The final curtain: Berwick Kaler’s final wave on the night he retired after 40 years as York Theatre Royal’s dame on February 2 2019
TEN KEY POINTS FROM YORK THEATRE ROYAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TOM BIRD’S BBC RADIO YORK INTERVIEW WITH ADAM TOMLINSON THIS AFTERNOON
1. A new writer and director, with a new direction, will be appointed to make a “spectacular, fabulous, really York” Theatre Royal pantomime for 2020-2021.
2. Yes, it will still be a pantomime, not a winter show.
3. No, Berwick Kaler will not be involved as writer, co-director or dame.
4. Audience figures have declined for 11 years, from as high as 54,190 for Dick Turpin in 2008 to 30,000 so far (with two weeks to go) for Sleeping Beauty. Those “collapsing” figures have to be checked and reversed by attracting a new audience as well as retaining the regular theatregoers.
5. The current contract practice with the regular players, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass and A J Powell, is an unspoken agreement of a return for the next show, but Mr Bird wanted to be clear with those performers that this time this would not be the case. No-one is guaranteed an automatic contract renewal and no-one is on a long contract.
6. No regrets at the “halfway house” of retaining retired dame Berwick Kaler as writer and co-director for Sleeping Beauty as a chance to showcase the talents of the “amazing” cast regulars in a way audiences had not seen before, and “to some extent” this had happened. However, from ticket launch day onwards, some people had said ‘No, I’m not going to go.”
7. Refuting Berwick Kaler’s charges of “cheap sets, cheap costumes” for Sleeping Beauty, Mr Bird said the overall pantomime budget had increased. The designer [Anthony Lamble] was new, but the set and costume expenditure was the same as it was for The Grand Old Dame Of York last winter.
8. The new director and writer will need to have free rein for next winter’s pantomime, and if they were told they had to have certain actors, that would not be free rein. It should be a free shot, a state of autonomy, without any ties restricting them.
9. Could there be a U-turn, given that 1,400 people have signed an online petition to bring back Berwick? No.
Berwick had created something extraordinary over 40 years, but this is how life works: the panto needs a re-boot, one where “you don’t have to be in the club to come”.
10. The 2020-2021 pantomime will be announced at a launch on February 3.
Dame Berwick Kaler’s final wave at the end of his 40 years of pantomimes at York Theatre Royal on February 2 2019. All pictures: Anthony Robling
“Things have not gone well and it’s not the fault
of the cast. The sets do not do what the script requires.” Dame Berwick Kaler,
The Press, York, January 9.
IT should not have come to this, and yet it was
inevitable. Berwick Kaler told the full house on the last night of his 40-year
damehood on February 2 last year that he would be “back like a shot” if the
Theatre Royal came a’calling.
Now, in a move without consultation with those above him to match the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the very same week, and always a law unto himself, he has used the pages of The Press newspaper to tell the Theatre Royal to “take me back”, backed by long-serving principal girl Suzy Cooper.
“I made the biggest mistake saying I
was going to retire,” said Dame Berwick. “I want to jump out of my suit and
perform.”
Let’s remember that the dame called
time; he was not pushed into retirement, and a 40th anniversary
show gave Britain’s longest-serving dame a right royal and loyal send-off in
The Grand Old Dame Of York.
The knives are out…but from Berwick Kaler and Suzy Cooper in The Press, and not A J Powell in Edward Scissorhands mode in Sleeping Beauty.
Fully fit after his double heart
bypass, Dame Berwick has “retired” but, unlike Elvis, not left the building, writing the script for
Sleeping Beauty and co-directing the show with Matt Aston, purveyor of the past
three rock’n’roll pantomimes at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.
Like the dame, many a boxer later
decides he has made a mistake by retiring, but then makes a bigger one by
returning, having lost his punch or, in Berwick’s case, his punchlines.
The splash story in The Press amounts
to an act of mutiny by Berwick Kaler and Suzy Cooper, openly taking on the
management and the board with a series of criticisms that have been refuted
swiftly by executive director Tom Bird. In doing so, they are in essence saying
“Back us or sack us” and calling on the public, “our audience”, to support
their case.
Berwick may have been in for a shock
when The Press’s invitation to Have Your Say on whether he should be back on
stage next winter evoked such responses as: “No. Big ego.” “Time for completely
new blood.” “Time to move on, Berwick”. “Definitely not.” “Stay retired
Berwick. The pantomime has run its course.” Or, in the words of Farmer Tom:
“Time to have a completely fresh start. The Kaler days were legendary but
they’re gone. New blood needed.”
