourn’s 92nd play and Wilko Johnson’s miraculous renaissance spark Charles Hutchinson’s attention in the week ahead.

Inspirational tale of love and generosity of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in The Selfish Giant, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, today, 1.30pm and 4.30pm

STEP into the magical world of the Giant’s garden, a place full of music, beauty, bird song and stories in Jon Boustead’s stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The Giant, however, is cross when he returns to find children – children! – playing happily in his beautiful orchard, whereupon he erects a big wall to terminate the fun.

Once winter seizes the garden in its icy fingers, will summer ever return? Through storytelling, interactive games, live music and puppetry, York company Riding Lights presents a 50-minute play for family audiences. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk. Age recommendation: Three upwards.

Neverland revamped: York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre in Wendy & Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm and 7pm

YORK Theatre Royal Youth Theatre returns to the Main House stage for the first time since 2019 for 46 performers, aged eight to 19, to present Ella Hickson’s feminist take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan in Lydia Crosland and Sophie-Jade Howell’s large-scale production.

A quiet sadness permeates the Darling household, until the unexpected arrival of a mischievous young boy called Peter and a rather sassy fairy, Tink, whereupon Wendy leads the rebellious lost boys, takes on the terrifying Captain Hook, finds the key to her parents’ lost happiness and discovers the power of being brave and strong. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s first courtroom drama, The Trial Of Romeo Oscar. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Trial Of Romeo Oscar, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until October 4

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 92nd play is his first courtroom drama, one set in the future, as he explores the question that artists have been asking for centuries: what makes us human?

In 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on Earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder: the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The evidence is polarising and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Silky: Hooking up at York Barbican tonight

Comedy bill of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, featuring Silky and Dave Johns, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight, 8pm

SILKY, Liverpudlian-in-exile and international act, is joined by Dave Johns, North Eastern stand-up,  scriptwriter and stage and screen actor, and  Jimmy Shirley, whose material addresses growing up in Liverpool in the 1990s, the absurdity of being a Scouser in Greece and the everyday things that annoy him every day.

Completing the line-up will be Gary Jennison, a surrealist force of nature who brings unscripted, unbridled chaos to dance-offs, game shows and observations with a twist while inviting the audience to steer his performance with suggestions and participation. Box office: https://lolcomedyclubs.co.ukor on the door from 7.30pm subject to availability. 

See the world more curiously in: Be Like Blippi, York Barbican, today, 1pm and 4pm

JOIN Blippi and Meekah for a one-of-a-kind interactive adventure that inspires children to move, play and explore like Blippi in a new show packed with high-energy music and surprises, featuring fan favourites The Excavator Song, Monster Truck, Dino Dance and Curious Like Me.  

Equipped with Blippi’s signature mix of play, learning, and exploration, Be Like Blippi invites you to break out your orange Blippi glasses and ignite your spark of curiosity. Please note, Blippi and Meekah will be played by professional stage performers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Andrew O’Neill: Charting the history of punk through the comedy lens. Picture: Andrew O’Neill

When punk rock meets comedy: Andrew O’Neill, History Of Punk, Theatre@41, Monkgate, tonight, 8pm

FRESH from asking “How do we get out of this mess” in his Halfway To Edinburgh preview of his surreal, political show Escape at Theatre@41 on July 24, cult comedian Andrew O’Neill returns to York, switching from suggesting ways we can find our way out of disagreements to refracting punk rock through stand-up comedy.

In the wake of A History Of Heavy Metal, he delivers a full-volume love letter to punk, from The Stooges to Pussy Riot, Amebix to X-Ray Spex. “Punk’s not dead,” says O’Neill, who has appeared on Good Omens, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Steve Coogan’s Saxondale. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Illegal Eagles: Checking in at the Hotel California

Tribute gig of the week: The Illegal Eagles, Hotel California Tour, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

THE Illegal Eagles mark 30 years on the road in 2026 with their new Hotel California Tour.  Renowned for their vocal and guitar prowess and ability to re-create the legendary sound of the Eagles, the tribute act’s milestone itinerary features a full performance of the iconic Hotel California album, featuring Life In The Fast Lane, New Kid in Town and the unforgettable title track. Expect all the timeless Eagles greatest hits too. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Jeanette Hunter’s Pearl, Jackie Cox’s Jan, Nicky Clay’s Shelley and Gemma McDonald’s Linda in MARMiTE Theatre’s Ladies Day. Picture: Lucy Baines

Racing romp of the week: MARMiTE Theatre in Ladies Day, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 8 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

LIFE is one long slog for four fish factory packers from Hull, Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda, but their fortunes could change when they head to Knavesmire on the day Royal Ascot came to York in 2005.

Factory hairnets make way for fascinators as the friends hit the racecourse for an unforgettable day out. Secrets are spilled, along with copious amounts of champagne, as friendships are tested to the limits in Martyn Hunter’s s production of Amanda Whittington’s comedy gem. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Georgina Fairbanks and Johnson Willis in Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll. Picture: Nick Haeffner

Punk godfather of the week: Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll , York Theatre Royal, September 10 to 12, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee   

WHEN Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012, he was given only one year left to live. Declining medical intervention, Wilko chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life…only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Jonathan Maitland’s Wilko: Love and Death and Rock’n’Roll examines the life of this punk-movement godfather, tracing a career that spanned Dr Feelgood, the Solid Senders, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and a late-career turn to acting in Game Of Thrones. Integrating live music and storytelling with Wilko’s own words, this show serves as a practical masterclass in living life to the fullest. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. 

Movies In The Moonlight in Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema’s season at York Museum Gardens

Cinema event of the week: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, Movies In The Moonlight, York Museum Gardens, September 11 to 13, 6.30pm

CITY Screen Picturehouse moves outdoors for three evenings of open-air screenings, comprising Grease (PG) on September 11, The Shining (15) and Evolution Of Horror podcast introduction on September 12 and Jurassic Park (12A) on September 13. Screenings start at dusk or as soon as darkness falls.

Blankets, cushions and small picnic chairs are allowed. A limited number of deck chairs will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis; rain ponchos can bought at the event, should the need arise Guests are encouraged to take away waste for recycling where possible. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.

Uh Oh, here comes Phil Wang’s moustache, “bristling with wisdom” at York Barbican

New moustache of the week: Phil Wang: Uh Oh, York Barbican, September 11, 7.30pm

PHILIP Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a Malaysian-British stand-up comedian, comedy writer and member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, who co-created the BBC Radio 4 series Daphne Sounds Expensive.

Now comes his new stand-up show, Uh Oh. In the words of Phil, “he’s older than ever before. He’s got a moustache now. It bristles with wisdom. His eyes shine with good humour. His shoulders groan under the weight of being the only cool millennial left. Everyone’s an idiot but him. Nice is out. Right is in. The vibe shift is real. Old Wang’s riding it.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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