Making his point: Luke Dickson’s Brian Clough clashes with David Chafer’s Peter Taylor in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s The Damned United
DOWN the stairs, along the corridor,
round the corner, into the dressing room. His dressing room. Hateful, hateful
place. Spiteful, spiteful place. Dirty, dirty Leeds.
Here comes The Damned United, the story
of Brian Clough’s ill-fated, fetid 44 days as reigning champions Leeds United’s
manager in the summer of 1974.
Adapted for the stage from West Yorkshire
author David Peace’s book The Damned Utd, Anders Lustgarten’s play is presented
by Leeds’s Red Ladder Theatre Company at York Theatre Royal on April 17 at the
familiar kick-off time of 7.30pm.
The strife of Brian: The poster for Red Ladder Theatre Company’s The Damned United
The Damned United invites you to enter
the obsessed head of Brian Clough, already the enfant terrible of English
football management after his exit from Derby County, who arrives at Elland
Road in 1974, seeking to redeem his reputation by winning the European Cup with
his new club, Division One champions Leeds United.
This is the team he has despised for
years, the team he hates and that hates him no less. Don Revie’s Leeds, the
greatest but most grating team of its era.
Let playwright and political activist
Lustgarten’s abrasive play take you inside the tortured, drink-befuddled mind
of a north-eastern genius slamming up against his limits, as The Damned United “brings
to life the beauty and brutality of football, the working man’s ballet”.
Falling out with the chairman: Luke Dickson’s Brian Clough has another fractious encounter in The Damned United
Directed by Red Ladder artistic
director Rod Dixon and originally co-produced with West Yorkshire Playhouse in
2015, this latter-day Greek tragedy adapts Peace’s fictionalised, first-person
account to focus more on the flawed Clough’s fractious relationship down the
years with Peter Taylor, his sage and stoical regular right-hand man, who did
not accompany him to Elland Road.
This bullish character study of bravado,
loyalty and strained friendship is performed by Luke Dickson as Clough, David
Chafer as Taylor and Jamie Smelt as everyone else, while Dixon is joined in the
production team dug-out by set and projection designer Nina Dunn, lighting
designer Tim Skelly and sound designer Ed Heaton.
Tickets are on sale at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk, on 01904 623568 or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Heather Agyepong as Sephy in Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crosses at York Theatre Royal last April . Picture: Robert Day
YORK company Pilot Theatre will revive
their award-winning 2019 production of Noughts & Crosses for an autumn tour.
This announcement comes amid the blaze
of publicity for BBC One’s six-part adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s young
adult novel, filmed in South Africa, that began earlier this week.
Sabrina Mahfouz’s stage version of a modern-day
Romeo & Juliet tale of first love in a dangerous fictional dystopia will
be directed once more by Pilot artistic director Esther Richardson, whose
co-production of Crongton Knights played York Theatre Royal from February 25 to
29 on Pilot’s latest tour.
“We’re delighted that this show, which
was nominated for best show for children and young people at UK Theatre Awards,
is returning later this year,” says Esther. “It’s wonderful that even more
young people can experience this production and that Pilot will be able to tour
to areas of England that we haven’t visited, thanks to the support of Arts
Council England.”
Class act: more than school friends Sephy (Heather Agyepong) and Callum (Billy Harris) in Noughts And Crosses last year.
Noughts & Crosses will open at the
York theatre in a September 11 to 19 run before embarking on a national tour
until late-November.
Told from the perspectives of two
teenagers, Sephy and Callum, Blackman’s love story set in a volatile,
racially segregated society, where black (the Crosses) rules over white (the
Noughts), as she explores the powerful themes of love, revolution and what
it means to grow up in a divided world.
Sabrina Mahfouz’s adaptation for
teenagers is based on Blackman’s first book in the Noughts & Crosses series
for young adults, winner of the Red House Children’s Book Award and the
Fantastic Fiction Award, among other accolades.
Noughts & Crosses was produced
by Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry,
and the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, as the first show in a new partnership to
develop theatre for younger audiences. This is the consortium behind the
aforementioned tour of Emteaz Hussain’s
adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s Crongton Knights.
Pilot Theatre artistic director Esther Richardson
Last year, Noughts & Crosses won
the Excellence in Touring award at the UK
Theatre Awards, when also nominated for Best Show for Children and Young
People.
