Anton and Erin go ballroom dancing, the Dark Skies come to light and an Irish humorist offers wit, not wisdom, as CHARLES HUTCHINSON 
highlights

Friday night is... dance night

Anton & Erin Dance Those Magic Musicals, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

BILLED as “the nation’s favourite ballroom couple”, Strictly Come Dancing staple Anton du Beke and ex-pat New Zealander Erin Boag make their obligatory York trip whenever they have a new show.

The world of ballroom dancing meets musical theatre as A & E bring dapper and dazzling costumes and elegant choreography to routines for numbers from The Phantom Of The Opera, Mary Poppins, 42nd Street, Hairspray, Cabaret, Wicked, Top Hat and Jersey Boys. Strictly vocalist Lance Ellington, the Manchester Concert Orchestra, conductor Richard Balcombe and a West End dance ensemble will play their part.

Celebrating the winter sky at night

Dark Skies Festival, North York Moors/Ryedale, from this weekend

THIS annual celebration of the wonders of the nighttime skies takes place from tonight to March 3 in the North York Moors National Park and across Ryedale.

On the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, the moon will be at the heart of the festival. Look out too for stargazing parties; physics lectures; night walks; owl prowls; photography workshops; town ghost walks and a chance to go on the Go Ape zipwire after dark. For a full list of events, go to darkskiesnationalparks.org/uk/north-york-moors-events.

York Press:

Two Destination Language in Fallen Fruit at York Theatre Royal Studio

Brexit, the Berlin Wall and Bulgaria in the play of the weekend

Two Destination Language in Fallen Fruit, York Theatre Royal Studio, Saturday, 7.45pm

IN 2019, Britain is due to leave the EU while across Europe people celebrate the 30th anniversary of the end of the Cold War. Against this backdrop, writer/director Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie present Fallen Fruit, a new play that foregrounds a migrant voice born in communist Bulgaria.

In 1989, as the Berlin Wall splits open, a young girl looks forward to life beyond communism, a couple unravels, and Eighties’ TV permeates everything. Welcome to a story of love, breaking free and Europe.

York Press:

Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin in A Private War

Film of the weekend

A Private War (15), City Screen, York

DOCUMENTARY maker Matthew Heineman makes his feature-film directorial debut with a dramatisation of the life of foreign affairs correspondent Marie Colvin, who was killed in 2012 while covering the siege of Homs.

Rosamund Pike delivers a fearless, ferocious lead performance as Colvin, who was driven by a belief in championing civilian casualties, while the film highlights the vital role played by journalists in shining a light on moral outrages and injustice in a time of conflict.

York Press:

What a Result! Jimeoin at York Barbican

"You’ll be none the wiser at the end of this" comedy gig...

Jimeoin, Result!, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm

IRISH stand-up Jimeoin takes an unpredictable route to hooking a laugh but ends up with a show called Result!, a positive prediction for his night in York.

“The opposite of being slick is my angle,” he says. “To look vulnerable and idiotic, as opposed to snarling and spitting and full of confidence, which grates with me. If it annoys you in a social environment when you see that sort of behaviour, then it’s annoying when you see it up on stage. I guess people want to see someone ruling it. Like a rock star striking a pose, but it’s not what I do.”

Saturday’s audience may leave feeling wiser, but everyone will be happier. Result!