Tag: York Theatre Royal

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Hannah Davies re-imagines selkie myth in dystopian future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Performing The Ballad Of Blea Wyke at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, and Helmsley Arts Centre

NORTH Yorkshire slam champion poet, theatre maker and writer Hannah Davies and her regular musician, Jack Woods, re-imagine the selkie myth for a not-too-distant dystopian future on the North Yorkshire coast in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke.

Originally micro-commissioned by York Theatre Royal as part of the Green Shoots project in May 2022, the show has grown from its five-minute debut into a 60-minute performance, premiered at the Scarborough Fair in June 2025 and now heading for York and Helmsley. 

Directed by Em Whitfield Brooks and presented in association with York arts organisations Say Owt and Next Door But One, this lyrical spoken-word and musical storytelling piece will be performed at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, on Friday (10/7/2026) at 8.30pm and Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17 at 7.30pm.

Chiming with her own move from York to Scarborough, Hannah relates the tale of a young woman who wants to see the sea, combining her storytelling with Pascallion and Leeather’O musician Jack’s live guitar, loops and harmonies in a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song.

“I’ve spent the last few years living and working by the sea – I love it,” says Hannah. “The sound of the waves are like instant calming white noise for me. There is something both soothing and terrifying about the sea and I love the fact that it brazenly declares all of its moods without apology.” 

What happens in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke? A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore. On her 18th birthday, Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown to seek the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past.

Explaining what drew her to the selkie myth of seals transforming into humans by shedding their skin, Say Owt associate artist and creative producer Hannah says: “I suffered from Topical Steroid Withdrawal between 2019 and 2023, a debilitating iatrogenic condition caused by steroids.

“I’d been through hell with that, as my skin burnt, swelled, scabbed and shed, so the image of the seal shedding its skin really resonated with me. A lot of the selkie myths are about transformation and coming back to one truest nature, and I really had to do that as I healed.”

Hannah read all manner of folk tales for research purposes: “Any I could get my hands on,” she says. “The People Of The Sea, a memoir by writer David Thomson, was really useful. In it he travels to rural Scotland and Ireland and meets all kinds of local people, who tell him a wide variety of the ancient Celtic versions of the stories.

“It was fascinating to learn so much about them and the variety of stories and forms they show up in. The selkie stories also cross over into Nordic and Norse folklore, so I read up about those too.”

Hannah continues: “I also ‘geeked out’ on plenty of nature documentaries, watching seals swimming, fighting, giving birth. 2014 film Song Of The Sea is a really lovely watch. I enjoyed that film immensely and also watched darker sea films like Lighthouse (2019) and Bait (2019), set and filmed in a Cornish fishing village.”

Blea Wyke, should you be unaware, is a rocky promontory very close to Ravenscar, between Scarborough and Whitby, where seals often can be spotted, especially during mating or pup season.

“Ravenscar was once planned as a new Victorian seaside town, which never actually got finished as the company went bust,” says Hannah. “There are hints of this in the landscape, laid pavements, drains etc. I was fascinated by this image of a half-finished ghost town and this informed the feel of lockdown and disaster in the piece and also the wider themes.”

Why is the coastline “forbidden” in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, Hannah? “The piece is set in a contemporary re-imagining of the myth and places the events of the story in Yorkshire, in a time that suggests a post-climate collapse.

“The piece was very much influenced by the desolate feeling of lockdown and the restrictions around it and also by the type of world that we are living in, where every inch of the land is owned, privatised or restricted in some way.”

Assessing why storytelling remains so crucial to human existence, Hannah says: “Stories are embedded into us at the very core. We are all made up of our stories, and by telling and sharing them we get to see and understand ourselves in others’ actions, words and deeds.

“Humans need connection and shared experience to thrive and I think stories do that for us all. In such a divided world we need that more than ever.”

Out of curiosity, the last question has to be whether Hannah believes in the existence of selkies? “I believe in folk tales and the power they have to tell us about the lore of the land,” she says. “I definitely believe in magic.”

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods present The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Friday, 8.30pm, doors 7.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm. Box office: York, bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

More questions for Hannah Davies

How have you and Jack expanded the piece from the May 2022 micro-version at York Theatre Royal?

“After the original five-minute micro-commission as part of York Theatre Royal’s Green Shoots, Jack and I worked together to expand it into a full piece. I led on the story and Jack on the music, though both informed the other as it went on.

“I’d throw Jack bits of dialogue or description and he would share fragments of musical themes and together we built a shared sound and image world, which then became the final piece. 

“We then worked with Next Door But One to host a first sharing read-through and this is when Em Whitfield Brooks came on board as directorial/vocal support. Having her expertise really helped me to refine all the different modes and tones of storytelling in the piece. There is poetry, narration, dialogue and song, all beautifully underscored by Jack’s rich, layered sounds.

Have further changes been made since last summer’s Scarborough Fair?

“A couple of tweaks in dialogue here and there, but not really, no. The show we did last year is now ready to tour and be shared more widely. It had been a slow burn making this show; it’s simmered and brewed over a few years and has been worked on between lots of other projects, which has made it a stronger piece I think.”

Where is your favourite place on the Yorkshire coastline and why?

“Ooooh, so many, too many to name! Probably Boggle Hole. My Dad used to take me and my brother there to stay in the youth hostel.”

How important is the support of Say Owt and Next Door But One?

“Working with Matt Harper-Hardcastle and NDB1 was so great. They really helped me and Jack get the piece turned into its finished form. Being associate artist at Say Owt is such a joy too.”

What will you be working on next?

“I’m in the process of reclaiming my writing and performance practice. I have lots of bits and bobs coming up.”

Hannah Davies

Writer/performer

HANNAH Davies is a writer, theatre-maker, director, performer and slam-winning poet from Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

She has written for Royal Court Theatre, Ice&Fire, York Theatre Royal and Guild of Misrule and performed at spoken-word nights across the UK.

She is an associate artist at York spoken-word collective Say Owt and has held such roles as co-leader of MA Playwriting course at University of York, artistic director of York company Common Ground Theatre and executive producer at ARCADE in Scarborough.  Discover more at hannahdavies.co.uk

Musician/performer

JACK Woods is a Yorkshire musician and instrumentalist. He studied music at British and Irish Modern Music Institute and plays mandolin, violin and guitar. He has played in many bands across different genres, including Leather’O, and writes and records as Pascallion. He has featured on BBC Introducing with Jericho Keys. Visit pascallion.bandcamp.com

Director

EM Whitfield Brooks is a director, choral leader, creative facilitator, voice teacher and coach. She has directed large-scale community opera and small-scale touring theatre; produced and directed for Ryedale Festival Community Opera; was a choral director of Hull Freedom Chorus, Angus & Ross Theatre Company and Back to Ours in Hull and held the artistic director’s post at Helmsley Arts Centre from 2012 to 2016. Check out emwhitfieldbrooks.com.

