Three Romeo And Juliets, a Canadian Rose, a crude Motley tribute and Rhod 
Gilbert’s return perk up CHARLES HUTCHINSON’S weekend

Friday night is Shakespeare night...and so is Saturday

York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre in Romeo And Juliet, York Theatre Royal Studio, tonight and Saturday, 7pm and 8.30pm

THREE York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre groups, each aged 14 to 16, present three versions of Shakespeare’s torrid tale of star cross’d lovers. One is set in the 1980s, another in the 1990s, the third in the present day, and two will be performed each night.

Directed respectively by Theatre Royal youth theatre director Kate Veysey, outreach director Paula Clark and Matthew Harper-Hardcastle, the three interpretations will not clock in at the Bard’s “two hours’ traffic of our stage”, but two at one hour and one at 80 minutes.

York Press:

Spring Rose: Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins at The Basement

Canadian gig of the week

Rose Cousins, The Basement, City Screen, York, Saturday, 8pm

CANADIAN folk roots singer-songwriter Rose Cousins showcases her Natural Conclusion album in York this weekend.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, and now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she made the record in 2017 with Grammy award-winning producer Joe Henry, calling it “the most honest and vulnerable thing” she has recorded to date.

The album received a 2018 Grammy nomination and Rose was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at that year’s Canadian JUNO Awards and Artist of the Year at the International Folk Awards.

York Press:

Leaping off the page: Rhod Gilbert at York Barbican

Comedy return of the weekend

Rhod Gilbert, The Book Of John, York Barbican, Saturday, 8pm

AFTER six years away from the stand-up circuit, doing all manner of TV, Welsh firebrand Rhod Gilbert works up a new head of steam, promising “no more lies, no more nonsense”. Rhod thought he had hit rock bottom, but then he met a bloke called John, and this typically irate show is the result.

York Press:

How grotesque: Ciarán Dowd's character creation Don Rodofo

Shameless libertine of the weekend

Ciarán Dowd: Don Rodolfo, Selby Town Hall, Saturday, 8pm

DON Rodolfo is a butthead, a shameless libertine and the greatest swordsman the world has ever seen, as created by character comedian and Beasts sketch group member Ciarán Dowd.

His ludicrous and grotesque love child of Don Juan and Don Quixote will take you on a journey through his conquests, his adventures and every stupid thought in his idiot head.

Dowd, by the way, won the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe: further encouragement to check out this show.

Riotous tribute show of the weekend

Motley Crude, Fibbers, York, Saturday, 7.45pm

BRITISH tribute act Motley Crude pay homage to the lewd, crude and tattooed rockers from the Los Angeles Sunset Strip.

The gig could not be better timed, in the wake of the new Netflix biopic of Motley Crue at their sex and drugs and rock'n'roll peak in the Eighties.

Formed in 2015, Motley Crude play a set list comprised of songs from 1981's debut, Too Fast For Love, to 2008's Saints Of Los Angeles, and "absolutely everything in between".