Tag: York Theatre Royal

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More Things To Do in York and beyond in 2025, whether new or Oldman. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 1, from The Press, York

Laura Fraser’s DI Bea Metcalf on the York waterfront in Channel 4’s crime drama Patience. Picture: Channel 4

FROM a neurodiverse TV crime drama to an Oscar winner’s stage return, Charles Hutchinson picks highlights of the year ahead.

Seeing York through a different lens: Patience, Channel 4 from January 8, 9pm

CHANNEL 4’s six-part police procedural drama Patience, set in York, opens with the two-part Paper Mountain Girl, on January 8 and 9, wherein autistic Police Records Office civilian worker Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis) brings her unique investigative insight to helping DI Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser) and her team.

Written for Eagle Eye Drama by Matt Baker, from Pocklington, Patience is as much a celebration of neurodiversity as a crime puzzle-solver. “The centre of York itself is a little bit like a puzzle,” he says.   

Lara McClure: Atmospheric storytelling at A Feast Of Fools II at the Black Swan Inn

Out with the old, in with the new: Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools II, Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York, Sunday, 7pm to 10.30pm; doors, 6pm

YORK collective Navigators Art presents a last gasp of mischief in an alternative end-of-season celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas, packed with live folk music, spoken word and a nod to the pagan and the impish.

Dr Lara McClure sets the scene with atmospheric storytelling, joined by York musicians Oli Collier, singer, guitarist and rising star Henry Parker, York alt-folk legends White Sail and poet and experimental musician Thomas Pearson. Book tickets at  bit.ly/nav-feast2.

Seeing eye to eye: Rob Auton in his new touring comedy vehicle The Eyes Open And Shut Show

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, March 5, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”

On the back of last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe trial run, Auton goes on the road from January 27 to May 4 with his eyes very much open. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

York-raised artist Harland Miller with his title work for the XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: courtesy of White Cube (Ollie Hammick), 2019

No stopping him this time, please: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, March 14 to August 31, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

AFTER the first Covid lockdown curtailed his York, So Good They Named It Once show only a month into its 2020 run, international artist and writer Harland Miller returns to the city where he was raised to present XXX, a new exhibition that showcases paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series.

Stirred by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities.

Harland Miller, XXX, oil on canvas, 2019. Copyright: Harland Miller. Photo copyright: White Cube, Theo Christelis

Coinciding with the release of a book of the same title by Phaidon, XXX features several new Miller works, including one that celebrates his home city, in a hard-edged series that melds the sacred seamlessly with the everyday, drawing inspiration from medieval manuscripts, where monks often laboured to produce intricate illuminated letters to mark the beginning of chapters.

In these works, the Yorkshire Pop artist – who is represented by White Cube – uses bold colours and typefaces to accentuate the expressive versatility of monosyllabic words and acronyms such as ESP, IF and Star.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a Q&A with the artist plus community activities to “inspire, inform and involve all”. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.

Gary Oldman in the dressing room when visiting York Theatre Royal last March to plan this spring’s production of Krapp’s Last Tape

Theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, April 14 to May 17

ONCE the pantomime Cat that fainted thrice in Dick Whittington in his 1979 cub days on the professional circuit, Oscar winner Gary Oldman returns to the Theatre Royal to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since the late-1980s.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate: Teaming up as Titania and Oberon – and Hippolyta and Theseus too – in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Look who’s back too: Suzy Cooper in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025. Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York actor Mark Holgate as the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon.

Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Beach hut five, Shed Seven: York band to make Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut in June

“Biggest ever headline show in their home county”: Shed Seven, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 14

IN the aftermath of their 30th anniversary celebrations and two number one albums in 2024, refulgent York band Shed Seven will focus on the great outdoors in the summer ahead, fulfilling a dream by making a long-overdue Scarborough OAT debut, when Jake Bugg and Cast will be their special guests. “It’s a stunning and historic venue…Yorkshire’s very own Hollywood Bowl!” enthuses lead singer Rick Witter.

The Sheds also return to Leeds Millennium Square on July 11, supported by Lightning Seeds and The Sherlocks. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk; Leeds,  gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.

Bridget Foreman: Co-writer of York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights’ community play His Last Report

Community play of the year: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company in His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, July 22 to August 3

YORK Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and York company Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch will co-direct a large-scale community project that focuses on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking 1900s’ investigation into the harsh realities of poverty.

Told through the voices of York’s residents, both past and present, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will ask “What is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed?” Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.


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Meet Sario Solomon, the leading lad himself in Aladdin pantomime at York Theatre Royal

Sario Solomon’s Aladdin in a scene with Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: SR Taylor Photography

SARIO Solomon is starring in the title role in Aladdin, this winter’s pantomime at York Theatre Royal, and is no stranger to the role.