What the Kaler-Cooper outburst has
done is bring the debate out into the open, just as was the intention of the
headline in the charleshutchpress.co.uk review:
“Sleeping Beauty awakes at York Theatre Royal but should Dame Berwick era
be put to bed?”
A picture of innocence: Suzy Cooper as the young Princess Beauty, with her cuddly toy, in Sleeping Beauty
At the request of the rest of the “Not
Famous But Famous Five in York”, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass and
AJ Powell, Berwick was taken on once more as writer and co-director, also
appearing in the brace of films and voicing, aptly, a skeleton. The effect,
however, was like Banquo’s Ghost haunting this halfway house of a show.
And now, within the bubble of self-preservation, Berwick wants to be back, Suzy wants him back. However, while a bad workman blames his tools, as the saying goes, this particular workman, Berwick, blamed someone else’s tools – the “cheap sets and cheap costumes” – for “things not going well” for Sleeping Beauty. It is true Anthony Lamble’s designs did not match the spectacular heights of predecessor Mark Walters, but that slur is a cheap, inaccurate shot, and although he is right that Sleeping Beauty’s failings are “not the fault of the cast”, what of his own tools as writer and co-director?
Berwick is deluded in believing the
script was not at fault either, and it is no secret that the new, experimental Aston-Kaler
directorial partnership did not gel, alas.
Where does York Theatre Royal go
next? Bird and board cannot answer only to the needs and wishes of Berwick,
Suzy and their “loyal audience”. There is a wider audience to consider; those
who do not go to a Dame Berwick pantomime, but would like to see in this new
decade with a new beginning for the Theatre Royal’s winter show.
In particular, a show for the next generation of theatre-goers, children, who are noticeably outnumbered by adults at the Kaler brand of chaotic meta-panto, in contrast to the audience profile of pantomimes across the country.
David Leonard as Evil Diva in Sleeping Beauty, but will the greatest villain in pantoland return to York Theatre Royal next winter?
The CharlesHutchPress review of Sleeping Beauty on December 12 ended by pondering the Theatre Royal’s vision for 2020. “Are the days of this brand of pantomime behind you?”, it asked, “because the patented but weary “same old rubbish” won’t suffice next year.
“This is no
laughing matter, and here are the options,” it went on. “Bring back Dame
Berwick full on, working from the inside, not the outside, with all that goes
with that; or freshen up the panto in a different way, or find a new vehicle to
utilise the talents of Leonard, Cooper, Barrass and Powell. Many a theatre has
moved on from pantomime, whether Leeds Playhouse, the Stephen Joseph Theatre or
Hull Truck, and still found a winter winner. We await the Bird call…”.
The future of the Kaler pantomime is uncertain, says Suzy, who
fears the axe, but the future of pantomime at York Theatre Royal is not
uncertain. Will the Theatre Royal “take Berwick back” into the panto fold on
stage? No. No player is bigger than the club, as the football world is fond of
saying, and to continue the football analogy, Berwick and Suzy have scored an own
goal in going to The Press.
If Berwick, now 73, really does want to “jump out of my suit and
perform”, then how about doing so in plays for the veteran stage of acting:
Lear in King Lear, Prospero in The Tempest or Sir in Ronald Harwood’s The
Dresser with Martin Barrass as his Norman?
Come early February, we shall know the answer to the pantomime conundrum. Is it too outrageous to suggest that if it came to a choice between who is now more invaluable to the Theatre Royal panto, it would be the villainous David Leonard, not the mutinous Dame Berwick?
Giving him the bird: David Leonard’s Evil Diva in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. All pictures: Robling Photography
Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, until January 25 2020. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
UNLESS you have been asleep for 100 years, you will know Sleeping Beauty is the first York Theatre Royal pantomime since Berwick Kaler hung up his big boots after 40 years as Britain’s longest-serving dame.
Unlike Elvis, however, Kaler has not left the building. Now 73, he is still taking care of business, writing the script; co-directing with Leeds City Varieties rock’n’roll pantomime alumnus Matt Aston; appearing in two film sequences and in doll’s head form for baby Beauty, and providing sporadic voice-overs too. In other words, there is still a Kaler on the loose.
Slice-up: A J Powell’s ever-changing modes transform him into Edward Scissorhands
“You have given me a purpose to life,” he told his adoring panto public as he waved goodbye through the final curtain on February 2 this year. “I’m not going anywhere. If this theatre needs me, I’ll be back like a shot.”
