A Canadian comedian called English, a trombone, a dementia play, a 
jester and a sunny Jack Dee attract CHARLES HUTCHINSON’s curiosity

York International Shakespeare Festival shows of the weekend, numbers one and two

She Wolf, tonight, and 10 Things I Hate About Taming Of The Shrew, Saturday, York Theatre Royal Studio, both 9.15pm

CANADIAN comedian and actor Gillian English delivers two nights of stand-up, strong language and Shakespeare.

First up, in She Wolf, she contests that from Hilary Clinton’s emails, to Margaret of Anjou cursing the royal family, the way we view women in positions of power, hasn’t changed much.

Next up, tomorrow she invites you to “go back to the good old days, when we worried Y2K [the Millennium], wore butterfly clips in our hair, and became total babes the minute we took off our glasses.

“And the even older days where we worried about the plague, wore massive wigs, and women weren’t allowed to be on stage anyway.”

Classical concert of the weekend

York Guildhall Orchestra, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm

IAN Bousfield will be the soloist for Grondahl’s glorious, if little known, Trombone Concerto on his return to the Guildhall Orchestra after performing with the York orchestra last season.

Bousfield also will play two Korngold arias, Pierrot’s Tanzlied and Marietta’s Lied from Die Tote Stadt and, by popular demand, Arthur Pryor’s The Bluebells Of Scotland.

Saturday’s concert will open with Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries from Die Walküre and close with one of the more difficult pieces in the orchestral repertoire, Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring.

York Press:

Pip Upton: presenting new play in Pock 

Edinburgh Fringe legend of the week in North Yorkshire

Pip Upton in And Before I ForgetI Love You, I Love You, Selby Town Hall, Saturday, 8pm

PIP Upton, perennial purveyor of one-man shows portraying the likes of Hitler, Churchill, Dickens, Casanova, Chaplin and Thatcher, switches to presenting his new play, a tender, personal and heartfelt love story about the affects of Alzheimer’s, not only on the sufferer, but also on family, friends and carers.

Based on Pip and his brother’s experience of seeing their mother’s deterioration, he plays Michael,who, having cared for his wife through the illness, now succumbs to Alzheimer’s himself.

York Press:

"People need hope," says Jack Dee

Unexpected sunshine at the weekend

Jack Dee, Work-In-Progress Show, Pocklington Arts Centre, Sunday, 8pm

GROUCHY comedian Jack Dee will be trying out new material for his forthcoming tour in Pock.

“In these difficult and uncertain times, people need hope – a ray of sunshine to brighten their day. And that’s very much where I come in,” says Dee, the cynical star of television sitcoms Bad Move, Lead Balloon and Josh and chairman of BBC Radio 4’s game show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

Family Friendly show of the weekend

The Queen And The Jester, Sunday, National Centre for Early Music, York, 11.30am and 1.30pm

STORYTELLER Ursula Holden Gill and musician/comedian Keith Donnelly unite for the tale of the troubled Queen, who calls on the Royal Court’s Jester to cheer her with some songs.

However, the Jester is a law unto himself and knows better than to pander to the Queen’s fickle fancies. Join him in his attempt to pacify her Highness, while amusing the Royal subjects, pleasing himself and ultimately striving to keep his head intact. Expect rousing choruses, skew-whiff stories and plenty of laughter.