As with Crongton Knights, schools
workshops and outreach projects, along with free digital learning resources,
will be available alongside the autumn production of Noughts & Crosses
Casting will be announced in the coming
months. Tickets for the York run are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Here is a precis of Charles Hutchinson’s review of Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crosses at York Theatre Royal, printed in The Press, York, in April 2019.
“ESTHER Richardson proposed Noughts & Crosses when pitching for Pilot’s artistic directorship after Marcus Romer headed south, and her passion for Malorie Blackman’s twist on a Romeo & Juliet story is writ large in her telling of Sabrina Mahfouz’s electrifying adaptation.
Heather Agyepong’s Sephy in Noughts & Crosses last year
“In Blackman’s Britain, Noughts are the
white underlings; no orange juice; milk only on Fridays; no mobile phones;
second-rate secondary education. Crosses are the black ruling class; apartheid
divisions turned on their head.
“Never the twain shall meet on equal terms, except that Nought
Callum (Billy Harris), 15, and Cross Sephy (Heather Agyepong), 14, have been
friends throughout childhood, meeting secretly on her family’s private beach.
Sephy’s father, Kamal Hadley (Chris Jack), is the Home
Secretary; Callum’s mum, Meggie (Lisa Howard), is the Hadley family’s
housekeeper. When Callum is one of three Nought teens granted a place at
Sephy’s Crosses-only school, how will it affect their relationship?
“Blackman depicts a fractious, tinderbox world: Sephy’s mum
Jasmine (Doreene Blackstock) is an alcoholic, neglected by her preoccupied
husband; Callum’s dad Ryan (Daniel Copeland) and brother Jude (Jack Condon) are
Liberation Militia freedom fighters. Callum’s sister, so damaged in an assault,
has curled up in a ball ever since.
Pilot Theatre cast members in a scene in Noughts & Crosses
“As with Pilot’s first hit, Lord Of The Flies, our ability to
destroy rather than create bonds, to repeatedly take the wrong turn, lies at
the heart of Blackman’s damning, bleak vision that haunts us still more in
intolerant Brexit Britain.
“Sephy and Callum express a wish for a better world, one where
we rub along with each other, but this is a rotten Britain of death sentences,
an intransigent Home Secretary, thwarted love across the divide.
“Given the bold imagination of Blackman’s novel for young adults with its heroine figure of a bright black teenage girl, you might wish she had come up with a similarly bold answer to so many ultimately familiar woes.
“Alas not, but this is nevertheless a superb production with good performances all round, plenty of punch in the direction, and high-quality set, lighting, sound, music and video design.”
Matthew Kelly, left, and David Yelland in The Habit Of Art. Picture: Helen Maybanks
YORK Theatre Royal’s co-production of Alan Bennett’s comedy The Habit Of Art with the Original Theatre Company is heading to New York as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival.
Premiered in York in September 2018, Philip Franks’s show starring Matthew Kelly will be one of eight productions featured in 59E59 Theaters’ annual celebration of theatre from the UK.
Franks’s
production begins its
second British tour in March ahead of the American dates from May 29 to June 28
in one of 59E59 Theaters’ three off-Broadway spaces, having first toured Britain
in Autumn 2018.
The Habit Of Art director Philip Franks
Leeds playwright Bennett’s 2009 play imagines a meeting between friends and collaborators W.H. Auden, the York-born poet, and composer Benjamin Britten. Most of the original cast are in the latest production, including Kelly, David Yelland and Yorkshire actor Benjamin Chandler, who made his York Theatre Royal debut in the 2018 company.
Kelly says: “I’ve done Brits on
Broadway before in [Hull playwright] Richard Bean’s play Toast, which is very
different to The Habit Of Art. But Americans are going to love Alan Bennett
because they think they’re going to see something very British.”
John Wark, left, and Ben Chandler in The Habit Of Art. Picture: Helen Maybanks
Director Franks adds: “New York is the
most wonderful city but there’s a huge challenge because it’s such an English
play. I hope very much audiences will respond.”
The 2020 production of The Habit Of Art is produced by the Original Theatre Company and Anthology with Peter Stickney and York Theatre Royal.
Franks last directed in York in Summer 2019 when his Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre production of The Tempest ran at the Elizabethan pop-up theatre on the Castle car park.