Executive director Tom Bird and co decided they did need him for the first pantomime of the post-dame, post Damian Cruden directorship era. Britain’s best villain, David Leonard, perennially bouncy sidekick Martin Barrass, ageless principal girl Suzy Cooper and chameleon Brummie A J Powell said they needed him too, to write the script.
And so Berwick was back like a shot, ticket sales have passed the 30,000 mark, but how do you fill the black hole, the tornado wreaking havoc, the master adlibber, the smasher of theatre’s fourth wall that is the Kaler dame?
All rise: Martin Barrass’s down-to-earth Queen Aradne with Jack Lansbury’s King and newcomer Howie Michaels’ Funky the Flunky in Sleeping Beauty
This is the elephant in the room, a role more usually taken by Barrass in one of his animal acts. In fact, a better comparison is Banquo’s ghost, haunting this halfway house of a panto.
Sleeping Beauty retains the Kaler template, from Babbies And Bairns theme tune opening to Hope You’ll Return Next Year finale to convoluted plot, via disappointingly unfunny films (one with Berwick and Harry Gration) and a futile slosh scene.
As there ain’t no-one like Berwick’s dame, the remaining panto gang of four spread out their familiar traits without ever filling the gap. Thankfully, there’s no rest for the wicked, and so David Leonard is still fab-u-lous, with a dash of dame, or more truthfully waspish drag queen, about his Evil Diva, and his character switch with Powell’s ever-so-nice Darth Vader is the show’s one coup de theatre.
Principal girl, cuddly toy: Suzy Cooper’s Princess Beauty
Suzy Cooper’s Princess Beauty goes from St Trinian’s schoolgirl with a cuddly toy to leading song-and-dance routines, searching forlornly for better material, especially in a year when she has excelled as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare Rose Theatre’s Macbeth at Blenheim Palace.
Without his buddy Berwick to bounce off, Martin Barrass is in no man’s land – or even no mam’s land – as Queen Ariadne, not a dame, nor a queen, one with only one good (Bile Beans) costume and only one innovation, a nod to Eric Morecambe, to go with the old Barrass tropes.
Musical theatre newcomer Howie Michaels’s Funky the Flunky, big voice, big stage presence, fares well, and Jack Lansbury’s King/Tarquin Farquhar, dance captain Danielle Mullan and the ensemble work their panto socks off in frankly difficult circumstances, their reward coming in the stand-out Teenage Dirtbag routine, Grace Harrington’s best choreography..
Beauty and the beastly: Suzy Cooper with vainglorious villain David Leonard
Was it a mere coincidence that new designer Anthony Lamble’s sets lacked the sparkle of old, just as the comedy lacked the spark, surprise, timing, topicality and magical mayhem of the peak Kaler years?
Last night (December 11) felt awkward, uncomfortable, indulgent. Bird and the board have to ask: “Are the days of this brand of pantomime behind you?”, because the patented but weary “same old rubbish” won’t suffice next year.
This is no laughing matter, and here are the options. Bring back Dame Berwick full on, working from the inside, not the outside, with all that goes with that; freshen up the panto in a different way, or find a new vehicle to utilise the talents of Leonard, Cooper, Barrass and Powell. Many a theatre has moved on from pantomime, whether Leeds Playhouse, the Stephen Joseph Theatre or Hull Truck, and still found a winter winner. We await the Bird call…
Whale watch: Cassie Vallance’s Noi looks out for the little whale in The Storm Whale . Picture: Northedge Photography
CASSIE Vallance, such a scene stealer
in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s jazz-age Twelfth Night in the summer in York,
is seeing out the year in snow, ice and storms at York Theatre Royal.
Until January 4, Cassie is starring in
writer-director Matt Aston’s new adaptation of two Benji Davies stories of The
Storm Whale in the Studio’s Christmas show for four year olds and upwards.
Cassie is no stranger to the Theatre
Royal as a storyteller in the Story Craft Theatre children’s sessions and an
adult theatre workshop practitioner. The Storm Whale, however, marks the first
time she has performed in a production there.
“I’m very familiar with the space,” she
says. “I’ve been here a lot and seen a lot of shows. Now I’m very pleased to be
doing a show that both my kids can come and watch.”
Her children, aged four and one, are
the reason she knows Davies’s The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale In Winter,
the two stories that have been turned into a stage play by Aston’s company,
Engine House, in a co-production with York Theatre and the Little Angel Theatre
in London.