PitchWitches

Did you know?

EM Whitfield Brooks’s new vocal quintet, Pitch Witches, will be the opening act at the Helmsley Arts Centre performance of The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Em brings together some of the finest singers in York for a soaring set of close-harmony songs.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 28, from Gazette & Herald

Becca Magson’s Rita and Joe Gregory’s Frank in 1812 Theatre Company’s Educating Rita. Picture: Lauren Wyeth

RYEDALE Festival and 1812 Theatre’s Educating Rita, compact Shakespeare and Live At York Museum Gardens are uppermost in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations amid the July heatwave.

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Educating Rita, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm

SAMANTHA Hughes directs Helmsley Arts Centre resident troupe 1812 Theatre Company in Willy Russell’s comedy Educating Rita, wherein Frank (Joe Gregory) is a tutor of English Literature in his 50s whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books.  

Enter Rita (Becca Magson), a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, she slowly wins over the hesitant Frank with her highly original insights and refusal to accept “No” for an answer. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. Picture: Lauren Wyeth.

Michael Flatley’s Irish dancers in the 30th anniversary tour of Lord Of The Dance, in action at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Brian Doherty

Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.45pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy, after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.

The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour features “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.

Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing the indisposed Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), squeezing into York Theatre Royal this week

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.

Californian co-founders Adam Long,  Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet at York Medical Society. Picture: Amie Barton-Young

Storytelling actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One  Man Poe world premiere, July 11, 7.30pm

THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in  two York performances.

Smith also presents the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) ahead of his Edinburgh Fringe residency. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens

Rock and pop festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, tomorrow, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, Friday, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, Saturday, gates 4pm

WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts tomorrow with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.

Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn.  Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

Ross Noble: Playing York Comedy Festival at Live At York Museum Gardens on Sunday

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live at York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates 3pm

TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm), from Russell Howard’s Good News, and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.

In Sunday’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Barry From Watford (5.45pm), the 82-year-old comic creation of Alex Lowe; cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm)  and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jared Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.

The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm as part of Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills

Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 10 to 26

RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, pianist Junyan Chen, The Gesualdo Six, Dunedin Consort, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.

Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Picture: Matt Jopling

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, York, July 10, 8.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm

IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore. 

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: York, https://bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 27, from The York Press

SledOne’s mural, What Walks Amongst Us, taking shape at AcombFest. Picture: Art of Protest

MURALS in Acomb, early music beyond borders, Mystery Plays on waggons, a political swansong and compact Shakespeare keep Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts off the July heatwave.

Art event of the week: AcombFest, Acomb, York, today and tomorrow

CURATED by Art of Protest, York’s first international street art festival continues today and tomorrow with its theme of A Return To Nature, featuring 20 art installations, live murals, RARE Collective’s Paint Jam, spray battles and more than 30 bands, DJs and performers, across 22 venues.

Look out too for interactive family-friendly workshops, an art market, history walks and talks, special events and tastings and a community cinema. Muralists taking part include SMUG, from Australia, Sheffield muralist Peachzz, wildlife artist Curtis Hylton and Acomb’s very own SledOne. For full details, go to: https://acombfest.co.uk/.

Baroque collective Solomon’s Knot: Performing Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns’ St Mark Passion, directed by Jonathan Sells, at The Quire, York Minster, on July 10

50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, until July 11

THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.

The festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Solomon’s Knot and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.

Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents in the York Mystery Plays 2026. Picture: John Saunders

Theatrical outdoor event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow, 10.30am to 4.50pm

THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to yorkmysteryplays.co.uk; tickets, ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

Clive Francis as Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.

Californian co-founders Adam Long,  Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet

Busiest actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe, Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Arts Hub, July 10, 8pm; One  Man Poe world premiere, York Medical Society, July 11, 7.30pm

THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in  two York performances.

Smith also presents four of Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror  works (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven) in Ripon, followed by the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) in York. All six, amounting to 18,000 Poe words, will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.

Musical of the week: Top Hat and Tails Theatre in Little Shop Of Horrors!, Friargate Theatre, York, July 9 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MEEK floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he calls Audrey II, a foul-mouthed carnivore that promises him fame and fortune if he keeps feeding it with blood. Over time, however, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s plans for global domination in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s sci-fi B-movie monster spoof, presented here with a live band and professionally hand-crafted puppets.  Box office: ridinglights.org.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits show at York Museum Gardens on Thursday

Music festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, July 9, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, July 10, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, July 11, gates 4pm

WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts on Thursday with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.

Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are next Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn.  Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home, by Matt Sewell

In Focus: Birds of the week: Matt Sewell exhibition for RARE Collective at WET, Micklegate, York, until mid-July

SHROPSHIRE artist, illustrator and author Matt Sewelll is the latest street art luminary to be showcased in RARE Collective’s collaboration with WET wine bar, in Micklegate, York, in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.

“We’re really chuffed to have Matt return to York with his fabulous Riso prints,” says RARE Collective exhibition organiser Sharon McDonagh. “If you came to the Vandalfest charity street art show last year, you would have seen his cracking bird mural on Floor 3 of the big disused office block in Low Ousegate.

Artist Matt Sewell at work

Sewell is an avid ornithologist, contributing regularly to the Caught By The River website and publishing the books Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds, Our Woodland Birds, Owls, Penguins and A Charm Of Goldfinches And Other Collective Nouns.

He has illustrated for the Guardian, Barbour, V&A Museums, BBC, National Trust, Greenpeace, Big Issue and Levi’s and painted walls for Helly Hansen, Puma and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). He has exhibited in Great Britain, New York, old York, Tokyo and Paris.  

Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo, by Matt Sewell

Under RARE Collective’s partnership with WET, artists and photographers exhibit their work in a six-week solo show.  As well as at WET, work can be bought online both during and after the exhibition run at rarecollective.co.uk.

In addition, a selection of Sewell’s prints is featuring in RARE Collective’s exhibition for AcombFest at The Crooked Tap, on show until August 15 in support of SASH.

Matt Sewell’s wall of bird prints for sale at WET

Exhibiting too are: spAm (Sharon McDonagh), Sola, Alison Jagger, Al Murphy, Anthony Appleyard, Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Michael Dawson, Nicolas Dixon, Slice Of Lino, STATIC and Stephen Bottrill.

“RARE are working in collaboration with the Art of Protest Project, after being invited by AcombFest curator Jeff Clark and the AOP team to curate the live PaintJam at the Carlton Tavern, in Acomb Road, Holgate, today and tomorrow,” says RARE Collective curator Sharon McDonagh.