REVIEW: Crongton Knights, Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal,
until Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
EVER since Lord Of The Flies, York Theatre Royal resident
company Pilot Theatre have made theatre that speaks directly to young
audiences.
Now, Pilot are in the second year of a four-year creative
partnership with Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, Derby Theatre and the Theatre
Royal, their reach spreading ever wider.
Last year’s gripping adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s radical Noughts & Crosses is followed up by another topical story, Emteaz Hussain’s stage account of Crongton Knights, a young adult novel by Brixton Bard Alex Wheatle, a London writer of Jamaican parentage.
Co-directed by Corey Campbell, artistic director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company, and Pilot artistic director Esther Richardson, it is a play with music, not a musical, but has the punch of West Side Story, the exhilarating beatbox and vocal score by Conrad Murray setting the story’s pulsating rhythm.
The Crongton Knights of the title are the self-styled
Magnificent Six, caught up at a young age in the gangland turf wars of the
Crongton Estate, divided into “North Crong” and “South Crong”, their homestead.
Into the dangerous Notre Dame estate they venture on a teen
quest, a mission to rescue the mobile phone of Venetia (Aimee Powell, the
show’s best singer), in the possession of her ex-boyfriend with incriminating
photographs she needs to erase.
Leading them is big-hearted McKay (Olisa Odele); alongside are
Jonah (Khai Shaw), Bit (Zak Douglas), Saira (Nigar Yeva) and, along for the
ride, and desperate to be their lookout, Bushkid (Kate Donnachie), on her bike.
What follows is a story of “lessons learned the hard way” at
the hands of those more experienced, more streetwise, more ruthless, more desperate,
as represented by Simi Egbejumi-David’s ensemble roles.
In Wheatle’s words, the Magnificent Six must “confront debt,
poverty, blackmail, loss, fear, the trauma of a flight from a foreign land and
the omnipresent threat of gangland violence”, but the tone is not suffocatingly
grim. Even in a world stacked against teens, there is hope; there is
positivity; above all there is the bond of friendship.
Pilot’s press release talked of a madcap adventure, and Simon Kenny’s graffiti-painted, rainbow-coloured, scaffolded set design plays to that spirit, especially when garage lock-up doors open up to show the Magnificent Six running in slow motion. Imagine a cartoon crossed with the black comedy drama of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.
Not all the dialogue is as clear as it could be, and nor is the story’s passage, but the highly energised performances, especially by Odele and Powell, are terrific, and special praise goes to Dale Mathurin for stepping into the role of Nesta with only two hot-housed days of rehearsals.
Richard G Jones’s lighting and Adam P McCready’s sound
design are important too, both complementing the urban wasteland of troubled
teens trying to find their place when so much is barren.
Denis Conway and Charlotte Emmerson as Otto and Anna Quangel and Joseph Marcell as Inspector Escherich in Alone In Berlin. Picture: Geraint Lewis
JOSEPH Marcell will be in York from March 3, appearing as a Gestapo inspector in the British premiere stage adaptation of Alone In Berlin at the Theatre Royal.
“As a non-white actor, I don’t get to play Nazis, so it’s a terrific boon to be playing Inspector Escherich,” he says, now settled into the second week of performances at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, York Theatre Royal’s co-producers of Alistair Beaton’s adaptation, directed by James Dacre.
Best known for his six seasons as the dry, sardonic butler in the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996, the St Lucia-born, Peckham-raised Marcell has played Othello in 1984 and King Lear in 2014 in a career that has taken him to the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, the West End and Broadway.
Now, as Inspector Escherich, he must track his quarry through ever-narrowing circles of totalitarian hell in Fallada’s story set in Nazi-era Berlin in 1940, where factory foreman Otto Quangel (played by Denis Conway) and his wife Anna (Charlotte Emmerson) join the German Resistance after their son’s death.
Joseph Marcell’s Inspector Escherich with Clive Mendus as Enno Kluge and Jessica Walker as Golden Elsie in a scene from Alone In Berlin. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Based on true events, Alone In Berlin becomes a vividly theatrical study of how paranoia can warp a society gripped by the fear of the night-time knock on the door, as the quietly courageous dissident couple stand up to the brutal reality of the Nazi regime, defying Hitler’s rule with the smallest of acts. Such actions prompt Marcell’s meticulous, methodical Escherich to seek to catch them.
