New season celebrates 20 years of The Shed (From York Press)

New season celebrates 20 years of The Shed

11:01am Friday 27th January 2012 in Music news and reviews By Charles Hutchinson

RYEDALE’S flagship arts hub, The Shed, will be 20 years old in June.

Simon Thackray, impresario of the avant-garde and the profoundly bonkers, has assembled an anniversary season that will celebrate two decades of cutting-edge and ground-breaking events, while taking on the challenge of mounting a series of The Shed On Tour shows.

Helen Watson and Snake Davis, new folk fab four Kan, jazz singer Liane Carroll, drag act Lynda Beast, Mrs Boyes’ Bingo, comedian Stewart Lee, Barnsley bard Ian McMillan, Tcha Limberger’s Kalotaszeg Trio and the revived North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour all will feature in the season ahead.

At the heart of the 20th anniversary is The Shed On Tour, a new collaboration between The Shed and Rural Arts North Yorkshire. Under this liaison, The Shed has been awarded £34,500 from the National Lottery through Arts Council England to work with Rural Arts on a pilot project that will see top professional artists performing across North Yorkshire.

“The brief is to take more adventurous work into village halls and up their game a little,” says Simon. “The Shed On Tour will bring leading artists from the world of folk, jazz, country and contemporary classical music to village and community halls across Ryedale and beyond.”

“This project will enable us to increase the number of gigs we present in Ryedale and North Yorkshire and help us spread the word about the fantastic range and styles of artistic experiences we offer. The Shed has spent the past 20 years developing relationships with its artists and audience and this is a great opportunity, thanks to the additional funding, to be able to spread the good news.”

He foresees a further benefit from the project.

“We did the first Shed On Tour last autumn with Hank Wangford and Brad Breath and it was a roaring success, bringing more people into Ryedale and more money into the local ecomony, as this year’s shows will do too,” he says. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

Wangford and Breath will resume their No Hall Too Small travels for The Shed with a five-night run in the spring, at Burniston Village Hall, Rosedale Village Hall, Carlin How Village Jubilee Hall, Greatham Community Centre and Burythorpe Village Hall – village names to set the satnav in motion between April 4 and 8.

The Shed On Tour will take the folk group Kan to Gilling East on February 15 for what will be the very first concert in the newly refurbished village hall.

“Tickets are selling like hot cakes for the show, which is exciting news for everyone,” says Simon. “Part of the purpose of this pilot scheme is for me to go and offer suggestions, tips and hints on how to get more out of the concert experience, both in terms of improving production values and lifting audience expectations.

“So we’ll be taking The Shed’s little tables, candles and bowls of pistachio nuts to transform your average little village hall into a cabaret venue with a high-quality PA system, lighting and backdrop – though the trademark Shed door will not go on tour but stay at Hovingham and Brawby village halls. For that, they can come to the mountain to see Mohammed!”

Kan – flautist Brian Finnegan, fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, guitarist Ian Stephenson and drummer Jim Goodwin – will play further shows at the Old Court House, Thirsk, on February 22, Weaverthorpe Village Hall on February 23 and Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall on February 25.

The Shed On Tour series will then send British jazz singer Carroll and a grand piano to Pickering Memorial Hall, Tholthorpe Village Hall, Wigglesworth Village Hall and Hunmanby Community Centre for solo shows from March 1 to 4.

“It won’t be me lugging the piano around; it’ll be a piano hire company,” says Simon. “My feeling was that the sound of the grand piano and a singer and storyteller as wonderful as Liane had to be worth taking on the road.

“In Liane’s case, you have to say, ‘Don’t worry about the word ‘jazz’, or that you won’t like it’. Get in the car, you have to see this woman sing and play.”

The Shed On Tour schedule is completed by Mrs Boyes’ Bingo, this time accompanied not only by percussionist Mark Sanders but by special guests too: Oren Marshall on the tuba at Crayke Sports Club on March 21; double bass player John Edwards at Weaverthorpe Village Hall on March 22; and trombonist Alan Tomlinson at Sessay Village Hall on March 23 and Brawby Village Hall on March 24.

Full details of The Shed season can be found online at theshed.co.uk

Bookings can be made via that website or on 01653 668494.