live music reviews may 2008

INFADELS - FIBBERS, YORK - 13/03/08

It's always so satisfying leaving a packed gig where everyone is smiling and buzzing.   But that's what the Infadels do...they are a whole heap of fun, packaged as a great electronic rock band.

I mean, where else would you see a guitarist lay down his instrument to perform the running man, beaming from ear to ear?!!   These are dance moves I thought were resigned to the pages of YouTube, but displayed here in such tongue in cheek brilliance!

It just all sounded so good...Fibbers itself was lapping up every minute, as the crowd bounced and cheered, clapped and danced.   It just wasn't possible to stand still...your body instinctively jerked and jived to the music.   With all this energy it was no surprise that, in the frontman's own words, Fibbers was 'hot in every way!'

The Infadels started the set full-throttle, perfect for getting the crowd going.   Great tracks then continued to be belted out one after the other.   Their single "Love Like Semtex", a track with repetitive grooves, stuck firmly in your head, and the new single, "Make Mistakes", was certainly catchy enough to be a hit with the crowds.   The Infadels were also able to show a more sensitive side, performing some slower, crowd swaying tracks.  

The bands shaven headed frontman was excellent.   At times it was difficult to take your eyes off him, leaping around the stage as if on some crazy sugar rush!   He demanded attention...and he got it.   The bassist leaned and nodded as all good bassists do, delivering catchy baseline after catchy baseline.   The guitarist showed off at any opportunity, clearly enjoying every minute.   The energetic drummer beat his drums to within an inch of their life, and on the keys and percussion, was a blur of man, who had more energy than any 10 year old I've ever met!  

There seems to be a lot of buzz around the Infadels at the moment, and from what I saw it's easy to see why.   They are a brilliant live act, lighting up the stage with an explosive set which made the ringing ears well and truly worth it!

words: sarah d
image: wiiinston

JENNA REID, NCEM, 18/03/08

Settling everyone in for the evening was York's own Eddie Affleck. A Black Swan regular, it was good to see him play a longer set of songs which took us from the Borders to the Highlands, with his light and sensitive renditions really capturing the tone of standards like 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow' and 'Jock O' Hazeldene'. After Eddie had led us northwards, it was time to hand over to the headliner for this first Black Swan / NCEM collaboration of the season, Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid and her band. No stranger to this wonderful venue, having played here with Dòchas a couple of years back, Jenna's warmth left no-one in any doubt that she wasn't merely going through the motions when she said she was pleased to be back. And warmth is perhaps one of the most overriding impressions of the night, from the fireside glow of the plangent 'Skye Diving Waltz' and rare song - beautifully sung - 'Farewell Fiunary' to the incendiary tune sets. Mixing Shetland tunes with others which have followed the northern sea routes from Ireland and Scandinavia, the music also has a hard-to-define but unmistakable 'coastal' quality, conjuring the margins where the rugged solidity of rocks meets the ever-changing sea and sky. The Swedish and Norwegian tunes which combine as 'Swedish March', for instance, are wonderfully evocative of calm, whilst 'Summer Island March' suggests a more unpredictable undertow. Lest this all starts to get a bit metaphysical, we have Jenna's disarming stage presence to bring us back to earth: following a lengthy introduction to the tunes which comprise the 'Princess Beatrice' set, she was gently reminded by the band that they were playing something entirely different - a realisation met with a smiling, 'forget everything I've said over the last five minutes, or just hold onto it until the second half'. Such is the nature of a band after five weeks on the road, but when it came to the playing the time spent together paid off in spades - an elemental, passionate and inspiring gig.

words: oz hardwick
image: phil myers

THE LONG BLONDES - FIBBERS, YORK - 18/03/08

"See if you can fit "insufferably disposable 80's tat" in the review somewhere" read my banjo wielding friend's text. We'd met in the Evil Eye after I got to Fibbers at 7.30 to find the support started at 9 and The Long Blondes at 10. An hour of decent drinks later I was back, the empty dance floor now a sea of bright pink tights, pearls and thick rimmed spectacles.