“I hadn’t been aware of the novel beforehand, though I’ve since read it after I landed the role,” says Joseph, 71. “It’s really difficult to get a German perspective on wartime life in a German city in the Second World War, but Fallada presents the story of the working ‘stiff’ who has to survive in Berlin.
“This is a story that’s not told: the story of an ordinary German in the war, when we usually hear of heroes and villains.”
Joseph continues: “People seeing the play so far have been a little surprised that it’s full of domestic drama rather than jackboot marching, but it’s the story of an ordinary man [Otto Quangel] who gets to breaking point, and regardless of what might happen, he has to take a stand.”
“For Escherich, it’s not just about survival but the quality of survival ,” says Joseph Marcell. Picture: Geraint Lewis
Escherich is fighting for his own survival as a policeman who has been made a member of the Gestapo. “Now he’s no longer a policeman, but paramilitary, and you find him almost succumbing to the violence of the Gestapo,” says Joseph of his flawed character.
“He’s the opposite of Otto, who has to stand up for what he believes in, whereas for Escherich it’s not just about survival but the quality of survival.”
Analysing Escherich’s character further, and in particular once he has to work for the Gestapo, Joseph says: “He’s in it, but he’s not of it,” he says. “He’s a survivor, who has integrity, and though he works for the Nazis, he doesn’t realise he’s a Nazi.”
As part of his research for the role of Escherich, Joseph met up with a friend who was a “bigwig” at the Imperial War Museum in London. “He explained to me that detectives who worked for the Gestapo were seen as [the equivalent of] rock stars,” he says.
Joseph Marcell in rehearsal for Alone In Berlin. Picture: Manuel Harlan
“But they saw themselves as detectives first, who dealt with facts, and handling facts was something they had been trained to use all their lives, rather than rounding up six chaps and beating them up for information.”
While a sense of impending doom hangs over Alone In Berlin from the first beat, says Joseph, “what makes the story special is that it’s not about kings and queens and admirals, but an ordinary man struggling for survival.
“It makes you ask yourself, ‘would I resist or simply survive?’. ‘What would I have done in that situation?’.”
Who is “alone in Berlin”, Joseph? “They are all alone. In the end, it’s Otto and Anna who are alone, but the inspector is alone too. He has no interaction with ordinary people, except in trying to solve a ‘crime’. They must each take their individual journey,” he says.
Joseph Marcell’s Inspector Escherich interrogating Denis Conway’s Otto Quangel in Alone In Berlin. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Joseph, who was raised in Peckham, South London, from the age of nine, and trained initially to be an electrical engineer, has played a multitude of roles in a distinguished career. One so distinguished that he has been made a cultural ambassador of St Lucia, his Caribbean homeland, and he sits on the American board for Shakespeare’s Globe.
“All the roles you play have to be distinctive, whether Inspector Escherich or Lear [in King Lear for Shakespeare’s Globe in 2014],” he says. “The wonderful thing about Lear is that it’s the story of king who degenerates into a state of hopelessness but then re-emerges, essaying on the nature of kingship.
“After two years of playing Lear, I was exhausted, but with age and exhaustion comes the knowledge that though you seek perfection, there’s no chance of it. Each role requires an honesty, a dedication, whether it’s Hamlet, Othello or Lear.”
Recalling his six years starring with a young Will Smith in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air in the 1990s, Joseph says: “The most important thing at that time was being a highly successful television star. I couldn’t go to an event without NBC having a word about what I could say, what I should wear, so it’s a completely different process.
Joseph Marcell in the role of Geoffrey Butler, the butler, in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
“I was employed to play a role and people say I played it successfully – and nothing succeeds like success in America.
“I didn’t go to ‘butler school’, but I did speak to someone in Britain and two in Los Angeles about what being a butler entailed. The role was written by satirists from the New Yorker magazine and it was up to me to make it truthful.”
Truthfulness in a role is always important to Joseph, as is the never-ending pursuit of perfection. “After a hit role like Geoffrey Butler, in many cases actors might retire and live on their hard-earned gains, but I am an actor and I want to act and I want to do it perfectly, and that’s what I want to continue to do,” he says.
