Tuesday 27th July 2021 at York Theatre Royal. T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets is an intensive rumination on the passage of time and all its complex workings. It sometimes feels like a sermon on life, or group therapy. At other times, it takes on the form of an authoritative academic lecture warning us about the perils... Continue Reading →
Interview: Sean McKenzie Talks Park Bench Theatre’s “The Park Keeper”
Park Bench Theatre is back! Sean McKenzie is set to star in The Park Keeper, which runs 9 - 17 July 2021 and will play to socially distanced audiences at The Friends Garden, Rowntree Park. Written by the Olivier Award-winning Mike Kenny and celebrating 100 years of Rowntree Park, the story sees a hard-working Park... Continue Reading →
Review: The Greatest Play in the History of the World (Touring)
June 1st, 2021 at York Theatre Royal. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A good story told with great charm, that’s what The Greatest Play in the History of the World... is. It’s energised storytelling which refuses to let any lulls form and instead, ploughs onwards with a combination of great comic delivery and a recurring sense of gravity nestling... Continue Reading →
Review: The Handlebards’ Romeo & Juliet (Touring)
Tuesday May 25th 2021 at York Theatre Royal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This ‘very loose’ re-telling of Romeo and Juliet is a treat - mostly because the cast offer that special kind of ‘we are having the time of our lives up here’ magic, but also because it’s a glowing reminder of just how malleable Shakespeare texts can... Continue Reading →
Interview: Chris Hannon On Panto, Beckett & Engine House Theatre’s Park Bench Theatre Season
Guest Interview: Steve Pratt chats with Chris Hannon ahead of his work with Engine House Theatre in the upcoming Park Bench Theatre season. For actor Chris Hannon 2020 had all the makings of being an actor’s dream year - a TV series, performing in open air theatre in the summer and ending the year by... Continue Reading →
Interview: York Theatre Royal’s Tom Bird on Working in the Industry, Theatre for All & Making the Tough Decisions
After a twelve year stint on the London theatre scene, Tom Bird has recently taken the leap from Executive Producer at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to Executive Director at York Theatre Royal. At the helm of a regional producing and receiving theatre during a global pandemic, Bird remains confident that the arts can weather the current... Continue Reading →
5 Things to Love About: York Theatre Royal
A trip to one of the best, most informative theatre websites around will tell you that York Theatre Royal is not only ‘one of the oldest theatres in the UK’ sitting in the very heart of York, but it is ‘the oldest continuously operating theatre company in the English speaking world.’ As a theatre which... Continue Reading →
5 Things to Love About: Grand Opera House York
A set of buildings re-purposed for theatre and previously named the S.S Empire, this theatre (now run by ATG) has been through a range of revamps and reincarnations over the years. Now, from hosting touring productions to offering its own panto each year, the Grand Opera House York is a pretty fabulous theatre. Here’s five... Continue Reading →
Review: Less Than Human
Friday 13th March 2020 at York Theatre Royal (Studio). ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Out of Character Theatre’s Less Than Human certainly feels loudly reflective of the world outside theatre doors right now. Exploring ideas about social inequality and ‘survival of the fittest’ we meet a semi-civilisation in which ‘lesser’ beings are left to die in stairwells and those... Continue Reading →
Review: Ghost Stories (Touring)
Tuesday 11th March 2020 at the Grand Opera House, York ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ When it comes to this spooky joint venture from Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, it’s so much more about the journey than the destination. Using all bells, smoke, trickery and whistles available, this production swiftly creates a mild hysteria within its audience. If you’re... Continue Reading →