Kid Acne turned out to be a bearded rapper with a funky hat, accompanied by bearded, funky-hatted friend Benjamin on backing rapping and decks. The sound system let them down, the words - important to the rap genre - getting distorted by microphone fuzz. Luckily Acne was a great performer and fun to watch, lyrics like "I like beans, I like sauce, I like sexual intercourse" coming over loud and clear, though half an hour was enough.

The Long Blondes arrived, and the lead singer bowled me over: sneaky oval eyes, stripy T Shirt, falsetto chic cutting through the dusty microphone like a beam of sunshine in an attic full of Blondie LPs. The drummer was subtle, delicate, fast... then I realised I'd been daydreaming about the bloke I fancy and it was four songs later. The beats and vocals were still delicious; the guitarist was still carefully playing one note at a time, like a girl (which she was, that's no excuse) but all the songs from their up and coming album were blending into each other. Exceptions were the catchy chorus of Lust in the Movies , and a very sexy chorus that sounded like "I don't have to tell you what we did next" delivered with high fluttering voice and hands to match. Guilt used those lovely understated drums again and a great breathy edge, but as the bloke on the walk home put it, the overall sound was "spiky; they used to be more feminine-indie". The Album, Couples , will probably reveal subtleties we missed live, but mutterings among the crowd suggested they'd be better mixing their new spiky numbers with catchy old stuff, the only sign of which was Giddy Stratospheres which concluded the forty minute set.

words: lara pattison
image: ellie pockley

LAUNCHING 3 DAY PARTY - THE SPEAKEASY LIVE MUSIC BAR, YORK - 11-13/04/08

Yes, we finally got it!!   A brand new Blues Bar at 54 Gilly Gate.   The Speakeasy Live Music Bar opened its doors on the 11 th and the place was respectfully busy in a swift and remained that way all through the weekend party launch.   Top class blues bands played on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday there was a jam session.   The crowd was varied and even the 18 year olds were grown up, because the sound was contagious and the knick knacks kept coming.   The bar had anything of what's expected from a good bar and there was no end to the ice they served their customers.   Nothing more daunting than paying for a drink and have it at nearly room temperature because the ice has just run out.   And the staff?   Friendly, calm and efficient.   What more could you ask for?   A few of us just discovered a new drink at The Speakeasy - an exquisite pear cider that was refreshing and just sweet enough.   It did taste like a good pear.  

And I kid you not, but the whole new black all over, little is more décor, made the place look classy, giving you the feeling you're in a blues joint after midnight across the Atlantic, where blues was born.   Bands are already queuing up to play in the newly revamped stage and it honestly is unrecognizable, from the old stage that was once there.   The lights must have cost the new owner of 54 Gilly Gate his year's wages.   The stage back drop black curtain really does it for the place.   Despite the fact that it is a free entrance, the bands look so good onstage that it looks like we paid a good fee to go in.  

On the first day of the launching, a top class blues act that goes by the name of The King Bz kept us going on the dance floor and drinking like fish.   It was great to hear their versions of tracks by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bob Dylan.   Their own versions did them justice and he dance floor by the stage was always busy.   On Saturday the ever growing in popularity The Lyndon Anderson Band was present and they were awesome.   The Talk magazine has given them a blinding reference in the past and we haven't changed our minds.   Except that they changed their repertoire slightly and got even better.   And the honest truth is that their stage presence this time round was so much better that it leaves no doubt, great bands like The Lydon Anderson Band were made to play in a classy venue like The Speakeasy.