“That TV role has afforded me choice and I have to say I do what I want to do and I’ve been lucky enough that people think I can do it. That’s why I get to make three films and do four stage roles each year.”
” All the roles you play have to be distinctive, whether Inspector Escherich or Lear ,” says Joseph Marcell. Picture: Manuel Harlan
On Monday this week, Joseph was taken to lunch at Claridge’s, in Mayfair, to discuss an upcoming movie role. “I’m going to be in my first Western, Trees In Texas, a film with a lot of African-American history in it,” he reveals.
“I’ve finished a film made in Mexico, an Hispanic production called The Exorcism Of God, directed by Alejandro Hidalgo, and there’s a BBC piece I might be doing, playing an exorcist.”
As for the stage, he has one Shakespearean role he would still love to play: Prospero, the protagonist with magical powers in The Tempest. That will surely come his way.
York Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, present Alone In Berlin, York Theatre Royal, March 3 to 21. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan
Agnew presents his solo show, An Evening With Aggers, at York Theatre Royal on April
16.
The voice of summer on Test Match
Special, Agnew, 59, is a key figure in the world of cricket, both as a former
Leicestershire and England fast bowler and as a commentator on the game.
Last summer, he commentated
on England’s World Cup victory in the most breath-taking 50-plus-one overs
match of all time, followed by one of the most dramatic Test Match victories
ever witnessed, at Headingley, Leeds, when Ben Stokes took on the Australians.
Now broadcaster Aggers will be regaling
audiences with some of his special memories and amusing
anecdotes.
Agnew learnt his craft under the tutelage of Brian Johnston,
emerging from the notoriety of the gloriously funny “leg over” incident
(yes, you will hear that on the night) to become BBC Radio’s voice of
cricket .
Agnew’s solo show takes the audience on
a trip down memory lane, waxing lyrical about his extensive and entertaining
career on the cricket pitch, as well as his many years on TV screens
and radio stations around the world.
He also recalls encounters on his A
View From The Boundary feature on Test Match Special, forwhich
he has interviewed many a star of stage, screen and elsewhere,
including two prime ministers, several rock stars, film
legends, writers, comedians and a boy wizard.
Producer Simon Fielder says: “An Evening With Aggers will appeal to
cricket fans and non-lovers of the game alike. You don’t have to be
into the sport to enjoy the stories and humour. Aggers’s shows are
always funny, charming and moving. They capture the essence of TMS,
which has been a national institution for the past 60 years.”
As Aggers says: “It‘s not just cricket commentary, but friendly company
for people at home, in the car, on the beach and even tucked up in
bed.”
Audience members will have an opportunity to tweet Agnew on the
night with questions and maybe even meet his beloved dog Tino.
The 7.30pm show will raise money for the Professional Cricketers’
Trust (PCT) and York Theatre Royal’s work in the community. Tickets cost £20 on 01904 623568
or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
YORK Theatre Royal’s Community Drive
scheme is back on the road.
Under the scheme, older people – a group
that can be at risk of isolation – can enjoy a trip to the theatre, and as many
as 100 people will receive tickets and transport to matinee performances of
Northern Broadsides’ play Quality Street in June.
Maisie Pearson, the Theatre Royal’s development
and communications assistant, said: “A meaningful activity like attending a
show can help people overcome isolation and reconnect with their community,
something which is particularly important for our older audiences.”
The first Community Drive during Driving
Miss Daisy last June brought 51 older people from York to the Theatre Royal. Otherwise
unable to visit the theatre, they had a memorable afternoon, talking to staff
about past visits to the St Leonard’s Place theatre, enjoying the show and
taking away a programme as a memento of their visit.
The Theatre Royal worked with a taxi
company to transport Community Drive participants to and from the theatre and
also partnered with Age UK York to bring a group from their Thursday Club. For
some, this was the first time in years they had returned to the theatre.
Maurey Richards and Paula Wilcox in Driving Miss Daisy at York Theatre Royal last June. Picture: Sam Taylor
A Thursday Club member said: “It’s
a really lovely thing to be able to come to the theatre and feel part of
something… the community of the theatre. It’s so kind to have something done
for older people – to be remembered.”
For Quality Street, the Theatre Royal
is working with charities that support older people to offer tickets and
transport to see Laurie Sansom’s production of J M Barrie’s play at 1.30pm on
June 11 or 2.30pm on June 13.
