Losing grip on power: Nigel Barrett’s Julius Caesar grapples with Thalissa Teixeira’s Brutus in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar. Picture: Marc Brenner
FRIENDS, readers, Yorkshiremen, lend me your time; I come neither to bury Atri Banerjee’s Julius Caesar, nor to praise it.
Recruited to direct Shakespeare’s political thriller through the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Hire initiative “to improve transparency and access to freelance creative jobs in theatre”, Banerjee brings his South Asian heritage to a production of global scope, one where he plays with gender identity too, as well as playing with the artform of theatre.
A play is called a play because it is an act of play, one that gives free rein to artistic expression and interpretation refracted through present times. In our case, Covid, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, Trump, the climate crisis, three Conservative Prime Ministers in a matter of months, and progression from LGBT to LGBTQIA+.
Some reactions have suggested that Banerjee is playing with his audience, from his warm-up exercise crowd-opening with all the opera-sized RSC cast running on the spot and howling, to casting Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira), Cassius (initially Kelly Gough, now the non-binary Annabel Baldwin) and Octavius Caesar (Ella Dacres) as women, to a ghostly Caesar (Nigel Barrett) waving insouciantly at Brutus.
You could argue that Banerjee is playing instead with audience expectations, in a case of when in Rome, don’t do as the Romans do, by taking on the po-faced antediluvians who think such a serious play should be taken more seriously, because politics is no laughing matter, although any number of political sketches by John Crace or Marina Hyde’s columns in the Guardian counter that view.
What’s more, Banerjee is being serious, very serious, if modish in his delivery, in asking the big question: how far would you go for your principles?
Presented as part of the RSC’s Power Shifts season, Julius Caesar reflects how political change appears to be happening ever faster, (although despotic leaders have a way of re-writing the rule books – or commandeering the ballot box – to allow themselves to stay in power).
This week alone, Italy has come to bury – and reappraise – the first of the modern wave of populist leaders, Silvio Berlusconi, while another, Boris Johnson, has had his political career buried underneath a stinking mound of lies about lying.
Julius Caesar was the populist ruler of his time, here played in casual shirt sleeves by Barrett with rather more commanding order to his delivery of the blank verse. His crime, as William Robinson’s Marc Antony ascribes four times to Brutus, is ambition. Yet Marc Antony calls Brutus “honourable”, just as Othello calls Iago “honest” and Macbeth is praised for his valour and worthiness. Vaulting ambition did for him too, of course.
Misjudgements may have proliferated in modern politics, our age of narcissistic frontmen, but this is no longer the age of lies, damn lies and statistics, or truths and half-truths, but “alternative truths” and “post-truths”.
Caesar was a “divisive ruler”: he surely would have thrived in our era of divide-and-rule leaders, nourished by an equally divisive media in print, on screen and on air. In his time, however, he was removed, despatched, without a plan of what might come next, other than a craving for a “better future”. (Don’t all politicians say that when first entering the House of Commons before the Whip-cracking and corruptive need to keep power take over?)
Death after death, as it turns out, is the result here, all gathered in what has become known flippantly as the “ghost bus” on Rosanna Vize’s revolving stage. At that point, they are restored to clean clothing, whereas those assassins still alive are still stained by Caesar’s blood, here black and sticky as newsprint rather than red.
Those death blows had been applied in smearing actions, rather than as 33 stab wounds, to be followed by a PAUSE, announced in big letters, accompanied by a two-minute countdown before Caesar’s exit, taking almost long as an opera death by aria. This would be one of those moments that has made Banerjee’s Julius Caesar as divisive as the ruler himself,
It finds its echo in the INTERVAL countdown on screen, 20 minutes ticking by to the mournful repetitive sound of a single trombone: in keeping with the sombre mood, or irritating, depending on how you reacted to the 90-minute first half. Or, maybe, a sonic tool that theatres could use in future to drive customers to the bar.
Banerjee’s “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” style of production is full of ideas: the Caesar wave; the rising multitude of ghosts, giving a sense of time running out; Joshua Dunn’s Cinna the Poet re-emerging all in ashen grey after his death; the use of a York community chorus (Hilary Conroy, Astrid Hanlon, Elaine Harvey, Stephanie Hesp, Anna Johnston and Frances Simon, under Jessa Liversidge’s musical direction), only to employ them rather less than a traditional Greek chorus role; not enough ill wind in their sails.
Better is the casting of the power seekers as young, like the Blair intake in 1997, still learning the political ropes and prone to mistakes and rash judgements. You will enjoy the nods to Dominic Cummings and Malcolm Tucker in Matthew Bulgo’s administrator, Casca.
Frustrations? Why does Teixeira’s Brutus not find her footing until deep in the mire? Why is Niamh Finlay playing the Soothsayer in red tracksuit bottoms with juddering, jagged dance movements like Happy Mondays’ Bez, as if three Macbeth witches trapped in one body?
Why, after making much of changing the gender dynamics of Julius Caesar’s world, does Antony’s eulogy to Brutus still conclude: “This was a man”? Ask Atri! He may be making a point about women having to mirror men to fit in, to succeed.
Ultimately, in the play for power, will we ever decide that Brutus was right: “Good words are better than bad strokes”?
Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Josh Benson: Sunday party to mark ten years of children’s parties
ALL-ROUND York entertainer Josh Benson performed his first children’s magic show in a kitchen in Fulford.
Now, after a decade of doing other children’s parties, Josh has decided he should have his own bash as a tenth anniversary present to himself.
On Sunday afternoon, this ever-perky purveyor of daft comedy chaos – “daft is cleverer than stupid,” he says – presents Just Josh’s 10th Birthday Party! at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
“It’s a big stage, much bigger than a church hall, community centre or school room that I usually do these shows in. I needed to upsize for this one,” he says.
Expect Josh’s usual comedy magic, juggling, “balloonology”, dancing and games, plus some extra-special surprises in a show for “anyone from four to 104”.
“It’s the perfect Sunday afternoon treat for the whole family. Yes, even Dad!It is Father’s Day after all!” he says.
“I’m having a huge Just Josh sign made for the stage – by Spectrum Signs in Elvington – as it’s my tenth year of these shows and I can have a sign if I want to! It’s six foot high with lettering that I’m painting blue and red as per my logo.”
Newly confirmed to play Muddles in Darlington Hippodrome’s 2022-23 pantomime, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs after three seasons at Halifax’s Victoria Theatre, Josh is equally happy doing magic tricks to children or playing the silly billy to a panto crowd each winter.
Add to that list performing on the P&O Britannia cruise ship, as he was earlier this spring, when his act would be followed by Basil Brush, and being the Corntroller in charge of the summer entertainment at York Maze, at Elvington, Britain’s largest maze attraction.
“That’s why I need a triple-ended candle, not just one that burns at both ends,” says Josh. “As Corntroller since 2019, I write the shows, sing the theme tune, manage the shows and co-host them, and I’m a control freak, so like to be able to do everything.
Josh Benson signs up for York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime in 2020
“I’m overseeing five shows this summer: The Crazy Maze, a big corny game show; Cornula One, which has replaced the pig racing, using converted [should that be cornverted?] shop mobility scooters.
“Then there’s Cobzilla, the dinosaur meet-and-greet experience; Crowmania, the pantomime on wheels that had a big overhaul in 2021, and the Cornival, which is the closest to one of my kids’ parties, being a party more than a show.”
Josh, who will celebrate ten years at “Farmer Tom” Pearcy’s York Maze next year, is in charge of a team of 15 entertainers, with Maia Stroud, Kit Stroud, Sam Wharton and Fiona Baistow among the York names in the Crowmania cast. Charlotte Wood and Annie Donaghy play their part in the stage team too when available.
“The closest comparison to the Crowmania Ride is Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Imagine that with a much more sarcastic, very self-aware writer, lots of one-liners and way more corn and crow-based gags,” he says.
“The 25-minute ride is on a 110-seat trailer, pulled by a tractor, with 25 rides a day, so around 2,500 people can go on it on any one day if we’re full.”
After presenting seven years of children’s parties, “I knew we needed something like that at York Maze, so we introduced the Cornival, with an enormous foam cannon – which I can promise you won’t come out at the Joseph Rowntree show as there’s no grass there!
“But Sunday’s show will feature some of the York Maze characters, like Kernel Kernel, Sweetie Corn, his girlfriend, Russell Crow and Maizey, a pantomime cow with corn cobs around her neck.”
Josh still has first magic show business card, printed in June 2013. “I remember doing shows at Stockton on the Forest Village Hall, Rawcliffe Pavilion and a smaller one in Copmanthorpe for friends of my mum’s,” he says.
“I was 15, a kids’ entertainer who was a child myself and couldn’t drive, so my mum had to drive me to shows with my briefcases of tricks for full-on magic shows. But then I’m still a big kid, as we all know!” A big kid, who now drives a little grey van, as it happens.
