TWO whales, three world record attempts, a brace of Nativity plays, Vicki Michelle in Snow White, spook stories, Beckett and Byrne comedy nights and York’s band du jour stir up CHARLES HUTCHINSON’S enthusiasm
Guinness World Record attempt of the week
Minhee Jones, The Basement, City Screen, York, Tuesday, 1pm
UPCOMING indie-pop artist Minhee Jones is on a whirlwind tour from December 5 to 12, simultaneously trying to break three Guinness World Records and raise money and awareness for the Music Venue Trust. Keep up with Jones as she strives to play the most gigs in multiple cities in one week (50), 24 hours (12) and 12 hours (eight), while promoting new single Next Xmas.
Whale of a time of the week
Noel Narwhal Knows It All, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Wednesday to December 22
WRITER and director Cheryl Govan’s story of a nosy little narwhal who wants to know everyone’s business and ends up getting more than he bargained for is
interactive, silly and fun with a surprise in store.
“As our older audiences watch what’s happening in Treasure Island above the sea, our tiniest theatre-goers can see what’s happening under the ocean when a nosey narwhal tries to save the day and finds a new friendship along the way,” says Govan.
First Nativity play of the week
Nativity For York, York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust, Spurriergate Centre, York, Thursday to Sunday
“THE Nativity is probably a story that much of our audience will know, but we wanted to give it a fresh, new and contemporary perspective,” says director Philip Parr, after picking texts from the York Mystery Plays.
“Joseph, Mary and their baby are really no different from any other refugees - fleeing their country, persecution and the threat of death. To tell the story within this setting, and to ask questions of what happens now, we hope will engage audiences to take that question away with them.”
Panto opening of the week
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday to January 4
WILL Snow White escape the Queen’s evil magic? Will the wicked Queen hook up with the handsome Prince? Will Muddles ever make magic tricks to work? Will the Seven Dwarfs ever head home without singing that silly song?
“York’s very own” Louise Henry, from Knaresborough, plays Snow White, joining ’Allo, ’Allo! star Vicki Michelle, Aussie Mark Little, dame Steve Wickenden’s Nurse Brexit and magician Martin Daniels.
Spook stories of the week
Gerald Logan in Night Terrors, The McCarthy, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Thursday, 7.45pm
GERALD Logan spins spine-tingling “spook stories” of the supernatural from EF Benson’s ghost-story collection, Night Terrors, dramatised and directed by Gareth Armstrong.
From the deceptive comfort of an easy chair, master storyteller Logan will transport you to a sinister world where the unexpected and the inexplicable will intrigue and disturb.
Speedy return of the week
Rob Beckett, Wallop!, York Barbican, Thursday, 8pm
AFTER walloping the Barbican on October 24, comedian Rob Beckett returns with another dollop of Wallop!. The "Mouth of the South" cheeky chappie hosts BBC One’s All Together Now; does team captain duties on Channel 4’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats; co-presents The Magic Sponge podcast and has joined Romesh Ranganathan for Sky’s Rob And Romesh Vs.
Second Nativity play of the week
York Stage Musicals in The Flint Street Nativity, John Cooper Studio, 41 Monkgate, York, Thursday to December 22
TIM Firth’s The Flint Street Nativity forms York Stage Musicals’ first alternative festive offering. “This hilarious play really is one of the funniest observations I’ve come across based on the Christmas holidays”, says director Nik Briggs.
“Everyone knows the traditions surrounding the institution of the school nativity, but Firth has created a brilliant script set in the build-up to the much-anticipated show filled with laughs and just the right amount of pathos in an oversized classroom where adults play the children in Mrs Horrocks’ class.”
Most honest person of the General Election week, honestly
Ed Byrne, If I’m Honest, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
IN this confessional show, ever observational 47-year-old Dubliner Ed Byrne takes a “long hard look at himself and tries to decide if he has any traits that are worth passing on to his children". Byrne last played York on his Spoiler Alert! tour at the Grand Opera House in March 2018. Fact.
Hottest ticket of the week
Please Please You presents The Howl And The Hum, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm
THE Howl & The Hum, York’s band of the moment, and definitely next year too, sign off their home-city 2019 in the company of HYYTS, Before Breakfast and DJ Jericho Keys.
Check out their latest wonder work, The Only Boy Racer Left On The Island, their finest since Godmanchester Chinese Bridge.
The other whale of a time of the week
The Storm Whale, York Theatre Royal Studio, Saturday to January 4
YORK Theatre Royal, Little Angel Theatre and Engine House team up for writer-director Matt Aston’s adaptation of Benji Davies’s The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale In Winter, starring Julian Hoult, Gehane Stehler and Cassie Vallance.
These tender, heart-warming children’s stories of friendship, love and courage are brought to life by the team behind Grandad’s Island.
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