Keep up to date with the listings and stay in touch with The Speakeasy on www.myspace.com/speakeasyyork

words and pic: s.garção

SIGHTSONIC DIGITAL FESTIVAL 2008 - YORK

The SightSonic Festival of Digital Arts - perhaps the most deliberately arty and 'niche' event in the York calendar - is back after a year's hiatus.   2006's top-flight hook-up with Touch Records provided a stunning set of events, and in 2007 SightSonic helped stage two of the year's best and most original concerts in 'Storm' and 'Spire', so this year's return carried both momentum and expectation.   And in general it delivered, with a strong, coherent programme, and the fact that there were events and installations that The Talk didn't manage to get to is a good sign.   There are some gripes - the publicity was late in getting out, the Artists' Platform should have been on for more than an afternoon - and slight disappointment that the audiences weren't larger, but overall this was an excellent weekend, with one performance as invigoratingly out there as anything SightSonic have ever put on.

Semiconductor are a boffiny duo with residencies at NASA, self-designed software and real-time live digital animation.   Their images of the sun truly conveyed the eerie awesomeness of space, but the accompanying live soundtrack of electronic drones, squelches and snarls seemed slightly unimaginative.   However their short films, warm, witty and colourful explorations of science and natural phenomena, were a brilliant exemplar of how techno-art for techno-art's sake can truly engage and provoke.   Semiconductor embody SightSonic's ethos in excelsis, but only one event felt out of place, the opening concert by People Like Us (Vicki Bennett) and Ergo Phizmiz .   Taste plays a part here I know, but Phizmiz's wacky toy instrument-led songs were generally charmless.   Bennett's jumbling of kitsch retro sounds and '50s-style nuclear family imagery had more depth, but their joint set plumbed a depth of pointlessness;    two talented, intelligent artists covering 'Mull of Kintyre' and 'English Country Garden' wasn't playful, it was irrelevant.   With the state-of-the-art surround-sound system at the Rymer Auditorium, French artist Christophe Charles was perhaps the most soporific thing you could do to yourself on a Saturday night, filling the venue with pulsing, soothing ambience and carefully placed found sounds.   Japan's Kozo Inada wasn't as minimal as his press suggested, building up sound walls of clicks and electronic chatter interlaced with bells, crowd noises and planes that crescendoed and then were suddenly and violently cut off.   Over a full concert, his technique might become repetitive, but here it was startlingly effective.   With two differing styles, Charles and Inada's collaborative set could have been a gunslinging laptop duel, but the artists seemed almost too reverential of each other.   Charles' deliciously enveloping sounds predominated, a soothing end to a quality evening before the return to the cold March air.

Sunday's Artists' Platform brought the usual eclectic mix of installations at St. John's College.   Among the highlights were a dance piece which used interactive video, eerie images of the disused Terry's factory, and a pyramid covered in buttons which triggered samples of the artist's family expressing their hopes and fears for her baby daughter.   Standout piece was Dawn Scarfe's Lenses , a series of wine glasses mounted on the wall and wired up to radiate sound - standing in the middle of this droning, pulsing, decidedly odd noise was quite unsettling.   However, it was hard not to feel sorry for the artists, many of whom had travelled a long way and put a lot of effort in for only one afternoon's thinly attended exhibiting - they, more than the concert peformers, suffered from the low attendances.   Criminally only about 20 adventurous souls saw the highlight of the weekend, Jonathan Green 's Piece for Large Metal Sheet at St. John's Chapel.   Green subtly manipulated the vibrations from a large sheet of steel, along with infrared devices and lightpipes devices to produce an incredible array of sounds.   The performance was rendered even more effective by Green performing for most of the piece from behind the metal sheet, which added to the mechanistic, hard-edged nature of the piece.   The soundscape ranged from eerie hiss to raging industrial blast, leading to a crescendo of semi-rhythmic hammering that sounded like a set of bells falling down a very large flight of concrete steps.   Had the chapel been blacked out, this would have been an even more terrifying end to an amazing, mind-boggling piece.