Josh Benson, right, with fellow actors Ben Hunter and May Jackson, writer Tim Firth and composer Gary Barlow, promoting the 2015 premiere of The Girls at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Matt Crockett
Reflecting on ten years of children’s parties, Josh says: “The thing that I really want to get across is that doing these shows is what’s been massively important to me, providing me with a constant that a lot of performers don’t have.
“There are people who want me to move away from it, which I don’t understand. I’ll go from playing to 1,500 at the panto to playing to 30 children in a village hall on a day off, but work is work.
“I’m very lucky that I’ve built up a reputation where kids really want me to do their parties; they’re adamant that it has to be Josh! That’s so beautiful and lovely, and I don’t feel like an expensive babysitter but an entertainer.
“You’re being booked for your skill set rather than kids just being shoved on to a bouncy castle. Bouncy castles are my Kryptonite! You don’t need to do anything. Just book me and I’ll do it all, no bouncy castle, because how can I compete with an amazing bouncy castle that frankly I’d prefer to be on?! Mind you, bouncy castles have gone up in price, but that’s inflation for you!”
Josh had started his professional theatre career with York Theatre Royal, aged ten, in the 2007 Berwick Kaler pantomime Sinbad The Sailor, later appearing there as John Darling in Peter Pan, and going on to play Little Ernie in the award-winning BBC Morecambe & Wise biopic Eric & Ernie.
He was chosen for the cheeky-chappie role of Yorkshire schoolboy Tommo in Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s The Girls, the Calendar Girls musical, appearing from 2015 to 2017 in the world premiere at Leeds Grand Theatre and The Lowry, Salford, and the subsequent West End run at the Phoenix Theatre, London.
He did four seasons of The Good Old Days at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, taking his magic act down to London for the Players Music Hall at Charing Cross Theatre and Cockney Sing-Along at Brick Lane Music Hall before launching his one-man cabaret act It‘s Not The Joshua Benson Show/Josh Of All Trades.
“Especially when I was living in London, actors were doing kids’ parties because they had to, for the money, but I do them because I haven’t fallen out of love with them,” he says.
“It’s part of what I do: kids’ parties; the cruise ships; the York Maze summer season and Hallowscream; the panto comic, which I started doing as Buttons in Cinderella at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield in 2018, and the Brick Lane Music Hall adult pantomime in London, mixing panto with Carry On humour, from January to March each year.
“Those shows take a huge amount of thought, written by David Phipps-Davis, a renowned panto dame. The next one will be my third year, Peter Pan And His Loose Boys. Last time it was Goldilocks And The Bare Bears and before that, Robin Hood And His Camp Followers.
Just Josh and WonderPhil: Josh Benson and Phil Grainger’s magical double act at the 2019 Great Yorkshire Fringe in York
“They’re panto for adults, which is cleverer, I think. Not dropping the C-bomb but full of clever lines. With these pantomimes, you have adults that are prepared to be kids for the next couple of hours, where I can be naughtier but with the same energy levels as at a family pantomime.”
Josh bills himself as the “Josh of All Trades, Master of None”, having never trained conventionally in anything, but he has skills aplenty that add up to being “Just Josh” joshing around.
“I may have been doing kids’ parties for ten years but annoyingly I didn’t come up with the ‘Just Josh’ name until I did a double act show with WonderPhil [Easingwold magician, actor, soul singer, guitarist, event organiser and polymath Phil Grainger]. When we first made a show for the Great Yorkshire Fringe in York in 2019 – called Making A Magic Show – we wrote it the night before from 10pm to 4pm, then did the first performance!” he recalls.
Sunday’s audience can expect an appearance by Phil Grainger on Zoom and should look out for the Halifax pantomime drummer, Robert Jane, too. “There’s nothing better than pantomime percussion and no-one better at reading my unpredictability than Robert,” says Josh.
“Frankly he makes me funnier, with his Swanee whistles and an actual slap stick, and he makes the sound of falling down better with a drum roll. Knocking my knees together is funnier with a cowbell accompaniment than without. I think the term ‘punctuating the movements’ is really key to comedy and pantomime, and I learnt a lot about that at Halifax.”
Reflecting on cramming so much into 25 years, Josh says: “I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to doing another West End musical, but the perception that I want to be famous? No. not really. I just want to be good and keep it real.
“I got a little bit of a taste of fame when I was doing The Girls, when I definitely wanted to be a star, the next Bradley Walsh, but I realised that once you get there, it’s the hardest thing to stay normal in showbiz.
“I’m happy to be me in this life, where it’s real. Theatre is my first love and always will be, but I’m just lucky that I can do everything, the kids’ parties, the York Maze, the big family pantomimes at Christmas. I like to tread that line.
“My dad [Josh’s sometime partner in cabaret and former Rowntree Players’ panto dame Barry Benson] drummed into me that while it’s nice to be important, it’s more important to be nice. It’s simple advice, but he’s right.”
Josh Benson: Just Josh’s 10th Birthday Party!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 4pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk
William Robinson’s Marc Antony and Thalissa Teixeira’s Brutus in the RSC’s Julius Caesar. Picture: Marc Brenner
ATRI Banerjee directs Shakespeare’s fast-paced political thriller Julius Caesar on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s return to York Theatre Royal from tonight (13/6/2023) to Saturday.
Concerned that divisive leader Julius Caesar (Nigel Barrett) poses a threat to democracy, revolutionaries take the violent decision to murder him but without a plan for what happens next. As the world spins out of control, chaos, horror and superstition rush in to fill the void. Civil war erupts and a new leader must rise, but at what cost?
This production asks: how far would we go for our principles? “We know it’s a political play, a play that speaks to our politics, speaks to who gets to be a leader, and asks us to think about what you do when you don’t agree with the people in power,” says Atri, who is directing his first Shakespeare production for the RSC through the Open Hire scheme, set up Josh Roche and Derek Bond to encourage a more transparent application process within the theatre industry to stop it feeling like a closed shop.
Atri had first studied Julius Caesar at university. “I really felt, when coming to the play this time last year when I got this job, that this was a play that speaks about power, who holds it, who challenges it, and the gulf between politicians and the people they are meant to be leading.
“It speaks not only to the Ukraine situation but to the idea of governance in this age of Covid and Partygate. What I find interesting is that Shakespeare does not make either the leader or the conspirators the hero.”
Atri reflects on the prevailing political environment wherein Shakespeare penned Julius Caesar. “He was writing the play at a time when Elizabeth I was coming to the end of her reign. There had been plots against her, and there was a question of who would succeed her,” he says. “So even in Shakespeare’s day he was using this Roman story to talk about Elizabethan England and what happens when there is a possible power vacuum.”
Atri wanted to make a production that “felt like it could speak about today”. “I think we live in a world where a series of crises have happened, particularly over the last seven years, from Brexit, to Trump, the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, events that have revealed the massive rifts we have in our society between class, gender, race, disability, across every intersection of power,” he says.
“The questions I was asking myself were, ‘when you feel like the world is in a bad place, what steps do you actually take to make the world a better place? What are the limits of peaceful activism? How do we react, for example, to the likes of Extinction Rebellion, or the two young women who threw tomato soup at the Van Gogh painting?’.
“I’m also very aware that it’s easy to put Julius Caesar in a Donald Trump wig and cast him as the baddie in a way that’s quite black and white. But I’m more interested in creating a production that makes an audience feel the conspirators were both totally right to kill Julius Caesar, and totally wrong to kill Julius Caesar at the same time.
Nigel Barrett’s Julius Caesar in Atri Banerjee’s production. Picture: Marc Brenner
“I wanted to capture that ambivalence that’s central to what Shakespeare has written. Shakespeare isn’t offering any solutions. I don’t think he is saying one way is good and one way is wrong. Because the actions the conspirators take to assassinate Julius Caesar plunges Rome and the world into even more chaos.
“So, what appealed to me about directing Julius Caesar is that it felt like a play that could think about these huge moral grey areas that we exist in without trying to draw any easy conclusions.”
Consequently, we can always ask questions of our own society. “Cassius and Brutus were called liberators and saw themselves as trying to enact political change, seeing what might be possible through an act of radical violence,” says Atri.
“It’s about people just putting one foot in front of the other, rather than thinking about the devastating consequence for the nation, plunging people into a civil war, even though Brutus and Cassius came from a position of wanting to do the right thing, stopping autocracy by dramatic action.”
Atri continues: “I think theatre is the space for nuance; theatre can be a place for political change; not the play itself, so much as people in the audience contemplating the play afterwards, having conversations in the bar or on the way home.
“Whether it’s Novak Djokovic speaking about the Serbia-Kosovo conflict; Israel and Palestine; Stop The Boats, there is nuance in every case, and we should try to be alive to as many nuances as possible in any theatre production we do.
“The reason we keep coming back to these classics is we know Julius Caesar will be assassinated but Shakespeare’s play gives you a vessel within which you can think about things in a safe environment and look at them in a new way.”
