Showcase for Egyptian dance

The Festival Show, to be staged in the theatre's Studio from 2 pm to 4 pm, will start off with the Holborne Brass Ensemble - "named jokily after a Tudor musician because everyone in it is past their Middle Ages!" said a spokesman.

The ensemble will play a range of popular 20th century music, including Harlem Rag, finishing up with an arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's When I'm 64.

Ratatat Theatre Co, founded in York and now based in Helmsley, will then perform a scene from the play Photo Finish by Susi Spencer, which perfectly describes the old adage "There's life in the old girl yet!"

The spokesman said: "When two old friends meet up, former glamour model Cherry and her old photographer Ace, they cook up a plan to cause a scene at the York Races."

Tony Morris, poet-in-residence on BBC Radio York's North Yorkshire Folk, will sing songs, including his new one, The Oldest Minger In Town, followed by Egyptian Dance by Jane Wass and her Solar Dance Group. The four dancers will showcase some traditional styles of Egyptian dance as taught by Jane in York.

The show will also feature Dunnington-based Real People Theatre with a scene from their play, Holding The Granny, about a family and its secrets - the three generations of women in it, the relationships between them and how to bridge the communications gap between the ages.

The writer, Deborah Catesby, has written a play called The Mother, about the women in the Gunpowder Plot to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November.

Tickets for the show, priced £3, are available from the theatre box office.

Meanwhile, on Sunday a Festival Finale will be staged in Rowntree Park from 2pm to 4pm.

The social room in the park caf has been made available, following council support, for everyone who has helped create York's first 50+ Festival to gather over refreshments, meet and talk, celebrate and reflect as well as enjoy a model boat regatta and model engine exhibition in the park.

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, September 29, 2005