“I have two boys, so I read the books a
lot,” says Cassie. “I knew Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies as well. I do
storytelling at the theatre and the first one I did was The Storm Whale In
Winter.”
Cassie Vallance: actor, storyteller, clown and theatre workshop practitioner
Cassie plays Noi, a boy who lives with
his Dad and their six cats by the sea. One day Noi rescues a little whale
washed up on the beach during a storm and a friendship begins that changes
their lives forever.
As in all good children’s theatre, big
issues permeate the story. “It’s very much about the importance of belonging
and relationships and not feeling lonely. Sometimes people are lonely even in
the busiest crowded room,” says Cassie.
“Noi is a sweet young boy who is very
excitable when it comes to treasure hunting on the beach. He cares very much
for his Dad but isn’t necessarily in a relationship where they talk all the
time. He’s very passionate about finding friends, a bit awkward but very
lovable.”
“And yes, I’m a grown woman playing a ten-year-old
boy!” says Cassie, who sums up Noi in three words: “Endearing, awkward,
thoughtful.”
In addition to the cast of three,
Vallance, Julian Hoult and Gehane Strehler, the show features puppets aplenty: a
whale of course, plus seagulls, a cat called Sandwich and even a small puppet
Noi.
“Puppets change everything,” say Cassie.
“And when you see a puppet being worked well, you get completely absorbed and
lose the person behind it.”
Putting up the Christmas decorations: Cassie Vallance’s Noi with Julian Hoult’s Dad in The Storm Whale. Picture: Northedge Photography
She sees no difference between working on adult theatre, such as playing the gormless, goofy servant Fabian in Twelfth Night and Guildenstern in Hamlet this summer, and children’s theatre, such as The Storm Whale. What she does not enjoy is experiencing family shows that are patronising to children. “A lot of the time, children have a much great understanding than we give them credit for,” says Cassie. “Kids are really tuned in, especially on this big emotional stuff.”
Reflecting on ten summer weeks in York spent
performing Shakespeare in a pop-up Elizabethan theatre on the Castle car park,
Cassie says: “It was absolutely brilliant and I had the most fantastic time
doing it.
“I was very fortunate. My other half
and I are both actors and got the opportunity to do the show. I had a whale of
a time – no pun intended. It was lovely to see people getting so much out
of it. I got to be an absolute clown, which I loved doing.”
Now her focus is on playing Noi, and should
you be seeking a treasure of a family show this winter, hunt this one down, recommends
Cassie. “It’s a really lovely, hot chocolatey, yummy jam sandwich Christmas
show,” she says.
The Storm Whale makes a splash at York Theatre Royal Studio until January 4 2020. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Giving him the bird: David Leonard’s Evil Diva in Sleeping Beauty at York Theatre Royal. All pictures: Robling Photography
Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, until January 25 2020. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
UNLESS you have been asleep for 100 years, you will know Sleeping
Beauty is the first York Theatre Royal pantomime since Berwick Kaler hung up his
big boots after 40 years as Britain’s longest-serving dame.
Unlike Elvis, however, Kaler has not left the building. Now 73, he is still taking care of business, writing the script; co-directing with Leeds City Varieties rock’n’roll pantomime alumnus Matt Aston; appearing in two film sequences and in doll’s head form for baby Beauty, and providing sporadic voice-overs too. In other words, there is still a Kaler on the loose.
Slice-up: A J Powell’s ever-changing modes transform him into Edward Scissorhands
“You have given me a purpose to life,” he told his adoring
panto public as he waved goodbye through the final curtain on February 2 this
year. “I’m not going anywhere. If this theatre needs me, I’ll be back like
a shot.”
Executive director Tom Bird and co decided they did need him for the
first pantomime of the post-dame, post Damian Cruden directorship era. Britain’s
best villain, David Leonard, perennially bouncy sidekick Martin Barrass, ageless
principal girl Suzy Cooper and chameleon Brummie A J Powell said they needed
him too, to write the script.
And so Berwick was back like a shot, ticket sales have passed the 30,000
mark, but how do you fill the black hole, the tornado wreaking havoc, the
master adlibber, the smasher of theatre’s fourth wall that is the Kaler dame?
All rise: Martin Barrass’s down-to-earth Queen Aradne with Jack Lansbury’s King and newcomer Howie Michaels’ Funky the Flunky in Sleeping Beauty
This is the elephant in the room, a role more usually taken by Barrass
in one of his animal acts. In fact, a better comparison is Banquo’s ghost, haunting
this halfway house of a panto.
