Ballet Black: INGOMA, PENDULUM and CLICK!

London-based company Ballet Black, celebrating their eighteenth year, return to York Theatre Royal following last year’s successful debut with a Triple Bill featuring INGOMA, contrasting dramatic and inventive storytelling in a lively showcase of modern ballets. Continue reading

Hello and Goodbye: “When the time comes…”

Marking the return of in-house productions to the Studio, York Theatre Royal Associate Artist John R. Wilkinson – Genesis Future Director Award 2018 (Young Vic) – directs internationally acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard’s deceptively simple domestic drama Hello and Goodbye. Continue reading

Nigel Slater’s Toast: a sweet treat to pass along

From making the perfect sherry trifle, waging war over cakes through to the gender politics of sweets and the rigid rules of restaurant dining, Nigel Slater’s Toast is a moving and evocative tale of love, loss and… toast. Continue reading

When The Rain Stops Falling: inherited tragedies

A York premiere and launch production for new theatre company Rigmarole, Andrew Bovell’s award-winning 2008 play When the Rain Stops Falling addresses the most important issue of our times: “Are we prepared to pass on the damage from the past to our children?” Continue reading

The Woman in Black: the wonder of mischievous light and shadow

Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt and directed by Robin Herford, Susan Hill’s 1983 ghost story The Woman in Black creeps the boards at York Theatre Royal, in a production first seen at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Hill’s home town of Scarborough. Continue reading

Cinderella the Physicist: theatre preview

“They’re my new friends, Buttons! My Ugly – on the inside – Step – not that that’s relevant – sister said I couldn’t go to the Royal Twins’ party and they used physics to help me. We should lure sister into the wardrobe with sweets? That’s mean! Let’s do it though.” Continue reading

Reasons To Stay Alive: theatre review

”Life is waiting for you. Hang on in there if you can. Life is always worth it.” English Touring Theatre and Sheffield Theatres present Reasons To Stay Alive, the first adaptation of best-selling author Matt Haig’s memoir on depression, imagined for the stage by Jonathan Watkins with text written by April De Angelis. Continue reading

Amanda Palmer ‘There Will Be No Intermission’: live music review

“I’m so happy I don’t have to do my show tonight,” breathes Amanda Palmer, the artist who makes no airs or graces about doing “exactly what the fuck you want”. Unflinching in her raw honesty, Palmer opens the evening’s entertainment with an acoustic ukulele serenade from the stage-left box, climbing out like Peter Pan and ambling, grinning, across the stage, taking in the room. She is here to live in the moment, because “the moment is real”. Continue reading

Blood Brothers: musical review

Bill Kenwright’s long-loved production of Blood Brothers returns to the Grand Opera House York with Lyn Paul in the iconic role of Mrs Johnstone for the final time, joined by Joel Benedict as Eddie, Danielle Corlass as Linda, Danny Taylor as Sammy and Chloe Taylor as Mrs Lyons. Alexander Patmore returns as Mickey alongside Robbie Scotcher as the narrator. Continue reading

It’s True, It’s True, It’s True: “I will say this forever”

Originally commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, Breach Theatre’s multi-award-winning It’s True, It’s True, It’s True is a devised play created with the cast using verbatim court transcripts from the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi for the rape of baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi; the seven-month trial that gripped Renaissance Rome. Continue reading