Tickets and transport can be requested
as part of a community group, such as a charity, care provider or day centre.
To book tickets and discuss any transportation needs, charity/group organisers or
individuals should call Maisie Pearson on 01904 550148 or email maisie.pearson@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
“We’d like to thank everyone who has
supported us by donating to York Theatre Royal,” said Maisie. “Thank you for
enabling us to offer invaluable opportunities like the Community Drive.”
Adam Martyn in rehearsal for his role as Nicholas Saunderson in No Horizon
RIGHT Hand Theatre’s No Horizon, a musical
about a Yorkshire science and maths genius, is on the horizon at York Theatre
Royal.
Staged at 7.30pm on April 9 and 2.30pm and 7.30pm on April 11 – there will be no performance on Good Friday – the show is inspired by the life of Nicholas Saunderson, a blind scientist and mathematician from Thurlstone, West Riding, who overcame impossible odds to become a Cambridge professor and friend of royalty.
Often described as an 18th
century Stephen Hawking, Saunderson was born on January 20 1682, losing his
sight through smallpox when around a year old. This did not prevent him,
however, from acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek and studying
mathematics.
As a child, he learnt to read by tracing the engravings on tombstones around St John the Baptist Church in Penistone, near Barnsley, with his fingers.
No Horizon premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe, going on to draw an enthusiastic response from BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans, who called it a “Yorkshire Les Mis”.
Now, the musical has been adapted for a 2020 northern tour by Right Hand Theatre, a company passionate about diversity and inclusivity within theatre. The cast has a 50/50 male/female balance, delivering the show in a gender-blind way with a female Isaac Newton, for example. Both the director and lead actor are visually impaired.
The role of Saunderson is played by the
partially sighted Adam Martyn, from Doncaster, who trained at Liverpool
Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). The female lead role of Abigail goes to Yorkshire
born-and-bred, Rose Bruford College-trained Larissa Teale.
The cast is completed by Tom Vercnocke
as Joshua Dunn; Louise Willoughby as Anne Saunderson; Matthew Bugg as John
Saunderson; Ruarí Kelsey as Reverend Fox; Katie Donoghue and Olivia Smith as
Company.
The musical will be staged with a fresh
look by director Andrew Loretto; vocal coach Sally Egan; movement directors
Lucy Cullingford and Maria Clarke; costume designer Lydia Denno; costume maker
Sophie Roberts; lighting designer David Phillips and tour musical director
David Osmond.
No Horizon’s 2020 northern tour is funded by Arts
Council England and Foyle Foundation, co-commissioned by Cast, Doncaster and
The Civic, Barnsley, and supported by Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.
Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; April 9’s performance will be audio described, a Q&A will follow that night’s show.
Messy Eaters: on the menu at Taste Of SLAP at York Theatre Royal
TWO reasons lie behind the title of Taste Of SLAP, the “alternative Valentine’s Day treat” at York Theatre Royal tomorrow.
Organised by SLAP founders and co-directors Lydia Cottrell and Sophie Unwin, the last SLAP festival in 2019 ran for four days. This one, by contrast, is more concentrated: one day and evening’s tasty assortment of pay-what-you-can theatre and performance in different locations in the Theatre Royal.
Bite sized, in other words, and bite is apposite for the second reason. Taste Of SLAP’s day of cabaret, theatre, dinner dating, tea drinking, canape art and more besides takes the theme of food. Even a participating company carries the name of Teastain Theatre.
“After last year’s festival, the idea
was to have a year off and then do the festival every two years,” says Lydia. “But
that’s not the case now, as we believe it’s better to have a presence each
year, so we’re doing a day of events at various locations, ending with the return
of the DryHump Queer Cabaret.”
Sophie says: “The idea is to have a taster menu of everything you would have in a four-day SLAP festival. Everything has the theme of food, what with it being held the day after Valentine’s Day and coinciding with the musical Oliver! [Food Glorious Food et al] in the main house!”
Levantes Dance Theatre’s Canape Art
Lydia rejoins: “It’s always a dream to
have something for everyone at our SLAP events but I really believe we have
this time: some that are family friendly and some that are very definitely not.”