So that was SightSonic 2008, ultimately a triumph, and in Piece for Large Metal Sheet , something truly avant-garde and special.   This stuff is never going to be to everyone's tatse, but really, more folk should open their ears and give it a go.   It's the best, most challenging event in the York calendar, and it frankly deserves much bigger audiences.   On to 2009?

words & image: tim procter

THE FALL - STYLUS CLUB, LEEDS UNIVERSITY - 20/03/08

It's   a well known fact that The Fall have had   more incarnations than Dr Who. Like the timelord, some versions have   been   better than others, and   you never quite know how long each incarnation will last.    This is of course what has made The Fall one of our most creative and   inventive   bands   and although tonights line up   may not make   Christmas , they're   starting to gel   together pretty well.

A quirky    fast paced instrumental,   teases the crowd ,with   cheeky keyboard   lines and   tremolo     guitar from Pete Greenway. It's   like   the theme tune to a   seventies cop show; every times there's a stop, we wait with baited breath for the strange little man. He finally ambles on, in    black leather coat , growling into the crowd as he grapples with two microphones. Before we know it he's up to mischief, fiddling with amps, sticking a microphone   into the bass drum and   hiding behind Dave Spurr's meating sounding bass amp.

As expected,   a large majority of the set is taken from forthcoming album "Imperial Wax Solvent" . It's   early days and first listens,   but the material doesn't   seem   as instant or memorable as that from their last, Reformation Post TLC.   "50 Year Old Man"   sounds like a work in progress, divided into three   sections; a laid back opening ,then two monotonous stomps ,which don't seem to    go anywhere. They verge   on dangerous   jazz rock territory as Smith mumbles "I'm a 50 Year Man".   He certainly looks it, disappearing off stage, as wife Elena Poulou   sings "I've Been Duped". She looks miserable, but this is highly infectious,   a short   and sweet pop song which   would sound great on the radio,   if The Fall were that kind of band.   "Wolf Kidult Man" is another brief, but   fantastic new song, although Smith's words are inaudible.

The Fall sound is still fresh and alive,   but, Greenway's guitar is far too quiet, particularly in   the incessant, relentless bass   riff of "Reformation". Aside from this, the song   still sounds like a Tyrannosaurus Rex's trapped inside the venue. The sounds beefed up with the appearance of the bassist from support band   "Bobbie", who gave it their all, but failed to interest Fall fans, who were already wound up by    deep ques   for warm lager earlier in the evening.

"Fall Sound" lives up to it's name, booming around the venue as the bar runs out of   hot lager and   a mosh pit of students   leap about . It's a charismatic    sound, but there's something missing from this line up- former guitarist   Tim Presley and the extra bass of    Rob Barbato   are   somewhat missed.

Poulous's stabby   keys on "Pacifying Joint "   are a contrast from the new material and "Mountain Energi" still sounds like a mysterious take on Iggy Pop's "Passenger".

"Tommy Shooter" another newie, is sung by another strange geezer, and although the riff is   a stolen moment, its   mosh pit madness now as Smith reappears    for   "White Lightening".  

The house lights signify that's our lot, not by any means a classic Fall performance but certainly    a good one, Smith looks old but committed and   The Fall still sound as innovative   as ever. Like good old Doctor Who , they remain   one of our   country's last few   remaining treasures.