Atri hopes audiences will come away from his production asking the questions, “What would I do? Would I go as far as to kill someone who is my best friend if I really thought that was going to make the world a better place?”
“The answer is probably no to murder(!), that’s the extremist version of it. But at what point do you glue yourself to Downing Street; at what point do you put yourself in front of a horse like the suffragettes did?” he ponders.
Jimena Larraguive’s Calpurnia. Picture: Marc Brenner
“We live through waves of political crisis, and activism tries to combat the crisis, but at what point do we resort to violence?”
As for the setting of his Julius Caesar, “it’s not in Westminster, but neither is it in ancient Rome,” Atri says. “It draws on elements of the modern and the ancient world to create our own world really.
“Taking influences from impressionist theatre, from choreographers like Pina Bausch, and from German theatre to make a world that feels quite stylised and heightened.
“I’m also very keen to convey a sense of the supernatural and time running out. The play has ghosts, omens and prophecies. The Soothsayer famously tells Caesar to beware the Ides of March. Characters are always worried about the time, and time running out.
“That relates to the climate crisis we face: if we don’t act now, we will reach the unmanageable temperature for living. It feels to me that Julius Caesar, like the world we live in today, is a play that’s set in a place of emergency. The threat of apocalypse feels very close.”
Atri’s fresh interpretation casts a female Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira) and non-binary Cassius (Annabel Baldwin). “Along with several other parts across the company, we’ve re-imagined the roles of Brutus and Cassius to tell a story about power today: who holds it, who wields it, and who gets to challenge it,” he says.
“Julius Caesar is the perfect play for our age of emergency, asking uncomfortable questions about today. When asked to imagine a better future for us all, what resources do we have left? What are the limits of peaceful activism? How far would you, personally, go to make the world a better place?
“By thinking of the roles in this play across intersectional lines – gender, race, class, disability, among others – we’re inviting audience members to think of their own place within the status quo and what might be at stake for each of us within it.”
Atri adds: “With the way we have cast it, we’ve not pitched the struggle between Caesar and Brutus and Cassius entirely on gender, but it brings different associations to that dynamic and asks us to look at the changing dynamics of power now.
Stranglehold on power: Nigel Barrett’s Julius Caesar and Thalissa Teixeira’s Brutus. Picture: Marc Brenner
“Both Thalissa and Annabel are young actors, and that means that young audiences, though not only young audiences, can identify with these characters, whereas men in togas might have felt more foreign. If people see people that look like themselves on stage, which is a question of representation, then they can identify with their situation and the question of: ‘if you were in this situation, what would you do?’.
“We have undergone seismic changes, from the Brexit vote, the election of Trump as president, Covid, Black Lives Matter, the legacy of slavery and the British Empire, all sorts of historical pressures, and that means that within the space of the arts and culture, there is such an increased awareness of gender identity and the so-called culture wars that prevail now.
“I would encourage anyone who is making the judgement, ‘oh, they are casting Brutus as a black woman’, to slow down and reflect, and I speak as someone of South Asian origin taking on directing this play.”
History repeats itself down the years. “There will always be dictators, always be politicians, tyrants and non-tyrants,” says Atri. “The idea of democracy will rise and fall, rise and fall, with the passing of time, and Shakespeare was very aware of that. Shakespeare has that meta-reality that this play will resonate through time, through the ages, and will speak to different generations.”
Was working for the RSC always on Atri’s radar? “I come from Oxford, so the RSC was somewhere I used to visit as a teenager as it’s only an hour away [in Stratford-upon-Avon],” he says. “I saw productions like Rupert Goold’s The Merchant Of Venice and Maria Aberg’s As You Like It.
“I directed a community production for the RSC at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury in Autumn 2021 called Error, Error, Error. Over half the company was made up of people affiliated with Canterbury Umbrella; adults with mental health or learning disabilities and those who are isolated in the community.
“It was an extraordinary experience to work on a show that gave this group of people the opportunity to experience what theatre making is.”
Now he is directing his first professional Shakespeare production.“It feels like a homecoming,” he says.
“It’ll be my first show to play York too. The Theatre Royal is a very beautiful space.”
Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Atri Banerjee: back story
Director Atri Banerjee in rehearsals for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring production of Julius Caesar. Picture: Marc Brenner
WON The Stage Debut Award for Best Director and a UK Theatre Award nomination for his production of Hobson’s Choice at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
Other credits include: The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith); Kes (Octagon Theatre,Bolton/Theatre By The Lake, Keswick); Harm (Bush Theatre, London, also broadcast on BBC Four) and Utopia (Royal Exchange Theatre).
Named in The Stage 25 list of theatre-makers to look out for in 2022 and beyond.
In November 2022, along with Rachel Bagshaw, he was awarded a Peter Hall bursary by the National Theatre to support him in developing work for the NT’s stages.
Recruited for role as director of Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar through Open Hire, a new initiative to improve transparency and access to freelance creative jobs in theatre.
“I got into directing when I was still at school,” says Atri. “I wrote a version of Macbeth with two of my friends, set in 1950s’ Hollywood and called Big Mac. I didn’t really know I wanted to be a director as a teenager, but I saw lots of shows – at places like the Oxford Playhouse, where I grew up – so regional theatre and touring theatre are really important to me.
“I went to university to study English and then did a Masters in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and throughout that time I did a lot of shows with my student drama society, including quite a bit of Shakespeare.
“When I left university, I still didn’t know if I wanted to be a director, partly because of the freelance struggle of it all, so I got a job as the press assistant at the National Theatre, where I met lots of amazing creatives and artists, and I decided that directing was the thing I wanted to do.
“I did a Masters in directing at Birkbeck [University of London], where the first year is training and the second year is a placement. I was at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, where I stayed for a couple more years.
“Some of my career highlights to date include Hobson’s Choice, my first big show at the RoyalExchange, which was a South Asian version of [Harold] Brighouse’s play; Harm at the Bush Theatre, and more recently, Kes at the Bolton Octagon; Britannicus at the Lyric Hammersmith; and The Glass Menagerie, again at the Royal Exchange. The Glass Menagerie had been cancelled by the pandemic, so it was amazing to finally bring it to the stage.”
“I got into directing when I was still at school,” says Atri Banerjee. Picture: The Other Richard
The Way Old Friends Do writer and lead actor Ian Hallard and director Mark Gatiss. All pictures: Darren Bell
IN 1988, two school friends tentatively come out to one another: one as gay, the other – more shockingly – as an Abba fan. Nearly 30 years later, a chance meeting sets them on a new path, one where they decide to form the world’s first Abba tribute band – in drag.
So begins The Way Old Friends Do, Ian Hallard’s new comedy about devotion, desire and dancing queens, directed by his marital partner, Dr Who and Sherlock writer and producer and The League Of Gentlemen member Mark Gatiss, on tour at York Theatre Royal from June 6 to 10 in the itinerary’s closing week.
“I thought, if I’m going to write a play, there should be a bit of wish fulfilment with no-one to stop me,” says Ian.
Cue a play with an Abba drag act and questions of whether a revived friendship can survive the tribulations of a life on the road that embraces platform boots, fake beards and a distractingly attractive stranger.
Hallard himself will be joined in Gatiss’s cast by Donna Berlin,James Bradshaw, Sara Crowe, Rose Shalloo and Andrew Horton (understudied by Toby Holloway on June 6 and 7). The play also features the voice of Miriam Margolyes.
Here Gatiss and Hallard discuss The Way Old Friends Do, friendship, comedy and being Abba fans.
What appealed to you about this project, Mark?
“I knew Ian was up to something. I was away on holiday on the Isle of Wight with the rest of his family, and he was in a show in London and so couldn’t come. He told me, ‘I’ve been writing something’, and when I read it, I thought it was great.
“It was fully formed. It was very touching, very funny, very true. A delight really. Write what you know, as they say – it felt very authentic.”
[Editor’s note: The script was so “fully formed” that four years after that first draft, the finished version is “virtually unchanged”.]
After your online play Adventurous, produced by Jermyn Street Theatre, was premiered in March 2021, this is your first full-scale stage play, Ian. Discuss…
“I’d always thought it seemed to require a colossal amount of confidence, if not arrogance, to say, ‘there hasn’t been a play that’s sufficiently tackled this one particular topic, and I am uniquely placed to be the person to write this play’.
“Then I just got over myself, and once I’d decided to try and write something, it was motivated by what I myself wanted to be in. I thought, ‘well, if it’s the first thing I write, I’m going to write a part for myself. What would I be most excited about if my agent rang tomorrow with a script for me to read?
“It would be an offer to play Agnetha from Abba’. Then I just had to reverse engineer things and construct a storyline in which that could happen.”
What was the inspiration behind The Way Old Friends Do, Ian?
