Teenage drama of the week

Crongton Knights, Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday

YORK company Pilot Theatre team up with York Theatre Royal, Derby Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, for Emteaz Hussain’s stage adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s young adult novel, Crongton Knights.

This teen quest story takes McKay and his Magnificent Six mates on the Crongton Estate on a night of madcap adventure when a friend finds herself in trouble. Conrad Murray provides the beatbox and vocal soundtrack as these friends discover how lessons learned the hard way can bring them closer together.

“Disgusting” comedy gig of the week

Alfie Brown, The Basement, City Screen, York, Tuesday, 8pm

YORK’S Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Alfie Brown, whose new show turns the spotlight on family, friendship and inherited belief.

Subversive and almost torridly honest, his hour on stage will be “loving, dangerous, inquisitive and disgusting”.

Show man of the week

Brendan Cole: Show Man, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm

“THIS will be my last big band tour after touring for so many years,” says Strictly Come Dancing alumnus Brendan Cole, the 43-year-old New Zealander. “I’ve loved every second of being on the stage with my friends who have now become family.

“It’s time for something different and I’m honoured to be taking Show Man out for one last run. I’m so proud of this production and I’m going out on a high.”

Double act of the week

Michael Ball & Alfie Boe, Back Together, Leeds First Direct Arena, Tuesday

CHART-TOPPING vocalists Michael Ball and Alfie Boe are playing ten dates on their Back Together tour, named after last November’s album of that title.

Tuesday’s show features selections from Back Together and its predecessors, 2017’s Together Again and 2016’s Together, both number one albums.

Vampire alert of the week

Steve Steinman’s Vampires Rock: Ghost Train, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm

STEVE Steinman and his cast of singers, dancers and musicians combine a tongue-in-cheek storyline with a spectacular set, lighting and sound in Steinman’s 18th year of Vampires Rock.

More than 30 rock anthems will climb on board the Ghost Train, from Meat Loaf, Queen, AC/DC and Bonnie Tyler to Bon Jovi, Journey and Guns N’Roses.

Play within a play of the week

The Seagull, York Settlement Community Players, York Theatre Royal Studio, Wednesday to March 7

AFTER Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters, Helen Wilson completes her ten-year project to direct all four of Anton Chekhov’s major plays for the Settlement Players, whose centenary falls this year.

One summer’s evening on a makeshift stage by a lake, a bold new play is performed. Cue a story of unrequited love, the generation gap and how life can turn on a kopek in a raw tragicomedy, both poignant and absurdly playful, translated in lively fashion by Michael Frayn.

Moral ambiguities of the week

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Pick Me Up Theatre, John Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, Wednesday to Saturday

NEWLY turned 50, successful architect Martin leads an ostensibly ideal life with his loving wife, Stevie, and gay teenage son, Billy.

However, when he confides to his best friend, Ross, that he is also in love with a goat named Sylvia, he sets in motion events that will destroy his family and leave his life in tatters in Edward Albee’s Tony Award winning play, now receiving its northern England premiere.

Nostalgic tribute night of the week

The Best Of That’ll Be The Day!, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday, 7.30pm

THIS special edition of the That’ll Be The Day! rock’n’roll variety performance presents the most requested songs, impressions and comic sketches from more than 33 years of touring. Hits from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ‘80s will ride the wave of nostalgia.

American comedian of the week

Alex Edelman, Just For Us, The Basement, City Screen, York, Friday, 7.30pm

IN the second Burning Duck Comedy Club gig of next week, Alex Edelman follows up his Millennial and Everything Handed To You shows with Just For Us.

“It’s about gorillas that can do sign language and tribalism,” says Edelman, the Boston-born, New York-based winner of the 2014 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer.

Fundraiser of the week

Big Ian’s A Night To Remember, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm

BIG Ian Donaghy brings together York performers Jess Steel, Heather Findlay, Beth McCarthy, Graham Hodge, Gary Stewart, Annie Donaghy and Las Vegas Ken for his annual fundraising night.

All will be backed by a 20-piece band with a 12-piece brass section, and Jessa Liversidge’s Singing For All community choir takes part too on a fast-moving night in aid of St Leonard’s Hospice, Dementia Projects in York, Bereaved Children Support York and Accessible Arts & Media.