david wright

Wilko Johnson - Fibbers, York - 04/04/08

He has been referred to as the godfather of punk time and time again.   Skittling around the stage was a respectfully older oldie before us, with a real sharp black shirt and trousers, and pointy shoes.   He looked like an extra out of Goodfellas.   His relationship with his guitar was almost unnatural.   His guitar was his woman, his soul mate, his mom and his spiritual guru.   Don't think we ever saw anything like it.   At times he would grab the guitar just like a machine gun and shoot down the crowd that nicely filled up Fibbers.   And we did get resurrected and begged for more.   He just looked so cool when he did it.   We were all suicidal.   "Shoot us Wilko, please shootl us."   Johnson is the famous original guitarist with 70s legends Dr Feelgood.   He went on to further his music legend credentials with Ian Dury's The Blockheads and managed to recruit bass player Norman Watt-Roy into his new band, together with drummer Ramundo Salvatore.   They are a very energetic trio giving no rest for the wicked and keeping the crowds in shape with new acts and oldies like 'Woolly Bully'.   If you're a bit too young to have been around in the 70s, Wilko Johnson is one of those legends whose name you hear about, you have heard the songs from time to time, you may even know the words to 'Roxette', but when you see him live, it's a mighty revelation.   A privilege that can barely be compared with anyone else. When I told some people I was going to see him, their reply was: "What? The tribute to Wilko Johnson?"   Nope. The man himself!

York based Player 1 were the support act and the Wilko Johnson crowd was most definitely surprised and impressed with these talented young lads.   They were a different kind of Indie/loud guitar/groovy band with a subtle Stone Roses influence.   Their sound was vibrant and allowed the more sophisticated ear time to reflect on some of those emotive rock guitar chords produced by David Kearns. Lead singer Charlie Floyd had an almost unique voice. At times he sounded very Kurt Cobainish but without the anger and pretentiousness.   Ed Shipley on bass and Dan Whiting on drums delivered and very competent rhythm that allowed the rest of the band to give an excellent performance.   They will be performing at the Stone Roses bar on 2 May - highly recommended.   The best track they played was 'Dead Grover Storage' and you can hear it on myspace.com/player1band.

words & pic: s.garção

STOP! MOTION - COCKPIT, LEEDS - 07/03/08

In a business where the generic indie sound is so soon to be promoted, prepare to witness a striking tangent. Modelling monochrome attire and an effortlessly impressive stage presence, STOP! Motion pulled in a remarkably large crowd as support band for Johnny Foreigner. With STOP! Motion's edgy guitars and drumming fast enough to challenge the energetic movements of the lively punters, music fans should take note of this York band. The vocals streamed through the drain-piped pump-wearing crowd with ease. I heard a voice from the centre of the dancing mass exclaim "That's my favourite!" his preference, the crowd pleasing "Always Be" a song that lures the audience into a false sense of melodic security before ending explosively with sharp piercing keyboards and adrenaline driven bass.

STOP! Motion seem to be expert at tricking the crowd, from the first few minutes of the set, where their ever talented drummer Jonty Brown pounds a vigorous beat, complimented some minutes later by the confident appearance of the remaining members Thom Dann, Chris Parsons and Chris Dann, an eerie atmosphere escalates and creates the addictive prelude to a startlingly original sound. The lads seem genuinely excited with the size of their ever growing following. The poignant opening lines of "Bring Back Charlie"; "why can't you keep quiet about this?" make their 30,000 MySpace plays even more believab. Tonight was STOP! Motion's finest hour to date, impressing a good 200 intrigued followers with songs catchy enough to still run through my head the following evening. Coming a long way since last summer and with a performance as tight as their jeans, 2008 is set to be a much deserved platform for success.