“I played the part in Telford a few years ago. He’s full of energy and youthful exuberance, and he’s jokey and fun too,” he says.

“I had a really good time there, so I thought, ‘let’s give it another go, this time in York’. But I’m surprised I got it because I’m hopeless at the ‘self-tapes’ you have to send in and I’m not really tech savvy. It’s always hard to come across on camera as you want to be perceived, but luckily Juliet [creative director Juliet Forster] said ‘yes’.”

He had to miss the official pantomime launch on account of his acting commitments elsewhere that day but he did make a Sario solo trip to meet the media.

“I was playing the American-Italian Sonny, one of the Burger Palace Boys, on tour. I first played the part in London at the Dominion Theatre and then on the long UK tour – 18 months altogether, but I liked playing him. He’s funny, stupid and silly, so you can get away with things you can’t in other shows.

“It was wonderful to work with choreographer Arlene Phillips and director Nikolai Foster, who I’d done West Side Story with at the National Youth Music Theatre. That’s how he remembered me when he was casting for Grease.

“I was still on the Grease tour in the first week of rehearsals for Aladdin when I was able to commute from Sheffield each day and so we worked schedules around that.”

Does Sario prefer singing and dancing in musicals or acting in plays? “I just love musicals,” he says. “I knew I wanted to do musical theatre. I’m quite a silly, stupid person so straight acting is less appealing.

“It’s the same with panto. I like to have fun. It’s not meant to be serious! It’s meant to be funny. I like going over the top and having fun. It’s a  very English institution, so trying to describe it to my German friends is always difficult!”

Like so many, Sario first attended a pantomime in his childhood. “Jack And The Beanstalk, probably with my grandmother, at a theatre in North London, where I grew up,” he recalls. “I was intrigued.

“Straightaway I just loved anything on stage. I knew it was something I wanted to be in and be part of, partly because I remember how much joy it gave me as a child. I was told the importance of A levels and exams, but I went to the National Youth Music Theatre in the summer holidays.”

Among his career highlights, Sario has worked with Take That’s Gary Barlow. “After A-levels I entered the BBC talent contest Let It Shine to find four young men to form a boy band for a musical called The Band featuring Take That’s music. I was one of the winners, which got me into the industry and an agent.

Sario Solomon outside York Theatre Royal when promoting his role as Aladdin. Picture: Ant Robling

“My mother loves Take That very much, so I knew a lot of their 90s’ classics and really enjoyed their music. It was cool to meet Take That and have them as mentors, giving notes and their wisdom in rehearsals. Gary  was often there. 

“That show basically got me into performing, having done a few things as a kid. I realised I loved performing more than anything else, so Mum let me pursue that after GCSEs and A-levels.”

Sario did not attend drama school. “Sometimes I wish I had because there’s a certain level of dance I can’t do straight off to West End-trained standards. It takes me longer to learn, whereas there’s repetition built into drama school training, but once I’ve nailed it, I’m fine,” he says.

Sario’s mother is from Tokyo, his father, from Newcastle – they met in London – and he is as fluent in Japanese as he is in English. “I write in Japanese too,” he says. “I grew up in North London and went to Japanese school on Saturdays. I love Japan and Newcastle too.”

He is breaking new ground in his career by performing in York. “I’ve never been to York before, even though I’ve toured in theatre shows for four or five years, but I have seen photos and it looks very pretty,” he said at his June press day.

“It will be especially lovely to be here at Christmas. I hear York has a fantastic Christmas market and I do love a German Christmas market!”

Sario lives on a 54ft-long narrowboat in London, moored at Stamford Hill. “I have always loved streams and rivers, it’s very much in the Japanese culture,” he says. “Living on a boat appealed to me. You wake up seeing swans on the river and the wood burner alight. It’s also nice to live on my own rather than flat-sharing.

“I’ve always wanted to buy a place, but in London it’s nigh on impossible to do that, so the narrowboat was the best bet. I’ve been living on it for three or four years but I’m always so busy touring that in reality I’ve only been on it for about a year – though it was lovely to be there during the Covid lockdown.”

Home is where he will be headed once Aladdin and his magic carpet have come to rest one final time on January 5. “The carpet does acrobatics! You feel quite queasy after a while,” he reveals.

Post Aladdin, Sario promises himself: “I’ll eat, rest and prepare audition pieces if necessary. I need a bit of a holiday after being on the road for 18 months. I’m not 21 any more, I’m 27 and need a holiday.”

Sario Solomon plays Aladdin in Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Copyright of The Press, York

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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Wonderland dazzles into the New Year. Hutch’s List No. 47, from Gazette & Herald

Born to pun: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

PANTOMIMES, theatrical family adventures and a Wonderland experience are still delighting in 2024 as Charles Hutchinson also looks ahead to 2025.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s bodacious baddie, Hugo Pompidou, in UK Productions’ Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Bea Clancy’s Harrietty Clock and Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Checks and stripes: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham

Madder than the Mad Hatter if you don’t see: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025

FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.

The stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.    

Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s villainous bruiser, Bill Sikes, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Dickens of a good show: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm on December 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm, December 28 and 29

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature John Biddle’s musical arrangements to complement Dickens’s fable of Oliver Twist being born in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld on his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Party invitation: The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Music talk to note: The Arts Society, Helmsley presents Christmas In Bach’s Leipzig: The Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 6 2025, 7.30pm

IN his illustrated talk, commentator, broadcaster, performer and lecturer Sandy Burnett explores how Johann Sebastian Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig.

An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work, where the  German composer draws on various forms, ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of the dance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Malton & Norton Musical Theatre’s poster for January’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk

First big show of the New Year at Milton Rooms, Malton: Malton & Norton Musical Theatre in Jack & The Beanstalk, January 18 to 25. Performances: January 18, 1pm and 5.15pm; January 19, 2pm; January 21 to 24, 7.15pm; January 25, 1pm and 5.15pm

MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre pantomime stars promise a family-friendly giant adventure packed with laughs, toe-tapping songs and plenty of audience participation.

Jack, his brave mother and their quirky friends will face off against the towering giant in a magical world full of comedy and surprises in an enchanting tale of bravery and beanstalks. Box office: 07833 759263 or yourboxoffice.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when brain-bending puzzle attraction opens. Hutch’s List No. 53, from The Press

Paul Hawkyard’s villain Ivan Tobebooed and Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

OUT with the old, in with the new, as the pantomimes season concludes and Charles Hutchinson’s 2025 diary starts to take shape.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too, in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Professor Kettlestring: Launching a new attraction in York next month

First grand opening of the New Year: The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, Merchantgate, York, from January 10 2025

WELCOME to Matthew and Marianne Tritton-Hughes’s new attraction, The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, an immersive, educational world of more than 20 optical illusions, interactive exhibits and brain-bending challenges designed for curious minds of all ages.

Visitors can walk into the Professor’s sideways living room, disappear into his incognito chamber and discover a kitchen parlour where heads appear severed on platters. Box office: puzzlingworldyork.co.uk.

Jessica Steel: Performing at The Crescent in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity

Fundraiser of the month ahead: Lindow Man and Jessica Steel & Stuart Allan, The Crescent, York, January 11 2025, 7.30pm

ELECTRIFYING York soul, blues and rock’n’roll trio Lindow Man and York blues and soul singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan will play in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity. 

Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity is committed to addressing inequalities in hands-on charitable support for families looking after children with life-threatening conditions by working towards providing practical and emotional help to parents and carers via Family Support Workers. Pizzas from Curious Pizza Company will be available on the night. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Chris McCausland: Playing the Grand Opera House in 2025 and 2026

Comedy gig announcement of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 2025 and May 17 2026

AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland will return to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026.

Appearing on Sky Max over Christmas with fellow comic Lee Mack as sparring neighbours who must take on a gang of thieves in the festive film Bad Tidings, McCausland has added a second York date after selling out the first. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Public Service Broadcasting: Heading to York Barbican in March

Belated York debut announced: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27 2025, doors 7pm

AFTER 15 years of “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future”, London archivist art rock pioneers Public Service Broadcasting will make their York Barbican debut next spring with a line-up of corduroy-clad J Willgoose Esq., drummer companion Wrigglesworth, flugelhorn player J F Abraham and Mr B, specialist in visuals and set design for live performances.

Last October’s fifth studio album, The Last Flight, was built around the ill-fated final flight of American aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937, when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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George Ure is so happy to be directing panto in ‘favourite city’ of York as Beauty And The Beast plays Grand Opera House

George Ure: Director of Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York

GEORGE Ure has returned to a York rehearsal room for the first time since 2012 to direct the Grand Opera House pantomime Beauty And The Beast.

“I was last here to play Tom, one of the pilots in The Guinea Pig Club, the play by Susan Watkins, the wife of neurosurgeon Professor Sid Watkins, about the Second World War pilots who became the “guinea pig club” for pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe,” says the Scotsman, recalling artistic director Damian Cruden’s premiere at York Theatre Royal in October that year.

The Guinea Pig Club, by the way, was set up as an exclusive club for Battle of Britain pilots with extensive burns injuries who had been operated on by Sir Archibald. “We all stayed in touch with the Guinea Pig Club and got invited to their Christmas party,” recalls George.

“Fiona [Fiona Dolman, who played Sister O’Donnell] stayed the best of friends with one or two of the families.”

Born In Airdrie, 13 miles from Glasgow, George moved south in 2005 to study at Mountview [Academy of Theatre Arts].  “I’ve been based in London for nearly 20 years now, but York is my favourite place in the UK outside of Scotland, it really is,” he says of a city that has drawn him here for the joy of a “romantic weekend with my other half”.

