A lot of Christmas shows open this week including Northern Ballet’s The Nutcracker, which returns to the Grand Theatre, Leeds, for a short run until early December. Former artistic director David Nixon’s take on Marius Petipa’s classic, it retains both Tchaikovsky’s music, performed live by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, and that familier sense of hallucinatory lushness we all expect from the work. Nov 29-Dec 10, £20-£72
The Grand’s actual Christmas show is I Should Be So Lucky (Dec 12-30, £22-£53). The Stock, Aitken Waterman musical boasts no less than 10 Number One pop songs that defined an era. (Unfortunately, that era was the late 1980s and early 1990s — not one of my own life’s highpoints.) It’s directed by Debbie Isitt, the creative force behind the massively successful Nativity! film series. If I had any commercial sense I’d be chasing an interview with Pete Waterman about I Should Be So Lucky for this newsletter.
Lost Connections
But — not to diss Waterman, who has done great things to protect Britain’s vintage railway heritage — I have no commercial sense. I just write about shows that interest me. These tend to be the innovative ones with a strong, Yorkshire slant or connection. So instead of chasing Pete Waterman I found myself chatting yesterday with Alex Palmer, the artistic director of Leeds-based Riptide Theatre Company.
His new show Intermission is an intimate, one-on-one, therapeutic experience delivered by a team of mental health professionals, life coaches, yoga instructors, performers and masseuses. Palmer, like myself, has been influenced by Johan Hari’s book Lost Connections which, by gathering together the evidence of decades, pretty much explodes the myth that medication is the only, or even the most effective, way to treat the mental health epidemic gripping the planet.
Intermission is the second part of a five-year programme of projects under that title which explore how theatrical interventions might restore some of those shattered social ties and meanings that contribute to widespread depression. This is important work — I’ve secured a ticket and look forward to sharing the interview after I’ve participated in the session. To Dec 23, £44.
Jarman
When life takes an unexpected turn, especially a downward turn, it’s easy to feel as if you have lost the thread of your own story. In the mid-1980s film-maker Derek Jarman’s reputation was riding high on the back of critical successes like Caravaggio. But then he was diagnosed HIV+.
It was a death sentence at the time. Believing he might have as little as 18 months to live, he used a small inheritance from his father to buy a fisherman’s cottage on the shingle at Dungeness. It was a desolate spot overlooking a nuclear power station. But there he created one of the most significant gardens of the modern era.
Actor Mark Farrelly’s solo show tells the story of a controversial figure who lived, loved and died on his own terms. Jarman, Theatre@41 Monkgate, York, Nov 29, £12 & £14.
Pantomime
And now a word about pantomimes:
“In March 2021, Nick & Sandra sold HQ Theatres & Hospitality Ltd to Trafalgar Entertainment Group led by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire, partnered with Barings, the global investment and pension fund manager. In May 2021 they sold Qdos Pantomimes Ltd to Crossroads Live Holdings UK Ltd an acquisition vehicle partnered in the US by Raven Capital Management LLC and chaired in the UK by David Ian.”
Pantomimes are big business in the UK. When Scarborough couple Nick and Sandra Thomas set up Qdos Entertainment Group in 1999 they probably didn’t realise that they would ultimately strike a deal with a Wall Street investment company.
A small number of specialists with names you may not have heard of — Imagine, Paul Holman Associates, Crossroads Pantomimes — are responsible for an astonishing number of the most spectacular shows across the UK, with a lively sideline in hiring out sets and costumes.
For many venues, especially receiving houses which never stage their own work, this makes sense. It’s a slick, professional product. These companies are undaunted by the scale and financial commitment involved in creating the most important show of the year, and have access to the biggest names in popular entertainment.
But — there’s another way. Pinocchio, which runs at Hull Truck Theatre to Dec 31 (£10-£32) is an original production penned by award-winning children’s theatre playwright Mike Kenny alongside composer John Biddle. This pairing previously delivered an international hit in the shape of York Theatre Royal’s adaptation of Edith Nesbitt’s novel The Railway Children, and they’ve worked together to create a version of Carlo Collodi’s story that’s not just slosh and songs, glam and glitter but has depth. As Mike put it:
“We found ourselves getting excited by the simple story of a young character desperately wanting to feel ‘real’, and it suddenly felt so in tune with what many young people experience now, especially forming their identities online – who am I, what defines me, what makes me real?”
You can read my lockdown interview with Mike Kenny here.
Similarly, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, experienced local dramatist Nick Lane has been engaged to write a Beauty And The Beast which is full of both darkness and local colour. Dec 1-30, £10-£18.
And Harrogate Theatre’s rag-to-riches tale Dick Whittington is being overseen by none other than Marcus Romer, who for many years was at the helm of York-based Pilot Theatre which specialises in gritty work for hard-to-reach teenage audiences. To Jan 14, £13-£40
Add a cast composed not of celebrities but of local actors who can act (and sing! and dance!) — and I know which type of show I’d rather see. It’s the ones with all the family-filled fun and gaiety we expect of the genre but a little bit of ‘real’ at their emotional core.
Not Pantomime
Pantomimes are not for everybody. If you hate noise, mess and children then A Brief History Of Christmas at Bingley Arts Centre (Dec 3, £12) might be more your festive cup of tea. Chris Green and Sophie Matthews are early music specialists and the show takes in 600 years of music – featuring archaic instruments such as cittern, shawm and rauschpfeife, as well as the more familiar guitar, flute, oboe and accordion.
They also have two regional dates performing their unique concert version of Charles Dickens’s ghost story A Christmas Carol. Online, Dec 4, 7.30pm GMT, National Centre For Early Music, York, Dec 19, £7-£19, Bingley Arts Centre, Dec 21, £12
I can’t pretend I know of a strong Yorkshire connection for GreenMatthews — they’re based in Coventry — and they’re a folk band not a theatre company. I just love what they do!
Three Ghost Stories For Christmas
Imagine — three creepy stories told by a creepily talented actor in the medieval heart of the creepiest city in the UK. It’s creepiness trebled — or cubed. Or dragged into a different dimension entirely. Award-winning actor James Swanton is a native Yorkie who is making a name for himself in film circles as the next Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. Between Nov 27-Dec 11 he rings the changes on three Charles Dickens’ ghost stories (A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man) in the — yes, creepy — York Medical Society building on Stonegate. I don’t often describe shows as ‘unmissable’ (“should not be missed” is my theatre-reviewing pet hate) but this really is. Tickets from the York Theatre Royal website, £7.50 & £15.
Until next week!
Liz x