cara brennan

THE YOUNG COPPERS - NCEM , YORK - 04/04/08

Way, way back when I was just beginning to explore the delights of recorded folk music, I was captivated by 'Spencer the Rover' - a simple but haunting traditional narrative of prodigality and redemption - on the debut album by Fred Wedlock, a West Country singer more famous for his comedy material. A few years later, John Martyn would release his breathtaking version, which is probably the most famous. By the time Robin Dransfield recorded his stately, brass-driven version in 1980, I was aware that it derived from the singing of the Copper family from Rottingdean in Sussex - a family who have been collecting and singing songs since at least the eighteenth century, probably a lot longer. The same process occurred with songs that I heard from, well, just about everyone. The family's story has been told many times but their songbook is, to borrow from 'Spencer the Rover', a 'clear fountain' which has continued to nourish and refresh English traditional song. So it is a real treat to hear Andy, Ben, Lucy, Sean and Tom on a rare trip north, giving voice to the unadorned versions as sung round the family kitchen table for at least seven generations. Standards such as 'Adieu Sweet Lovely' and 'Babes in the Wood' (to name but two recently performed by other visitors to York - Sultans of Squeeze and Tim Van Eyken, respectively) were sung with the empathy and warmth that comes from having learnt the songs almost by osmosis. As Ron of fine support act Two Black Sheep and a Stallion (special mention for their reading of 'Rose of York', which was absolutely perfect in this venue) commented, it's difficult for any unaccompanied singing group to put together a set which avoids songs from the Coppers. Likewise, it can't be easy for these representatives of the family to decide which of their many treasures to include. Choices having been made, however, a packed NCEM revelled in the opportunity to share in this wealth of traditional song. And for those who couldn't make it, their new album, Passing Out , comes highly recommended indeed.

words: oz hardwick
image: phil myers

'STRONG WORDS AND SWANSONGS' -   YORK LITERATURE FESTIVAL - BLACK SWAN , YORK - 10/03/08

It was one of those evenings that make you appreciate our quaint little place called city, crowded with tourists and students at day time. York is an intriguing city.   If personified, it would be compared to a man with a multiple personality disorder, because it is small, yet a city. Crowded and modern, yet it has quiet traditional moments in places that make you forget the madness of the centre of town.   You do feel like you travel in time. The Black Swan is not only spectacular for its good traditional English food but if you go upstairs, you enter into a room lost in time with a medieval throw over as the back drop of the stage and old tables and chairs with lit candles, and a mantle piece along the whole wall to the right of the room. On it, whisky bottles have become authentic candles holders with melted wax that has been gathering possibly for years.  

This is a perfect room to host one of the several events of The York Literature Festival 2008, which took place across the city from 1-15 March.   Local writers attracted a wide variety of literature fans as well as those who just enjoy listening to the likes of quiet yet thundering voice of Oz Hardwick with his delightfully English accent - he sound like a very posh, highly educated rock 'n' roll man.   Hardwick is a published poet based in York and organised this particular event at the Black Swan, along with David Ward Maclean.   'Strong Words & Swansongs' was one of the few events of the festival that linked the words with music.   So it was a very special, during the performance of Sixpenny Wayke, to watch and listen to Hardwick play mandolin and a very unusual instrument - the Appalachian dulcimer.   Whilst the other half of the band, Paul Coleman sang and played guitar and octave mandolin.   Miles Cain also performed which was a very nice surprise.   The evening went smoothly into the night with the humour and wittiness of Don Walls, as well as the literary skills of Amina Alyal, Dave Gough and Hugh Bernays.   This was the second literature festival of York, largely organised by Miles Salter.   So successful that we eagerly await 2009's festival.

words & pic: s.garção

film reviews

THERE WILL BE BLOOD    *****

Daniel Plainview is a ferociously ambitious businessman whom, at the turn of the century, accumulates huge wealth from oil extraction. Treating the world like a Monopoly board, he ruthlessly and cheaply acquires land, exploiting local workers and undermining his competitors along the way.

However, he meets opposition in the form of Eli Sunday, a devout Christian who wishes to build a church in his home town, where Daniel is digging for oil. Eli reveals himself to be just as corrupt and manipulative as Daniel, and so begins a titanic feud between two men whose depravity is matched by their conviction.

There Will Be Blood is the newest offering from Paul Thomas Anderson, the writer/director behind such sprawling epics as Magnolia and Boogie Nights. Whilst equally ambitious in scope, '...Blood' is actually a remarkably simple story, centering as it does on a bitter conflict between two men, and the way it affects their families and the community.

The film explores the corrupting influences of money, power and religion, so there are obvious parallels to be made with American history and culture. Yet the film remains intensely personal and utterly engrossing, as the rivalry plays out with the complexity of a game of chess, and the brute force of an arm wrestle.