“I love this city; it is a bit of me now, so when UK Productions asked me to do this pantomime, they didn’t have to ask me twice. I was contacted in the summertime by Anthony Williams, the executive pantomime director, who manages all 11 of their pantomimes. 

Phil Atkinson’s villainous Hugo Pompidou performing his mash-up of Work Of Art and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“We were reconnecting after not seeing each other for many years. He asked me what I was up to and I said I was looking for a show to direct. We discussed my ideas and I’ve been on the project since August.”

George brings directorial experience aplenty to staging Beauty And The Beast. “I’ve been working in drama schools for a long time: I’ve just finished a ten-year run at Urdang Academy, and I’m now working with one of my graduates, Hattie Dibb, who’s in the ensemble here after playing my leading lady in her leaving musical, Anne Pornick in Kipps.”

George has performed in panto on several occasions. “I played Peter Pan twice, once at Milton Keynes Theatre, then at New Wimbledon Theatre in 2015 [with Marcus Brigstocks as Captain Hook and Verne Troyer as Lofty the Pirate], and then I did Jack And The Beanstalk, back in Scotland at Perth Theatre, where I was Angus.” Angus, who is he? “Jack’s brother, the ‘dafty’. It was a brilliant show!”

George was raised on Scottish pantomimes. “I used to go to the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, where Gerard Kelly played the ‘Silly Billy’ role for 20 years. Stanley Baxter was a legend there too, and Elaine C Smith is still doing the show there after so many years [playing Mrs Smee in Peter Pan this winter],” he says.

“My aunt’s brother, Edward O’Toole, was the stage manager there for more than 20 years and he used to get us in to watch the preview, and my dad did a bit of shift work there at Christmas.”

George loves panto. “It’s such a cliché to say it’s a child’s first experience of theatre, but it’s true, and panto doesn’t have to be naff! I believe that if you can find the balance of humour and heart, it has the power to speak to everyone. At some point in the show it will touch everyone – and it has to have really good storytelling too.”

Directing a commercial pantomime is a flat-out experience, ‘hothousing’ a show in less than a fortnight. “I started on the Monday and ran the full show by Saturday morning; the next Monday was the tech day with a producer’s run, followed by notes, and then we flew over to the theatre to work towards opening on Saturday that week [December 7],” says George.

Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle and Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast in a pas de deux in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

“I’m a meticulous planner. Working in a drama school, you get used to tight schedules, so I had to plan ahead with a wish list for every department, and I’m happy to say that we were ahead of the game after the first week of rehearsals.”

George first met up with choreographer Alex Codd and musical director Arlene McNaught in September. “We talked through everyone’s music choices. I’m a collaborator; I don’t think there should be a dictator; I’m a team person as you can only succeed like that – though fundamentally I did have some strong feelings on what the music should be as I didn’t want it to be just chart hits.

“Beauty And The Beast is all about the plot, and the music should match that, and not just become an excuse to change lyrics of a pop hit to make it work.

“We’ve gone for pop music from many decades, from Carole King to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off in a mash-up with Chappell Roan’s Hot To Go!; Lovin’ Spoonful’s Do You Believe In Magic for Fairy Bon Bon to Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love (But I won’t Do That), plus songs from Wicked and  Les Miserables.

“We also have Work Of Art from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie mashed up with Rod Stewart’s Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? for the baddie, Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, who’s really like an anti-baddie because he’s so funny.

“The music was really important to me because it has to serve the plot and you have to have the balance right, and thankfully the producers were very welcoming of all my nonsense!”

Beauty And The Beast runs at Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Why you will be seeing CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double this Christmas and not only in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal

Evie Pickerill’s Spirit of the Ring in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

CBBC host Evie Pickerill is not only dashing around in two roles in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal this festive season, she also is popping up in the CBeebies pantomime, Beauty And The Beast.

“I’m playing the Robin,” she says. Not the first role that springs to mind in that story. “She’s Belle’s best friend, who’s a bird, so I got to fly! I’ve never flown across a stage before, so I was quite nervous about it but I loved it – and the costume was incredible!  Now I’d love to do it again, maybe playing Tinkerbell.”

Evie headed up to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre to record the televised pantomime before starting rehearsals for Aladdin. “We performed it live for two days at this huge, wonderful theatre. It’s been running in cinemas and you can see it on iPlayer in December as well as on CBeebies.”

The Theatre Royal rehearsals reunited Evie with choreographer Hayley Del Harrison, who had choreographed the CBeebies pantomime too. “She worked on my arm movements for the Robin, and it’s been lovely to work with her again in York, and with Juliet [director Juliet Forster] too, after she directed me in CBeebies’ Romeo And Juliet in 2021, when I played Juliet,” she says.

