Malorie Blackman’s widely taught and celebrated is brought to the stage by a plethora of theatre companies; York Theatre Royal, Pilot Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Derby Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester co-produce this evocative theatrical adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz, directed by Esther Richardson. Continue reading
I can think of no better way to put Brexit woes behind you than to spend a night watching one of Mozart’s lesser performed (in York, anyway) operas, Idomeneo: the tale of a hapless leader, who makes a rash promise, and then spends the best part of three acts trying to deliver on that promise. Continue reading
Firstly, I write this review from a theatrical perspective and background, not an operatic one. A lover of Shakespeare and Macbeth, but a novice to this art form; I don’t know my aria from my elbow but I can tell drama when I see it (or hear it) and the English Touring Opera’s version of Verdi’s Macbeth (first performed in Italian in 1847) has it in bucketloads. Continue reading
Lost in A Sea of Glass and Tin is an intermedial performance devised by creative duo Gary and Claire, aka Gary Winters and Claire Hind, during a residency at Chicago Defibrillator Gallery and performed as part of York Literature Festival at York Theatre Royal Studio. Utterly incomprehensible, yet ultimately endearing, the show is inspired by David Lynch’s unsettling and noireesque imagination and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. Continue reading
PMac Productions presents a delightfully tactile version of Alfred Shaughnessy’s adaptation of Reginald Arkell’s 1950 novel Old Herbaceous, carefully cultivated in a raised-bed greenhouse in which Herbert Pinnegar (Peter Macqueen) reminisces on vignette memories of people he’s met, kept alive through his love of gardening; the remarkable, the formidable and the enchanting. Continue reading
This week saw York Theatre Royal hosting the stage adaptation of The Remains of the Day, based on the award-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and perhaps better known for the 1993 Merchant Ivory film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. A tough gig, perhaps especially considering that adaptations should appeal both to the ardent fan and the uninitiated. Continue reading
The Turk was a popular touring attraction of the late eighteenth century, until its destruction in 1854; an automaton fashioned in the garb of a mysterious Turk that challenged people to games of chess, winning the vast majority of them. Older readers may remember it being discussed on the children’s TV programme How, and it more recently was discussed on an episode of QI (in the H series, but identifying the episode title would be a huge spoiler). Continue reading
“I’ve got two dads. One’s black, so that makes me black, so I’m told.” It is with these words that David Judge begins SparkPlug, his semi-autobiographical account of growing up as a mixed-race child in the eighties and nineties. For the most part, he plays his father (also called Dave), examining his own childhood through the eyes of a white man, married to a white woman, who is giving birth to a child fathered by a black man. Continue reading
Nish Kumar, best known for hosting BBC’s Mash Report and also for his appearances on various well-known comedy panel shows, comes to The Grand Opera House York as part of his most recent 44-date tour. Continue reading
An almost empty stage is the setting for the iconic revenge tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi. A couple of black boxes, a soundscape and some eerie coloured lights are all the aid the actors have in bringing this piece to life, and they do so well. Continue reading