Despite the realism of the themes, Anderson nevertheless employs some breathtaking imagery and beautiful composition to create an almost dreamlike, ethereal quality. Running at over 2 and a half hours, '...Blood' is never less than captivating, and slowly builds to a mesmerising conclusion.

james christopher

Stage reviews

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT - YORK ST JOHN MUSICAL PRODUCTION SOCIETY - 13/03/08

You can't hang your washing out in York without bumping into your cat's housemate's gran, so I can't pretend to give impartial reviews of amateur theatre. I turned up to St John's latest musical because 'Joseph' was the drummer in my favourite band. (Cliquey to mention The Hungry Ghosts two issues running? Yep, that's my point...) Foyer photos revealed Mrs Potiphar was a fellow ex-Dungeon worker, and lo! More workmates lurked beneath beards and tea-towels.

I'll still say it was amateur. They'd probably say that too. You could visualise the list the director handed the chorus weeks ago "black trousers and a coloured T shirt"; you could see the rainbow masking-tape scenery being stuck up minutes before the audience walked in on the first night. Exceptions were the coat, the acting and the Brother's reacting, which could have made Broadway. That's not the point though; the theme was cheesy comic book, the atmosphere was chilled and the aim was fun.   

The sincerity surprised me. I'm used to Manchester drama students, who would have adapted it so Joseph was a drugged up prostitute lest the other students called them names; it takes a different kind of balls for a twenty-something rock drummer to sing about cows like he really means it. Don't get me wrong, it was very silly: spoofy mimes, comedy runs, party-poppers and people being felt up. The closest approximation is that Snow Patrol video where school kids put on a production of Spiderman; funny, deliberately tacky and all the more moving for it. They'd even used little "Kepow!" style signs to describe the colours, the chorus lifting them up at appropriate times. You don't often see young people with voices this good doing this sort of thing. St John productions aren't advertised much off-campus, but it's worth chatting to that girl dressed as a Disney character next time you're in the pub. (Not the girl with devil horns, she's on a hen night from Newcastle) Find a friend of a friend who knows when the next play's on; the worst you'll get is a one-pound-pint and a tune to irritate your friends with on the way home, and you might discover a little gem.

lara pattison

FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN - YORK THEATRE ROYAL

Like a good pantomime, anyone can enjoy a decent piece of kid?s comedy.  Adapted and directed by Marcus Romer, Raymond Brigg?s day-in-the-life account of a member of the race of subterranean Bogeypeople who love dirt as much as humans love cleanliness.  The book is a more visually crafted piece of wordplay without much of a narrative save to present

the lives of the Bogeymen, whilst this adaptation introduces a Romeo and Juliet love affair between Fungus? son, Mould and a extroverted girl from the surface.  Not so much a play as more a musical, the cast all employ various instruments to treat the young audience to enjoyable sing-a-long songs composed by Ivan Stott which the whole family can (if secretly) enjoy.  Pilot Theatre also make use of a glorious set cleverly dividing the surface world from the well-crafted Bogeydom, as well as employing a nice moment involving the backdrop and shadow puppets.  Romer also adds a dish of environmentalism to

the play, as well as the usual ?not judging someone by their appearance? theme (and maybe a dash of mid-life crisis if you want it).  An enjoyable short little play for young kids which also allows the adults to secretly smile whilst being hit by a barrage of snot jokes. And trust me, there were A LOT of snot jokes.