Sleeping Beauty retains the Kaler template, from Babbies And Bairns theme
tune opening to Hope You’ll Return Next Year finale to convoluted plot, via
disappointingly unfunny films (one with Berwick and Harry Gration) and a futile
slosh scene.
As there ain’t no-one like Berwick’s dame, the remaining panto gang of four spread out their familiar traits without ever filling the gap. Thankfully, there’s no rest for the wicked, and so David Leonard is still fab-u-lous, with a dash of dame, or more truthfully waspish drag queen, about his Evil Diva, and his character switch with Powell’s ever-so-nice Darth Vader is the show’s one coup de theatre.
Principal girl, cuddly toy: Suzy Cooper’s Princess Beauty
Suzy Cooper’s Princess Beauty goes from St Trinian’s schoolgirl with a cuddly toy to leading song-and-dance routines, searching forlornly for better material, especially in a year when she has excelled as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare Rose Theatre’s Macbeth at Blenheim Palace.
Without his buddy Berwick to bounce off, Martin Barrass is in no man’s land – or even no mam’s land – as Queen Ariadne, not a dame, nor a queen, one with only one good (Bile Beans) costume and only one innovation, a nod to Eric Morecambe, to go with the old Barrass tropes.
Musical theatre newcomer Howie Michaels’s Funky the Flunky, big voice, big stage presence, fares well, and Jack Lansbury’s King/Tarquin Farquhar, dance captain Danielle Mullan and the ensemble work their panto socks off in frankly difficult circumstances, their reward coming in the stand-out Teenage Dirtbag routine, Grace Harrington’s best choreography..
Beauty and the beastly: Suzy Cooper with vainglorious villain David Leonard
Was it a mere coincidence that new designer Anthony Lamble’s sets lacked
the sparkle of old, just as the comedy lacked the spark, surprise, timing, topicality
and magical mayhem of the peak Kaler years?
Last night felt awkward, uncomfortable, indulgent. Bird and the board
have to ask: “Are the days of this brand of pantomime behind you?”, because the
patented but weary “same old rubbish” won’t suffice next year.
This is no laughing matter, and here are the options. Bring back Dame Berwick full on, working from the inside, not the outside, with all that goes with that; freshen up the panto in a different way, or find a new vehicle to utilise the talents of Leonard, Cooper, Barrass and Powell. Many a theatre has moved on from pantomime, whether Leeds Playhouse, the Stephen Joseph Theatre or Hull Truck, and still found a winter winner. We await the Bird call…
The final curtain: Berwick Kaler saying farewell to 40 years as York Theatre Royal’s pantomime dame on February 2 2019
LAST night was press night for Sleeping Beauty, the first
York Theatre Royal pantomime since Berwick Kaler hung up the dame’s big boots
after 40 years.
Unlike Elvis, however, Kaler has not left the building. Now 73,
he is still taking care of business, writing the script; co-directing with
Leeds City Varieties rock’n’roll alumnus Matt Aston; appearing in two film
sequences and in doll’s head form for baby Beauty, and providing sporadic voiceovers
too.
How was the show? A thing of beauty, or should this panto
format be put to sleep? See Charles Hutchinson’s verdict later today.
In the meantime, let’s remember the Dame Berwick Kaler years
from an Ugly Sister in 1977 to exit stage left, February 2 2019. The total
reads: Jack And The Beanstalk, six pantos; Mother Goose, five; Cinderella,
five; Aladdin, five; Dick Whittington, four; Babes In The Wood, three; Sleeping
Beauty, two; Sinbad The Sailor, two; Humpty Dumpty, one; Beauty And The Beast,
one; Old Mother Milly, one; Dick Turpin, one; Humpty Dumpty, one; York Family
Robinson, one; Robin Hood & His Merry Mam, one, and his last stand, The
Grand Old Dame Of York, one.
Putting the Royal into York Theatre Royal: Martin Barrass as Queen Ariadne in Sleeping Beauty. Picture: Anthony Robling
HE ain’t nothing like a dame. Instead, Martin Barrass, perennial pantomime soft lad, comic stooge and sidekick punchbag, will not so much step into Berwick Kaler’s big boots at York Theatre Royal as reinvent himself in regal mode for Sleeping Beauty.
All rise for Barrass’s Queen Ariadne as the Hull-born actor adds to his repertoire in his 33rd panto, performing once more alongside David Leonard’s villainous Evil Diva, Suzy Cooper’s Princess Beauty and AJ Powell’s Darth Diva.