“Working for Evolution Productions at York Theatre Royal is big-boy panto; they’re the king of panto,” says Evie Pickerill

A principal presenter on the children’s television channel since 2018, she is the fourth CBeebies participant in the Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions co-production, following in the steps of Andy Day, Mandy Moate and James “Raven” McKenzie.

“That’s big shoes to fill,” she says. “Playing the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp is my first time on the York stage but I’ve been to York a handful of times and love it here.”

Her previous pantomimes were in her native Midlands. “I played Cinderella at The Grand, Wolverhampton, and Leicester de Montford Hall and Snow White at Wolverhampton, where everything was made locally for the show and we had an eight-piece orchestra and an ice rink with skating, though my Snow White escaped having to skate,” recalls Evie.

“To play the title role in my home town was a pinch-me moment. I’ve been watching shows there since I was young, so I’ve come full circle. I only wish my grandparents could have been there as they used to take me to shows, but my old teachers did come.”

Lift-off: Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp with the ensemble in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

Aladdin has presented differences aplenty from her past shows, not least “the luxury” of much longer rehearsals. “After doing panto for Imagine at Leicester and in-house at Wolverhampton, working for Evolution at York Theatre Royal is big-boy panto; they’re the king of panto. We’ve done a lot of character work, which is different from the other pantos I’ve done,” says Evie.

“I’m playing a different kind of role too: with the Spirit of the Ring, there’s a bit comedy, a bit of silliness. It’s also been nice to have the ‘safety blanket’ of Juliet and Hayley being there, but everyone has been so inviting.

“Robin [dame Robin Simpson] is so funny and Paul [villain Paul Hawkyard] is a delight to work with. I do lots of scenes with him.”

Evie Pickerill’s Genie of the Lamp with Sario Solomon’s Aladdin in a scene from Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography

In addition to the CBeebies pantomime, Evie has filmed Dodge’s Christmas Wish at Thursford, the home of the Christmas Spectacular in Norfolk. “It’ll be on CBeebies and iPlayer,” says Evie. “I play myself in this one. The synopsis is that Dodge, the dog in the CBeebies’ house, would like to give Father Christmas a present because no-one ever does that.

“So, we head off to the North Pole, but I won’t reveal who’ll be playing Father Christmas as it’s so exciting!”

Settled into York for the festive season, Evie feels very much at home in pantomime. “I first went when I was seven or eight and straightaway I said to my parents, ‘that’s what I want to do’,” she says. “I left home at 18 to go to drama school in Liverpool, doing the acting course at LIPA, and I’ve never looked back.”

Aladdin runs at York Theatre Royal until January 5 2025. No performances on December 19, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Copyright of The Press, York

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Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch serves up ‘alternative’ Nativity play A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre

It’s a Cracker: Holly Cassidy with the puppet dog in A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson

WRITER and artistic director Paul Birch is staging his first play since taking the reins of Riding Lights Theatre Company at Friargate Theatre, York, in July.

On tour from November 25 to December 18, A Christmas Cracker will conclude its travels with a home run in York from December 21 to 24.

Introducing a magical show packed with comedy, puppetry and seasonal storytelling for all the family, Paul says: “Things are not going well for world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer. She’s lost. There is snow in her wellies and her wise and faithful dog, Cracker, has some strange ideas about Christmas.

“Caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on condition that Ebenezer warm up her Christmas with some of her seasonal stories. If they bring her enough glad tidings, there’s a hot supper on the cards. If not, they will be thrown back out into the storm.

“With Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart in need of a magnificent miracle and Deadly the dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable, will Ebenezer triumph? Despite turbulent turkeys and hysterical hay fights, she has a plan and some tremendous tales to turn things around.”

Full of Birch’s trademark humour, “it’s kind of an alternative, unusual way into the Nativity story,” he says. “I would say it’s like a cross between Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run in its tone, and hopefully it pulls off that Pixar trick, where the whole family can sit down and enjoy it together.

Riding Lights artistic director Paul Birch, right, with executive director Oliver Brown outside Friargate Theatre

“It’s a play about communicating the importance of love, the importance of perseverance and the wonder and power of storytelling.

“So it’s a re-working of the Christmas story that also recognises that the act of storytelling itself has such a powerful effect on people. Part of the play shows how stories can be harmful too, where we have the ‘villains of the piece’  not actually being villains but playing out roles when they’ve been treated as villains, but then they discover that’s not the true story at all.”

Paul continues: “Stories are not just something we tell to each other but they also shape us. It’s about re-discovering the stories we tell and how we tell them to each other.

“It’s very difficult to live with the cynicism of our age. One of the things I think about the Creation story, whether you think the story is true or not, is that people can be transformed for the better and there is hope in that.