Should you be wondering what the
acronym SLAP stands for, the answer is Social Live Art Performance. “As a
company our aim is to create a fun and supportive environment for audiences to
experience live performance,” says Lydia.
“It is part of the SLAP ethos that
everyone that comes to SLAP is treated equally in the belief that everyone has
the right to experience art, no matter their background.”
Sophie adds: “SLAP are passionate about supporting local talent, as well as bringing international artists to the city. This year, we’ve collaborated with Drama Soc at the University of York to commission a brand new play, the quirky, rhyming Messy Eaters, written by student Aisling Lally that will be performed by York company Teastain Theatre.
“It’s directed by Jesse Roberts, who is a past artistic director of the Theatre Royal’s TakeOverFestival, and I reckon that Aisling, who’s an English Literature student, is definitely the next big thing.
“We’re also programming York St John University graduate Siara Illing Ahmed with her work I Am Mixed, where she’ll be feeding you food from her British, Pakistani and Irish background, telling the story of her life through food and discussing her heritage as an empowered woman.
Binaural Dinner Date: finding the “perfect date”
“We also have York puppeteer Freddie
Does Puppets – Freddie Hayes – presenting her new show in her Mrs Potatohead
costume as part of the cabaret event Dry Hump, with Fred serving Buckfast as
everyone arrives.”
Access is at the heart of SLAP too, the organisers always using venues that have flat or ramped access from the street, elevators and accessible bathrooms. “We also believe income should not be a barrier to accessing performance and that’s why we’ve made all events as part of the festival either free or pay-what-you-can,” says Lydia.
“Being artist led, our main aims are to provide a supportive environment for artists to create new work. Our main aim for audiences is for them to experience new contemporary performance in an accessible and non-exclusionary way.
“A big part of the ethos is that art is
for everyone and we want everyone to feel welcome during all of our events. We’ve
worked very hard to ensure that SLAP provides a safe environment and is a great
opportunity to experience live art for the first time.”
Sophie says: “Taste of SLAP involves eclectic performances from
artists working all over the country and beyond. We’re really excited to have
the opportunity to programme such a variety of celebrated artists, most of whom
have never performed here in York.
“We continue to offer an alternative to
the City of York’s cultural offering while also ensuring there’s something in
the programme for everyone. From family-friendly performance, intimate
experiences to conversations and cabaret.”
Siara Illing Ahmed in I Am Mixed
Taste Of SLAP performance menu for Saturday, February 15
Tea &
Tolerance, Café, 3pm to 6pm;
free.
A roaming tea trolley delivers piping
hot topics, not tea, and dishes out dialogue rather than digestives, with a
board game involving the topics being rolled up inside the tea pots to facilitate
conversations.
This show by a Leeds company was inspired by the York Mosque inviting the English Defence League in for a cup of tea and a chat.
I Am Mixed,Keregan Room, 3pm and 5pm; booking required.
A ‘Cefil’, a mixture of Celtic Ceilidh and Indian Mafill, is presented by Siara Illing Ahmed in an intimate storytelling experience. This autobiographical performance details the experience of growing up “mixed race” in Bradford.
Levantes Dance Theatre’sCanape Art, Café, 4pm and 6pm; free.
Dressed to impress, Levantes Dance
Theatre’s delightful duo serve up a glittery and unexpected twist on hors
d’oeuvres, creating beautiful, unique edible tattoos on the hands, arms and
faces with everyone they come across. Suitable for everyone from curious adults
to inquisitive tots.
Tea & Tolerance: board games leading to conversations
Binaural
Dinner Date,Café,
3pm, 5pm and 7.45pm. Booking required.
Co-ordinated by the Brazilian-London partnership
of ZU-UK, this is a post-Valentine’s Day alternative chance to find romance as a
voice in your ear – courtesy of headphones – guides you through the perfect
date. Come with your own date, or we can find one for you.
Messy Eaters, Studio, 7pm, sold out.
Everyone’s making a mess. Newlyweds Charles and Mabel spend Christmas with the in-laws, God, and a deadly secret. Shirley and Kevin reach boiling point, while stressed student Emma gains a keen tea guest who forgets his table manners.
Meanwhile, Ryan just doesn’t understand how girlfriend Abby likes her eggs in the morning. With five interlinking short plays on the menu, Messy Eaters is jam packed with current, juicy chaos.