henry raby

OUR HOUSE   - YORK THEATRE ROYAL

John Godber?s plays are inevitably unsubtle mouthpieces for his views on the world, and can be classed as ?acceptable? theatre, the stage equivalent of Coldplay. Commercially, Godber?s a safe bet as his plays are generally nice and amusing; this is the third Godber play the Theatre Royal has put on in the last two years.  But  I cannot deny that I have some love for Mr. Godber?s working class portrayals.  This is his most autobiographical of his work, a thin veil for the life and times of his battleaxe mother May and Upton Miner father Ted having problems with their know-it-all scholarly son.  The story is told

through flashback, the mother remembering the echoes of the past as she moves out of her house for Spain after the death of her husband.  Once you get used to the sporadic flashbacks and characters moving in and out of the time stream, it flows quite nicely, though I got sick of the info-dumping (?it?s been 2 years since...? or ?who?d have thought that...?).  Eventually a family of ?chavs? move in next door and turn Ted and May?s lives into a living hell.  I thought Godber was making the point these ?chavs? have the same rough-edge as their old neighbour who had a Vera Duckworth/Elsie Tanner Coronation Street charm, but really he portrays these ?yobs? as being simply horrible, horrible people which seemed a tad unfair.  I hold some sentimentality for Godber, the main characters are realistic Yorkshire creations, and Hull Truck Company do a good job of bringing them to life.  This is a sad story of how time, Thatcher, money, new generations and essentially death all contribute to the destruction of working class communities.  I don?t mind saying I shed a few tears when the Ted is utterly shattered by the result of the Miner?s Strike and later when he dies and leaves May alone with nothing but memories.  This is a true enough presentation of a working class Yorkshire couple living through half a century of change, except their neighbours are pure fantasy.  The play heaps on sentimentality and a good number of laughs throughout.  Yorkshire accents a-plenty:  Ey!?

henry raby

YORK LITERATURE FESTIVAL: TRAINS OF THOUGHT - NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM, YORK - 14/03/08

In a cavernous space, the biggest engine shed in the North of England, b eneath the Percy Main bridge's 41 ft central span, we gathered for a melange of spoken word, theatre, poetry and music . From the characterful opening monologue "What The Dickens" from Chris Kid (which re-told the progress of the Iron Horse and the dangers of shocking 50 miles in the hour velocity travel) to the simpl y fashioned poetic accounts of the world travels of Graham Wrelton ( g lobe trotter or rather notter?) the evening ramped well.

Rochdale poet John Sid d ique chose to step down from the rostrum and deliver ed from the floor. I liked him a lot. He stirred my thoughts alright. What's a poem? Good call. John argue d that it was simply being filled with images - and he mined some rea l l y powerful stuff. He took the audience with him as he presented a succession of very personal images which revealed much about his views, his life and his family's first hand account of the pilotical split of India leading to their terrible and tragic walk to Pakistan.

As already stated, t he Main Hall is a monstrous space which was suitable for speech but did prove challenging for the musicians who were next on the bill. Enormous reverb vs volume vs more reverb - you get the idea. Normally backed by a severely heavy full band, Mik Davis and Tom Bairstow of 'New York Alcoholics Anxiety Attack' gave it their briefest and best shot acoustically, yet I feel they and the largely literary focused audience failed to connect solidly. Their sound was appreciated but not lapped up.

However , last act and main draw Joolz Denby was embraced warmly as she showed how sharp and astute 30 years of working in the Arts can make you. Reputedly a 'Rock'n'Roll Poet' I expected rhythmic non-stop John Cooper Clarke rants or full on TV Smith politicisms - yet she side swiped my expectations. I discovered a free form storyteller . H er words were self-reflective and conversational in tone and we all kn e w her subject matter, didn't we? We'd all seen our own pack of 'Arndale Gazebo Girls' bitches , read about the curious Wolf Children and heard about statistic junkies like Two Lane - yet I was stung by the ever-present and unexpected under current of desperation, pathos and marked despair beneath each piece. She skilfully created each scenario and character with such informal ease and trust then exposed a darker flip side which left us   questioning whether we actually knew anything at all. There was much unfinished business here which only meant that I would have have to look up Joolz"s work and see her live again. Definitely.

words: dean saint john
images: ellie pockley