“It’s very easy to pitch in one line: two old school friends form the world’s first drag Abba tribute band. It does exactly what it says on the tin. When I told my friends, they got excited because, at first, they thought I was actually setting up a drag Abba tribute band.
“Then, once I’d had the idea, I did extensive Googling to see if such a thing already existed, and as far as I’m aware, it doesn’t. Who knows? It might give somebody else the idea now.”
Will The Way Old Friends Do provide much-needed escapism, Mark?
“Absolutely. It’s just the sort of play that people need right now. It’s extremely celebratory, it’s about friendship, about love, about fun. It’s also about life and about time and how it changes us. But principally, it’s just a really entertaining show.”
“I thought, if I’m going to write a play, there should be a bit of wish fulfilment with no-one to stop me,” says Ian Hallard
Is the play autobiographical, Ian?
“The background setting is autobiographical. It’s about a gay, middle-aged man from Birmingham who is a massive Abba fan. So that much is very much based on real life. But the actual events of the play are entirely fictitious.
“I was a teenager in the 1980s, a time of homophobia in the media; the rise of AIDS with that image of the tombstone in the advert, and Section 28 too. That’s all there in the background in this play and makes the lead characters what they are now.”
What can you reveal about Peter, your character in the play, Ian?
“He’s lived in Birmingham all his life. He’s 39; a big Abba fan, obviously. He got into them through his mum, who died when he was only a child. So, he was brought up by his grandmother, which mirrors the real life of Frida from Abba.
“Then a chance meeting via a gay dating app means he ends up running into the kid he was great friends with at school whom he’d lost touch with, and that sets the whole crazy series of events in motion.”
What about the rest of the characters, Ian?
“Well, they’re a pretty diverse bunch. There’s Peter’s old schoolfriend, Edward, who is played by James Bradshaw, best known for his role as Max DeBryn in Endeavour. Edward’s camp and waspish, but deeply insecure underneath it all.
“Jodie – as played by Rose Shalloo – is a young actress who you could say has more enthusiasm than talent. Then there’s the gorgeous Australian photographer Christian, played by Andrew Horton – who’s just finished playing a superhero in Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy.”
Who else, Mark?
“The wonderful, Olivier-winning Sara Crowe is the eccentric Mrs Campbell, who among other quirks, has a deep-seated suspicion of Michael Palin. And finally, there’s their long-suffering, no-nonsense stage manager, Sally, played by Donna Berlin, who has to try and corral them all into some kind of order.”
What’s the result, Ian?
“A lot of the comedy in the show comes from flinging these six characters together and observing how they interact.
“As well as me and Mark, the producers had input into the casting and happily all our first choices said yes.”
How did Sara Crowe become involved in the production, Ian?
“Sara had done a couple of rehearsed readings with me in the past and is a friend of mine, so I was delighted when she agreed to be in the cast. The comic potential in that set-up – putting Olivier Award-winning Sara Crowe in a wig as the quirky Mrs Campbell – was not lost on me and now there’s a five-minute section that I can’t take any credit for that she improvised in the rehearsal room with Mark saying, ‘have fun with this’.”
Friendship is a major theme in the play. Why, Ian?
“I was interested in exploring friendship, as opposed to a romantic relationship between these two middle-aged, queer men. With The Way Old Friends Do, I had a ready-made title from Abba’s back catalogue, and I knew very early on that the final scene of the play would revolve around that song. So everything leads up to that.”
“Seeing each other for the five-week rehearsal period was a real luxury for us,” says Ian Hallard of working with husband Mark Gatiss
What’s it like working professionally with your husband?
Mark first: “We can compare notes at the end of the evening without having to organise a special notes session.”
Ian: “We’ve done it quite a few times before, but this has a slightly different dynamic because we haven’t worked together as director and writer, and certainly not on stage, so watch this space. But given past experiences, I have no cause for concern.”
Mark: “These things aren’t guaranteed to work, of course. A lot of couples never work together because they’d rather leave it at the door, but so far, so good!”
Ian: “Look at Abba. Romantic relationships kick-started the band, although admittedly it did all go awry subsequently.”
Mark: “Yes, we’d better not follow Abba down that line.”
Ian: “Ah well, if we do, we’ll just end up getting back together in 40 years’ time.”
Talk about your working relationship with Mark, Ian…
“We’ve collaborated on stuff before where I’ve been his sort of unofficial script editor. I’m the first person to read anything he writes.
“I trust him implicitly. We’ve acted on stage together, and everything went very happily in the rehearsal room this time. Seeing each other for the five-week rehearsal period was a real luxury for us.
“The very first draft of this play had a flashback to seeing the men as 15-year-old schoolboys and that was one of Mark’s biggest notes for script changes. He said, ‘that can be left as a back story’. We’ll leave adults playing schoolboys to Blood Brothers!”
Just checking, The Way Old Friends Do isn’t a musical, is it, Ian?
“That’s right, it’s a play rather than a musical. We’re not trying to compete with Mamma Mia! It’s a backstage play, very much in the vein of The Full Monty or Stepping Out: a bunch of plucky amateurs deciding to put on a show. It’s about those characters and their relationships.
“Although Abba is very much the setting, and it’s part of the show, it’s not a play about Abba, it’s a play about being an Abba fan.”
Did you acquire the approval of the Abba estate, Ian?
“Yes. They know about it and they’re happy for it to go ahead. I would have been devastated to be slapped down by my heroes because they didn’t want the play to happen. Happily, we do have their blessing!
“We have the rights to sing one Abba song. We’ll keep that as a bit of a secret but there may be a clue in the title of the play!”
Director Mark Gatiss and writer-actor Ian Hallard with The Way Old Friends Do cast members Donna Berlin, Rose Shalloo, Andrew Horton, Sara Crowe and James Bradshaw
Have both of you always been Abba fans?
Mark first: “Yes. They’ve had different phases of their existence which people can hop on at: Eurovision, the Abba Gold revival, Mamma Mia! and now Voyage! But they’re loved because they’re just so bl**dy good.
“Quality will out. They have just an astonishing range of hits and styles and genres. They’re both gloomy Swedes and insanely infectious disco-mongers.”
Ian: “My mother was pregnant with me when they won Eurovision in 1974. Although that makes it sound as if it was some kind of immaculate conception via the magic of Waterloo. I should add that I wasn’t actually conceived at that precise moment.
“But yes, it’s been a lifetime of devotion for me. I have an old university friend who I’ve known since I was 21. I hadn’t seen her for years, but just after the pandemic she came down to visit.
“We went for dinner and we were chatting about my play. I said, ‘I don’t know if you remember, but I’m a bit of an Abba fan’. And she just looked at me and said, ‘Ian, it’s literally the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about you’!”
So, Ian, why do you like Abba?
“I guess that’s the 64 million dollar question: why do you like a band or a football team? But there are certain things you can talk about objectively. The music has stood the test of time after 50 years, and though the songs are deceptively simple, there are flourishes you don’t notice on a cursory listen, but you would miss them if they weren’t there.
“Their ability to interpret the language of pop is almost second to none, writing in their second language, and they were quite experimental in going from glam rock to pure pop to disco and embracing digital technology in the early 1980s.”
What do you hope next week’s audiences in York will take away from the play?
Ian first: “Just a great night out. If you love Abba, there are plenty of little Easter eggs and moments for you. But if you don’t know anything about them, or don’t even like them – yes, there are such people out there! – it speaks about being a fan. We’re all a fan of something. That level of devotion and ownership is universal.
“But I also think the six characters are fun people that audiences will enjoy spending time with. I hope people will laugh and be touched – and then rebook!”
Mark: “It’s truthful, it’s moving and it’s joyous – that’s what I like to see in a play. Like Abba, it’s bittersweet, but ultimately very, very upbeat, and a joy to be around.”
Have we reached Abba saturation point yet, Ian?
“It was something I was aware of, that question, but I thought, write what you know, and it’s different. It’s a play, not a musical, and it’s not about Abba but about the characters in the play and the journey they’re going on.”
The Way Old Friends Do runs at York Theatre Royal from June 6 to 10, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Claire Richards: Taking Steps to headline York Pride’s main stage
PRIDE is loud and proud this weekend in a city full of ideas, heated politics and apocalyptic music, as recommended by Charles Hutchinson.
Diverse celebration of the week: York Pride, city-centre parade at 12 noon, followed by festival until after-hours on Knavesmire
NORTH Yorkshire’s largest LGBT+ celebration sets out on a parade march from Duncombe Place, outside York Minster, processing along Bishopthorpe Road to the festival site on Knavesmire.
Hosted by Sordid Secret and Mamma Bear, the Main Stage welcomes Claire Richards, from Steps, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finalist Kitty Scott-Claus. Plenty more acts take to the YOI Radio Stage and Family Area and the new Queer Arts Cabaret Tent (1.30pm to 7pm, headlined by York’s pink-attired Beth McCarthy). Full festival details at: yorkpride.org.uk.