DryHump,
De Grey Rooms, 8pm. Booking required.
A sumptuous feast of Queer Cabaret delights,
with small plates of performance, porky party games and delicious dancing.
Freddie Does Puppets, Rich Tea and Rocky Road and DJ Nik Nak all feature.
SLAP’s ticket policy: Taste Of Slap’s ticket brackets are £3, £6, £9 and £12. Choose the amount you would like to pay.
“We will never ask you to prove your
financial situation; just pick the amount that feels best for you. If you would
like to know more about any of the events, please email info@slapyork.co.uk,” say
the organisers.
DryHump Queer Cabaret: the finale to Taste Of SLAP
Tickets
are on sale at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk, on 01904 623568 or in person at the
Theatre Royal box office.
Food Glorious Food: the Young People’s Ensemble give it plenty in Oliver!. All pictures: Tom Arber
REVIEW: Oliver!, York Light Opera Company, York Theatre Royal, until February 22. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
DAME Berwick Kaler’s 41 years at York Theatre Royal
have come to an end, but one company with an even longer run there is still
rolling out the productions after 60 years.
York Light have chosen to mark another 60th anniversary by staging Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, first performed in the West End in 1960.
This latest revival of a perennial favourite utilises David Merrick and Donald Albert’s Broadway stage version, here directed and choreographed by Martyn Knight on an expansive set with walkways, bustling London streets, the drab workhouse, smart townhouse and the underworld of Fagin’s dingy den.
The show opens with a death outside the workhouse,
and the dead woman being promptly stripped of her necklace by an older woman:
welcome to dark Dickensian London.
Rory Mulvihill’s Fagin and Jonny Holbek’s Bill Sikes in York Light’s Oliver!. Picture: Tom Arber
Once inside, Food Glorious Food bursts into life, the first of so many familiar Lionel Bart songs, choreography well drilled, the young people’s ensemble lapping up their first big moment (even if their bowls are empty already!).
The directorial polish in Hunter’s show is established immediately; likewise, the playing of John Atkin’s orchestra is rich and in turn warm and dramatic. These will be the cornerstones throughout in a show so heavy on songs, with bursts of dialogue in between that sometimes do not catch fire by comparison with the fantastic singing.
This review was of the first night, leaving time
aplenty for the acting to raise to the level of the songs, but there really does
need to be more drama, for example, from all the adults in Oliver and Dodger’s
pickpocketing scene. Likewise, spoiler alert, Nancy’s death scene fails to
shock, although Jonny Holbek elsewhere has the menace in voice and demeanour
for Bill Sikes. Even his dog Bullseye looks scared of him.
Playing the nefarious Fagin for a second time, with a stoop, straggly hair and wispy beard, stalwart Rory Mulvihill has both the twinkle in his eye and the awareness of the fading of the light, characteristics he brings to the contrasting ensemble numbers You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two and Be Back Soon and the reflective, sombre solo Reviewing The Situation.
Jonathan Wells’s Mr Sowerberry and Annabel Van Griethuysen’s Mrs Sowerberry with Matthew Warry’s Oliver (alternating the role with Alex Edmondson)
Overall, the company could take a lead from Neil
Wood’s Mr Bumble and Pascha Turnbull’s Widow Twankey in their hanky-panky I
Shall Scream scene, full of humour, sauce and pleasing characterisation.
Alex Edmondson’s truculent Oliver and Jack Hambleton’s chipper Dodger bond well, especially in Consider Yourself; Jonathan Wells’s Mr Sowerberry and Annabel Van Griethuysen’s Mrs Sowerberry are in fine voice. Her singing is even better, creamier you might say, for the Milkmaid, when joined by Sarah Craggs’s Rose Seller, Helen Eckersall’s Strawberry Seller, Richard Bayton’s Knife Grinder and Edmondson’s Oliver for Who Will Buy?, always beautiful and deeply so here.
Emma Louise Dickinson’s Nancy gives Act Two opener
Oom-Pah-Pah plenty of oomph, and although As Long As He Needs Me sits uncomfortably
on modern ears with its seeming tolerance of domestic abuse, she gives that
bruised ballad everything twice over.
Reviewing the present situation, the singing is
strong, moving and fun when it should be, but, please sir, your reviewer wants
some more from the non-singing scenes, and then he might be back soon.