“This will involve nine artists painting live from 10am to 4pm each day (Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Nicolas Dixon, Sola, spAm and VYZ); live DJ sets by Alilou, Bob Yenz, Conor Rogan, Free Da Karlos and Sola plus guests, audiovisual artists Fred DWolf, Sonas and JohnManBand on a huge screen, cocktails and mixology by Tulum Spirits Collective and street food by El Chappo, all in support of SASH.”

Did you know?

MATT Sewell is also a musician, performing as Sewell &The Gong with Chris Tate and as the deep-cut compiler of the compilation series A Crushing Glow.

Matt Sewell’s work environment

In Focus too: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, July 6 to 8, 7.45pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.

The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour will feature “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”. 

Creative manager James Keegan says: “Michael Flatley has taught me that there are no boundaries in the creative space. When he burst onto the scene in the mid-90s, he took traditional Irish dancing to a place nobody had ever dreamed of, and that has been the key to the show’s success.

“Michael often says in rehearsals that we need to push the boundaries as much as we can, and if it’s too far or doesn’t work, we can always pull it back. That mindset is what keeps Lord Of The Dance evolving.”

Lord Of The Dance on its 30th anniversary tour. Picture: Brian Doherty

Keegan believes that the core elements of Flatley’s visionary production – choreography, music and storytelling – remain timeless while still evolving. “What made Lord Of The Dance famous 30 years ago is still what makes it work today: 40 of the greatest Irish tap dancers in the world performing in one line in perfect sync. It’s a spectacle that never loses its magic,” he says.

Reflecting on Flatley’s impact, Keegan says: “Professional Irish dancing didn’t really exist until Michael created his shows and added a more entertaining twist to the art form.

“He wasn’t just a dancer; he was a highly tuned athlete who could perform at astonishing levels for a full two-hour show, seven days a week. Today, we see young competitive dancers around the world striving to reach the levels he set.”

But beyond the footwork and the spectacle, Keegan reckons Flatley’s greatest legacy is his ability to inspire. “Michael’s motto has always been, ‘Nothing is impossible.’ He took an already intricate dance form and pushed it even further, breaking records like 38 taps per second and incorporating upper body movements that defied tradition,” he says.

Michael Flatley

“I’ve seen it time and time again: a dancer who never thought they could be a lead receives Michael’s encouragement, and before long, they are fulfilling their dream on stage.”

For Keegan, one moment stands out above the rest. “In 1997, I was a ten-year-old competitive Irish dancer in Manchester, struggling with the name-callers and the challenges of being a young male dancer,” he says.

“Then Lord Of The Dance came to town. Watching Michael and the cast that night at the Apollo Theatre changed everything for me. The masculinity, the precision, the energy, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“I met Michael at the stage door, and suddenly, I knew that being an Irish dancer could mean being a superstar. Nineteen years later, I had the honour of sharing his final show with him at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in 2016. It was a full-circle moment I will never forget.”

Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance dancers

As Lord Of The Dance embark on its 30th anniversary tour, Flatley reflects on the journey. “The magic of Lord Of The Dance lives on in the hearts of our audience, and I am thrilled to bring this iconic show back to the UK in 2026,” he says.

“30 Years of Standing Ovations celebrates the incredible journey we’ve shared with fans over the years. It’s a tribute to the enduring power of dreams, the joy of dance and the unwavering support of our audience. This tour is our way of saying thank you for three decades of unforgettable memories.”

Although Flatley, now 67, retired from performing during his final tour in 2016, he has remained at the helm of Lord Of The Dance, guiding its evolution while preserving its timeless magic.

Now, as the production prepares for its biggest celebration yet, fans can look forward to a breathtaking spectacle that honours the past, embraces the present, and inspires the future of Irish dance.

The 30th anniversary tour also visits Hull New Theatre, July 22 to 25, and Sheffield City Hall, August 20 to 23. For full tour dates and ticket information, go to lordofthedance.com. York tickets:  https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.

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The Long and the short of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) with Reduced Shakespeare Company

Adam Long: Reduced Shakespeare Company co-founder and director

THE new version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), rebooted and re-imagined for the 30th anniversary UK tour, is squeezing into York Theatre Royal from July 7 to 11.

After nine years at the Criterion Theatre in London’s West End, two television specials and performances in more than 20 countries, the Reduced Shakespeare Company brings this updated and reinvented classic comedy to a new generation of audiences as Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and understudy Kiran Raywilliams take a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s plays.

Presented by The Theatre Chipping Norton and Selladoor Worldwide, through special arrangement with Music Theatre International, the 2026 version is written by director Adam Long and fellow Californian original writers and founder members Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, who first teamed up 45 years ago when Adam was an accountant for an anti-nuclear political action committee, Daniel, a graphic artist in Santa Rosa and Jess, a lawyer in Santa Cruz.

Here come Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus, presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial, and the History Plays as a manic football game between kings (although King Lear is disqualified for being fictional).

“We started touring it here in 1995 – 31 years go – and in the first year we did it at this incredibly beautiful theatre in York,” recalls Adam. “We did a show in Leeds and then there was a three-day gap before York, and we got this phone-call saying, ‘could we do a show in Plymouth in between?’, so we drove all the way down to Plymouth and back again!”

The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) had begun as a street theatre troupe in San Francisco Bay in the 1980s, busking 15-minute versions of Romeo And Juliet and Hamlet to earn a living.

Most of the performances were at ‘Renaissance Faires’ where the RSC often had to share the stage with belly dancers and sheep. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1987, at 10am in a church basement.

From there, the RSC was invited to perform in Montreal, Tokyo, New York and London, and the rest is history, but what first drew Long and co to Shakespeare?

“I’m from California, where we were not forced to study it in the same way as you are here, so our love of Shakespeare came from seeing it live,” says Adam. “I loved Bugs Bunny and The Marx Brothers too and in my life they’re intertwined.”

The comedy style emerged from condensing the essentials of each play. “It comes down to what’s the plot and who are the characters? Like Romeo And Juliet is two teenagers high on hormones who make some bad decisions, and if that was on Netflix, you’d definitely watch it!” says Adam, who has lived in London for 35 years.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged): understudy Kiran Raywilliams, left, Efe Agwele, Woogie Jung and Tom Pavey, front

“We figured Romeo And Juliet was the play most people knew, along with Hamlet, so we book-end the show with those two plays. Romeo And Juliet gets a healthy 15 minutes; it’s like Romeo And Juliet shot out of a cannon: high-speed drama.

“We then highlight plays they’re less familiar with, like Titus Andronicus, the most gory play Shakespeare wrote – and one of the most gory plays I’ve encountered. It’s more gory than all Quentin Tarantino’s films condensed into one, so we devote only two minutes to it in the form of a YouTube cooking tutorial by Titus Andronicus.”