In the pink: Beth McCarthy tops the Queer Arts Cabaret Tent bill at York Pride this evening
Festival of the week and beyond: York Festival of Ideas 2023, until June 15
THIS University of York co-ordinated festival invites you to Rediscover, Reimagine, Rebuild in a programme of more than 150 free in-person and online events designed to educate, entertain and inspire.
Meet world-class speakers, experience performances, join entertaining family activities, explore York on guided tours and more! Topics range from archaeology to art, history to health and politics to psychology. Study the festival programme at yorkfestivalofideas.com.
Ocean-loving Kentviolinist and composer Anna Phoebe performs her Sea Soul album with Klara Schumann and Jacob Kingsbury Downsat the National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight at 7pm as part of the York Festival of Ideas. Picture; Rob Blackham
Don’t myth it: The Flanagan Collective in The Gods The Gods The Gods, York Theatre Royal, tonight, 7.30pm; Slung Low at Temple, Water Lane, Holbeck, Leeds, tomorrow, 7.30pm (outdoor performance); Hull Truck Theatre, Stage One, June 29,7.30pm
WRIGHT & Grainger’s myth-making The Gods The Gods The Gods is performed as a 12-track album in an exhilarating weave of big beats, heavy basslines, soaring melodies and heart-stopping spoken word. In the absence of co-creators Alexander Flanagan-Wright and Megan Drury in New York and Australia respectively, Easingwold birthday boy Phil Grainger, 34 today, will be joined by Oliver Towse and Lucinda Turner from the West End original cast of Wright’s The Great Gatsby.
The 65-minute performance links stories of two youngsters who meet when out dancing, destined to fall hard; a woman on a beach, alone at night, looking at the stars, and a bloke on a bridge, thinking about jumping, just before dark, all at the crossroads where mythology meets real life. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, slunglow.org; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Upwards and onwards: Oliver Towse, left, Lucinda Turner and Phil Grainger survey the auditorium ahead of their Harrogate Theatre performance of The God The Gods The Gods. York, Leeds and Hull dates lie ahead
Comedy gig of the week: Patrick Monahan, Classy, Pocklington Arts Centre, tonight, 8pm
IN a world of groups, hierarchies and class systems, everyone tries so hard to fit in. What’s wrong with being a misfit? Be you, be proud!
From the caravan to the middle-class neighbourhood, Irish-Iranian comedian Patrick Monahan, 46, has taken four decades to realise this. Time for the Edinburgh Fringe regular to pass on his observations on living his contemporary life alongside stories of his upbringing. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Patrick Monahan: Classy performance at Pocklington Arts Centre
Apocalypse now: Late Music presents Late Music Ensemble, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm
YORK Late Music concludes its 2022-23 season on a spectacular – if not entirely optimistic! – note tonight when the Late Music Ensemble, conducted by Nick Williams, opens up the End Of The World Jukebox.
Composers and players re-imagine the pop songs they would like to hear if Armageddon were nigh in arrangements of Imogen Heap’s Hide And Seek, David Bowie’s Warszawa, Cole Porter’s Every Time We Say Goodbye and Bob Dylan’s Cat’s In The Well. The Beatles will be represented by The End from Abbey Road, alongside new works by Christopher Fox and Anthony Adams.
Williams’s nine-strong ensemble promises a broad musical spectrum through the presence of Edwina Smith (flute, piccolo), Jonathan Sage (clarinet, bass clarinet), Iain Harrison and Lucy Havelock (saxophones), Murphy McCaleb (bass trombone), Kate Ledger (piano, toy piano, voice), Tim Brooks (keyboards, piano), Catherine Strachan (cello) and Anna Snow (voice).
Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s lunchtime concert by Stuart O’Hara has been postponed. It will, however, be rescheduled in the 2023-24 season, whose programme will be announced in the next few months.
While the End of the World cannot be avoided, York Late Music adminstrator Steve Crowther is an optimist who believes that, for now at least, the end is no nigher. A 6.45pm, pre-concert talk by Christopher Fox includes a complimentary glass of wine or fruit juice. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Kate Ledger: Pianist playing in the Late Music Ensemble’s end-is-nigh concert tonight
Folk gig of the week: Spiers & Boden, The Crescent, York, Wednesday, doors 7.30pm
THIS weekend the focus falls on the City of York Roland Walls Folk Weekend at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green. Meanwhile, the organisers, the Black Swan Folk Club, have teamed up with The Crescent to present Bellowhead big band cohorts Spiers & Boden in a seated concert next week.
John Spiers and Jon Boden re-formed their instrumental duo in 2021 after a seven-year hiatus to release the album Fallow Ground. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Seated gig: Folk duo Spiers & Boden atThe Crescent on Wednesday
Defiant gig of the week: Mike Peters presents The Alarm (Acoustic), The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
AFTER a year of health challenges, The Alarm leader Mike Peters returns to the stage this spring with a new album set for release in the summer.
Co-founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, the 64-year-old Welshman will be performing a one-man band electro-acoustic set list of songs from all four decades of The Alarm discography. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Mike Peters: Setting The Alarm songs acoustically at the Crescent on Thursday
Troubadour of the week: Steve Earle, The Alone Again Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
AS his tour title suggests, legendary Americana singer, songwriter, producer, actor, playwright, novelist, short story writer and radio presenter Steve Earle will be performing solo and acoustic in York: the only Yorkshire gig of a ten-date itinerary without his band The Dukes that will take in the other Barbican, in London, and Glastonbury.
Born in Fort Monroae National Monument, Hampton, Virginia, Earle grew up in Texas and began his songwriting career in Nashville, releasing his first EP in 1982 and debut album Guitar Town in 1986, since when he has branched out from country music into rock, bluegrass, folk music and blues. Box office: atgtickets.com/york
Steve Earle: Heading from New York to York for the opening night of his British solo tour. Picture: Danny Clinch
Brass at full blast: Shepherd Group Brass Band: Stage And Screen, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 10, 7pm
SHEPHERD Group Brass Band’s late-spring concert showcases music from across the repertoire of stage and screen, featuring five bands from the York organisation, ranging from beginners to championship groups, culminating with a grand finale from all the bands. Tickets update: only the last few are still available on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Thalissa Teixeira: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s first black female Brutus in Julius Caesar, directed by Atri Banerjee, on tour at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner
Power play: Royal Shakespeare Company in Julius Caesar, York Theatre Royal, June 13 to 17, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
ATRI Banerjee directs this fast-paced political thriller on the RSC’s return to York Theatre Royal in a fresh interpretation of Julius Caesar with a female Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira) and non-binary Cassius (Annabel Baldwin) that asks: how far would we go for our principles?
Concerned that divisive leader Julius Caesar (Nigel Barrett) poses a threat to democracy, revolutionaries take the violent decision to murder him but without a plan for what happens next. As the world spins out of control, chaos, horror and superstition rush in to fill the void. Civil war erupts and a new leader must rise, but at what cost? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
On the dark side: James Mackenzie, alias CBeebies’ Raven, is to play the villain in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk
JAMES Mackenzie follows in the CBeebies’ footsteps of Maddie Moate last winter and Andy Day in 2021 in being signed up for the York Theatre Royal pantomime.
The Scottish actor and game show host, 44, will play the villainous Luke Backinanger in the “Fe-Fi-Fo-Fun family pantomime” Jack And The Beanstalkfrom December 8 2023 to January 7 2024.
Moate appeared as Tinkerbell in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, preceded by Day’s Dandini in Cinderella.
Mackenzie will turn to the dark side in the fourth panto collaboration between the Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions, having played the immortal, leather-clad warrior in CBBC’s fantasy adventure game show Raven.
James Mackenzie: “Strutting his stuff as the bad boy of panto” at York Theatre Royal this winter
He was the original lead character in the multi-Bafta award-winning show Raven from 2002 to 2010. This mysterious warlord led young warriors on a quest to test their skills and win their heart’s desire in a show that garnered cult status, spanning 15 series filmed in far-flung exotic locations such as India. Its popularity saw it air from Canada to Australia and places aplenty in between.
Mackenzie has worked for many theatre companies, such as the National Theatre of Scotland, and has performed all over Britain in everything from Macbeth to the Proclaimers’ musical Sunshine On Leith. He has been a regular in BBC Scotland’s soap opera River City and made guest appearances in Still Game and Outlander.
Over the past few years, he has been introduced to a new CBeebies’ generation as James in Molly And Mack. He has been part of the CBeebies Christmas shows and performed on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe for CBeebies Shakespeare. Like most Scottish actors, he has appeared in Taggart more than once.
Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, who will be directing Jack And The Beanstalk, says: “We are delighted to welcome James Mackenzie to the cast for this year’s panto. James is such a well-loved children’s TV personality and we can’t wait to see him strut his stuff as the bad boy of panto.”