Dame Berwick may have left the stage after 40 years of pantomayhem, but he has not left the building, writing the script once more and directing the morning rehearsal sessions, as he works in tandem with new co-director Matt Aston for the first time.
Kaler has not been available for interviews, concentrating his energies elsewhere at 73 and leaving the spotlight to Barrass and others, although the betting odds are shorter than for Frankel at York Racecourse in 2012 that the departed dame will make an appearance on screen.
He’s still with stupid! “There’s still a bit there that’s my familiar character, so it has shades of the idiot,” says Martin Barrass. Picture: Anthony Robling
“My Queen will be like a duck,” says 63-year-old Barrass. “Looking serene on the surface but paddling away frantically beneath the water.
“This year, it sounds very much like I’ll be in a transitional place, where the dame would have been. My Queen will be ‘alpha and unputdownable’, but there’s still a bit there that’s my familiar character, so it still has shades of the idiot.”
Rather than anyone filling the black hole of pandemonium left by Kaler, the Panto Four will share the challenge, although the most intriguing progression is Barrass’s switch. “I’m aware it’s an enormous undertaking because people stop you in the street to ask, ‘So, Martin, are you the dame this year?’, and I have to say, ‘No, I’m the Queen of all her subjects’.
“I know I’m following in the footsteps of a master, the greatest ad-libber ever, and what you have to be in this role is slightly above it, aware of what’s going on around you, being prepared for any audience heckles.
Re-united: The Panto Four, now minus retired Dame Berwick Kaler,, in familiar pose, Suzy Cooper, David Leonard, Martin Barrass and A J Powell
“Comedy like this always has to be flexible, always switched on for the unexpected, the chance to be anarchistic.
”It will be a case of calming myself down for what lies ahead, but I’m lucky to have watched a genius in operation at close hand.”
You can sense that far from being intimidated by the task, Barrass is rising to it, just as he did when playing the deformed Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man or Stan Laurel in Laurel And Hardy at the Theatre Royal; station porter Albert Perks in E Nesbit’s The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum; or the 87-year-old waiter in Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors for the National Theatre at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Or, earlier this year, excelling as band conductor Danny Ormondroyd, “the Peter Postlethwaite role”, in Brassed Off at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Bounce back: Martin Barrass in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty. Picture: Anthony Robling
“I loved playing Perks, blowing the whistle, controlling the engines, just as I loved playing Danny, conducting a band of 36. I don’t know how we crammed them all in!” says Martin. “Being tone deaf, I had to learn everything about conducting. Playing Danny, he’s the king of his fiefdom, his colliery brass band, and he’s to be feared in some way, when you really make people listen to you.
“So now, playing Queen Ariadne, she won’t be afraid to throw her weight around, but in a nice way, as I’m only eight and a half stone.”
Over his 33 years as the stooge, Barrass has played all manner of animals, a giant carrot, a goofy archbishop and a twist on his hapless One Man, Two Guvnors character, the venerable, if physically vulnerable Chinese philosopher Wisehopper. The Queen will be different again. “Don’t expect to see a scrap of make-up because it’s in the tradition of Old Mother and Berwick’s dame: you know it’s played by a bloke,” he says.
“But how you play it is a tonal thing: you can have a lot of fun with the ‘bunchness’ of the voice, for example. Berwick always said, ‘I don’t want to offend the men in the room’, so I won’t be veering into the realms of drag and camp. I’ll leave that to David Leonard!”
Exit the dame: An emotional Martin Barrass, for so long his comic stooge, embraces Berwick Kaler at the close of the veteran dame’s last performance in The Grand Old Dame Of York on February 2.. Pictures: Anthony Robling
Placing his Queen, as opposed to a dame, Martin says: “Normally the role is someone like a washer woman of lower status, but you don’t get any bigger than the Queen! I’ll be playing her as a cross between Eric Morecambe and Fanny Craddock.
“As Berwick would be the first to say, you should do whatever suits you, whatever you’re at ease with, though there’ll still be traces of Hull in my Queen.
“So this Queen will be as common as muck, and that’s how you have fun with it, along with assuming Berwick’s role of always having the last say.”
He’s just had it!
Martin Barrass stars in Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, December 7 to January 25. Box office: 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Adam Martyn: partially sighted actor who will play 18th century blind scientist Nicholas Saunderson in No Horizon next year
NO Horizon, a new musical
that tells the forgotten story of a Yorkshire maths genius, will tour to York
Theatre Royal next April after more than a decade in the making.