The Reduced Shakespeare Company version of Hamlet developed as the show did likewise. “When we got to the point where Ophelia killed herself, we thought it would be interesting to do a Freudian analysis, acting out her psyche, with audience involvement, and the response was so good, we had to do an encore, where we did Hamlet in only 30 seconds,” says Adam.

“Demands came for another encore, so we did it in five seconds. Then we were all just sitting in the pub, thinking about what more we would do with it, and Jess, I think, suggested: ‘what if we were to do it backwards, like in a parlour game?’.”

Hamlet in reverse is now the staple final act of the show, but which plays were the hardest to adapt? “The Histories, because they’re not as funny as the tragedies, and they’re also not as well known,” says Adam.

“So we thought, ‘how do we take all the Histories and condense them into something that will be entertaining for the audience?’. It’s like a football game with the crown being passed from king to king and gradually we got it down to 90 seconds.”

Asked to pick a favourite Shakespeare play, Adam says: “I know it’s a predictable answer, but I do love Hamlet. I think that if I was a playwright and it was the only play I wrote, I would feel it was a job well done without having to write another 36 plays!”

The Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk Age guidance: Ten plus. Post-show discussion on July 8.

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Jenny Gayner and Dean Whatton join York Theatre Royal pantomime cast for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

Jenny Gayner in the guise of the Wicked Queen

YORK Theatre Royal has signed up two new pantomime recruits for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs’ run from December 4 to January 3 2027.

West End star Jenny Gayner will take to the dark side as the Wicked Queen while Dean Whatton, from Game Of Thrones, will lead the ‘Seven’ in the role of Sarge.  

Jenny and Dean join Richard David-Caine (Horrible Histories, Swashbuckle, Horrible Science) and Theatre Royal panto favourites Robin Simpson and Tommy Carmichael, who return after delighting audiences in last winter’s Sleeping Beauty.  

Jenny Gaynor

Jenny has starred in a wide range of musicals, playing Baroness Bomburst in the UK tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lina Lamont in Singin’ In The Rain (Sadler’s Wells Theatre and UK/international tour) and as Mum in Gangsta Granny (West End/UK tour).  

Jenny’s credits also include Annie (UK tour); The Girls (West End – Original London cast); Chicago (West End/UK tour); A Chorus Line (Lowry Theatre) and Monty Python’s Spamalot! (West End). Television credits include The Power (Amazon Prime), The Trial (Channel 5), Elysse – Entanglement (Amazon Prime) and Material Girl (BBC). 

After starting in the entertainment business while still at school, Dean will be appearing in his 18th pantomime this winter. His credits include See How They Run (UK tour), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Richard III (Northern Broadsides/UK tour) and Macbeth (Derby Shakespeare Company).  

Dean Whatton’s Sarge

Dean’s film and television credits take in Game Of Thrones (HBO), Call The Midwife (BBC), Life’s Too Short (BBC), Star Wars Episode VII The Last Jedi and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II. 

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is written by regular writer Paul Hendy, directed by Juliet Forster and co-produced with Hendy’s award-winning Evolution Productions, the team behind such Theatre Royal pantomimes as Jack And The Beanstalk, Aladdin and 2025’s Sleeping Beauty. 

Juliet Forster, creative director at York Theatre Royal, says: “Panto season is fast approaching and our cast for this year is shaping up to be truly amazing! Jenny and Dean are both super-talented and are fantastic additions to the show. Tickets are selling fast, with some performances already selling out, so make sure you book your seats early to catch the show.”  

Family tickets are available for all performances with savings of up to £61 on bookings with four tickets. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

 Dean Whatton

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Greg Doran returns to York after 26 years to stage Venus And Adonis at Theatre Royal

Greg Doran: Venus And Adonis director Greg Doran

GREG Doran, former Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director, York Millennium Mystery Plays director and renowned Shakespearean, brings his revival of Shakespeare’s narrative poem Venus And Adonis to York Theatre Royal tomorrow and Wednesday.

Narrated live by esteemed actor Simon Russell Beale and animated by world-class puppeteers Bartolomeo Bartolini, Edie Edmundson, Rachel Leonard, Lee Maeda and Sarah Wright with live musical accompaniment, this unique production blends comedy, tragedy and Shakespeare’s poetry to bring the story of Venus and her obsession with the handsome Adonis to life in a rich, captivating 60-minute theatrical experience.

Drawing inspiration from the bewitching artistry of Japanese Bunraku puppets and the Jacobean Court Masque, this spellbinding production tells the story using marionettes, rod, shadow and table-top puppets, designed and created by Lyndie Wright. 

Produced originally by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Little Angel Theatre, Doran’s staging of this powerful erotically-charged story of unrequited love marks his return to York 26 years since his 2000 production of the Mystery Plays in the Minster.

“I can recall being able to remember every member of the cast’s name because they had become so memorable to me, after pretty much everyone who auditioned got a part, especially the men, who are always in short supply,” he recalls.

“I remember being inspired by the Minster itself, like when Rob Jones, the designer, and I were trying to work out how to do The Flood [for Noah’s Ark] and we settled on two huge pieces of blue material filling the Nave.

“Then we thought, how do we do the rainbow – and I realised there were seven arches in the Quire, which Michael Gunning, the lighting designer, lit to create this wonderful Gothic rainbow.”

Venus And Adonis narrator Simon Russell Beale

Greg reflects: “The Mystery Plays remains not only a highlight of my career but my life too. I used to come to York every Corpus Christi day, from the Jesuit College in Preston, and it was a great occasion in 2000 to celebrate York’s two great cultural beacons: the Minster and the Mystery Plays.

“Brought up as a Catholic, I’m loathe to say I’m a lapsed Catholic, but I jumped away because of its position on homosexuality, but there’s something life enhancing and moving about these extraordinary Mystery Plays.”

Attention turns to Venus And Adonis, a production first staged when the Prince of Wales [now King Charles III], president of the RSC, invited the company to Highgrove House for a development event.

“Adrian Noble [RSC artistic director at the time] said to me, it won’t need to be very long, it won’t have many actors, and I thought, ‘rather than doing familiar scenes, why not do Venus And Adonis?’, which rather shamefully I’d never read. When I did, I just found it hysterically funny, and then it turns into a tragedy, and in that moment, I thought it would be great to do it.”

Toby Stephens’s Adonis and Alexandra Gilbreath’s Venus were complemented by Antony Sher’s Narrator.  “It went extraordinarily well,” Greg recalls.  “The next outing came at a villa garden in Florence where I invited Judi Dench, who is known for her love of Florence, to play Venus.”

Greg recalls Adrian Noble’s enthusiasm for Venus And Adonis. “He came up on stage at Highgrove to make his speech, then ripped up his notes, and said, ‘what this poem does is explain why Shakespeare is so great, with extraordinary characterisation, the most beautiful poetry and, with it’s wonderful fusing of comedy and tragedy, it’s Shakespeare in miniature’.”