Robin Simpson: Returning to the dame’s role in Jack And The Beanstalk
Mackenzie will perform alongside the already announced Robin Simpson in his fourth Theatre Royal panto. Simpson played the dame in The Travelling Pantomime in 2020, the British Pantomime Award-nominated Ugly Sister Manky in Cinderella in 2021 and Mrs Smee in All New Adventures of Peter Pan last winter.
He will be on dame duty in Jack And The Beanstalk, with further casting to be announced for a show that promises “stunning sets, lavish costumes, breath-taking special effects and lots of pantomime magic”.
Evolution’s co-founder Paul Hendy is writing the script once more, as he did for the past three pantos.
Tickets are “proving popular”, with a special family ticket offer available for all performances: £75 for bookings with three tickets, including at least one adult and one child, saving up to £52, or £100 for bookings with four tickets, including at least one adult and one child, saving up to £68. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter: “Things are about to get out of hand” in Green Fingers
WATCH out for Green Fingers, the debut children’s show from madcap York musical comedy double act Fladam at this week’s TakeOver Festival 2023 at York Theatre Royal.
Saturday afternoon’s work-in-progress performance will be a first test for Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter’s inaugural foray into family theatre.
“We’ll then be heading back into the rehearsal room to preen and polish the show for its full debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, when we’ll be at the Pleasance Courtyard,” says Adam.
Flo and Adam’s deliciously Roald Dahl-style musical storytelling show for children aged five to 12 focuses on a boy born with bright green hands. Is he really rotten or just misunderstood?
Magic is about to take root: Fladam’s poster for Green Fingers at the TakeOver Festival 2023
“It’s the first day of school and for the boy known only as Green Fingers, things are about to get – quite literally – out of hand,” says Flo. “Gloop, gunk and gunge aplenty, and only one likely suspect. As if school wasn’t stressful enough!
“To make matters worse, the headmaster – that worrisome old windbag Milton Marigold – has vowed to clean up the school and anyone who gets in his way!”
Could there be more to these fingers than mere mayhem and mess? Maybe the answers lie within the mysterious school garden.
“Green Fingers explores ideas of accepting yourself and engaging with the natural world,” says Adam, whose show combines an original score with bags of humour, rollicking piano with witty wordplay, Morecambe & Wise with Victoria Wood and Elton John.
Tickets for Saturday’s 3pm performance in the York Theatre Royal Studio are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The York St John University students who are running TakeOver Festival 2023 at York Theatre Royal this week
THE TakeOver Festival 2023 rules the roost at York Theatre Royal in a week-long theatre festival run by final-year York St John University students as they take their first leap into the entertainment industry.
The Theatre Royal is partnering with York St John to give students the opportunity to perform their own work on the main stage, as well as learn about key roles in the theatre.
Taking over the Theatre Royal all this week until Saturday, the students have booked York theatre companies Next Door But One, Out Of Character, Fladam and Hallmark Theatre to perform too, plus Pink Milk from London.
As part of their third-year assessment, 32 students have formed eight of their own theatre companies to showcase their talents: Compos Mentis, MOOT, Reconnect, Cordless, Chaos, Bridge Theatre, For Us By Us and Twisted Tales.
TakeOver enables third-year performance students to work as producers, production managers and front of house, in addition to marketing the festival on their social media platforms. The festival also works with the wider community, making theatre with children from York High School and sharing the joy of theatre with families.
This year’s event takes the theme of In Living Colour: Listen, Inspire, Act. “We aim to get people talking about what’s important, shedding colourful light on to meaningful issues,” says TakeOver 2023 producer Megan Price. “The festival will bring to light new possibilities and provide a platform that celebrates each other. TakeOver allows people to have a voice and share their creativity on a bigger platform.”
Cordless in rehearsal for 4th Round on May 26
David Richmond, senior performance lecturer at York St John University, says: “TakeOver is a fantastic opportunity for students to make that important first step to being professional theatre makers.
“It gives the Theatre Royal an opportunity to see what the next key developments in theatre will be – as this generation really is going to be doing things differently. For the audiences, it will give them an insight into the future of theatre, and on their own doorstep.”
Zoe Colven-Davies, from York Theatre Royal, adds: “It’s been wonderful to work with third-year performance students, to see them bring to York Theatre Royal stage their own work as well as the work of creators in York.”
Megan, 21, from Blackhall, County Durham, is studying on the acting course at York St John, where courses also run in Drama & Theatre, Drama & Dance and Drama, Education and Community.
“None of my family is creative,” she says. “But I got into amateur dramatics with Blackhall Drama Group, doing a pantomime every January and a summer showcase from the shows every June/July.
“I mainly perform, but after going away to university and having two years out from the shows, they’ve asked me for a wider input, now that I’m back,” she says.
Megan Price: Producer of TakeOver Festival 2023
Megan was selected by a combination of York Theatre Royal staff and York St John lecturers after pitching for the post of producer. Roles in production management, communications, outreach and front of house have been designated too.
“It’s a major part of the degree, with the course advertising that in your third year you will work with and perform at York Theatre Royal and will be assessed on running a festival and being involved in it too,” she says.
“For TakeOver 2023, we created the first draft of the festival programme, working with communications and production management to agree on certain things. Front of house need to know what will be going into the theatre; communications need to know what shows they will be promoting. The closer to the opening, the more collaborative it becomes.”
Why did Megan put herself forward for the top post? “I wanted to be the producer because it’s not something I’ve had much experience of doing, whereas with other roles, I have done that,” she says.
“I wanted to do something that would challenge me and provide me with new skills, in terms of financial budgeting and scheduling.
“The artistic vision comes into it too, but the theme of In Living Colour had already been chosen before I took up my post. Each group of performers from York St John had to pitch a theme for the festival, and the Theatre Royal then chose the theme on the basis of what fitted in best with previous years.”
Megan Price and her fellow Chaos cast members meeting again to rehearse the Macbeth response piece Female Rage
Megan and her fellow programmers wanted to create a festival that would be accessible to theatre companies in the north, giving them the chance to perform at the Theatre Royal, while “bringing to light themes that are hidden in the world”.
Plays range from Pink Milk, the one London company heading north, presenting Naughty’s frank account of growing up queer outside of a big city to Hallmark Theatre’s An Open Mind, a comedy drama about two autistic children trying to navigate the ups and downs of school and the education system.
Megan will not only be producing the festival but performing in it too in Chaos’s production of Female Rage on May 27 at 1pm in the York Theare Royal main house. “We can’t have an ordinary Shakespeare at TakeOver!” she says. “We’re basing our play around Macbeth, taking themes from Shakespeare’s play and expressing how they affect us as women in society,” she says.
“Presenting our play in a post-dramatic style, we’re looking at women that are so often overlooked. We feature not only Lady Macbeth, but also Lady Macduff and The Witches and Hecate, who we’ve made the central focus of our piece.”
In a nutshell, Female Rage shines a light on witches and womanly wisdom while intertwining Shakespearian themes with stories only women can tell. “We don’t play the characters but use them to channel our rage, with Hecate guiding the performance,” says Megan.
Summing up her involvement in TakeOver 2023, she says: “Not just performing but now doing the other side as well allows me to apply for jobs in the creative industry, like an assistant producer’s job at a film festival here in York,” she says.
“It’s been really helpful to have all that professional experience on hand, but at the same time York St John and York Theatre Royal have let us take the event into our own hands.”
For the full programme and tickets, head to yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
TakeOver Festival 2023: the programme
York musical comedy duo Fladam, alias Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter: Presenting Green Fingers at TakeOver Festival 2023 on May 27 in the York Theatre Royal Studio
The Storyteller by Charlotte Tunks
May 22, 11am, York Theatre Royal upper foyer.
The Storyteller speaks the story of the eve of St Agnes. An adaptation of one of John Keats’s best poems.
The Wall by Josh Davies
May 22, 2pm; May 23, 11am, York Theatre Royal foyer.
Thirty to 45-minute musical performance, including renditions of songs from Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.
Operation Hummingbird by Next Door But One
May 23 and 24, 12 noon and 7pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Teenager Jimmy deals with his mum’s terminal illness diagnosis by diving into computer games. Through this virtual reality, he meets his future self and asks: will everything turn out OK?
Poignant, funny and uplifting, this two-hander by award-winning York company Next Door But One returns after a sell-out debut tour in 2021. Based on director Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s memoir, Operation Hummingbir dexplores grief, loss and the power of noticing just how far you have come.
Crafting Hope – Box Making Workshop
May 23, 1pm, York Theatre Royal foyer.
Do you ever feel like the world has spun into a wormhole of chaos, conflict and civil unrest? This workshop provides the opportunity to relax, retreat and join the quest of breathing hope back into humanity through the art of box-making. A brighter future starts with you, your words and your actions.
City Dance Trail
May 23, 2pm, starting at York St John University’s Creative Centre and journeying through the city.
