Intimate Pages: From New York To Leeds
What's On In Yorkshire: Sep 2-8
Hello again. It’s been a while. My Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter went dark for a time, defeated by the combination of a long commute, demanding work responsibilities and post-Covid exhaustion.
But then, in May, I finally got my longed for part-time hours. Yay! I thought I would just dive back in. But no. First of all there was the financial horror show that is my five different pensions to examine. Then there was the endless but necessary trivia of decluttering and cleaning, and deciding whether I should ‘knock through’ the dividing wall between my living space and my tiny kitchen. (Answer: no. My fridge is too noisy.) There was gardening, and a magical trip to France, and that early-summer heatwave.
But finally, by some alchemical process of the subconscious, it was time to get serious again. Yorkshire Theatre: The Reboot.
So here I am. A new laptop. A new desk on order. (I’ve had this one, a 1970s MFI special, since the year I moved up to the Big School.) And a distinctly bolshier attitude — if such a thing were possible — towards the bizarre luxury belief systems around class, race, gender and the thankfully-now-disbanded-but-I’m-sorry-not-actually-genocidal-unless-you-count-Tasmania British Empire that infest the performance industries.
I’ve even bought a wonderful thing called a Midea Air Cooler to ward against heatwaves in the future. (You just put ice cubes in the… oh, never mind.)
So here we are. Long-term subscribers will notice two practical differences:
Firstly, I’ve altered my publication date. My listings week will run Saturday-Friday, and the main newsletter will drop at 2pm on Fridays. This is simply to facilitate my day-job.
Secondly, I’ve created a new section, which I’m calling my Green Room. This is because I find the ‘parasocial’ aspect of newsletter writing unnerving — and at times difficult to negotiate.
A parasocial relationship is one in which we think we know someone better than we do. This is because we consume their creative content — which frequently in the new media includes intriguing and relatable biographical detail. We all do it — I thought I knew the late TV writer and producer Kay Mellor much better than, on reflection, I actually did.
But it’s a difficult balance to get right. The newsletter format encourages a personal voice, but this newsletter is data rich. It’s about the shows.
My Green Room is where I can overshare with a clear conscience. You are welcome to sign up and be friends. It’s where I can post erratically and eclectically, without fear of irritating the people who are here simply for the industry news and listings content — not that anybody has actually complained.
Anyway, to work. Here’s my round-up for the forthcoming week:
What’s On (Sep 2-8)
The big news is that New York City Ballet superstar Tiler Peck stopped by Leeds recently to make her European choreographing debut. The short work, which showcases her love of the classical dance vocabulary, is set to Janacek’s Second Quartet, Intimate Letters. It forms part of the triple bill at Northern Ballet’s purpose-built venue in Quarry Hill, central Leeds, which launches the artistic directorship of Italian dancer Federico Bonelli.
The other segments are Joie De Vivre, a UK première by up-and-coming Royal Ballet choreographer Benjamin Ella, and Adagio Hammerklavier by Hans van Manen, a 50-year-old Dutch ballet set to Adagio, the third movent from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No 29.
Northern Ballet’s previous artistic director, David Nixon OBE, occupied the role for 20 years before announcing his departure in that crazy year of moves, changes and resets — 2021. So Generations: Three Short Ballets at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre is an important moment for the company. (Sep 8 & 9, 14-16, £30 & £35, under-30s night Sep 12, £10 inc drink)
There are two other notable mainstage premieres this week. Both are new plays by Yorkshire-based playwrights with international reputations. Constant Companions, which opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the round at Scarborough on Sep 7, is Alan Ayckbourn’s 89th play. One pities the marketing team — when you’re attempting to publicise someone’s 89th play it must be difficult to generate an air of excitement. What proportion of that prolific output will enter the theatrical canon I will leave history to decide — Joking Apart, a corrosive tale of too much happiness which he wrote in the 1970s, is my personal favourite of the ones I’ve seen. But here’s the thing: with that much experience, with that much craft under your belt, you can respond to events very quickly. Constant Companions tackles this year’s scare story — artificial intelligence — head on, in a comic tale of human loneliness and out-of-control friendship robots. (Sep 7-Oct 7, £10-£30)
With the success of the BBC’s Northern Soul Prom still ringing in our ears, John Godber’s musical play Do I Love You, which opens at the Theatre Royal Wakefield on Sep 7, is also timely. When the Prom was broadcast I feared for NHS emergency departments across the North as gentlemen of a certain era attempted to relive past dance glories. But Northern Soul (the British working class cult of obscure 1960s American soul records) has many younger fans too. This is the tale of Natalie and Kyle, who find meaning in their noticeably not levelled-up lives (whatever happened to that?) when they fall in love with the genre. After Wakefield (Sep 7-16, £15-£25), Do I Love You travels to the Georgian Theatre, Richmond (Sep 27-29), Halifax Viaduct (Oct 3-5), Barnsley Civic (Oct 6 & 7), Bridlington Spa (Oct 27-28), Hull Truck Theatre (Oct 31-Nov 4) and the SJT, Scarborough (Feb 7-10) plus other dates nationwide.