Greg Doran’s 2017 production of Venus And Adonis. Picture: Lucy Barriball

After seeing the Bunraku Puppets, Greg was struck by the possibility of integrating puppetry into Venus And Adonis. “I just thought, this is a great opportunity to see if they could be involved after seeing these exquisite puppets manipulated by these master puppeteers, where the puppetry was of such a high quality,” says Greg.

“It became a company favourite and I put it down as one my favourite shows I did at the RSC because of the level of craftsmanship. I loved working with those puppeteers.”

This year’s revival was sparked by a call to Greg. “The RSC got in touch with me one day to say, ‘look, there’s still this great box of puppets…what would you like to do with it?’. I knew that meant, ‘can you clear it out, please, because we need the space’ and they’ve since taken puppetry to another level,” he says.

“What was lovely was that a whole series of people came out of the woodwork and said ‘we’d like to help you’, including the Backstage Trust providing seed funding and Mark Pigott coming on board as executive producer.”

Oxford Playhouse, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Europe’s biggest Shakespeare festival, in Craiova, Romania, and The Pit at the Barbican (London) were all confirmed for performances, along with York Theatre Royal. “Knowing that York has a proven interest in history and Shakespeare, it seemed a good place to bring it,” says Greg.

Better still will be the presence of Russell Beale, last in York for An Evening with Simon Russell Beale at the Theatre Royal in September 2024: “I was delighted when Greg asked me to join him in his production,” says the narrator. “I saw it just over 20 years ago and remember it vividly as a delicate and witty interpretation of this sexy, sad and funny poem.”

Venus And Adonis, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Wednesday, 2pm (with post-show discussion with Greg Doran) and 7.30pm. Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Greg Doran: back story

JOINED Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987; ,became its artistic director in 2012, stepping down a decade later. Directed every play in the First Folio. Notable productions include Antony & Cleopatra with Harriet Walter and Patrick Stewart; Hamlet and Richard II with David Tennant; All’s Well That Ends Well with Dame Judi Dench and a digitally pioneering production of The Tempest with Simon Russell Beale.

His production of Julius Caesar with an all-Black British cast was described by the Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington as one the ten best productions in the 60-year history of the RSC.

Greg’s long relationship with his late husband, Sir Antony Sher, produced many acclaimed productions, including Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Othello, Henry IV (Parts 1&2) and King Lear.

He initiated the RSC’s Live From Stratford-upon-Avon programme, broadcasting to cinemas around the world and streaming into UK schools for free.

Honorary senior research fellow of the Shakespeare Institute; trustee of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; honorary associate of British Shakespeare Association. Awarded Pragnell Shakespeare Prize in 2023; became president of Stratford Shakespeare Club on its 200th anniversary.

Knighted for his services to theatre in 2024.

Recent work includes Richard III, with Arthur Hughes, the first disabled actor to play the role for RSC; Cymbeline, marking 50th production for Royal Shakespeare Company; The Two Gentlemen Of Verona as Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor at Oxford University; Gogol’s The Government Inspector at Chichester.

Greg’s book, My Shakespeare : A Director’s Journey Through The First Folio, published by Bloomsbury is now out in paperback. His quest to see as many extant copies of the First Folio across the globe (2023/4) is the subject of his latest book, Walking Shadow: Love Loss And Shakespeare, published by Bloomsbury in April 2026.

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REVIEW: Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical, York Theatre Royal, today and tomorrow ****

Jordan Eskeisa, Marienella Phillips, Chelsea Da Silva (The Enormous Crocodile), Precious Abimbola and Ciara Hudson in a scene from The Enormous Crocodile. Picture: Danny Kaan

TWO days gone, only two to go, so let’s make this review snappy.

He’s green, he’s greedy, he’s grumptious. Now he’s been transformed into a “crocmobile”, steered by Chelsea Da Silva through the heat and sounds of the Theatre Royal Jungle.

The Enormous Crocodile is a horrid, hungry yet still lovable anti-hero as Roald Dahl’s 12-page picture book is stretched into a 55-minute mischievous musical for age three upwards.

Cue bouncy music by composer Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab; humorous book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra; luscious jungle greenery and fabulous costumes, bird plumage and scout camouflage by Fly Davis.

All topped off by Toby Olié’s puppetry, inventive, playful and never hiding the cast who are working them (Precious Abimbola, Jordan Eskeisa, Ciara Hudson and Marienella Phillips). The Jungle Juniors scout puppets are a particular delight, vaudeville in style, performed by actors on their knees.

The Croc of the title takes several forms: body parts in the swamp; a head, body and tail carried above the actors’ heads; the ‘crocmobile’ swaggering around the jungle. Then come assorted disguises as Croc brags about his “secret plans and (not-so) clever tricks”, only for his boastful buffoonery to be outwitted by fellow jungle creatures (exotic bird, nut-throwing monkey, very windy hippo and Trunky the elephant).

Director Emily Lim describes the show as “an explosion of radical joy”; Olié’s three words are “bombastic”, “gregarious” and “emotional”. Your reviewer most enjoyed the puppetry, especially the Egyptain Plover birds, picking at the Croc’s like dentists.

Plus points too: the new touring cast’s camaraderie; the audience participation and the Sizzle Like A Sausage finale as, spoiler alert, Da Silva’s defeated Croc returns, reduced to a green sausage and angel wings.

A sizzling sausage for such sizzling weather, how apt.

Roald Dahl Story Company, Leeds Playhouse and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre present Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile, York Theatre Royal, today and tomorrow, 10.30am and 1.30pm. Age guidance: Three plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, Grand Opera House, York, still howling tonight and tomorrow ****

Stewart Lee confronting his inner beast in the poster for Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf

EIGHTEEN months ago, contrarian comedian Stewart Lee played five nights at York Theatre Royal as he cut his lupine teeth on Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf.

How has the show moved on as he returns for three more nights in York, switching to the Grand Opera House? After a re-write in January, the basic structure remains the same, Lee ambling on stage in billowing shirt to say he still doesn’t know quite what the show is about, whether it’s even worth him doing it, but those fangs are even sharper. “I’m not a stand-up,” he asserts. “I’m more of a literary artist.”

He turns convention on its head once more by being both acerbic, acid-witted entertainer and heckler. Last time, he chided the audience for York giving him his flattest night on his previous tour, when he had picked the Theatre Royal to record his TV and DVD release.  “You ruined it,” he grouched.

This time, he may have sold out everywhere else on tour, he says, but the Grand Opera House was, in his words, “only half full”, and those who had turned up would be berated on behalf of those who had failed to do so. Tonight and Saturday’s shows have plenty of ticket availability too, especially in the Grand Circle, so the digs will no doubt continue.