Join the Dance Trail and experience the city in an entirely new way. Theatre and dance students from York St John University and guest performers from Mind The Gap share a series of site-specific dance performances across the city centre.
Follow the trail through York and watch original dance pieces that explore the promise of the unknown and the potential revelation of new-found realties in familiar and unfamiliar places. Watch out for an unexpected flash mob moment – or better still, join in!
Stepping Stones To Success – Workshop by Next Door But One
May23, 3pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Are you an emerging theatre practitioner? Thinking of ways to further your career, develop a business idea or kickstart a new project? Work alongside Next Door But One’s artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle as he goes through the lessons he has learned from founding and running a York theatre company for ten years. Participants will walk away with a plan to put their ideas into action.
Stories BetweenThe Lines by Reconnect
May 23, 4.30pm, York Theatre Royal Studio.
Stories Between The Lines is a TIE (theatre in education) performance that highlights the lives of four characters as they navigate the complexities of family life and teenage years. Through the lens of drama, the show explores the issues of concern for the characters and the possibilities for self-care, support, and intervention.
Reconnect discusses the characters’ concerns, then looks at the possibility of self-care, support and intervention. Suitable for 11+.
Dancing In Living Colour by York St John Dance Society
May 24, 1pm, York Theatre Royal upper foyer.
The university dance society offers both competitive and casual memberships to students. Its competition team has been placed first, second and third across various competitions this season. Team members have put together a showcase to celebrate the festival theme. “Come and enjoy Dancing In Living Colour,” they say.
Finding Your Voice As A Playwright – Workshop by Next Door But One
May 24, 3pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
DO you have a play in your head but are not sure how to put it on paper? This workshop will go through several techniques to help you breathe new colour into your creative idea. Tools to help overcome writer’s block, structure your story and understand what you want to say and how you want to say it.
Compos Mentis: Exploring men’s mental health in Business Unfinished
Business Unfinished by Compos Mentis
May 25, 2pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Compos Mentis explore men’s mental health through post-traumatic theatre in a cabaret that discusses their understanding of the issue along with the stereotypes of a working men’s club. Contains strong language and sexual references; suitable for age 12+.
The Modern Maidens by Twisted Tales
May 25, 3.30pm , York Theatre Royal main house.
Twisted Tales interweave women’s issues with classic fairy tales to look at themes of jealousy, revenge, innocence and betrayal, with a passion for going against social norms and showing that women can be however they want to be. Suitable for age 16+.
Shattered by Out Of Character
May 25, 7pm, York Theatre Royal Studio.
Written by Paul Birch, performed by York company Out Of Character, directed by Kate Veysey and Jane Allanach.
The world has broken. Its colours have drained away. A community is splintered and all seems lost. But in the cracks, and amid the broken pieces, something strange is happening. Something that disturbs, unsettles and surprises.
Welcome to Shattered, a mysterious show where, in the midst of a sinister and impossible fog, things are about to become clear. Suitable for all ages.
Express Your Colours Within – Movement Workshop for Adults
May 26, 11am, York Theatre Royal Studio.
This movement-based workshop invites participants to engage in ways of moving that normally they would not do. Scarves, ribbons and coloured materials will help to create visually appealing work in a workshop run by performing arts and dance students.
4th Round by Cordless Theatre
May 26, 2pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Cordless Theatre present a collection of playful vignettes inspired by the work of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. Suitable for all ages.
Inside Outside by Bridge Theatre
May 26, 2.45pm, York Theatre Royal Studio.
How do we understand loss? Bridge Theatre show their experience of loss through movement and verbatim text. Suitable for age 12+.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand by MOOT
May 26, 3.30pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
A fun and physical devised piece that explores the challenges of connecting to others. Suitable for all ages.
Open Mic Nights
May 26 and 27, 6pm, York Theatre Royal foyer.
Naughty by Pink Milk
May 26, 7.45pm, York Theatre Royal Studio.
Days after Andrew ends his seven-year relationship with college sweetheart Jake, he is messaged out of the blue by a former “friend”. This unwelcome advance triggers an emotional spiral as Andrew recounts his unstable first steps into the world of gay sex and queer identity, under the increasingly imposing guidance of Kevin, a teacher at his drama academy.
Naughty provides a frank account of growing up queer outside of a big city. The piece was written to examine the common lack of safe mentorship for LGBTQ+ youth and the over-sexualisation of queer relationships. First performed at Camden Fringe in 2021, Naughty toured in 2022. Suitable for age 11+.
Female Rage by Chaos
May 27, 1pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Chaos wants to take a closer look at the women that are so often overlooked. Female Rage shines a light on witches and womanly wisdom as they intertwine Shakespearian themes with stories only women can tell. Suitable for age 12+.
Green Fingers by Fladam
May 27, 3pm, York Theatre Royal Studio
York musical comedy duo Fladam – Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter – are back with a deliciously Roald Dahl-style family treat. Did you ever hear the tale of Green Fingers? A boy born with hands that turn all he touches a shocking shade of green! But is he really as wicked as people say? All will be revealed in this work-in-progress performance, where audience feedback will be welcomed and encouraged afterwards. Suitable for all ages.
36DDD by For Us By Us
May 27, 3.30pm, York Theatre Royal main house.
Inspired by playwright Tim Firth’s Neville’s Island, For Us By Us head out on a girls’ trip gone wrong. After surrendering their phones in a time-locked box, they must surrender themselves to the bitter wilderness as they navigate their fears and secrets.
Containing strong language and sexual references, this comedy-thriller will see the characters bond under extreme circumstances. Suitable for ages 16+.
An Open Mind by Hallmark Theatre
May 27, 7.30pm, York Theatre Royal Studio.
A new comedy drama from Hallmark Theatre about two autistic children trying to navigate the ups and downs of school and the education system. Suitable for 15+
Listen, Inspire, Act – Zentangle Workshop
Available all week, York Theatre Royal foyer.
The Zentangle art form allows creativity and mindfulness through a series of repetitive patterns that are drawn into a starting point of a scribble to produce a unique artwork. This workshop encourages conversation in the community. This activity focuses the mind and is useful in relieving stress and allowing unpressured conversations to happen while in the act of doing.
David Lomond, back, and James Lewis-Knight in Next Door But One’s Operation Hummingbird: four performances at York Theatre Royal
A study of people studying People We Love’s digital portraits in the Chapel at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
LOVE lost and found is all around in Charles Hutchinson’s picks from the shelf marked culture.
Goin’ to the chapel of love: People We Love, Castle Howard, near York, until October 15, 10am to 4pm
AFTER gracing York Minster twice, Pittsburgh, USA, Viborg, Denmark, and Selby Abbey, North Yorkshire, KMA’s latest contemplative digital art installation takes over the Chapel at Castle Howard, a setting that provides a contrast between portraiture old and new. Produced by York-based Mediale and designed by Kit Monkman, People We Love explores “the invisible transaction between a person, a piece of art and the emotion which bonds us all: love”.
A quintet of high-definition screens display portraits of estate staff and volunteers, Castle Howard visitors and Ryedale residents, filmed in March, as they gaze at a picture of someone they love. A picture you never see, but you will feel each unspoken story as the faces tell the tale of a person they love.
Alexandra Mather’s Adina, left, in York Opera’s The Elixir Of Love
Opera of the weekend: York Opera in The Elixir Of Love, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today at 7.30pm
WILL Nemorino, a simple village farm lad, ever find love without the help of a magic potion? Discover the answer in Donizetti’s comic opera L’Elisere d’Amore, packed with light-hearted music sung in an English translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin with orchestral accompaniment.
Under the direction of Chris Charlton-Mathews, principal roles go to Hamish Brown as the lovelorn, lovable Nemorino; stalwart Ian Thompson-Smith as opportunistic Doctor Dulcamara; David Valsamidies as the boastful Belcore; Alexandra Mather as the intelligent, beautiful Adina and Emma Burke in her York Opera debut as the flirtatious Giannetta. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Harvey Badger, Eddie Ahrens, Hannah Baker and Rachel Hammond in Mikron Theatre Company’s Twitchers
Bird song of the week: Mikron Theatre Company in Twitchers, Scarcroft Allotments, Scarcroft Road, York, Sunday (21/5/2023), 2pm, and on tour until October 21
IN Mikron Theatre Company’s premiere of Poppy Hollman’s Twitchers, Springwatch is coming to RSPB Shrikewing nature reserve, home to raucous rooks and booming bitterns.
Can Jess take inspiration from the RSPB’s tenacious female founders and draw on its history of campaigning to save them? Can she find her own voice to raise a rallying cry for nature in Mikron’s flight through RSPB and birdwatching history, feathered with bird song and humour. No reserved seating or tickets are required, and instead a ‘pay what you feel’ collection will be taken after the show.