Andy
Platt’s show is inspired by the life of Nicholas Saunderson, a blind scientist
and mathematician from the West Riding village of Thurlstone, near Penistone, who
overcame impossible odds to become a Cambridge professor and friend of royalty.
Often described as an 18th
century Stephen
Hawking, Saunderson was born in 1862 and by the age of one he was blinded by
smallpox. In an era before
Braille, it is said he taught himself to read by running his fingers over the
gravestones in a local churchyard.
He learned Latin and Greek and became Lucasian Professor of
Mathematics at Cambridge, a post also held by Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage
and the aforementioned Stephen Hawking.
In his
day, Saunderson spent time with kings and queens and had a reputation that
spread across Europe. Remarkably,
his field of expertise was not in mathematical equations, but in lecturing
about optics.
It is thought that Saunderson, who was elected a member of
the Royal Society, may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes’ theorem, a
mathematical formula for determining conditional probability.
A past performance of No Horizon, set to be revived on a northern tour in 2020
Described by singer and
BBC Radio Two presenter Elaine Paige as “one to watch out for”, Platt’s musical
will run in York on April 9 and 11 – no performance on Good Friday – as part of
its 2020 northern tour mounted by Right Hand Theatre, in the wake of an Edinburgh
Fringe run in 2016.
The show was first
written in 2003 by Platt, a former headmaster who rediscovered Saunderson’s
remarkable journey after it was forgotten by history.
“Saunderson’s achievement as the Stephen Hawking of his day
was phenomenal,” says the writer and producer. “I wanted No Horizon to
entertain and move the audience at the same time as restoring Saunderson to his
rightful place as a national icon. Next year’s tour is the culmination of a
15-year dream.”
The lead role of Saunderson will be played by the partially sighted Adam Martyn, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, who trained at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
He will be on the road in the 2020 tour from March 19, when No Horizon opens at
The Civic, Barnsley, the nearest major theatre near to Saunderson’s birthplace.
The poster for next spring’s tour of No Horizon by Right Hand Theatre
After further shows there
on March 20 and 21, the tour will head on to the Viaduct Theatre, Halifax,
March 26 to 28; Leeds City
Varieties, March 31 and April 1; Cast, Doncaster, April 2 to 4; Harrogate
Theatre, April 7 and 8; York Theatre Royal, April 9 and 11, and Millgate Arts
Centre, Delph, Saddleworth, April 15.
Helen Reid, producer at Right Hand
Theatre, says: “I’m so excited we’ve managed to pull off and organise a northern
tour. It’s only taken over a decade to do it!
“We couldn’t have done it without the
support of our fan base at the Edinburgh Fringe and locally, to help bring the
show to a wider audience.
“We
look forward to seeing our old fans and new fans alike at any of the northern
venues. The support we’ve had so far from the public and celebrities has been
immensely rewarding for Andy and the producers. We thank them all.”
The 2020 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.
York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or cityvarieties.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or at harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Olisa Odele: cast as McKay in Pilot Theatre’s Crongton Knights
YORK company Pilot Theatre have assembled
the cast for next year’s world premiere of Crongton Knights.
Adapted for the stage by Emteaz
Hussain from Alex Wheatle’s award-winning novel, Corey Campbell and Esther Richardson’s
co-production will be launched at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from February
8 to 22 before playing York Theatre Royal from February 25 to 29.
In Crongton Knights, life isn’t easy on
the Crongton Estate. McKay and his mates favour keeping their heads down, but
when a friend finds herself in trouble, they set out on a mission that goes
further than any of them imagined.
Katie Donnachie: playing Bushkid in Crongton Knights
Pilot Theatre’s show will take you on a
night of madcap adventure as McKay and his friends, The Magnificent Six, encounter
the dangers and triumphs of a quest gone awry.
The pulse of the city will be alive on
stage, propelled by a soundscape of beatboxing and vocals laid down by the cast
and created by musician Conrad Murray.
Rehearsals will begin in Coventry on January 6 2020. Leading the cast will be Olisa Odele as McKay, having played Ola in Chewing Gum on E4 and PC Merrick in BBC1’s Scarborough, while Kate Donnachie will take the role of Bushkid; Simi Egbejumi-David, Festus; Aimee Powell, Venetia; Khai Shaw, Jonah; Marcel White, Nesta, and Nigar Yeva, Saira.