Please note, Lee’s curmudgeonly schtick is delivered with good cheer in becoming a running joke. It will be the absent York’s fault that we miss out on two “toppers” as we fail to laugh in sufficient number to merit them; even the dry-ice smoke to signify his transition into the Man-Wulf will emerge from only one side, to match the “half-empty” auditorium. It had behaved erratically at the Theatre Royal too, but this time the pay-off gibe is better.

By now in his tuxedo jacket, Lee knocks out his topical five gags, set in place 18 months ago, but  in need of constant updates and revisions. He takes pot-shots at Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr, Russell Brand, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and Gregg Wallace (later to rise above the stage as the face of the Moon). Musk and Trump too. Always deadpan, but always deadly accurate.

Amid the constant cajoling of his audience, he can be self-deprecating too, returning every so often to the ever-lengthening list of unflattering Lee lookalikes. He keeps you on your toes throughout, even spotting the gum-chewing of an occupant of a dress circle box, and he likes to ask questions to which he will then deliver a smarter response than the audience member proffered

That said, York was in blunt mood on a hot night. “Please leave me alone,” requested one voice from the stalls, when asked a second question. “I wasn’t listening,” said another, after Lee sought a comment of his transition into the Man-Wulf of the title.

“We’d all love not to care and be off the hook,” he speculates once more, as he did at the Theatre Royal. “To not be accountable.” Like how a werewolf or vampire thinks. Except that Lee holds everything to be accountable: politicians, fellow comedians, York audiences.

When he asks a woman if she would prefer to be a vampire or a werewolf, she picks the vampire on account of the werewolf ‘s thick fur, a choice perhaps influenced by the June heat wave: conditions that Lee would soon be experiencing in the opening to Act Two, dressed in his £6,000 werewolf costume.

First up, he was telling liberal jokes in a liberal way. Now, after I’m The Man-Wulf, the song commissioned by Lee from Scottish garage-punk band The Primevals, had played throughout the interval, he was in his lupine attire for his pastiche of the comedy of offence perpetrated by Netflix-marketed, 60-million dollar, right-leaning stand-up comedians.

Cue reactionary jokes told in a reactionary way in a gruff American accent, in front of a New York skyline: grotesque, awkward, yet devilishly witty in its deconstruction.

To complete the experiment, he tries out reactionary jokes told in a liberal, left-leaning way, by now stripped down to tour T-shirt, boxers and the wolf’s head.

Above all, you will revel in his turn of phrase; how he picks up on American comic Dave Chappelle’s misuse of grammar; his request for Dave Allen storytelling lighting; his restless curiosity; his knowledge of experimental jazz and stone monuments, his way of being shambling but never rambling; his mimicry of Bob Dylan’s ever-worsening singing in concert; his boundless despair at humanity.

Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 26, from Gazette & Herald

Dan Wood, left, Stephen Wright, Lotty Farmer, Rosa Burns, Hannah Shaw and James Dickinson in York Light Opera Company’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

A SNAPPY crocodile and a Man-Wulf, a spelling bee musical and the York Mystery Plays on wagon wheels keep Charles Hutchinson’s arty eye on the ball and off the football.

Musical of the week: York Light Opera Company in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today to Saturday & June 30 to July 4, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 2pm Sunday matinee (28/6/2026)

NEIL Wood directs York Light in Rebecca Feldman, William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical account of six ‘mid-pubescents’ battling for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing stories from their home life, the tweens spell their way through a series of words hoping to never hear the bell that signals a mistake.

Cue a heart-warming message that highlights themes of friendship, identity and perseverance, all while celebrating the awkwardness and excitement of growing up. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jordan Eskeisa, left, Marienella Phillips, Chelsea Da Silva (The Enormous Crocodile, front), Precious Abimbola and Ciara Hudson in Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical. Picture: Danny Kaan

Mischievous adaptation of the week: Roald Dahl Story Company in Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow to Sunday, 10.30am and 1.30pm

ROALD Dahl’s Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way through the jungle in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees. Only fellow jungle creatures can foil his “secret plans and clever tricks”, but they need courage aplenty to stop this greedy, grumptious, horrid brute.

Equipped with Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab’s tunes, Suhayla El-Bushra’s rib-tickling book and lyrics and Tom Brady’s additional music and lyrics, the dastardly family adventure has been developed and directed by Emily Lim, working in tandem with co-director and puppetry designer Toby Olié. Chelsea Da Silva, Precious Abimbola, Jordan Eskeisa, Ciara Hudson, Marienella Phillips and actor-musician René Francalanza star.Age guidance: Three plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stewart Lee’s illustration for Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, on tour for three nights at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gigs of the week: Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm

AFTER a five-night Theatre Royal run in the fledgling days of Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf in January 2025, the contrarian comedian returns to York for three more nights of testing whether the beast inside us all can be silenced with the silver bullet of Lee’s scalpel-sharp stand-up?

Lee will play the same material three ways: first up, telling liberal jokes in a liberal way, then, after a screaming transformation into the Man-Wulf, reactionary jokes in a reactionary way post-interval and, finally, wolf’s head removed, reactionary jokes in a liberal, left-leaning way. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Moorlands Blues Band: Playing at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents The Moorlands Blues Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

IN The Moorlands Blues Band, the powerhouse blues ensemble founded by seasoned musicians Giuseppe Vitale and Rod Mackay is joined by Owen Houlston on voice and guitar. In high-energy performances of soulful depth, they play everything from the rawness of Old Delta Blues to the swing of Jump Blues and the gritty soul of Chicago Blues. Box office:  01653 696240  or themiltonrooms.com.

Karl Mullen: Everything from Chopin to Oasis, via Led Zeppelin and Les Dawson, at The Old Paint Shop

Cabaret gig of the week: The Old Paint Shop presents Karl Mullen, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 8pm

AFTER two Old Paint Shop gigs last year, Karl Mullen, upright-piano busker, Phoenix Inn fixture and Leeds Piano Competition Pub Piano Champion, completes his hat-trick, serving up his energetic take on everything from Chopin to Oasis, via Led Zeppelin and Les Dawson, packed with outrageous and heartfelt stories from decades of gigging. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Coastal gig of the week: Pete Tong, Ibiza Classics, TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Friday, gates open at 6pm

FROM the sun-soaked shores of Ibiza to the world’s biggest stages, Pete Tong has redefined live dance music over more than 30 years of pushing boundaries and supporting new talent.

After celebrating the tenth anniversary of Ibiza Classics with four sold-out nights at the Royal Albert Hall, he heads to the Yorkshire coast with The Essential Orchestra, having first visited Scarborough Open Air Theatre in 2023. Box office: scarbroughopenairtheatre.com.