The other mainstage show to watch this week is the spectacular touring production of Life of Pi at the Lyceum (Sheffield Theatres). Based on the internationally best selling novel by Yann Martel, it tells of a boy trapped on a small boat in the Pacific Ocean with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. It’s in Sheffield until Sep 16 (£15-£55), then the Alhambra, Bradford (Nov 6-11), the Grand, Leeds (Jan 9-13) and New Theatre, Hull (Mar 25-30).
There are two standouts on at smaller venues:
Mapp and Lucia writer E.F. Benson was born at the heart of the Establishment in 1867. But his carefully concealed - yet nonetheless explored - homosexuality, and the fact that his work was once praised by H.P. Lovecraft hints at an interior life that was edgier than it appeared. Actor Gerard Logan stars in a creepy solo show: Night Terrors: The Ghost Stories of EF Benson at the Square Chapel, Halifax, on Sep 7 (£18).
And Doncaster-based Sheepish Productions are kicking off their 2023 tour of The Last Motel at Theatre Deli in Sheffield on Sep 8 & 9 (£8 & 10). The two-hander, written by Jeremy Fletcher, stars Angela Rose and Jeremy Drakes in a dark comedy involving an ordinary bloke with an armed robbery side-hustle and his accidental hostage — a female vicar. The Last Motel travels to Skipton Town Hall on Sep 21, and Welburn and Crambeck Village Hall on Sep 23.
Kids
From the lasting impacts of lockdown to ‘progressive’ teachers and social media, kids have a lot to contend with nowadays. In the aftermath of the Bristol Tobacco Factory’s The Family Sex Show debacle, which drew my attention to the activities of an outfit called the School of Sexuality Education (schoolofsexed.org), it’s as well to be aware of exactly what’s on your child’s outsourced RSE curriculum.
What children like best, it seems, is savage punishments for selfish people and rewards for being kind. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: The Musical at the New Theatre, Hull (Sep 6-16), has these in abundance. It’s based on the classic 1970s film starring Gene Wilder and includes the songs Candy Man and Pure Imagination. Given how Roald Dahl perfectly captures the fantastical yearnings of a child who doesn’t have enough, I find it ironic that ticket prices for this touring production start at £25 each and rise rapidly from there.
Another safe bet — and a bit cheaper — is balletLORENT’s Rapunzel at CAST Doncaster. This show, aimed at fives and older, has been around for a while (Newcastle-based balletLORENT is 30 years old). But it scores highly on every front from poet Carol Ann Duffy’s script to music by award-winning composer Michael Gold and costumes by Michelle Clapton (Game Of Thrones). Sep 8 & 9, £14-£27.
Rapunzel After Dark (Sep 9, phone for availability) puts an adult spin on a story of longing and childlessness.
Finally…
With Autumn programming only really getting started towards the end of the week, you might be at a loss for good shows to see earlier. Your best bet if the weather holds up is
Hull’s Freedom Festival (lots of free outdoor street carnival and European acrobatics) — to Sep 3, times vary
Unlimited Theatre and Upswing’s afro-futurist Ancient Futures in Millenium Square in Leeds. Sep 2, 4pm, Sep 3, 12.30pm and 4pm.
NEST. This promenade piece takes place across St Aidan's RSPB Nature Park in East Leeds and is a co-production between the National Youth Theatre and Leeds Playhouse. Part of Leeds 2023 it somewhat inevitably has a didactic message about climate change. Well, it has been an odd summer. Sep 5, £8-£16
See you next week!
Liz x
Very witty, informative and observant as usual and I chuckle out loud at the personal life details that Liz shares with us. I'm looking forward to the next News letter.
Claudia