“Christian stories or stories of other faiths have hope embedded in them, and we have to come back to the hope that we can be better, we can make things better. What links His Last Report [next summer’s community play about the life and legacy of Seebohm Rowntree that Riding Lights will be doing with York Theatre Royal] and A Christmas Cracker is the common theme of the power of human beings to change things for the better.

“Maybe that is the case with all theatre: that thing of what happens as a result of that change into a new story. It’s not that stories simply go, ‘here is the message’, but that it is a point of connection between audience members and connection between theatre-makers and their audience.

Grace Hussey-Burd and Holly Cassidy in a scene in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s winter show A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson

“We’re trying to make sense of the world, not providing answers, but seeing new opportunities through new ideas.”

Paul points to the ever-changing shape of theatre being one of its prime strengths. “The difference between film or other recorded media and theatre is that they cannot be changed, but theatre can do that with each performance. It will change and shift, and not only the performers, but the audience too – and when theatre is good, it’s a dialogue between the two. That’s not to say it might not have clear provocations within it, but it always needs to be responsive.”

Paul first wrote A Christmas Cracker more than a decade ago. “I did re-write it for this production and even now I would re-work it again. We are always re-tuning. Watching with a young audience is always really interesting because they will tell you when it’s working and when it’s not.”

Paul’s hour-long play is directed by Erin Burbridge, retaining the Burbridge family involvement in Christian theatre company Riding Lights after the death of company founder Paul in May 2023. Her cast features Grace Hussey-Burd as Ebeneezer Sneezer and Holly Cassidy as Cracker and Mrs McGinty, with York actress Claire Morley on understudy duty.

Time to get cracking to secure tickets.

Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York, December 21 to 24. Performances: 11am, 1.30pm and 6pm, December 21 to 23; 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm, December 24. Box office: 01904 655317or ridinglights.org/achristmascracker.

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REVIEW: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 ***1/2

Magical performance: Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

SUDDENLY there are more similarities between the Grand Opera House and York Theatre Royal shows than at any time in more than three decades of reviewing York’s professional pantomimes. They even share their closing date.

Dowager dame Berwick Kaler is performing at neither theatre after hanging up his boots (except on The Archers!); both theatres have a sustained relationship with a commercial partner, Martin Dodd and UK Productions for a third year at the GOH, writer-producer Paul Hendy and Evolution Productions for a fifth season at the Theatre Royal.

Both writers, Jon Monie for Beauty And The Beast and Hendy for Aladdin, are Great British Pantomime Award winners. Both theatres have confirmed their return next year for the already announced Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou giving it large in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Once upon a time, the Grand Opera House was considered to be the pantomime for younger audiences, the Theatre Royal playing to devotees of Dame Berwick’s unique panto brio and banter with David Leonard, Martin Barrass and Suzy Cooper. Now, both shows put children’s entertainment to the fore.

Just as Evolution heralded a new broom at the Theatre Royal in 2020-2021, now UK Productions are bringing a new face to the Grand Opera House show, or more to the point, new faces, faces with abundant West End and TV credits. They have bonded in the hothouse of less than a fortnight’s rehearsals with ebullient, ultra-efficient Scottish director George Ure in central York.

The result is a slick show full of rousing singing, highly proficient ensemble scenes, a relish for the power of storytelling and bags of comedy set-pieces. Watching the 10.30am Thursday matinee surrounded by primary schoolchildren found double entendres sailing over young heads like a Joe Root reverse ramp, but this is surely the sauciest mainstream pantomime York has ever seen.

Shall we dance? Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle and Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Not a blue panto in the post-watershed Jim Davidson style, I stress, but certainly closer to the knuckle, tongue pushed further into cheeks than even Dame Berwick’s fruitier latter-day shows in his Theatre Royal pomp.  

The prime source of the sauce is Leon Craig, a towering presence of a highly experienced dame, all 6ft 7 of her Polly La Plonk in boots and high-rise wigs, who owns the York stage from the off, full of lip and lip gloss, camp cheek and dress dazzle.

Craig is a musical theatre specialist and his singing duly hits the heights here. Playing the Beast’s cook, his dame is both supportive and disruptive, as the role dictates, and his bond with the show’s clown, comedian Phil Reid as his son Louis La Plonk, sparks slapstick aplenty.

Clowning around: Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Reid, quick on his feet and in the head, works a treat with the children, all keen to be in his gang, not least the three picked out to join him stage for Choo Choo Wa, this show’s variation on the traditional song-sheet number that has everyone off their feet joining in.

The star on the show poster – as she is quick to remind us in her rap battle with Phil Atkinson’s villainous hunk Hugo Pompidou – is Tracy Beaker’s Dani Harmer, who previously appeared in Beauty And The Beast at York Barbican in 2015. She was Beauty in that Easter panto; now she is a no-nonsense Fairy Bon Bon, with a love-a-duck London accent and platform shoes, always game for a laugh, especially in that rap scrap.

Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, Craig’s match in double entendres, sends up his vainglorious villain with an ‘Allo ‘Allo! French accent and a keenness to show off his pecs at every opportunity.  

Ooh…you are Eiffel: The towering Leon Craig’s dame, Polly La Plonk. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

Jennifer Caldwell first caught the eye at the Grand Opera House as Anne Boleyn, the peachiest role in Six The Musical. Her rather more conservative but equally resolute Belle is both a knock-out singer and thoroughly lovely foil to all the silliness around her, both in her scenes with her impoverished artist father Clement (David Alcock) and especially with Samuel Wyn-Morris’s stentorian-voiced Beast.  

Wyn-Morris gives the show’s five-star performance, his singing rich and thunderous, his characterisation full of depth not usually to be found in pantomime. His scenes with Caldwell’s Belle are worthy of a proper, grown-up, serious romantic drama.

Ure’s assured direction is complemented by Alex Codd’s choreography, with room aplenty for an ensemble of Villagers and children’s teams from Dance Expression School of Dance and Lisa Marie Performing Arts, who are sharing performances. Musical director Arlene McNaught leads her three-piece orchestra with snap and crackle in the pop tunes.

Beauty And The Beast director George Ure

This is a polished pantomime whose one failing is that it could be playing anywhere in the country. It does not have enough acknowledgement of York and Yorkshire, with only perfunctory mentions of Wetwang and Ripon and a dig at Leeds United’s FA Cup incompetence.

The best pantos dip into a city’s culture, but if that is a missed opportunity, the show does make the most of its Camembert setting, oozing  in cheesy gags, French references and unforgettable Tricolour pants for Atkinson’s pompous Pompidou.    

UK Productions present Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

David Alcock’s Clement and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
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What will be next year’s pantomimes at Grand Opera House & York Theatre Royal?

Invitation to the ball: Grand Opera House announces Cinderella for next winter

TICKETS will go on sale at noon on Friday for next year’s Grand Opera House pantomime in York. The Cumberland Street theatre will present Cinderella from December 6 2025 to January 4 2026 in its fourth collaboration with UK Productions.

As with this winter’s panto, Beauty And The Beast, the show will feature a script by Jon Monie, winner of Best Script at the 2019 Great British Pantomime Awards.

Promising side-splitting comedy, lavish settings and adorable miniature ponies, Cinderella will be “more fun than you can shake a pumpkin at”. Star casting is to be announced but “expect stars from the West End and screen”.

Laura McMillan, the Grand Opera House theatre director, says: “As we open the spectacular Beauty And The Beast, we’re delighted that UK Productions will be returning next year with the most beloved of pantomimes of all time, Cinderella. I’m sure adults and children alike will be spellbound by this magical new show.”

UK Productions producer Martin Dodd says: “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without pantomime, and pantomime wouldn’t be pantomime without Cinderella. We are delighted to be presenting this fabulous story at York’s beautiful Grand Opera House, building on the success of this year’s musical pantomime, Beauty And The Beast.”

To take advantage of early bird ticket savings, book by Saturday, February 1 2025 to save £8 per ticket on select performances and seats.

Beauty And The Beast will run until January 5 2025 with a West End cast featuring CBBC’s BAFTA award-winning Dani Harmer, from Tracy Beaker and Strictly Come Dancing, as Fairy Bon Bon; dame Leon Craig, from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as Polly La Plonk, Jennifer Caldwell, from SIX The Musical, as Belle, and Samuel Wyn-Morris, from Les Misérables, as The Prince. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

York Theatre Royal’s promotional poster for dame Robin Simpson’s return in Sleeping Beauty in 2025

ROBIN Simpson will return for his sixth season as the dame in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime for 2025-26, Sleeping Beauty, billed as “an enchanting tale of adventure, fun and spellbinding magic for the whole family”. 

Co-produced with regular partners Evolution Productions, the show will run from December  2 2025 to January 4 2026, with “stunning costumes, gorgeous sets, dazzling special effects and all the spectacular magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime”.  

The show will be written by Evolution producer Paul Hendy and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, the team behind Aladdin this winter, Jack And The Beanstalk in 2023, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan in 2022, Cinderella in 2021 and the community-touring Travelling Pantomime in Covid-shadowed 2020.

Forster says: “We’ve been delighted to see so many people returning year after year to enjoy the magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime. We are so proud of the quality of the pantos we make and can’t wait to continue our panto adventures with Sleeping Beauty. It’s so brilliant to have Robin on board again too to bring the hilarity and fun as our dame!”  

Hendy says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with the fabulous team at York Theatre Royal again for our spectacular production of Sleeping Beauty. We are delighted Robin will be returning as our wonderful dame, and we can’t wait to share with you more exciting casting news in the New Year!” 