Becky Hill: Performing after Saturday’s race meeting on Knavesmire

Under starter’s orders: Becky Hill, Summer Music Saturday, York Racecourse, Saturday, first race at 1.20pm

BECKY Hill, two-time BRIT Award winner for Best Dance Act, opens the summer of post-racing concerts at York Racecourse, promising a high-energy performance on the “Glastonbury-style stage” after seven races. For her set list, she can pick from such hits as Gecko; Back & Forth; Wish You Well; Lose Control; Better Off Without You; Heaven On My Mind; Remember; My Heart Goes; Run; Crazy What Love Can Do; History and Disconnect. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

York Mystery Plays: Returning to streets of York on June 28 and July 5

Theatrical event of the week: The York Mystery Plays, streets of York, June 28 and July 5, 10.30am to 4.50pm; Sunset In The Shambles Market, June 30 and July 1, 7.45pm  

THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons take place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to: yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.

Special midsummer performances of five plays will be held in Shambles Market on June 30 and July 1, introduced by the York Waits musicians before Pageant Master Dr Alan Heaven guides the audience through each play, from the Creation sequence to the End of Days in the interactive show Doomsday. These shows begin at 7.45pm and end as the dusk is deepening before 10pm. Tickets: ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.

The Choir Of Man: Harmony singing to the max at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: The Other Richard

Foot-stomping musical celebration of the week: The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, June 30 to July 2, 7.30pm; July 3, 4pm and 8pm; July 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

SET in the on-stage pub The Jungle, The Choir Of Man is billed as “the best trip to your local you’ll ever have” as a cast of nine (extra)ordinary guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with tap dance and soulful storytelling in an uplifting celebration of community and friendship.

The debut UK & Ireland tour cast features Gustav Melbardis as Maestro; Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi as Poet; Levi Tyrell Johnson as Hard Man; Ben Mabberley as Joker; Rob Godfrey as Beast; Jack Skelton as Handyman; Joshua Lloyd as Barman; Sam Walter as Romantic and Aaron Pottenger as Bore performing Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry hits. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 25, from The York Press

Al Dunn, Matt Freeman and Nick Bunt in Oh Zeus! on Le Navet Bete’s fifth visit to York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mark Senior

A MYTHOLOGICAL farce and Lenny Henry at large, a snappy crocodile and a Man-Wulf, a spelling bee musical and a mirrored installation keep Charles Hutchinson’s arty eye on the ball and off the football.

Greek comedy of the week: Le Navet Bete in Oh Zeus!, York Theatre Royal, today, 2pm and 7.30pm

EXETER’S chaotic comedy specialists, Le Navet Bete, conduct a riotous ride through Ancient Greece, the Underworld and back in Oh Zeus! Written by director John Nicholson and company founders Al Dunn, Nick Bunt and Matt Freeman, this mythological farce finds the stability of Olympus being threatened by the marriage of Zeus’s daughter, Hebe, to a mere mortal, whereupon the King of the Gods hatches a plan to derail the wedding.

Expect physical comedy, outrageous jokes and fast-paced pandemonium as Dunn, Bunt and Freeman play 40 characters between them. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Beverley Knight: Born to perform at York Barbican. Picture: Lewis Shaw

Recommended but sold out: Beverley Knight, Born To Perform, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

QUEEN of British soul Beverley Knight shares stories from her life on stage, as well as performing her biggest hits, musical theatre favourites and cherished songs that have inspired her on her 20-date UK tour.

“Born To Perform is me taking you on a journey through my life on both music and theatre stages, using my memories and of course my songs. I’m stripping back my sound so the audience can lean in a little closer and really hear my soul,” says Knight, whose hits include Made It Black, Greatest Day, Get Up, Shoulda Woulda Coulda, Gold, Come As You Are, Keep This Fire Burning and Piece Of My Heart. Her special guest is Gabriella Cilmi. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Anastacia: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Not That Kind tour

Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Skunk Anansie & Garbage, tonight; Anastacia and Heather Small tomorrow, gates 6pm

SKUNK Anansie and Garbage play Scarborough on a six-date tour. Formed in London in 1994, fronted by Skin, Skunk Anansie blend hard rock with political and social themes;  American alternative rock band Garbage, fronted by Scottish singer Shirley Manson, combine rock, electronica and pop influences.

Chicago singer Anastacia heads to the Yorkshire coast to perform I’m Outta Love, Paid My Dues and Left Outside Alone et al on her Not That Kind tour. London soul singer Heather Small, of M People fame, is her special guest. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

York artist Ric Liptrot’s illustration for tomorrow’s 2026 Bishy Road Street Party

Community event of the week: Bishy Road Street Party, Bishopthorpe Road, York, tomorrow, 11am to 4pm

 CELEBRATING community spirit and independent shops, Bishopthorpe Road Traders Association’s 2026 Bishy Road Street Party combines live music, family activities and food and drink, plus street vendors and community stalls. The main stage  plays host to performances by Yorkshire Voices (11am), Third Parallel (11.45am), Gaia On Fire (Juno, 12.30pm) and Bargestra (1.30pm), climaxing with headline sets by the Yorky Pud Street Band (14.15pm) and The Unnamed Band (3.15pm).

Look out for five children’s performances and interactive sessions, with appearances from Evergreen Explorers (11am), Professor Dan (12 noon), Baby Band (1pm), Elevate Dance Sessions (2pm) and Josh Benson (3pm). A children’s zone, featuring face painting, mud kitchen, crafts, hair braiding and balloons, will be set up on Ebor Street and entertainment will be spread across the event space. Charities, artists, makers and community groups offer games, activities and information. Free to attend; no booking required.

Artist and designer Es Devlin in the Temple of the Fours Winds at Castle Howard. Picture: Rick Walker, PA Media

Installation of the week: Es Devlin, Library Of The Four Winds, Temple of the Four Winds, Castle Howard, near Malton, until September 27

AS part of the Vanbrugh 300 celebrations at Castle Howard, artist and designer Es Devlin responds to  Sir John Vanbrugh’s visionary architecture with her luminous installation Library Of The Four Winds, a new mirrored sculpture that takes over the Temple of the Four Winds in honour of the National Year of Reading.

The temple’s original use as a place for refreshment and reading was Devlin’s starting point for a central sculpture made up of hundreds of books, curated from the personal libraries of Vanbrugh and Devlin.  The temple is encompassed by four concentric tables where the public can read, draw, talk, eat and listen. The space will host events throughout the summer. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.

The many faces of Lenny Henry: Actor, comedian, fundraiser and stand-up anedoctalist

Talk of the week: Lenny Henry, Still At Large, Grand Opera House, York, June 23, 7.30pm

PART stand-up, part storytelling and part conversation with himself and with you, Still At Large finds Lenny Henry returning to the experiences that shaped him while also exploring the ideas, challenges and creative sparks driving him today.

