York-based writer Teresa Stenson scoops right to the unreachable corners of the psyche in prose both delicate and precise. Here, we review four short pieces that explore love, loss, identity and consent. Continue reading
Known for producing unique, intimate theatrical experiences in non-traditional venues, York-founded company The Flanagan Collective are teaming up with two local charities this month to make its immersive dining adaptation of A Christmas Carol extra special. The company has commissioned St Mary’s Church in Sheffield and York Nurturing Community to provide the two-course meal which takes centre-stage during its rousing rendition of the timeless classic. Continue reading
Well, here we all are again back for the annual rubbish at the York Theatre Royal pantomime, but with one big difference – 2018 is dame Berwick Kaler’s final year after forty years of writing, co-directing and starring in York’s most popular panto. There has always been something homely and comforting about hearing those Geordie tones cry out, “Me babbies me bairnes!” once a year – and this year the moment is delayed by a slightly over-long opening where the rest of the cast ponder what panto they will be doing and whether the script has even been written yet. Continue reading
This party is anything but little. Greeted warmly with York gin and tonic and Long Island accents, the cast and crew make themselves available to you from the moment you step over the threshold of the John Cooper Studio. Enigmatic suits and skirts of the American twenties beckon you around the building, now transformed into bars, dance halls, lounges and boudoirs. No corner is untouched, no person unwelcomed. Continue reading
Number four in the countdown to completion of the York Shakespeare Project, Coriolanus serves up a simmering vision of strategic class war in ancient Rome via nineteen-eighties Britain. Images of Margaret Thatcher lurk in among bin bags and protest placards stating ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and ‘Corn not Scorn’. Plastic sheaths metal fencing upstage, veiling Frairgate’s black box space as a breeding ground for conspiracy and uprising in this effectively subtle, minimalist production. A disjointed score of upbeat eighties pop music and Thatcher’s ‘U-turn’ speech set the tone for the unsettling tale. Continue reading
Led by Artistic Director Cassa Pancho, Ballet Black celebrates dancers of Black and Asian descent. Cathy Marston’s 2018 narrative piece is based on the 1963 short story The Suit by South African writer Can Themba. Originally published in the inaugural issue of South African literary journal The Classic, the story was banned by the apartheid regime. Though that setting is somewhat lost here without follow-up reading, the emotional truth of the characters’ experience sings through this delicate re-telling that honours both the tragedy of toxic jealousy and the breathless lightness of finding oneself welcomed unconditionally in another’s arms. Continue reading
From the moment that The Castaways opens, with the radio crackling to life to provide context, and Sam (Charlotte Wood) walks onstage, it is captivating. Set in a world in which rising sea levels have decimated riverside cities and displaced the people living there, The Castaways tells the story of Sam, a young mum, and her son, Alfie, through the new Britain this has created. The staging is deceptively simple; with nothing more than a radio, a stool, a tent and a teddy, the White Tree Theatre Company have created a performance that is utterly riveting and deeply moving. Continue reading
York-based company White Tree Theatre bring their powerful one-woman show to York Theatre Royal Studio. The dystopian near-future storytelling piece forms a part of Studio Discoveries, a week of exciting new theatre curated by community programming team Visionari, a new initiative giving voice to the local community. Continue reading
Wildgoose continue their run of plays new to York with Laura Wade’s first published script, Colder Than Here. The text is gentle, poetic, acutely observant. It dwells on familial responsibility, what we expect and need from those closest to us, how we remember each other in ways we have forgotten our younger selves. Continue reading
Bare winter branches stand guard in front of a huge mirrored prism cutting into centre-stage with a bold but cold-shoulder presence as large as the auditorium, echoing Mr Craven’s hunched back; the manifestation of his burden of grief. A protective freeze stills the house like Maleficent’s forest of thorns, and young life is encroaching, demanding growth and freedom. A vintage sheen of rust and silver make the space sparkle before lanterns thaw the world to an Indian summer, where Mary’s (Ella Dunlop) universe is all colour, music and dancing. At least, it would be, if only she were allowed even to be seen at her parents’ lavish parties. Continue reading