Main Image: As You Like it, Shakespeare’s comedy of love and disguise will be performed outdoors at the Old Deanery on Sunday July 7; All pictures Ripon Theatre Festival
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George Egg’s culinary comedy act literally gave a tantalising taste of what’s to come at the 2024 Ripon Theatre Festival.
Before the performer served up the main course at Ripon Arts Hub, director Katie Scott and her colleagues revealed the full, mouth-watering festival menu to a packed audience at Thursday night’s launch.
Mr Egg used equipment ranging from a steam device for wallpaper stripping to a George Foreman grill disguised as a laptop, for an unconventional means of creating cuisine that was later consumed by some attendees.
George Egg got the 2024 festival off to a frying start
The full festival menu
What is set to follow the festival starter had many members of the audience licking their lips as they looked in the 28-page guide and listened to Ms Scott and her team of volunteers talk through the coming events.
The growing festival now in its third year and with the Stray Ferret as its media sponsor, stretches to six nights and five days packed with professional touring shows alongside colourful community performances.
Taking place from Tuesday, July 2 to Sunday, July 7, the festival promises an extensive and varied programme of drama, family entertainment, dance, circus, comedy, cabaret and spoken word events.
Theatre and fun will be popping up in unexpected places and making the most of the city’s attractive venues and open-air spaces.
Outdoor theatre fans can enjoy shows at Newby Hall and in the elegant gardens of The Old Deanery, or spend a leisurely Sunday in Ripon at the family day where puppet shows, street entertainment, music and dance run alongside visits from Wrongsemble and Rhubarb theatre companies.
Festival Saturday ( July 6) will see another whole day of pop-up shows, walkabout acts and street performers, kicking off with story-telling for breakfast, Morris dancing and fire-juggling.
Among the festival’s many free-to-watch street entertainers will be The Tea Cosies – Dorothy Dunker, Tippy Teapot and Barbara Bourbon.
Visiting acts will arrive in the city from across the four countries of the UK to join regionally-based theatre companies and performers.
The extended programme for 2024 includes a daytime Julie Andrews musical tribute, A Spoonful of Julie, a stand-up comedy-meets-storytelling event in the Storehouse Bar, an Opera Brunch at Valentino’s Ristorante and a digital theatre experience from Pilot Theatre Company taking place daily in Ripon Cathedral.
The 2024 festival also boasts its first storyteller-in-residence with Ilaria Passeri spending time in the city performing and running creative workshops for both adults and children.
As part of its developing outreach programme, the festival will also be taking theatre and music into care settings. Older people and those living with dementia will be able to enjoy non-verbal puppet theatre and mini concerts from specialist companies and practitioners.
Ms Scott said:
“We believe that theatre should be for everyone. Our varied and accessible programme of events provides real theatrical treats for seasoned theatre-goes, but also lively and low-cost opportunities for first-timers and families.
“We love bringing events to non-theatre spaces and working with local businesses and other partner organisations to create a buzz in the city which all can enjoy.”
Tickets are already selling fast for the hottest shows, including Red Ladder Theatre’s touching musical We’re Not Going Back which remembers the miners’ strike 40 years on.
Also much in demand is Barrie Rutter’s Shakespeare’s Royals in Ripon Cathedral and the music of Victoria Wood celebrated cabaret-style in Looking for Me Friend.
All ticketed events are now on sale and full details of the free shows and outdoor programme can be found here.
Fundraisers have launched a campaign to renovate an historic Victorian church on the Newby Hall estate between Ripon and Boroughbridge.
The church of Christ the Consoler is at the centre of a renovation project organised by the estate and local villagers. The ‘Friends of Christ the Consoler’ are on a mission to bring life to the church through events while at the same time raising funds to deliver renovation projects.
Priorities include reinstating the church’s boiler and heating system, which has not worked for 30 years. This will help preserve the church’s stained glass, some of which has deteriorated over the years due to humidity levels.
The church was built in the early 1870s with unpaid ransom money in memory of the son of Lady Mary Vyner of Newby Hall who was killed during his attempted rescue from kidnappers in Greece.
She commissioned British architect William Burges to design the church, now an example of Victorian gothic revival architecture. Craftsmen created a rich and colourful interior of fine marble, stained glass, gilded mosaics and exquisite carvings on the organ case.
Burges also designed St Mary’s Church at the nearby Studley Royal estate for Frederick’s sister and her husband, the Marquess and Marchioness of Ripon. Christ the Consoler was the parish church of Skelton cum Newby until 1991 and is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
The Friends of Christ the Consoler also want to restore the church’s grade one Thomas C Lewis organ. Lewis was one of the leading organ builders of the late 19th century, his works include the one at Ripon Cathedral.
The campaign group is made up of representatives from the Newby Hall estate and Skelton cum Newby Parish Council. The church’s single bell has already been restored and re-strung and now rings for the first time in over 20 years. The group now needs to raise more than £15,000 to reinstate the church’s heating system.
Parish Council chairman Guy Critchlow in the Church
Parish Council chairman Guy Critchlow said:
“The church is in a beautiful location and has some of the finest stained glass in the country. Recommissioning the heating system is the first step to help stabilise the stained glass. Our aim is to bring life to the church through events and raise much needed funds for its restoration and conservation.”
Stuart Gill, commercial director at Newby Hall, said:
“We are delighted to collaborate with the parish council to breathe new life into the church and create an environment that visitors and the local community can share and enjoy.”
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