Kate Rusby: On song at Harrogate Royal Hall on Monday
Folk gig of the week: Kate Rusby, Harrogate Royal Hall, Monday, 7.30pm
BARNSLEY folk nightingale Kate Rusby rounds off a year of 30th anniversary celebrations with an 18-date spring tour, in the wake of releasing her 30: Happy Returns compendium last May to acknowledge three decades as a professional musician.
Coming later this year will be Kate’s Established 1973 Christmas Tour, visiting York Barbican on December 7, three days after she turns 50: a landmark she will mark with her sixth album of South Yorkshire pub carols and winter songs. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Beware the Green Fingers: Fladam’s Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter launch their debut children’s show at York Theatre Royal
Children’s show of the week: Fladam, Green Fingers, TakeOver Festival, York Theatre Royal, May 27, 3pm
GREEN Fingers is a work-in-progress performance to test out madcap York musical comedy double act Fladam’s first foray into family theatre ahead of its full debut at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Flo Poskitt and Adam Sowter present a deliciously Roald Dahl-style musical storytelling show for children aged five to 12 about a boy born with bright green hands. Is he really rotten or just misunderstood? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Amy May Ellis: Back at The Band Room
Homeward bound: Amy May Ellis, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, May 27, 7.30pm
BEWITCHING ambient Yorkshire rose folkster Amy May Ellis makes an overdue return to her “local” moorland venue, where she has opened for Hiss Golden Messenger, Willy Mason, Michael Chapman, Ryley Walker and Howe Gelb since teen days…and always brought the house down.
This time she is touring her debut album, Over Ling And Bell, released on Isle of Eigg’s cult Lost Map Records, home of Pictish Trail and one-time Lost Map Sessions singer and songwriter James Yorkston, with whom Amy has toured. Wanderland and Nessy Williamson support. Box office: thebandroom.co.uk.
Awaiting his coat of many colours: Jonathan Wells in rehearsal for his title role in York Musical Theatre Company’s Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat
Musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1968 debut musical: the biblical journey of Joseph, son of Jacob and one of 12 brothers, and his coat of many colours.
From the book of Genesis to the musical’s genesis as a cantata written for a school choir, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has grown into an iconic musical theatre staple. Here husband and wife Jonathan Wells and Jennie Wogan-Wells lead the cast as Joseph and the Narrator. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Richard E Grant: Reflecting on love and loss at the Grand Opera House, York
Talk show of the week: An Evening With Richard E Grant, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
ACTOR Richard E Grant tells stories from his life, entwining tales from his glittering career with uplifting reflections on love and loss, as told in last September’s memoir, A Pocketful Of Happiness.
Grant will be considering the inspiration behind the book – how, when his beloved wife Joan died in 2021 after almost 40 years together, she set him a challenge of finding a pocketful of happiness in every day. The book and now the tour show honour that challenge. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Leon Francois Dumont’s Ring Of Fire: Not one of the “life drawings” but featuring in the Donderdag Collective exhibition nonetheless at Pyramid Gallery, York
York exhibition launch of the week: The Donderdag Collective, Artists And The Human Form, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, York, today, from 11am, until June 25
FOUNDED in 2011 by a group of artists in York, The Donderdag Collective members – both professionals and keen amateurs – meet at St Olave’s Church Hall, in Marygate Lane, on Thursday evenings to sketch or paint from a life model (‘Donderdag’ being Dutch for ‘Thursday’).
Taking part in this resulting show are: Julie Mitchell; Rory Barke; Bertt deBaldock; Diane Cobbold; Carolyn Coles; Leon Francois Dumont; Jeanne Godfrey; Anna Harding; Adele Karmazyn; Michelle Galloway; Andrian Melka; Kate Pettitt; Swea Sayers; Barbara Shaw and Donna Maria Taylor.
Dame Joan Collins: Going Behind The Shoulder Pads at the Grand Opera House in October
Show announcement of the week: Dame Joan Collins, Behind The Shoulder Pads, Grand Opera House, York, October 2, 7.30pm
TO coincide with the release of her memoir Behind The Shoulder Pads, Hollywood legend, author, producer, humanitarian and entrepreneur Dame Joan Collins, who will turn 90 on May 23, will embark on a tour with husband Percy Gibson by her side.
Returning to the Grand Opera House, where they presented Unscripted in February 2019, they will field audience questions and tell seldom-told tales and enchanting anecdotes, accompanied by rare footage from Dame Joan’s seven decades in showbusiness. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Next Door But One chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle directing a rehearsal for Operation Hummingbird
YORK community arts collective Next Door But One are taking part in the 2023 TakeOver Festival at York Theatre Royal next week, performing a revival of Operation Hummingbird.
NDB1 premiered artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s one-act two-hander to sold-out audiences in the socially distanced summer of 2021. Now, buoyed by being among 984 arts organisations to be granted National Portfolio (NPO) status by Arts Council England and winning the award for Resilience and Innovation at the 2023 Visit York Tourism Awards, they have launched their new programme.
“It’s quite apt that our first touring production as an NPO is Operation Hummingbird,” says Matt. “‘We’ve spent ten years working hard, dreaming big and forging fruitful partnerships. That’s how we got here. Now we’re looking into the future and are so excited for what the next three years hold. A reflective, hopeful story about looking back and looking ahead feels perfect for now.”
Already this month NDB1 have staged Operation Hummingbird in library performances York Explore, Haxby Explore, Clifton Explore, Tang Hall Explore and Acomb Explore, from May 9 to 12, and now they are heading to the theatre and arts centre circuit.
Midday and 7pm performances on May 23 and 24 on York Theatre Royal’s main stage will be followed by Pocklington Arts Centre on May 25 and Helmsley Arts Centre on June 2, both at 7.30pm.
David Lomond, back, and James Lewis-Knight in Next Door But One’s 2023 tour of Operation Hummingbird
“I realised it could work as a main-house piece when I watched Pilot Theatre’s Run Rebel, when they had sold only the stalls, but there was something nice about playing a performance to the stalls,” says Matt. “We’ll make it intimate by using only the front half of the stage, working with a new lighting designer, Abi Turner, from London, who has designed previously for the Donmar Warehouse.”
Based on his own memoir of living with loss, Matt’s two-hander tells the story of teenager Jimmy, who is dealing with his mum’s terminal diagnosis by diving into computer games. Through this virtual reality, he meets his future self and asks: will everything turn out OK?
“Operation Hummingbird is a humorous and uplifting exploration of grief, loss and noticing just how far you’ve come,” says Matt, whose cast features NDB1 associate artist James Lewis-Knight, returning in the role of Jimmy, and Scarborough actor David Lomond, joining the company for the first time to play James, the future version of Jimmy, 35 more years on the clock.
“For me, the concept is: this play is a really specific look at terminal illness, death and bereavement, but the narrative is universal. If we could fast-forward time and then be able to go back, older and wise, to stop our younger self by passing on advice. We’ve all had those questions that our older selves would like to have been able to give the answer to our younger selves.”
The two-hander format is ideal, suggests Matt. “After Covid, people are wanting shorter shows – this one is only 50 minutes – where you don’t have to travel far to see it and you could even see it at lunchtime if you went to a library performance.
James Lewis-Knight’s Jimmy in a scene from the 2021 premiere of Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s Operation Hummingbird. He returns for the new production
“We’ve brought Operation Hummingbird back after we had brilliant feedback from the first run, when we had only just come out of Covid restrictions and so only small, socially distanced audiences were allowed.
“For the 2023 revival, we decided we’d go to the satellite Explore York libraries we didn’t play before. Now we’ve been able to pick up the project and say, ‘we know it works but what’s the full iteration?’.
“That means also performing it on the Theatre Royal main stage and taking it to Pocklington and Helmsley. It’s actually our first ever show at the Theatre Royal because we’ve never looked into doing one there before, as the heart of our work is taking it to the community, places on people’s doorsteps, such as libraries, community centres and the Camphill Village Trust (with our show The Firework-Maker’s Daughter).”
Matt continues: “It feels like a significant moment of growth for us. We’re known to the communities we engage with, like the Snappy Trust and York Carers Centre, who appreciate our values, and this revival is an introductory chance for us to say, ‘if you don’t know our work, this is what we do’.
“I hope I have turned a story that started from a very personal place into something that we can all relate to,” says writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle
“One of the first pieces of feedback we had was someone saying, ‘I can’t believe how much you can tell in a story with so little. We’re the opposite of doing big-scale theatre productions. It’s still a big story, about death and bereavement, and for me, as a director, the main thing has to be the story.
“You could detract from it with a big set and a light show, so we tell a story with three boxes, a few props and two actors and no blackouts of the auditorium. The focus is on the story.”
Matt concludes: “There’s something in this show for everyone. I hope I have turned a story that started from a very personal place – with the sudden death of my mum in 2016 – into something that we can all relate to. I know that audiences in 2021 left entertained and reflective about their own life. I hope we can achieve the same this time, but reach an even bigger audience across the region.”
Tickets for all venues can be booked at www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk.Also: York Theatre Royal, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