Simpson enthuses: “I am overjoyed to be playing the dame in next year’s Sleeping Beauty. I love the York audiences and it’s such a special place to perform every year at Christmas time. I’m looking forward to all the high jinks the dame will get up to in Sleeping Beauty!”  

Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Early birds who book before the end of March 2025 can benefit from a price freeze on ticket prices, with options ranging from £15 to £43.50.  

Family ticket discounts can be booked for £90 (for three including at least one child) and £120 (for four including at least one child.) Schools discounts are available when booking via the St Leonard’s Place box office.  

YTR Members receive an extra ten per cent off up to four tickets. For details of how to join YTR Membership, visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or contact the box office. 

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REVIEW: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, born to pun until January 5 2025 ***1/2

Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly with the magnet of love in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: SR Taylor Photography

THIS is York Theatre Royal’s fifth collaboration with regular pantomime award winners Evolution  Productions. On Tuesday, a sixth was confirmed for  next year when Sleeping Beauty will stir from December 2 2025 to January 4 2026 with Robin Simpson once more as the dotty dame and tickets on sale already.

The partnership is well grooved with tropes established in the writing of Evolution’s Paul Hendy and the casting and direction of Juliet Forster. Not only Simpson’s gregarious, teasing dame but also the presence of a CBeebies star each year; animals, whether live with Zeus the scene-stealing Border Collie last year or in rather more heavy-footed Welly the Elephant puppet form this time; plenty of set-piece spectacle and the obligatory ghost scene (here with the dame’s ghost gag bench).

A profusion of songs across the pop ages shares equal space with a love of putting the pun into punchlines and a preference for verbal wit over physical slapstick, although the latter still has its place.   

There is, too, an awareness of changing times and sensitivities, so while we still have a Spirit of the Ring and Genie of the Lamp (both played by CBeebies’ ever-playful Evie Pickerill, chasing her tail breathlessly and singing heartily), now Widow Twankey’s Chinese laundry has made way for Dame Dolly’s Pun shop.

The decision to change ‘Abanazar’ to ‘Ivan Tobebooed’ may be rather more to do with Hendy’s love of a daft name than any PC correctness. Paul Hawkyard, returning to exuberant York villainy after a winter away doing panto in Dubai, had predicted as much at September’s press launch. 

Hawkyard has such comic mischief about his burly, volcanic-voiced frame,  whether playing Bottom in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mardy to Simpson’s Manky in their Ugly Sister double act in Cinderella, or now Ivan, you find yourself wanting to cheer as much as boo him.

Your reviewer would have liked to have seen more scenes with Simpson’s Dame Dolly in comic combat with and Hawkyard’s Ivan, given their rare stage chemistry, affirmed once more by their will-they-won’t-they-kiss shenanigans, but maybe the plot did not permit more of such golden moments.

The comedy is shared out between Pickerill’s double act, Simpson’s sassy, sometimes saucy  Dame Dolly, Tommy Carmichael’s daft son Charlie and physical comedy specialist Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s PC World on his return to York after his dextrous turn as Inspector Fox in Around The World In  80 Days-ish this summer.

Armitt-Brewster’s officious officer rather out-stars the affable Carmichael, with better lines, better gags, funnier body movements too, but the children warm to Carmichael’s cheekiness and he plays his part alongside Armitt-Brewster and Simpson in the show’s best call-and-respond set-piece, as fractious as a rap battle when conducted with presses of a button to release a recorded line from a familiar pop hit to express their feelings.

The dame’s audience pick for humiliation, one Adam from the front row, plays his part in a headset in this scene and has an even bigger moment on stage earlier on when delivering a series of deliberately clunky  punchlines in a joke shop routine with ‘Terry-Bull’ timing.

Fresh from playing Sonny in the UK tour of Grease, Sario Solomon is a delightfully ever-positive Aladdin, as uplifting as his carpet ride and singing like a dream too, and he is matched by Emily Tang’s Princess Jasmine, thoroughly modern in outlook in being drawn to the personality, not the bank balance.

Clear storytelling and good values (rather than heavy-handed moral messaging) are always strong features of  creative director Juliet Forster’s direction, alongside the abundant humour, complemented by Hayley Del Harrison’s sparky, sparkling choreography. 

Morgan Brind’s costumes stand out more than his set designs, especially the dame’s merry-go-round of ever-dafter attire. Look out too for one shop sign: Sherlock Combs, Barber, a cut above the norm.

Hendy’s script finds room for cutting observations on York’s parking and potholes and takes pot-shots at Hull and the Grand Opera House pantomime too, and never has he had more fun with a pun in a show where the second half surpasses the first, as should always be the case. All New Adventures Of Peter Pan and Jack And The Beanstalk were superior but there is still plenty to enjoy in Aladdin.

Aladdin runs at York Theatre Royal until January 5 2025. Box office:01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.