Khai Shaw: taking the role of Jonah in Crongton Knights
The production team is led by Corey
Campbell, artistic director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company and co-artistic
director of the Belgrade Theatre for 2021, and Esther Richardson, Pilot’s
artistic director. The designer is Simon Kenny; lighting is by Richard G Jones,
who lit The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum, York.
Crongton Knights will be the
second of four co-productions between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre,
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and York Theatre Royal, who last year formed a partnership
to develop theatre for younger audiences in tandem with the Mercury Theatre,
Colchester.
Heather Agyepong as Sephy in Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crosses at York Theatre Royal in April 2019. Picture: Robert Day
From 2019 to 2022, the
consortium will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale touring production
each year. Each show will play in all the consortium venues, as well as touring
nationally.
The consortium’s first
production, Noughts & Crosses, was seen by more than 30,000
people on tour this year, with 40 per cent of the audience being aged under 20.
After the Coventry and York runs, Crongton Knights will be on tour until May 9, with further Yorkshire performances at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, from March 31 to April 4. York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Family wreckage: Jo Mousley as Hester in Athol Fugard’s Hello And Goodbye at York Theatre Royal Studio. Picture: Jane Hobson
Hello And Goodbye, York Theatre Royal Studio, until November 30. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
HELLO again
to in-house productions in the York Theatre Royal Studio with this revival of
Athol Fugard’s 1965 South African play Hello And Goodbye.
Associate artist
John R Wilkinson had lamented the hiatus since the fading away of such Studio works
as Blackbird, Blue/Orange and The White Crow and his own show, Can’t Stand Up
For Falling Down, six years ago, as he spoke of the pride and spirit engendered
by this resurrection: the very last word uttered in Fugard’s “biting yet beautiful
parable”, by the way.
“The blue magic of
that space has always given rise to intense, intimate storytelling,” said Wilkinson,
whose production is exactly that: intense and intimate.
Hello And Goodbye
is a two-hander, albeit with the “presence” of a third family member, the
father to Johnnie (Emilio Iannucci) and Hester (Jo Mousley).
God fearing: Emilio Iannucci’s Johnnie seeking resurrection in Hello And Goodbye, with Jo Mousley’s Hester in the doorway
Hester is making
an unexpected, unannounced visit to the family home at 57A Valley Road, Port
Elizabeth, after an absence stretching back longer than the aforementioned Studio
hiatus.
Iannucci’s Johnnie
already has delivered a restless, psychologically fevered monologue, one that
establishes both the dysfunctional state of the family and the unnerving dark,
even gothic, humour at play in Fugard’s writing.
Chatting afterwards
with Iannucci, he said audiences had laughed at some performances, not at
others, but the play had worked both ways.
The way it goes may
well depend on how you react to Johnnie telling Hester that he and their
disabled Dad have been getting on well enough, but she cannot disturb him because
he is asleep in the room next door. Put bluntly, his sleep could not be deeper.
Director John R Wilkinson: re-awakening the “blue magic” of the Theatre Royal Studio space
If Johnnie is
nervy, neurotic, repeatedly reaching for biblical quotes, Mousley’s Hester is
frenetic in her desperate search for the £500 that she believes their father has
squirrelled away somewhere in the house.
Johnnie can keep
the house if he lets her find and keep the money, a task that involves him
bringing through case after case that trigger traumatic memories of their past.
Their already fractured relationship only worsens as Fugard meditates on
family, selfishness and redemption, set against the social upheaval in South
Africa at large.
Hello And Goodbye brings to mind the discomfiting Sixties’ plays of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, not least in a set design that mirrors the frayed, wounded state of mind of the sparring siblings, as designer Laura Ann Price scatters the stage with debris from the crumbling, smashed-out back wall.
Wilkinson has cast
superbly: after his Studio debut in the children’s show E Nesbit’s The Book Of
Dragons in December 2017 and his Romeo in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s Romeo
And Juliet at Blenheim Palace this summer, Iannucci has hit new heights here,
calling on his physical theatre skills, his feel for black comedy and his
relish for a surprise.
Mousley is a brilliant
pick too, making her Theatre Royal debut after a year of outstanding performances
in the Leeds Playhouse Pop-Up Theatre Ensemble. Her Hester has the disruptive force
of an Ibsen, Chekhov or Greek tragedian female lead, and together with Iannucci,
they settle on a mutual South African accent that is another impressive feature
of Wilkinson’s intriguing, fascinating production.
In conversation,
he called Hello And Goodbye “weird”, smiling impishly as he said it. Make that
weird good, not weird bad.