From The Lenny Henry Show and Chef! to dramatic performances in Othello and The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power,  he traces the roles, characters and moments that have defined his six-decade career and shares what continues to inspire him as he reflects on a life lived out loud. On show will be the many versions of Lenny: actor, impressionist, comedian, fundraiser and stand-up anecdotalist. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dan Wood, left, Stephen Wright, Lotty Farmer, Rosa Burns, Hannah Shaw and James Dickinson in York Light Opera Company’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Musical of the week: York Light Opera Company in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 24 to 27 & June 30 to July 4, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees and 2pm Sunday matinee (28/6/2026)

NEIL Wood directs York Light in Rebecca Feldman, William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical account of six ‘mid-pubescents’ battling for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing stories from their home life, the tweens spell their way through a series of words hoping to never hear the bell that signals a mistake.

Cue a heart-warming message that highlights themes of friendship, identity and perseverance, all while celebrating the awkwardness and excitement of growing up. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Jordan Eskeisa, left, Marienella Phillips, Chelsea Da Silva (The Enormous Crocodile, front), Precious Abimbola and Ciara Hudson in The Enormous Crocodile. Picture: Danny Kaan

Mischievous adaptation of the week: Roald Dahl Story Company in Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile The Musical, York Theatre Royal, June 25 to 28, 10.30am and 1.30pm.

ROALD Dahl’s Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way through the jungle in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees. Only fellow jungle creatures can foil his “secret plans and clever tricks”, but they need courage aplenty to stop this greedy, grumptious, horrid brute.

Equipped with Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab’s tunes, Suhayla El-Bushra’s rib-tickling book and lyrics and Tom Brady’s additional music and lyrics, the dastardly family adventure has been developed and directed by Emily Lim, working in tandem with co-director and puppetry designer Toby Olié. Chelsea Da Silva, Precious Abimbola, Jordan Eskeisa, Ciara Hudson, Marienella Phillips and actor-musician René Francalanza star.Age guidance: Three plus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stewart Lee’s poster illustration for Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, on tour for three nights at Grand Opera House, York

Comedy gigs of the week: Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, Grand Opera House, York, June 25 to 27, 7.30pm

AFTER a five-night Theatre Royal run in the fledgling days of Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf in January 2025, the contrarian comedian returns to York for three more nights of testing whether the beast inside us all can be silenced with the silver bullet of Lee’s scalpel-sharp stand-up?

Lee will play the same material three ways: first up, telling liberal jokes in a liberal way, then, after a screaming transformation into the Man-Wulf, reactionary jokes in a reactionary way post-interval and, finally, wolf’s head removed, reactionary jokes in a liberal, left-leaning way. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Karl Mullen: Playing everything from Chopin to Oasis, via Led Zeppelin and Les Dawson, at The Old Paint Shop

Cabaret gig of the week: The Old Paint Shop presents Karl Mullen, York Theatre Royal Studio, June 26, 8pm

AFTER two Old Paint Shop gigs last year, Karl Mullen, upright-piano busker, Phoenix Inn fixture and Leeds Piano Competition Pub Piano Champion, completes his hat-trick, serving up his high-energy take on everything from Chopin to Oasis, via Led Zeppelin and Les Dawson, packed with outrageous and heartfelt stories from decades of gigging. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In Focus: Prima Choral Artists, Under One Sky, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 21/6/2026, 5pm & 7.30pm

Prima Choral Artists; poster for Sunday’s concerts at the double on Father’s Day

PRODUCER and artistic director Eve Lorian leads Prima Choral Artists in a compelling journey through global vocal traditions in two concerts on Sunday at the National Centre For Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York.

Under One Sky is a signature programme by this Polish-born, York-based choral director, who has consistently introduced unique concerts and explored new territory for York choirs for nearly two decades.

Eve’s latest artistic compilation is designed to celebrate the relationship between musical language, cultural identity and vocal technique, while recognising the unifying nature of the choral canon. Spanning a wide geographical and cultural spectrum, the repertoire highlights distinctive approaches to tone production, ornamentation, rhythm and ensemble cohesion.

Sunday’s programme opens with Sakura, a Japanese folk melody characterised by its pentatonic modality and lyrical phrasing. The Bulgarian works Kaval Sviri and Dilmano Dilbero exemplify the highly resonant, open-throated “white voice” technique, and this vocal aesthetic continues in Serbian folk music, where dance-derived rhythms and communal expression are central.

Folk traditions of the North Atlantic are represented through the French-Canadian J’entends le Moulin, with its rhythmic drive, alongside Wild Mountain Thyme and Gaelic Song Of The Boatman, which reflect the modal inflections of Scottish and Gaelic song traditions.

Prima Choral Artists’ founder, producer and artistic director Eve Lorian

The programme broadens even further afield through Yeish Kochavim (Hebrew), Evohé (Venezuela) and Dao Mai Fan Ye’ (Mandarin), each illustrating the interaction between text, rhythm and collective energy within their respective traditions. These works foreground the role of music in both ritual and communal celebration.

The final section centres on vocal traditions from the Torres Strait Islands and Southern Africa. Sesere Eeye reflects oral transmission practices and community-based performance, while Ngothando, Ndikhokhele Bawo and Papaoutai demonstrate the harmonies and call-and-response structures that are foundational to many African musical forms.

Eve’s diligent research has brought together this sparkling burst of music with the support of a choir who are no strangers to world music and singing in multiple languages.

“We have always been proud of our multi-cultural, international identity,” says Eve. “Music has always been a unifying force for good. These concerts, celebrating unity through diversity, represent a truth that sometimes only music can express.”

Giving a brief glimpse into the creative process behind these events, she adds: “Selecting the music takes weeks upon weeks of research and listening. I thrive on fresh choices, on presenting the unexpected – and these pieces are far from the standard choral repertoire.

Prima Choral Artists in concert under Eve Lorian’s direction

“But the title came so naturally: Under One Sky says everything that we mean to convey in these two performances!”

International connections for Eve and Prima Choral Artists are not merely constrained to concert programming. For more than a decade, Eve has led the way in introducing outstanding overseas opportunities for York choirs.

This commitment continues this summer with a concert tour to Prague from July 8 to 13 to take part in the International Choir and Orchestra Festival (Prague Festival 2026, July 9 to 13).

On September 6, Eve will welcome the Norwegian choir Fanakoret, from Bergen, for a Friendship performance with Prima Choral Artists at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, at 5pm.

“Before these opportunities comes the unmissable chance to join Prima on Father’s Day on Sunday at the National Centre For Early Music with the two time slots designed to complement everyone’s plans and make for a truly special weekend celebration,” she says.

Tickets are available from www.primachoral.com; with limited seating available, booking is recommended.